Thursday, November 30, 2006

is it panic, or is it real?


It is so hard to know when I really should listen to that little voice in my head that says my time with Em is limited.

I got home last night, and Em had vomited something pink. She hadn't eaten her food. She wouldn't eat her new food.. wouldn't eat her treats, wouldn't eat turkey baby food. She pretended to eat dinner, so we injected her, and so by 11 pm her BG was 160s. I was so afraid she'd go lower, and I couldn't get anything else in her. (I COULD have forced her, but she wasn't that low and I didn't want to upset her)

So I locked her in her room (with her food and litter) with a nice kitty bed and a wide selection of food items. I woke up at 3am, and checked on her, and she had eaten a few of the treats, and she was interested in breakfast.

So I'm not running her to the vet..

but the other symptoms she has keep poking at me.. they are nothing specific.. so it is hard to bring her in and sound like a reasonable human being. She fell once, but she was jumping to a precarious place, so that wasn't completely out of the norm.. she stumbled once, but again, it was a place where you could say any cat might.. She's still vomiting liquid too often for my comfort, but it is the same as when we last went to the vets..

I planned to take her in after the holiday.. I don't want to run her in every time "I" have an issue.. it is a vet, not a psychologists office :)

Monday, November 20, 2006

Mom, are you crazy yet?


I swear.. that Em is going to drive me insane!! Two am she threw up and woke me up. It was the "I'm hungry" vomit (why can't she just lick my face and wake me up like a good kitty??) So I walked her into the bathroom where her food is, to a) remind her where it is and b) to make sure she hadn't let someone else eat it. So her night time snack hadn't opened (timed feeder) so I opened it for her. She took a bite then looked at me. I pointed to the food, she looked at it, looked at me, and pleaded with her eyes...

Mom, I MUST have dry food.. Wet food is yummy, but I NEEEEEEEEEEED dry.. please mommy, please... beg beg beg.

So I pointed to the food again.. no go. So I took her in the other room and tested her BGs. 130! wench. She got the dry food. Seriously.. that cat is going to put me in the NUT HOUSE!! (for those of you who don't know yet - and why not?? - I hate feeding dry food, I equate it to McDonald's food for kitties)

I hate doing it.. but I am actually considering the dry timed feeder for her.. (don't want to mix wet and dry due to possible contamination of the wet with the bad icky dry food and the contaminants it comes in contact with)

and the other thing on the crazy front.. Tweedle. She's such a special child. I have to medicate Em, and have found that sometimes it is easier to give her a treat afterwards instead of making sure she goes and eats. Well, the second I open the treat jar, I have five kitties clamoring for treats. So I toss them down the hall, and in the other room, so I only have to give out one each without seeing the beg for more. Only Tweedle doesn't get it. I throw treats at her, she sniffs and walks away. I try to hand feed her, she runs away. I feel guilty that she doesn't partake, but I really should learn she's not feeling deprived.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Old and set in her ways


and no, I don't mean me :P

My poor Emerald.. She's so confused. See, we are doing some construction in the house (I can't believe we are actually doing it!!) and so this sets us humans up to try to fix the house up in general. See hubby and I aren't the neatest people in the world. We aren't bad, just general clutter, but it gets on our nerves from time to time (but obviously not enough to actually keep things clean 100% of the time)

Anyway.. one thing that has been driving us both nuts is Emmy's bathroom being in OUR bathroom. For a quick reminder, Em refuses to eat the raw food that the other kitties get, so she gets her own feeding of a high protein low carb canned food in our bathroom. We put a magnetic cat door in the door so she could get in and out on her own. To help her with her litterbox issues, we put a litter box in the room too. Well, keeping the door shut all the time caused that room to be VERY cold, and VERY stinky (the high-quality food produces HIGH stick factor poops) So we moved the door, as well as her food and litter, to another bathroom of ours, and are now leaving 'her' bathroom door open.

It's funny to watch her because despite the fact that she knows where the food is now, and where her litter box is now, but she also still expects it to be in the old bathroom as well. She gets obviously confused when it isn't there. This morning she went in there to 'use the facilities' only to find them missing. That didn't faze her, she went on the floor. It's a darn good thing I love her.

I wasn't feeling well the past couple of days and missed giving her thyroid medication. Now her weight is down under 12lbs again. *sigh* When she gets it regularly she gets to about 12lbs 2oz.. miss it for a day, and she's 11 13. grump grump grump.

I will say that Muffin is thrilled to be able to get back in the master bath. She always did love 'digging to China' in the bathtub.

I just wish I was feeling a little better, I am actually in the mood to clean a little. ButI'mm cold, and I'm achy, so I think I'm just going to crawl back into bed for a while and play kitty

Saturday, November 11, 2006

and now they are gone


This was tough. Sometimes it is very tough, sometimes it is easy.. this was the former. Teddy went and got adopted on Friday. It is a great home, and I'm glad for it, but I am very sad he is gone. Friday night I went down to the kitten room to feed them. There is a couch in that room, and I always make it a point to count kittens before I sit down to make sure there isn't one in the couch. I found Bru and Cru, and NoMi, and I kept looking for the fourth, till I realized I was looking for Teddy. That was hard.

The kittens were fine.. they were playing and not really needing lovin yet again, so I went off to bed. This morning I packed them all up, and off I went to the shelter, feeling horribly guilty that I wasn't keeping them. I walked in and the shelter wasn't ready for me. No matter how many times I tell them when I am coming, they are never ready for me. One of the girls was headed off to the local pet store where we have a presence and asked if I wanted to bring the group down there. I wasn't thrilled, but it seemed the best option, and they seemed optimistic that they would find homes, so I agreed. Well, when the shelter was ready to open, they weren't ready to leave, so I stayed at the shelter to talk to people for a bit. Several were looking for dogs, and I directed to people to talk to or just to look at dogs. One woman was looking specifically for cats... a pair of cats, kittens in fact. She had previously gotten two kittens that turned out to be FELV + and after a few months one died, and the second died recently. I asked the questions I like to know the answers to.. indoor? yes, declaw? no.. so I introduced her to my pair. I really wanted Bruiser and Cruiser to go together. It was so important to me, that I actually put it in my prayers the past couple of days. I didn't know how on earth I'd handle them being separated. They really did love each other very much, and I so wanted to keep both of them. She rents which is a little scary, but what impressed me was the previous cats were diagnosed when they were neutered, and she kept them to the end. That is hard both emotionally and financially. Most people PTS when they get the diagnosis regardless of how the cats are doing. The other thing that concerns me slightly is the mother smokes. I couldn't tell if she did. Cats suffer from second-hand smoke just as humans do. But she was willing to listen to my radical speech about cat care, seemed open and cared about doing the best, so if it couldn't be me, this wasn't a bad home.

I almost got NoMi adopted right after, but I stupidly suggested to the couple they look around to be sure. They came in looking for a male, and they found a cute one and went with him. He was a cutie, and a love, I can't fault them for choosing him, but it would have made my day if they had taken her.

After Bru and Cru's adoption was final, I went off to the store. TONS of lookie loos, but no one serious about adopting. It was a bit hard on NoMi to put up with all the people wanting to pat her but she did really well. I set her up in a cage, and all she did was hide. Later on in the day, I gave her some wet food, and I think that settled her a little because she started peeking around the corner of her hidey hole.

Unfortunately, the staff member wasn't feeling well and left early when another volunteer showed up. also, unfortunately, I ended up ticking the woman off with my "I'm against declawing" opinion since her cat is declawed. Not sure why, since she was against it herself, but was afraid that the cat was on its way to destroying the house (ripping up carpet). While I am personally 100% against it, and personally would recommend a wide variety of solutions to problems, if it is done, it is done. I don't think less of people if they do it. When I think less of people is when they don't even consider what it is going to do to the cat, when they don't think of what the surgery actually is and think it is the same as being neutered. way too many vets downplay the pain and the depth of the surgery because it is expensive and money in their pockets if they make it seem to be no big deal. Lots of people once they know what it is, refuse to do it. If you make the decision to declaw knowing what is involved, and how it will hurt the cat, and know the possible complications to the cat in the future, and you are able to weigh all of that against whatever reason you have for declawing and truly feel it is for the best (and honestly, no couch is worth it) and or it is a case of the cat staying in the home then it is your decision. I wish more people would make the decision as she did. It was something she didn't want to do but felt she needed to. I'm okay with that... okay, so I'm not, cause I do know there are other options, but MOST people don't, don't know where to look for those options, and are not given those options by their vets. It's sad, cause cats really need their claws to get a proper stretch, to walk properly (they are finding declawed cats are more prone to arthritis) and to generally be a cat.

Sigh.

I don't think less of people who have already declawed (unless they don't care) I think less of people who hear the reasons not to, who hear the options, and feel that what they want is way more important than the health and well-being of the cat. I think less of people who get cats to be property, and expect it to conform with what they want out of life, and not respect the cat for what it is, for what it needs, and what it wants. Too many people get ticked off with their cat for not using the litterbox, instead of being highly concerned, since it is the first sign of ill health.

I'm ranting. I should stop. Let me just say there are people out there who get cats, who should have stuffed animals, not living beings. I wish they came with labels. Those are the people that bug me.

If you are still reading... thank you. And if you wouldn't mind sending up a quick prayer that NoMi finds a perfect home, I would so totally appreciate it.

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Surgery


The kittens went on Monday for their neutering. *sob* they weren't ready to come home on Monday night, so I picked them up this morning. I can't help but wonder if they were neutered early this morning, as all the boys were completely drunk. poor Teddy couldn't walk straight.

I brought them to the office for a little fun, then went home and set them up with a little food and water. The boys all hurled while at the office, so I know they weren't feeling well. Wonder how much vomit I'm going to have to clean when I get home.

Sigh.

sometimes giving them up is so easy..

Sometimes it is SOOO hard.

I'm going to bring them in on Saturday for adoption. There is a huge cage of black and white kittens there already. I pray they all get GREAT homes on Saturday!!

Thursday, November 2, 2006

*sob*


Well, I did it. I called the shelter and the fosters now have an appointment to be neutered. Monday.

I am so sad.

Foster Coordinator said they still had kittens needing fostering, but I can't.. I'm still quite frustrated with the past treatment of the kittens. I'll get over it soon enough, but not at the moment.

Besides, we are going to be doing some construction in the basement, and it is probably best not to have kittens while we are banging around down there.

Bruiser is such a momma's boy, he LOVES to cuddle up on your lap. Cruiser has the perfect name because he is always off doing something. He jumps and pounces and runs like the wind. No-Mi is a pretty typical kitten.. Teddy.. well Teddy is just shy of a belly slut. I haven't seen one of those since Kodi.. One of these days I'll find that again, and there will be no stopping me. I will own it. Teddy's eyes are still pretty watery. Not sure why. I'm not going to worry about it.

Letting them go is going to be hard. who am I kidding, it is always hard... but I am glad I don't have 100 cats.
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