Tuesday, October 11, 2016

A Minor Mystery

Though the Thanksgiving weekend was a good one, it was marred to a small extent by a mystery that affected Josie. For about two and a half days, she was throwing up her food. This is not uncommon with my Chubs, though it is usually sporadic, and if she throws up two consecutive meals, it’s abnormal. This time, she was vomiting every mouthful of soft-food.

It would happen about two hours after consumption, though once she regurgitated a meal immediately. The food concerned was not a new variety: Merrick surf ’n’ turf. Josie enjoys that flavour, and has never had a problem with it before. I thought that it may have been the tin, though Tucker ate some - it isn’t one of his first choices - and did not bring it back up. Even so, I tried some beef flavour. This caused the same reaction in Josie.

The Great White could eat hard-food with no trouble, though this was sometimes returned with the soft. Her consumption of treats did not suffer, either. But if the soft-food was coming back up, and latching on to the hard as it climbed, then Josie was not getting much nutrition. I tried the old stand-by: Fancy Feast.


A small amount of ocean whitefish went down readily enough, though it had been so long since my Chubs had eaten it, except as a garnish, that she was hesitant. But two small helpings stayed down. This was encouraging. I repeated the performance half a day later; that too was a success. Whether the Fancy Feast was more settling to her stomach, or its arrival there was coincident to a separate recovery, I don’t know.

But I expanded my field of operations by opening a new tin of Merrick - rabbit flavour - and set that before Josie at her next dinner-time. All was well. The rabbit went through the g.i. tract as it should have done. As Sherlock Holmes may have said, “It was alimentary.” Perhaps he mayn’t have. In any case, I was pleased.

Since then, Sunday afternoon, Josie has been eating well but not heartily. Her appetite is a bit off, and she is consuming less of both hard- and soft-food. However, having weighed her and her roommates yesterday, I know that her poundage is good. She has gained a small amount of heftitude in the last month. (So has Cammie, still a little under-weight from her summer sickness; the boys are almost steady.)

I am guardedly optimistic. My Chubs seems to be over her problem, whatever it was. Since her illness earlier in the year, the princess receives a small ration of soft-food before bedtime; I may do the same for Josie. I will watch and weigh. Josie is now thirteen and has had no serious medical problems in the eight years she’s been with me. Of minor mysteries, she’s had a few, but as long as they remain minor, and lead to nothing major, they can stay mysteries.

13 comments:

  1. I'm so glad to hear that Josie is feeling better. Both my Joey and Jessica have had GI problems this past week. When one got over it, the other one got it. It started with vomiting and then diarrhea. The problem lasted about a day or two, and then they were fine. I wonder if there is a feline stomach virus going around?

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    1. I wonder if my Chubs had the same problem as your pair. She didn't have diarrhea, but her stools were much softer than usual. It seems to have been a passing thing, though - fingers crossed.

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  2. Oh, hopefully whatever it was has passed and she'll be back to eating (and keeping it down) normally. The boys are sending their purrs.

    As for “It was alimentary" -- I had to groan at that! :-D

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    1. That groan was what I was aiming at. And Josie had a good appetite last evening and this morning.

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  3. Poor Josie! I certainly whatever ailed her is through her system and she's feeling back to normal.

    My Saku tends to upchuck every so often but I think that is because he eats too quickly.

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  4. Miss Josie, I hope you feel better so soon
    me purrs for you Heap !
    purr purr purr

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  5. I hope Josie continues to improve. Have a good week.

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  6. That is a mystery and could be so many things. We sure hope the all better shows up soon.

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  7. I am a big believer in batch/lot variances when It comes to tinned cat food. Occasionally, I'll buy my cats usuall food and they'll decline to eat it or they'll eat it and vomit a bit later. Not all of them, just a few. I've always felt I should, at least, have a taste of their food so I will know when the food is a bit "off", but I just can't bring myself to do it.
    So happy to hear your dear girl is feeling a bit better.

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    1. I don't think I could eat their food, either. Most of it smells rather bad to a human's nose. But Josie is doing much better now, with an improving appetite.

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  8. josie....we R sorree ya had a time oh it ther for a while...purrhapz may bee ewe haza hairball that kneadz ta moove....one direct shun ore de other ...N itz cauzin sum trubull....~~~~ we R glad tho ta lurn yur doin better ♥♥♥♥

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  9. I am glad Josie appears to be over whatever was making her feel unwell, and hope she continues to improve.

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  10. I hope Josie continues to feel better.

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