A week ago we adopted 17 year old Oliver. He was curious and unafraid the first day, exploring the house under our supervision, but chose to make a bed for himself in the bathroom closet. That became his go-to for several days, venturing out only for water and to use the litter box.
By New Years Day, around the time I went in the lake, the slight respiratory issues he'd displayed when we met him had gotten much worse; his face was caked with dried snot, and his breathing had become a constant "snoring" sound.
On Jan 2nd, I called MAADC, and they gave me a weeks worth of liquid, oral medicine to give him. The first day, LuLu administered it and Oliver was so scared he peed on her. I've handled the subsequent doses, with dissimilar results. But for Day 2, in anticipation of pee that never came, I put him in the tub to give him his meds. Unfortunately, he managed to find a puddle of spilled shampoo, getting it all over his bely. That's on me yo.
So my sick kitty needed a bath to wash it off - as well as the pee, and the dirt, and the general detritus that seems to accumulate at the pound.
I will grant you he doesn't look thrilled in the photos. There are better ones, but those show my flappy upper arms, and we aint having that on this page, no sir.
Get this: he enjoyed the bath.
I'm not kidding. Not only did he not fight it, which you could chalk up to illness fatigue, he seemed to like it so much you'd have thought he booked a day at the spa. I've never had a cat that tolerated a bath like that, at all, much less got a kick out of it.
Afterwards, looking much more respectable, he ventured out for water
The next day we tried to introduce him to our bedroom, with great success. He stayed with Lisa on the bed, ventured out for litter and drink, then returned on his own to his place on the bed. After that, our bedroom became his go-to hangout.
The medicine seemed to be working by then. He was now dripping snot, rather than congested, and the constant snoring sound had faded.
Now, on day 5 of the meds the snoring/congestion sounds are gone, replaced, if you pet him with long, slow strokes of your hand, with a low but audible purr. There is no more snot, although his eyes occasionally water, and knock on wood knock on wood, knock on wood, he seems to be bouncing back to full health.
Visually, he seems to much closer resemble the cat that was brought into the pound after his owner's death, rather than the cat I adopted who was looking a little rag-tag. How do I know? I stumbled, long after his adoption, onto a Facebook post promoting him.
This evening he was walking around, checking out the house again, ignoring the dogs like they weren't there, before retreating back to the bedroom.
update: Then, at this late writing (it is almost 2am Tuesday morning) Oliver ventured out again, exchanged a few looks at Sawyer, used the litter box, and calmly walked back into the bedroom. I don't see him eat very often, which worries me, but maybe I'm just looking at the wrong times. I hope so. He certainly doesn't LOOK any lighter; fur makes a difference, but he feels hefty when you lift him.
