I decided to try soy milk this morning. They were dehydrated yesterday, and perhaps they sensed somehow that the sodium in the Ensure might be an extra stress on dehydrated kidneys?? I don't know whether it would be, though. All I know is that they drank very little overnight, whereas they had been used to draining a little dish of Ensure every night. I hope they weren't in hiding because of feeling stressed by their vet visit. They really act differently for a day after vet visits.
Penny looks much better this morning, though. The Clavamox is helping her. I had taken them to the vet because of Penny's hiccupping and a little lump on her right shoulder. It was a weird dried-up mass that the vet just squeezed out. :sick2: He wasn't sure what it was. He was also interested to see that, for two of them, the paralysis is noticeably worse on one side. The foot just drags.
Anyway, they like the soy milk. They took a lot from my fingers and each of them drank some from the dish. They ate peas and no-salt chick peas overnight, along with a bit of cooked pasta. I got them to take their meds and to eat a bit of Ensure with lab blocks. Hubby brought home some Cool-Whip this morning, and that was a hit. They each ate at least half of a big blueberry with Cool Whip.
So they seem better overall. I hope that they go one way or another before Monday, when I have to make the decision. I don't want to take them to the pet-sitter's if they will just die there before we get back. The stress of being in a different place, and without us, could make a difference. If they are going to die, I want them to be with me at the end.
It is high time I got prepared to administer SubQ fluids. The Forum's SQ showed me how the last time she was here with her little Debbie, and I have Shelagh's great directions for a guide. The vet agreed that it would be a good idea for me to know how, especially over a holiday period. I don't want to do it if it is just delaying them when they are ready to die, though. Tough decision. But today they don't look ready to die, just frailer than they were a few days ago.