6 year old Morty isn't doing so well

[kittenmittens84]

I might’ve missed this somewhere in the thread but do you have a pill popper? They can be useful for cats who are good at trapping pills in their cheeks and then hacking them back up later. You can get the pill much further back in their throat, and personally I was also much quicker with the pill gun than with my hands because it’s so much easier to get into their mouth.

Also I always chase the pill with a few mLs of the water from a can of tuna. It prevents strictures but is especially good for meds like cerenia that are bitter, it cuts down on the possibility of foaming at the mouth.

 

[Beholder]

I might’ve missed this somewhere in the thread but do you have a pill popper? They can be useful for cats who are good at trapping pills in their cheeks and then hacking them back up later. You can get the pill much further back in their throat, and personally I was also much quicker with the pill gun than with my hands because it’s so much easier to get into their mouth.

Also I always chase the pill with a few mLs of the water from a can of tuna. It prevents strictures but is especially good for meds like cerenia that are bitter, it cuts down on the possibility of foaming at the mouth.

I thought about getting a pill popper, but his pill meds are almost done with now so we're mainly just left with the liquids. He can't have tuna because he's allergic to fish, but when I give him his antibitoics I've found it helpful to squirt some water from the syringe into his mouth. It definitely helps more go down, but it also freaks him out a little more. Thank you for the advice though!

 

[Beholder]

Morty Update:

I wasn't planning on doing another one of these until after his vet visit tomorrow, especially since things have evened out a lot and there really hasn't been any additional info to add. When I woke up this morning I noticed the food bowls were a bit full. Goose doesn't sleep with the other two cats at night (because he gets into things) so it was just Morty and Po's food. Then I went into the living room and saw this.

These are l-lysine treats. I had them in a box with some other things that I was going to return from chewy and the box was covered, but I guess someone found them. It seems like a Po kinda thing to do, although he never really liked those treats. Morty did though. Anyway, they moved them a solid 12 feet. I tried to count roughly how many were eaten. It was hard to tell because a lot were broken up, but if there were indeed 60 in there I think one or both of them ate about 10, which is about 5000mg of l-lysine. I haven't seen any vomit so I'm hoping they each had some. I've read that l-lysine isn't really anything a cat can OD on, if they have too much they'll usually just vomit or get diarrhea but I called the vet just in case since Morty is on the Cerenia and therefore prevented from vomiting. After calling the office they said he'll likely be just fine but to check the manufacturers website? I was like, yeah...it says in case of overdose to call you. Anyway, she made a note in his chart for tomorrow but said they should be fine. I have a feeling when one of them goes to the litterbox I'll find out exactly who did it...

The return label was already made and includes this item...so I guess I'll just tape it up and see if they'll still take the return. I origianlly got them to see if they could help with vomiting or the hairballs Morty gets sometimes, but they didn't seem to be working so I didn't want to keep them as they were like 20 dollars. After looking over the ingrediants I'm not surprised Morty liked them, they have pork! As well as other nonsence like rice.....

 

[daftcat75]

A nerve-wracking but encouraging sign that Morty is motivated.


If Po didn’t vomit than Morty probably doesn’t need to either.

 

[Beholder]

A nerve-wracking but encouraging sign that Morty is motivated.


If Po didn’t vomit than Morty probably doesn’t need to either.

Well it's possible Po didn't have any and Morty had them all. Po likes most treats, but never seemed to want any of those ones. But yeah Morty seems fine and playful so I'm sure he's okay. He'll probably just get a lot of diarrhea.

 

[Mrsty1203]

TLDR: Cat has high white blood cells, ALT and bilirubin. Vomiting nonstop/hospitalized.

Hey everyone, I just wanted to start a thread on here about my baby and his new medical journey in hopes to get more information. As a quick back story, he is between 6-7 and has had stomach issues for the past 3 years. He has a fish allergy and an intolerance for any dry food. He both regurgitates and vomits, but the vomit is more common. He also can be spotted occasionally breathing with his mouth open and I have heard recently a few instances of asthma attacks. I've recently replaced his litter with the Dr. Elsey's respiratory relief and tried to move any air fresheners and candles away from areas he's in. He's also gotten into fish a couple times so I've thought that maybe the asthma was related to that. (I don't have a lot of money so I've been giving any leftover fish cat food to our kitten who sleeps in a cage at night. Long story short Morty realized I would feed him by the microwave and a few pieces went underneath. He never jumps on the counter but after some puking I paid more attention I caught him sticking his feet under there one day grabbing the small dropped pieces...)

Anyway, I had gotten him down to throwing up maybe once a week and was transitioning him to raw. He had no problems with this, except he really just wanted poultry and pork, not rabbit or venison. I've been using Homeopet nose drops, digestive, and cough intermittently because I've heard they're really safe so even if the don't work he probably won't have a bad reaction. The nose/cough ones did seem to be working well for his breathing. The digestive ones not so much (and the vet assistant really chewed me out for using it). I just started incorporating digestive Enzymes from Jackson Galaxy but it's a bit too early to tell.

I had previously purchased some dehydrated turkey strips from hare-today. They can be a bit sharp when broken but they're basically like a jerky. The first couple times Morty had some he was sick for about 12-16 hours. Probably three episodes with three vomits each episode. I wasn't entirely sure that this was causing anything as we had been doing a lot of diet changes and he doesn't have a turkey allergy (yet). So 2 days ago I gave him some around 2pm. This is kinda where the story starts. He started throwing up everything he ate as well as bile in between. Probably 8 episodes in about 28 hours. He wouldn't eat anything for 4ish hours, then get hungry, and then throw up again. He seemed a bit more tired than usual but he was still rolling around and appeared happy to me. He would still purr when I pet him and meow at me when he started to get hungry. By the 28 hour mark I became worried though. I was reluctant to take him to the emergency vet because I'm a broke college student and in addition to this, I never seem to get any real answers from vets, but I took him in anyway because this just isn't normal for him.

In the initial documentation I did not say he was on any raw food, I just don't want to go down that route where everything is assumed to be caused by it and other conditions may not be taken seriously. He eats 75% raw and 25% tiki cat right now. I wrote on the paper just canned food of various brands and hare-today treats. I explained the homeopath drops (to the response of "Why are you giving this to him?! Did a vet prescribe it?!) ugh and brought the treats in (to response of "I can't see the brand! What is Hare-today?! Are these actually what he had?!") She was terrible and thank god she wasn't the vet. Anyway, they initially found nothing wrong but he was a tad dehydrated. As mentioned on here by other people, they wanted to do an x-ray of his chest as well as his organs, blood work (even though he had it done last August for his teeth), and nausea/hydration shots. Running total was 1,100...

Okay apologies that this is so long, but this is where it gets bad. The vet called me from the parking lot (covid) and said he had nothing stuck in his throat but that his liver was showing failure symptoms. He had increased white blood cell production. His bilirubin was high as well as his ALT I believe. One of them was supposed to be in the range of .1 to .6 and it was at 2. He told me if I took Morty home he could very well die. This shocked me a lot because he really didn't seem super sick other than the vomiting. And with that the new running total became 3,700-4,200. He told me they needed to do an ultrasound, give him antibiotics, follow up liver testing and he needs to stay 1-2 days. He said it's possible that this could all be connected to IBD (something I've suspected for a while) but we won't know. I've now maxed out my credit card and I'm terrified for him. The vet didn't really translate his diagnosis into non-medical jargon, so what I got from that was a type of bacterial hepatitis potentially caused from his intestines, but they won't officially know until the ultrasound. He said it was rare for this to happen with an indoor cat only.

After this my mind immediately went to the raw food. Everything I've researched online says the opposite of this and that raw food should help a cat with IBD and liver issues so I'm trying not to blame myself. Anyway, I'm waiting for a call right now so I'll give an update when I can. I'm so scared for him. I have another credit card I can put a few more thousand on, and I will if that's what it takes, but I am an unemployed college student living with my boyfriend so it's going to be tough. In addition to this, I know they'll be feeding him something like Science Diet in there, and tell me to change his food permanently to that, which also stresses me out a lot because I'm not comfortable with the carb count. Plus everything I've researched says extra carbs=worse IBD.

Here of some pictures of my sweet boy. He's really intelligent and very loving. He acts more like a human than a cat.

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I feel so bad for what you’re going through. I hope they’ll give you some answers eventually and be able to help your kitty instead of their financial “bottom line”. I always laugh when I hear people go against raw.... I saw a cartoon once of cats out in the woods holding their mouse on a stick over a campfire. Lol... give me a break.

 

[Beholder]

I feel so bad for what you’re going through. I hope they’ll give you some answers eventually and be able to help your kitty instead of their financial “bottom line”. I always laugh when I hear people go against raw.... I saw a cartoon once of cats out in the woods holding their mouse on a stick over a campfire. Lol... give me a break.

Thank you! Morty is doing much better now, we're just waiting on a retest of his liver enzymes as well as the B12/folic test.

But yeah, I completely agree. Hearing the emergency vet tell me the whole "we cook our food so obviously they need cooked food" thing was just ridiculous. That's why I decided to do his followup tomorrow with my regular vet instead of them, because at least she seems a bit more open minded. I'm just not looking forward to two 50 minute car rides with him in the back. He just consistently meows over and over again the entire trip, which just stresses me out even more because I'm already well aware of the dangers of 70mph freeways. But anyway

 

[Mrsty1203]

Thank you! Morty is doing much better now, we're just waiting on a retest of his liver enzymes as well as the B12/folic test.

But yeah, I completely agree. Hearing the emergency vet tell me the whole "we cook our food so obviously they need cooked food" thing was just ridiculous. That's why I decided to do his followup tomorrow with my regular vet instead of them, because at least she seems a bit more open minded. I'm just not looking forward to two 50 minute car rides with him in the back. He just consistently meows over and over again the entire trip, which just stresses me out even more because I'm already well aware of the dangers of 70mph freeways. But anyway

I have found that Comfort Zone spray works wonders for car rides. I spray it on the towel that I cover the carrier with. Spray about 10 minutes before you plan to put him in the carrier. Has really kept my cats from being so upset with the car ride. And nowadays when you have to wait in your car so long (because of covid). Wish I had known about it much sooner... geez, but better late than never. I think you can buy it at Petsmart or Petco. I’m sure Chewy carries it but you may not be able to wait for the delivery.

 

[Beholder]

I have found that Comfort Zone spray works wonders for car rides. I spray it on the towel that I cover the carrier with. Spray about 10 minutes before you plan to put him in the carrier. Has really kept my cats from being so upset with the car ride. And nowadays when you have to wait in your car so long (because of covid). Wish I had known about it much sooner... geez, but better late than never. I think you can buy it at Petsmart or Petco. I’m sure Chewy carries it but you may not be able to wait for the delivery.

Okay, I'll look into it. I'm going to both petco and petsmart today to find some chicken only cat food (he's getting tired one the ones I already have) so I'll take a look. He's been given prescription gabapentin before for car rides but it didn't work for him, so I'm a bit convinced not much else will either. He's a stubborn guy, but we'll see.

 

[daftcat75]

Have you tried Music For Cats?
Home | Music for Cats | David Teie

That stuff is magic. It's research and tested on cats and cat approved. Instead of just classical music like a lot of "Relax My Cat" stuff, this is sounds that cats enjoy and find comforting like heart beats, ticking, purring, and the obligatory cellos and oboes. In addition to Krista, I have used this with a stray cat who was kept in a dog pen while I was waiting for a friend to pick him up to take into a rescue. Before I put the Music For Cats on, he was non-stop singing his captivity song. After I put on Music For Cats on a bluetooth speaker next to the pen, he was quiet as a mouse! I peeked in on him and he was curled up into the relaxed kitty crescent roll. When Krista was hospitalized, I left an iPod with this on repeat with her. The vet tech told me that her dog, normally a big whiner when she has to stay overnight, was surprisingly relaxed and quiet the whole night because she was in the cage under Krista's listening to her "cat rock" (my nickname for it) all night. After that stay, I always included that iPod in her carrier for all of Krista's vet trips. I told the vet staff that Krista was probably their only client who came with her own soundtrack.

It's available on all the major streaming services (Apple, Amazon, Spotify, probably Google but I don't use that one.) Either put it on the car radio for the 50 minutes drive or put it on your phone and your phone in the carrier with him. If your car stereo has a fader knob, you can set the sound to come out of only the front speakers so that he can hear his music more clearly.

 

[Beholder]

Have you tried Music For Cats?
Home | Music for Cats | David Teie

That stuff is magic. It's research and tested on cats and cat approved. Instead of just classical music like a lot of "Relax My Cat" stuff, this is sounds that cats enjoy and find comforting like heart beats, ticking, purring, and the obligatory cellos and oboes. In addition to Krista, I have used this with a stray cat who was kept in a dog pen while I was waiting for a friend to pick him up to take into a rescue. Before I put the Music For Cats on, he was non-stop singing his captivity song. After I put on Music For Cats on a bluetooth speaker next to the pen, he was quiet as a mouse! I peeked in on him and he was curled up into the relaxed kitty crescent roll. When Krista was hospitalized, I left an iPod with this on repeat with her. The vet tech told me that her dog, normally a big whiner when she has to stay overnight, was surprisingly relaxed and quiet the whole night because she was in the cage under Krista's listening to her "cat rock" (my nickname for it) all night. After that stay, I always included that iPod in her carrier for all of Krista's vet trips. I told the vet staff that Krista was probably their only client who came with her own soundtrack.

It's available on all the major streaming services (Apple, Amazon, Spotify, probably Google but I don't use that one.) Either put it on the car radio for the 50 minutes drive or put it on your phone and your phone in the carrier with him. If your car stereo has a fader knob, you can set the sound to come out of only the front speakers so that he can hear his music more clearly.

I have not tried that but it's worth a shot. I'll test some out on him right now and see how he reacts.

My car doesn't have bluetooth or an aux hookup sadly, but I could probably put my phone on top of his carrier. He has been peeing before the past few vet trips (like lifting up his butt to where it comes out of the side holes of the carrier and onto my seat) so I wouldn't want to stick my phone in there with him.

 

[Beholder]

I HAVE FOUND A MAGICAL COMBINATION. Okay, it's a terribly unhealthy combination but it works! I put the pill in one of those chicken flavored cat pill holders, but Morty wanted nothing to do with it. So then I put (something I swore to myself I would never buy again) a single dry Temptations chicken treat on top and he got it down no problem! It worked so well I think I may be able to give him those liver horse pills after all. And I mean, don't get me wrong, the ingredients are horrid. But they do contain a single protein (chicken) and I figure Morty getting his pills down is all that matters right now. And although he can't tolerate dry food, one single dry treat shouldn't do him any harm. Too bad there's no way that would work with the liquid antibiotics.

 

[daftcat75]

I have no objections to making exceptional compromises in exceptional times. As long as the treat doesn't make matters worse. If you were doing this over a long period, however... I am saddened that the fish flakes I wrapped Krista's nightly pred pill in was what delayed her remission for so long. When I switched her to transdermal pred, she achieved remission almost overnight. That's my biggest regret with her care last year.

Can you make a slurry with the antibiotics and a powdered Temptations treat?

 

[Beholder]

I have no objections to making exceptional compromises in exceptional times. As long as the treat doesn't make matters worse. If you were doing this over a long period, however... I am saddened that the fish flakes I wrapped Krista's nightly pred pill in was what delayed her remission for so long. When I switched her to transdermal pred, she achieved remission almost overnight. That's my biggest regret with her care last year.

Can you make a slurry with the antibiotics and a powdered Temptations treat?

Well sometimes it's hard to tell what is causing the issue, especially when cats end up allergic to so many random things, so I wouldn't blame yourself.

Do you mean like mix the antibiotic with the crushed up temptations? I have a feeling this won't work. If he can even slightly smell that antibiotic coming he runs now. I tried it last night with the s. bou. and some cat food broth and he knew right away. He held the tiny balls in his cheeks for about 2 minutes until I was sure they had gone down, and then he spat them out! He's such a jerk sometimes. Now that I have solved the pill issue (at least as of now) I wish I had stuck to the pill antibiotic. I still have them actually, but I doubt the vet would want me to go back to them after switching to the syringe. The syringe they switched to is almost gone, I think tonight is the last dossage, but who even knows how much of that made it down his throat. The other syringe one he started with has got to have at least a weeks left though.

 

[daftcat75]

Well sometimes it's hard to tell what is causing the issue, especially when cats end up allergic to so many random things, so I wouldn't blame yourself.

Do you mean like mix the antibiotic with the crushed up temptations? I have a feeling this won't work. If he can even slightly smell that antibiotic coming he runs now. I tried it last night with the s. bou. and some cat food broth and he knew right away. He held the tiny balls in his cheeks for about 2 minutes until I was sure they had gone down, and then he spat them out! He's such a jerk sometimes. Now that I have solved the pill issue (at least as of now) I wish I had stuck to the pill antibiotic. I still have them actually, but I doubt the vet would want me to go back to them after switching to the syringe. The syringe they switched to is almost gone, I think tonight is the last dossage, but who even knows how much of that made it down his throat. The other syringe one he started with has got to have at least a weeks left though.

Well, I did know that fish flakes were no good for her. But I was hoping she was getting more pred than allergen. I asked the vet about this and he didn't have an answer for me. Actually, his answer was more pred. For what it's worth, we did finally achieve remission and she enjoyed about a month of it before a bladder infection proved too much for her. I know the stage was set from a dozen years of only dry food. I'm surprised that didn't become an issue sooner. I'm surprised and relieved that her kidneys held up her whole life. She was the first cat that I had to do all this intensive care with. By the last year, I was battling it so long and not getting enough sleep that I wasn't thinking straight about her care anymore. To be honest, I wasn't even sure she would make it through pancreatitis in 2018. To get another two years after that was a blessing. But it does hurt, if I allow myself to think about it (which I usually don't because what's the point now?), that maybe there was more time left on her clock had I not been running it down faster with a known allergen and poor guidance from my vets. Live and learn. Next cat will benefit from the lessons we learned together.

Yes. Crush up the temptations and mix with the antibiotic and hope that he likes temptations more than he hates the antibiotic. That worked with Krista during her clostridium infection. I had to give her an antibiotic that I mixed with Tiki Cat Ahi Tuna which she only ever got during her pancreatitis and medicine meals in the times after. Maybe you can find a pork-based treat to mix into the slurry.

 

[Beholder]

Well, I did know that fish flakes were no good for her. But I was hoping she was getting more pred than allergen. I asked the vet about this and he didn't have an answer for me. Actually, his answer was more pred. For what it's worth, we did finally achieve remission and she enjoyed about a month of it before a bladder infection proved too much for her. I know the stage was set from a dozen years of only dry food. I'm surprised that didn't become an issue sooner. I'm surprised and relieved that her kidneys held up her whole life. She was the first cat that I had to do all this intensive care with. By the last year, I was battling it so long and not getting enough sleep that I wasn't thinking straight about her care anymore. To be honest, I wasn't even sure she would make it through pancreatitis in 2018. To get another two years after that was a blessing. But it does hurt, if I allow myself to think about it (which I usually don't because what's the point now?), that maybe there was more time left on her clock had I not been running it down faster with a known allergen and poor guidance from my vets. Live and learn. Next cat will benefit from the lessons we learned together.

Yes. Crush up the temptations and mix with the antibiotic and hope that he likes temptations more than he hates the antibiotic. That worked with Krista during her clostridium infection. I had to give her an antibiotic that I mixed with Tiki Cat Ahi Tuna which she only ever got during her pancreatitis and medicine meals in the times after. Maybe you can find a pork-based treat to mix into the slurry.

At least she lived a really long life, even if there was a small possibility that it could have gone on longer. I don't blame you for losing sleep and not thinking straight. This entire week instead of doing important things like sleeping, eating, and doing my organic chem homework I've just been nonstop researching Morty's potential IBD. It definitely takes a toll. I've even noticed a direct correlation to my own eating and sleeping behavior and his, for example when he wouldn't eat I also had zero appetite, and when he started eating a lot more the same thing with me. Honestly, it's probably just a side effect from stress and fear.

I love my cat Morty more than anything, but I did have a cat named Tanner before him that can never be replaced. I got him when I was six and grew up with him. I've never met a single cat like him, none even compares...he was just different. He died at 12 likely from undiagnosed diabetes. His last year of his life was spent meowing around my parent's house looking for me while I was away at school, and then when he got sick they didn't want to bother with the vet so they just put him down. Ugh. Annnnyyyyway, I just mean that I understand your grief and a lot of the helplessness that seems to come along with this kinda stuff. It sometimes feels like it's just up to the owners to know everything a vet does, when realistically that really shouldn't be the case. At this point I might as well just change my major to veterinary medicine hah. Might save me some money down the road.

THE CAT CRACK WORKED! Thank you! I crushed up like 5 of them and mixed it. He took a lick and walked away. Then I topped it with 5 more. He pretended like he wanted nothing to do with it and once he noticed I wasn't looking at him and distracted, he basically licked the plate clean! If only I had done the cat crack earlier...I was just really not wanting to because of the ingredients but I definitely regret that now.

And about the pork treats--they don't really make any. The l-lysine ones had pork flavoring and are honestly one of the few I've seen. Earlier today I looked through 3 pages of google and chewy/petsmart/petco's entire treat list and found none that were just pork. The only I could find through googling were freeze dried/dehydrated. I'm pretty sure it's because trichinosis from trichinella. Even though I don't believe it's any risk nowadays, I'm pretty sure that's why it's difficult to find pork-only treats and food. I see it mixed with other proteins a lot, but I've noticed it's usually either in small amounts or a pork flavoring.

 

[daftcat75]

At least she lived a really long life, even if there was a small possibility that it could have gone on longer. I don't blame you for losing sleep and not thinking straight. This entire week instead of doing important things like sleeping, eating, and doing my organic chem homework I've just been nonstop researching Morty's potential IBD. It definitely takes a toll. I've even noticed a direct correlation to my own eating and sleeping behavior and his, for example when he wouldn't eat I also had zero appetite, and when he started eating a lot more the same thing with me. Honestly, it's probably just a side effect from stress and fear.

I love my cat Morty more than anything, but I did have a cat named Tanner before him that can never be replaced. I got him when I was six and grew up with him. I've never met a single cat like him, none even compares...he was just different. He died at 12 likely from undiagnosed diabetes. His last year of his life was spent meowing around my parent's house looking for me while I was away at school, and then when he got sick they didn't want to bother with the vet so they just put him down. Ugh. Annnnyyyyway, I just mean that I understand your grief and a lot of the helplessness that seems to come along with this kinda stuff. It sometimes feels like it's just up to the owners to know everything a vet does, when realistically that really shouldn't be the case. At this point I might as well just change my major to veterinary medicine hah. Might save me some money down the road.

THE CAT CRACK WORKED! Thank you! I crushed up like 5 of them and mixed it. He took a lick and walked away. Then I topped it with 5 more. He pretended like he wanted nothing to do with it and once he noticed I wasn't looking at him and distracted, he basically licked the plate clean! If only I had done the cat crack earlier...I was just really not wanting to because of the ingredients but I definitely regret that now.

And about the pork treats--they don't really make any. The l-lysine ones had pork flavoring and are honestly one of the few I've seen. Earlier today I looked through 3 pages of google and chewy/petsmart/petco's entire treat list and found none that were just pork. The only I could find through googling were freeze dried/dehydrated. I'm pretty sure it's because trichinosis from trichinella. Even though I don't believe it's any risk nowadays, I'm pretty sure that's why it's difficult to find pork-only treats and food. I see it mixed with other proteins a lot, but I've noticed it's usually either in small amounts or a pork flavoring.

Taking care of a lymphoma kitty was a full time job. Round the clock. Her cancer was eating her calories. She was hungry all the time. I was sleeping in sprints: two hours at a time. She could pop from either end at any time. Usually in the middle of the night. Hearing her in the litter box would have me bolt awake at any hour. If I didn’t, I might sleep through her impatience with the poop nonsense and wake to the smell of a carpet bomb. Often her lymphoma poop nonsense culminated not just in a carpet bomb, but a barf afterwards. I would have to clean up messes from both ends. Sadly, we’re nearing that phase in my remembrance thread. Just last week, I posted her “tell” that the poop she just took wasn’t the last. She would crook her tail and keep it off the ground. When I saw this, I knew she was plotting a carpet bomb.

I didn’t blame her. Her first poops always made the box. The second poop was 50/50 chance she’d put it in a box. If she had to poop a third time in a session, she was done with the boxes no matter how many I had out for her (six at the peak. ) That third poop was going on the carpet. Sometimes I could rush a box under her or herd her into “cat jail”, a makeshift cat gate I made from kitchen shelving stood on end and wired together to keep her off the carpet until the poop nonsense was complete.

Anyway, that’s more of her illness than I have wanted to remember/speak of in a long time. I realized early in the time since she passed that dwelling on this doesn’t make much of a difference anymore. As curator of her memory, I don’t need to linger on those things that cannot be changed now. A big part of her remembrance thread now is remembering the love and joy we shared even amongst all the illness and struggle. Like the silliness of my furry foreman supurrvising the clean up and demanding I plate a replacement meal for her—even while the Bissell was still crunching away on one fresh mess or another.


It’s not just losing her specifically that’s made me want time between cats. But also needing a break, emotionally and psychologically from having a dependent. My brief encounter with a stray has been both distressing and renewing: remembering once more how independent cats can be.

Pandemic interruptions on normal life such as restrictions on access to the vet (I wasn’t allowed to be with Krista in her final hours because I wasn’t allowed inside ) and now cat food shortages makes me want to ride out this between-cats time until more normal times resume—hopefully later this year. I was just hoping for a more renaissance between-cats period of rebalancing my life and losing the “cat weight”—the stress/comfort eating extra pounds I put on last year. And reducing the time I spend on this site.

Anyway...

I’m glad the Temptations are working out. I hope they continue to work out as long as Morty needs to take those meds. Hopefully you’ll once again be cleared to feed him freeze dried and homemade again. He deserves food and treats you both can feel good about when this is all done.

Cats are tough. Morty should be back to his old self in no time. This whole episode should be a memory soon enough.

And hopefully this pandemic will also be a memory soon enough and I’ll be feeling more balance and ready for a new cat again.

 

[Beholder]

I can't imagine what a struggle that must have been. At that point I'd want to just rip all the carpet out for some piece of mind.

I understand wanting/needing to wait a bit. I've noticed many food shortages in cat food as well, but luckily when I was feeding all raw it wasn't an issue. Actually now that Morty's back on canned it's not an issue either since he demands a different brand every day. It's got to be really tough for other people with cats that are the opposite of Morty and only want to eat one single kind of food.

Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a pessimist. People where I live (and everywhere else) refuse to take this seriously. Every other week it seems like another massive (100+ people) party from the night before is posted to reddit. No masks....even the cops don't care, they're usually in the photos. So after seeing this and the mutation rate of covid I have little faith that the vaccines will hold out. On top of this, it doesn't even matter what people do here if we can't vaccinate the rest of the world as well, especially densely populated third world countries. I get the feeling this may be something that will occur seasonally like the flu, and something we'll constantly need a new vaccine for. But hopefully not, like I said I'm a pessimist.

 

[daftcat75]

I can't imagine what a struggle that must have been. At that point I'd want to just rip all the carpet out for some piece of mind.

I understand wanting/needing to wait a bit. I've noticed many food shortages in cat food as well, but luckily when I was feeding all raw it wasn't an issue. Actually now that Morty's back on canned it's not an issue either since he demands a different brand every day. It's got to be really tough for other people with cats that are the opposite of Morty and only want to eat one single kind of food.

Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a pessimist. People where I live (and everywhere else) refuse to take this seriously. Every other week it seems like another massive (100+ people) party from the night before is posted to reddit. No masks....even the cops don't care, they're usually in the photos. So after seeing this and the mutation rate of covid I have little faith that the vaccines will hold out. On top of this, it doesn't even matter what people do here if we can't vaccinate the rest of the world as well, especially densely populated third world countries. I get the feeling this may be something that will occur seasonally like the flu, and something we'll constantly need a new vaccine for. But hopefully not, like I said I'm a pessimist.

Thankfully Bissell makes fantastic wet vac products from the Spot Bot you see above to the their Pet Stain Eraser (handheld wet vac) and my favorite, the Revolution upright. Although the upright is more bulky, Krista's messes were no match for it. Bissell allowed me to, as they say in their new commercials, "remain in the moment, not the mess." For as much struggle as I endured, it was nothing to what she must have been going through. I felt mostly sadness and helplessness more than anything. I had been managing her IBD and dental issues for a couple of years and thought we were on a glide path to good health after having her remaining teeth removed after having years of piecemeal extractions due to resorption. But it wasn't meant to be. She had at least at least a dozen wonderfully healthy years that neither of us gave a second thought to. I don't know anything about her first two years and how such a wonderful cat ended up at the shelter in the first place. But her last two or three years were one struggle after another. If I could pass one lesson on to the next guardian and the next cat: feed a species-appropriate diet (all wet food.)

I have opinions on the pandemic response. But I don't come here for politics. I haven't used my Facebook since 2017 and except for my cat sitter and an aunt, neither of whom are particularly political, I only follow cats, otters, and groundhogs on Instagram. I do suspect that you're right that we lost our chance to control this pandemic. It should never have been politicized. The response has been and continues to be hampered by those who lack the courage and appetite for the big, bold actions necessary to contain it. We have likely lost our best opportunity and squandered a medical miracle in the speed and efficacy of these vaccines. I'm beyond frustrated. That's why I spend way too much time on this site. It's my outlet when I'm livid from the politics and the news of the day. So we agree on the pandemic, and that's all the politics we need to discuss here.

How's Morty? Is he named after Rick and Morty?

 

[Beholder]

Thankfully Bissell makes fantastic wet vac products from the Spot Bot you see above to the their Pet Stain Eraser (handheld wet vac) and my favorite, the Revolution upright. Although the upright is more bulky, Krista's messes were no match for it. Bissell allowed me to, as they say in their new commercials, "remain in the moment, not the mess." For as much struggle as I endured, it was nothing to what she must have been going through. I felt mostly sadness and helplessness more than anything. I had been managing her IBD and dental issues for a couple of years and thought we were on a glide path to good health after having her remaining teeth removed after having years of piecemeal extractions due to resorption. But it wasn't meant to be. She had at least at least a dozen wonderfully healthy years that neither of us gave a second thought to. I don't know anything about her first two years and how such a wonderful cat ended up at the shelter in the first place. But her last two or three years were one struggle after another. If I could pass one lesson on to the next guardian and the next cat: feed a species-appropriate diet (all wet food.)

I have opinions on the pandemic response. But I don't come here for politics. I haven't used my Facebook since 2017 and except for my cat sitter and an aunt, neither of whom are particularly political, I only follow cats, otters, and groundhogs on Instagram. I do suspect that you're right that we lost our chance to control this pandemic. It should never have been politicized. The response has been and continues to be hampered by those who lack the courage and appetite for the big, bold actions necessary to contain it. We have likely lost our best opportunity and squandered a medical miracle in the speed and efficacy of these vaccines. I'm beyond frustrated. That's why I spend way too much time on this site. It's my outlet when I'm livid from the politics and the news of the day. So we agree on the pandemic, and that's all the politics we need to discuss here.

How's Morty? Is he named after Rick and Morty?

Agreed. I always fed some wet food but never really knew how bad dry was until a couple years ago. Morty couldn't handle it anymore, so I was forced to switch to all wet food. I think this was both unlucky and lucky for Morty's health. I wish I had gotten on the raw train earlier, but I was having trouble with all the mixed messaging. Morty really seemed to be doing much better on raw so it's frustrating to have to take that step back.

Apologies, I didn't mean to make anything political. When it comes to covid, I choose to ignore that side and just listen to the scientists on this one, so I didn't realize I had said anything political. But nonetheless, you are correct that it's not something we need to talk about. And Facebook died a long time ago in my eyes.

He is doing well. We'll be going to the vet here in a couple hours. Morty's original name was Maurice. He was abandoned and left with the ferals after his owners moved when he was around two years old. The SPCA rescued him and renamed him Maurice Scampi. When I adopted him I wanted to stick with something similar to his name in case he knew it, so we decided on Morty, which we thought of from the show, Rick and Morty. I do still call him Maurice sometimes though. He usually comes running when he hears: Morty, Maurice, Mauricio or Handsome.

Po's original name was Richard. Then Tubby Wubby by the shelter.