A DAY WITHOUT CATS...IS LIKE A DAY WITHOUT SUNSHINE!
We cat lovers choose to surround ourselves with these creatures that make a house a home, that teach us compassion, patience and forgiveness.
As my therapist told me, after only having two sessions with me 'Cats are your calling' and yes, it's true!
Because of them, I can always end my day, knowing I helped someone take better care of their cat.
And now, a few of the cats I have shared my life with...
Oh, Disco has soooo many people and cats rooting for him, sympathizing with him, and hoping he can achieve his goal of weighing 12 pounds by Thanksgiving...so much so that one furrend asked me if I ever had his thyroid checked because he reminded her of a hypothyroid cat.
Why, yes he does! Although hypo (low) thyroidism is quite rare in cats, it is quite common in dogs and well, they look just like Disco--fat, slow moving, strange haircoat (well, his is strange because he is supposed to be naked!), I run bloodwork on him every year, but because he is young, the thyroid test was never included as mostly we look for hyper (overactive) thyroid in cats...
So, I am taking him in to work with me tomorrow and we will run some thyroid tests and the results will be back on Thursday. If he is hypothyroid, there is a medication he can take. If he isn't, well, we will 'soldier on' and 'fight the good fight' to get 'Simply Fit' with Nulo as our nutritious guide!
So, as far as the diet goes, I cut back on his feeding of dry Nulo to 1/8th cup twice a day and he is eating more of the canned, but I still worry he might not be getting the proper amount of nutrition and vitamins and minerals if he is not eating 'enough' but for now, I will hope that his canned food consumption will increase and he will be able to go to all canned soon.
He did drop 2 ounces this week, but is hungry he says! While I was around him over the holiday weekend, I tried the small amounts numerous times a day and that worked well. I did take him out strollering but am afraid I was the only one burning calories on that trip! But maybe he burned a few from 'visual stimulation'?
I was bad and didn't make him stairclimb but once during the past week, but will try to do better this week! As a sidenote, what he doesn't finish, Kiki is more than happy to polish off, same with Coco, and Sammy the stud cat likes Nulo canned leftovers, too! Brighton...well, he must be holding out in sympathy with Disco?
No pix, but I know many of you were waiting on news. Took Spottie and Dottie in to work (aka the vets) today and their exams were pretty good--no fever, no painful bellies, dehydrated though due to the vomiting, diarrhea and not eating.
We did a fecal smear on both of them and they had bacterial overgrowth but most were dead so the clavamox was helping but rough on their tummies. Their throats were red from vomiting and the soreness probably affected them not wanting to eat, too. No parasites seen in this sample either, none seen in the first sample tested 2 weeks ago, too.
So we gave them fluids under the skin (hard to do on a squirmy kitten and they yelped and cried so much so that I had one of the staff take mama Coco outside in her carrier and she was carrying on and stressed by their cries). We gave them Cerenia for the nausea and changed their antibiotic to Amoxicillin.
Tonight, they feel better and are playing. They ate well at work (Hill's a/d, a special pate that is easy to digest) but tonight at home, not so interested but will eat if I spoonfeed them and no vomiting but a little squirty poops.
They lost over 70 grams over the weekend (well instead of gaining 40 grams they lost 30 grams...) but tonight have both put on 10-20 grams, so I think they are going to respond to the new meds.
But if they aren't eating well in the morning, I will take them back for more fluids under the skin and spoon feed them during the day rather than being gone from them all day. I'll be sure to keep you posted!
Oh, about our fancy new cat tree, we first saw it on Modern Cat, and have been wanting it for over a year...it is expensive but very well made, easy to put together and came packaged very well and arrived without any damage.
WHISKER STUDIO SKY CLIMBER
and another ps: our furrend Admiral Hestorb mentioned that a kitty friend of hers was hypothyroid and had the same weight and behavior issues as Disco and so tomorrow I am taking him into work with me for a T4 test to check, as it is fairly rare in cats and something not routinely tested for. Unlike hyperthyroidism, which is quite common in older kitties.
The CB is a wonderful place where friends care for friends, isn't it!
Where did 4 days go? (Well, if you take lots of naps, the days do seem short, don't they!) Mewmmie slept in (we let her) every day and that was nice, she said! She planted all the small plants she bought a couple of weeks ago (that means the ones that need big holes dug for them are still in pots).
She was going to BBQ a steak but our electric grill bit the dust. She kinda thought it was deaded after catching fire a couple of weeks ago--got up to 600 degrees and she put out the flames with baking soda and unplugged it. So when she turned it on last nite...no heat at all. Well, guess it's back to briquets and lighter fluid, ugh she says! So she made pork chops instead.
Why are we telling you this, when none of the food was for us...well, to let you know where part of the 4 days went, hahameow! Then she had ironing, house cleaning, scrubbing and disinfecting 8 litterboxes, blogposts to write, movies to watch (she loved '9') and was going to watch Temple Grandin tonight but it got too late...
But we didn't have to labor at all this weekend, but we did get some goodies just for being US! We gots some new Kong catnip toys--refillable cuz mewmmie likes that since they grow nip at the Cat Hospital where she works (which by the way, thrives with no care and ours barely gives us much 'stash' all summer!)
And then, cuz she got a refund from her mortgage company, she set aside part of it to pay off a big chunk of Brighton's big vet bill from his urinary blockage in June, but she also splurged and got us this cool cat tree! She said it looks more like furniture so blends (huh, is that important?) and so far only Brighton has tested it out, but you know how purrsnikitty cats can be about 'liking' new things!
And then...we gots that new stroller that Brighton has been begging for (saying pink is okay, in fact is Skeezix's favorite color so that makes it Mancatly! It's all the other decorations and sequins and stuff on the Pink Catillac that embarrasses him!). Because mewmmie is mewmmie, she did purrsonalize it, but in a 'mancatly' way, with 'Go Green' and 'Save the Earth' patches...
She took Brighton and Disco out for a test drive on Saturday and they rode for an hour! 4 miles! and it was almost dark when they got home! But they had fun, didn't get chased by any dogs (mewmmie was thinking she should carry something to scare off mean dogs?) and while they didn't burn off any calories, mewmmie did and that's a plus!
Now for kitten news! Little Fifi is doing great, eyes open and such a sweet face! Hard to believe she is 2 weeks old now! She weighs 672 grams (about 23 ounces). Of course, right now she is totally dependant on momma Kiki for everything, including a playmate (kinda sad...) but in another week, she will get introduced to Spottie and Dottie and soon they will be able to play together. For now, it's Kiki and mewmmie that are providing playtime fun!
Spottie and Dottie are a little 'under the weather this weekend and if they aren't feeling better by tomorrow, they will go into work with mewmmie. She isn't sure if they had too much time out of the bathroom this weekend and didn't nurse as much, or whether the dose of Revolution she gave all the adult cats on Friday affected them through nursing (but it didn't last month) or if they have a tummy bug that is upsetting them (their first fecal test was negative for everything, including Giardia antigen)...but on Saturday, Spottie lost 9 grams instead of gaining the 10-15 grams she should.
And then Sunday, she lost 18 grams and vomited twice. So mewmie started her on fluids and antibiotics. This morning she had gained 10 grams...but her appetite is not eager, but no more vomiting. Then this afternoon, Dottie threw up once and had the 'sqwitters' and lost 8 grams, so mewmmie started her on meds, too. They both seem tired tonight but no more vomiting, but they aren't wanting to eat on their own, but will if mewmmie spoon feeds them.
It's a worry, in case it's something contagious to little Fifi, so Teri is keeping a close eye on everyone and is hoping that it will resolve once Spottie and Dottie are confined again and get back into the usual routine...we'll keep you posted! But here are some photos taken Saturday, when they were still perky! (The little girl holding Dottie is our petsitters youngest, sweet, huh?!)
Oh, and Disco...he will get a post of his own (but he's not wasting away...he's still stuck on that 'Plateau'...)
There's kitten news, cat tree news, stroller news...but until I get that post finished, here are some photos that I got this week of some Furrydance 'Alumni'. Their humans are very good about sending me photo updates, so you have 'met' them before. Jacob (or Jakey) and Bosco and Bette Blue, and Hero, and Jasper and Clover...
