Musings on a Small Life

My vet called me from his home this morning to tell me that the blood test results were not good. Nicki had both pancreatitis and hepatitis, and likely bowel inflammation as well, due to the proximity of the organs. (He actually said he'd never seen such high liver values in a cat before.) He said if I opted for treatment Nicki would have required extensive and prolonged vet and home care, hospitalization, etc. Given Nicki's age and existing health issues (the asthma, being immune-compromised, and kidney stones), I didn't want to put his little body through that. I talked with Phil (vet) at length then, then called him back later to further discuss things, and I made the decision to let Nicki go now, rather than wait till early in the week. (I'd scheduled an appointment for Monday.) With the cerenia wearing off, and without more of that plus sub-q fluids, he would have felt sick and miserable, and I didn't want to take him to a vet just for that, only to have t...

[Update at 9:20 AM Saturday: No real change. He nibbled at some dry and canned late last night and this morning too, but otherwise hasn't shown any interest in eating. I just ground up a mirtazapine pill and mixed it with tuna water, syringed it in--the taste must be so bitter that it's caused him to drool profusely. He's hiding upstairs at the moment, not looking good. I wish I had something more positive to write.] Nicki was fine yesterday...until the evening. He's been sick, not keeping his supper down and looking miserable, so I had him to the emerg vet late last night. No diagnostics, because his vitals checked out fine and the vet said he didn't want me spending hundreds of dollars for nothing, but they gave him a shot to settle his stomach (antacid). He came home and threw up (bile), then did the same overnight. I haven't slept at all, didn't go to work, took Nicki in to our vet early this afternoon. Again, he checked out fine with a physical ex...

I haven't been blogging much lately because there's not much to write about. Things are "fair to middlin," as the expression goes. Not fantastic, not bad. I've had to give up (at least for now) on all the "high end" canned cat food I've been feeding the boys, the stuff that's "supposed" to be so great for them...you know, the species-appropriate diet. I just couldn't get a handle on their awful output, so in desperation I bought some vet prescription Royal Canin fibre canned. Lots of rice and cellulose to bulk the boys up. It's been helping a great deal over the past 9 days, especially for Derry. Nicki, who needs more fibre than Derry, seems to prefer the Hill's Z/D (also prescription) dry, though he'll eat some of the RC canned as well. So his diet and output still need some tweaking.  I don't think I'll be able to manage the cost of canned vet food on an ongoing basis (the dry is fine, but the RC i...

This happens every fall. Cats just don't grasp the concept of the fall time change. Thanks to a certain cat in my house, whose name begins with "N," I have been awake since 3 AM-ish every night (morning) since we turned our clocks back Saturday night. It's impossible to sleep with Nicki's strident yeowling, wanting me to get up and feed him. This morning he felt the need to push the hall lamp off the console table and onto the floor. At 3:15. It's not the first time he's done this, and I know it won't be the last but oh, boy, did I turn the air blue when I flew out of bed and rushed downstairs. NOT impressed. I have "raccoon eyes" and am in surly temper from the lack of rest. On top of the pre-existing sleep deprivation. (There was one night in late September that I slept soundly and deeply, the only night I can remember this year. I couldn't function the next day, I was so out of it!) I love you, Nicki, but oh, I don't ...

  I bought this catnip mat for the boys yesterday, while making a stop at the vet clinic. (The new mat is on top, an old one is on the bottom). It was meant for them both, but Nicki has claimed it and has been very reluctant to relinquish it. BTW, I've stopped feeding a couple of brands of chicken to the boys and things were better Friday/Saturday. We'll see how things go this week. I've discovered they both like Instinct salmon and Merrick salmon patés (grain-free)...enough to eat them once, anyway. We'll see if they eat them again! (Nicki already likes Instinct lamb and rabbit, even their chicken, and they both already will eat Merrick beef. I'm looking for options for Derry in particular, since he's fussier about canned.) Also, I'm sending my thoughts and prayers to the "mom" over at Mickey's Musings . I've followed them for a long time and they have had several cats pass; now their most senior kitty, JJ, has joined them....

First, happy Thanksgiving my fellow Canadians! I hope you're having a lovely long weekend. On Sunday I bought the cat condo I wanted for the boys, and managed to get it home from the pet supply store in a taxi-van. I found the same one on Wayfair, would have gone that route if I wasn't able to arrange to get the in-store one home. However, I'm glad to have been able to give my money to a local store. As for the new cat stand itself, it seems to be acceptable. The boys were all over it, three rounds of playing yesterday. They exhausted themselves after the initial excitement, slept for a while (last photo), then went at it again, two more times in the afternoon. That pleased me no end! I just got it in the door and Nicki was all over it. It was a hit! Of course the novelty will wear off in short order, but I'm still glad they're enjoying it for the moment. Peace.

Finally I have an update on Nicki, who had his regular (plus output issues) vet appointment late this morning. Backing up, the output issues have been ongoing since early June, somewhat off and on, but definitely "on" since August 26th. Slippery elm wasn't doing the trick, and I started trying this food and that, which I'm sure didn't help. Eventually I had the bright idea to check the ingredients of the kibble they get (only a small bit, because they love kibble; most of their diet is canned). Well, I do know Nicki has a problem with potato, and somewhere along the way the dry I've been giving them has changed, it now has potato in its top five ingredients. Arrghh. I haven't bothered to check the bags I buy in a very long time, my mistake. And a caution to all, to periodically check your pet food ingredient list because we all know that companies change their food without alerting the public. I won't make that mistake again. I'm still ...

[This is for Nicki's regular anal gland expression, etc. I'll be asking about his ongoing digestive issues at that time.] Comments are off. Peace.

Not the boys (though that sometimes applies too!), but this front garden I spied on the way to the office yesterday. (Click to enlarge.) This is my kind of garden, wildflowers in abundance, a bit overgrown, a bit "wild." I prefer this to the ultra-manicured gardens, though those are lovely too. They're just not "me." :-) As for other "wild" things, Nicki was wild around 4:15 AM this morning, and I knew he was just out of the litter box (the "relief" zoomies that cats seem to get). As a side note, the litter box output was solid, which was a relief for me. Ha. Nicki with a scrunched ear a couple of evenings ago. Have a "wild" (in a good way!) Wednesday, everyone. Peace.

Whew, we're cooking now, in the middle of a heat wave with temps feeling like they're in the high 30s/40C (or 100+F). I'm so glad I had central air put in back in April 2017! You'll be happy to know that Derry is going outside again, though episodes of his twitching skin and freaking out do persist, though are of shorter duration. I ignore him now, except to check his fur when I can. Nicki's okay too, eating well but fur and bone. He's lost so much weight, yet all his blood tests, including his T4 for hyperthyroidism, come back just fine. I even had him de-wormed in May, based on a post that Connie over at Tails From The Foster Kittens had done ages ago about one of her own cats. So I'm stumped. The only other thing I can think of is cancer, but would it take so long to be evident? Nothing showed up on his last x-ray in June, not that the vet (not our regular vet) reported to me, at any rate. Malabsorption of nutrients? Should I ask about a B12...