Krista's Care

[daftcat75]

Krista was looking really pathetic on the floor earlier today. She was making me wonder if I was being too stubborn trying to complete the course despite her weight loss.

But then I came out to the front room and find her someplace I haven’t seen her in two weeks:

I’m sure she took the stairs up as she’s not jumping lately. But that’s okay. That’s what the stairs are there for. I guess this means my days of leaving dirty dishes in the sink are numbered now.

It’s very encouraging to see a resumption of normal behaviors from her.

 

[tarasgirl06]

No we’re done. Doc said there’s no reason to continue to Thurs. “A few more days won’t make that much of a difference.”

Her preference would be another month of antibiotics. But she agrees with me that her weight and body condition is more important here.

So now you're on a cat-building mission, just like I am with Tarifa! Hoping for lots of gains in each case.
Yes, she's very skinny. But she's also very bright-eyed and alert!

 

[daftcat75]

Polite pile of solid poops. I’m not sure how long they’ve been there. It was in the box in an enclosure. I thought I did a poop search at 3 am. “Did you poop or are you gassy?” But maybe I didn’t peep the poop in the back of the box. So it was deposited possibly anytime from 10 pm to 7am.

She laid on me a couple times this morning for belly rides. But if I didn’t see her do it, she weighs too little. I could have slept right through it.

“Good news, Krista! For the first time in four weeks, I’m neither wrestling you nor poisoning your food. Enjoy an unadulterated second breakfast!”

And she did!

 

[tarasgirl06]

Polite pile of solid poops. I’m not sure how long they’ve been there. It was in the box in an enclosure. I thought I did a poop search at 3 am. “Did you poop or are you gassy?” But maybe I didn’t peep the poop in the back of the box. So it was deposited possibly anytime from 10 pm to 7am.

She laid on me a couple times this morning for belly rides. But if I didn’t see her do it, she weighs too little. I could have slept right through it.

“Good news, Krista! For the first time in four weeks, I’m neither wrestling you not poisoning your food. Enjoy an unadulterated second breakfast!”

And she did!

*That's the stuff, Krista! Oink oink!* says Tarifa, who just finished her plate plus half of Elvis' plate.

 

[daftcat75]

3:30 pm:

She also took her stairway up to the media bench again this afternoon.

 

[tarasgirl06]

3:30 pm:

She also took her stairway up to the media bench again this afternoon.

Double "YES!!!"

 

[daftcat75]

Food coma!

I upped her dinner portion. Thankfully she didn’t try to finish it all in one go. But I want to get her breakfasts and dinners back up to previous levels.

 

[daftcat75]

3am:

Her gut and butt must be so happy to be done with antibiotics. They are rewarding us with perfect polite (well formed, low odor, not announcing their presence) poops of impressive but not alarming size on a predictable schedule.

I almost don’t want to start her on the Kitty Biome product just yet. Let’s not touch this and see how it goes. Maybe I’ll take the poop sample for the DNA biome analysis before her chemo dose on Friday. It would be polite not to send them a cytotoxic sample. When we get the results back, that will tell us whether she needs more or less of the poop pills to rebalance.

 

[tarasgirl06]

3am:

Her gut and butt must be so happy to be done with antibiotics. They are rewarding us with perfect polite (well formed, low odor, not announcing their presence) poops of impressive but not alarming size on a predictable schedule.

I almost don’t want to start her on the Kitty Biome product just yet. Let’s not touch this and see how it goes. Maybe I’ll take the poop sample for the DNA biome analysis before her chemo dose on Friday. It would be polite not to send them a cytotoxic sample. When we get the results back, that will tell us whether she needs more or less of the poop pills to rebalance.

Good idea and considerate of you!
Is it wishful thinking on my part, or does Krista look slightly larger?

 

[daftcat75]

Good idea and considerate of you!
Is it wishful thinking on my part, or does Krista look slightly larger?

Wishful thinking!

If there is any change in her size, that would be a post-meal bloat. She'd loose the top button on her pants for sure if she was wearing any.

I don't think she didn't finish first dinner for a lack of trying. I'm glad she stopped before she popped. Ultimately, it did what I hoped it would do. It allowed me to get some extra time before second dinner. Right now, I want to make sure her butt will keep up. But eventually, I'd like to increase all her portions to spread out the time between meals and take one or two meals out of the schedule. I also want to make sure that if she has nutritional needs for recovery, they aren't being stymied by portions too small and far apart.

 

[daftcat75]

10 am:

I’m a little jealous. I’m on my second cup of coffee waiting for my first this morning.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Wishful thinking!

If there is any change in her size, that would be a post-meal bloat. She'd loose the top button on her pants for sure if she was wearing any.

I don't think she didn't finish first dinner for a lack of trying. I'm glad she stopped before she popped. Ultimately, it did what I hoped it would do. It allowed me to get some extra time before second dinner. Right now, I want to make sure her butt will keep up. But eventually, I'd like to increase all her portions to spread out the time between meals and take one or two meals out of the schedule. I also want to make sure that if she has nutritional needs for recovery, they aren't being stymied by portions too small and far apart.

Well, you ask 10 people including "experts" for their "expert" opinions, and you'll probably get several answers. I've read that lots of small meals are better, for cats and for humans, than a few large ones. But that said, cats in their natural habitat do not get several small meals delivered at regular intervals each day. So I'm not sure what the perfect schedule would be. My three eat 3 wet food plates daily, plus free-fed high-quality dry, and a few treats at bedtime. Tarifa would probably eat ALL the time if she could. But I don't want to overstuff a small, 17-year-old cat. We're going for a gentle football shape. As long as she's retaining most of it and feeling good about eating, that's good for us.

 

[lavishsqualor]

Is it wishful thinking on my part, or does Krista look slightly larger?

I thought the same thing! I'm disappointed to hear that we're wrong. We should have known given that the camera adds ten pounds.

 

[daftcat75]

Well, you ask 10 people including "experts" for their "expert" opinions, and you'll probably get several answers. I've read that lots of small meals are better, for cats and for humans, than a few large ones. But that said, cats in their natural habitat do not get several small meals delivered at regular intervals each day. So I'm not sure what the perfect schedule would be. My three eat 3 wet food plates daily, plus free-fed high-quality dry, and a few treats at bedtime. Tarifa would probably eat ALL the time if she could. But I don't want to overstuff a small, 17-year-old cat. We're going for a gentle football shape. As long as she's retaining most of it and feeling good about eating, that's good for us.

I don't intend to reduce the total amount of food I offer her. Nor will I ever collapse her to fewer than 6 meals a day. She'll always get two breakfasts and two dinners plus at least one daytime and one overnight meal to bridge the gap between breakfasts and dinners. But I wouldn't mind taking out a meal or two to get us to 6 meals instead of our current 7 or 8. As it is, Krista leaves a fair amount of food on the plate, on the placemat, or on the carpet. So it's still advantageous to feed her often. Because what I consider done and what she considers done is still a meal's worth apart. I find myself frequently "fluffing" her plate--scooping up the smeared, uneaten remainder on the dish into a central pile once more. "Oooh look! More food!"

 

[lavishsqualor]

I find myself frequently "fluffing" her plate--scooping up the smeared, uneaten remainder on the dish into a central pile once more. "Oooh look! More food!"

I do the same thing with my finicky female tuxedo, Thirteen. If all else fails a sprinkle of cat nip does the trick.

 

[daftcat75]

I thought the same thing! I'm disappointed to hear that we're wrong. We should have known given that the camera adds ten pounds.

Refer to this post:
Krista's Care

You can still see the severe tapering of her flank from ribcage to back legs. This hasn't changed in two days.

It's almost uncomfortable to pet her these days because you can feel the bones in her arms and legs, her vertebrae, and especially the top of her pelvis/tail base. I give her mostly head scritches these days now, taking care to avoid her incision site.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Refer to this post:
Krista's Care

You can still see the severe tapering of her flank from ribcage to back legs. This hasn't changed in two days.

It's almost uncomfortable to pet her these days because you can feel the bones in her arms and legs, her vertebrae, and especially the top of her pelvis/tail base. I give her mostly head scritches these days now, taking care to avoid her incision site.

Yes, that's quite clear in the photo.
It's good that you're going to do 6 or more meals a day. She obviously needs them and I know a lot of us are hoping and praying she'll start bulking up and thriving on them!
I do the "fluffing" thing, too. It's hard for a cat to be comfortable vacuuming up smeared food. Little mountains or hills of food are much preferred.

 

[daftcat75]

I must touch you!

 

[daftcat75]

I woke up at 10 pm to both,



and



I cannot prove these two events were related. I did not see any bonus rounds or evidence that the poop was in any way distressing to her.

Rather I believe that she did not stop before she popped.

I think I may have been a little guilty of increasing her portions too quickly. I assumed that because she was finishing in multiple visits that she was pacing herself. Now I know she was stuffing herself. And then returning to repeat just as soon as her little stomach would let her.

So we’ll pad one dinner and one breakfast and leave the other portion sizes the way they are. For now.

 

[MissClouseau]

Food coma!
View attachment 343103
I upped her dinner portion. Thankfully she didn’t try to finish it all in one go. But I want to get her breakfasts and dinners back up to previous levels.

She looks like a painting. And her white-booted feet are too damn cute.