Cow Mau was in such a bad condition yesterday. He was in his tray inside the cage all day and only came out to the pantry when the afternoon got too hot.
The mouth pain was incredibly bad. I managed to feed him three times, but each time was heart-breaking because of the pain. By dinner time, I decided to try the RC Recovery liquid since it’s very, very smooth in texture. It was a little easier to feed him that, but just “a little” easier.
The bottle says I’m supposed to feed him 196ml per day of the liquid if that’s the only food. It is actually meant for tube feeding. Vincent had used it before too when he had the nasal tube.
I used a syringe to feed Cow Mau and he was able to take in 10ml of it (1ml each time, using a small 1ml syringe). Then, I got a little ambitious and tried another 20ml later (10ml each time with an interval between) but I think I gave it a bit too fast and it made him cough, which isn’t a good sign. So I quickly stopped. I also used a 10ml syringe and could have given too much per time.
Later in the night, when Ming-Yi came to visit him, his breathing was very fast. That was really worrying. Could it be due to syringe-feeding him too fast? Or, too much? Or was it because the RC Recovery has a high fat content (meant for recuperation and energy-giving) and that increased his heart rate?
It could have been any of the above.
I continued to monitor him until I slept. His breathing did sl0w down a little bit later in the night, but I decided not to give so much of this liquid anymore, if I have to use it again. Just 1ml at a time, very slowly. Only if I have to. Only if he cannot eat anything else.
I also feared Cow Mau may not have made it through the night, judging from how bad he appeared to be the whole of yesterday and especially last night when his breathing was so fast.
But what can we do? This is a chronic aging problem. He has congestive heart failure. And coupled with the mouth pain (chronic gingivostomatitis) and the arthritis, he’s not exactly in the best of health anymore and it isn’t going to get better because this is a aging-related issue. It’s wear and tear. He is also FIV+ and that certainly does not help.
This morning, I got up and with apprehension but preparedness, I came downstairs only to be greeted by a perked-up Cow Mau! He was still in his tray, but his eyes definitely looked much brighter than yesterday.
He also walked out of his tray and came to the front door, something he hadn’t done for two days now. Normally, Cow Mau is always at the front door waiting for food every morning.
I observed his breathing and it’s definitely slowed down from yesterday’s frightening rate. Yesterday it was so fast, I didn’t even bother counting anymore; it was just way too fast.
He’s definitely perked up this morning but the mouth pain is still there.
And he was interested to eat, which is always a good sign.
I offered various types of food, but he only wanted Hill’s KD canned (yes, that sticky food). So I gave it to him in cold tall lumps and he was able to eat some on his own (again, eating by himself is ALWAYS better than being force fed). But the mouth pain became too bad so he stopped and walked away.
I mashed up the remaining parts with water and syringe fed him the rest of it. This time, very slowly, pausing with each 1ml so that he has time to stop pawing and settle down before the next 1ml. This time I used the 1ml syringe to prevent myself from giving too much in one mouthful. He swallowed all and there was no coughing at all. What a relief! But we paused with every mouthful.
At least breakfast is taken care of now.
I gave him 50ml of subcut this morning.
And we will be leaving soon for the laser treatment this morning. I truly hope it helps alleviate the mouth pain.
