Krista's Care

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daftcat75

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She hairballed at 8am and now I can’t remember if I fed her at 5am or 6am. I feel like I should have a punch card for each feed shift. I guess I could go back to a food journal. But I’ve been enjoying the break from it. She’s been rather automatic. I put food down and pick up a clean plate from last feed.

If I feed her at 9, I can feed her again at 1 before I leave for PT at 2. If I wait until 10, I’m still going to want to feed her at 1. May as well feed her now at 9 so she doesn’t have to stare at her empty plate for another hour. And I can get started on my own breakfast.

I do this kind of reasoning several times a day.

“You know you’re on a schedule. But then I have a schedule sometimes too. So I’ll split the difference with you. This time.”

And the hundred “this time”s that follow that one. Parenthood! :whiskers:

“Alright. Let’s feed!”
:clapcat:
 

FeebysOwner

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How about a wall calendar by week or month, and an abbreviation system to jot down each feeding? For example (no relevance to Krista's specific foods),

"9A CFF 3T" = 9:00 AM, Canned Fancy Feast, 3 tablespoons.
 
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daftcat75

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How about a wall calendar by week or month, and an abbreviation system to jot down each feeding? For example (no relevance to Krista's specific foods),

"9A CFF 3T" = 9:00 AM, Canned Fancy Feast, 3 tablespoons.
It’s not the system. I just don’t want to do it. I tracked her input and output religiously, every meal, every poop, for almost a year. When she got off schedule earlier this year, it was a relief to put her on the honor system again. Plates of food go down. Clean plates come up.

What might work better against my objections would be fridge magnets and a clock (a clock face or simply numbers 1 through 12.). Something that takes me less time to do it than to think about why I don’t want to do it. Something for me to see on a 24 hour basis, when the plates are going down.

Then maybe I can teach her how to tell time next. “See Krista! You’re jumping the gun by two hours. Now come back to bed.”
 

FeebysOwner

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I am pretty sure Feeby knows her name, because she squawks at me when I say it - but, that is probably because she thinks those words should be followed by: "dinner time", or "hairball treat", and she is just complaining when that doesn't happen.
 
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daftcat75

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She hates me for doing it but she always gets so much relief from our homemade ear drops--chamomile tea with a few drops of apple cider vinegar. I came home to a rattle-head. I dripped a few drops in her ear and let her shake it around. No more rattle. No more head shaking. I usually offer her a treat after her ear drops to show her it ain't all bad. But then I got to thinking, "if egg yolk causes this, what has me so sure her treats are safe?"

Be patient, Krista. I'm learning.

When her ears are clear again, I can challenge her with the mackerel flakes I picked up for her. I'm sure she'll like this experiment. At least the front half of it. I'm hoping mackerel is different than tuna as far as her sensitivities go. But I don't know that yet.

Maybe when I stop triggering the allergies, maybe she'll stop tossing hairballs.

What if it's not just the ears that are getting stuffed up when this happens?

I think I should be able to put "cat hacker" ("cat programmer"?) on my resume.
 
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daftcat75

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Text with a friend last night

Friend: How did it get to be 10pm already?!

Me: What's 10 pm? What's 4am? It's only ever time to feed the cat and not yet time to feed the cat.
:dizzycat:

I'm trying to plan my morning, and I've decided I may as well just wait until her next feed, and plan my afternoon instead.
:doh2:
 
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daftcat75

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Oh thank the maker I found another source for Rawz rabbit!
:clapcat:
For awhile, it’s been the one store. There are three or four more indies that sell Rawz but only the one was carrying the “new” flavors, rabbit and duck.
:kitty:
And despite me telling them they were running out of rabbit for the last few weeks (I buy only a few cans at a time bc if I stock up she changes her preferences)
:angrycat:
, they ran out of rabbit the other day.
:whiskers:
I was feeling food insecure about my rabbit supply and bought the last of their cans.
:chessirecat:
I was readying myself for having to drive around the greater Bay Area to pick up her beloved rabbit.
:dancingblackcat:
But before I got on the phone and planned my Sunday errand, I decided to try the store up the street.
:runningcat:
They have it!
:clapcat:
They have cases of it. They have cases of turkey, duck, and rabbit. I feel food secure once more.
:purr:
For a few days anyway.
:dizzycat:
 
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daftcat75

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Krista’s neck fur is wearing the first 0.3 ml of B-12. I can tell I needed to load another when she didn’t squeak when I pushed it and I had an overly wet neck to rub. Fortunately she didn’t register what was going on or she was sufficiently rapt by the small container of mackerel flakes I readied for her afterwards. She waited in the same spot while I prepped another syringe. Into the neck it goes. No reaction there. Pushed the plunger. There’s the squeak! Now I know she got it. I can pull out the needle, rub her neck, uncork her treats. All is forgiven and I have a perky Krista. I love what B-12 does to her. Can someone invent a B-12 patch for cats, please and thank you?
 
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daftcat75

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Stable to rising at 8.1 lbs this morning. I only took one reading because the digital needle was so squirmy and Krista was impatient. A meal was following this exercise. The trend is stable to rising. Her shoulders still feel bony. I'm not talking the shoulder blades. That's all cats. The sides of her shoulders. The triceps and deltoids feel underdeveloped. She still gets around. I guess just stick with the current feeding protocol, salmon oil, and B-12, and see if I can last another month of this before we talk about maybe collapsing a meal or two into an easier schedule.
 

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B12 has done great things for HK, too. he was deficient, so the difference was quite obvious. how often do you give it to krista?
 
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daftcat75

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B12 has done great things for HK, too. he was deficient, so the difference was quite obvious. how often do you give it to krista?
My schedule for B-12 has been a little flakey lately. When I was getting her through pancreatitis, I had to stop giving the B-12 myself because she was getting too squirmy/perky for me--quality problem to have. For awhile, I was seeing the vet often enough to have them do it once a month. After her recent issues with her teeth, liver, gut and butt, we decided to reduce the frequency to every two weeks. I believe I'm back on this schedule. Though it still makes me nervous, makes my hands shake, to stick my cat.
 

basschick

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needles horrify me. luckily my husband isn't as weirded out about them because we do sub-qs as well as B12 although years ago when we first started giving HK sub-q fluids, we both shuddered our way through the process. HK gets the B12 every 4 to 5 days, btw.
 
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daftcat75

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What is you way of knowing the right dosing frequency for him? Did you test for it or does he have a behaviorial "tell" for when it's time to re-up him?
 

basschick

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both.

originally he was very deficient, but once a month of higher potency injections was up, his results were close to normal, so she lowered the dose - he now gets a lower dose than they usually offer. if we waited more than 5 days to give him his B12, he would have trouble standing because of weakness in his hips - he'd wobble and stumble.

as a result, i wanted to go ahead with with lower dose every 4 to 5 days, the vet agreed, and after a bit, we tried a blood test, and it was normal.

of course, now he has trouble standing and walking anyway due to muscle wasting and potassium deficiency, but we're continuing our regular B12 schedule.
 
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daftcat75

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I tested her once. Her level was more than adequate. However, seeing the difference it made for her during pancreatitis recovery, I'd rather she get it and not need it than need it and not get it. Besides, trying to fast this cat (to re-test) is bonkers!
 

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Oh thank the maker I found another source for Rawz rabbit!
:clapcat:
For awhile, it’s been the one store. There are three or four more indies that sell Rawz but only the one was carrying the “new” flavors, rabbit and duck.
:kitty:
And despite me telling them they were running out of rabbit for the last few weeks (I buy only a few cans at a time bc if I stock up she changes her preferences)
:angrycat:
, they ran out of rabbit the other day.
:whiskers:
I was feeling food insecure about my rabbit supply and bought the last of their cans.
:chessirecat:
I was readying myself for having to drive around the greater Bay Area to pick up her beloved rabbit.
:dancingblackcat:
But before I got on the phone and planned my Sunday errand, I decided to try the store up the street.
:runningcat:
They have it!
:clapcat:
They have cases of it. They have cases of turkey, duck, and rabbit. I feel food secure once more.
:purr:
For a few days anyway.
:dizzycat:
Yeah. So I’ve always bought different brands of food and rotate. I decided to do a large chewy order. My cats decided they didn’t like the food as much. They’ll eat it slowly. So I leave it in the surefeeds. Then they decide they want to eat the )&98; out of it. :/
 
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