Well, a few days before mothers were due to arrive, Arthur decided that he no longer wanted to eat at all. He'd been rather irregular at eating the last few days, even though he had been so excited about wet food before. After probably 36 hours without any food at all, there was a stay at the kitty hospital to keep him from starving himself. Then an ultrasound that turned up possibly a really odd cancer, but eventually (after more than a day thinking we'd have to put him down) a biopsy came back as a horrible infection in the lining around his intestines. The solution: surgery to repair the source of the infection and flush it out. At this point he was so weak that he could barely walk, and wouldn't eat anything except finally a few bites of fried chicken. Surgery was on Friday night, and he finally came home this evening. Of course, in the meantime he required a feeding tube, a blood transfusion (there are kitty blood donors!), and constant vitals monitoring.
He's down at least 20% in weight after his starving time, and he was skinny to begin with, so he now gets a whole can a day of special fattening prescription food. His feeding tube is still in (under the shirt on the other side) in case he doesn't eat enough. I don't think it'll be a problem. This picture is immediately after his first meal at home: a quarter can scarfed down frantically, after which he asked for more. Now he's feeling so lively that he wants to do everything forbidden that'll pop his stitches.
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