Introducing Betty White

[daftcat75]

Betty ate the second half of her dinner. Then I guess she was still hungry because she took a bite out of me during her mirtz moment in my lap. She’s given me love bites before. But this seemed personal. Broke skin and held on until I screeched loud enough. Washed it out, put some neosporin and a bandaid on it. Now I’m laying down next to her on the floor rather than hosting her in my lap. I still prefer mirtz to steroids. But I’d like her to not need either. That’s really going to decide whether I leave her with a sitter or she comes with me for Thanksgiving holiday. I wouldn’t want her to mirtz alone and I don’t know if I could pay another to sit with her while she mirtz’es.

 

[daftcat75]

I gave into her begging early and plated her second dinner early. Let’s hope this doesn’t become a scarf and barf mistake.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I gave into her begging early and plated her second dinner early. Let’s hope this doesn’t become a scarf and barf mistake.
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*Let's hope!*
So her weekly weigh-in will probably be a good one. *No extra charge for love bites.* How I miss my angel Tarifa giving me love bites and shiver-tails.
The price of entertainment is obscene. Ditto the price of internet.

 

[daftcat75]

Betty turned in clean plates all night. This morning she ate half breakfast at med time. Then a few hours later, while I was doing morning business—the last Covid battleground is resolving impressively 🪵 — she came down off the bed and finished the other half of breakfast. And into the floof she’s gone for digestion. Such a creature of habit! That floof was the best purchase! Maybe she’ll come up for some lap time before I have to leave for work. Otherwise, when she comes to visit me in the office later, I’ll get her hairball treats. I like that she has a four hour interval before next meal to work on passing any hair out of her stomach. I suspect a fair amount of that will be her pleading for an early lunch.

I think ripping the bandaid off and the arm hair I lost with it hurt more than the Betty bite. I wanted it to sit under some neosporin overnight. But now I want it to air and also so that I can keep an eye on it. Looks fine today.

 

[lisahe]

Betty ate the second half of her dinner. Then I guess she was still hungry because she took a bite out of me during her mirtz moment in my lap. She’s given me love bites before. But this seemed personal. Broke skin and held on until I screeched loud enough. Washed it out, put some neosporin and a bandaid on it. Now I’m laying down next to her on the floor rather than hosting her in my lap. I still prefer mirtz to steroids. But I’d like her to not need either. That’s really going to decide whether I leave her with a sitter or she comes with me for Thanksgiving holiday. I wouldn’t want her to mirtz alone and I don’t know if I could pay another to sit with her while she mirtz’es.

Wow to breaking the skin! Cats really can get insistent. I'm glad to heat the wound is healing! And may she continue to eat.

 

[daftcat75]

Wow to breaking the skin! Cats really can get insistent. I'm glad to heat the wound is healing! And may she continue to eat.

The mirtz makes her so crazy. I think it was possibly an overstimulation kind of thing. She left my lap so fast when I finally screeched loud enough for her to let go. Then she returned to my lap just a moment later when I reached down and reassured her that I wasn't angry with her. I sat with her for a few more minutes to make sure she was good before I went to dress my wound. It doesn't look all that bad. Like a scratch with a head to it. When I came back from triage, I pulled a couple pillows to the floor and we watched an inning or two of the game before I decided to start her second dinner early. You better believe I wore a Betty beard for much of that time! I wore several Betty beards last night as she kept insisting upon it after I swapped out plates and laid back down for my next sleep.

 

[strider rose]

daftcat75 good afternoon to you and betty white

 

[lisahe]

The mirtz makes her so crazy. I think it was possibly an overstimulation kind of thing. She left my lap so fast when I finally screeched loud enough for her to let go. Then she returned to my lap just a moment later when I reached down and reassured her that I wasn't angry with her. I sat with her for a few more minutes to make sure she was good before I went to dress my wound. It doesn't look all that bad. Like a scratch with a head to it. When I came back from triage, I pulled a couple pillows to the floor and we watched an inning or two of the game before I decided to start her second dinner early. You better believe I wore a Betty beard for much of that time! I wore several Betty beards last night as she kept insisting upon it after I swapped out plates and laid back down for my next sleep.

Yes, they always assume anger... Edwina gave me a weird scratch last weekend when she wasn't feeling good and was confused by my yelp. Her biopsies, by the way, came back negative for cancer but positive for inflammation of unknown origin... A huge relief! Your thread info may come in handy again as we figure out how to keep her reduced gut happy in the coming weeks, months, and years. For now, she's having a tent under my knees (a tight fit since she's wearing her cursed cone!) and thanks you and Betty White for your pioneering work that helps me so much with ideas and inspiration.

 

[tarasgirl06]

People with little to no knowledge of cats automatically assume the worst, probably projecting. Those of us who know and love cats know different.
VERY good news about Edwina, lisahe ; but of course, hoping that the cause can be determined so optimum treatment and diet can help her.
@daftcat Hoping that scratch heals quickly! And liking the Betty report.

 

[lisahe]

People with little to no knowledge of cats automatically assume the worst, probably projecting. Those of us who know and love cats know different.
VERY good news about Edwina, lisahe ; but of course, hoping that the cause can be determined so optimum treatment and diet can help her.
@daftcat Hoping that scratch heals quickly! And liking the Betty report.

Thank you, tarasgirl06 ! Agreeing with you on absolutely all counts here!

 

[daftcat75]

This cat!

Since she finished her breakfast before I finished mine, I figured she'd be pretty hungry by lunch time. She came into the office around 11:30am. Too early for lunch. But she slept through her hairball treats this morning. So that's what she got at 11:30am. I plate her lunch at noon and she's like, "ho hum. That's nice." And off for a run I go. When I get back about 30 minutes later, she's just pulling up to the plate. Should I step back out and let her finish? Should I finish my coming home, taking off my shoes like this is no big deal? I opt for the second and she just sort of nibbled at lunch before moving on. So it's going to be like that today? Well, she has five more hours to reconsider her portion size. I take my post-run shower and fix myself lunch. It's about 2:30pm now and I'm ready to put my dirty plate in the sink and continue my work day. Plate check. Clean plate! Wait. Where's the regurgitation pile? That was a whole lunch she took up. So far so good. She's napping hard in her corner cloud. Not poking that bear because there's too many hours left until dinner.

 

[lisahe]

Not poking that bear because there's too many hours left until dinner.

Oh my, I know this feeling all too well!

 

[tarasgirl06]

Don't we all, lisahe ?
Just reporting that although I don't feel 100%, I am eating/drinking normally now including COFFEE! and even had a few "hot" (though not to me) kaki no tane (Japanese rice crackers). Back to my habitual green salads, hummus, orange juice, etc. and enjoying them!
I guess Betty and I think alike on food: sometimes all in, sometimes not. Sometimes treats, sometimes "MEH"

 

[lisahe]

Don't we all, lisahe ?

Yes!

And I'm glad to hear you're eating normally again... including coffee. It's weird how that's one that I never really have to give up, even when I have an acid stomach.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Thanking you lisahe .
And hoping for a good morning report from Ms. Betty and Co.

 

[daftcat75]

Betty turned in clean plates yesterday and last night. She has only nibbled (1/3) at breakfast this morning. It seems she also did quite a lick and flick on her poop pill this morning. I didn’t even notice the flung pill at least a foot away from where I placed it until after she called it done on breakfast. We call that a missed dose. I won’t try to feed her a poop pill at the end of a meal. That would be a horrible taste to be left with. If her pattern holds, she can miss up to two more in this bottle and still keep her impressive 90% compliance rate.

How long can I let her sleep before I really need to get up for the bathroom?

Update: I gently pushed her off to get up myself and that was the push she needed to finish breakfast. Mostly. There’s a good chance she’ll finish that tiny remainder (I estimate 5 grams) by noon. There’s also a good chance that I just won’t care if she doesn’t.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Betty turned in clean plates yesterday and last night. She has only nibbled (1/3) at breakfast this morning. It seems she also did quite a lick and flick on her poop pill this morning. I didn’t even notice the flung pill at least a foot away from where I placed it until after she called it done on breakfast. We call that a missed dose. I won’t try to feed her a poop pill at the end of a meal. That would be a horrible taste to be left with. If her pattern holds, she can miss up to two more in this bottle and still keep her impressive 90% compliance rate.

How long can I let her sleep before I really need to get up for the bathroom?
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Update: I gently pushed her off to get up myself and that was the push she needed to finish breakfast. Mostly. There’s a good chance she’ll finish that tiny remainder (I estimate 5 grams) by noon. There’s also a good chance that I just won’t care if she doesn’t.

Hoping the weigh-in will continue the positive trend and wishing you both a good afternoon.

 

[daftcat75]

Betty did really well yesterday. She ate 2/3 of lunch right when I plated it. I went to a card show and then grocery shopping. I came home about 2:30 and Betty was just polishing off lunch. Well. I’d better leave before she realizes there’s still three more hours to dinner. She ate 2/3 of dinner in one go too. Did I really need to mirtz her last night? She cleaned that plate an hour later. The rest of the night clean plates. This morning 2/3 eaten on first pass. And both capsules taken. If she did pull off a lick and flick, she must have flicked it very far. She only ate one of her hairball treats this morning. We’re getting towards the end of the bag. I wonder if that’s making a difference. New bag ordered. I don’t really have anything else to add to that order and I don’t trust ordering more than a bag at a time yet. So once again, I paid double. $4 for the treats and another $4 for shipping. If it keeps the hair moving in the right direction, it’s still worth twice the price. At least. I also picked up another case of I/D because we went through a case last week. A case a week! She eats 2.5 cans a day. I wish I could get her to finish that third can. But it doesn’t fit into her feeding schedule. And she probably doesn’t need it. Waiting another couple hours before weigh-in. We usually do an 11am weigh-in to give her time to finish breakfast and a little time between weigh-in kibbles and lunch.

We have a follow-up appointment with the specialist on Wednesday. I will consent to a physical and lab work. But we are not doing any more imaging. But what I really want out of this visit is a plan to wean her off her meds. I wouldn’t feel right leaving her with a sitter to do her meds. I trust the sitter I have. But I don’t think I could pay her to ride out the mirtz crazies with Betty. And I would hate for her to mirtz alone. If she’s not coming off meds, we need to start working on travel plans together. We can start with a local hotel that Krista and I have stayed at to see how Betty will handle a hotel. I told her hotels are better than home because I don’t block off the top of the fridge with clutter.

Okay maybe I do. But that didn’t stop Krista.

So now I sit and wait out Betty’s morning naps before I weigh her and make myself scarce for the afternoon.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Betty did really well yesterday. She ate 2/3 of lunch right when I plated it. I went to a card show and then grocery shopping. I came home about 2:30 and Betty was just polishing off lunch. Well. I’d better leave before she realizes there’s still three more hours to dinner. She ate 2/3 of dinner in one go too. Did I really need to mirtz her last night? She cleaned that plate an hour later. The rest of the night clean plates. This morning 2/3 eaten on first pass. And both capsules taken. If she did pull off a lick and flick, she must have flicked it very far. She only ate one of her hairball treats this morning. We’re getting towards the end of the bag. I wonder if that’s making a difference. New bag ordered. I don’t really have anything else to add to that order and I don’t trust ordering more than a bag at a time yet. So once again, I paid double. $4 for the treats and another $4 for shipping. If it keeps the hair moving in the right direction, it’s still worth twice the price. At least. I also picked up another case of I/D because we went through a case last week. A case a week! She eats 2.5 cans a day. I wish I could get her to finish that third can. But it doesn’t fit into her feeding schedule. And she probably doesn’t need it. Waiting another couple hours before weigh-in. We usually do an 11am weigh-in to give her time to finish breakfast and a little time between weigh-in kibbles and lunch.

We have a follow-up appointment with the specialist on Wednesday. I will consent to a physical and lab work. But we are not doing any more imaging. But what I really want out of this visit is a plan to wean her off her meds. I wouldn’t feel right leaving her with a sitter to do her meds. I trust the sitter I have. But I don’t think I could pay her to ride out the mirtz crazies with Betty. And I would hate for her to mirtz alone. If she’s not coming off meds, we need to start working on travel plans together. We can start with a local hotel that Krista and I have stayed at to see how Betty will handle a hotel. I told her hotels are better than home because I don’t block off the top of the fridge with clutter.
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Okay maybe I do. But that didn’t stop Krista.

So now I sit and wait out Betty’s morning naps before I weigh her and make myself scarce for the afternoon.

I've found the same to be true on keeping inventory -- I've thrown away so much (cat and people) food recently! What helps for me is being able to single-item add to my repeat delivery at Petco.com and it's free shipping and the best price.
Hoping for a good weigh-in, a good day, and more good food/eating reports.

 

[daftcat75]

I had some baseball card busy-work to do this morning. That kept me distracted until Betty woke at 11 and finished breakfast. Purrfect! On to the weigh-in:



That’s great news! Her weight was stable this week despite missed portions and a scarf or barf (or two.) I’ll keep her on this revised feeding schedule and let her leave remainders as she sees fit. We’ll check in again next week. But I really don’t think I need to stuff an extra half ounce into her after all. The specialist can tell me what he thinks of her slender body at our appointment next week and whether she needs to gain anymore weight. I’d like her to be a touch more on the “fluffy” side. But I also see her moving around like an old girl and wonder if, like with me, a little extra weight would be a little extra discomfort on those joints. I want to wait until she is off her other meds before I try some CBD with her to see if she moves easier. CBD is quite safe on its own. But it has the potential to make prescription drugs stronger or last longer because of its competitive binding in the liver to a popular detoxifying enzyme family.

Okay. So breakfast in the books. Weigh in done. I wish she would take her other hairball treat. Can’t win them all. Lunch is served and I’m getting ready to go for my weekend run for the first time in three weekends. I’m sure I’ll come back to lunch half done. For now, I’m letting that sleeping bear lie. Because if she starts lunch too soon, she may finish too soon as well. That will be uncomfortable for the both of us.