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Eyes and Throat - Day 18

Phoenix's eyes continue to open slowly, enough so that you can see a tiny bit of eye behind there.  I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I sometimes worried he would open his eyes and nothing would be there 😱.  Of course, I know that was an unreasonable fear... but it still helps to see something behind those eyes!


Ups and Downs

I don't know how to feel about today.  There were some positives and there were some less positives.  His eyes opening are just a huge highlight to my day, and they are opening more and more each time we feed him.  He's also been eating super well and sleeping well.  We've actually started moving to feeding every 3-4 hours now as well.  And the icing on the cake?  We only needed to give him a butt bath once this morning!  While he still has messes, they are smaller in size, and has made it easier to avoid needing full butt baths.

On the flip side, there's still blood when he goes to the bathroom.  I'm unimpressed by his weight gain today (24 hours, no weight change).  And he aspirated during an evening feeding.  Aspirating is when the formula goes down the trachea instead.  Poor guy suddenly started coughing after eating.  Thankfully, Linda had showed me what I should do if I saw any signs of aspiration.  You hold him so his head is facing downwards and basically give him back blows.  I did this for a bit until he stopped coughing, and then he fell asleep since he had just eaten a belly full.

I'm a little worried about the aspiration.  Having formula in the lungs can result in aspiration pneumonia, which is no good anyone - especially not a little kitten.  I was watching when the aspiration happened, and the good news is that it likely couldn't have been that much formula going down his throat.  He coughed a bit here and until about 30 minutes after the aspiration.  But he's since had another very full meal.  He's recently been trying to grab the bottle while eating, so it was during one of these "bottle struggles" that he took a bit in, poor guy.  Here's a video to show him holding onto the bottle!


Honestly, with the amount he's eating, I'm convinced my food schedule is being misleading on the amount he's putting in his stomach.  I don't know where all that food is going!  I mean, his belly gets nice and big, as it should.  But he's so happy post meal and often rolls around while getting some belly rubs.  I mean, just look at this guy!  Those pictures are not cute at all, but also insanely cute at the same time.  It doesn't make sense.



But overall, Phoenix is doing well.  And his eyes open more and more each feeding that we have.  Take a look at some of the photos over the course of the day (look from left to right, top to bottom).  Can you see the difference?



He unfortunately looks pretty miserable in the last photo, though his eyes are the most open I've seen them!  I actually had to call Nguyen over to take a look; I was so excited.  Though when I look at that photo, it makes me think guinea pig or something.  I suppose some would consider this an upgrade from "rat".

Mini-Adventure

We'll be going to see my mom and sister tomorrow; it's one hour away from here.  I've been a little nervous, since we'll be traveling with Phoenix.  While I've driven to the vet and the Linda's place, I never stayed in either of those locations too long.

I realized I need to remember to bring his medication with me and then decided I may as well make a list of everything I'd need to bring with me.  I don't understand how something so small can require so many things!  Here's my list so far:
  • Ponazuril dose
  • Formula bottle
  • Cold pack to travel with formula
  • Cotton balls
  • Toilet paper
  • Blankets
  • Towels
  • Kitchen scale
  • Reusable heat packs
  • Miracle nipples
  • 2 additional bottles
  • Shampoo
  • Ointment
  • Karo syrup
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Thermos
Of course, I also need to remember to bring Phoenix and his container.  My brain has been mush, but it's not quite that mushy.

Asher won't be coming with us though.  He's not a fan of going anywhere new - so he'll hang out at home as he usually does.  I did purrito Asher today as well.  Phoenix seems to like being all bundled up sometimes, so I figured I'd try with Asher.


My takeaway - purrito-ing is not quite Asher's thing.

To end this post and to finish off the night, I leave you with this belly rub video!





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