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  1. jstie

    Valley fever / fungal infection

    Our 9-yo gray DSH Lady Z joined our household in May of this year. She was my mom's cat, living in Tucson AZ. Mom had a cascade of health issues and could no longer care for her pets, so Lady Z came to live with us in the Chicago area. A few days ago, I picked her up (and she does not care to be...
  2. jstie

    Solensia! - new arthritis injection

    Our Eponine has had arthritis in her lower spine and shoulders. We started giving her a Dasuquin chew once a day about a year ago, which helped. Then she got stiffer and more painful, so she got one twice a day for a few months, and it helped. But then she didn't like them any more and wouldn't...
  3. jstie

    Raisins and cats...

    Had a scare yesterday. The little abandoned kitten we rescued two weeks ago, called Little Fox, has been doing incredibly well (his story is in the Orphaned Kitten Forum!). He has doubled his weight, plays, talks, tears around the house, purrs endlessly, and is just a complete joy. Yesterday...
  4. jstie

    Orphaned, sick stray kitten help, please!

    Found a tiny (less than a pound) kitten at a local campground. Unable to stand or walk, eyes fully open, has deciduous canines, cold to the touch, gums extremely pale, eyes very gunky. Local vet guessed him at about 4 weeks, temp at 99. We took half a dozen ticks off him. When I offered him a...
  5. jstie

    Elderly parent with cat trouble

    Could use some perspective on this - long and terrible story. My elderly, ailing, mother with dementia has had a lovely, sedate gray cat we call Lady Z. I live 2000 miles away. In the last five months, my mother has had a fall and a hospitalization. In the course of this, we have realized that...
  6. jstie

    Sore on upper lip after dental work for tooth resorption

    Our 7 year old Smike had dental surgery on Nov. 8, as he has tooth resorption. Previously, they removed a couple premolars; this time another couple side teeth and his right upper canine. He recovered well both times, is eating and behaving normally and happily. Last night I noticed he has a...
  7. jstie

    What's up with Arm & Hammer Naturals / Essentials cat litter vanishing off the face of the earth??

    Have used this for years - corn-based, acceptable clumping, biodegradable, pretty good odor control (with a little help from the A&H baking-soda litter box deodorizer). Bought it at Target all this time. It has now vanished from Target, not available at PetSmart or Petco, disappeared from two...
  8. jstie

    Biography of a Queen: Pawnee, 20??-02/19/2020

    I was chatting with a neighbor out by the barn one May afternoon, at our second home in central Kansas. A plain brown tabby cat strolled out of the tall grass and sat down to listen. Our neighbor, who raises cattle across the road, scooped up the cat, and stroked and scruffed it in a friendly...
  9. jstie

    My Basil's portrait

    My profile picture is of my Abyssinian Basil (aka Beezer, or just The B). I lost him to bladder cancer last fall. Shortly before he died, I sent the photo to an artist who does wonderful pet portraits, and this is what I received a few weeks ago (he has a long waiting list!). Just wanted to...
  10. jstie

    Tikicat Food...

    Our poor dear Pawnee spent 6 months last year on itraconazole as treatment for histoplasmosis. It was a long, difficult time. She felt terrible, and keeping her eating was a challenge. She finally agreed to eat TikiCat Chicken with Egg flavor food, so we kept her on that for the better part of...
  11. jstie

    Tiki Cat Koolina Luau-chicken

    Our Pawnee has been through hell and back with weirdo illnesses - a terrible vaccine reaction, and then 6 months of treatment for histoplasmosis. Over the course of all this was the titanic struggle to keep her eating. We FINALLY settled on the Tiki Cat chicken flavors, and she has been eating...
  12. jstie

    Storage Suggestions For Raw Food Mix

    I make up 6 lb batches of my raw mix at a time. I have been dividing the batch up into 5 inexpensive Ziploc-brand plastic cartons and freezing them, then thawing out one box at a time, which lasts about 4 days. I'm finding that after a few bouts of freezer / dishwasher, these cartons crack and...
  13. jstie

    Veterinary Nutrition Consult... Experience? Recommendations?

    Pawnee and rabbit 06.2013.JPG by jstie posted May 17, 2014 at 5:59 AMOur poor Pawnee... first a horrendous vaccine reaction, then histoplasmosis, and now idiopathic cystitis. The last flare was bad: dripping blood clots as she walked across the floor... We got her through that, but she WILL NOT...
  14. jstie

    Feline Cystitis (female Cat) - Diet?!

    You may remember my dear Pawnee, victim of a horrendous vaccine reaction, then last year histoplasmosis, and now this. Idiopathic cystitis. We've nursed our way through 2 flareups in the last year, and the most recent one was the worst yet, dripping blood clots as she walked through the...
  15. jstie

    mysterious vision loss

    Poor Pawnee... you may remember she survived a terrible vaccine reaction a year ago.  Well, over the summer, she has just not seemed right.  Quieter, a bit clumsy (occasionally missing a jump onto a chair, for example), more finicky about her eating, etc.  After several years of downing all her...
  16. jstie

    feral "reverting"

    For almost a year, we've had an adorable TNR cat hanging out at our house.  She's tabby and white and has a clipped ear, so we know she's been trapped and spayed at some point.  We call her "Orphy," (short for The Orpheline) and started feeding her - canned food, twice a day, so she eats it all...
  17. jstie

    Mystery GI upset - could it be the litter??

    Smike, 6 month old kitten, world-class chowhound: started vomiting and would not eat.  Vomited copious brown fluid at midnight, wouldn't eat at all in the morning.  Nibbled on two kibbles at noon, vomited five minutes later.  Accepted three small shreds of boiled chicken in the afternoon...
  18. jstie

    Goodspeed for our Mrs. Chippy

    The first week of May 1999, Forest and I were traveling a back road in New Mexico on vacation.  Forest (being a guy) had to pee.  We pulled off the road next to a scraggly little tree - the only tree in sight.  We got out of the truck and I heard a "Meow!" and I said, "Oh, my god, a cat!"  A...
  19. jstie

    senior cat with fever, lethargy, won't eat

    Mrs Chippy is 16, has never been sick a day in her life except for a slight "old cat" heart murmur and mild kidney issues.  Sunday she was listless and didn't eat like normal.  Temp 102.5.  Coaxed her to eat some - my vet out sick with flu herself on Monday so she couldn't see her and 102.5...
  20. jstie

    Awful rescue experience

    My sister Jamie just had an awful experience with a Chicago-area rescue organization.  A month ago, she adopted a 9-week-old kitten from them.  She was told the mom had given birth to the kittens in a shelter, which kept them till they were weaned, and then the rescue outfit took them and...
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