week #21 and stress

[mellowtigger]

I haven't written much. I've continued reading on Dreamwidth, but not much elsewhere. Life has been stressful.

Work has been simply too busy. For "flat" numbers, we've had as many support tickets last weekend as we did the weekend after Semester Start, which was awful. In addition, though, the "feel" of those numbers are different. We're short 1 (of 4) FTEs on first shift for weekends, waiting to hire someone for that position. Additionally, another person took a few weeks of vacation, so we were down to half-staffing, being short 2 of those 4 FTEs. We have several student workers who sign up for 2-hour shifts, but we had empty slots there too. Very hectic. I'm discombobulated.

It doesn't help that Hope may be getting worse. I can see her gaunt haunches just by looking at her now. I don't even need to pet her to know that she has too much bone showing. On Monday, I think, I found 2 clumps of her hair that had fallen out. Not knotted fur or hairball, but perfectly aligned clumps of hair that simply came out of her fur. They were just tiny sections, but it's still worrisome.

I gave up on the full dose of mirtazapine, because it was stressful for both of us. She howled awfully because she was so hungry, but she would still eat solid food only sparingly, so I switched to 1/3 the original dose. More manageable stress levels for us both, but she's still not eating well. She wants to eat, but she doesn't want any food available. I bought some milk replacement that says it's suitable for elderly cats. I made a full dose for her, she lapped it up eagerly, then she promptly vomited out all the milk and former solid food she had eaten. There was no cat hair in that mess when I cleaned it up. Now, she's also hesitant to eat the milk. *sigh*

I'll try smaller doses of milk replacement, so she doesn't flood her tummy. Whatever's going on, it can't be good. :(

Comments

[scrottie]

Poor kitty =(

[rebeccmeister]

That's a LOT to manage, all at once.

Gosh, I have multiple friends managing frail and elderly cats, and it is not easy, in multiple dimensions of "not easy." I hope you are able to find a way to help her with the best possible quality of life at this stage. One thing that seems to be universal, spend what quality time you can with her. Those of us here will still be around.

[foeclan]

That's very sad. :( She's such a sweetheart.