Introducing Betty White

[daftcat75]

The only thing I have a problem with is that it's hard to get out of the chair because it's so comfortable. Oh well, it could be worse, right?
Yeah, no rest for the wicked, they say and as another friend says who's also in IT, "nobody knows what I do until I don't do it."
Betty's definitely got the right idea. Elvis is doing the same. It's CATurday morning, after all.View attachment 443037
*Elvis has his own Poang. No complaints there.*

The black cat on the blanket looks quite real. I thought you or your roommates got another cat there for a moment.

 

[tarasgirl06]

The black cat on the blanket looks quite real. I thought you or your roommates got another cat there for a moment.

How I wish! And the grey behind Elvis looks like...Elvis!

 

[Margot Lane]

May I ask about Betty’s round floof bed? It looks extra snuggly. Trying to type this with a cat on my stomach. Sometimes it’s nice to be the floof, sometimes it’s nice to have some space.

 

[daftcat75]

May I ask about Betty’s round floof bed? It looks extra snuggly. Trying to type this with a cat on my stomach. Sometimes it’s nice to be the floof, sometimes it’s nice to have some space.

 

[tarasgirl06]

View attachment 443100
View attachment 443101
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I love the color and the texture and yes, it does look extra snuggly. Betty could be the poster girl for these beds, too! What a PURRfect pic!

 

[daftcat75]

She’s a little more than a poop lower than last week. And I did scoop one earlier this morning. I’ve always heard that cats eat more in colder weather. But she’s like, “too cold. I’ll sleep more instead.” The last few nights she’s been leaving a half ounce on the overnight. Doctor wanted her to lose a little weight. She lost just a little weight.

 

[tarasgirl06]

She’s a little more than a poop lower than last week. And I did scoop one earlier this morning. I’ve always heard that cats eat more in colder weather. But she’s like, “too cold. I’ll sleep more instead.” The last few nights she’s been leaving a half ounce on the overnight. Doctor wanted her to lose a little weight. She lost just a little weight.
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Nothing wrong with that!
Elvis heard that cliche, too. He doesn't pay attention to cliches much, either. Of course, when you have a snuggly poof like Betty, you might just be tempted to curl into it more on cold mornings/nights/days. I know I would be.

 

[daftcat75]

Betty is starting to leave bigger remainders more often. It is starting to get concerning. I was kind of okay with her leaving overnight remainders. But now remainders are showing up all over. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and overnight. Makes me wonder if maybe it’s not just gloomy weather. Even though I wasn’t giving her good doses of bupe (at least as much landed on her chin as made it into her cheek), I wonder if that was maybe behind her good eating that first week after surgery. In any case, I’m giving her the full two weeks before I get excessively worried about this.

Her compounded gabapentin came in today. Already compounded out to 25 mg capsules. Except they are size 3’s. Size four is what I have been giving her. Threes may be on the outer edge of what she’s comfortable with. I guess we’ll find out tonight. Otherwise these unpack into a little less than two size fours. I hate to pump her with more capsules. That’s a little more A/D each time. I wonder if she’s getting used to having A/D in her portions again (her starter smear to combat sniff and snubs) and maybe missing it on the between meals.

 

[daftcat75]

She keeps showing up on the kitchen counter like she's hungry. But she is snubbing her food and waiting a very long time to eat it.

Her newly compounded 25 mg gabapentins have some kind of filler or flow agent that prevents them from being repacked into size 4's. Whereas her 100 mg's can be repacked entirely into a single size 4, they have something added to the compounded one that makes them a snug fit into a size 3 and requires almost two full size four's to split it.

And since Betty showed up on the counter like she was hungry but snubbed her plate like there was something else going on, I let her have an extra half a gabapentin dose to see if maybe she'll finish the plate this afternoon once it kicks in. I have heard of cats developing a tolerance to gabapentin. Wouldn't that just figure that we finally got 25's compounded and she may need more? We'll see how this extra half treats her. I have the other half I can offer her with dinner tonight to see if that makes a difference on tonight's remainders.

She is going to the vet on Wednesday for her two weeks check-up.

 

[tarasgirl06]

She keeps showing up on the kitchen counter like she's hungry. But she is snubbing her food and waiting a very long time to eat it.

Her newly compounded 25 mg gabapentins have some kind of filler or flow agent that prevents them from being repacked into size 4's. Whereas her 100 mg's can be repacked entirely into a single size 4, they have something added to the compounded one that makes them a snug fit into a size 3 and requires almost two full size four's to split it.

And since Betty showed up on the counter like she was hungry but snubbed her plate like there was something else going on, I let her have an extra half a gabapentin dose to see if maybe she'll finish the plate this afternoon once it kicks in. I have heard of cats developing a tolerance to gabapentin. Wouldn't that just figure that we finally got 25's compounded and she may need more? We'll see how this extra half treats her. I have the other half I can offer her with dinner tonight to see if that makes a difference on tonight's remainders.

She is going to the vet on Wednesday for her two weeks check-up.

None too soon for the checkup, it sounds like, just to be sure! And yeah, that's weird about her new capsules AND her leaving remainders. Whassup, Betty girl? Wishing you/we could understand Cattish fluently. Do you think it's about wanting something new and different to eat? How many choices does she have?

 

[daftcat75]

None too soon for the checkup, it sounds like, just to be sure! And yeah, that's weird about her new capsules AND her leaving remainders. Whassup, Betty girl? Wishing you/we could understand Cattish fluently. Do you think it's about wanting something new and different to eat? How many choices does she have?

She has only the one choice because we're still under "change nothing until she's to and through her dental". This week counts as the "through" portion as it's customary to allow two weeks for recovery. I suppose the sutures may be bothering her. Or maybe she's tired of this food or these cases. She may not be keen on these cases from one VCA. Wednesday I will pick up two cases from another VCA. But yeah, it's disappointing and frustrating. She seemed to be doing so well post-dental and now it seems like she's reverted to a pre-dental level of eating again.

 

[tarasgirl06]

She has only the one choice because we're still under "change nothing until she's to and through her dental". This week counts as the "through" portion as it's customary to allow two weeks for recovery. I suppose the sutures may be bothering her. Or maybe she's tired of this food or these cases. She may not be keen on these cases from one VCA. Wednesday I will pick up two cases from another VCA. But yeah, it's disappointing and frustrating. She seemed to be doing so well post-dental and now it seems like she's reverted to a pre-dental level of eating again.

She is eating something, which is of course good; but yeah! and I hope she's not in pain. How about a little more A/D even though you don't want her to eat that exclusively? Just until you both get through this period? Or is that not allowed?

 

[daftcat75]

She is eating something, which is of course good; but yeah! and I hope she's not in pain. How about a little more A/D even though you don't want her to eat that exclusively? Just until you both get through this period? Or is that not allowed?

This period ends in a couple days. At this point, it’s worrisome. But not yet problematic. I think adding A/D back into her regular portions would be changing something that I’m not supposed to. Let’s see if the extra gabapentin helps. Right now she’s sleeping in her hut. I’m hoping when she wakes up she’ll take a decent first pass. It’s just frustrating and disappointing because last week, I didn’t have to wait on her first passes.

 

[tarasgirl06]

This period ends in a couple days. At this point, it’s worrisome. But not yet problematic. I think adding A/D back into her regular portions would be changing something that I’m not supposed to. Let’s see if the extra gabapentin helps. Right now she’s sleeping in her hut. I’m hoping when she wakes up she’ll take a decent first pass. It’s just frustrating and disappointing because last week, I didn’t have to wait on her first passes.

I know! She was snorking up everything you put in front of her. I guess more frequent weigh-ins would help you keep track of whether or not to get more worried, right? Most cats DO eat more in cold weather, just like most humans in cold climates/weather eat more because of burning more calories to stay warm.
*Come ON, Betty girl Don't worry your Dad. He loves you. EAT.*

 

[daftcat75]

Weigh-ins are kinda disruptive because it usually takes an extra treat or something to get her on the scale. And often she leaves a remainder on Sunday weigh-in breakfast. Cats similar to people also have daily weight fluctuations. Even when Krista was at her sickest in the middle of her lymphoma free fall, I still didn’t weigh her more than once a week. No I don’t think more frequent weigh ins would benefit anyone. They’d be more likely to create further stress anxiety for us both. I was kinda hoping we’d hit a boring stable state where I could reduce her weigh-in frequency.

 

[daftcat75]

She may have developed a tolerance to the gabapentin. Which begs the question, what's still causing pain? After she woke from her extra gaba- nap, she made a very healthy first pass on lunch. If she returns to the plate just once more before dinner, she can finish it. We'll try dinner tonight with her new capsules. If she leaves a dinner remainder, she can have the second half gabapentin before bedtime. It would be ironic if she needs to go up in dose just when I finally had her dose compounded.

 

[tarasgirl06]

She may have developed a tolerance to the gabapentin. Which begs the question, what's still causing pain? After she woke from her extra gaba- nap, she made a very healthy first pass on lunch. If she returns to the plate just once more before dinner, she can finish it. We'll try dinner tonight with her new capsules. If she leaves a dinner remainder, she can have the second half gabapentin before bedtime. It would be ironic if she needs to go up in dose just when I finally had her dose compounded.

We can't possibly know how a cat feels, but if humans develop tolerance for and use analgesics recreationally, which they certainly do, what's to say cats don't?

 

[daftcat75]

We can't possibly know how a cat feels, but if humans develop tolerance for and use analgesics recreationally, which they certainly do, what's to say cats don't?

Are you saying Betty is faking it to get high?

I thought she may have trouble with the size 3 gabapentins. Nope. Didn’t even flinch. Scooped and swallowed and said, “ready for the next pill.” That makes life easier. If we do need to up her dosage, it will be easier to split a 25 mg two ways than a 100 mg three ways.

Maybe the extra half dose of gabapentin did it. She finished lunch and then finished dinner before I finished cooking mine. I won’t add any more tonight. Let’s see how she does on the overnight without the extra. But maybe we do have to space out her doses a little better. Perhaps make some 1/4 doses to give at lunch and bedtime between the full doses.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Are you saying Betty is faking it to get high?

I thought she may have trouble with the size 3 gabapentins. Nope. Didn’t even flinch. Scooped and swallowed and said, “ready for the next pill.” That makes life easier. If we do need to up her dosage, it will be easier to split a 25 mg two ways than a 100 mg three ways.

Maybe the extra half dose of gabapentin did it. She finished lunch and then finished dinner before I finished cooking mine. I won’t add any more tonight. Let’s see how she does on the overnight without the extra. But maybe we do have to space out her doses a little better. Perhaps make some 1/4 doses to give at lunch and bedtime between the full doses.

Face it. Your cat is a drug freakie.

 

[daftcat75]

She ate well yesterday and last night with the extra half gabapentin that I decided to give her the other half when it was almost 2pm and she still hasn’t started on lunch.

Doc texted me last night and said Betty’s limb rads came back and she’s got some degeneration that would benefit from Solensia. I’m sure she does. But I don’t think we or my wallet are ready for monthly vet visits and essentially another subscription. I’m blessed that she loves to take capsules because we’ll probably start with the nutriceuticals first: glucosamine, chondroitin, maybe CBD if her pred dose isn’t contraindicating. And of course gabapentin. There’s a reason I started her at 25 mg. Gives her room for tolerance to grow.

Anyway, she still does lots of encouraging zany active cat things that tell me we don’t have to dive into the deep end right away.