Arthur Is In Hospital

 

Arthur is in the hospital tonight. He seemed his normal self until maybe two days ago, although he'd recently stopped drinking the milk that he loved too much. I attributed that to the change of diet occasioned by needing to keep dry foot away from Shadow; instead of having dry food out all the time, I provided plenty of pate' and occasionally tuna, well chopped and squished for easier eating. There's always dry foot on the kitchen table and the shelf in the blue room that Shadow can't reach but the others can. I would sometimes see Arthur eat on that shelf. Recently as he disdained the milk and even the pate I would give him snacks, which he gobbled, but eventually they lost his interest two. Then the other day he just lay around all the time; he didn't seem right. Heather arranged for an appointment around dinnertime. While the other day he explored the outside with me, and ignored the new brown tabby from accross the street, now Arthur would just sit and look at the floor.  He lost interest even in snacks, which he had formerly gobbled. 

Doctor said he was dehydrated and two pounds underweight, which is quite serious for a cat this small. There could be a variety of reasons for this, perhaps liver or gall bladder problems. She said it would not be wrong to put him to sleep, or we could dry 3 days of intravenous fluids by keeping him in the hospital. He was not currently suffering greatly but it was comparable to a bad cold.
It was not clear what is best for the cat, and I did not want to make a choice based on what makes me feel better. I appreciate that he's quite old and has lived years longer than we ever expected. However if he is not suffering, I'm not ready to let him go without one try to revive him, so I said to keep him in the hospital and try fluids. I have no idea whether this will do it but we'll see. I feel good about this choice and ready to accept whichever way it goes. I regret that I did not notice his weight loss, but I was not in the habit of weighing him. I do recall the sensation of him being rather small so perhaps I was noticing something I did not recognize. I  believe I was lead astray by his continuing activity almost up to the end. I will have to remember this for future animals and people.

I am working on toastmasters projects to propose on Friday. Joint efforts are fun!