Introducing Betty White

daftcat75

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I found these on Amazon for a couple dollars less, and also they're offering a 30 treat pouch for a little less than $5.
I got the thirty treat pouch from Chewy for $5 and then paid $5 for shipping because I didn’t feel like padding my order. But I also have a local store that sells these. I just pasted the manufacturer website in case you want more info or want to write them and ask is the hydrolyzed chicken liver flavor still considered chicken? My guess is that hydrolyzed isn’t the problem.But that hydrolyzed prescription foods trade the chicken for another trigger like pea protein, soy protein, starches, or grains. 🤦🏼‍♂️
 

daftcat75

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The Royal Canin hydrolyzed treats, contained hydrolyzed chicken.. Geoffrey vomits it..
That proves he cannot have any chicken at all... sigh.. I feed him rabbit... He is still not well.. getting me worried..
Thats hydrolyzed soy protein in the RC treats. 🤦🏼‍♂️ Chicken fat. And natural flavors which can be literally anything including non-hydrolyzed chicken. I would give the VT treats a chance since this isn’t even apples to apples. Soy apples to apples maybe.
 

daftcat75

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She’s been pulling up short all night. I picked up a 1/3 portion remainder for both second dinner and overnight. Breakfast she pulled up after only eating 1/3. It can very well be the heat. Yesterday was a hot one and last night didn’t cool off. She last ate at 3am. It is entirely possible that she just wasn’t hungry enough at first breakfast at 5:45. She will get three hairball treats later this morning just in case. And she has all morning to finish her breakfast. And she will get her kibble weigh-in later this morning. If her eating is still lagging by dinner, I’ll try another Cerenia with her.
 

daftcat75

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In honesty, I came up about a meal short yesterday too. I had some junky mall food at the card show for lunch. Later in the afternoon, I had taproom pizza. By the time I got home, I didn’t feel much like eating anything else. So we both came up about a meal short yesterday. 😔
 

lisahe

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I bet it's the heat! We (including the cats) all ate light yesterday when the high was 86!

Does Betty White look happy and comfortable? And want to snuggle or have (for example) her belly rubbed? Sometimes I often find those indicators far more helpful than appetite. In any case, I'll be interested to hear how the larger treat dose goes!
 

daftcat75

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She’s more interactive than Friday. But she seems “off” again. She doesn’t have much volume behind her meows or much vigor behind her bunts. I practically had to poke her out of the poof to get the hairball treats in her. She weakly interacted with me while I was cooking breakfast sausages. Then when it came to the eggs and I couldn’t come back for 90 more seconds of fuss, she moped back into the poof. Usually she likes to sit in my lap while I eat in the chair. But she’s content to sleep in the poof since after her breakfast cuddles back around 6am. So, except for the brief moments to collect her hairball treats, she’s been in the poof all morning. She’s got a couple more hours to return to breakfast. Though I’m not sure if she will.

The heat won’t be as bad today. But it will be in the 80’s until middle of the week. We need to figure out her eating during heatwaves if she’s going to get through the summer. I’m willing to let her sleep it off today. Tonight she’ll get another Cerenia dose and I’ll sweeten the mix once more. I had started to back it off yesterday since she was rallying to normal. But now I wonder if the rally wasn’t, at least in part, a combination of the Cerenia and the richer mix. 🤷🏼‍♂️
 

tarasgirl06

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She’s more interactive than Friday. But she seems “off” again. She doesn’t have much volume behind her meows or much vigor behind her bunts. I practically had to poke her out of the poof to get the hairball treats in her. She weakly interacted with me while I was cooking breakfast sausages. Then when it came to the eggs and I couldn’t come back for 90 more seconds of fuss, she moped back into the poof. Usually she likes to sit in my lap while I eat in the chair. But she’s content to sleep in the poof since after her breakfast cuddles back around 6am. So, except for the brief moments to collect her hairball treats, she’s been in the poof all morning. She’s got a couple more hours to return to breakfast. Though I’m not sure if she will.

The heat won’t be as bad today. But it will be in the 80’s until middle of the week. We need to figure out her eating during heatwaves if she’s going to get through the summer. I’m willing to let her sleep it off today. Tonight she’ll get another Cerenia dose and I’ll sweeten the mix once more. I had started to back it off yesterday since she was rallying to normal. But now I wonder if the rally wasn’t, at least in part, a combination of the Cerenia and the richer mix. 🤷🏼‍♂️
She should acclimatize at least somewhat. Hoping her appetite improves quickly.
 

daftcat75

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She should acclimatize at least somewhat. Hoping her appetite improves quickly.
Me too. Because what I’m really worried about is dehydration. I don’t ever see her drinking water. Except when she’s nauseated or barfed. I don’t think she likes the fountain I have out for her. I ordered a new one that should arrive tomorrow. It has a stainless steel bowl and a higher faucet like spray. But sadly, it still has a plastic base. I chose it that way actually because it has the base design that I like about the current fountain, namely a water level window that illuminates when it’s out of water. And the whole thing lifts out of the base without having to disconnect the power or reach into the water to disconnect anything. If she likes this new fountain, I’ll be happy to buy a second so I can do hot swap cleanings—swap in a clean one, and clean the dirty on my own time.
 

lisahe

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She should acclimatize at least somewhat. Hoping her appetite improves quickly.
Same here! Here's to perking up.

As for water, the only way we're successful getting extra water into our cats is by adding to their food. They love playing with fountains and water bowls but don't often drink out of them. I hope the new one you ordered works for Betty!
 

daftcat75

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She came out for her weigh-in. Ruffling that bag of dry for the five or so pieces she gets for weigh-in always rouses her. In a true pinch, I could get her eating with dry food. But I don’t ever want to resort to that. I don’t know if she is just tired. But there seemed to be a hitch in her giddy up. I think I’m hypersensitive to every little thing off right now.

Her weigh-in agrees. This was a no good week. Between the fasts and remainders left on the plate, she lost 1/4 pound. 🤦🏼‍♂️😿

I got her to finish breakfast by sweetening the mix. So she’s not off her food right now. She just needs the bigger guns. This is exactly why she eats a mix of I/D and A/D rather than just one or the other. It allows me to easily make her meals more appealing without having to go through a drawn out introduction/transition. But it also leaves me headroom to sweeten the mix when needed. If she only ever ate A/D, there’d be nowhere to go when she stopped eating it.

And she’s back to the poof. I’ll make sure her lunch, when I serve it, will be appropriately enriched for her picky tastes today. (Fattened is more like it as A/D brings in a higher fat content.)

I’m 50/50 right now whether to stick around and watch the game with her at home. Or if she has no interested in leaving the poof, I may just leave for the tap room and give her the space to sleep through this. My team is playing the local team so I could watch my game at the tap room.
 

daftcat75

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She’s purring and interacting. But she has some cranky sounding meows. Okay. Now she’s chirping. I think she’s a slow waker today. But also it feels like it’s heating up already. 🥵
 

daftcat75

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Same here! Here's to perking up.

As for water, the only way we're successful getting extra water into our cats is by adding to their food. They love playing with fountains and water bowls but don't often drink out of them. I hope the new one you ordered works for Betty!
I think Betty is a texture snob and definitely seems to prefer her food thicker. I think if I were to add water, she’d snub it. I’m constantly trying to strike the balance of more A/D for a thicker food and not so much that it’s too rich for her. Maybe the heat is making that mix soggier (or leaving remainders in the Optagest is also breaking it down into soggier food.). 🤷🏼‍♂️
 

lisahe

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I think Betty is a texture snob and definitely seems to prefer her food thicker. I think if I were to add water, she’d snub it. I’m constantly trying to strike the balance of more A/D for a thicker food and not so much that it’s too rich for her. Maybe the heat is making that mix soggier (or leaving remainders in the Optagest is also breaking it down into soggier food.). 🤷🏼‍♂️
Yes, our cats are weird about this, too! They usually slurp up the liquid and then wait for me to put (more) treat dust or something similar on top. (Though I sometimes add more water, too, if the food is rehydrated freeze-dried...)

I hope Betty starts to feel better. It's warm and lazy here, too.
 

daftcat75

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I sweetened her mix by half. This time I got the math right. Last time I said that, I actually enriched it 100%. The remainder on the day food (not that she will eat the whole remainder but that I mix up a 12 hour shift at a time) was 99 grams of 1:2. So 1 part of this remainder is 33 grams. That’s how much more A/D I added bringing this up to a 50:50 mix. That brings the calories from 1.04 to 1.08. Doesn’t sound like much. But the burps tell me this is a richer mix. Sadly, it’s going to sit in a 1/8 tsp of Optagest (digestive enzymes) waiting for her to come around to it. It may start out thick, but it will be watery when she gets to it. That’s the Optagest breaking down the fat and protein and liberating the moisture. Maybe she gets to this. Maybe she won’t. But me hovering today isn’t going to affect that much. It will just drive us both nuts. I think she enjoys having sleepy afternoons to herself. Helicopter dad flies away and she can eat on her own schedule.

In any case, if she doesn’t eat lunch today, I will be giving her a Cerenia and a richer mix for the dinners tonight. It’s easier to get her to show up for night meals anyway.

I’m leaving several water options out for her hoping she might drink from one of them.
 

daftcat75

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I fur-got to take a “before” picture before I left for the afternoon. But this does look like she ate some. That soggy lake would look more uniform on an untouched plate.
5AAC4602-69C9-4D77-93C3-14F06C81CF5C.jpeg

I don’t know why my gray and white cat doesn’t pick up on motion alerts and recordings. 🤦🏼‍♂️ 😹 If I gave her a splash of color, would that make a difference? I loved getting those “Food detected a motion” alerts every hour or so with Krista. 🐷🐷🐽🐽

842767F5-1038-40DD-ABB7-B79EFC7FDFEE.jpeg
Who am I kidding? Every five minutes apparently. 😽🍔🌭🌮
 

tarasgirl06

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I fur-got to take a “before” picture before I left for the afternoon. But this does look like she ate some. That soggy lake would look more uniform on an untouched plate.
View attachment 424531

I don’t know why my gray and white cat doesn’t pick up on motion alerts and recordings. 🤦🏼‍♂️ 😹 If I gave her a splash of color, would that make a difference? I loved getting those “Food detected a motion” alerts every hour or so with Krista. 🐷🐷🐽🐽

View attachment 424533
Who am I kidding? Every five minutes apparently. 😽🍔🌭🌮
She's a nibbler and a grazer.
 
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