Holly seems to be doing very well. She is now eating well, and she seems
happy. She follows me around like "the old Holly," and she spends a lot of
time curled up in my lap. I think I made the right decision not to force
her to have fluids twice a day. I would rather have her happy and content
for whatever time we have left than to force her to have a procedure that
traumatizes her. I realize that administering fluids is really a routine
procedure, but she was so stressed out about it (even when the vet tech did
it) that she had started to cringe whenever I picked her up to start the
process. Now she is back to her old self, and I want to keep it that way.
I wish I had been able to give her the fluids, but even the vet tech found
that she had to force her. The vet tech would scruff her when she
struggled, but it clearly wasn't something that Holly would simply adjust to
and accept calmly, and I was unable to control her as well as the vet tech
could. I am adding some powdered medicine to her canned cat food, and she
is eating that very well. So, I hope she continues to improve on this
regimen and that I will have for a lot longer. But, most important, I want
her remaining time to be happy and contented time. I think there is an
element of selfishness when we force our beloved cats to endure procedures
that they find objectionable just so we can force them to be with us longer.
It's always a difficult decision, and I found it particularly difficult
because administering fluids is not one of those procedures that we would
usually look at a traumatic--but Holly obviously saw it that way. She will
be 18 years old on June 1.

MaryL