Krista's Care

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daftcat75

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Her eating is dropping off again. She's leaving half an ounce here and there. When I only feed her an ounce at a time, that half ounce remainder is significant. I put down the last of the turkey can from the overnight and she didn't touch it. I put down some rabbit and she nibbled at it. Out came the nuclear option. I opened a Tiki Cat Ahi Tuna and mixed it into the rabbit. Bingo! Her love of tuna is stronger than whatever else is going on right now. Her eating shift is done for the morning. I can let hunger work on my side and we can see how this goes for evening. As long as it doesn't wreck her stools, I'm okay with feeding her a mix of Rawz and Tiki and see if this is just a short-term bump in the road or an indicator of more mouth work to come.
 
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daftcat75

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Well, that was about as exciting as my Saturday night's get these days until this cat is stronger and healthier.

I stepped out at 4:30 for dinner and break from being home all day. I came back at 6:30 to a rabbit and tuna pile.
:barf:

Sadly, I can't blame this on a hairball. If I had to venture a guess, I would say the tuna doesn't sit out as well as the rabbit does.

Fortunately, I have other flavors so I don't have to feed a food she just barfed.

This wasn't how I wanted to get back to turkey, but so be it. I set out an ounce or Rawz turkey with a small amount of the tuna in the center. She stopped when she got to the tuna. Message received loud and clear. I pulled that tuna bit out. She remains unconvinced.

After I finished cleaning the carpet, I was cleaning up the handheld vacuum and who should come walking over to her new, "feed me a raw meal" spot? I pulled out another half ounce of Rad Cat and mixed it half ounce of Rawz. I offered the Rad Cat by itself, but it was too runny. Her mouth definitely hurts more with licking than chewing. So I mixed in the Rawz and some dust from the tuna flakes and she finished about 3/4 of that portion. So probably an ounce and a half between the earlier Rawz portion and this one. That's three nights in a row that she's asked for a raw dinner. She doesn't show up in that spot at any other time but first dinner. Still, that's three more raw meals than the week before. Whether I understand the mechanism or not, she'll have a silky coat tonight.

I have Alnutrin arriving next week. I think I want to make a turkey batch but leave out the liver. Then for the liver, I'll use freeze-dried to top it with every meal. That will be her bribe to finish without giving her extra liver in her diet like when I use it as a bribe today.
 
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daftcat75

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Her eating remains frustrating. She's bothered by something in her mouth still. But she does eventually finish most of her portions. It's just maddening getting there.

But something must be working because her weekly weigh-in is up to 7.9 or 8.0 lbs. The scale was being awfully indecisive for a machine. Though I never really get a choice or a say in these things, I want to put on as much weight as we can before the next thing, whatever that is. Probably more dental work.

She's had a few more raw portions since I agreed to the "show up in the spot and I'll thaw something for you" arrangement. Except I'm almost out of food she will eat. I made up a batch of turkey with alnutrin and so far, she seems unimpressed by alnutrin. She won't even touch it with extra freeze dried liver powder on top. We can try a few nano-batch Krista Test Kitchens this weekend perhaps.

I'm trying to get her some arthritis relief. But everytime I try to give her something, GlycoFlex or Cosequin, we get the bonkers butt. The bonus bombs. Poop and soup or poop and soft-serve. I have the burge the first from the box before she drops the bonus on the carpet. I finally broke down and set up a second litterbox for her. She's using it now, but I don't know if she'll use both when the time comes. So for now, no more glucosamine-chondroitin for her because it's too much excitement and excrement for the both of us.

Her input-output issues aside, she seems like she's getting better by the day. The raw portions are really helping with her coat. She's happily going to the top of her trees for fish flakes on the fish flake hunts. She enjoys resting on the desk with me while I work or sometimes blocking between me and the keyboard. Okay, often! Annoyingly so! She's also started batting at her Cat Dancer toy which stopped for a long time presumably due to the Horners.

So mostly good all around.

I just want her to eat what I offer and use the bathrooms I provide. I have only two requests of her and they seem like the hardest things in the world.
 

WinniesMomma

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I'm glad she's doing mostly better. Hopefully the eating will pick up and that she will use the second bathroom you provided for her. Fingers crossed!
 
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daftcat75

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I'm glad she's doing mostly better. Hopefully the eating will pick up and that she will use the second bathroom you provided for her. Fingers crossed!
I think the eating is probably as good as it gets until her next dental procedures. I'm with the vet on this one that I want to give her some time before the next one. It's not good to be putting her under so frequently. I'm also not caught up on the last bill or my taxes. She's probably not doing too bad overall. It's just maddening and sad to see my fur pig who used to eagerly clean plates not eating like she used to.

She's using the second litterbox now. That's not an issue. It's whether she wants to use either litterbox when it comes time to void the soft serve. I think she's pooped her leg or foot enough times that she probably doesn't want to use a box for the soft poop now. Better to just stop souping her poop in the first place.
 
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daftcat75

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She just polished off 3/4 of an ounce of Rad Cat liked her mouth wasn't bothering her. I mean I could clearly see it was as she would wince and fling food. But clearly she was enjoying the Rad Cat more than her mouth was bothering her. Why can't I repeat that recipe? Why won't she ever touch my batches with the same gusto? I'm content that she had a raw portion. Any Rawz she wants to nibble at over the next several hours is all bonus to me. We'll eventually figure out a raw recipe she likes. I think I have light meat and I think Rad Cat used dark meat. So that's probably the first hurdle. I can get boneless ground dark meat easily enough at the raw feeder's coop.
 

WinniesMomma

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Glad she ate that up! I'm sorry she's still having mouth problems that are affecting her eating. :/
 
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daftcat75

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She's figured out I have a little Rad Cat left. She showed up in her spot for breakfast. To her credit, she did wait just outside her spot until I finished cooking my breakfast. I put down about an ounce and she pulled up about 1/4 ounce shy of a clean plate. She's also been nibbling at Rawz this morning. I’m going to try to feed larger portions less frequently (1.5 ounces every 4 to 6 hours instead of 1 ounce as often as she’ll take it.). I will try to be more patient and use hunger more to my advantage. Try and get her back on a schedule.

She’s also using the new box exclusively. Which is good by me because it’s easier to clean and she’s using it properly e.g. not peeing the floor or wall around it. I will take this opportunity to replace the box in the cabinet with something bigger. I was holding off on that because the littermaid with the tiny box for business has an aftermarket pee guard and we just got used to not peeing directly at it so that the pee doesn’t trace its contour down to the seams between movable pieces and onto the pee pad beneath the box. Yeah. Maybe that wasn’t working quite so good. No bonus poops this morning so no carpet soft serve either.
:yess:
 
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daftcat75

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Last night she waited until I portioned out the last of the Rawz can, a little more than an ounce and a half, before she decided she wanted a raw dinner.
:whiskers:
She polished off an ounce of the last of the portioned Rad Cat (I think there's one ounce left) like her mouth was never hurting. And she was still hungry. So I put the Rawz in front of her and she ate another half ounce before she pulled up.
:petcat:
No worriess. I move the plate to the office and she'll work on it over the next several hours. In the meantime, she wants a post-dinner fish flake hunt.
:dancingblackcat:
I love that her vigor for these have returned. Though it's more expensive keeping up with it now that she has spots in the office that she also searches. Pet Food Express has these buy 3 bags and get the 4th free. I feel like that may be a couple days' supply.
:redtabby:
So my fur pig comes back from her hunt and eats another ounce of the food. I think when she pulled up about a half ounce away from clearing the plate that I thought maybe I should shut her out of the office and away from the food for a bit. Give her some time to nap off the 2 ounces she's already had before she goes breaking portion records and our barf-less streak.

Also she dropped a perfect poop in the new box and then settled down for a groom. The least stressful feed in weeks!

Second dinner around midnight, I put down an ounce and a half. She nibbled at it over hours.
:gingercat:
Good morning, Krista! Did you check your plate?
:clapcat:
I picked up about 1/4 oz of last night's portion and swapped it out for another ounce and half. Which took her another several hours to finish.
:dizzycat:
And now I have an ounce for her afternoon shift. She'll be sleeping more than eating from here until evening. If you were trying to follow along, I think it will be about six ounces of food if she finishes this ounce. I'm good with that.

It seems we're both starting to understand her mouth a little better. She likes her pate less chopped up because she can bite at it easier. She'd rather bite than lick her food these days. I find myself playing with her food making bite piles for her rather than the lick it up layer she used to prefer. I'll cut her lines to snort it if that's how she wants to be fed as long as she gets enough nutrition in her.

As I was trying to decide whether I would spend $90 shipping on $75 of duck because the raw food coop stopped carrying the boneless duck patties she likes, it struck me how dumb it is that I'm so limited because I haven't bought a grinder yet. So Krista is getting an early birthday present just as soon as I sort out her last bill and my taxes this year. Although I don't eat any of this meat myself, I'm pretty excited about unlocking new ways to butcher and process carcases for my in-house carnivore.
:purr:
 
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daftcat75

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Krista's eating is slowing again. She barely touched her dinners (the last raw portion aside) and her first breakfast isn't going much better. She showed up in her feed me raw spot. But I had no more portioned Rad Cat left. And I'm not going to bust into that last tub until her birthday month next month. We tried a portion from a homemade batch she once approved. She's since changed her mind on it. I tried mixing some Rawz in but she just licked at the Rawz as much as licking causes her discomfort. We tried a Primal nugget rehydrated. No dice. I warmed up and plated some Rawz turkey for her. Next! I think it's the end of the can or something. Rather than get another lukewarm reception on the next turkey can, I decided to open a rabbit can for her. Well, she shoved her face in and went to town like I thought she'd clean the plate. Except that didn't last very long. I fear we're going to have go back in for another dental sooner than expected. But for now, I'm going to let her have a day. She can nibble at the rabbit, and she has been, but I'm not going to be aggressive about it today. Especially because a can or two of the rabbit per month isn't exactly "in rotation." She usually does well with Rawz but I'll let her set the pace today since the rabbit is not the turkey she has everyday. I'm not going to have a repeat of last time where I overreact and feed her rabbit and tuna and she barfs up both. But if she is brewing up a hairball or a barf of another color, I'll give her the space today to figure out which way that's going to resolve.

Anyway, I want a hungry Krista tonight!
:dancingblackcat:
I'm thawing 6 ounces of turkey and we'll be doing another round of Krista Test Kitchen with nano-recipes (1 or 2 oz batches.)
:whiskers:
 
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daftcat75

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Hungry girl definitely knows the difference between the front of the can and the end of the can. Warming up 12 hour old Rawz from the fridge to the plate is NOT the same as the first serving from a new can.
:whiskers:

I sure hope we can find a homemade recipe she likes because I cannot dump half a can of Rawz because the diva says it's too old.

I found an ounce and a half of portioned Rad Cat left in the freezer. So she got an ounce earlier. And now she's happily working on the first ounce off the new turkey can. I've also reserved an ounce that I'll leave out on the counter but covered. I am conducting an experiment to see if she'll prefer an older room temperature but covered portion to a refrigerated but warmed up portion. And if she does, then I can reserve a few ounces out of the fridge and see how long they can remain that way before she no longer wants them.

But yeah, we need a winner of a raw like Rad Cat where there are no arguments. I put out a plate and she cleans it.

I also found a remaining duck portion in my freezer so she's got a couple more meals she likes until we have a new winner emerge from Krista Test Kitchen.
 
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daftcat75

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She finished that ounce already. I was very tempted to put out the other I reserved. But she does have some infrequent rabbit in her belly. So best not to rush her. She’ll sleep the ounce off under the bookcase. And she’ll hopefully be ready for either the room temperature ounce or some duck. The last of the portioned Rad Cat, about a half ounce, I will mix into Krista Test Kitchen batches to encourage her to try them.
 
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The verdict is still out on the reserved ounce (out of the fridge but sealed in a container.) She ate about half of it and looks a little dicey. But she was looking dicey after the rabbit earlier. I'll just let her work it out and she'll finish the other half or she won't. She'll let me know when she's hungry again.
 
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daftcat75

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Clearly I'm overthinking this. An ounce straight from the fridge was received better than the food left sealed but at room temperature or the food removed from the fridge and warmed up in a hot water bath.

I tried the NW Naturals dinner nibbles or whatever the frozen pellets are called. They got a little too soggy when thawed in a platic baggie. I'm thinking maybe I thaw a larger amount next time and then remove a portion from that. I was impressed by how readily she tried it. But several licks later she pulled up like, "I can't get any traction on this food and I'm not going to lick this all up." Maybe I can mix NW Naturals with the Alnutrin batch to give texture to one and flavor to the other. That sounds like a Saturday morning experiment vs a Friday night job.
 
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