Introducing Betty White

[lisahe]

Google apparently thinks airline luggage horror stories is now my jam because it keeps feeding them to me in the app. And some of them are so *clickbait* shocking that I end up reading them and perpetuating the preference. One of the stories I read this weekend was how a guy was refused passage on his flight from Toronto to San Francisco. But his cats got checked and sent all the way to SF. Then Air Canada had the gall to tell him that he would have to find his way out to SF to pick them up. Wait what?!?!?! The cats eventually did make it back to Toronto; very tired and very hungry! I wish this was a rare story. This just reinforces that I won't be returning to air travel any time soon and certainly not for anything where I have to be there on time.

Yikes! I, too, am happy not to fly... I've never especially enjoyed it but the stories now are just terrible. I remember how once, back in the 80s, when flew quite a bit with my cat, the airline employee who gave me the cat at my destination told me that I'd won the Kittery because the cat made it without being sent to the wrong place or somesuch. The Wretch (she was much loved but had a hard early life on the streets of Philadelphia so was not an easy cat in the beginning...) never did get sent to the wrong place and when she flew with me in the cabin she always settled in nicely. Not a wretch at all!

Edwina is disgruntled about the e collar but seems to be settling down. I hope!

How awful about the mailed medicine! I've also had things sent on crazy routes like New York to Oregon to Maine... Then there are the things that never arrived, like a book that a colleague sent. Our sincere hope is that someone at least read it after the packaging was apparently destroyed!

 

[tarasgirl06]

I couldn't fly if I wanted to as I refuse to carry the ID that would enable me to do so.
There was news coverage of plans to hold airlines accountable for their VERY shabby and unprofessional behavior on several levels. Let's see if that happens!
Very relieved that when I had to airlift 12 of my beloved cats internationally, it went pretty much without a hitch and they all arrived at their destination well and apparently not very stressed. I was so proud of them--their first and only flight! It definitely helped that one of those involved in the airlift was a 747 pilot for the airline that was flying them. One word to her and I'm quite sure the initial snarls were cleared right up.
The USPS has lost several things of mine, including a Mother's Day card that never reached her, and some important business stuff.
Apparently reliability just isn't something these corporations think is high priority.
Hoping Betty's meds arrive SOON!
...and praying for sweet Edwina's wellbeing and comfort.

 

[daftcat75]

Oh. I picked up Betty's new mirtz prescription this afternoon. Maybe one day the wrong prescription (the larger pills) will finally arrive in the mail, and maybe I'll be able to get a refund for them. I plan on giving them the unopened envelope so that the provenance remains intact.

I'd like to be able to travel with Betty. But we need to practice car rides. I should check in with my sitter and make sure she'll be working Thanksgiving weekend. Otherwise, my stretch goal will be either find new sitter and get familiar enough with her to trust her to do the job right. Or get Betty road trip ready by Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Betty, it seems like she's going to come up short on lunch. No worries. Tonight is a mirtz night and all should be right in our world soon again.

 

[lisahe]

I'd like to be able to travel with Betty. But we need to practice car rides. I should check in with my sitter and make sure she'll be working Thanksgiving weekend. Otherwise, my stretch goal will be either find new sitter and get familiar enough with her to trust her to do the job right. Or get Betty road trip ready by Thanksgiving.

Well... today we brought Ireland to the clinic when we went to pick up Edwina (hoping to stave off nonrecognition aggression) and dosed her first with one Composure treat and put bedding sprayed with Feliway in her carrier. She was quieter than usual on the way there but louder than usual on the way back. The louder return trip was probably because she hadn't had to go through a stressful vet visit!

 

[tarasgirl06]

Oh. I picked up Betty's new mirtz prescription this afternoon. Maybe one day the wrong prescription (the larger pills) will finally arrive in the mail, and maybe I'll be able to get a refund for them. I plan on giving them the unopened envelope so that the provenance remains intact.

I'd like to be able to travel with Betty. But we need to practice car rides. I should check in with my sitter and make sure she'll be working Thanksgiving weekend. Otherwise, my stretch goal will be either find new sitter and get familiar enough with her to trust her to do the job right. Or get Betty road trip ready by Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Betty, it seems like she's going to come up short on lunch. No worries. Tonight is a mirtz night and all should be right in our world soon again.

Would it be a long road trip? A nice roomy carrier with a small litter box and food and water bowls, plus room for a comfy bed or blanket, might work, with Feliway sprayed liberally on the bedding. We did really well in transporting a cat from East L.A. to Kanab, Utah this way. Stayed in a cat-friendly motel one night. He was really interested in the scenery going by and very calm the whole way. As far as I know, he'd never ridden in a car before. No "accidents" either.
Glad you got the Rx!

 

[lisahe]

I couldn't fly if I wanted to as I refuse to carry the ID that would enable me to do so.
There was news coverage of plans to hold airlines accountable for their VERY shabby and unprofessional behavior on several levels. Let's see if that happens!
Very relieved that when I had to airlift 12 of my beloved cats internationally, it went pretty much without a hitch and they all arrived at their destination well and apparently not very stressed. I was so proud of them--their first and only flight! It definitely helped that one of those involved in the airlift was a 747 pilot for the airline that was flying them. One word to her and I'm quite sure the initial snarls were cleared right up.
The USPS has lost several things of mine, including a Mother's Day card that never reached her, and some important business stuff.
Apparently reliability just isn't something these corporations think is high priority.
Hoping Betty's meds arrive SOON!
...and praying for sweet Edwina's wellbeing and comfort.

Oh my goodness about the airlift, wow! That's a feat and a half.

Edwina and I thank you for your prayers. She really is sweet! I can't believe how much she's been rolling around on the futon this evening: she's so affectionate and just wants attention. I'm glad she's feeling that good and just hope that's a sign she might eat something soon, despite the collar!

A nice roomy carrier with a small litter box and food and water bowls, plus room for a comfy bed or blanket,

And yes to this! My parents moved their cats from Maine to Florida in one of those large wire crates/kennels (probably for a dog?) that could fit a litter box, bed, and dining area. It apparently went well. And your other mention of the L.A. to Utah trip reminds me that The Wretch also handled car rides from Philadelphia to Maine quite well, too! She even settled into my lap for one of them, happy rather than nervous... and she was not a lap cat at all!

 

[daftcat75]

Betty proved me wrong and finished lunch just before dinner. Then she ate half a portion for dinner. The AD nukewarm mound worked perfectly. It took three shots of two seconds to get the mound to a comfortable prey temperature and a healthy pinch from the can was plenty to coat a couple capsules and dump the rest. The rest would be insurance if we had to offer the same pill multiple times due to lick and flicks. Even though she had a late finish on lunch, she managed to eat half of dinner at med time. By lights out, she finished most of dinner and I plated second dinner. She had her meds tonight. We should see empty plates. And we should hear some fine opera.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Betty proved me wrong and finished lunch just before dinner. Then she ate half a portion for dinner. The AD nukewarm mound worked perfectly. It took three shots of two seconds to get the mound to a comfortable prey temperature and a healthy pinch from the can was plenty to coat a couple capsules and dump the rest. The rest would be insurance if we had to offer the same pill multiple times due to lick and flicks. Even though she had a late finish on lunch, she managed to eat half of dinner at med time. By lights out, she finished most of dinner and I plated second dinner. She had her meds tonight. We should see empty plates. And we should hear some fine opera.

Hoping so on all of the above!

 

[daftcat75]

Nothing but clean plates last night. And an operetta or two.

Nuke mound of AD going well. Need to tune the temp and texture. A little cold is okay. If it’s too (luke)warm, it gets soft enough that she’s more likely to lick and flick. It took a couple extra tries on each capsule. But she did get both down. We have started bottle number three of the Still waiting for poop report number three (the one right after antibiotics.) She nibbled at breakfast. But I think the remainder will be gone by lunch. She seems to have some morning mirtz mouth that should translate to more munchies.

Today is, um, day 16? This is the first morning I didn’t wake feeling toxic. Still have a touch of cloud head. But that also seems to be resolving slowly by the day.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Nothing but clean plates last night. And an operetta or two.

Nuke mound of AD going well. Need to tune the temp and texture. A little cold is okay. If it’s too (luke)warm, it gets soft enough that she’s more likely to lick and flick. It took a couple extra tries on each capsule. But she did get both down. We have started bottle number three of the Still waiting for poop report number three (the one right after antibiotics.) She nibbled at breakfast. But I think the remainder will be gone by lunch. She seems to have some morning mirtz mouth that should translate to more munchies.

Today is, um, day 16? This is the first morning I didn’t wake feeling toxic. Still have a touch of cloud head. But that also seems to be resolving slowly by the day.

Sounds like you are both doing pretty well! Keep up the good work.

 

[daftcat75]

She left a breakfast remainder yesterday and an overnight remainder. But she cleaned the plates in between. Just in case, I gave her an extra half a hairball treat today. She ate 2/3 of breakfast today (twice as much as yesterday.). That puts her in a better place to finish breakfast later—no remainder. This week is a couple of big experiments. The first is if she can eat enough I/D alone to maintain her lovely figure. But the other experiment is whether she’ll need Optagest with the I/D alone. I haven’t been adding it because it makes her food soggy the longer she leaves a remainder. There’s less fat in her I/D only diet. And that’s the one I really wanted the enzymes for because it is the fat bound to hair that creates the impassable balls. It’s possible that simply removing the A/D from the mix will be enough. We shall see.

Yesterday I went for my first run in 16 days. It went better than expected. Obviously I’m a little behind my pre-Covid pace either due to recovery or due to inactivity. Or both. I will likely do a quick route on Friday and then try my normal trail run on Sunday.

My poops are still off: multi-round affairs in the morning. But that seems to be the very last battleground. I think cloud head has finally dissipated and no nausea or morning toxic feelings anymore. We’ll call it sixteen days from initial symptoms to recovery.

I have a telephone appointment with a doctor on Friday that was made when I was feeling worse. I think I’ll keep the appointment and ask about how to get back up-to-date on my lab work and such so that I won’t be denied the next antiviral if I need it. Because Biden took Paxlovid, there have been a few explainer articles about it. It sounds like a mixed blessing. If you catch it early enough, it will interrupt the replication and shorten the length of infection. But it comes with side effects of its own including the possibility of rebound symptoms when the treatment has finished. But if it stopped it before it got into the gut, that may have been worth it to me.

The apartment has been darker but cooler since I put aluminum foil on one of the deck doors. Elevating the fans and cracking the deck door open at night has made it all the more pleasant to sleep at night. The Gui Pi Tang supplement may also be doing its thing in the sleep department. It also doesn’t hurt that the heat has been mild lately too. The temps are stuck in the low 80’s. And for once, I’m not complaining. It makes for nice days and pleasant nights. I don’t know how we got so lucky when everywhere else seems to be setting records. But I’ll take it.

 

[tarasgirl06]

She left a breakfast remainder yesterday and an overnight remainder. But she cleaned the plates in between. Just in case, I gave her an extra half a hairball treat today. She ate 2/3 of breakfast today (twice as much as yesterday.). That puts her in a better place to finish breakfast later—no remainder. This week is a couple of big experiments. The first is if she can eat enough I/D alone to maintain her lovely figure. But the other experiment is whether she’ll need Optagest with the I/D alone. I haven’t been adding it because it makes her food soggy the longer she leaves a remainder. There’s less fat in her I/D only diet. And that’s the one I really wanted the enzymes for because it is the fat bound to hair that creates the impassable balls. It’s possible that simply removing the A/D from the mix will be enough. We shall see.

Yesterday I went for my first run in 16 days. It went better than expected. Obviously I’m a little behind my pre-Covid pace either due to recovery or due to inactivity. Or both. I will likely do a quick route on Friday and then try my normal trail run on Sunday.

My poops are still off: multi-round affairs in the morning. But that seems to be the very last battleground. I think cloud head has finally dissipated and no nausea or morning toxic feelings anymore. We’ll call it sixteen days from initial symptoms to recovery.

I have a telephone appointment with a doctor on Friday that was made when I was feeling worse. I think I’ll keep the appointment and ask about how to get back up-to-date on my lab work and such so that I won’t be denied the next antiviral if I need it. Because Biden took Paxlovid, there have been a few explainer articles about it. It sounds like a mixed blessing. If you catch it early enough, it will interrupt the replication and shorten the length of infection. But it comes with side effects of its own including the possibility of rebound symptoms when the treatment has finished. But if it stopped it before it got into the gut, that may have been worth it to me.

The apartment has been darker but cooler since I put aluminum foil on one of the deck doors. Elevating the fans and cracking the deck door open at night has made it all the more pleasant to sleep at night. The Gui Pi Tang supplement may also be doing its thing in the sleep department. It also doesn’t hurt that the heat has been mild lately too. The temps are stuck in the low 80’s. And for once, I’m not complaining. It makes for nice days and pleasant nights. I don’t know how we got so lucky when everywhere else seems to be setting records. But I’ll take it.

Yeah. We've been blessed in the weather department. August and September are usually the worst months, but I hope they won't be brutal.
Doing a little exercise helps, doesn't it? My first workout, on Monday, helped a lot.
Same here with the mornings until I just gave all I had to give. I think it's cleaning out all the bad stuff.
Hoping you find the perfect Betty balance!
That's the problem with Rx. They ALL have side effects and since each of us is an individual, it's really unknown as to how we'll react to them. Another reason I avoid them.
Went grocery shopping! I am sometimes hungry now, but never really enthusiastic about any food, at all, ever. So I bought vegetables for salads, squash, chard, cheese, breads, bagels (jalapeno! Let's see!), and herbal tea (lemon/ginger). Also my little greaseball Moroccan olives, dolma, and hummus. No stuffed cabbage leaves yet -- a little too stout for me right now.
Still weak, and somewhat "stupid-feeling" because slow. Have to think about things more than normal.
Slow steps!

 

[daftcat75]

Well shoot!

She ate half of lunch when I plated it. Then she woke up and finished her lunch. All good so far. And then she regurgitated it all back up.

I had been putting out a little larger lunch than any other meal. I wonder if she simply ate more than she literally had the stomach for.

She sat and contemplated it herself in the office while I cleaned up the front room. Then she started to make her case for a replacement.

"I just finished cleaning the carpet. I think we should wait a minute before putting more food back in you. Let me shame you on the Internet first, and then I'll think about a trial portion for you."

 

[tarasgirl06]

Well shoot!

She ate half of lunch when I plated it. Then she woke up and finished her lunch. All good so far. And then she regurgitated it all back up.

I had been putting out a little larger lunch than any other meal. I wonder if she simply ate more than she literally had the stomach for.

She sat and contemplated it herself in the office while I cleaned up the front room. Then she started to make her case for a replacement.

"I just finished cleaning the carpet. I think we should wait a minute before putting more food back in you. Let me shame you on the Internet first, and then I'll think about a trial portion for you."

 

[lisahe]

then I'll think about a trial portion for you

Oh my, this is so familiar! I hope there have not been further incidents.

(In happy eating news here, Edwina has started eating off a plate while still wearing her cone! I am so happy!)

 

[daftcat75]

Such a creature of habit. She's not interested in returning to lunch until after another afternoon nap. Maybe 4. Maybe 5 pm.

She did show up on the kitchen counter and give me an earful while I opened a new can and plated a half lunch for her. Then she proceeded to ignore it and make her case for fuss instead.

Fuss it is. If you ever wanted a teddy bear cat that you could envelope in a hug and really snuggle your face into, Betty's your cat! After fuss, I had to get back to work and she knows that I'm going to ignore her when I'm sitting in that chair. I miss Krista's audacity to climb onto the desk and sit in front of my keyboard. So Betty leaves, and goes to the bed for a nap. I expect she may visit the half lunch by 4. Or possibly even 5. Which would of course affect her dinner at 5:30. But tonight is a mirtz night. I'd love her to get half her lunch back in her. But if not, we'll see on Sunday if all these missed portions are really a big deal or if I can just trust her to eat enough.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Such a creature of habit. She's not interested in returning to lunch until after another afternoon nap. Maybe 4. Maybe 5 pm.

She did show up on the kitchen counter and give me an earful while I opened a new can and plated a half lunch for her. Then she proceeded to ignore it and make her case for fuss instead.

Fuss it is. If you ever wanted a teddy bear cat that you could envelope in a hug and really snuggle your face into, Betty's your cat! After fuss, I had to get back to work and she knows that I'm going to ignore her when I'm sitting in that chair. I miss Krista's audacity to climb onto the desk and sit in front of my keyboard. So Betty leaves, and goes to the bed for a nap. I expect she may visit the half lunch by 4. Or possibly even 5. Which would of course affect her dinner at 5:30. But tonight is a mirtz night. I'd love her to get half her lunch back in her. But if not, we'll see on Sunday if all these missed portions are really a big deal or if I can just trust her to eat enough.

Hoping Ms. Betty has visited the plate by now, and cleaned it.

 

[daftcat75]

Hoping Ms. Betty has visited the plate by now, and cleaned it.

No she didn't. I took up half just in case she finally does because I don't want her scarfing and barfing her meds again. We're now getting close enough to dinner, that I'm thinking about taking up the other half. Let her skip the whole meal and restart with dinner.

 

[tarasgirl06]

No she didn't. I took up half just in case she finally does because I don't want her scarfing and barfing her meds again. We're now getting close enough to dinner, that I'm thinking about taking up the other half. Let her skip the whole meal and restart with dinner.

I know how that goes.

 

[daftcat75]

She took her meds and ate half her dinner. I'll take that. Half in the stomach is better than all of it on the carpet. It's a mirtz night. She'll finish the other half.

In a final insult from Covid, Xfinity sent me an email this morning telling me that I gone and done it. I maxed out my data cap for the month and they're going to start charging me overage fees. I fully expect to max those out too and end up paying a double internet bill this month. I wish I had a choice in home network providers. To be fair, they did figure out the pandemic surge of residential traffic quickly enough, and I've enjoyed reasonably stable service after that. I did spend the last two weeks streaming video. I don't look at my usage because I always come under the 1 TB. I'll have to see what two weeks of sick streaming does to my usage when the final tally is in.