Krista's Care

[Furballsmom]

 

[daftcat75]

She finished first breakfast and spooned with me until second breakfast.

I bupe’d her again this morning. If we can get away with every 12 hours, that’s what we’ll do.

I’ve given both the bed and her a light dusting with the DE. I poured a small amount of DE into an empty Rad Cat tub (I have dozens of these.) I stick my fingers in it and get them “chalked up” like gymnast chalk or pool chalk. Then I work this small amount that stuck to fingers into her coat down to the skin in the areas that she’s been scratching first. And then if she hasn’t run off or warned me to stop, I’ll give the riskier areas like the base of her tail a few quick dusty scritches. I also worked a small amount into the carpet under the bookcase. Later today, I’ll lay down our exterior DE defense at the front porch and back deck.

 

[daftcat75]

She’s eating so well with the mirtazapine that with almost two hours left until second dinner, she scored an extra spoonful of food to put off her bonkers song and dance for another hour or so.

We’re not done with the fleas yet. But I feel like I’m picking up less evidence of them when I lint roller where she’s been. But I also feel so much crawlers on me. I’m sure a lot of that is paranoid hallucination. In any case, I have a small tub of DE and a towel and I apply the DE to me or Krista whenever we’re itching. Best of all, the DE does not create runny poops like the natural essential oil product. We’ll get ahead of this.

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[daftcat75]

I think we’re winning the flea fight. Krista was perky and vocal when I came home. She was trilling at me. Not meowzapine’ing. I lint rolled her hangouts and saw almost no flea dirt this time. I’ve laid down a thin layer of DE in her popular hangouts. I think we’ll both be happy when we don’t have to sleep in a bed dusty with DE.

She’s going to eat herself fat. But it is a relief to not have to worry about her appetite while we’re dealing with heat and fleas. I think we’ll finish out the month on mirtazapine just to keep us out of the vet office before we retest what we need to retest after last time. Cross those things off before we start looking for mouth issues that don’t show up in dental exams.

 

[daftcat75]

I don’t feel as itchy today or feel crawlers (hoppers?) on me this morning. But I did pick up flea feces and larvae on the roller this morning. Of course, now that I type that, I feel all these little itchy spots. Krista looks less miserable.

She’s a lucky cat! I just finished cleaning up and putting a freshly cooked batch of turkey stock in the fridge. I started it at 8 pm yesterday. It finished cooking at 6am. It’s been cooled quickly in a water bath, covered, and into the fridge it goes for the next step. It needs to set up like jello while I’m at work today. When I come home, I scrape the fat layer and put all the stock into ice cubes. Basically a 24 hour endeavor from start to finish. Most of it hands off though.

Gave her a flea comb as best I could. She won’t let me comb her belly. For that, I’ll have to rely on the DE layer I laid down in her common places.

 

[WinniesMomma]

Good news that things sound like they're getting better! Fleas are so horrible.

 

[daftcat75]

Pretty sure my car (automobile) has fleas. I gave Krista a Capstar and I vacuumed the home. Then I went out to get garlic spinach for me to eat (I wonder if I can take the Capstar for Dogs and be done with it) because garlic supposedly repels them. We shall see. I think I’ll stick close to Krista tonight. See if she can tempt my car fleas to their poison death. In the morning, I’ll take the car to the wash. For tonight, I gave it a luxurious DE dust bath on the inside.

I crushed the capstar and put it under fresh turkey meat stock. She licked it all up. So that’s not going to be an issue if I need to re-medicate her. She was predictably agitated and itchy as all currently dining fleas had to go into their dramatic death throes. It should reach max efficiency in six hours when all my car fleas can hop over to her.

And as always, I’ll watch her next poop to determine whether we can repeat this.

 

[Furballsmom]

My apologies if i already provided this from @catsknowme but it might be helpful in your case or for other readers

I would add that salt is effective against fleas, especially in the bedding and carpets - it dries them out. A comb dipped in warm salt water is effective at immobilizing fleas while de-fleaing but use only a tsp or less of salt per cup of water. And have a strong salt solution nearby to dip the comb full of fleas into, so they don't escape.

 

[daftcat75]

My apologies if i already provided this from @catsknowme but it might be helpful in your case or for other readers

I would add that salt is effective against fleas, especially in the bedding and carpets - it dries them out. A comb dipped in warm salt water is effective at immobilizing fleas while de-fleaing but use only a tsp or less of salt per cup of water. And have a strong salt solution nearby to dip the comb full of fleas into, so they don't escape.

I actually feel more comfortable using DE. It's dustier, for sure, but easier to put down a fine layer everywhere Krista lays without discouraging her from laying there. I want her to get her underside coated in the stuff since she won't let me flea comb her belly. But I don't want to worry about Krista ingesting too much salt. There may be such thing as too much DE ingested, but I haven't seen it yet. She's still eating, peeing, and pooping like a pro.

 

[daftcat75]

This morning's mirtz pilling didn't go quite as smooth. It's amazing she let me get anywhere near her after she got away the first time having already spit out the crumb (1/4 of a 7.5 mg mirtazapine pill) twice. I caught up to her in the next room and it *looks* like she finally took it. I don't see the crumb. I saw some tense crouching and lip licking but I think we're all good. I gave her a fish flake.

I tried to give her fresh some stock but I think I made a mistake defatting it. I removed most of the congealed fat. But what was clinging to the sides melted into the remaining stock. I couldn't re-defat this. I thought maybe there wasn't enough to be concerned. But Krista isn't having it. So I heated it back up to a liquid and poured it into a mason jar rather than a bowl. Maybe that will help me see the separation when it re-gels in the fridge again today. But I did get two good ice cube trays before the fat melted back into the stock. Worst case, I dump the remainder and I have a week or two of good stock before I make another batch.

 

[Furballsmom]

She's still eating, peeing, and pooping like a pro.

 

[daftcat75]

She’s also still on mirtazapine because I don’t want to worry about her appetite while we’re battling fleas. And since the dental didn’t turn up any reason why she slowed eating, I’m just going to assume it was/is the fleas.

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[daftcat75]

Vacuumed the car this morning at the self serve car wash with their shop vac. Bonus: I got to finally pick up the broken glass under the seat from a break-in two years ago.

Went to target and picked up new bedding to put down while I wash the old. Also picked up a toilet brush and holder to leave by the front door with DE in it. And a plastic shoebox to change from street shoes to sandals and dust myself down with DE before walking in.

I am thinking I’ll give Krista another Capstar tonight when I get back from doing another round of laundry.

 

[Furballsmom]

Look at you!

Oh, by the way, it's probably just as well you waited regarding cleanup of that glass (kidding, - sort of) we kept finding little chunks of glass from a break-in for probably another year.

 

[daftcat75]

Look at you!

Oh, by the way, it's probably just as well you waited regarding cleanup of that glass (kidding, - sort of) we kept finding little chunks of glass from a break-in for probably another year.

It’s not for a lack of trying. The car’s been vacuumed multiple times myself and a couple times by the auto glass repair shop. But that glass gets everywhere and I probably needed an even better shop vac than that one to get the very fine pieces. The thief stole a laptop that work replaced the next day. Everything else was dumped and recovered. It was the replacement glass cost but also the broken glass that continues to cut me up. Maybe I spring for a detail one of these months when I’m not paying for her teeth or mine.

 

[Furballsmom]

Maybe I spring for a detail one of these months when I’m not paying for her teeth or mine.

 

[daftcat75]

Krista woke up perky. But she slow ate her first breakfast and left 1/4 ounce. No worries. I won't sweat that when I sneak her a little more than her normal portions all the time. She has revisited second breakfast several times. After one of them, she sat with me next to the laptop licking her lips. Then she jumped down and I readied myself for the worst. Even though it sounded like she was going to reach low, she only spit up a couple of small puddles like a few bites worth. I don't know what that was about. But she's already gone back to the plates since then. I think she is telling me I should Bissell the front room again tomorrow. I'll put a little vinegar and a touch of dish soap in the water to repel and kill any loose fleas and larvae.

I'll also give her a Capstar tomorrow morning. I didn't get home from laundry until late, almost second dinner which is bedtime for both of us. I don't "dose and dash". If I give her a medication, I make sure I'm around when it kicks in so I can be there for any reaction she might have to it. Going to sleep after giving her a Capstar would count as a dose and dash. Though I can't imagine I would actually sleep through her crazies--her reaction to the flea death throes.

 

[daftcat75]

Her daytime buffet line.

I split second breakfast over two plates. She’s still working on the second plate.

“But I could go for a feeder portion...”