Laura Fenik wrote:

Hi Carol/cshenk, thank you for your thoughtful reply. I do hope all
is well with you. I can imagine that your work is chaotic.

It's been a rough number of days. Dear Victoria is worse. Today I
drove her to Pittsburgh again. Now the diagnosis is myelofibrosis.
Victoria was given her fourth blood transfusion this evening.
Reluctantly, a bone marrow biopsy was done at the Pittsburgh
veterinary hospital earlier this month or late last month. The
results came back inconclusive due to scarring in the bone marrow.

I've done some preliminary research and will be doing more. We've
been told by several veterinarians that we should maybe start
thinking about "humane euthanasia" as Victoria's quality of life is
not good. I do not want to give up on her however. Of course, we do
not want her to suffer at all either. One veterinarian said nothing
can be done for the myelofibrosis and Victoria won't live much
longer. This is so heart- wrenching for us as she is such a precious,
sweet angel kitty who is deeply embedded in our hearts.

Thank you for those links that you included in your last post. I did
purchase the cake decorating tool and gave it a try. That was an
excellent suggestion, by the way. It was unfortunately too big and
unwieldy but not to worry, this is definitely a good start. I
reverted back to using the larger syringes to feed Victoria. The
canned food in pate form mixed with water is easy to pass through the
syringes.

Yes, I agree with you regarding your comments on the vets and
prescription diets. Before we had Victoria, she was fed Meow Mix
original dry food (I know this is the equivalent of human junk food).
I certainly concur about the comfort food. I did buy a bag of Meow
Mix. Victoria seems to just love that when she is not so sick.
Lately, she's not even eating that. I've even made sure to pour it
right in front of her so that she can see that it is fresh. This
morning, I opened the bag and put it on its side to really show
Victoria how fresh it is. She put her dear little head in, sniffed a
bit but did not eat any. She's just too weak and sick. I was going to
syringe feed her but the vet tech from Pittsburgh said it is more
important to bring her in to the hospital right away.

Chopping doesn't bother me. But I can never seem to get it fine
enough, even with the stick blender or the food processor/chopper
similar to the Black & Decker chopper in the link that you provided.
A good idea on the water-canned mackerel. When I gave Victoria the
tuna, it was always water- canned. I think a big part of the reason
that Victoria is so picky is her illness. Another good point you made
regarding watching the ash content. As Victoria is unable to eat on
her own, for now, I'll be sticking with the urgent care pate form
canned foods. I've been looking into homemade cat food as well.

Yes, true about rinsing the bucket of the Catit water fountain
several times a day. May give this another look.

We've been in Pennsylvania the last year. Primary residence is in New
Jersey, but with the pandemic, we don't want to head back there. I'm
originally from Virginia, lived in West Virginia for many years.

I truly wish that we lived in the era of Star Trek so that Dr. McCoy
or any of the other fine ST doctors could save our dear Victoria.
We'll get a phone call tomorrow (Saturday, April 11th) about her and
what the plan is. Then I'll drive about two hours to Pittsburgh to
pick our baby up.

Stay safe and well,

Laura

Hi Laura, Carol here. I grieve with you. It sounds like time to let
her go, for her own sake. There sadly, is no magic that will solve it.
I had to let Daisy-chan go too not long ago so I know how it feels.

In fact, I think you will find all here have been there. It's hard to
look at your loved one and say, 'game over kiddo', but if you delay too
long, you will always regret it. The grief will come, but adding
regret to it makes it worlds worse.