Introducing Betty White

tarasgirl06

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AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Little CATFOOT!!! Elvis does that, too, trying and TRYING to get comfy.
Great news about the claim!
Yes, we'd love to hear the diva singing her aria! (I refer to opera as "screech and bellow" and apart from some of the arias and instrumental parts, regard it as not-so-exquisite torture. But I'd love to hear if Betty is the Renee Fleming of cats!)
As for (NOT!) garbage in, (NOT) garbage out, it works the same way with humans, too, I shudder to say, which is why I could never live with a junk food junkie.
 

artiemom

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Glad about the reimbursement for the scope! Hooray! That's how I felt when I got the reimbursement for G's.. I have a claim in for the bronchitis.. fingers crossed that it is approved.. some money back is better than none.
 

daftcat75

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Glad about the reimbursement for the scope! Hooray! That's how I felt when I got the reimbursement for G's.. I have a claim in for the bronchitis.. fingers crossed that it is approved.. some money back is better than none.
Didnt bother sending the bill for the scope as that would get rejected because it’s related to her IBD which is excluded by the anecdotal vomiting in her case notes that happened during the new policy waiting period.

These claims are for last week where I paid a second scope’s worth of bills on her "fever of unknown origin." Fortunately they aren’t trying to pin this to her IBD and preexisting exclusions.
 
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daftcat75

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I plate lunch and she yells at me the entire time I am cleaning the kitchen like I didn't just plate her lunch.

"Betty, over here. Look. I already set your lunch down."

Fine! I know this trick. I decide to gather up my recycling and my mailbox key and disappear for a spell. I come back and she's taken a few messy paw swipes at lunch and then gone up to the bed to nap. So it's going to be like that today. I'm not worried. She had her mirtz last night.

I cleaned the kitchen some and then made my lunch and finally make myself scarce. Betty slept through it all. I get to about 2:30 after I have finished my lunch smoothie and want to wash it. I steel myself for a sleeping Betty and an untouched lunch (besides the paw swipes.) "She's not late on lunch unless it still looks like that at 3:30 or 4 pm."

Thankfully, that is not our problem today. I peek around the corner and lunch is gone already! It's 2:30 and there is no remainder for later.

She's going to give me an earful later this afternoon. I expect we'll have to start dinner a little earlier today.
 

daftcat75

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She finished the flox yesterday.

No flox were given today. Betty doesn't take flox from no-one today.

Okay, I'm done there.

I will see her to the end of this Cerenia pill which should take us to the weekend. She will stop Cerenia whenever this current pill runs out (I think Friday night will be her last dose.)

Saturday morning she will restart the poop pills.

We're going to play it by ear over the next week or two. I can't make a case for how well she's doing until I can get her off all the meds she's taking.

I know we were in a holding pattern until she saw the specialist. But now that we've seen the specialist--several times--I want to take her out of the holding pattern and see where she's really at. I'm glad she's off the famotidine and seems to be showing no signs of missing it. At least we made that tiny bit of progress in June.

But let's get a couple weeks of FMT back in her before we take away the ondansetron or mirtazapine. I'm not convinced yet that all her May piggies have returned after just a week of the flox.
 

Margot Lane

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I thought of you b/c I just watched a program about baby starfish (basically, walking stomachs). One of the VERY first things they do -when they are microscopic- is to stuff themselves with dirt, to help them digest mussels, etc. And you can SEE the dirt, since they are see-thru at that phase. …Just to say, dirt is good! Dirt is good for all critters! :catrub:🌟
 

daftcat75

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I thought of you b/c I just watched a program about baby starfish (basically, walking stomachs). One of the VERY first things they do -when they are microscopic- is to stuff themselves with dirt, to help them digest mussels, etc. And you can SEE the dirt, since they are see-thru at that phase. …Just to say, dirt is good! Dirt is good for all critters! :catrub:🌟
Animals that have gizzards eat pebbles and stones because they help mechanically grind the food they eat to help break it down ahead of chemical digestion. It’s like having a Magic Bullet ahead of their stomach. 😹
 

Margot Lane

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Yep! And not to get too off topic, but momma elephants feed their new babies POOP! :)


Animals that have gizzards eat pebbles and stones because they help mechanically grind the food they eat to help break it down ahead of chemical digestion. It’s like having a Magic Bullet ahead of their stomach. 😹
 

daftcat75

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I wanted a dental toy for her. The pickle had great Amazon reviews. I’m glad it’s a hit. I ordered a banana too.

Her next Gut Health Test arrived today. Saturday will be the sample I take. That should be at least three days removed from her last flox. I am so curious to see this report and see what a week of flox and s boulardii did to her biome. Hopefully it thinned the numbers of some of the more unwelcome strains.

One of the capsule filling machines came in the today. It was the cheaper of the two. I got it off Etsy. Probably a 3D printed number. But it’s simple and works great. Better than the fancier spring loaded size 00 machine I already have. I forgot what I was packing in size 00’s. Certainly wasn’t for Betty or Krista. Now we have s boulardii capsules for months. And my support person at AnimalBiome said, “nothing wrong with a repack. But just plan on using up the bottle whether it’s size threes or fours. So if you’re going to reduce her dose to size fours, give them longer than the two months until you run out.”

I feel like Betty will be taking capsules til the end of time. At least she’s so good about it. I don’t know what we’ll do if I have to give up the A/D at any point. How would I medicate her without A/D? Only Betty wrestling I want to do is the kind she initiates. Usually while I’m trying to stretch or do yoga. 😹

I talked about it long enough. Here’s what a capsule filling machine looks like.
F8490D57-FF05-4D8E-80B8-FADC24A846E1.jpeg E42B9FBB-6E48-4874-9B9E-498CBF2A2A2B.jpeg 9E7BC83C-1F6E-4B51-9914-169E11DF1BCE.jpeg 4F9718E2-D935-4F62-B05C-9789C808D20F.jpeg

There is a tamping plate underneath that is raising the capsules above the surface. When the tamping plate is taken from underneath, the capsules sink flush with the machine surface and spatula is used to spread the powder across the capsules. The tamping plate can then be reversed and placed on top to tamp down the capsules. When full, the tamping plate goes underneath again to raise the capsules up to make it easier to put the caps on and pull them out.
 
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daftcat75

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I could live with the opera every other night. But the thing I don’t like about oral mirtazapine is that it makes her so restless. I’m willing to hold or snuggle her as long as she wants/needs it for the rush to pass. But she doesn’t seem able to sit still. It’s like she wants to put her head down and nap. But she’s rotating through loaf spots. Not quite able to relax. 😿

I was thinking after she quits the Cerenia this week, the next med I was looking to trim was the ondansetron. But now I’m not so sure. At first I wanted to cut that one first because I thought her head shaking might be related to a reported ondansetron side effect. But now I believe it was simply me not keeping up with the ear cleanings and causing her irritation. Her ears are so much better since we switched to the mirtazapine pills.

But now I think maybe I want to target mirtazapine for the next med to trim. The gel made her less crazy. But she needs to submit to wet willies and regular ear cleanings. The pill is easier but makes her so crazy and restless. She’s off in a corner with her empty shipping box and her pickle when I know she really just wants to snuggle or sleep. 🤦🏼‍♂️😿

So yeah. We stop Cerenia this weekend and restart the poop pills. We’ll give that at least a week and maybe two before I look at either trimming the mirtz or putting her back on the gel.
 
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