Introducing Betty White

tarasgirl06

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Krista was in between when she finally came around to wet food. She would most often clean a plate right away. But she would come to me often begging for her next plate. She was also eating several meals a day. I could trust Krista with timed feeders. I haven’t established that yet with Betty.

I am also thinking that I should book a staycation for Betty and me to see how she does with a hotel room. Hopefully she won’t still be on pred by Thanksgiving. But if she is, I think I would sleep easier if she traveled with me. But we’ll see. She may not be a traveler. I need to contact my sitter and start making plans one way or another.

Oh yeah. I just remembered that my car needs a catalytic converter replacement. It’s still there. But the mechanic told me it’s a shadow of itself and it will breakdown sooner than later. We didn’t replace it then because the part was on back-order with GM. And California emission laws forbid me from using an after market part. 🤦🏼‍♂️ So that’s another thing possibly keeping me here this Thanksgiving. 😔
California. Born here, lived most of my life here. Still think it's the greatest State, the only one I could ever live in politically speaking, and one of the most beautiful and desirable places to live on the planet. But it has its share of problems! and that's one. *Make sure you get a Catlock on the new one. Cat(alytic converter) theft is BIG business. But you undoubtedly knew that already.*
How does Betty do on her car rides to and from her care team, overall?
Yeah, timed feeders/feedings would be ideal for you and Betty.
 

daftcat75

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California. Born here, lived most of my life here. Still think it's the greatest State, the only one I could ever live in politically speaking, and one of the most beautiful and desirable places to live on the planet. But it has its share of problems! and that's one. *Make sure you get a Catlock on the new one. Cat(alytic converter) theft is BIG business. But you undoubtedly knew that already.*
How does Betty do on her car rides to and from her care team, overall?
Yeah, timed feeders/feedings would be ideal for you and Betty.
No one is stealing late model Chevy Malibu cat converters. They are going for the trucks, SUVs, and imports because those cats are easier to get at. My cat is still there. It's just reached the end of its life. I'm not sure why it didn't make it the ten years of expected lifespan. 🤷‍♂️

Betty is always calmer on the return trip than the trip over. My theory is that she's often given a Cerenia shot at the vet's office. I think she gets car sick or is sensitive to car speed and motion. We had to accelerate through a turn on the interchange the other day because some dumba** was not going to yield and it was either speed up or run out of road. Well, Betty just cried her head off as soon as I gunned the accelerator and would not calm down again until I was past the immediate danger and could slow down again. We might have to practice shorter freeway drives with Cerenia in her before we can do longer drives. I need to know she can do hills and winding roads because I prefer 101 to 5 and there's at least a couple hilly, winding stretches. I also need to know if she'll tell me when she needs a break like Krista did. I just don't feel comfortable having her in a larger carrier that could tip a box or she could fly around within if we had to stop short or swerve unexpectedly. I like having her within arm's reach so I can scritch her reassuringly if she needs it.
 

tarasgirl06

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No one is stealing late model Chevy Malibu cat converters. They are going for the trucks, SUVs, and imports because those cats are easier to get at. My cat is still there. It's just reached the end of its life. I'm not sure why it didn't make it the ten years of expected lifespan. 🤷‍♂️

Betty is always calmer on the return trip than the trip over. My theory is that she's often given a Cerenia shot at the vet's office. I think she gets car sick or is sensitive to car speed and motion. We had to accelerate through a turn on the interchange the other day because some dumba** was not going to yield and it was either speed up or run out of road. Well, Betty just cried her head off as soon as I gunned the accelerator and would not calm down again until I was past the immediate danger and could slow down again. We might have to practice shorter freeway drives with Cerenia in her before we can do longer drives. I need to know she can do hills and winding roads because I prefer 101 to 5 and there's at least a couple hilly, winding stretches. I also need to know if she'll tell me when she needs a break like Krista did. I just don't feel comfortable having her in a larger carrier that could tip a box or she could fly around within if we had to stop short or swerve unexpectedly. I like having her within arm's reach so I can scritch her reassuringly if she needs it.
So yeah, short practice runs might help to acclimatize/desensitive her to rides...
 

daftcat75

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So yeah, short practice runs might help to acclimatize/desensitive her to rides...
I think we're going to do a practice hotel staycation next month. The hotel has mini-suites which is comfortable for both me and the cat. And there's a 5K that's being run just out the door from this hotel. I stayed here with Krista and did the 5K. Oh. And the taproom is just around the corner too. Great place for a staycation! Probably where we will stay for Christmas too if she proves to be a good hotel kitty.
 

tarasgirl06

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I think we're going to do a practice hotel staycation next month. The hotel has mini-suites which is comfortable for both me and the cat. And there's a 5K that's being run just out the door from this hotel. I stayed here with Krista and did the 5K. Oh. And the taproom is just around the corner too. Great place for a staycation! Probably where we will stay for Christmas too if she proves to be a good hotel kitty.
Sounds made for you!
 

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I think one of our I/D cases is no good. I got down to the second row of cans in the current case. Or rather I got to the empty top row and said fluff it and pulled a can from the case beneath it. Betty took one or two sniffs of that plate and said, “nope!” So I quickly busted into the bottom row of the current case and plated that for her. 😽👍 That got some approval. She ate a half ounce. I’m okay with that. She took three capsules containing four medications (pred, Cerenia, mirtazapine, and ondansetron) and s boulardii. She’s currently napping right now. Calm before the storm. Let’s see how mirtz and pred combine tonight. I don’t expect any leftovers tonight.

I am going to skip the Cerenia tomorrow. I thought she ate more readily without it. It would be nice if I could simply give her Cerenia and pred once a day. But she seems to eat better with ondansetron and not Cerenia. That’s okay with me. Cerenia is more expensive and fewer doses per box than my ondansetron prescription of 30 pills (16 doses vs 120!) Even at twice a day for ondansetron, that’s still 60 days vs 16.

Betty gets two more mirtz doses at every three days before I mirtz her twice the following week and then hopefully she’ll be ready to come off it completely. It will be nice not to have a crazy singer and comedian (timing and delivery!) every few days.
 

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Posted too soon. Edited and added more. But yes. It should be good for us both. Let's start there before we start practice drives.
In general have found kitties love mini staycations. Gives ‘em a safe new room to explore. Gives you a chance not to do the laundry! (I bring a nifty folding kitty litter box but of course there are many options). I DREAM of hotels made for cats, with ramps all along the walls.
Hope you two have much deserved fun.
 

daftcat75

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In general have found kitties love mini staycations. Gives ‘em a safe new room to explore. Gives you a chance not to do the laundry! (I bring a nifty folding kitty litter box but of course there are many options). I DREAM of hotels made for cats, with ramps all along the walls.
Hope you two have much deserved fun.
I have dupes of her litter box so that’s no big deal. Betty is not a door darter so that’s probably not a big deal either. I think she’ll do fine. But I don’t want any surprises when I book real trips like Betty becomes too stressed to eat kind of surprises. Or she becomes an angry pooper because she’s not at home. So we’ll do a two night stay towards the end of next month. And if that‘s no big deal, we can try practice drives.
 

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Oh Betty!

🎙🦜🐥🦆🐓
🙉

She’s mirtzing like she hasn’t had it in days! 🤦🏼‍♂️ I feel like I’m roofie-ing her every time I give her mirtz. She gets so crazy and talkative. I’m glad we’re tapering. But I wish I could get her off this drug even sooner.

Oh goodness! I can’t believe we went lights out before 8:30 tonight. She’s been chirping and singing away for the last hour. I couldn’t put her off any longer when she became a fire engine. 🚨 So I took out some trash, brushed my teeth, cleaned her box, and ran out of busy work to hold her off. She wasn’t even accepting fuss anymore. So at 8, I plate. At 10 after, we’re lights out. She took a couple bites then came up for cuddles. Then back to the plate where she reduced it by half! I was worried with pred plus mirtz that she would scarf and barf the whole portion. She came back for cuddles and now she’s doing some pre-sleep navel gazing. 🤔 I can never tell if she’s working out some digestive discomfort, 😿 or if she’s simply saying her prayers before bedtime. 😽🙏 Or she’s mind-blogging about her day.

And we finally have a napping kitty. 💤 For how long….?
 
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daftcat75

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Well that didn’t last long. She’s back at the plate too. I think tonight’s going to be (more) nuts! 🥜

Just hoping it stays down and Betty and I get some sleep tonight.

And a third trip to the plate. It’s 9pm now and second dinner is in the books. She doesn’t get another for three more hours. She’s restless. Dang mirtz. I’m restless because I want to make sure she doesn’t get into any pica trouble or hangry mischief.

I just want her to lay down and sleep for a couple hours.

She’s usually not a mischievous cat. But she’s usually also not this hopped up and restless. I think I’ll be fingernail shaving some dose off her Wednesday dose.

I know when the rush has passed, she will quietly sit on the floor when she’s finished napping and is waiting for me to feed her. So polite. Krista would dance all over me. Betty might climb over me to get to her sleeping spot. And she might climb over me to get to her food dish (even though she doesn’t have to 🤦🏼‍♂️😹), but she doesn’t do laps or sit on my chest like Krista did. And usually she only climbs on me if I’m awake. Again, so polite. If I’m sleeping (or faking it), she’s usually more mindful of the path she chooses.

She has her own inner code of conduct that I never taught her. Don’t enter the kitchen from the ground. But the counter is okay. But only the cat food prep counter. The other counter with the microwave and the stovetop is off-limits. Don’t wake Dad. Cuddles are nice but we sleep apart. And zoomies are for the other room while Dad is sleeping. 😴👍💤
 
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Well that didn’t last long. She’s back at the plate too. I think tonight’s going to be (more) nuts! 🥜

Just hoping it stays down and Betty and I get some sleep tonight.

And a third trip to the plate. It’s 9pm now and second dinner is in the books. She doesn’t get another for three more hours. She’s restless. Dang mirtz. I’m restless because I want to make sure she doesn’t get into any pica trouble or hangry mischief.

I just want her to lay down and sleep for a couple hours.

She’s usually not a mischievous cat. But she’s usually also not this hopped up and restless. I think I’ll be fingernail shaving some dose off her Wednesday dose.

I know when the rush has passed, she will quietly sit on the floor when she’s finished napping and is waiting for me to feed her. So polite. Krista would dance all over me. Betty might climb over me to get to her sleeping spot. And she might climb over me to get to her food dish (even though she doesn’t have to 🤦🏼‍♂️😹), but she doesn’t do laps or sit on my chest like Krista did. And usually she only climbs on me if I’m awake. Again, so polite. If I’m sleeping (or faking it), she’s usually more mindful of the path she chooses.

She has her own inner code of conduct that I never taught her. Don’t enter the kitchen from the ground. But the counter is okay. But only the cat food prep counter. The other counter with the microwave and the stovetop is off-limits. Don’t wake Dad. Cuddles are nice but we sleep apart. And zoomies are for the other room while Dad is sleeping. 😴👍💤
Maybe she smells "prey" in the kitchen and thinks some other predator(s) might interfere??? Impossible to tell, unless she does. Hope you both settled in and got some rest.
Margot Lane Margot Lane Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah has a Roadhouse that may well have those!
 

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We made it through the night. No remainders were left last night. It was pretty amazing that she didn’t wake me or go into the kitchen and fix her own meals last night. 🐷🍕🍟🍔🧁

She ate half of breakfast at plating. Then she finished the other half during third sleep. Let’s hope she gets some good sleeping in between now and lunch. I’m not planning on expanding her meals to accommodate her appetite.

Though maybe… 🤔 I may try new foods with her with an afternoon sampler or guest snack on Thursday (the afternoon after her next mirtz dose.).

Automation has just kicked in. I guess it’s time for the work day. Sleep well, Betty!
 

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We made it through the night. No remainders were left last night. It was pretty amazing that she didn’t wake me or go into the kitchen and fix her own meals last night. 🐷🍕🍟🍔🧁

She ate half of breakfast at plating. Then she finished the other half during third sleep. Let’s hope she gets some good sleeping in between now and lunch. I’m not planning on expanding her meals to accommodate her appetite.

Though maybe… 🤔 I may try new foods with her with an afternoon sampler or guest snack on Thursday (the afternoon after her next mirtz dose.).

Automation has just kicked in. I guess it’s time for the work day. Sleep well, Betty!
Staying tuned for those updates. Hoping you find acceptable new foods for Betty!
 

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The good news is that I miscounted and that we can go to the next taper on the mirtz this week. We actually started her taper the night before her hairball night when I decided to skip the next night (the day of her appointment that she was going to be on reduced portions anyway.) So thurs to Sun was the second three night interval. I won't have to mirtz her for four nights, or this Thursday. The bad news is that I will still have to roofie her two more times before we can finally be done with this. I hope.

She finished lunch by 1 pm. She's going to be sooo hungry later. She already seemed fairly hungry her last visit into the office. I will offer her a 20% naked portion of Rawz rabbit, or a 7 gram snack portion. Over the next couple of weeks, I can see about growing that snack and reducing lunch until she's eating one Rawz rabbit meal. And if this doesn't work, I can just stop offering that snack tweener.

Insurance came back and said nothing was covered. I replied back and asked them to reconsider the imaging which was a suspected foreign body ingestion and had nothing to do with her continuing IBD care. Let's see what they say... 🤞
 

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The good news is that I miscounted and that we can go to the next taper on the mirtz this week. We actually started her taper the night before her hairball night when I decided to skip the next night (the day of her appointment that she was going to be on reduced portions anyway.) So thurs to Sun was the second three night interval. I won't have to mirtz her for four nights, or this Thursday. The bad news is that I will still have to roofie her two more times before we can finally be done with this. I hope.

She finished lunch by 1 pm. She's going to be sooo hungry later. She already seemed fairly hungry her last visit into the office. I will offer her a 20% naked portion of Rawz rabbit, or a 7 gram snack portion. Over the next couple of weeks, I can see about growing that snack and reducing lunch until she's eating one Rawz rabbit meal. And if this doesn't work, I can just stop offering that snack tweener.

Insurance came back and said nothing was covered. I replied back and asked them to reconsider the imaging which was a suspected foreign body ingestion and had nothing to do with her continuing IBD care. Let's see what they say... 🤞
Good about the mirtz intervals! and lunch. Hope she'll accept and like a Rawz meal. And hope they'll okay that imaging.
 

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Not much to report. She’s calmed down from that mirtz dosing day. Sad that she still has two more. But I understand that antidepressants like steroids should not be stopped abruptly. I’ll fingernail shave some pill off her dose to make it a little gentler on her.

I’m not sure what I was expecting of her on steroids. But I was expecting something else. She’s been so chill. The only thing I really see is that she finishes her meals earlier in a shift. I mean yeah. If I was a pushover and thought she had weight to gain, I probably would give into her earlier and earlier food demands. I “split the difference” a lot with her lately. Like right now, she finished first dinner at 7. I like to plate second dinner closer to 8:30. But when she wakes up any minute now, I’m sure we’ll split the difference and I’ll end up feeding her closer to 8:15.

This is already history.
BDEFDC47-98DD-4BEF-AE26-5AFDD8C0FCFE.jpeg

I have but a few moments while she is enjoying her hair appetizer before she’ll sit next to her plate and silently guilt me. 🤦🏼‍♂️😾
 

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Welcome back 🙄 to the wonderful world of ‘Pred Land.‘ I am at the phase w/ Zorro where every plate is a clean plate, and a new one demanded at least every 2 hours. I’ve been stoic, but it’s hard, and while I was away for 15 days my kind sitter gave in more to his demands. A bit of dietary action is required. Stay tuff.
 

daftcat75

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Welcome back 🙄 to the wonderful world of ‘Pred Land.‘ I am at the phase w/ Zorro where every plate is a clean plate, and a new one demanded at least every 2 hours. I’ve been stoic, but it’s hard, and while I was away for 15 days my kind sitter gave in more to his demands. A bit of dietary action is required. Stay tuff.
The daytime is my weakest. Where she used to finish lunch around 4 pm, she’s now finishing it at 2 pm. And I won’t give in on first dinner because that’s her pred time. The last couple days I’ve been sneaking her a 1/3 portion of Rawz rabbit pate at 3 pm. She makes that disappear so quickly and she’s back in my face by 4 pm. The last 90 minutes of work is either fussing her to sublimate her hunger into loving, because let’s face it, she can never get too much fuss. Or I try my best to ignore her while she stares at me for food or fuss.

She’s such a polite cat that once we go lights out, she won’t wake me for food. She’ll simply sit next to her plate and wait for me to notice or one of my alarms to remind me to “Feed the Gremlin” (as the overnight 12:30 alarm says.) By breakfast time, I can usually find her doing the same. Interestingly and adorably, she wants fuss and cuddle time on the overnight feed time. She’ll make a show and a song over how much she wants the next meal. But then she’ll sit in one of her two favorite fuss spots (near the boxes in the front room or next to the yacht in the office so she can brush her face against some cardboard while getting the rest of her worked over.) She’s not moving on to the plate or back to the bed until I sit with her and fuss her for a few moments. Then she might follow me to bed for some cuddles. Finally, she’ll move on to that overnight plate. I’m sure it’s because I give into her that she is so spoiled.😽🤦🏼‍♂️😹
 
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