June
18, 2000
Cleo Gets SubQs at Home
Cleo's pouch from her first home sub-q's
Cleo was not interested in food at all this morning. It always seems like it's one step forwards, two steps backwards. I decided that we were going to give the sub-q a try. Talk about a scary thought!
My vet hadn't really shown me all that much in reality. I didn't know how to connect the venoset to the bag, wasn't really sure about how to insert the needle . . . I just knew that Cleo needed some help.
I was totally surprised that I seemed to get it right the first time, but the flow was very, very slow, and Cleo decided that she'd had enough after about ten minutes. We barely got anything into her, and she still wouldn't eat. I was in tears. How can I keep her alive if she won't eat?
I wrote to the Feline CRF Support list, and got all sorts of support and suggestions. We tried again at around 3 pm. My first stick wasn't right; fluid was leaking out. So I tried it again, and got it this time — and the flow was much better, although I have no real idea why. Maybe it just needed some breaking in?
Cleo doesn't like it, but she's relatively patient. Just a few little low meows/growls. We got almost the whole does into her when she decided she'd had enough, and I was satisfied with that. A lot of people suggested just moving the needle a little to make the flow better, but every time I moved the needle Cleo became very agitated.
She developed a nice little water pouch, and I felt so proud. I gave her some chicken and some cottage cheese afterwards.
This time she came crying to me for food about three hours later. She ate some dry food with no prompting at all, and then a little Friskies mixed with some tuna and some more slippery elm bark. I was really encouraged — I could actually see the sub-q's working in her!
