Krista's Care

That face in the last picture! I just noticed that.


We had a training session with the spot wand and mackerel flakes. I led her to the bench easy enough. It was just getting her to give the "I" piece another chance now that it's been secured with the "Z". A flake on the I and a flake on the Z and she's forgiven the previous wobbles. Finally a couple flakes in her perch, and I think she's got it. After lunch, she went straight into her perch.

That face! (Zoomed in)

“Enough pictures!”

daftcat75 said:

That face! (Zoomed in)

“Enough pictures!”
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she's so sweet

WinniesMomma said:

she's so sweet

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She really is! There's never been a stranger she didn't want to check out. And even in her arthritic cranky years, she still climbs onto my stomach/chest in full sphinx position and wants her fill of scritches about the head and neck before she climbs off and goes to sleep next to me. This happens at least a couple of times per night.

When I'm old and infirm, I hope there is someone who cares for me the way you do Krista. :-)

I know she appreciates (almost) everything you do for her. Give her some scritches from me, please.

Totsy

Living with a cat that trills is like living with a Groot and I don’t speak Groot.

I am Groot!

Krista’s ear is bothering her again. I think the mackerel flakes I gave her to show her the Katris the other day must not be agreeing with her. She was looking miserable wanting to lay down, hug the floor, or hide under the bookcase. When she was resting near me last night, I’d touch her and her body would quiver like it does with a trill, but no sound came out. And then the wet rattle sound this morning like a polyp suspended in earwax. She won’t let me in her ears to have a look. But I know from past and she should know by now, that she gets relief from her ear tea: chamomile tea with a few drops of apple cider vinegar. I squeeze a few drops from a soaked cotton pad into each ear. The rattle goes away almost immediately and she gets a lot of relief from the shaking and scratching. She still thinks I’m going to murder her every time I get close to her ear with the cotton pad though. I wish she would put two and two together already. I can see from her behavior and temperament and the return of audible trills that she gets relief from the tea.

I ordered her another “L” piece. I will place that next to the bed to give her the boost she can use. These aren’t cheap. But unlike cat stairs, she gets these and starts using them right away. Seeing her perching on these pieces makes me overlook the price every time.

Aww. I'm glad it's helping her already. I wish they could put two and two together as well!

Thank you for posting about the Katris, your pictures were really useful for me to see - this may come in very handy around this household

Furballsmom said:

Thank you for posting about the Katris, your pictures were really useful for me to see - this may come in very handy around this household

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I wish they were cheaper. I'd turn the entire apartment into wall-to-wall fun for her if I could afford it. But when I see her take to the new ones instantly unlike just about everything else I buy for her, I think, "I should order you another one."

That cat and you have such a wonderful relationship, bless you for being so terrific for her!

Furballsmom said:

That cat and you have such a wonderful relationship, bless you for being so terrific for her!

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I assure you it’s reciprocated.

I just ordered an L the other day. It hasn’t even arrived yet. And I’m already thinking about two more L’s for her. She’s got a couple jump downs that could benefit from being broken into steps. I think the L will probably be a popular piece around here.

As it is, I guess I can gently carry her down from her former feed me spot. She still shows up on the one counter to watch me prep her meals on the other. She knows she’s not allowed on that other counter because it has the stove top in the middle. That doesn’t stop her from scavenging the stove when I’m not looking. She trains me to keep a clean kitchen. So she uses this path I built her with cat trees to break up the counter jump into two smaller jumps. But she’ll jump straight off the counter. I guess front joints don’t hurt as much as back joints. But I have seen her considering that jump an extra moment or two lately. For meals, I just scoop her off off the counter and set her down on my way to putting her food down for her.

I'm going to get a z and one other shape to configure something he hopefully will use, since as you also discovered, pet steps were completely unacceptable

Argh!

We had a good run of about 3 weeks since the last technicolor yawn. There was hair in this one but not enough. Also, it came with after-shocks. And she's holding a grudge. No, I think this time she ate too much. She was eating less all day yesterday or she would nibble and then come back hours later to start in earnest. Sometimes she finished. Many times I was pulling up a few grams here or there. So last night I started putting down a few more grams hoping she'd eat full portions after all the tithings (the carpet always has to get its share.) It think maybe her ear was affecting her appetite. And probably it cleared up sometime last night. This morning, she ate the full portion plus the extra grams in one pass. Came back to sleep next to my head. I woke up later to fix coffee and start my workday. And then I heard it. And I've been cleaning ever since. Sort of. I thought the puddle was too large for the Bissell handheld and that maybe it would just go quicker with the upright. Except if I'm pulling out the upright, I may as well do the whole room. If I do the room, I should vacuum first so I don't drag clumps of steamed hair across a damp carpet. And then everything needs to be torn down and cleaned before going back in the closet again.

And that's how one hungry kitty ate through my entire morning!

So we have a rule around here. If you barf, you get half a day to sort yourself out and then I expect at least half portions to be eaten. So I'll offer food and I might even change the ratios to try to accomodate her grudge. But I expect today will be a pretty frustrating feeding day. It should pick up around 2am though if I know my cat.

I've said it before. Taking care of an IBD kitty is like playing a gross game of Operation and never really knowing where the sides are until you've touched them.

daftcat75 said:

It should pick up around 2am though if I know my cat.

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I know exactly how that sort of thing turns into "such a project". Hang in there!!

She took a bite or two of rabbit at 3:30am and she ate some tuna this morning. But I told her last night, “if you don’t eat or poop by morning, we’re going to the doctor.” So that’s where we are now.

They are so busy here that I am trying to just get an X-ray and blood and take her home and have a vet call me when they have a chance to review it. But I also signed a sedation form. They may have to sedate her just to take the X-ray. I guess it’s probably going to be the same deal if I took her to the emergency hospital. Except my experience with them was hours of waiting (1 hour in the waiting room and another hour in the exam room) for a cat doc and I don’t want to put Krista through that again if I don’t have to.