Bailey's back!

This morning, after almost a week in the hospital, we brought Bailey back home. She's doing much better (thank you again everyone for your kind notes!), though she's still not out of the woods yet. I still need to give her three different medications, feed her through a feeding tube five times a day, give her physical therapy exercises 4 or 5 times a day, and, since she still can't walk, express her bladder and clean her up when she has accidents in bed. Poor Dempsey isn't getting as much attention as he'd like.

Bailey seems pretty content, spending most of the day (as usual) napping. Even when she was younger, she was never very fond of eating, so I think she might actually be happy that she doesn't need to get up and actually walk to her food bowl. She's purring again whenever I touch her, and she even purrs sometimes when I just look at her.

It was a pretty rough week for us. The vet who saw her on Tuesday suggested that maybe it was time for Bailey, and so did the E/R vet who took care of her Tuesday night. We love Bailey dearly, so of course it's a difficult decision, especially when we consider that we might be selfish and not necessarily looking out for what's best for her.

But I'm pretty sure we made the right call, because the main symptoms the vet described, aside from her weakness from an electrolyte imbalance, were dehydration, which feels like a hangover; and lots of gas in her GI tract, which feels like, well, gas. I thought it sounded like a couple of seis de mayos I'd had, after a night of too many cervezas and bean burritos: miserable, no doubt, but nothing I would call Dr. Kevorkian for. Now that she's hydrated, well fed, and less gas-sy, she seems more content. We're hoping Bailey will get her strength back, and since she doesn't seem to be in pain, we're willing to give her lots of time and TLC.

Luckily for us, Dempsey's sister Boston is coming to visit tomorrow! Even if the pups don't get much attention from us, I figure at least they can play and keep each other company. I'm hoping we can figure out a schedule where we have more time for both the cat and the dogs. We haven't hosted Boston yet, so we're really looking forward to getting to know her better. I hope next week will be better than this week!