No cone

Last night TJ's neck area was so swollen, I just couldn't bear to put on the cone. I could tell it hurt him just to touch the area. So I put on his mittens, and hoped for the best. I was really afraid of what I'd find this morning, but he did pretty well. Two of his mittens were off, but he only had a couple of very minor scratches. That was a relief. I think he's learned that the intense scratching earns him the cone, so he continues to rub himself against the floor. Obviously it would be better if he didn't do that, either, but it definitely gives him some sense of relief. He's still just as swollen this morning, and his ears are definitely bothering him, too. It's pretty painful to feel so helpless, but I think Dave and I are doing as good a job as possible.

TJ still isn't interested in eating. He managed to eat all of his breakfast yesterday, but it was late afternoon by the time he had done so. I gave him a little bit of food before bed, and he ate most of that, but again this morning he barely touched his food. I still can't get him to drink water from his bowl, but he'll drink out of the hose, and he loves the ice cubes. We're having a heat wave in Seattle, so that may be part of it, but I think he's running a little bit of a fever as well. We're only putting 2-3 drops of Ox-E-Drops in his water, so I don't think it's the taste. I'll try today to leave it out and see how that works.