What a week ... so far.
I have been home with Myste all week learning how to take care of her with her rear legs nearly useless. We are both doing better, learning what we need from each other. She is much the same as she was mid-week ... no strength in her rear legs but she does move them and they twitch along with her front legs when she runs in her sleep. I have been absolutely exhausted much of the time but am apparently adapting as I have felt better the past two days.
We are not ready to give up on her anytime soon. DH is talking an outdoor wheeled cart for her and we are looking at options on-line for that as well as bedding to relieve pressure points and a rear-lift harness to help us move her indoors and for "quick" trips outdoors. There are a lot of sites on-line with good information on handicapped pets and I am reading a great deal when she will let me out of her sight. The other problem we have is that the steroid upsets her stomach even with the extra stomach medication. Bedding is getting washed often but thankfully we have several sets of beds (Thank you, Mom and Dad) and blankets and padding. Just a few more days of the steroid left to go.
We are not expecting a "recovery" at this time. Her hind legs were already weak from the previous injury and it is not likely she will regain even as much strength as she had last week. But she is not suffering and her appetite is still good (although considerably restricted since we are hand-feeding her and she cannot clean out all the pet food bowls as she was inclined to do) and she is still functioning.
I do have much greater appreciation of what my mother and her sisters went through in taking care of their handicapped brother all those years.
The video shows Myste in the background and Velcro rediscovering the scratching post which I had moved from the floor to the shelf in the cat crate to give myself a little more floor space while tending to Myste. Velcro did finally catch her tail but it keeps escaping and she has to chase it all over again.
2 comments:
You have been having such a hard time of it all. Hugs for you my blogging sister. You have your kitties to make you laugh. :)
I was pretty ruffled by those comments on my blog. Thank you for the advice. And please excuse the language but that bloke is an absolute "Wanker". I was a bit scared though as Sydney (where I found out he is from) is just down the road from here.I shouldn't have commented back to him , now I will just ignore him.
Our pets are so valuable to us, aren't they? It is so admirable, Martha, that you still "see" how valuable Myste is to you and your family. And the lengths we all go to, just to keep them in the family. I'm so glad to see that this physical "set-back" doesn't seem to affect Myste. She definitely knows you love her and she returns her love.
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