Well that didn't go according to plan

Not so Happy Lion

I was out the other day and made a stop at a yard sale. There, right out front, was this lion chair.

Knowing Happy Bear won't last forever (shhh don't tell him) I picked it up.

While I was looking him over I noticed that he smelled a bit like Fabreeze. I figured the previous owner wanted to freshen him up a bit and didn't think much of it. I put him in my car and drove home.

I made a few stops along the way, and in the process, I closed up my car thinking it was going to rain. When I came back to my car after a stop the smell was nearly overwhelming.

I have left Happy Lion out now for a week. First airing out in my car (I have a convertible, I must have looked silly with him buckled in the passenger seat) and now being outside on the deck for two days. The smell is still there.

Anyone know if you can machine wash these types of things? I'm guessing at this point it is the only thing I can do to salvage him.

If you have any ideas, I'm open to suggestions.

Kitten Basket Pie - recipe

Kitten Basket Pie

Serves: one or two (or several hundred virtually)

Prep time: three hours

Ingredients:

• one very messy kitten room
• five very stressed out kittens
• one favorite basket
• one very adorable kitten pie plate

Directions:

Enter kitten room hoping to cuddle stressed out kittens, realize that is not going to happen because you can't even sit on the couch because they have pooped all over it. Dismantle couch coverings and clean and replace cover with clean one. Attempt to make friends with kitten, it won't happen, the kitten will run away, but you still try. 

 Realize that kittens went poop in one corner and vomited in the other. Walk across room, freaking out kittens. Gather cleaning supplies, freaking out kittens, walk back over to mess, freaking out kittens, clean mess, freaking out kittens. repeat. 

Move toys and other objects in the room away from piles of mess so you don't have to clean toys and other objects, freak kittens out. Sit quitely for a minute to let kittens calm down and explore you. Get excited when kittens touch you voluntarily and freak kittens out because you looked at them, or breathed too hard, or your heart skipped a beat - because they can feel that and know something is up. Get back to cleaning. 

Realize kittens are getting sleepy from all of the freaking out they've been doing, and put down food so they don't go to sleep hungry. Scoop litter boxes while they are eating and try not to exclaim too loudly when you find three more not in the box but should be in the box piles. Turn around, see sleepy kittens gather next to and then in favored basket. Wait, take pictures and try not to pass out from the cute.

*places large pillows around the internet 

so when you pass out from the cute you have a soft landing spot*

The kittens are now on Purina's Fortiflora probiotics thanks to #chewyinfluencer

Diarrhea continues to be an issue with the kittens. Things are starting to 'firm up', if you will, but we still have some inappropriate elimination which is incredibly frustrating. I know they don't have any concept of why I'm ripping my hair out, and it is not just because I'm sick and tired of cleaning up poop. I know that they are pooping out of the box because they aren't feeling well and that is sad.

Diarrhea happens. The stress of being captured, or moving to a new place, or from being taken away from mom, or drinking different water than you were used to, or eating new foods than you were used to all can lead to digestive upset... well that and the fact that most kittens have parasites of one kind or another (or several) can lead to one very unhappy digestive system.

Probiotics help in that regard. The gut is populated by hundreds of thousands of bacteria that all work to help you digest food properly. One reason why antibiotics cause diarrhea is because they kill off the good bacteria in your gut. Your body assumes that without the good bacteria to help there must be an abundance of bad bacteria and it starts 'cleaning house' if you will, getting rid of everything so it can start over.

Providing sources of good bacteria can help with that. There are a lot of different sources. Some people prefer to use yogurt or other fermented products, some prefer to go with probiotics you can find at your local health food store for humans because they have multiple strains of bacteria (the more the better) and vets tend to recommend FortiFloria because it is made by Purina.

I first heard of FortiFloria years ago, coincidentally enough through my vet. The boxes were much bigger back then and the powder was white and the dose contained much more powder, so when I saw the small box and the tiny packages that Chewy sent me, I was a bit surprised.

But having a more concentrated product is a good thing, it makes it easier to get it into the cat. Fortunately, the kittens were more than happy to eat the food (the Whole Earth Farm canned duck that I blogged about yesterday) and I feel better about them having a little bit of help on board.

FortiFloria is made by Purina, so it is generally recommended by veterinarians because they understand products made for pets. There are a lot of options out there and researching them all would take a great deal of time. It is also easy. Purina packages them individually, makes palatable, and it generally works. The bacteria is microencapsulated which they say helps ensure that it will make it to the gut.  It also contains vitamin C, which I'm also a huge fan of.

A couple of reasons why I'm not a huge fan are because of its ingredient list. There is only one strain of bacteria, Enterococcus faecium SF68. One helps, more would be better. The other ingredient I have a problem with is "animal digest" because as the regulations stand this product is basically unregulated and could contain any number of unsavory things in it. Does it? Maybe not, but we can't know because there is no one stopping it from happening. Like a lot of products "big pet food" makes it could be better, but it is what it is.

I'm giving it to the kittens along with some digestive enzymes and fingers crossed by the time you read this, things will be much better for them and (selfishly) for me.

The Ready Player One kittens test out a new food for you #chewyinfluencer

I am a little late getting my Chewy.com influencer reviews up for this month. Probably had something to do with the box being occupied for a few weeks every time I went to open it.  I am a sucker for a cat sitting on a box.. (Yes, Fleurp gets away with way more than she should)

This month I was offered a new food I hadn't heard of before. It is by Whole Earth Farms and it comes in several different varieties. My cats tend to like duck and since I feed chicken pretty exclusively and I like the idea of rotating my proteins, I try to get non-chicken foods whenever I can.

I took a look at the ingredient list and was impressed.

Duck, Chicken Broth, Chicken, Chicken Liver, Dried Egg Product, Natural Flavor, Calcium Carbonate, Organic Dried Alfalfa Meal, Sodium Phosphate, Guar Gum, Agar Gum, Flaxseed, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate), Potassium Chloride, Salt, Salmon Oil, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Glucoheptonate, Sodium Selenite), Locust Bean Gum, Xanthan Gum, Taurine, Yucca Schidigera Extract

Not a fan of flaxseed for cats, but if that is my biggest complaint, sign me up. (While alfalfa is a plant, it gets a pass from me into the 'okay' column because it is green and low glycemic. My cats seem to do better when they have a very small amount of low glycemic greens in their diet vs a zero plant matter diet. The fact that it is organic is a bonus. Considering that the alfalfa meal falls under the 'natural flavor' ingredient, it is fairly obvious there isn't much in there.)

Daito thought the cats were "superfun" to play with.. but how would he like the food?

I just love Parzival's tongue in this last shot. The Crew loved it too.  The new kittens love it. I totally wish this came in large 'multi-cat' sizes.  3oz sizes are nice for people with just one cat, but the trend is moving to multi-cat households - which is how we can have more owned cats in the US, but more dog households.

My not yet famous pro/con summary.
Pros: canned food, interesting proteins, not a lot of plant matter, yummy
Cons: flaxseed, they need to make bigger sizes.

Fairly certain I'll be buying some of these for those times we are out of raw for my cats.  Opening seven cans at meal time isn't going to be fun, but The Crew will love it.