Krista's Care

Wow, yay Krista!!

atta girl Krista !!

I still don’t know if she’s slept yet. But she’s becoming a lot more herself again. She’s found her voice again. And she’s found a little spring in her step. When I prep her food, she runs up the Katris, just as I designed, to join me on the countertop. Instead of 1 pile of food on a plate, I’ve been splitting her portion across two plates. It makes the piles more manageable for her. I also think she feels more compelled to finish when she’s almost finished. She nearly finished the first plate in one go. She’s got a few nibbles of that plate left and then the next one and the two feeders after that. That all should come out to about 3 oz. She has all night to work on that. And not wake me for food.

Also, she had three awful runny poops and they all made it into her two boxes. She patiently waited for me to clean one out instead of launching a carpet bombing campaign. I’m so proud of her! I’m guessing I tried to give her too much stock or left a stock plate out too long. Before the mirtz kicked in. I also think that when she stops eating, the first one back from that is restarting the machinery and clearing any backlog that got stuck in the tubes. If tomorrow’s poops are also soft, I’ll give her the dirt again (probiotic.)

How are things?

I'm watching her take the first nap I've seen her take since the SR. I don't know if she's actually sleeping but she does look peaceful. Enough so that I am holding off on her mirtazapine. I admit it would be easier to pill a sleepy cat, but it would also be more jarring to her. I almost want to give her a wash out day since today is when the SR is expected to clear. Let's see how she does with the remainder of first breakfast after her nap before I make a call on her mirtz.

Ugh! She jumped down from the bench where she was napping, took two bites, and went back on to the bed to nap more. I want to let her sleep but I also don't want her to fast today. She has at least another couple (maybe three) hours until second breakfast. I'll make a decision by second breakfast.

She was slow eating and wasn't looking like she'd finish first breakfast (which also had some dirt mixed in so maybe that also slowed her down.) For the sake of consistency, I decided to mirtz her again. Judging by how she's doing on second breakfast, I'd say the mirtz has kicked in. I miss the vocal love bombs that come with mirtz but maybe those will come later. I also picked up her transdermal bupe prescription. I'm letting her wash out of the SR before I give her a transdermal dose. Or at least that's the plan. If she looks like she's in pain tonight, I have doses to spare now. She seems like she's sleeping on her Katris to her cat rock. But her head and face is facing away from me and I don't dare get up and risk disturbing her. I'm sure she'll give me plenty more opportunities to watch her sleep tonight.

Last night, it was still 80+ degrees indoors and Miss Krista curled up against me into little spoon. It was so adorably sweet if it wasn't also a little too warm!

Last night’s poop back to normal—thanks meat stock and probiotic!

I figured out the runny poops from the other night. The flea spray oil! I went out and bought the shampoo and that’s my new body wash. For her, I just sprayed a little oil onto my fingers and worked it into the back of her neck and head where she’s been scratching most and also at the base of her tail. Hopefully she’ll ingest far less this time. Between meals, I’ll spray down the bed once more. I feel less bitten and less itchy. But she’s still scratching and leaving flea dirt. If this goes on much longer, I may try Catego on her. I don’t like the reports of hair loss and skin burns. But it may be a necessary devil’s bargain to end this infestation already. I don’t want her to end up anemic or infected with something. For now though, she still has plenty of play in her for a fifteen year old. And I think she finally got sleep last night. I don’t remember seeing it, but I did engage with a very groggy Krista this morning before first breakfast.

The mirtz is still doing its job. I’m going to give her the day to sleep like she probably hasn’t since Monday. Then I’ll give her a transdermal bupe dose before first dinner to see if there is any change in her eating or demeanor.

I also emailed her dr this morning to tell him that’s she’s on mirtz and probably bupe and ask him how she can be on this and what our next steps should be. I’m inclined to let her regain weight and put some daylight between visits before rechecking blood work.

A thought also occurred to me. What if she got the fleas from the vet office? I assumed I brought them in because I like to run on the creek trails but she did see the vet for fluids about a week or two before I noticed the fleas. It may be another reason to try the Catego if it provides lasting protection from re-infestation.

There might be something here
Homemade Flea Remedies For Cats

When she sits in front of the food looking at it but not eating, that’s my cue that I’ll bupe her now instead of waiting for tonight.

Furballsmom said:

There might be something here
Homemade Flea Remedies For Cats

Click to expand...

I wonder the mechanism of baking soda and vinegar and if I can wet vac with vinegar and dust with baking soda, grind it into the carpet with a brush or socks.

Also I wonder if I can give Krista a dust bath with food grade diatomaceous earth. I’m not going to wet bathe her because I don’t think she’d tolerate it well or let me dry her. Too much stress. But I can powder her in the guise of scritches. She’d like that.

Daytime research for me.

There's also this from @catsknowme
salt is effective against fleas, especially in the bedding and carpets - it dries them out. A comb dipped in warm salt water is effective at immobilizing fleas while de-fleaing but use only a tsp or less of salt per cup of water. And have a strong salt solution nearby to dip the comb full of fleas into, so they don't escape.

I picked up food grade diatomaceous earth from the animal feed store. DE will shred their exoskeletons causing them to dry out and die. But it's harmless for Krista to lick it off herself. I will start with a head scritches session with a light DE dusting. If she tolerates it, we'll also do a sneak a scratch at the base of her tail until she warns me. I definitely know her warnings by now and know well enough to heed them.

I came home to a meowing Krista! Not a meowzapine serotonin flush but a, “that bupe is good stuff and now I’m hungry!”

Bupe transdermal did its thing. So now what do we need to do for her to find the pain and take it away?

This Krista, on mirtz and bupe, is more Krista than I’ve seen in a long time!

daftcat75 said:

A thought also occurred to me. What if she got the fleas from the vet office? I assumed I brought them in because I like to run on the creek trails but she did see the vet for fluids about a week or two before I noticed the fleas.

Click to expand...

It's more likely one or a couple fleas jumped on her at the vet clinic. If she's not super allergic, IME they don't necessarily give out any noticeable symptoms of fleas when there is just 1-2. Especially if the fleas that landed on them weren't fully adult yet.

Mirtz’ed again. I wish she would say, “yes I swallowed it. Now let me up already.”

Half of 1st breakfast already polished off which make up for leaving half of second dinner last night.

Under the bookcase she goes. I’ll be ready for her when she emerges and wants a lap full of loving. And that’s when I’ll give her a D.E. dust bath. Just a little. But enough to give her relief.

And now while she’s under the bookcase, I’ll steal a spoonful from the unfinished plate and put it on the finished plate. She will start on that one first and then continue to the other plate when she hasn’t had her fill. I may know a trick or two with this cat.

Meowzapine! There it is! She came out from under the bookcase with the roofie flush. Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow!

“I don’t have Meow Mix but there’s a couple of plates of Rawz over there.”


Or at least there was. She’s already finished. Maybe I sneak another spoonful on the plates for her next round of affection and eating. Predictable little circuit. I’m honored to be a part of it.