More cat nursing

Declann has his tube in now. We need to give him 4 to 6 feedings a day. Right now that feeding consists of just one tube. His belly is so tiny we can't start feeding him too much too fast. Eventually Dr. Jon says we should be up to 6 to 8 tubes in each feeding. The tube doesn't seem to bother him too much and he hasn't thrown up any of his meals so that part of it seems to be going well.

The tube goes in under his mandible and into his esophagus. It has been taped securely around his neck so that access is on the back of his neck. The food we give him is a high calorie food watered down to the consistence of a slurry.



What's unfortunate is that what I thought was diarrhea was actually an impacted anal gland that has now ruptured. But that does explain the revolting smell. When Martha gets home tonight I'm going to need her help to wash and flush it. There's really nothing that can be done except to keep him on antibiotics, clean it out and let it heal. He really is the most wonderful cat though, all this going on and he's still pleasant and purring. I'm sure he's uncomfortable - likely even great pain. I just hope he makes it through this, he will be a great lovey pet.



You can see from this picture that he really isn't looking so good. He lost a lot of weight in the last week of not eating, I wish we had put the tube in a week ago. His left eye is a little closed up with that inner eyelid. I expect that's from his anesthesia yesterday and it should go away soon.