They tell me it looks worse before it gets better....

Poor Blue cat is, as expected, still hospitalized and not at all her usual self.

The vet and techs assure me that her current state is no surprise, and the beginning of recovery. She's dopey, groggy, out-of-sorts, and messy. She started feeding with a protein gel yesterday and is getting small feedings every two hours. She's gucky and matted, because she's got enough oomph in her to fuss and hence knock syringes around and get food on her - but not to groom it off. Yesterday she was limp, pliable.. had a little purr for me but was just a lump otherwise. Today, she was a bit more alert, still purred, but was not at all wanting to be handled - if I tried to pick her up, she pushed away and then sat in her litterbox. So I coaxed her out onto one of several quilts and cushions I brought in from home, and just talked to her there. I'm not entirely sure she knows who is there, but she seems to know someone nice is talking to her. There's a weak bit of headbutting and purrs interspersed with a recognizable "Blue frowney face" she makes when grumpy.

She's on lots of meds, and a bout of encephalopathy is resolving. Apparently trying to re-start the liver working results in all kinds of chemistry going off, so she's medicated to prevent bad consequences from that, but the chemistry still affects her brain, sort of like a dementia but one that reverses (I'm told. hope hope hope).

I feel terrible at the idea of leaving her, but I'll be in so much trouble, and so disappointed, too, if I cancelled the Scotland/England trip. And practically - there's nothing I could do anyway, and she's getting better care at the vet than she would if she were at home and we were out at work all day, anyway. Still, it seems a little mean to leave her there without her family visiting for so long.

Here's hoping she'll be giving them all a hard time before too long, and we'll have a fattened-up Blue ready to come home with us when we get back. We'll have one more visit tomorrow before the airporter, then we're off.