Krista's Care

[daftcat75]

Take out the raw portion that might not be agreeing with her. Take out the pumpkin that might be too much. And suddenly she seems to have a lot less post meal discomfort. That’s good right? Except she’s digesting on a two hour schedule and I’m still only feeding her on a four hour schedule. I get impatient bonkers butt trying to tell me she’s ready for her next meal. I think she’ll get an extra feeder on the overnight if I want some sleep.

 

[daftcat75]

I only just noticed that today is something of another dark anniversary for Krista.

This time last year, she was supposed to get a dental because she stopped eating and ended up spending 10 days in the hospital on IV fluids, with a ruptured eardrum, and a feeding tube in her neck.


And that's where this thread picks up. 100 pages ago.

 

[daftcat75]

Yeah. That’s right. I’m running the Spot Bot at 2am despite quiet hours. What she left inches from the bed (and also inches from her food ) was too gross not to run the Bot. Twice.

She had a two box poop-splosion.

And poop pukes.

I gave her an extra half ounce of rabbit with half an s boulardii.

 

[MissClouseau]

Yeah. That’s right. I’m running the Spot Bot at 2am despite quiet hours. What she left inches from the bed (and also inches from her food ) was too gross not to run the Bot. Twice.

She had a two box poop-splosion.

And poop pukes.

I gave her an extra half ounce of rabbit with half an s boulardii.

I'm probably asking something you have already told before but, totally out of curiosity, have you tried prescription food(s)?

 

[daftcat75]

I'm probably asking something you have already told before but, totally out of curiosity, have you tried prescription food(s)?

Of the few I have looked into, I don't like the ingredients and I can't imagine they would agree much with Krista's IBD.

 

[daftcat75]

Final score: 7.4 oz for 230 calories, sort of

I don't know how much of that she retained after her pudding poops and poop pukes.

I gave her a smaller spoonful of meat stock this morning with less of the fat. That satisfied her well enough that I didn't need to give her a raw portion.

1 oz rabbit with 1/4 oz rabbit and pumpkin this morning. But then I forgot that I wanted to get the other half of s. boulardii into her. So I dumped it on the rabbit and pumpkin line she is saving for later. She is either still saving it for later, or I "poisoned" it and will need to re-plate the remainder when she re-emerges from the bookcase later.

 

[daftcat75]

She ate the yeast. She left a little pumpkin pate behind. Whatevs. Let’s see what her pooper provides. I may bring back the Frankenpumpkin.

I cut up the turkey thighs and placed the chunks in the freezer. I also put the grinder auger, plate, and blade in the freezer. Grinding frozen or mostly frozen meat is how you get good grind instead of pink slime.

Krista, of course, got a few grams of turkey sashimi. She was going to sleep through the entire processing. But I couldn’t let her skip a sashimi treat.

We really need to sort her pooper and diet again soon. She’s feeling skinny once more like the Monday weigh-in numbers were right.

I will have her vet and dentist bills paid off next week. I can call the internal medicine specialist next week. I was trying to give her daylight between vet visits and thought I could get weight back on her. But I’m starting to feel like it’s time to enlist a professional, a specialist once more.

 

[daftcat75]

What I have to do to enjoy a burrito around here:

 

[daftcat75]

I didn’t even hear the feeder open but she got her face into it faster than you can say, “lunch is served!”. One moment, I was washing a dish and Krista was stalking it from the bench above. It took less than a minute to wash the dish. When I came back out to the front room, Krista had her face buried in the feeder. It’s the moment she’s been pacing the apartment for the last couple of hours.

 

[daftcat75]

"What? No poop yet? Alright. Let's pack this sausage until something squirts out the other end."

I gave her a spoonful of stock which is satisfying her homemade craving. That or she's catching on and knows that I ambush her with medicine while she's finishing her homemade portion. When she finished the stock, she put some distance between her and her raw feeding spot beside the sink.

But it also meant she wasn't begging for the homemade food. This morning's thigh meat is in the freezer. I can make her next batch tomorrow or Sunday or whenever. Since it is in the freezer, the clock is stopped.

Tonight's dinner, besides the spoon of stock, was 30 grams rabbit and 7 grams rabbit with pumpkin with half an s. boulardii added to it.

Since she hadn't pooped since 1am, I decided as long as she was eating, that was my best chance for a hot meal too. I got about 3/4 of the way through my Beyond BBQ Cheeseburger from Carls Jr before she decided it was finally poop time.

I followed her into the litterbox/bathroom hallway and pulled the gate across securing us in poop jail.

She had a first solid poop. "I'll dispose of that while you clean up. I should know soon enough if you're one-and-done or needing extra rounds."

She needed a couple extra rounds. No pudding. More like Hershey's Kisses. No poop pukes. Seems like progress. Let's see how it holds up on a dosing day.

 

[daftcat75]

Apparently we packed the sausage too full.

She disappeared under the bookcase for hours. When it was time for second breakfast, she emerged to pop.

Two Bot spots worth.

No idea what that one was about. Maybe just ate too much at first dinner? I don’t know.

She doesn’t feel much like eating now and I don’t feel much like keeping score for the rest of the night.

But each of us will do the “don’t wanna” anyway.

And tomorrow is another day.

 

[daftcat75]

She’s just making laps between my belly and the foot of the bed where she will simply stare at her food. Then she’ll return to my belly when she’s decided that she can’t eat and she won’t sleep.

I decided to dose her early. She was just on pace for hunger barfs if we waited til morning.

And now we wait for this (possibly hastily applied) dose to kick in...

 

[daftcat75]

Still not eating well this morning. She has until the end of first breakfast to find her munchies. Otherwise, I’m giving her another Mirtaz dose. I can do that because she’s only taking a half dose every two days. She can take the other half today, if needed. She’s on pace for a vet visit tomorrow though.

 

[daftcat75]

I gave her another Mirtaz dose just now. That one went much smoother, much less struggle. I wasn’t left with a smeared finger cot wondering how much actually made her ear before she ran off.

I also gave her a B12 shot. As always, the needle went in without issue but plunging caused her to bolt. I was left with an empty syringe and I didn’t feel a wet spot on her when I caught up to her. Presumably that made it in her too.

Now today will be her day. Nothing more I want to give her or try with her today. I just wish she wasn’t looking so skinny. I feel a lot more comfortable giving her a nibble day if she had some insurance pudge to weather it.

I can make a new batch of homemade tomorrow. I don’t want to get too crazy(ier) trying too many things at once today. It’s very likely that whatever made her sick and pop last night before second dinner needs a day to work itself out. That’s how it’s always been and I’ve just been taking the Mirtaz for granted.

I will also put her on daily Mirtaz from today on. What if all the poop issues have been because she keeps riding highs and lows rather than getting an even stream?

I think she’s interested in eating. I also think she’s holding a rabbit grudge at the moment. Something will budge eventually.

 

[daftcat75]

Her eyes are bright. She has showed a pesky interest in my food as well as, “what else you got?” She’s not hiding. I think she’ll come around.

 

[daftcat75]

Restless. Anxious. Bored.

She’s a little bonkers too.

She keeps making laps between my belly/lap and the foot of the bed. She nibbles. But that’s it. I know if I offered her some turkey (homemade, Rawz, or stock), she’ll go to town. But it took this long to get turkey out of her diet. I would like to give her and rabbit a chance before I add it back in.

 

[daftcat75]

After being such a bossy and bonkers lady inserting herself on my belly or my pillow or wherever she could steal some attention and affection, she finally jumped down and ate something substantial. I plated about an ounce for second breakfast. I estimate 7 grams remain. That’s about as well as she did on the overnight. But she has several more hours.

I am tired. She was doing her bonkers act for half the night. I would love to sleep the afternoon. But she’s not even sleeping the afternoon. I’ll entertain another belly session because some of this may be mirtazapine side effect. I get her into that. I accept some duty to get her through those.

But after the next one, I’m packing it up and getting out of her hair for the rest of the afternoon. I’ll let her sleep and nibble through the rest of the afternoon and we can try again with a fresh can for first dinner.

We’re already halfway done with the rabbit case. I’m glad I ordered it. But now I have to order another case or two if I want her eating for another couple of weeks.

 

[daftcat75]

Success!

The 5.5 oz cans are different enough to cut through whatever grudge she’s been holding on the 3 oz cans. The 3 oz texture is smoother. The 5.5 oz is gamier. I even made up a small batch of frankenrabbit (rabbit with added pumpkin purée vs rabbit and pumpkin pate) which she ate a few grams of that. I seem to remember we had better poops with frankenrabbit.

 

[daftcat75]

She had a long finger of poo. A vast improvement in thickness and texture over prior poops this week. Nothing bonus. No extra features. The odor was just enough that I thought I should get up and investigate since I slept through the delivery. But it was also mild enough that once scooped, it was gone fast.

She showed no signs of restlessness or distress. A one and done.

But then just as I was getting ready to climb back into bed, I noticed two small . I don’t see her walking around shaking a barf paw. This must have happened awhile ago.

After spending a few minutes doing old school 2am cleanup aka before the Bissell: a Rad Cat tub with hot water, a little dish soap, a couple sprays of enzyme cleaner. Another tub with cold water for rinse. And my trusty head lamp so I don’t have to turn on the lights to clean up the barf. Finally I found a use for the too small pee pads that I use for under the litter boxes (when they are big enough)—I use them to blot up the excess moisture from cleaning the spots. To clean up a couple Bot spots including the pee pad dance dry took a very comparable ten minutes. Did I mention these were small spots? A typical blast would probably have me considering breaking quiet hours again.

I fluffed her plate and the first open feeder and finally back to bed. She ate a few bites from each and finally back to bed for her too.

Start to finish, about fifteen minutes of doing it and another thirty minutes watching murder porn and typing this up on a fussy phone from bed. Sure. There was also a belly ride in there somewhere.

And I’m proud to report, second feeder opened and she’s working the buffet line. Clearly she’s not holding a food grudge.

I gave her a tiny amount of frankenrabbit (rabbit with pumpkin purée) at lunch and again at first dinner. I imagine that could cause the minor disturbances.

Last night to the afternoon, she was looking like she’d need a vet visit. She rebounded well. I stopped keeping score. But her finger poops (not batteries anymore) tell me she still ate well today. Probably four to six ounces. That’s one thing I miss about the raw. It was an easy ounce or two to get in her.

I will give her another half dose of Mirtaz tomorrow morning and daily instead of every other day. Let’s see if she can eat enough rabbit without any homemade offerings long enough to cool her gut and butt and put some weight back on her.

 

[daftcat75]

“Where’s the ?”

I’m looking at her!

She is sitting at the edge of the kitchen while I cook hoping for something extra like stock, homemade, a lick of the egg bowl (like I used to let her do in before IBD times), or some other treat.

Rabbit only for you for a week or two while we give your gut and butt a rest from all its antics.