The Brad Hole

Beth is going to take him in today for a subcutaneous fluid injection with the intention of doing the injection herself. We're also going to see if we can get them to weigh Ian as it appears he's on a crash diet - he's very bony now. His pink man-boob gut waddle, long a trademark of his "big-bonedness", has all but disappeared. He's down to under a jar of baby food a day but his attitude and personality still seem fine. His biggest annoyance appears to be the tumor in his mouth as he'll frequently make the "I've got something in my mouth" gack noise and accompanying head shake. Watching him eat, each bite is followed by this same motion so it appears to be reaching a critical point. I'm throwing out more and more uneaten baby food and this morning he spent a minute or two eating a total of 6 bites or so before stopping.

My belief at this point is that we'll be lucky if he makes it through the end of next week. I think in short order we'll reach the point where he'll be subsisting solely on fluid injections, which to me would signal that it's time, given his current skeleton-like appearance. We'll see though - he's surprised us before with his ability to adapt. He may plateau for all I know.

They say it's sometimes helpful to rate the cat's status to determine the trend and find out if too many bad days in a row have occurred. If 10 is healthy, 1 is dead, then I'd rate him a 5 following his surgery, an 8 in the weeks after where he was gaining weight back, a 7 when we took him in last week and probably a 6 now. Mentally he's in good shape, but physically he's nearing his low point.