Krista's Care

[daftcat75]

That’s the face of so much mischief. I look down at that face and she says, “I won’t bomb your carpet.” Yeah. Until I turn my back on you.

Another beautiful solid poop and buried this time.

Now awaiting further instructions. Will there be a bonus or is she good for the morning?

 

[tarasgirl06]

Krista is only nibbling this morning. I have my doubts about the transdermal gel and/or the new "chewier" cans of Rawz--the San Francisco batch now that I've run out of the Maryland cans. I may have to go back to SF for more cans as they seem to be the only ones who still have the stuff. I think this is the week that the new Rawz facility is shipping to distributors. I'm hoping I'll be able to buy locally or order online from next week. As for the gel, I suppose I could gel her once more to see if it was just learning curve last night. We can always go back to pills if I don't think the gel is as effective.

Hope you're able to find a reliable source to get the Rawz! and hoping and praying for success with the gel...

 

[Twylasmom]

My experience with gels is that the dose may not always be consistent within the syringe. Also. since it is not going through the gi tract the response may be more gradual. Are you cleaning the ear before application for maximum absorption?

It sounds like the chemo/pred combo is helping - that is good!

 

[daftcat75]

My experience with gels is that the dose may not always be consistent within the syringe. Also. since it is not going through the gi tract the response may be more gradual. Are you cleaning the ear before application for maximum absorption?

It sounds like the chemo/pred combo is helping - that is good!

Last night was the first gel dose. I'm not sure if we'll stick with this.

I like the assurance that once she does finally swallow her two pred pill halves, she has taken her medicine and there isn't a question of absorption. I also like that, although it sometimes takes several bites to get there, she pretty much does get there on her own.

She's not crazy about having her ears handled. I think it's going to be harder to wash the previous dose away than to get the next dose applied. Wedgewood has a nice twist-a-dose pen that measures it accurately and makes it easy to apply--if I don't have a squirming cat resisting. I like that the gel bypasses the GI. If she's going to have poop pukes or something else that might disturb her stomach, the pred has already detoured around that rocky road.

I'll give the gel a chance. We can always go back to the pills if she just doesn't like the gel or it's not as effective.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Last night was the first gel dose. I'm not sure if we'll stick with this.

I like the assurance that once she does finally swallow her two pred pill halves, she has taken her medicine and there isn't a question of absorption. I also like that, although it sometimes takes several bites to get there, she pretty much does get there on her own.

She's not crazy about having her ears handled. I think it's going to be harder to wash the previous dose away than to get the next dose applied. Wedgewood has a nice twist-a-dose pen that measures it accurately and makes it easy to apply--if I don't have a squirming cat resisting. I like that the gel bypasses the GI. If she's going to have poop pukes or something else that might disturb her stomach, the pred has already detoured around that rocky road.

I'll give the gel a chance. We can always go back to the pills if she just doesn't like the gel or it's not as effective.

Sounds promising! Too bad about the ears -- my girls love having their ears tweaked and pulled. Elvis, not so much.

 

[daftcat75]

Solid poop at 6:30.

I don’t see any signs of restlessness. So I will proceed to the cat food making that I put off until we ran out of the last bag of this batch tonight.

 

[daftcat75]

Bonus pudding.

And I managed to intercept her carpet squatting and get a box under her bum before the bonus milkshake.

At that point, I stopped following her around. I figured if she still had more, it was going to be the two carpet kisses she left in the home office.

At least the front room and her food area did not get contaminated this time.

We got a new batch of raw made. After the first taste, she just waited here just outside the kitchen, hoping for more scraps or samples.

I think this batch won her approval.

 

[daftcat75]

I got home at 6. I’m just now finishing with the cat at 9. I fed her and medicated her and cleaned her plates from the afternoon. Then I started to set up the grinder when her butt decided it was time for round two. And three. And a couple carpet kisses. Got all that cleaned up and it was time to make her food. Then weigh, portion, bag and label her food. Then clean the grinder and all the mixing bowls and spoons. Now it’s time for second dinner. So I served that and cleaned up first dinner plates. And now here we are, almost 9:30, and I’m wondering if I really want to bother with cooking something for me tonight.

There’s always midnight feeding to reconsider.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I got home at 6. I’m just now finishing with the cat at 9. I fed her and medicated her and cleaned her plates from the afternoon. Then I started to set up the grinder when her butt decided it was time for round two. And three. And a couple carpet kisses. Got all that cleaned up and it was time to make her food. Then weigh, portion, bag and label her food. Then clean the grinder and all the mixing bowls and spoons. Now it’s time for second dinner. So I served that and cleaned up first dinner plates. And now here we are, almost 9:30, and I’m wondering if I really want to bother with cooking something for me tonight.

There’s always midnight feeding to reconsider.

Your effort shows, bigtime -- what a bright-eyed, beautiful, happy-looking Krista! She's so very worth it. And you as her family and caregiver deserve the best and need it, too -- hope you had something great for dinner.

 

[daftcat75]

Your effort shows, bigtime -- what a bright-eyed, beautiful, happy-looking Krista! She's so very worth it. And you as her family and caregiver deserve the best and need it, too -- hope you had something great for dinner.

I had chocolate chip cookies for dinner last night. After slaving away in the kitchen for the cat for three hours, I didn’t even feel like frying an egg for myself. I would have had to wash more dishes. Undoubtedly, that’s my least favorite part of making her food—all the cleanup it requires afterwards!

Between feeding her, making her food, washing her dishes, and cleaning up after her returns, it’s a good thing she runs around naked. I just don’t have anything left to clothe her and do her laundry.

 

[Furballsmom]

lol

 

[daftcat75]

Fuzz Lighthyear planted another foot-long poop stake in the box.

“There’s a poop snake in my boot.”

Now she’s sleeping that off in her tree like no big deal. Like we haven’t been struggling for months to get solid poops. She’s making up for lost time producing poop casts. I should bring one in to the vet next time.

“It’s not a stool sample. It’s an ultrasound negative.”

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[tarasgirl06]

I had chocolate chip cookies for dinner last night. After slaving away in the kitchen for the cat for three hours, I didn’t even feel like frying an egg for myself. I would have had to wash more dishes. Undoubtedly, that’s my least favorite part of making her food—all the cleanup it requires afterwards!

Between feeding her, making her food, washing her dishes, and cleaning up after her returns, it’s a good thing she runs around naked. I just don’t have anything left to clothe her and do her laundry.

I know, I know! *Don't we wish we had cleaners!*

 

[daftcat75]

Sounds promising! Too bad about the ears -- my girls love having their ears tweaked and pulled. Elvis, not so much.

She likes ear love well enough. Mostly only the right ear though. The left one is the one that seems to flare up with food allergies. It’s the one that had a ruptured eardrum last year. It probably has a polyp in it. Anyway. Rubbing the base of either ear is usually alright. Rubbing the pinna between my fingers is tolerated on the right ear. Rubbing same pinna with medicine or cotton ball to clean is NOT okay with her.

No wet willies!

 

[daftcat75]

Solid poop until its pudding finish. She looked like she may have bonus. She still looks like she may have a surprise in store before the night is out.

The pred gel is thick. I feel like I may be unintentionally tapering her while I figure out how to get all of the gel onto her ear while she's clearly unhappy with the effort and experience.

The new batch of raw is stickier than the old batch. I'm not sure why or if it was just the freshest portion. If the first freezer portion is also this sticky, maybe we can return to yeasty pred bites.

Or I just have to get better at the wet willies with practice.

 

[daftcat75]

I think there was solid poop among the buried treasure. But also a pudding finish. I am experimenting with slightly reduced psyllium to see if we can reduce the blowouts by reducing overall poop volume. I’m taking this slowly and won’t adjust for a few days to see if her butt will get used to the ever so slightly less psyllium than before.

That was 5am.

At 4am, she barfed two small puddles. I have no idea what that was about. It’s still too early for me to run a vacuum and those two puddles aren’t stinking up the place. I’ll use the Spot Bot after second breakfast.

It’s been a morning where I would like to sleep under the bookcase if I could fit.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I think there was solid poop among the buried treasure. But also a pudding finish. I am experimenting with slightly reduced psyllium to see if we can reduce the blowouts by reducing overall poop volume. I’m taking this slowly and won’t adjust for a few days to see if her butt will get used to the ever so slightly less psyllium than before.

That was 5am.

At 4am, she barfed two small puddles. I have no idea what that was about. It’s still too early for me to run a vacuum and those two puddles aren’t stinking up the place. I’ll use the Spot Bot after second breakfast.

It’s been a morning where I would like to sleep under the bookcase if I could fit.

Yeah, I think most of us here at TCS have been THERE. Having roomies and having to constantly fit into schedules so it all works is exhausting but adding an "accident" or two to have to deal with first thing in the frenetic morning can be extremely frustrating. Still here, and undoubtedly you are, too, so I guess that's a "win". Anyway, we both know bookcases won't accomodate.

 

[daftcat75]

I’m topping off her litter boxes.

“New litter?” She comes running to that sound like it was a bag of treats.

She watched me pour in an inch of new litter. She watched me put the bag away. Looks up at me, “are you done?”

“Yes. I’m done. You may poop away.”

Sure enough. She has no shame and used the box the moment I set the bag down and backed up a step.

Solid poop. No pudding finish. She buried it. It took a grunt or two to get going, though. That would be the only “complaint” I would have about this one.

Still an improvement over the pudding finishes or the blowouts. I think her pooper is just getting used to the slightly less psyllium. And by slightly less, I mean she was getting 1 dash (1/8 tsp) per 5.5 oz can. Now she gets slightly less than that but not enough less to use a smaller spoon.

 

[Furballsmom]

wow!