Introducing Betty White

[tarasgirl06]

If I thought she had any shame....

After a strong eating performance last night, I'm still waiting on second pass on breakfast.

Making up her weekly meds in the office, I put on the cat rock in the other room for her. She seems more than content to sleep the morning away in her poof.

Weather is starting to change up here. I'm finding my Dysons which have run in Cool mode all summer are now seeing some Heat action. It won't be long before I start running the radiator. And soon enough, it will go on for the winter and not turn off again until March or April. This is all to say that Betty is probably preferring warm sleep to cold eating. We'll see. She still has two hours left on this shift.

...yeah, well, you know what they say about traits running in families. I'll just stop there.
YES!!! on the weather and the Dysons. My Windows won't-let-you-do-anything-without-being-alerted!!! told me that we've been having "record lows!" for the last 2 days. No rain, though. And we need it SO much.
Ms. Betty is allowed to floof in the poof. It's Sunday. The day after CATurday.

 

[daftcat75]

...yeah, well, you know what they say about traits running in families. I'll just stop there.
YES!!! on the weather and the Dysons. My Windows won't-let-you-do-anything-without-being-alerted!!! told me that we've been having "record lows!" for the last 2 days. No rain, though. And we need it SO much.
Ms. Betty is allowed to floof in the poof. It's Sunday. The day after CATurday.

Does that really bother you that I posted a bathroom video of her? Or are you just messing with me? Can’t tell over the internet. Or between neurodivergent individuals. I’m sure you know by now that I regard and treat my cats with a fair amount of dignity and autonomy. But at the end of the day, she’s still a cat and has no concept of a poop cam and why it may be embarrassing. I think it’s a valuable way to help answer any bathroom questions or concerns I may have. And if publishing a video of hers helps convince another to employ a poop cam, I’m okay with violating her privacy. I know she’s okay with it because she’s a cat. It’s not like I’m inviting a crowd of actual people around her while she uses the box. That would be something she would definitely not be okay with.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Does that really bother you that I posted a bathroom video of her?...And if publishing a video of hers helps convince another to employ a poop cam, I’m okay with violating her privacy. I know she’s okay with it because she’s a cat. It’s not like I’m inviting a crowd of actual people around her while she uses the box.

IMO, it is more of an issue of appearing to treat a cat like a lab rat/specimen. It is OK that you want to cam her while she is using her litter box for your own personal informational benefits, but from what I saw there was no 'educational' value in sharing it. You are inviting a crowd of people to observe her while she uses it, albeit 'after the fact', and thankfully she is not aware.

I know you are very analytical and that can be advantageous - up to a point. Saying it is OK because 'she's a cat' kind of diminishes her value in totality. I know she doesn't know the difference because you treat her well, but you do.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Yes, I was just messing with you because we do joke around at times; but since FeebysOwner mentioned it, yes, I see her point, too. Of course it's your home, your cam, and Betty's your very much loved cat. But yeah, people feel different ways about anyone being observed at private moments, whether they're aware of it or not; and I would tend to keep that private. Just me.

 

[daftcat75]

Noted.

I removed it because it seems more inappropriate than educational. I don't think any less of Betty because she has no concept of poop cams or bathroom videos. But I'm also not overly attached to having a Betty bathroom video in her album. I answered a question. It served its purpose. Perhaps I will re-post something more discrete if I encounter another situation where the educational value exceeds the (projected) privacy concerns.

Being (quite likely) neurodivergent myself, I don't always understand why something I find perfectly acceptable may not be perceived the same way.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Noted.

I removed it because it seems more inappropriate than educational. I don't think any less of Betty because she has no concept of poop cams or bathroom videos. But I'm also not overly attached to having a Betty bathroom video in her album. I answered a question. It served its purpose. Perhaps I will re-post something more discrete if I encounter another situation where the educational value exceeds the (projected) privacy concerns.

Being (quite likely) neurodivergent myself, I don't always understand why something I find perfectly acceptable may not be perceived the same way.

NOTED. And you WERE answering a question, which makes it perfectly appropriate. A dear friend of mine once told me, after her boyfriend's drawings of a cat pooping made me question the reason for him doing that, was that in his culture, at that time anyway, bathroom stuff wasn't taboo or frowned on or inappropriate or offensive. Since they were both cat lovers, I took her explanation as being sincere.
And I'm in the same boat as you are, in that I've never seen fit to have my aspy-ness "proven" by a doctor because, in my case, I do not trust allopathic practitioners. I've watched a lot of videos and listened to a lot of explanations by people who are "proven" and taken tests, and I'm like a poster child for aspy-ness. It explains a lot of the reasons why my parents couldn't discern or define "what" I was; and it also explains why a lot of people don't "get" some of my reactions. *Your last paragraph, absolutely!!!*

 

[daftcat75]

Eek a mouse!

• daftcat75
• Oct 23, 2022

Betty spooked by one of her catnip mice?

 

[Margot Lane]

…I’d say more she’s trying to get it to be an actual mouse, just based on what I’ve seen Zorro do. She is so cute.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Eek a mouse!

• daftcat75
• Oct 23, 2022

Betty spooked by one of her catnip mice?

SO kittenish!

 

[daftcat75]

…I’d say more she’s trying to get it to be an actual mouse, just based on what I’ve seen Zorro do. She is so cute.

I missed the part where she batted the mouse a couple of times first. I thought she leapt when she discovered the mouse behind her.

But yeah, she has this secret nocturnal life as a cat that doesn't move like Eeyore during my waking hours. My Office camera doesn't always pick her up. But I'm glad when it does record something like this for me.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I missed the part where she batted the mouse a couple of times first. I thought she leapt when she discovered the mouse behind her.

But yeah, she has this secret nocturnal life as a cat that doesn't move like Eeyore during my waking hours. My Office camera doesn't always pick her up. But I'm glad when it does record something like this for me.

What a treasure!
Our beloved snowshoe angel Sishya was like that. I have a very old video clip of her leaping and pouncing on a toy; when I was reading on the sofa. She never did this before that I know of and I treasure that video!

 

[Margot Lane]

I had to get security cameras recently due to some creep in the area (fortunately no longer) but it has afforded me since nothing but the joys of wildlife, from baby foxes cavorting, to my special spider that without fail each night makes a slow exploratory journey, tapping his way blindly down the rain spout. You do wonder whether this is a privacy invasion, but I have learned things about their night behaviors, and appreciate more fully their little ecstasies in life.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I had to get security cameras recently due to some creep in the area (fortunately no longer) but it has afforded me since nothing but the joys of wildlife, from baby foxes cavorting, to my special spider that without fail each night makes a slow exploratory journey, tapping his way blindly down the rain spout. You do wonder whether this is a privacy invasion, but I have learned things about their night behaviors, and appreciate more fully their little ecstasies in life.

LOVE that post, Margot Lane -- and yeah, I don't like surveillance of any kind, personally, but I do love to see what our fellow living beings are doing! I've been seeing a resident Black Widow in the south hedge for a long time -- she doesn't bother me and I don't harm her. She's beautiful. She comes down when I'm watering, to see what's going on; then she goes back up to her home when she sees there's nothing interesting happening.

 

[daftcat75]

I was one of the KickStarter supporters of Bird Buddy, a motion detection, Wi-Fi bird house that takes pictures of visitors and uses AI to identify the bird and send you a notification. I backed it early early in the pandemic and it only just arrived last week. It took them this long to solve all their development, parts, fab, production, and shipping logistics. One thing they didn’t do was publish a manual. They have short internet articles. You’re supposed to scan the QR code on the postcard in the box. I tried to go it without that and learned that I never connected the solar powered roof to the house. I thought maybe the magnet for the camera was charging through induction.

Anyway. I don’t have any visitors to show for last week and I am now recharging the camera to start over this week. It may yet turn out to be a cool product. But so far it’s been one stumble or another that could have been fixed with a QuickStart guide instead of pages online of mini videos.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I was one of the KickStarter supporters of Bird Buddy, a motion detection, Wi-Fi bird house that takes pictures of visitors and uses AI to identify the bird and send you a notification. I backed it early early in the pandemic and it only just arrived last week. It took them this long to solve all their development, parts, fab, production, and shipping logistics. One thing they didn’t do was publish a manual. They have short internet articles. You’re supposed to scan the QR code on the postcard in the box. I tried to go it without that and learned that I never connected the solar powered roof to the house. I thought maybe the magnet for the camera was charging through induction.

Anyway. I don’t have any visitors to show for last week and I am now recharging the camera to start over this week. It may yet turn out to be a cool product. But so far it’s been one stumble or another that could have been fixed with a QuickStart guide instead of pages online of mini videos.

*Story of too many products, businesses, and business relationships in these very troubled times.* Sounds like a great idea and concept, though! Hope the bugs are fixed and that it turns out to be a great product.

 

[daftcat75]

Bird Buddy charged up once more. This time I connected it to the solar powered roof and got the green dot of power! (Meaning the camera is indeed receiving charge from the roof. I’m assuming the roof can store some power in a battery before sending it to the feeder because there isn’t a whole lot of solar power at this hour. I sure hope this roof works as promised. I don’t want to be up there every week taking the camera down to recharge it. I don’t have any bird visitors yet. I may just set it on the ground and record some squirrel visitors if I don’t get any birds. Here’s a test stream picture. Looks like the images will be good. If I ever get a visitor….


Good thing I ordered Betty’s next bottle of poop pills and her next Gut Health Test on Friday. I guess I wasn’t paying attention to how many were left and we finished the bottle yesterday. Thankfully AB is top notch and practically in my backyard. They shipped it yesterday and it’s out for delivery today. Betty will only miss this morning’s pill.

Yesterday she got started slow in the morning and left a small five gram remainder on breakfast. That’s just outside a forgivable remainder. She doesn’t get that much treats and AD capsule coating. But she also doesn’t need full calories. I am still slightly offering more than she needs so that she can leave a remainder and hit her targets. I missed her first pass lunch window. She was ready at 11:30. I wanted her to wait. So wait she did. Clear past the noon plating. I had a lunch post office errand. When I got back, I decided to mess with the Bird Buddy and got “trapped” out there when I realized she finally started first pass. I had waited 90 minutes for this. I was not going to distract her. Anyway. Fast forward. She finished lunch and the dinners and half the feeder. Even with the breakfast remainder she ended up with 175 calories.

This morning was another slow one. She only ate 10 grams on first pass. A respectable first pass from her is 20 to 25 grams. I always like it when she leaves a less than 50% remainder. After spending all of my morning in my lap, she did return to finish her remainder while I logged onto work for the day. We’re set until lunch.


Glad to see the daybed is getting good use.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Bird Buddy charged up once more. This time I connected it to the solar powered roof and got the green dot of power! (Meaning the camera is indeed receiving charge from the roof. I’m assuming the roof can store some power in a battery before sending it to the feeder because there isn’t a whole lot of solar power at this hour. I sure hope this roof works as promised. I don’t want to be up there every week taking the camera down to recharge it. I don’t have any bird visitors yet. I may just set it on the ground and record some squirrel visitors if I don’t get any birds. Here’s a test stream picture. Looks like the images will be good. If I ever get a visitor….
View attachment 434822

Good thing I ordered Betty’s next bottle of poop pills and her next Gut Health Test on Friday. I guess I wasn’t paying attention to how many were left and we finished the bottle yesterday. Thankfully AB is top notch and practically in my backyard. They shipped it yesterday and it’s out for delivery today. Betty will only miss this morning’s pill.

Yesterday she got started slow in the morning and left a small five gram remainder on breakfast. That’s just outside a forgivable remainder. She doesn’t get that much treats and AD capsule coating. But she also doesn’t need full calories. I am still slightly offering more than she needs so that she can leave a remainder and hit her targets. I missed her first pass lunch window. She was ready at 11:30. I wanted her to wait. So wait she did. Clear past the noon plating. I had a lunch post office errand. When I got back, I decided to mess with the Bird Buddy and got “trapped” out there when I realized she finally started first pass. I had waited 90 minutes for this. I was not going to distract her. Anyway. Fast forward. She finished lunch and the dinners and half the feeder. Even with the breakfast remainder she ended up with 175 calories.

This morning was another slow one. She only ate 10 grams on first pass. A respectable first pass from her is 20 to 25 grams. I always like it when she leaves a less than 50% remainder. After spending all of my morning in my lap, she did return to finish her remainder while I logged onto work for the day. We’re set until lunch.


Glad to see the daybed is getting good use.
View attachment 434824

Sometimes it takes time to work up an appetite in the mornings.
Betty looks very comfy there!
Well, there are worse reasons, and locations, to get trapped (in).

 

[gizzieblue]

Weird! I guess she never returned for third pass. Still. It wasn’t a large remainder. And she can certainly afford the occasional remainder.

I might spend tomorrow binge watching Hulu that I canceled and will lose service next week. Or watching baseball. I hope Betty day eats okay with me around and not sleeping or in the office.

Her head shaking is pretty bad tonight. I really want to know what that’s about. She doesn’t itch like I would expect from a food allergy or an infection. Seems almost like a tic now. Or maybe she just knows that whatever it is, sticking her foot in her ear won’t help.

Might be worth checking for h pylori @zoologix Too long / sad story. Different strains of H Pylori can affect CNS. Head shaking / involuntary muscle tremors went away couple of days after starting the 3 antibiotics. But a full year the f internist was 'no sir, i guarantee he's not in pain' and for post prandial discomfort he recommended ... acupuncture.

The head tremors / muscle twitching while sleeping might be caused by increased ammonia levels. Of course - every cat is different and you might find it hard convincing vet to treat for it.

For mine, it worked. But after a year ... The test was not expensive. Might be worth it. Especially if she's vomiting.

 

[daftcat75]

Might be worth checking for h pylori @zoologix Too long / sad story. Different strains of H Pylori can affect CNS. Head shaking / involuntary muscle tremors went away couple of days after starting the 3 antibiotics. But a full year the f internist was 'no sir, i guarantee he's not in pain' and for post prandial discomfort he recommended ... acupuncture.

The head tremors / muscle twitching while sleeping might be caused by increased ammonia levels. Of course - every cat is different and you might find it hard convincing vet to treat for it.

For mine, it worked. But after a year ... The test was not expensive. Might be worth it. Especially if she's vomiting.

I don’t think it’s h pylori. She had an endo and we ruled out ulcers because I hated having her on Pepcid when we didn’t know if she needed it or not. The other reason why I don’t think it’s h pylori is that I would expect it to flourish in an immune-suppressed cat. Steroids would probably be the last thing you would give for h pylori. And yet Betty is doing quite well on pred. She doesn’t vomit. She had a hairball problem. But it was never food vomiting. I believe she was a kibble addict in the years before she was surrendered. The ultrasounds and gut biome testing seem to confirm as much. The gut biome testing says she has E. coli and clostridium. Though both can be present and not cause problems in normal healthy cats. And to be sure, she doesn’t have the poop issues that I saw with my last cat who had a pathogenic clostridium infection.

She takes a half dose of pred now and hasn’t had a hairball since we started. She takes ondansetron and I haven’t seen her nausea behaviors like eating carpet fibers. She takes a gut restore supplement that helps rebalance her gut that has been imbalanced first by her carb heavy diet but also a course of antibiotics for a fever of unknown origin really did a number on her gut balance. Those same antibiotics do nothing for E. coli and clostridium while wiping out large phylas of beneficial bacteria. The harmful strains flourish in an environment where they aren’t competing for resources with those beneficial strains. So in addition to the gut restore supplement, Betty also takes an s. boulardii (yeast probiotic) supplement to reduce those harmful populations.

Overall she’s doing well. The IM specialist said we could pause the pred tapering and she could remain on these meds at these levels for weeks or months while we look at other concerns like her teeth. We’ve known since I adopted her in January that she needs a cleaning and possibly an extraction or three. But we got sidetracked with all this IBD diagnosis and treatment. It could very well be that her head shaking is a pain reaction in her mouth. She often shakes her head in response to head butting me in greeting.

There are many things that can cause a cat to shake its head. Even her anti nausea medicine, ondansetron, has a listed rare side effect or head shaking. Betty will get a physical next month and we’ll see about getting her a dental. At that time, her ears can also be checked. The vet can tick off the boxes.

 

[gizzieblue]

You're right - I'm sorry.
Over the last year an a half I read about your dear Krista - and I can't tell you how much it helped! I read about cpa/cpx toxins and spoke w/doctors from mskcc and researchers from regeneron. Yeah, SK, kitty biome etc etc etc.

For us it was like ... in a way it made sense, whenever he would have diarrhea he would be happy and normal. No diarrhea - head shaking, altered personality, sleeping a lot, pretty much like some toxin would get absorbed rather than be eliminated (bunch of stuff in literature). It took a long time to realize it was ammonia causing this, I didn't know why moor was helping so much. It could have been a coincidence why h pylori antibiotics helped.
Now my second cat ( had cp diarrhea but resolved with SB / no diabetes/pancreatitis ) - basically a perfectly healthy cat rescued from the trash can has the same symptoms. Except - like Betty, no diarrhea. He did have black/tarry solid poop, but go figure vet said it doesn't mean anything ( yes, tested positive for blood). Not even hairball. And again I'm told there's nothing wrong w/ my cat. Like suddenly him sleeping 20h a day and gingerly laying on his stomach is normal. So there I go again ...

Best of everything to you and Betty and I will follow your thread.