Layla is still hanging on

Just a little update that Layla is still alive. I honestly did not think/feel that she would make it through the night. She has made tiny improvements today. She has purred when we held and pet her, which was so nice to hear. We have tried to to get more fluids down her with a baby medicine syringe with a little luck. A few times she appeared to swallow some, but it is hard to tell how much is going in. We have to do it extremely slow and eventually she still gets frustrated and squirms to get free. She has repositioned herself several times today and after she squirms free from us, her walking does not seem as staggered/drunken. The main thing she wants to do is sleep. Her face is so swollen and the one eye that had blood in it is swollen shut with dried blood. She still is in very bad shape and I remain concerned about dehydration. With a traumatic brain injury, things could take a turn for the worse quickly.......I am so glad she is home with us, whether she lives or dies...she is here where she is loved.

It is amazing that she does not appear to be in more pain....I think non human animals have a wonderful self preservation, going inward, pride, strong sense of something that is hard for me to put into words adequately........ We humans in our suffering tend to be fearful of death and it gets expressed in many ways.......there is something about other animals that I have a strong admiration/respect for when it comes to this kind of thing.........I hope I can feel more like this when I am sick and/or dying.

We have her contained in a dog crate for her protection. She has a folded up towel to lay on and I put water and food in there just in case she decides to eat on her own. We contained her in the crate because she is one to hide when she is afraid and can hide in the tightest of spaces. We did not want her to hurt herself or go off somewhere in the house and die. We also did not want the other cats to bother her. They have gone up to the crate to sniff and seem to know her, but I was afraid that they might pick on her if she acted strange.

Last week, she was one of the cats that showed no interest in going outside. Then one evening last week, she darted out and hung out with Mattie by the mailbox. She did not show any interest in coming back in so I went back out later to call all the cats in, but she was gone. We are guessing that she got bumped on the head being hit by a car....y'know when you pass over an animal that doesn't move from the middle of the road and you think you are not going to hit it, but then Boom! that last second thud........it sucks......just dunno.....

We picked up some medication that has anti-inflammatory effects and crushed this up in water and tried to get a little down her. Poor baby girl.......we'll see how she is tomorrow.....thanks for all the kind words/thoughts I have received. I'll keep you updated.