Monday, August 18, 2003

Getting Used to a New Regimen

We've been phasing in the new things we have to do for Max, including buying a bunch of different brands and flavors of natural-diet cat food.   We tried to get him to eat beef liver raw and, but that was a no-go.  I stressed a little about that because he would get a lot of cancer-fighting nutrients from it.  So, we'll have to make him take Nutrical or something like it instead.  He used to like the Kittymalt brand hairball paste, so maybe we'll try their brand.

So far, he's shown half-hearted interest in a couple of flavors.  We're supposed to try to minimize his chicken intake (at least, the processed kind), but that's apparently hard to do -- it's a base for many of the foods.  But according to the holistic vet, even the natural-diet chicken foods are better than the commercial varieties.   He doesn't seem interested in raw chicken, that I know of.

Saturday, I bought a little St. Francis medal. I also picked up a coin with an image of St. Peregrine.

I found out about some truly wonderful resources for folks in a bind who need financial aid to care for their pets.  One of them is the Feline Emergency Veterinary Assistance Program.   The Virginia Veterinary Medical Association has a number of links to similar organizations, including ones for pets that have diabetes.

Once I get to a point where I can afford to, I want to contribute on a regular basis to one of these worthy causes.

Max was a bit nauseous early this morning and was spending time in the basement in his "nest" on a chair. Could be the chemo kicking in - the timing's right. I don't dare hope too much, but I could almost swear that his lump was slightly smaller this morning.

Meanwhile, Nora went back to work for the first time today after spending 3 weeks in recovery at home following her emergency appendectomy. She was only able to work half a day before being so tired that she had to leave. We'll see what tomorrow brings.