Been awhile.

I haven’t updated this blog in a while. I lost my job when I moved back in September… to make things worse Lulu was diagnosed with CRF. I can’t afford to put her on an IV which is the only thing the vet I’m currently seeing wants to do. When I had taken her in she was near death. She had been throwing up daily, sleeping a lot, not eating… I had the worst experience with a vet ever, it was a vet I never met before. He came in, noted that she had lost 1.5 pounds since her last visit said, “so not a big difference from last time” (she was only 9 pounds to begin with, she lost 1.5 of that).  Looked at her ordered a blood test then left, never returning or offering me any advice on how to get her to eat or anything. I learned more from google and the Tanya CRF site then I did from him. I got her test results back a couple days later and they wanted to put her on an IV.  I said she wouldn’t be up for that (she cannot take vets or strangers at all, getting the blood test done was hard enough) and also I can’t afford it. I asked if she could do sub-q fluids instead and was told they won’t do them because they “aren’t as effective”. Wouldn’t they be better than nothing?!  The vet gave her days to up to two weeks to live, and up to a couple months if I spent the $300+ and put Lulu through hell. I didn’t do the IV.

It’s been four weeks. I changed her diet to all-wet and she is doing great. Her energy is back, she’s happy, she’s eating. I dropped off a urine sample and didn’t hear anything for two weeks so I emailed the vet asking for the results. I got an angry phone call days later saying that they “have been ATTEMPTING to reach me for days now! They have called NUMEROUS times!! The vet still wants her on an IV and the vet said that she has already discussed this with you!!” They have never called my house before this. My cell isn’t on file, plus I haven’t had any missed calls. WHO have they been calling?!

I’m done with this vet. I thought I had found a good vet but it’s not. Lulu had been in the vet earlier this year because she was throwing up, not eating, and walking on her hocks (sign of neuropathy or kidney failure) instead of doing a blood test they told me it was just arthritis and put her on steroids. So she’s probably been in kidney failure for almost a year already.

 

Massive MiMi.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog. I’ve moved back in. I’m happy to be with my cats but not too happy to be back at the house. I lost one of my part time jobs because my boss decided to hire her daughter’s friend and not tell me, so now I have to find another job. It was definitely one of the most awkward moments of my life, walking in expecting to work and being shown my replacement. I was wondering why she didn’t return any of my emails.

MiMi gained a ton of weight over the summer while under my mother’s care. Izzi and Lulu lost weight. My mother had been feeding them friskies dry food- or rather, feeding MiMi friskies dry food as the other two wouldn’t touch it. She was eating constantly and not getting any exercise and now she’s a blimp! My first attempts at putting her on a diet hasn’t gone too well- my mother refused to get rid of the bad food and was continuing to free feed. Now that I’m living here again I have more control over what they do and do not eat. I moved the food container up to my room and they are getting measured feedings. I had to move all food to my room because as I found out the other day, when I wasn’t around my mother was giving her extra food.

Now she is back on Blue Buffalo. She’s getting 1/4 cup of dry food twice a day along with some wet food. She’s been on the diet for a few weeks now and I didn’t see any results… because my mother was feeding her behind my back. Now that I have control over the food I’m hoping that I see results soon. I really need to weigh her but she won’t let me pick her up. She’s starting to warm up to me again but she was really hostile to me when I first came home.

Feline Pine Try it Free Rebate and a coupon.

A $2.00 coupon and a rebate form is on this page http://www.felinepine.com/ on the right side.

Izzi ate Da Bird.

Izzi ate Da Bird a couple days ago. I left her alone with it for five minutes, I came back and 3-4 inches of the string was missing and the feather attachment was on the ground. She’s doing fine, she’s running around as usual, eating, drinking, everything is fine. I, on the other hand, am freaking out. I did the one thing that one should never do when the cat is sick/eats something bad- I googled it. I googled “cat ate string” and found countless pages of people asking “What do I do? My cat ate string” followed by the answer “TAKE YOUR CAT TO THE VET IT IS GOING TO DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH IF YOU DON’T PAY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FOR SURGERY”. This is what I hate about the internet. Instead of saying what most likely will happen – the cat will throw it up or poop it out- people on the internet say that the worst case scenario is most likely going to happen. Instantly. You didn’t take the cat to the vet the second after it consumed string? It’s going to die. I really should have learned my lesson by now. Earlier this year LuLu was unable to walk. Her back legs gave out so she was just dragging them. I googled it and according to everyone on the internet, the only thing it could be was diabetic neuropathy! So I freaked out for a while, got her into the vet and got her tested… turns out she just has arthritis. She was given some medication and was walking within a few days. A couple weeks later Izzi scratched MiMi’s eye during a play fight and it turned red, was covered by the third eyelid, and was gushing liquid. It was disgusting. I made an appointment that morning (at 6 AM, the fight was in the middle of the night) because the internet said that the cat will go blind! It will have to have its eyes removed! By the time I got to the vet (12 hours later) her eye was almost back to normal. The only time the internet was right was when they had tapeworms. I’m beginning to think that all the people who respond to the cat questions with “TAKE CAT TO VET OR IT’LL DIE!” are vets in real life.

So instead of running to the vet like I usually do (I’m there at least once a month usually, they probably think I’m crazy) I’m going to wait and if she has any symptoms I’ll take her. Until then I’m just going to follow her around.

Free can of Halo cat or dog food.

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Vitakitty Cat Treat Recall.

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm313572.htm

“Arthur Dogswell LLC Voluntarily Recalls Catswell Brand Vitakitty Chicken Breast

With Flaxseed And Vitamins Because Of Possible Health Risk”

I bought these yesterday, now today I saw that they are being recalled. They are made in China (something I didn’t notice when I bought them) and are being recalled for having ANTI-FREEZE in them. Awesome. Luckily I didn’t open them yet so I’m going to return them.

The recall now includes the one I bought. Great. Really, really happy I didn’t open them.

New Coupon for Pet Perks members- Free can of Sheba cat food.

If you are a member of petsmart pet perks you can go here :

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and print out a coupon for a free can of Sheba cat food!

Da Bird Review.

After seeing Da Bird on the show “My Cat from Hell” I bought one for my cats.  Here are their responses:

Lulu: “What is that, get that away from me I’m trying to sleep. Come back later when you have something more mouse-shaped.” She was more annoyed than entertained when I tried playing with her with it. She walked away and fell asleep somewhere. She is 13 however.

Izzi: Will swat at it and play ONLY if MiMi is not in the room. If left out she completely destroys it. I came home the other day to feathers everywhere. She likes it.

MiMi: She is crazy for it. She knows if I am getting it out of it’s hiding place. I swear, she can hear it from upstairs. When she was a kitten she jumped 5 feet in the air to get it. Now she’s a fat kitty and can’t jump very high but still loves it. She has opened doors to get to it.

It is a really cool toy. Before the cats mangle it to pieces, it really does fly like a bird and it sounds like a bird flying. It is pretty expensive though. I only paid $7 for the pole and initial feather, but the refills go from $9 and up on amazon.  They don’t sell them in stores near me. The feathers themselves are pretty fragile. I don’t let my cats chew on them (unless they give it the death-grip in which case I have no choice) because they get damaged really fast and then don’t fly right. It has to be put away when you’re not watching them, unless you have a cat that won’t destroy it or choke on it. I was on my bed one day and MiMi was chewing on the Da Bird stick. Next thing I know she’s choking – she managed to get it down her throat. I freaked out and pulled it out of her throat. She’s not allowed to play with it when I’m not paying attention anymore. MiMi has a thing for plastic which is why she did that so it’s probably not a common issue. Some cats, like MiMi get really,really worked up with Da Bird and start panting. The first time this happened I thought she was having a heart attack or something. So make sure you give your cat a break when playing with it, even when they don’t want one.

Pros:

-Cats like it.

-Realistic

– Good exercise.

Cons:

– Price, and may be hard to find.

– Small parts, choking hazard.

– Feathers are fragile.

Overall this is a good cat toy. It is one they will actually play with and worth buying.

Solitary Izzi.

Izzi has responded pretty well to being temporarily an only kitty. She has started some weird habits though.

I keep a picture of Lulu and MiMi on my table in the apartment. Izzi has started to chew on the frame everyday. I don’t know if this means she misses them, or if she’s hungry. Or perhaps she is hungry for them o_o.

She wakes me up every morning at 8:30 or 9:30 on the dot by sitting next to me and nudging me on the shoulder with her paw. She doesn’t stop until I get up.  If I don’t get up she jumps on our dresser and starts knocking things off.

She has started digging in her litterbox. She’ll go and then spend the next 10 minutes burying it. After this she zooms around the apartment for a couple minutes before falling asleep in a random spot.

She whines for food. She never does this when she’s with the other kitties. The other two are the “dominant” ones, so maybe that’s why. She’s also really talkative. At home she barely ever makes sound.

She purrs. Constantly. Day and night. I guess she’s happy.

Her current favorite toy is a black fuzzy thing (I think it’s rabbit fur?). She has one. I know she has only one because I bought it from a pet store. One, not two. Well… there’s another one now. The original hasn’t been ripped in half or anything, it’s still in one piece. But now there is two. I have no idea where she got the other one from. It’s kind of freaking me out.

She gets on the cabinets and sits on the fridge. She spends most of her time sleeping on the cabinets.

She’s addicted to TV. My parents have watched for her a couple weeks during the summer. My parents watch non-stop TV. Now she sits in front of the TV, which is always off, and stares at her reflection, paws at it, looks behind it, as if to say “Why you no make pictures and sounds?” She eventually gives up and falls asleep on the cable box.

Right now she’s sleeping under the comforter on my bed with her head poking out.

 

Worlds Best Cat Litter Review and Rebate

I bought this because of the rebate. I bought it for Izzi because the other two refuse to use any litter that isn’t tidy cats. As soon as I put some in the litterbox, Izzi came running. She’s one of those cats that have to use the box every time I clean it or add new litter. The first thing she did was sniff it, then she took a bite. That really freaked me out. The litter is clumping, and I read several reviews that said the cat ate the litter, the litter clumped in their insides, and they had to have surgery to remove it. I mixed some of the Tidy-Cats in with it which made her not eat it, problem solved. The litter smells really weird, like a farm, and it smells up the area that the box is in. The litter does clump very well. I won’t buy it again though, I’m going to stick with Tidy Cats since it is what 2/3 cats prefer and it’s expensive. I’m also really, really, paranoid about her eating it.

So…

Pros: Clumps well.

Cons: Smells bad, potential health issues from cat eating it. Cats WILL eat it. Price.

Free bag rebate here: http://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/free-bag-rebate/index.php?AnimalRadio