Archive for the 'Pets' Category
June 27th, 2008 - Cat treats
The cat treat industry is amazing. I like to think that I’m pretty good at eliminating unnecessary products from my life. But it never even crossed my mind in the last 5 years that we’d had animals that cat and dog treats are not necessary parts of life. Until 2 weeks ago.
Mom brushed Maggie’s teeth. Sith has been conditioned recently to come sit on the toilet while I brush my teeth and wait till I’m done for a treat. He did that while Maggie’s teeth were being brushed as well. Maggie sometimes gives him his hairball medicine on Sunday mornings so she clamored to do so. I told Mom that it wasn’t time for the hairball stuff, but they could give him a treat instead. “Give him 3 or 4 pieces, over on the cat tree.” “What? 3?” “Yeah, the package says up to 6 but I think that’s too many.” “Wow. I just gave him one.”
And I realized that our childhood cat Esmeralda probably never had cat treats. So why in the world did I give Sith (and Shmi and Pi and yes, we like cat names with “i” in them) cat treats at least once a week, sometimes daily? I’m going to finish up the bag that’s open, any other bags we might have in the house, and then not buy any more.
Unless we have to give him pills. Shmi got lots of treats because they helped the medicine go down. (So many that she sometimes avoided the treats because she knew they came along with medicine. She was on a daily liquid for her OCD/allergies and a weekly pill for 3 years.)
I might try veggies on Sith, too. Pi loved veggies. Frozen beans were his favorite.
April 11th, 2008 - Goodbye Pythagoras
Last night, Pi died. Eric wrote a nice tribute and posted a couple pictures at Maggie’s new website. A week ago, we finally got him on a medication to calm him down. We’d spent the last year yelling a lot at him and putting him or Sith in the laundry room by themselves due to fights Pi instigated. The last week was wonderful–no fighting at all. No locking him up. He could sleep with me at night since he wasn’t all jittery and getting up all the time. No yelling. I realized just how much we’d been yelling at him (it often stopped him before he got in a fight) when it was so quiet on the weekend.
But on Wednesday, he was rather lethargic. He barely ate. On Thursday morning, we took him to the vets. He had severe acute liver failure. It is so rare, the vets couldn’t find a single instance of it happening with this drug. There is a warning that long term use of a cousin drug could cause liver failure, and there are only a few known instances of even that happening. So, once again, we had a pet with a weird problem. Only this time, it killed him. :(
At least he had a lovely final week. He spent more time with us than usual. He slept with me. He was around Sith more. He hung out with both Eric and I at night. And, he had one final blast in the pantry–we had to hang the pantry door back up* for while we were gone because he can’t be trusted in there. No matter how we arrange things such as metal jars of beans precariously perched, he manages to get on the shelf of dry goods, knock things off, and chew on them. He hasn’t actually done it for a while. Till Tuesday. He made a huge mess in between me going to work and Eric getting up. So he got in one last fling…..
When Shmi died, it was really tough because she was MY kitty. But we had a number of months to prepare for it. This time, it seems a bit surreal because Pi’s been so difficult, medicating him was our last effort to fix the problems or we were going to have to find a new home for him. So we felt wonderful–we’d finally helped him have a better life (and Sith–the fights were stressing Sith out quite a bit, of course). And he went from healthy cat to exceedingly sick in 36 hours.
Will we get another cat? When Shmi died, we knew during the months before that we’d get another companion for Sith. We actually started looking before Shmi died, and went to the Humane Society right after she was put down, as a way of dealing with the grief. At that point, they had spent every single night together except for two–when Shmi was spayed and when Sith was diagnosed with crystals in his urine and spent the night at the vet’s. We thought he needed a companion. And when Sith and Pi got along (they slept a lot together, for instance) they got along great. But for the most part, we realized Sith could be a single cat. Anyway, in the afternoon while we waited for the vets to let us know when to come back to say goodbye, I was totally thinking, no way can I go through this with more animals that we already have. No more cats. But at the vets, I thought that I really want Maggie to have another cat. Pi and Maggie were best friends and played a lot together. (I always pictured Maggie tearfully leaving for college and saying goodbye to Pi. Since he’s a bit younger than her, this was definitely possible.) But we joked that we have to get an older cat, with some health issue, so that we know in advance what’s wrong with it!
If you haven’t been a long time reader, here’s the scoop on our pets over the last 6 years: Shmi had allergies and OCD requiring daily medication and then died of congenital congestive heart failure, Sith and Pi both have crystals in their urine and require an Rx diet, Emma is deaf and has really bad teeth and gums–she’s lost her canines and another tooth and has gum surgery once a year, Jedi has allergies and had stomach troubles off and on and last fall/winter we thought we were losing him to cancer but whatever it was disappeared after a few agonizing months. As Eric says when I wonder why this keeps happening to us–it’s because we can deal with it, we can afford a higher level of health care for our animals than many families, and because we’re strong enough to get through it and keep loving more pets. Although I wonder if maybe it’s time to just get fish.
I’ll be buying a plant in his memory to place his ashes under. We’re trying to decide between the cherry bushes (because then I’d make a cherry pi someday in his memory) or some aggressive plant that tries to take over the garden.
We decided to let Maggie be a part of saying goodbye, even though we recognize that at this age she has no real idea what’s happening. She didn’t come along with Shmi–she barely even knew who Shmi was–but she and Pi were best friends. We thought she deserved the chance to say goodbye even if right now she doesn’t understand. At least in the future we can tell her about her first best friend. Although it’s hard that this happened just before a long vacation, on the other hand, it might help us all not to have constant reminders of his absence.
* Our pantry is a small addition to the house which is about 18 inches off the group with little or no insulation. With the door on, it boils in the summer and freezes in the winter. Or in April. So we’ve had a baby gate up instead ever since we got pets. The cats were always allowed in there and it’s even where Pi ate his meals. And our pasta, saltines, other crackers, beans, and grits.
December 7th, 2007 - Jedi update
Yesterday, Jedi went in for the biopsy surgery. They did some blood work and such on him beforehand, and some things had improved, along with his gaining 2 pounds. So the vet (not the one that originally rec’d the surgery as she’s on vacation, but Jedi’s first vet so she’s been around for 5.5 years) said she didn’t think we should do anything invasive. In addition, next month they are getting an ultrasound machine, and they need dogs for training–and it will be free. He’s a perfect candidate.
So, he’s on the list for the ultrasound.
He’s also on the list for surgery after his vet gets back from vacation in case she really does think the surgery’s a good idea still.
And we plan to bring him in weekly to get weighed. If he keep gaining weight, great!
We felt pretty weird last week, since we believed there was a pretty high chance he wouldn’t even come home yesterday.
November 26th, 2007 - Sick dog
We found out about 10 days ago that Jedi had lost about 14 pounds in a few months. (He’s normally just over 80#, which means for those who know them, he’s only a little heavier than Emma, who’s about 60-63# normally.) Tests last week indicated that it was neither his liver nor his kidneys shutting down (which would have menat he was imminently dying). It appears that his stomach is not processing his food, so he isn’t getting needed protein. They will be doing surgery to get internal biopsies this week or next–as soon as they can get him on the operating schedule.
Since he’s a Boxer, the most likely thing is that he has cancer and a lot of it.
If we caught it early and there’s only a bit, they can remove it during the surgery and he might be okay. If it is extensive, there are options of chemotherapy and medication. In that case, his life expectancy would be less than a year even with the most extensive chemo. There’s a really quite small chance it’s just an ulcer, but that’s pretty far down the list, past three or four different types of cancer.
He has a history of intestinal problems. A year ago, he was throwing up a lot and they determined his stomach acids were off. He was on a special diet for about a year. He went back on the regular one this past summer. Perhaps those problems were also cancer (if that’s what he has).
Shmi was my cat, and she died almost a year ago. Jedi is Eric’s dog. Sure, we love the other pets, but these we were the closest to. In retrospect, we may have let Shmi live too long (about 2.5 months after we learned how sick she was). We likely would not make Jedi suffer long at all.
If Jedi dies, we likely will get another dog right away. Maybe Emma’s over her severe separation anxiety, but we hesitate to actually find out if she is or not. (Not that we wouldn’t like an excuse to buy new living room furniture.) And winter in Wisconsin is the perfect time to house train a new dog. NOT.
Thank goodness for our fully funded emergency fund. We are not overly concerned about paying for the surgery nor the costs of a new pet (we may wish to go with a purebred again, although not a Boxer). Still haven’t decided how we will re-fund the emergency fund when it is used. But we don’t need to face that yet.
Your thoughts and prayers for Jedi are appreciated. He isn’t in pain and seems about as exuberant as ever. I think he’s sleeping more, but that might just be because he’s bored in the house. It’s too cold for them to run outdoors for long, and he’s used to do that for the last 6 months. He just looks really skinny.
December 4th, 2006 - Race you up the stairs, Shmi-girl!
On Saturday, Shmi-girl died. Around 9 or 10am, we picked her up to trim her nails. She fought such that we only did half of them. This is very unusual behavior. When she fled, she first laid down on a nearby chair. Then she moved into the laundry room where she also just flopped. When Sith and I checked on her, she moved back under the stairs and I could tell she was breathing heavy. We quickly decided that was it and called the vet’s office. While Maggie and I were playing the piano later, she slipped out of that room and went to one her favorite spots during the day–behind the printer, under a piece of foam core, on the cat bed. We made this spot for them after it appeared accidently and we discovered the cats loved to sleep there. So even though we’ve rearranged the room–and the foam core is ready to be thrown out–we kept it as their space.
Looking back, I realized she had also not eaten much that night (if anything) and hadn’t come for her morning treats. Both of these are unusual behavior. However, she had slept with me that night, which she hadn’t the two previous nights, so at least I have that memory.
The title of this post is because that’s one of my favorite memories. Each night, as I go up to bed, Shmi races me up the stairs. This only started happening in the last year or so–IE, as she was getting sicker. Sometimes she wins, sometimes I win, sometimes she lets me win, sometime I let her win. I don’t remember who won last. Why does she race up the stairs? Because she ADORES drinking from the faucet after it’s been turned off (we never let her drink while it was on). And she knew that I was about to use the sink a lot. In fact, one one to get her to come, even if she wasn’t interested in a treat, was to turn a faucet on! Over the last few months, one her favorite places to hang out was on the counter next to the bathroom sink. Weird cat.
It’s been harder than I expected. I didn’t realize how much of my daily routine circles around her, more so than one else in my life (human or animal). She was part of my waking up, getting ready routine, morning chores, leaving the house (”Take care of everybody for me, Shmi-girl.” That started when she was the only female in the house when I’d leave and someone had to take care of the boys. LOL And continued even after Maggie and Emma. Because, frankly, she was the least likely to get into any kind of trouble! I don’t know who will look after everyone for me. Eric suggests Emma simply because she won’t brook any complaints from the others: she’s deaf!), coming home (She’d usually put in an appearance only after I came home from work, sleeping away the rest of the day.), bedtime, and going to sleep.
She was put to sleep around 12:30pm Saturday. She went more quickly and quietly than we expected. We were going to bury her in the garden, but now that it’s frozen, we decided to cremate her instead. [In the interests of frugality, I considered keeping her body in a freezer. We have three after all. But I just couldn’t do it.] In the spring, we’ll pick out a flower for her (something pink or purple, probably, to match her collar) at the Paine Garden sale and bury her ashes under it. And perhaps I will make a stepping stone for the garden with her cat tags.
prior information:
Shmigirl
Update on Shmi
The latest on Shmi
We had already discussed the possibility of getting another cat for Sith. He’s obviously been missing his playmate. Shmi just didn’t have the energy to play anymore. I’d gotten worried a number of mornings because they would hiss at each other and Sith appeared to be stalking her. We thought a kitten or young playful cat might help. But I worried that a new cat might be the stress than killed Shmi. The last few days, it had occurred to me to play more with Sith–that had faded as they got older–and it definitely had helped. Sith would play for 30+ minutes with the wand toy! So after Shmi died, we went right over to the shelter.
The first orange cat Eric saw ended up being a great match for us! We do have to wait for the shelter to approve us, but we don’t foresee any problems. Van Helsing (current name, might even keep it because it’s funny and unusual, and non-Star Wars) is about 4 months old, orange tabby, full of energy. The tabby colorings are white but a sandy orange, making it rather like orange camo. (When we came home and told the babysitter, she had been watching a TV station that was showing the movie that evening. So I’ve taped it to watched; Eric says we’ve seen it but I don’t remember it.) He should come home at the end of the week if all goes well.
September 27th, 2006 - The latest on Shmi
We learned yesterday that Shmi is in an advanced stage of congestive heart failure (cardiomyopathy)–more advanced than our local vet had thought. We have to decide whether to keep her alive on medication (5 doses a day, +2 doses of meds she’s already on for other conditions) or whether to put her down. On medication, her life expectency is probably still less than a year. W/o it, she could die at any time (which can also happen on the meds, just less likely right away).
She’s only 4 years old, so I expected her to still be around when Maggie was in high school.
September 21st, 2006 - Update on Shmi
Shmi came home last night! She did get better overnight on the medication, but next Tuesday she’ll go see a kitty cardiologist who can determine (with an MRI I think it is. Or an EKG? Or something with a lot of letters) exactly what the issue is. The vet believes it’s one of 2 or 3 things all of which are easily combatted with a daily medication (pills, unfortunately). She hung out pretty quietly after coming home. I could see how heavily she was breathing, but she did eat and drink, went up the stairs, jumped on the sink like usual, and joined me for bed for part of the night.
Over the last year, Jedi (one of our boxers) has been sick. After spending a bunch of money on his undiagnosed issue (they couldn’t figure out what it was, but believe now it’s pancreatitis) and noticing the spending for pets soar beyond the budget, I upped it by $200/month. I’d thought I’d just do it till the end of the calendar year. But I think it will continue longer. At least until Shmi’s problems are paid for. It’ll probably cost about $800-900 just for this week and next. Aack. This is one expensive kitty (we spent over $1000 during her first year to diagnose her allergies/OCD).
On the other hand…As I rode home in the afternoon, I was thinking about whether Eric would tell me she was alive or dead. Which meant that until I got home and knew, she was Schroedinger’s Cat!!! I laughed out loud upon realizing this, absolutely delighted. We’ve previusly joked about her being Quantum Kitty and now I think we should change her name. All along, whenever one of us would see her in a cute pose or doing something neat and tell the other person to look…she’d move or stop it. Just like the quantum physics thing about being able to know either where or when something was, but not both. When she was littler (hard to believe since she’s under 6 1/2# right now), we’d see her on one side of the baby gate and then she’d reappear on the other side. It was like she was dematerializing. Now she’s actually S’s Cat…she *has* to be Quantum Kitty!
Oh, and she’s also trying to become a poodle. She has little bits shaved off her leg for the IV and one near her neck. Next week, there’ll be more shaving. She looks so funny with her fur fluffy around those areas.