Krista's Care

[daftcat75]

This cat has my back. And that usually means she’s laying behind my chair, guarding me from an approach from behind. Namely the bathroom and litterbox.


Peak-a-boo through the bottom of her favorite tree. Spotted!

 

[daftcat75]

I may have been giving her too little of the chemo drug. The syringe has markings for "drps". I may have mistaken 1 drps for 0.1 mL. I did that this morning. Then I thought there was an order of magnitude (ten times) difference between drps and mL. So I pulled a proper mL dose and gave her more tuna. Once I had her medicated, another couple of spoonfuls of tuna, and her regular rabbit breakfast set out, I had a moment to myself, without an eager Krista yelling at me, to re-examine the syringe markings. It turns out 1 drps (drop? drip?) is half (not 1/10th) of 0.1 mL. In other words, when I pulled a proper dose, I failed to account for the first under-dose, and she ended up with 50% more medicine this morning. Luckily, it seems it can be given up to twice what I gave and still be considered a (high) medicinal dose rather than an overdose. I can't remember if I have made this mistake (using the wrong markings, not the double dosing) on her previous doses.

 

[daftcat75]

So this is where we’re at now. I used to take pictures of her. Now I take pictures of her poop.

My little soft serve maker. I should get her pastry molds so it comes out in shapes like stars.

Spoiler

 

[tarasgirl06]

So this is where we’re at now. I used to take pictures of her. Now I take pictures of her poop.

My little soft serve maker. I should get her pastry molds so it comes out in shapes like stars.

Spoiler

View attachment 325570

*LOVELY!*

 

[daftcat75]

Her poop started solid and finished totally liquid. But it wasn't the forceful blowouts of old. I can guess that this is either more medicine than usual or more tuna than usual (as in she only gets tuna on chemo days and she did get a few more spoonfuls than last time.) I expect her poop to stabilize by morning. I've seen worse from her and she's looked worse afterwards.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Her poop started solid and finished totally liquid. But it wasn't the forceful blowouts of old. I can guess that this is either more medicine than usual or more tuna than usual (as in she only gets tuna on chemo days and she did get a few more spoonfuls than last time.) I expect her poop to stabilize by morning. I've seen worse from her and she's looked worse afterwards.

Well, I'm the kind who always prefers to look at the catbox as half-full rather than half-empty

 

[daftcat75]

She had the stomach gurgles last night. She skipped a meal or two. Instead of waking me for her midnight meal, I woke her for a 2am plate and a 4am feeder. The 2am plate kept her occupied the rest of the night and she didn't touch the 4am feeder. She ate softer on the first two breakfasts.

Then finally! Her morning poop came two meals later than expected. There were good pieces. There was a squirty finish. She buried it. I can't really comment on what happened in between. It seems we're getting closer to her being trustworthy with her poops once more.

We can't decide whether we're going to absorb the time change or adapt to it. I tried to change our first dinner last night to 7 instead of 6. That wasn't so hard. But trying to push our wake up time to 6 from 5 like that time change never happened and she's not having it. The sun isn't up for two hours now at 5am and she still wants to be up as early as I'll feed her.

Rawz inventories are returning! I got an email that a reseller in New Jersey has cases available again. I ordered one. I probably should have ordered a second but I was also planning another SF trip. Transportation costs are slightly cheaper than shipping. Hopefully the Sacramento reseller that doesn't charge for shipping will get their inventory soon. Or local stores. That would be even better!

 

[tarasgirl06]

She had the stomach gurgles last night. She skipped a meal or two. Instead of waking me for her midnight meal, I woke her for a 2am plate and a 4am feeder. The 2am plate kept her occupied the rest of the night and she didn't touch the 4am feeder. She ate softer on the first two breakfasts.

Then finally! Her morning poop came two meals later than expected. There were good pieces. There was a squirty finish. She buried it. I can't really comment on what happened in between. It seems we're getting closer to her being trustworthy with her poops once more.

We can't decide whether we're going to absorb the time change or adapt to it. I tried to change our first dinner last night to 7 instead of 6. That wasn't so hard. But trying to push our wake up time to 6 from 5 like that time change never happened and she's not having it. The sun isn't up for two hours now at 5am and she still wants to be up as early as I'll feed her.

Rawz inventories are returning! I got an email that a reseller in New Jersey has cases available again. I ordered one. I probably should have ordered a second but I was also planning another SF trip. Transportation costs are slightly cheaper than shipping. Hopefully the Sacramento reseller that doesn't charge for shipping will get their inventory soon. Or local stores. That would be even better!

Mostly great news! *Light or lack of it is what motivates cats food-wise, or so I've heard.* We're keeping the usual schedule, but it takes a little getting used to on all our parts. I'm doing this mostly because of my roomies' needs and because after working hard every day, I need my evening TV time to unwind so I can even THINK about sleeping. As I'm sure you'll agree, a nice evening of murder porn can't be beat.

 

[Furballsmom]

lol

 

[daftcat75]

Well, I'm the kind who always prefers to look at the catbox as half-full rather than half-empty

Half full. Half empty. If it’s occupied by half, that’s too much

 

[daftcat75]

After worrying for over a year and a half about losing my job to my cat's care needs, it finally happened. And it was not nearly so bad.

They call it a restructuring and assure me it had nothing to do with the cat. If that were true, they would have fingered someone else's job for elimination. Whatever they have to tell themselves to sleep at night.
Me? I'm pretty happy about this. I will be comfortable for a long time thanks to the separation package. Now I can focus solely on Krista (and myself) without burning the candle on both ends.

I may also have my next job already lined up. I spoke to an old boss who has been trying to recruit me for a couple of years now. He's aware of my cat's needs from before and still wants me to join his new team. But he's also good with me taking the month for Krista and getting back to him next month. That's a huge relief!

In the meantime, I work on getting Krista healed up and trustworthy enough to poop unsupervised once more so I can leave her alone all day. I don't want to start the new job with preconditions and time constraints like I left the old one.

 

[Furballsmom]

Well, how about that!!
Sending you both all the very best wishes!

 

[tarasgirl06]

After worrying for over a year and a half about losing my job to my cat's care needs, it finally happened. And it was not nearly so bad.

They call it a restructuring and assure me it had nothing to do with the cat. If that were true, they would have fingered someone else's job for elimination. Whatever they have to tell themselves to sleep at night.
Me? I'm pretty happy about this. I will be comfortable for a long time thanks to the separation package. Now I can focus solely on Krista (and myself) without burning the candle on both ends.

I may also have my next job already lined up. I spoke to an old boss who has been trying to recruit me for a couple of years now. He's aware of my cat's needs from before and still wants me to join his new team. But he's also good with me taking the month for Krista and getting back to him next month. That's a huge relief!

In the meantime, I work on getting Krista healed up and trustworthy enough to poop unsupervised once more so I can leave her alone all day. I don't want to start the new job with preconditions and time constraints like I left the old one.

This is a very strange time IMHO. A lot of instability all over, but in and among that, a lot of amazingly good, almost unimaginably good, things are happening to a lot of people and cats and more. Sounds like your future's looking bright!

 

[daftcat75]

This is a very strange time IMHO. A lot of instability all over, but in and among that, a lot of amazingly good, almost unimaginably good, things are happening to a lot of people and cats and more. Sounds like your future's looking bright!

Recession is coming. You can't ask people to self-quarantine or cancel events due to virus concerns without having an impact on supply chains and revenues.

Fortunately, I had also squirreled away a lot of cash after 2016 figuring the economy and leadership would falter sooner than this. Between that stash and the separation package, I should be okay for a good while. Hopefully that opportunity my old boss has for me won't evaporate before I'm ready for it.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Recession is coming. You can't ask people to self-quarantine or cancel events due to virus concerns without having an impact on supply chains and revenues.

Fortunately, I had also squirreled away a lot of cash after 2016 figuring the economy and leadership would falter sooner than this. Between that stash and the separation package, I should be okay for a good while. Hopefully that opportunity my old boss has for me won't evaporate before I'm ready for it.

*PRAYERS* for that job to be the one for you! and for it to be available when you're ready. Sounds like it will be, from what you've said. And good on ya for saving. A good financial advisor -- whether it's someone else or yourself if qualified -- is essential!

 

[daftcat75]

Cleaning out the pee she just deposited in box number one,

“Step aside. I’m going to poop.”

Weren’t you just in this box? There are two others. Use one of those.

She climbs into the next nearest one and uses that one to walk into the one next to it.

Solid poop! Except it didn’t look finished or satisfying. Like after three segments, she squeezed out the last one that she could and then walked away with a little remainder.

Clearly we’re in for bonus rounds.

Never trust a Krista who won’t let her tail rest on the ground after a poop. That’s a cat in some kind of discomfort.

Sure enough. Because I sat with her and watched her, she thought about a carpet campaign but eventually went back to a box for a soft round two.

She seems more relaxed now. I think maybe two rounds is all she needs tonight.

Or she’s waiting for me to run these two baggies down to the dumpster so she can carpet bomb unimpeded.

 

[daftcat75]

This is a much more pronounced version of that sit. Never turn your back on a Krista sitting like this.

A carpet bombing followed this while I was taking this shot. (This was a few weeks ago?)

 

[Furballsmom]

Awwww, poor kiddo

 

[daftcat75]

Where’s my cat at?

I guess it’s her shift to sit watch.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Where’s my cat at?
View attachment 325776
I guess it’s her shift to sit watch.

*Yes, a tail can tell a, uh, tale.*