Tuesday, January 31, 2006

is there anything cuter than a sleeping kitten?


Um.. yeah.. an Emmy that eats!! Well she's not back to her ol' self just quite yet, but she did have a moist treat when I offered her one. Usually you have throw them at her cause she gets so excited she ends up nipping your fingers trying to get to it.. It was very mellow, but she did eat it.

I spent the day away from the house. She vomited last night and has explosive diarrhea, I called the vet and he said not to worry. Other vet said to worry only if she wasn't eating by Wednesday. So I left the house. I actually went to the movies on my own for the first time ever. Was kind of a bizarre feeling, but you know, when you go to the movies with a friend, you really are in their by yourself when you think about it. It's not like you chat during the movie - or at least you shouldn't. I actually didn't attend the movie by myself though. A woman and her young daughter came in and the daughter ended up wanting to sit with me. Well, not so much with ME, but right next to where I was sitting. I didn't mind at all, she was cute. I came home to find Em still lying on the bed, more diarrhea on the floor (she tried but she missed) and the treats I left her next to her. But I gave them to her and she ate. So I gave her the food that was in the room and she started eating that too. The dr recommended I give her some Pepcid AC to help settle her stomach, but pilling her and her not eating is what caused this in the first place.. since she's not eating, I don't feel comfortable pilling her.

I went down stairs to give the kittens some attention. They have had the run of the room for a while and aren't making a complete mess, so I'm leaving them free. This means they wear themselves out during the day instead of waiting till I show up. So they ate dinner and went to sleep... on me. it was sweet.

*crosses fingers we see the light at the end of the tunnel*

update on Em


well she vomited again last night, and had explosive diarreha. She still isn't eating, but she did walk me out into the kitchen and ask for treats. She had about 10 little kibbles (cause 'treats' is just dry food that I throw on the floor) I know she has a hard time eating them off the floor, so I put some in a bowl. She had a few bites, but then gave up and went back to bed.

*wimper*

Monday, January 30, 2006

test results


Well, most of the test results came in for Em. We are waiting on two, the cbc - to see if she has an infection of any sort (I never agreed to that!) and the fructosamine (will give an average bg for the past two weeks) Everything else is good.

Now.. if we could just get this cat to eat. I'm sure food scares her right now, cause the past few times she's eaten it has come back up, but she so needs to eat. what to do what to do. I've tried all the smelly junk kitty food I can think of. Feels like that old saying, you can lead a cat to food, but you can't make her eat.. (yea.. that's what she thinks.. I hand raise kittens, I know how to force feed)

Okay then.


Well, I went to a 1:30 appointment. first one back from lunch, and I still had to wait 15 minutes to see someone. I almost walked out and waited for my regular vet. I probably should have. I wasn't too thrilled with this vet. She said Em wasn't vomiting, she was regurgitating.. *rolls eyes* she also refused to call her a she after she found out Em is male (long story) then she started talking about Ketones, and how you can't test for those with a glucometer. I worked for this vet for a year and a half. Em has been a diabetic for years and years now, and I've never seen anyone be concerned with Ketones unless the blood sugar is excessively high... even then they don't test for it. She sounds like she's test happy. I don't like test happy - especially when her health care isn't subsidized. (aka when I worked there I got it at cost) I'm all for making her healthy, but I feel uncomfortable paying for things I don't even know she needs.

*sigh* Good thing I love my cats. My first unemployment check is going to pay for this.

update


Well Em just vomited again. I made an appointment for this afternoon (since the doctors all just went to lunch)

My cats are trying to kill me


I swear they want to give me a heart attack just to see what happens. I haven't left Em's side for quite a while now, and I'm just in the other room while she's on the bed. She has urinated and had a BM, so I'm not worried about immediate danger. I called my friend at the vet who has cats as well, and she thinks I'm okay waiting another day as well - since her doc isn't in today. So I'm waiting. She's sleeping.. Eli wants to give me a heart attack. Last time I saw Em she was on the edge of the bed. I hear a large racket that COULD be her falling off the bed, but it was just Eli jumping up on my dresser that has photos on it. There is no reason for him to be up there. He's been up there before, there is nothing interesting to look at or play with.. he just wanted to freak me out. ha ha ha.. I'll get him. I'll bring him to the vet tomorrow for his vaccines (okay, so he was due) Eli Ollie and Muff are due for vx. getting the four of them there tomorrow is not going to be fun.

Em and I spent the day in bed yesterday. We gave her some water, some food, and a litterbox. She didn't use the box until very late in the day. She used it again in the middle of the night, and pooped this morning. She has nibbled on and off food all day yesterday. She vomited while on the bed in the early afternoon, the proceeded to eat some more. I let her walk around the house in the PM - cause the other kitties missed me terribly. I threw down treats and she wasn't interested. I threw some down this morning, and she had a few.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Okay, now I'm worried about Em


Yesterday I weighed Emmy and she was 13lbs 14 oz. I thought it was good that she wasn't losing weight, so I offered her an afternoon snack of some fancy feast. She was very excited when I opened up the can, and had four or five good bites, then gave up. I thought it was cause the kitties at the door wanting to get in was distracting her, so I went out to shoo them away. I left her in there to eat for a bit, and then let her out without checking to see how much she had eaten. Several hours later I gave her her pills. I don't think I've ever given them to her while she was laying down before, but it was nice and easy and off I went. Well her dinner time was delayed several hours after that. I like to have her eat soon after being pilled to help the pills into her stomach.

So at their dinner time, she didn't want to get up off the bed. She didn't want treats.. I had found a pile of vomit next to the bed. She felt warm to me, but that was hysteria apparently cause her temp was normal. She finally got annoyed with me poking her and went into the kitchen. I offered her some more treats, which she seemed interested in eating, but didn't. I had the hubby go about the evening routine, and feed everyone, but she wasn't interested. We kept her in the bedroom overnight. In the morning we fed her in the bedroom, and she had a few bites. She and I napped a bit and later on she ate some more. She eventually ate the entire portion. I got her a little more but didn't force it on her. She didn't seem to want to eat it. I remembered I had to go feed the kittens, so I tried to leave but she wouldn't let me. I led her to the food, she sniffed it but didn't bite. I put her on the bed with the hubby so she wouldn't be alone - one of the first times we've actually picked her up since this started - and she proceeded to vomit on the bed. She then went and had a few more bites of food.

The first vomit and upset tummy type behaviour I can attribute to the pilling while she was laying down and then the delay in food. The second .. that's about 15 hours later.. I am concerned about that.

I was hoping to get a few more weeks before having to go to the vet.. but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. Hopefully, dr. b will be working on Monday.. *crosses fingers*

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Fun with Roomba


I got the hubby a Roomba for Christmas. It's a neat little gizmo, and does a half decent job, but it is a little on the loud side. *shrug* I was worried about how the cats would take it. But they took it all in stride. In fact, I think they freak out more over the printer.


Thursday, January 26, 2006

the kittens first outing


I went to play with the kittens the other night and noticed one of them was much shyer (shier? more shy?) than the others. I thought it would be a good idea to take them up to my previous place of employment so they could get some travel time and some cuddling. It was fun, but they were a bit too squirmy for a furniture store. Wasn't like we could let them down and let them run around. They will be going back to the shelter on Tuesday. They are big enough now, but finding a vet who had time to do them was the issue.

Well Em's curve was non-existent. Her readings were in the 300s all day, so we put her back on one unit of insulin. This LOOKS like it is good for her. She licked all the food off her plate, and then when she got to Eli's and jack's plates, she licked them clean too. She's spunky and this FEELS right. I'll test her in a couple of days and make sure we are on the right track, then do another curve.

The one reading will give me a ballpark of where her sugars are - in relation to where they should be. Doing a curve - taking readings every several hours throughout the day - gives me (and the doctor) a better idea of how she is processing her foods and dealing with the insulin. Since she doesn't like to bleed for me and gets quite grumpy when I try to stab her ear, I've started getting the blood out of her claws. Her back claws have very long quicks and needed to be trimmed back anyway. I bought some styptic powder and only once did I need it... no wait, twice, but the first time didn't really work. Done right, getting blood out of her claws is WAY easier than stabbing her ear.. but since the claws don't heal quite like the ears do, I really can't be doing them as often. Worse comes to worse I can start stabbing her ear again.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

when hurling is a good thing


Well just as blogger was publishing, I heard a cat hurling. I went to investigate, and it turned out to be Tweedle. Which I found strange, cause she's not one to vomit. Well upon closer inspection, there was a very large rubber band in with all the food. There was also a piece of the artificial Christmas tree too, but that was small enough to pass.

Trust me, I do NOT like vomit, but I'm glad she did.

It's only 9am and


and Em's BG curve is not going as planned. Her first reading was 352, her second was 338.. okay yes, it's going down, but I was hoping for a faster rate. (breakfast was right after her first reading at 6)

So, what does this mean... probably that she is going to go back on insulin for a while, but I will reserve that judgement till the entire reading is done.

She is still losing weight though. 13lbs 13 oz this morning.

and why on earth is she sleeping on the mat in the kitchen?? I don't understand that one in the least.

As I mentioned, I have foster kittens again. A long sleek black mom, and four babies. Three black and one gray. I'm assuming they have names, but I didn't get them. I was thinking about naming them after the women at work.. (for the boys I could use their last names) it seems kinda appropriate since the last time I named kittens for my coworkers I was quickly unemployed :D

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

I'm currently a stay at home fur mom


Well, the cats have figured out I'm home full time now. They love it. It's so cute, no matter where I am I have at least four of the six cats with me. Right now I have Eli sitting on the printer watching my typing. Tweedle is in the chair next to me, and Muffin is in the other chair that she has taken to - and I have only been in here for less than five minutes! Give it a few moments, and Em will be in here too.

Speaking of Em... I think she is still losing weight. I am going to do a full BG curve on her tomorrow. I did have a thought that maybe she's losing weight due to the fact we had fleas (I HATE FLEAS) a while back, and she might (yes, I'm reaching) might have tape worms. I haven't seen evidence of it, but you don't often till the infestation is pretty far along. I think I'll get something to deworm her just in case If her BG tomorrow is normal, I'll wait a bit and take her in to see Dr. B when the exams are due in Feb. If not, I'll schedule them next week or so... wait.. next week or so is Feb.. *rolls eyes* I don't know. She looks good, she's acting fine (well except the sleeping in the kitchen on the mat, but then again maybe the mat is comfortable) she loves her wet food, and she still takes her pills like a trooper.

I'm also finding flea dirt on Em. Not on anyone else, and I'm not finding fleas. At least I THINK its flea dirt. I wonder if I shouldn't give her a bath and see what happens. I suppose I could just frontline everyone again to be on the safe side, but that is expensive. At $11.00 a cat.... well let's just say I'm glad I don't have any more than I do.

Although technically I do. I just brought home a mom and her four kittens. Someone else was fostering, and had to go out of town for a bit, so they are here. The kittens are big enough, but the shelter is all booked up with neuterings at the local vets, so I'll keep them here until next week. Mom is still sniffly, so she's on doxy for a few more days. I put them in the basement. It seemed warm enough. I'll have to make sure. I don't really want them upstairs if they are sick without transporting the cage up here too, which I also don't really want to do. I do have a heater I can turn on.. which is probably what is going to happen. They were a little freaked out by the move, so I'm letting them settle. I need to go down and give them "what for" though, to get them to open up and be more social. Kittens that hide in the back of the cage don't get adopted easily.

I am surprised by how many kittens the shelter still has in its care. It was such a late starting season.. but man did it last. When are people going to learn to get their cats altered?? arrrgh.

Friday, January 20, 2006

*rips hair out*


Okay, I'm frustrated.. I can't get Em back on an even keel. We were at four units of insulin, and her sugars were obnoxiously low, so we took her off. they went to the 300's. we put her on two, they were low again. Took her off again, and they are up to 300's again!! She's also lost about a pound in a week here. Friday I weighed her at 14lbs 11oz. Sunday she was at 14lbs 8oz, with her BG being 52.. so I made the decision to go off insulin all together again. Thursday she was 14lbs. Today her sugars are in the 300's. grrr.

However, she hasn't had regular doses of her herbs or her cosequin. I'm going to start that up again and be anal about it, and see what happens. I did just get postcards saying the kids were due for shots, so if she doesn't settle soon, I'll get some major blood work done on her.

I stopped by the shelter on Thursday, and was offered some kittens on a temp basis, since the woman fostering them now needs a few weeks off. I miss having kittens. Too bad these guys aren't younger. Oh well. Can't complain about the lack of kittens!! (as much as I might want to)

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Moving Minnesota


I came home today with a pocket full of change, so I poked through my quarters to see if I had anything I was missing my state quarters collection. I don't know why I'm collecting the state quarters.. really.. i don't. A compulsion fueled by the United States mint? no idea... but yet here I am going through my quarters every once in a while to see if I have a new state. I am actually up to date - except I am missing Indiana.. I think it fell out of the coin holder thingie - which does NOT hold the coins very well - behind a desk. I'm not worried, I'll find another one eventually. ANYWAY.. I had the folder out in the kitchen on the "forbidden counter" - so needless to say it gets knocked over. I immediately blamed Jack, but he was in the room with me, and it was Muffin who was looking mighty guilty. We collected all the quarters and realized Minnesota was missing. I blamed muffin for eating it or playing with it, and figured it would turn up eventually.. and it did. But it just made for some interesting conversation..

Husband: Honey - Minnesota is missing
Me: Really, are you sure? did you look around
Husband: Yup, I cant find it anywhere

later

Husband: Honey - I found Minnesota.. it rolled all the way over into the other room.

Just made me giggle.

It was raining this morning pretty badly, and I think there was something in the air cause the cats were all fighting like.. well like cats and dogs. Usually a sharp reprimand from me will put a stop to the bickering, but it didn't today. Jack kept harassing the other cats, so I finally locked him in a room by himself for a while. I don't know if it worked or not, but at least there wasn't any physical violence any more. At work one of my co-workers told me her cat was acting strange this morning too, and so did another (but her cats weren't acting THAT strange) That full moon - back to a Friday the 13th.. and they say cats can't read calendars!!


I went to the Psycho Kitty's website again today - realizing I hadn't been in a while (http://psychokitty.blogspot.com/ ) and it is so much fun reading that site. You really start to think the cat is writing it.. she does a good job of it all.. but anyway.. I was reading around Christmas, and it was asked what everyone wanted for Christmas. I couldn't help but read the comments, and there was one in there 'from' a rabbit, who asked for carrots. Which sent me to the bunny's website (you have GOT to love the net) which led me to sites that reminded me just how much I want a bunny. I need to make it over to the shelter some point soon and visit with the rabbits they have. Last time I was there they had a gray rabbit named Jack.. I almost adopted him with out getting to know him, but he was hiding in his house and wasn't too thrilled with me when I made him come out. There are some really cool new rabbit hutches on the market now. 12 years ago when I was looking for one, they were still doing wire bottom cages, which I never did like.. but that was all there was. We built Tobin a pen in the basement of our last house, which he loved very much, but he was never really litter trained, so there were stains in the cement. I want a nice social rabbit. I know they are rare.. so I'm willing to wait.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Either awww or WTF?


I was waking up slowly this morning, and Jack wanted to help. He started climbing over my bladder and chest so I covered up with a pillow. He then came to my head, and tried to walk on my face, so I put my arm up over my head. He then laid his head down on my face so I couldn't breathe through my nose but could through my mouth. I couldn't figure out if he wanted to be annoying or be close to me.

Em is a whole strange mystyh mystery (she is trying to type again) herself. She has had morning sugars of over 300 so we put her up to 3 units. Well, I took her 6-hour reading (she gets insulin every 12 hours - or so - and her sugars should dip during the day then rise again before her next meal) well the noon reading was 34!! ARRRGH. I couldn't get her to bleed either. She was getting so grumpy that I had to take it by clipping her nail too short. she wasn't a fan of that either, but at least it was quicker. it was nice as I only got the drop I needed instead of the gushers that usually comes when you clip too short.

I'm trying to figure out if I should take her to the clinic to get an official BG reading... although being there will stress her out so her sugars will be a bit high anyway.. *sigh* who knows. I really shouldn't stress about this as much as I do, but I don't have kittens at the moment, so she gets my full attention.. especially when she sits at my foot with those big kitten eyes

Monday, January 9, 2006

no kittens


I had to toss Emmy off me this morning to go pee, I had to scold Jack for getting into my drawer this morning. I had to call out to Ollie who was out in the living room screaming off his head for who only knows why (I like to call it their 'I'm lost' cry) I had to pick Tweedle's nose cause she seems to have a smidge of cold, and had to dig the gunk out of Eli's ears last night because they had gotten bad again, and yet this morning I'm lamenting the fact that I have no kittens to care for.

Yup. I need help.

Na.. just need more kittens.. but that will be may or June before that happens. I'm thankful that there aren't as many kittens in the area now, but darn it, I want kittens!!

Sunday, January 8, 2006

no really.. this time they are gone


and no, I'm not happy about it. I brought them in on Saturday morning, and a couple of people showed interest, but when I explained their issues, they went in search of other kitties. One couple showed up, said they were looking for two long haired kitties. I pointed out Sam and Char, and explained their issues. They went looking around and came back. They asked some more questions and wanted to hold them. I asked about a filled out application (cause you have to fill one out to hold the animals) and they said they had one on file. I gave them Char, and went and got it. Well, it turns out it was the couple from the last adoption I was a little freaked out. They were thinking declaw, and from the attitude from before, I didn't think it would be a match. I explained that these two kitties should not be declawed (yes, I'm against it totally but in certain instances, I would have to be insistent. Declawing can make a cat more fearful. Not to say it WILL make them so, but I have seen too much circumstantial evidence to not believe it can) She seemed okay with them being left intact. They left to think about it, and I was relieved. Right at the very end of the day, they came back. They asked all the right questions and seemed open to dealing with them, so I couldn't find a reason to object - as much as I wanted to. I just hope and pray they are okay. I gave them my email address. I hope they email me to tell me everything is okay. I doubt they would even if it was.

I would love to check up on them, but what on earth would I do if I found out they had them declawed. it would be too late, and I'm sure they would not like the results and would either throw them out or return them to the shelter... and I am certain it would damage them beyond all hope.

arrrrgh.

I know I can't save them all, but the ones that need saving the most are the ones that I care about the most. Its a shame they never came to fully trusting their surroundings. I can only hope that I am completely wrong in my worry and that they are fine.

but listen to me. Even if I had found the PERFECT home for them, I'd still be worrying.
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