Remembering Krista

tarasgirl06

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I don’t do Facebook anymore and never did Twitter. I follow cats on Instagram. Much kinder feed. No politics. 😹

This is one adorable night fury! She’s doing the paw thing Krista used to do. I needed to see this to be reminded. 😻

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! So adorable! Holding paws/hands is wonderful. My beloved Simba passed with me on the floor right beside her, and us holding hands.
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daftcat75

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To be honest, I appreciated Krista's fussiness with paws, her left ear, syringe feeding, and a few other things. It's when she stopped being fussy about all these things on her last day that I knew she was beyond not feeling well. 😿 😭 Even during pancreatitis which was probably her most miserable time (or her 10 day inpatient stay that began Krista's Care thread), she was still fussy about paws and ears and refused syringe feeding by mouth. She was cool with tube feedings though. I actually took a little pride in how nasty she would become at the vet's office because that was a sign that she still had fight in her. 😻

But I was also so amazed at how she compartmentalized it all. She would offer a few weak protest meows on the walk to the car and maybe for a few moments at the start of the drive. Then she'd calm down and ride quietly to the vet. Before Covid, when she'd get inside with me, she kept calm until we actually got inside an exam room. It was only when they started to do stuff to her that she got worked up. It's like she didn't blame the place or the people but she had strong opinions on the procedures. Even when they released an angry growling Krista to me at the end of the day, she would calm down almost immediately once in the car. She didn't hide or hold grudges when she got home from the vet either. But the most touching memory (or memories) of the vets I have is those mornings when I would visit her during that inpatient stay. I always told them to set her down on the table because I knew the first things she would do was make her unsteady way into my lap. It was my way of seeing how she was moving that day. But it always melted my heart that here she was hooked up to an IV getting teeth removed and an eardrum punctured and a tube stuck in her neck and every day seems worse than the last (the first few days anyway), and she never was scared or held a grudge with me. Every morning she just wanted to purr away in my lap.

How I miss that! 😭😻
 
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daftcat75

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I've come to really appreciate all the pictures and videos I have of her inpatient stay. It reminds me how sweet and resilient she was during a very stressful time. I most definitely borrowed strength from her during this time.

I don't think this is the same stay. She did have one or two more inpatient stays but they weren't nearly as long.
https://thecatsite.com/media/shes-not-a-mean-cat.422989/
 

tarasgirl06

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I've come to really appreciate all the pictures and videos I have of her inpatient stay. It reminds me how sweet and resilient she was during a very stressful time. I most definitely borrowed strength from her during this time.

I don't think this is the same stay. She did have one or two more inpatient stays but they weren't nearly as long.
https://thecatsite.com/media/shes-not-a-mean-cat.422989/
Some scientific experts postulate that cats are more sensitive than humans. Their brains are most closely like ours of any other species. They are very intuitive and their senses are finely tuned. And your relationship with Krista was very special indeed. No surprise that she would react in those ways to the various people and events.
 
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daftcat75

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October 3, 2019:
She always wanted to drape herself across my crotch like this. My heat seeking cuddle bomb. 😻
CFA6975C-F6BB-4ADD-BF96-02834F4B2A35.jpeg
 
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daftcat75

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The origin of the iconic Krista shot.

Oct 5, 2018:
We’re just finding Rawz and Rad Cat after getting her through pancreatitis on Tiki Cat fish flavors and supplements. From reading the notes in her food journal, it sounds like this is the week that her health really took off in the right direction. I am left to wonder how her health and the course of her senior years might have gone had Rad Cat not been driven out of business. 😿😔
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I had taken to feeding her on the kitchen counter during pancreatitis. It was easier on me to bribe her bite by bite at my height rather than hers. When it came to Rad Cat, I decided I wanted her eating raw on the counter rather than the floor. If she flings food, I’d rather pick it off the coffee maker than look for it underneath the stove.
 
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tarasgirl06

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The origin of the iconic Krista shot.

Oct 5, 2018:
We’re just finding Rawz and Rad Cat after getting her through pancreatitis on Tiki Cat fish flavors and supplements. From reading the notes in her food journal, it sounds like this is the week that her health really took off in the right direction. I am left to wonder how her health and the course of her senior years might have gone had Rad Cat not been driven out of business. 😿😔
View attachment 353565
I had taken to feeding her on the kitchen counter during pancreatitis. It was easier on me to bribe her bite by bite at my height rather than hers. When it came to Rad Cat, I decided I wanted her eating raw on the counter rather than the floor. If she flings food, I’d rather pick it off the coffee maker than look for it underneath the stove.
Just LOOK at that FACE :loveeyes:
Yeah, sometimes I can't help but wonder why so many of the best companies disappear. A lot of them get gobbled up, but some just are no more. Rad Cat and Drs. Foster & Smith, for instance. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people out there who would like them back.
 
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daftcat75

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Just LOOK at that FACE :loveeyes:
Yeah, sometimes I can't help but wonder why so many of the best companies disappear. A lot of them get gobbled up, but some just are no more. Rad Cat and Drs. Foster & Smith, for instance. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people out there who would like them back.
We know why Rad Cat disappeared. The FDA does not like raw food companies. FDA inspectors mishandled samples from a Rad Cat plant and then slapped them with fines and forced a shutdown. Then in a double and triple injury, their insurance and distributors did not pay like they should have. They ran out cash to keep the lights on. Rad Cat would cease operations later this month in 2018. I drove to several different pet food stores and bought nearly as much as I could. I left a couple tubs wherever I went so someone else might be able to get some. We ended up with enough Rad Cat to last us into December. Just as the Rad Cat ran out is when all the problems that started Krista’s Care thread picked up. I think she broke a tooth over Christmas Eve and the “I’ll feed you whatever you’ll eat as long as you eat something ” week that followed before I got her into the vet was what caused her pancreatitis flare up and liver and gallbladder involvement from spillover inflammation. She got a lot of Fancy Feast at this time which is how I deduced that the poultry giblets in the Turkey and Giblets has enough chicken to inflame her. 😿
 

tarasgirl06

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We know why Rad Cat disappeared. The FDA does not like raw food companies. FDA inspectors mishandled samples from a Rad Cat plant and then slapped them with fines and forced a shutdown. Then in a double and triple injury, their insurance and distributors did not pay like they should have. They ran out cash to keep the lights on. Rad Cat would cease operations later this month in 2018. I drove to several different pet food stores and bought nearly as much as I could. I left a couple tubs wherever I went so someone else might be able to get some. We ended up with enough Rad Cat to last us into December. Just as the Rad Cat ran out is when all the problems that started Krista’s Care thread picked up. I think she broke a tooth over Christmas Eve and the “I’ll feed you whatever you’ll eat as long as you eat something ” week that followed before I got her into the vet was what caused her pancreatitis flare up and liver and gallbladder involvement from spillover inflammation. She got a lot of Fancy Feast at this time which is how I deduced that the poultry giblets in the Turkey and Giblets has enough chicken to inflame her. 😿
That's so cool of you to leave some for others. I do that, too, but IDK anyone else who does. May that action have saved other precious lives somehow.
 
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daftcat75

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October 15: The day I learned that Rad Cat was going dark, I left work early that day and drove to four or five stores. This was my haul. The chicken (the orange tubs) predictably did not agree with her. I donated those tubs to a friend who does fosters and rescues. Her colony of sixteen at the time probably finished them in a week.
A5E86FF7-6230-4D9D-BC6E-97DE0A9C005E.jpeg
 

tarasgirl06

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October 15: The day I learned that Rad Cat was going dark, I left work early that day and drove to four or five stores. This was my haul. The chicken (the orange tubs) predictably did not agree with her. I donated those tubs to a friend who does fosters and rescues. Her colony of sixteen at the time probably finished them in a week.
View attachment 353593
*Like I said, a mensch*
 
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daftcat75

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Another iconic shot. Oct 6, 2018:
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And two more from last year.

Oct 5, 2019:
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My first full-time job was at a software company who had a cheetah in their logo. They were acquired by another company. Hundreds of trade show cheetahs became homeless. I rescued two shopping bags worth. Over the years, my coalition of cheetahs (yes, that’s the collective noun for cheetahs—I looked it up) has dwindled considerably as I’ve given a lot away. They make great cat cuddle toys because they are perfect kitten size. This is Krista with one of her cheetahs.

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Typical for this time last year. We were running Krista Test Kitchen because her eating was slow to low. I believe this is Tiki Cat Raw which she liked some. But not enough. This is her pulling up early. 🤦🏼‍♂️ “What else you got?”

Reading through her Care thread for this time last year, I wonder if what I thought was carryover clostridium infection wasn’t in fact her lymphoma beginning to present. Bloodwork would test clear soon. As would her second poop PCR. I would end up taking her in for a wholly unproductive inpatient stay where they didn’t do the dental I requested because they said they wouldn’t do any more work in her mouth. Thank goodness we were able to get a quick dentist appointment. I just read in another thread that the wait time for a dentist in Boston is six months! Her poop issues would persist in some fashion or another until June this year. She was 9 lbs here. Her weight loss would proceed almost without interruption until she passed away just north of 3 lbs. 😿 Like yesterday when I wonder what Rad Cat would have done for her, today I wonder how things might have been different if we got an earlier jump on her lymphoma. 🤷‍♂️😿
 
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