Running Chick

“The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part”  (Tom Petty, The Waiting 1981)

We are still here. Spencer has not improved, I am still at home. The last time he threw up was about 12 hours ago, so I guess that’s an improvement. But he is not eating. I’ve tried enticing him with all sorts of his favorite foods – tuna, chicken, rice and all he does is give it a sniff and turn his head away.  A couple of times yesterday, I tried to put food in his mouth, and he did swallow it, but within 15 minutes he was throwing up. I decided just to stop that, so in essence, he hasn’t had a bite since Monday morning.  He is regularly drinking, but he’s still fairly dehydrated.

I talked to the vet today, she said that if he doesn’t want to eat, he’s not going to eat. Period. She wanted me to bring him in for a shot of B-12 and an appetite stimulant, which I did. She said that if it works, he should be looking for food tonight. She also gave me some new canned food and a high-calorie paste to try.

So, we wait. And I worry and I cry and I spent a lot of time laying on the floor by his basket stroking him. And he sleeps. Sometimes he purrs. Mostly he doesn’t. I’ve not been getting a lot of sleep. Any little noise wakes me up because I think it’s him moving around. Last night I slept on the couch because he didn’t want to come upstairs. I got on the scale this morning because my jeans were baggy. I’ve lost four pounds since Sunday. Stress is a bitch.

So is waiting.