Krista's Care

Thanks to Krista's IBD and multiple sensitivities, we're down to one brand--Rawz--and three flavors: duck, rabbit, and turkey. And for right now, I'm keeping her on rabbit. Maybe next month I'll try to rotate turkey back in. But it's been exciting enough between the bonus poops and the hairballs.

Another Tuesday, another hairball. I can almost set my clock by it. Tuesdays means tacos and hairballs. Mostly just hair. No worse for the wear. I'm inclined to give her another week without triggering a sensitivity before I try egg lecithin or hairball gel (which almost certainly has something that won't agree with her.) I don't think she should endure soupy poops or rattle-ear in her birthday week.

She was just sitting here in front of me on the desk. I was saying to her, "your coat feels amazing. You must be cooking up a heckuva a hairball." And not 15 minutes later...

Poor girl is eyeing her food with suspicion. Or maybe she just needs more time after the hairball. Feedings are like buses, Krista. If you miss this one, there's another one behind it. I always allow for a disordered eating day whenever she hairballs.

But I do have turkey and duck if she's holding a grudge...

Never heard of a cat with so many 'dadgum' hairballs. She is one mean licking machine.

She’s almost got it. Keep practicing, Krista!

I spoil Krista. I finally decided what to get her for her 15th birthday on Sunday. Furniture she will use and enjoy.


Every time I've tried to make a food-based gift for her, she snubbed it. That's no fun for me because I spent time and/or money on it. It's no fun for her because she still didn't get a gift.

So yes, this is a little spendy but she's already using the three pieces I have.

The first thing I'll do is build her "stairs" to her favorite tree, and wall mount the "I" piece to bridge between the media bench and her tree. As it stands right now, she jumps to the media bench and then jumps a small gap between the bench and tree. I tried to close that gap with something she could walk across but she doesn't care for it.


If she uses the wall-mounted piece, watch out! I will catify the walls for her.

daftcat75 said:

I spoil Krista. I finally decided what to get her for her 15th birthday on Sunday. Furniture she will use and enjoy.


Every time I've tried to make a food-based gift for her, she snubbed it. That's no fun for me because I spent time and/or money on it. It's no fun for her because she still didn't get a gift.

So yes, this is a little spendy but she's already using the three pieces I have.

The first thing I'll do is build her "stairs" to her favorite tree, and wall mount the "I" piece to bridge between the media bench and her tree. As it stands right now, she jumps to the media bench and then jumps a small gap between the bench and tree. I tried to close that gap with something she could walk across but she doesn't care for it.


If she uses the wall-mounted piece, watch out! I will catify the walls for her.

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That is so cool. I've never seen these before. I think she'll love them.

She already enjoys the ones I have. This tree next to my desk has stairs. She goes to the Katris instead and uses those to get to the middle step of the tree, and then to the desk from there. I figure I’ll build something similar for her favorite tree in the front room.

She seems bored of the rabbit. Or maybe it was just the heat yesterday. I started to transition her to turkey because it wouldn't be a bad thing to give the rabbit a rest and have her eating something new. I gave her a 1/3 turkey portion to 2/3 rabbit. Her overly sensitive pooper gave me feedback 12 hours later. Not a stop sign, but definitely a blinking caution. She's been having soft poops a little too much lately. I started her back on "the dirt", a soil-based probiotic. I gave her a little and we wait 12 hours before I give her anymore. We're also going to stay at 1/3 turkey to 2/3 rabbit for another poop or three to see if they firm up again before moving forward with the transition.

Her coat is feeling fantastic again. She must have the next hairball chambered and ready to fire in a day or two. I will be giving her another B-12 this weekend. I think the ears and the poops are indication that she could use a little extra boost in the gut health and B-12 certainly couldn't hurt there. I'm hoping the probiotics will also move her microbiome in the right direction.

daftcat75 said:

She already enjoys the ones I have. This tree next to my desk has stairs. She goes to the Katris instead and uses those to get to the middle step of the tree, and then to the desk from there. I figure I’ll build something similar for her favorite tree in the front room.
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Looks super fun!!!

daftcat75 said:

I spoil Krista. I finally decided what to get her for her 15th birthday on Sunday. Furniture she will use and enjoy.


Every time I've tried to make a food-based gift for her, she snubbed it. That's no fun for me because I spent time and/or money on it. It's no fun for her because she still didn't get a gift.

So yes, this is a little spendy but she's already using the three pieces I have.

The first thing I'll do is build her "stairs" to her favorite tree, and wall mount the "I" piece to bridge between the media bench and her tree. As it stands right now, she jumps to the media bench and then jumps a small gap between the bench and tree. I tried to close that gap with something she could walk across but she doesn't care for it.


If she uses the wall-mounted piece, watch out! I will catify the walls for her.

Click to expand...

That's look awesome! Happy pre-Birthday to Krista

How's her new fish flake? Hopefully agreeing with her tummy?

I've stopped the fish flakes for the moment. We need to re-achieve poop stability after mixing in turkey. We also need to sort out the hairballs once the poops firm up again. She's getting probiotic twice a day, and she'll be getting another B-12 this weekend.

She is just going to stare at the office door, the open office door, all morning long. She can't see me. But she knows I'm in here. I can only see her because I'm watching her on a camera. She's either keeping watch or fixing to ambush me. I'm leaning towards the latter.

I think I just fed her too much at midnight meal. I left a couple extra grams in the baggie when weighing it out. She ate it all. And then she laid next to me for an hour burping, gurgling, and trying to digest. Just when I decided whatever happens will happen and I’m going to sleep, I woke to what sounded like a thump and a spill. I think she was just able to make it to the floor before she popped. I think she just regurgitated rather than vomited. I don’t know that I heard any retching (and I wake from deep sleep to retching because I’ve had to toss a retching cat like a barf grenade off the bed so she’ll blow at ground level.). I also think it was a regurg. because she didn’t have any aftershocks and she went to her feed-me spot before I was even finished cleaning it up.

I’ll be giving her a B-12 shot later when I’m more awake.

I fixed her a smaller portion and opened a new turkey can. I’m hoping she’ll like the turkey and rabbit with the salmon oil added to the rabbit only. This way, I can use the turkey to reduce the amount of oil in her diet. This should help with her poops. Might even help with the hairballs. She ate a good bit of it with some added dirt (probiotic) and is wisely self-regulating. There is a second or third pass waiting for her. When she’s done hiding.

I need to get better at the B-12 shots. When I have to go back and load another and stick her again with a nervous hand because she ended up wearing the first in her fur, this can't be helping with either of our stress levels. It was a lot easier to do this before her neck fur grew back in. Also, she didn't squeak this time when I pushed the plunger. Maybe I actually did it right this time? I found it much easier to make my scruff tunnel going front to back on the cat than back to front. In any case, I'll get another chance to practice this next week.

Eight am breakfast: 14 g turkey, no oil, 32 g rabbit w/ oil
She ate about half of it.

Noon lunch: 7 g turkey w/ oil, 7 g turkey, no oil, 33 g rabbit w/ oil
First pass 27 g. Sometimes I weigh her leftovers to reassure myself that they aren't as much as they seem to be. Also, it gives me a chance to fluff them back up and re-plate them.

"Oooh look! New food!"

She went back to the fluffed plate and finished it.

I wonder if it was too much to ask for a reduction of oil and the inclusion of "dirt" in the same breakfast meal. Now that my Rawz supply is stable, I can experiment with flavors and proportions. I have a can of turkey with oil added and a can without in the fridge. We'll keep working all of this until her poops are once again firm and her plates are still getting cleaned.

Happy birthday, Krista! Fifteen years young!


It would probably take me awhile to find an early picture of her. We didn’t all have cameras in our pockets back then. She was two when I adopted her so I don’t have any kitten photos.

Found these in my Dropbox. These are among the earliest I have of her.



I'm sure she's laughing at a very funny joke I just told her.

These first two are about five years ago. The third is anywhere from 5 to 13 years ago. I can only place it as being in the prior apartment whereas these first two are when I just moved into this apartment.

daftcat75 said:

Happy birthday, Krista! Fifteen years young!

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It would probably take me awhile to find an early picture of her. We didn’t all have cameras in our pockets back then. She was two when I adopted her so I don’t have any kitten photos.

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Happy birthday, Krista!

Happy delayed birthday, Krista.