December 15, 2021

Wednesday Weigh-In : Week 29 (and Duck is home!)


(When I took this picture this morning and chose to wear the shirt "You have died of dysentery" I didn't really realize how morbid it was, considering we're trying to find out what's wrong with Duck. A little unintentional dark humor!)

I almost titled this, "The One Where Duck Came Home" (because Duck is HOME!) but then I realized I already wrote that title the first time he came home. I want to be absolutely ecstatic that he's here at home with me right now, but it would be more accurate to say that I'm *tentatively* excited.

We still don't know what is causing his temperature to spike every day. It was up again this morning, but the vet said that he can come home (I was kind of hoping he would suggest keeping him there longer because I am nervous about being the one to take care of him at home). He said the only thing they are doing at the clinic that I can't do at home is the IV fluids. If his temp should reach 105 or he stops eating/drinking, then he may have to go back in for fluids again.

At the clinic, he was getting an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory every morning and fluids throughout the day. They also took his temperature three times a day and did tests to try to figure out what's causing the fevers. The only thing we are waiting on now is the FUO test (fever of unknown origin)--they drew blood for it on Monday, and said it could be as late as Friday before getting the results.

I'm sure I'm going to be WAY overprotective of him until he's better (I am keeping him confined to my bedroom--just in case he's contagious with a virus or something, I really don't want to risk the other cats getting it). Needless to say, I'm going to be spending a lot of time in my bedroom for the next couple of days. We can get high on catnip and catch up on our TV shows ;)

As I write this, he's only been home for an hour or so. He was SO ANGRY the whole way home--he was in his carrier on the passenger seat and doing that really deep, throaty, I'm-going-to-burn-the-world-to-the-ground meow. That was actually kind of comforting to me because he was pretty quiet during the last couple of car rides (and now I know why--his temp was 106 on Monday!).

As soon as we got in the house, I let him out into my bedroom and he went crazy--he was head-butting me to pet him and it was like he was impatient that I wasn't petting him fast enough. I tried getting pictures, but every one of them turned out as a blur of black cat because he wouldn't stop moving. Here is a selfie of us I tried to take. Haha!


Anyway, I will write more tomorrow after I've had time to reunite with my little duckling and attempt my first rectal temperature reading (trying to give him his liquid antibiotic is hard enough; I'm really dreading trying to hold a thermometer in his butt for 20 seconds!).

It does not at all feel like a Wednesday, but I did manage to remember to do my weigh-in this morning. Today was the final day of my six-month DietBet--and I won! (I knew I would; my 10% goal for the six month challenge was 174-something pounds, so I reached it a while ago.) I'm curious to see how much it pays out. The four-week DietBets I've done have only profited me about $8-10. The six-month bet is structured a bit differently, so it'll be interesting to see.

So, my weigh-in this week:


I was at 156.8, which is up a pound from last week. And once again, I am actually quite happy with that! I've had the most emotional couple of weeks that I can remember in probably a decade and it's no secret that I'm an emotional eater. So I actually feel like I got away easy over the last couple of weeks. 

I'm sure my luck is going to run out any time now, so ideally, I will have a week where I'm not an emotional wreck and eating my feelings. Realistically, I have no idea what's in store this week as far as Duck goes, so I don't even want to make any guesses. I'm still going to try my best, though!

First thing's first: spending some quality time with Duck. I've missed him so much!

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like little Duck turned the corner! I keep worrying and checking. I hope he's pooping. With the bowel surgery, it's so important to have the intake and output. I've been an RN for 30 years and I know just how important it is. And by the way Katie, you look great, and hope you get to think about yourself once in a while. We will come up with a way to pay those vet bills. He is worth every penny, but I know how costly it can be. The head butting he's doing with his mommy, means I missed you, and I am so happy to be back home! The best Christmas is right ahead of us.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad Duck is home and hope he gets to stay there for a while. A suggestion for doing the temps is to have a partner occupy the front end -- a gentle hold/strokies and feeding some Inaba Churu paste out of the tube, while you support and temp the other end. You might try a couple of "drive bys" with the treats and restraint, and then the treats, restraint, and just touching the thermometer near his little bum, getting closer to the target each time before you go for the gusto. (If you want to shoot me a text, I can go over some the techniques I use with my fosters.) Good luck! I know that Duck is happy to be home with you all.❤️Martine

    ReplyDelete
  3. So glad he's home again. Can't believe you only gained one pound given all the stress! Sending lots more good vibes. And that photo attempt while he's head butting you is perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I know the feeling of not knowing what is wrong with a pet. I posted on FB a list of his symptoms and what we had tried and thankfully a friend of a friend had a cat with the same symptoms and it ending up being a super rare condition that my vet never treated so she never thought of it. Only one lab in the whole country can test for it. It is called EPI.

    My point, sorry, is that maybe post a full list of his symptoms on FB and maybe just maybe someone will have experienced it or knows someone who did.

    Good Luck!!

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

Featured Posts

Blog Archive