Mandrake: slow progress, but progress nonetheless


Our FIV+ cat, Mandrake, has his ups and downs, sometimes on an hourly basis, but the overall trend seems to be improvement, little by little, day by day. Yesterday I began force-feeding him just a couple of times a day—it’s not at all aggressive despite the terminology—because while he’s been lapping at his convalescence food, he hasn’t been consuming enough to build his body strength back up, or even go to the litter tray much if at all. It’s working. Today he has started tottering around from room to room upstairs, though he still can’t jump up onto and off the beds, and he’s using his tray.

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Thursday, October 9th, 2008

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Little by little, day by day


Mandrake continues to make slow but steady progress. He remains weak but is managing to eat little but often, and is able to stand and even walk a little. He is still sleeping at least 22 hours a day. His face has lost the gaunt and despairing look of intense illness, and he’s looking more alert and a little less skinny. His weight seemed to vanish overnight last week, and it’s doubtful he’ll ever again be quite the big muscle cat he was before he contracted FIV. But you never know.

So long as we keep working as hard as we have been doing to stabilise Mandrake’s condition and improve it, and so long as he continues to respond well, then anything is possible. Love conquers all? Perhaps not. But it certainly helps in ways that vets are unable or unwilling to factor in when declaring what a cat’s chances are. I am certain that if Mandrake were not getting round-the-clock attention, then yes, he most certainly would be better off helped on his way out of this world. And he would most certainly fade away if we weren’t prepared to be so hands-on.

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Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

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