Holiday Fun and Danger

Meadow showing her "feral" ear

We are, of course, joining The Cat on My Head in a blog hop.

This week is the gateway to much eating (gorging) and frivolity (alcohol). That means it’s a good time to remind everyone how to keep your pets safe and healthy during this season.

First remember that to your pet all the fun and activity is a change in their environment and could stress them out. When having friends or family over, try to confine your pet in a room away from the noise. Provide him with familiar blankets and toys to make him feel more comfortable. Another reason to keep him confined is to prevent accidental escapes. Your pet may become frightened and/or excited and slip out the door. Before you know it he’s out and roaming the neighborhood.

Second, don’t share human food with your pets. While some foods may seem to be okay to share, they may contain spices or other ingredients that are not. Pets may normally like plain pumpkin puree but pumpkin pie contains spices that might upset your pet’s digestive system. Likewise with meat that is treated with spices, alcohol, etc. just leave your pet out of meals. Provide him with small amounts of pet treats instead.

Also think about your decorations. Tinsel can rip intestines to shreds or become balled up causing blockages. Spray snow on the windows can be toxic if swallowed. If glass ornaments are knocked to the floor (maybe by playful paws) they may break causing damage to innocent paws, or be ingested. If you use a real tree the water can be toxic to pets. Find someway to block their access to the water. Candles, when lit, are a fire hazard and can easily be knocked over by pets or set fire to passing tails.

This is by no means a complete list of hazards. While making plans for your festivities remember to include plans for your pets’ safety. Think about everything you do and what effects it might have on your pet. Let’s have a safe holiday season this year.

Mulberry Spot didn't notice that the sun had moved

On another note, Spotty broke with diarrhea again while on his antibiotic. Since I can’t afford to put him through expensive surgeries or more tests we are treating him with a medication that helps pets with IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this finally helps him. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Aging with Glamor

Jabberwoky Glitter

We are joining the Cat On My Head blog for Sunday Selfies again this week. Sorry we’re so late today. We’ve been dealing with another health issue in the family. “Glamor Glitter,” er, Jabberwoky Glitter has decided she doesn’t want to eat very much anymore and is losing weight as a consequence.

She’s been suffering from kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, hypertension and worsening blindness. Did you know that these three conditions can be interrelated? In fact, hyperthyroidism can mask kidney function tests if not controlled.

This just emphasizes the need to have “senior panels” run on your cat on a regular basis. That usually means a complete blood count (CBC), a chemistry panel (organ function), and a TT4 level (thyroid).

Today we started applying Mirataz®, a transdermal appetite stimulant to Glitter’s ear and hope that we see a difference tomorrow or the next day. Luckily she is still eating some so I hope this gets her back to her regular level of eating.

Here’s Glitter’s selfie for this week. For some reason she always cocks her ears to the side whenever we try to get a photo of her.

Here's my selfie, aren't I glamorous?

Do you have a cat suffering from one of these ailments? If so, what do you do for them?

Bad experiences

As some of you noticed in last week’s comments, Mulberry Spot has relapsed. Two days after finishing his antibiotic he broke with diarrhea again. So we restarted his antibiotic and will keep him on it for another two weeks.

  Jabberwoky Glitter and Mulberry Spot

I’m writing this while watching Iowa State University Cyclone football. Now, I love cats and I like Cyclone football (only Cyclone football) but I don’t believe the two should be combined. I watched in horror, the video from some football game this week, where a feral cat got trapped inside the coliseum and kept running and running and running, trying to escape. All I could think was, that poor cat. Once he got free of that nightmare and all the adrenaline was gone he had to be exhausted. Cats weren’t meant to run long distances.

Have you ever seen a cat in such a harrowing situation? Have you ever seen your cats just totally exhausted from some experience?

Mewdy Blue and Cyclone colors

One year, I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, my beloved Mewdy Blue escaped my house at night and was gone for almost 24 hours. When he finally showed up again he came inside and collapsed. He must have slept for another 24 hours. He was usually one of those unflappable cats but I guess being outside alone was just too much for him.

I’m a big proponent of keeping cats indoors but in both of these examples the cat is outside due to some unfortunate circumstance. We are joining The Cat on my Head for today's Sunday Selfie.

Sunday Funtime

Mulberry Spot thought he would stop by for a selfie today. This time you actually get to see his nose. By the way a fecal culture showed that Spot had a particularly bad E. coli infection as I wrote a couple of weeks ago. Well, now he has finished his antibiotics and is doing great. I hope it lasts now that he's off meds. He is eating really well, filling out nicely and no more diarrhea! Yay!

Mulberry Spot before he got sick

We are joining the Kitties Blue at Cat on my Head for today's Sunday Selfies. Winter is definitely here no matter what the calendar says. We've already had our first two snows although the snow is already gone. Now the leaves are falling.