High Maintenance Cat

What I wouldn't do for my cat...

2011-05-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

The big questions we all ask ourselves. Nice article in Salon Magazine....

What I wouldn't do for my cat

After shelling out $1,300 on a vet bill, I had to wonder: How much is too much to pay for your pet...

....Ada Calhoun

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2008/02/08/my_1300_cat/

The Eyes Have it

2011-01-09T20:07:00.001-08:00

Theo, our wonderful Aby cat has always been a challenge health-wise. Colitus, Pancreatitus to Diabetes is quick succession has kept us on our toes. Having a weakened immune system, now we have something new to deal with. He has a form of Herpes in his eye, of all places! The result is black spot that sits on the surface that's certainly blocking some of his vision. So, what this means is a couple of types of antibiotic eye drops, and something to add to his food.

Despite all this, he's really kind of a healthy guy overall.

Always a challenge....

Dawn of Destruction

2007-10-04T15:02:00.000-07:00

Lenny broke my alarm clock the other day. Knocked it off the bedside table and whack! there went my plastic, ugly little clock with the dayglow hands. It wasn't expensive but I had some sentimental attachment to it. I'm learning to wean myself off sentimental attachments to anything that can't be nailed down or encased in a block of lucite.

Lenny likes to chew paper and plastic, and anything new that arrives indoors. He likes to chew on older things (including me) if he hasn't seen them for more than 5 minutes. Any bookmark sticking out of a book becomes perforated and all ripply (so do books themselves, if I don't catch him in time). He has scratching posts but prefers to scratch my desk chair. I have one plant in the house. Its leaves are now as tattered as the flags in an old used car lot. The paper for my printer must be hidden away. The mail gets mauled. Fresh flowers get gnoshed on as vases break on the floor. He once managed to shove a heavy, 19th century bronze Buddha statue off a shelf, leaving a nice gouge in the hardwood floor.

Lenny coughed up a hairball onto the precise center of my DSL modem, instantly killing the Internet.

Closing Lenny into the bathroom for a "time out" is fruitless: He gets into the shower shelves and knocks bottles of shampoo to the floor, then chews up any and all loofa puffs, sponges and washclothes. He punctured my bath pillow. He opens the cupboard under the sink, then licks emery boards and eats cotton balls.

Lenny is an enthusiastic climber yet often uncoordinated, a sort of heavy-bottomed Weebles toy of a cat. I no longer flinch when I hear something crash in the basement. "I'm sure it was something I don't need, anyway" I tell myself calmly, while crafting a tiny protective helmet for my other cat, the gentle BlueMoo.

There's a new Dawn of Destruction in my household. As Lenny is under two years old and bursting with health, we're truly looking at a Long Day's Journey into Night.

He's Back....

2007-08-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

Theo, our thoughtful, sweet and challenging cat is back at it, yet again. After five wonderful, drug free months our little cat's ills are back again. Poor cat. One day he started tossing his cookies and with a whole lot of water intake we knew we were in trouble. Testing his blood sugar revealed he was back in the twilight zone range of 5-600. Diabetes was back.

We could see he was in pain and after consulting with our vet we are back on antibiotics and regular insulin injections and daily testing.

He's better now, but what a challenge!

A New Healthy Challenge

2007-04-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

Theo. The forever challenging cat has made an interesting u-turn health-wise. Theo has pancreatitis which means his pancreas has inflammation or an infection. This in turn has resulted in diabetes in our little cat. He was pretty sick when all this hit and was up to 5 units of insulin twice a day for a couple of months. Because we do monitor our cat's blood sugar with one of the glucose meters you can find at any drug store we found recently his numbers started looking good. In fact too good. We started backing off his treatments over several weeks and went all the way down to one unit once a day. And then finally he was down enough we are able to stop the treatment.

All of this is quite challenging. Because of the serious dangers of giving an animal insulin when they don't need it, you've got to be on your toes. And, because the pancreatitis just might find it's way back, periodically we need to keep an eye on symptoms and occasionally check his blood sugar.

Now if we could just fix the colitis!

Introducing Leo and Gonzo

2007-03-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here are Leo and Gonzo, two young fellas I adopted a few months ago when they were about 8 weeks old. The feral cat in the alley had a litter and the neighbors took them in when they were old enough to be weaned. I got a call from the neighbor one evening, suggesting I should come see them, so adorable and all. Sure, I thought. I like critters, especially baby ones, so I’ll go have a look, and be done with it.

There were five tiny kittens in a box, huddled together, staring up at us. Each one was cute in its own unique way. The tabby stared at me intently. “That one likes you,” they said. “But if you take one, you should take two, so they can keep each other company.” I wasn’t planning on taking any. I said I’d think about it and let them know before they took the litter to the animal shelter.

Two cats? My house is so small I can’t even buy a new book without planning for weeks. Where would I put the litter box? Where would they sleep? Would they destroy my couch? Am I a cat person? I’ve only had dogs, and I’m used to their slobbery affection and loyalty. Cats could be so aloof.

Over the next few days, I pondered the idea. They were terribly cute, and they needed a good home, so why not? I had another look at them and decided that the grey one with blue eyes was striking. So tabby and grey kitty were plopped in my arms and I walked across the alley to take them to their new home.

It was not an easy transition for any of us. They were scared and confused. I was apprehensive and confused. Now what do I do? I set them down in the living room, but they were overwhelmed by the size and complexity of all the furniture. They made their way underneath the couch. They went behind the fridge. And the dryer. I managed to fish them out, and with them, dust bunnies bigger than them. This was more difficult than I thought it would be! I truly grasped the meaning of the phrase ‘herding cats’. Why won’t they stay put? Or at least stay together so I’m not running around in two different directions? Just as I was corralling them away from the piano—I’d never get them out from there if they crawled under it—my neighbor knocked on the door to see how things were going. She took one look at the situation and said, I’ll be right back.

She came back with a kitty bed, some toys and a litter pan. I didn’t even have a litter box! She set us up for our first night together, and with a few words of advice, she left. It was just me and … the girls…the boys? I still wasn’t sure.

We slowly adjusted to one another. Leo, the tabby, he was scared and tried his best to protect himself with his little baby hiss. Gonzo was more outgoing and adventurous. He learned to climb on top of the kitty bed and perched himself up there, while Leo gazed on, wondering how he could climb such a huge structure.

The boys are big now, almost cat-sized. Too big to go behind the fridge and the dryer, so the dust bunnies are reforming. Their antics continue to entertain and exasperate. I guess I’m a cat person now.

When your sweet cat has a dark side

2007-03-08T19:20:00.000-08:00

Ahh, Jetson (RIP) he was a lover cat, he loved people and spent most of his day worshipping in front of the heater God (aka heat vent). So mild mannered and sweet, EXCEPT when he saw another animal, then it was Mr. Hyde time. Strange yowls and hisses would this come out of his small delicate mouth. He'd puff up, the hair on his back and tail standing on end. It was well known in our house, if Jetson glimpsed the neighbor cat you better watch out. He was an indoor cat, so he never got in a cat fight, but cats weren't the only potential targets. He'd attack the closest thing that moved. One morning I was the victim of one such attack. One Saturday morning I heard the plump, neighbor cat Scooter outside. I went out to give him some pets and when I opened the door to go back inside, Jetson was right there all puffed up. I quickly put my foot up to block his exit, and in a panicky instant he chomped. Chomped my ankle. I remained calm and got back inside, Jetson was freaked. I couldn't be mad at him, it was temporary insanity, I know. But it hurt like hell and by the next evening my ankle was throbbing and swollen to over twice it's normal size. Monday I went to the doctor who prescribed heavy duty antibiotics. I was cured, and gave Jetson a wide berth when he was in his dark side possessed him.

Note: If you're bitten by a cat, go to the doctor right away, it will certainly cause an infection.

A Healthy Challenge

2007-03-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

It all started with Theo's first visit to the vet. The only issue we needed to discuss was one regarding the phenomenal odor coming out of the litter box. World class. It turned out to be much more complicated. Theo, we found out had colitus. From there, a few weeks later when he wasn't feeling well at all, a blood test revealed the poor guy was diabetic. But, the vet suspected that all of this may actually be caused by pancreatitus. A few weeks later after a most expensive test that's what we found.

Now we've found we're juggling a whole lot of variables: a tricky diet where helping the colitus might be in conflict with the proper diet for a diabetic cat. Insulin doses and blood sugar readings that are hard to pin down. And, then the chronic problem of monitoring the pancreatitus which can strongly effect the diabetes, even make it go away for periods of time.

Like I said. It's a challenge.

Adventures in catsitting a high maintenance cat

2007-03-02T08:01:00.000-08:00

This wasn’t going to be the usual slam dunk catsitting gig of just feeding and lots of petting. Oh no, this time syringes and drugs were involved. After an orientation from Theo’s “mom” of how to administer antibiotics and insulin, and the all important demonstration of how not to hurt myself with the syringe, I was up for the challenge. My main concern was that I was going to hurt Theo, afterall I’ve never given anyone, let alone a cat, an injection. Actually, giving a cat a shot was easier than I expected. While Theo was eating, I gently pulled up the scruff of his neck with one hand and then with the other hand poked a needle in the back of his neck. In the subsequent days, the insulin shots were a breeze and Theo lapped up the antibiotic-laced milk. The hard part was gauging Theo’s mood… one day he was friendly, the next day he was skittish and anti-social, then the next day he was friendly again. I thought maybe the drugs were making him bi-polar, but when he pooped outside his litter box, it did cross my mind that he was sending me a “high maintenance” message.

The Unbearable Lightness of Lenny

2007-02-27T00:43:00.000-08:00

I'm used to cats ignoring requests (even though you know they know what you're asking them to do). Lenny (a.k.a. "Zippy the Pinhead") has put a new twist on this by interpreting my request to mean its exact opposite. Case in point: I strolled into the kitchen to find Lenny on the counter near the stove. In a stern tone, I said "down!" He immediately leapt UP, to the top of the refrigerator and from there to the top of the cupboards near the ceiling.

I'm resigned to the fact that when the dust motes sparkling inside his head collide, it's even money as to what will happen. I shall now cry "cabbage!" or "pentameter!" instead of "down!" because my attempts at modifying his behavior are obviously for entertainment purposes only; I may as well practice my vocabulary.

Anti-Gravity and Burning Hair

2007-02-27T00:04:00.000-08:00

This is Lenny. He's a little over 1 year old and will, I fear, be stalled in adolescence his entire life. The other night as I was reading on the sofa, I heard something rattle and looked over to see Lenny high atop a bookcase. Not wanting to startle him into knocking items around, I calmly walked over, plucked him from the bookcase and returned him to the floor. Later when Lenny was on my lap, I noticed that while exploring, he had apparently met a lit candle, and the candle counted coup on his eyebrow. Sadly, the odds are not in favor of his learning from this experience. Trust me.

Vet vexations...

2007-02-22T06:21:00.000-08:00

Do you see your vet far more then you see your own doctor and dentist? We sure do. Our cat has become a major category in Quicken. Does your cat enjoy visiting the doc? Tell us your best vet tales.

It's all about personality...

2007-02-22T06:19:00.000-08:00

Tell us your stories about kitty cohabitation. Personality quirks most welcome...

Meet Theo P. Jones

2007-02-21T22:36:00.000-08:00

This is our handsome red Abyssinian cat, Theo P. Jones, formerly known as Spiffy. We adopted him last September from a local breeder. He's a 5 year old, grand champion, now a retired sex worker (he fathered many cute kittens). We freed him from the sex trade and planned to give him a good retirement in caring home. We're still working on it; he's been a challenge. He's a sweet, sensitive, very gentle cat but the transition to the wide open spaces of a house was a big change from his mostly caged confined past. (Being a breeding male, he was kept mostly in a large cage away from the free-range house cats. He's was fixed before we adopted him.) In future posts we'll be sharing some of our experiences with Mr. Theo P. Jones.