Your daily cat and kitten news

[LeytonCatLady]

View attachment 318197
Tinker has another action packed morning planned.

Tinker looks long!

 

[clicker]

Tinker looks long!

Optical illusion. He's actually really small for a ten year old cat. He had a rubbish start to life, living in a suitcase outside in the snow. Every heart string was tugged. His 'owners' moved house and left him ( and 2 of his siblings). I found homes for the 2 siblings and Tinker just kind of took root on the sofa. That was about 9 years ago.

 

[LeytonCatLady]

Optical illusion. He's actually really small for a ten year old cat. He had a rubbish start to life, living in a suitcase outside in the snow. Every heart string was tugged. His 'owners' moved house and left him ( and 2 of his siblings). I found homes for the 2 siblings and Tinker just kind of took root on the sofa. That was about 9 years ago.

Thank you for loving him.

I think my Lilith will stay looking kitten like. She's very slim and looks dainty, but she makes up for it in height when she stretches! Think she may have some Egyptian in her.

 

[seeformiles]

Vic, sitting in the box one last time before I took it away. It was causing too much friction between him and Lil’ Bob so it had to go in the interests of restoring harmony.

 

[clicker]

Thank you for loving him.

I think my Lilith will stay looking kitten like. She's very slim and looks dainty, but she makes up for it in height when she stretches! Think she may have some Egyptian in her.

Yes we thought Tinker was a dainty young female....hence originally named TinkerBell (not my doing ).

 

[High Voltage]

"Someone" came in through the cat flap this morning with the following:-

• REALLY bushy tail
• Muddy flank
• Muddy face
• Muddy neck
• Blood spot on left ear
• Suspected blood spot on right ear
• Nicely wet all over as if from, say, rolling around in wet grass

If only him and his brother could go out as a "gang" they'd be like the Kray Kitties - but no, those two would rather "fight" on the landing whilst waiting for the automatic cat feeders to "pay out"

Still he managed to blag an unprompted "better build you up" snack, so all's well - he's upstairs on the bed reliving his tales of bravado to any and all who'll listen

 

[strung out]

A bit of "closure" on the FiFi front - we had a further "phone chat" with the vet (they really are brilliant for this)

FiFi "was" eating one brand of diabetes biscuits and eating 60g / day (30g morning and 30g night time) and as long as she ate that she was fine for a full dose of insulin - but if she started to eat less I had a ridiculously involved sliding scale of how much to give her, it was unnecessarily complicated but I understood it and it worked fine

Except now, she's not really liking those biscuits, preferring instead Hills AD wet cat food - with a feeding guide of 2.25 tins for a 10kg cat / dog. So .225 of a tin for a 1kg cat / dog, so 1.04 tins OR 1 tin for a 4.65kg cat per day, which is now what she's on. But we are all unsure of the calorific value of this food and from that how much insulin to give her. She's currently on 2.5 units / day down from 6 units - but she seems OK

We've decided to let her carry on 'til the end of the month and then we need to do a glucose curve(?) thing

However, there's a new doo dah on the market and that's a stick on pad-thing that sends readings to an app on your smart phone and gives loads of really great data BUT the vet's never used one so we, or rather FiFi would be the GuineaCat

To make sure it sticks she'll have another area shaved AND, the icing on the cake, she'll have to wear a vest top to stop her worrying it off - and given that these doo dahs are £112 EACH and could stay on for 3 weeks or so but could just as easily fall off after a couple of days ( and I already know which one FiFi will opt for), I'm not so sure

Which leaves, leaving her at the vet for them to do the curve - "But stress may alter the readings" - Fucking didn't the last two or three times she's had them and she's still alive

OR

We could take readings from her pee

OR

We could stick her ear every 2 hours from 6 - 12

So, all in all, she's getting her Catitude back, yeowling like a good 'un at 3am wanting "something" but not sure what

Reading your post reminded me that it's ages since I gave an update on Milo's CKD/diabetes diagnosis. I know you've got far more experience with diabetes in cats than me, and Fifi's diabetes sounds more severe that Milo's, but I figured I'd share some of our experiences of the last year or so with Milo.

Things sort of levelled out for a while after he was initially put on his renal diet, and the twice daily insulin injections weren't too much of a hassle. After a while though, our vet recommended he be put on a 50/50 renal/diabetes diet, and that's where the problems started.

For a start, what does 50/50 renal/diabetes really mean when he has a mixture of dry and wet food? We tried two pouches of diabetic food, one pouch of renal food and a portion of renal dry food, but we battled daily with

• trying to get him to eat all his prescribed food - he always preferred one of his renal or diabetic food over the other
• getting his insulin doses right - should we give him less insulin after a diabetic food pouch or just maintain the same schedule regardless of which food he was eating?
• getting him to eat enough food so he didn't wake up in the middle of the night howling for more - he completely went off his dry food, meaning he couldn't graze in the middle of the night when we were asleep (grazing probably not sensible for a diabetic cat anyway)
• fussiness - he regularly went off various medicated brands we tried him on, and the range of diabetic/renal foods wasn't large enough to try him on various different types/flavours
• cost - it turned out that the stuff he really did like was the most expensive stuff, which at the same time as going off his dry food completely, meant the cost of his food went up from about £40 a month to £120 a month

And despite all our efforts with the above, he seemed miserable, we were struggling with looking after him, as he wouldn't let us get a full night's sleep, and the constant stress of worrying that he'd eaten enough food was making us unhappy, especially with numerous sets of (stressful) blood tests he needed every few months concluding that we should just stick with what we were doing (and those tests aren't cheap!)

Eventually, we decided to go back to basics, and after a chat with a different vet to usual, who said that getting his diabetes under control was the most important thing (because that was the cause of his kidney issues), I googled good quality food for diabetic cats, and came across Katkin, which a catfood delivery service that isn't designed specifically for diabetic cats, but is calorie controlled for the precise size/energy levels of your cat, and only contains 100% meat, meaning no sugars/grains/carbohydrates to mess with the diabetes. Since moving him to this new food, we've been able to stop his insulin injections completely (he was only on 1iu to start with), move him off dry food completely, and got the monthly cost of his food back down to £55 a month. His fur has become sleek and shiny, his temperament has changed to be completely relaxed and cuddly all the time, we know exactly how much we've fed him because each pouch only contains a day's worth of food, he actually likes his food, and most importantly, he's sleeping through the night, and only waking me up between 6am and 7am every morning, rather than 4.30am.

The above isn't supposed to be an advert for Katkin, but it's completely changed Milo and our lives.

Bonus picture of Milo for shameless likes harvesting.

 

[Epona]

So - we've got some of Jakey's results back

No sign of any type of infection
Thyroid is normal
Kidney test slightly high
Liver test slightly high
Glucose high.

Apparently their glucose level can be raised a lot due to stress when having bloods taken, so I've given the OK for more tests (using the same vial of blood) to investigate that further and see whether it is pointing to diabetes.

Also waiting on urinalysis results. The vet may recommend ultrasound to have a closer look at his liver. I found the thought of liver disease a terrifying prospect, but apparently (as long as it is not acute liver failure) if caught early and treated it can be managed fairly well and progression halted or at least slowed considerably. If he does have diabetes, that could itself be a cause of liver issues, so those tests will be done before deciding how to proceed.

Vet said to put him on early renal food, he's already on that as we switched Sonic to it in November and as Jakey is also elderly it was deemed ok for him to eat it too, but I'll see if I can get some of the prescription wet food too as Jakey lives for his wet meal. What I am not going to do just yet is order a large amount of anything until we have more information and the rest of the results, but I'll see if I can get a box of wet pouches to try him on.

So we're waiting for the rest of the results which should be later this week.

 

[LeytonCatLady]

So - we've got some of Jakey's results back

No sign of any type of infection
Thyroid is normal
Kidney test slightly high
Liver test slightly high
Glucose high.

Apparently their glucose level can be raised a lot due to stress when having bloods taken, so I've given the OK for more tests (using the same vial of blood) to investigate that further and see whether it is pointing to diabetes.

Also waiting on urinalysis results. The vet may recommend ultrasound to have a closer look at his liver. I found the thought of liver disease a terrifying prospect, but apparently (as long as it is not acute liver failure) if caught early and treated it can be managed fairly well and progression halted or at least slowed considerably.

Vet said to put him on early renal food, he's already on that as we switched Sonic to it in November and as Jakey is also elderly it was deemed ok for him to eat it too, but I'll see if I can get some of the prescription wet food too as Jakey lives for his wet meal. What I am not going to do just yet is order a large amount of anything until we have more information and the rest of the results, but I'll see if I can get a box of wet pouches to try him on.

So we're waiting for the rest of the results which should be later this week.

So all is OK so far then! That's great. Good luck with the test results.

 

[izz]

Oh strung out I couldn't be more thrilled, what bloody excellent news and thank you so much for the update, no more injections ! Brilliant! Well done everyone

 

[donkyboy]

Akiro up a tree looking like an owl with chloe looking on thinking, if only I could get up there. found out last night, Akiro is half Bengal. guess that would explain his active behaviour.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

The saga continues.

The next tool in my expanding collection arrives.



I take it out and get it all set up.



I manage to cut what I need for the back and sides.



They get dominoed and smashed.

A quick preview of the build.



I now have the base and three sides done.


While I was out making beds for cats a cat was stealing mine.

 

[ddraig]

Her floofiness.suning herself

 

[ddraig]

And Misty being normal

 

[seeformiles]

Sleepy Lil’ Bob

 

[LeytonCatLady]

Spot the black cat.

 

[Epona]

Perfectly camouflaged in her environment

 

[nogojones]

Funnily enough, I've swapped Stan for a sunflower!
The cyst behind his ear has become huge, and he's scratching it till it bleeds. He's furious, of course, struggling to get his face in his food bowl, and can't go out, but it's not bothering him anywhere near as much as the plastic one does.

View attachment 317864

So much more fetching than the cone of shame

 

[Chz]

Sleepy Lil’ Bob

View attachment 318338

Fang!

 

[Epona]

Fang!

Vampire kitties
My Sonic always had his little fangs poking out a bit (had a bit of an overbite, definitely not good conformation, but not serious enough to be debilitating and so very very cute!)

 

[Dystopiary]

Hope Jakey's doing ok Epona.

 

[Epona]

Hope Jakey's doing ok Epona.

Thanks, he seems a bit tired and clingy still - I guess having blood taken will do that, it's probably the equivalent of "nearly an armful" for a cat! Also stressful. At one point after a bit of a struggle they were contemplating giving him some gabapentin to make him a bit woozy.
Radar used to be very compliant at the vets but both Sonic and Jakey were/are strugglers, and very strong cats (OSH are typically very wiry and muscular).

 

[Dystopiary]

Thanks, he seems a bit tired and clingy still - I guess having blood taken will do that, it's probably the equivalent of "nearly an armful" for a cat! Also stressful. At one point after a bit of a struggle they were contemplating giving him some gabapentin to make him a bit woozy.
Radar used to be very compliant at the vets but both Sonic and Jakey were/are strugglers, and very strong cats (OSH are typically very wiry and muscular).

Poor Jakey. Well fingers crossed for a good result from it all.

 

[Epona]

Vet just phoned.

No diabetes and the urinalysis was also normal.

So we are left with slightly elevated numbers for kidney and 1 of 3 indicators for liver.

I asked for a referral for ultrasound but that is going to cost another £300-£400 which I don't have (I can probably come to a payment agreement with Goddards if need be) and I just fucking know that is going to show nothing too because this is what we went through with Sonic last year and it's just "he's old" as an answer, he's also gone through a period of massive adjustment since his best friend died - I mean NOTHING about his life is the same as it was before, and although every vet I speak to kind of hand-waves it as "well yeah maybe" like they are humouring me, I have seen how much his life, his routines etc. have changed and I know I'm not fucking imagining that he has been stressed.

I don't know what to do. Vet suggests ultrasound now then if that shows nothing repeat blood tests in 3 months, because life isn't financially difficult enough anyway. (We got Jakey when he was older and he isn't insured )

 

[Epona]

I've also just e-mailed the vet to ask them to e-mail copies of the test results to me, I really struggle on the phone and if I have a copy I can get someone to look at the results and go through it with me.

 

[Epona]

Fuck, the additional tests to check it wasn't diabetes (it wasn't) was an additional £100, so we're up to £350 now (before ultrasound) and no closer to knowing what is going on.

 

[Cloo]

"Someone" came in through the cat flap this morning with the following:-

• REALLY bushy tail
• Muddy flank
• Muddy face
• Muddy neck
• Blood spot on left ear
• Suspected blood spot on right ear
• Nicely wet all over as if from, say, rolling around in wet grass

If only him and his brother could go out as a "gang" they'd be like the Kray Kitties - but no, those two would rather "fight" on the landing whilst waiting for the automatic cat feeders to "pay out"

Still he managed to blag an unprompted "better build you up" snack, so all's well - he's upstairs on the bed reliving his tales of bravado to any and all who'll listen

I'll never forget when I was about 9 and my childhood cat came in with the edge of one of his ears torn to shreds and a big scratch on his chest. He seemed fairly happy so I take it he won - he was a big chap (and dumb as a rock). The shredded ear was distinctive feature for the rest of his life.

 

[philosophical]

Feral Harry at mid-day today chilling at one with nature, in one of his favourite spots in next door’s front garden.

 

[Epona]

OK OK having a think about this.

I think IF Jakey had just lost a little weight and his bloods showed the couple of slightly elevated (but not worryingly so) numbers, holding off to see how it goes would be reasonable.

But I have to consider the fact that he has been vomiting a lot recently and there has been a LOT of excessive salivation (soaking his fur and dripping all over me when he is snoozing on me) and the vet noted on Monday that he was licking his lips a lot - both of those things indicate nausea.

So I think that being the case, we ought to go ahead with an abdominal ultrasound, as there is every indication that he seems to be experiencing frequent nausea. That doesn't sound like a "he's just old" thing.

I don't know whether that seems sensible. Will ask when the referral goes through whether we can pay in installments.

 

[stavros]

With the warm weather I left my upstairs back windows open last night and this morning. As I was WFH at the dining room table I heard a thud, and a few minutes later one of the neighbour's cats walked into the corner of my eye. He/she seemed to be inspecting the whole house, and despite a lot of teeth-kissing on my part didn't even look at me. After their tour of the downstairs they walked back up and exited through the window they came in.

That's the first time a cat's been in the house since my fluffy landlady passed away last July.