Status Report

Today Dr. Ikeda informed me that Flower does have active FIV. I'm not exactly sure what that means for her prognosis, though. He and Dr. Duesberg both indicate that a cat with FIV is treated for illness in the same manner as any other cat; it's just that her immune system is already compromised and not as efficient as another cat's. Dr. Ikeda also said that he still feels like this is more a GI problem than a direct result of the FIV infection. It's tough for me to know what to think because I see Flower and she is so weak, and I can't tell if she's in pain or really tired from fighting these infections or both. All I know is that I don't want to make her suffer for no reason.

Flower has been unable to clean herself effectively for the past week because of the bandage on her neck. I've been worried because she has some stool stuck in her fur around the anus; I have no doubt that this has gotten worse in the past couple of days since I started her on the clindamycin, at which time I began to notice significantly runnier stools. I did notice that she was licking herself this evening, however, which gives me hope for her. Other than going to the bathroom, Flower simply sleeps or stays in bed all day lately. I picked her up and took her to the front window this morning and then tried to put her by my desk with me this afternoon, but both times she stayed for only a few minutes and then went back to bed when she couldn't get comfortable. She is handling her meals very well, and the meds too. Tonight I will begin to add in one additional feeding for a total of 5. The goal is to have her keeping down at least 30-35cc in each meal, but tonight I will start with 20-25cc.

I found myself thinking today about when we brought her home from ACCIM last week and she was still feeling the effects of the anesthetic. But she was so affectionate and loving and she was actually looking at her food and eating. The fact that she didn't stay that way was really hard for me the past couple of days. I'm confident in her ability to get better and recover from this but I'm impatient and I don't know how long I can wait to see improvement. Little improvements are good though and so I have to focus on those. Flower is a strong cat and she can recover from this with my help.