Ysabel, due to her allergies, has never had a kitty treat in her life. When she lost Efanor, and with the new kitten tearing about, she was so down I found one thing she could have—pure human-consumption tuna.
She’s gotten a bone stuck in her throat, we think, can’t eat, coughing, breathing oddly, and we’re off to the vet again. I’m upset. I’m really upset. What can I say?
I hope it’s something very minor and Ysabel will be her chipper self again quickly. :hugs: Sorry to hear she’s so distressed and sorry you are distressed for her.
Oh, no….
Sending hope and good thoughts your way
Oh NO Ditto BCS. Hope all is well. You guys have had enough downers for several years in the last few months. Virtual (((hugs and pats))) from all of us here. (Even though Ysabel may not appreciate a pat or a lick from a dog.)
Oh dear. Oh very dear.
Well, somewhat better news. Ysabel has, they think, not a bone, but a cough caused by an upper respiratory tract infection: she had bloodwork run which advises me to put her on a special low-protein diet (her swiping the kitten’s food has not helped this) because she has always had lousy kidneys and at her age, they’re worse. But outside of that’s she’s home, she’s shot full of antibiotics, and we hope that we’ll have our old Ysabel back enjoying her morning brushings (today she was too sick even to want that). Breathing a sign of relief.
We’re tired. We’re really tired.
That is such a relief! Those kitty antibiotics do wonders for the little guys! Yay!
Did I mention a hose came loose in the basement, flooded the floor, and our marine tank ended up at a killer salinity that has all the corals in an uproar? I am correcting that gallon by gallon so as not to do worse damage.
We are just too tired to do anything.
Her kidney numbers are (and I quote the doc) not unexpectedly high for a kitteh her age and breed, so I think Carolyn’s careful feeding of her over the years has really paid off. Yay, CJ!
Meantime, ShuShu, whom we took with us just to say hi, hissed, hissed at the new vet! And she was very nice! We decided it was teenage potty mouth syndrome. But she took him back and weighed him and he’s 3.6!
Oh no oh no. I hope she perks up quickly and everyone gets some relaxing happy times. And please remember to take care of yourself, CJ.
Good grief re: the hose flood. Is this in sympathy with the Midwest? It’s good to hear that HRH is recuperating well, and the Naughty Spawn can just cool it! If one might ask, how old is Herself?
Oh my: a sick pet is so anxiety-provoking. It leaves me, at least, with a very hollow-feeling, tense tummy even when I don’t know I am thinking about the situation.
Our big, black, double-pawed cat Macadoo has been very sick since May Day with what we first thought was a fairly simply impacted hair ball in his stomach throwing him off his grub, but the original, chief rodent of the universe (he would eat anything) hardly eats at all now and is down to skin and bones himself. He’s picked up a bit since we did brought him to the vet, invested in $350 of blood work (shows high liver count but separate urine analysis says kidneys ok) and $150 of medications (vet had no specific idea what was going on and basically “tried” out a gamut of stuff, including truly awful, 10-days of squirts medicine, amoxicyllin squirts — 2 weeks but better tasting — and we are still on the liver pills (a simply pop down the throat) of 30 days). Mackie’s eating sort of, when I do Roman-style dining for him: think cat equivilent of peeled grapes and delicate melanges of babyfood, sauce from one tinned cat food coupled with delicate forkfulls from another tin, all delivered to where the cat is snoozing in the sun or trying to sleep in the middle of the night). Smearing food on paws also gets it mostly washed up.
It’s an anxious time with cats these days. My thoughts are with you.
You will look back on this as the year when anything that could go wrong did. With a vengeance. You have used up three years worth of bad luck in a few months. It sounds good about Ysabel, anyway, thank heaven. And the two of you should try and get some down time. (Just tell Demon Kitteh to be quiet and stay out of trouble; naturally he will obey — like any independant-minded Khat, and any teenager of any species!)
Herself is 15. That’s old in Siamese years. She’s a little crochety, a little arthritic, a great deal set in her ways, and at least we got her out of the vet without her biting anyone. She is the fastest, most efficient biter in catdom, and we always warn people—don’t pick Ysabel up!
As one who attempted the feat — not knowing that the Siamese I saw on the floor at the house was in fact THE Ysabel — I can tell you she radiates strong DO NOT WANT at such, which is how I got enough warning to gently but quickly set her back down before the surprise wore off… o_O
I think that’s how I managed to not get clawed… 🙂
Glad she’s improving, one kitteh disaster (and one tank disaster!) per year is plenty enough!
And you lived!
The tale is still told in legend. You have sincerely magic cat hands!
No joke, still told in legend! I was so speechless and so paralyzed with fear I could only stutter: “Pu-pu-pu-put that cat down!!”
We all agree, Ysabel was so shocked by being picked up (and a total stranger at that), she didn’t have a chance to collect herself –and her teeth.
Ysabel isn’t the only cat miracle I’ve managed. Back in the early 90’s, a quartet of fen who had just finished college in East Lansing, MI, moved en masse to Milwaukee. They arrived after dark, and I was there to help unload. One of their blacks, Corwin, was in his carrier, meowing piteously; his person (Lisa) hadn’t been able to calm him down the whole trip. I went over to the stack of stuff where he was, to introduce myself and wiggle my fingers through the door grill of the carrier. He calmed right down! Lisa was astonished!
My daughter’s male cat had serious kidney issues when he was younger. She went to special food also, but she was told to keep it away from a kitten is she ever got another. Not knowing the food you are changing to, did the vet mention that? Also she gives him Dosequin (?) which supposed to be for joints, but may also help with kidney issues. It is capsule that she sprinkles on his food. After a few weeks of the dosequin, it actually seemed like he felt a lot better. Correlation is not causation but…
Well, she gave us a sheet recommending the proportion of protein (Ysabel’s issue) in the food, so I’m going to start by reading commercial bags and cans to see if any meet the criteria; and if not, I’m cooking it myself. The big deal with cats and people food is to be sure they get their requirement of Taurine, an item they need more than we do. She was lucky enough to land in an household of allergic people who could pinpoint the cause and cook for her until we could find commercial food for her—and now that she’s older, we’re off on another hunt. She has very small kidneys, fortunately doesn’t have stones, but we have to be careful she gets fresh water and a lot of it—and now we have to cut down on the protein she eats, to under 21%, which boosting carbs to 44% WITHOUT involving corn or gluten, and fat content of 35%. This is elder-kitty diet: don’t anyone go imitating this!
I’ve cooked elderly canine dinners in the past. Old Charlie much preferred his home-cooked lean ground beef, corn, and white rice mix than anything from the store.
Investigate Science Diet. I know they have a renal formula — they have a formula for allergies too. I’ve fed all my cats from day #1 on Science Diet. Poor baby. Hope Ysabel can shake off that URI soon.
Both Hills and Iams have Feline KD food, both wet and dry. Probably not recommended for a kitten at this stage of his development. Once he’s full grown they do well on KD.
Halo makes a product line that fits your needs.
http://www.halopets.com/
I’ll certainly look into them and thank you. Dodging corn, corn gluten, and ‘chicken byproducts [contains corn]’ makes it hard, but somewhere out there is a good food.