Same Question, Different Answer

It’s been more than a week since I’ve published anything here, I think, and in the meanwhile, Cammie had yet another attack of her allergy. This one was an unpleasant surprise, as it was just two weeks after the last one.

It was a little different this time, so initially I didn’t think it was another of my princess’s episodes. She threw up once on Sunday night, then again the next day. Usually, she is ill three times in quick succession. This time, the retching was more isolated. But eventually, it resolved itself into the normal routine, and Cammie couldn’t keep anything down. She and I went to the veterinary hospital Thursday afternoon.

There, Cammie received an injection of Cerenia, as well as 125 mL of fluid; she was very dehydrated, and the fluid didn’t even make a bump under her skin, it was absorbed so needfully. She was not pleased. It took the doctor, a veterinary technician, me and a towel to keep her in place while she received her fluids. I think this time was especially upsetting to her as it was such a short period since her previous visit.

In the aftermath, I have decided to try for a new answer to this problem. I believe that my girl’s problems are an allergic reaction, probably to fish. (I may be completely wrong in this, but this is my working theory.) I have been feeding her Fancy Feast chicken-and-liver as a soft-food, and Orijen Regional Red hard-food. I think the latter is a very good cat-food, but it does contain the fish pilchard, though only in small amounts. If Cammie’s troubles lie in fish, then it may be enough to trigger an attack. So I have started feeding her a hard-food, Z/D,  that is supposed to be good for cats prone to allergies.

The first obstacle to clear was her preferences. To my surprise, however, she likes the Z/D. She comes forward to meet me when I bring it to her. This may be the novelty of the food, so we will see if it stands the test of time. The second obstacle is my absence during much of the day. I do not want to keep the Orijen from my other beasts, nor do I want to lock Cammie up all day, like Parker. With the limited number of rooms in my apartment, that is not practical, anyway. I have taken to putting a dish of the Z/D on the  top platform of the tallest cat-tree. The others rarely go there, except in the evening (when I will be present to hand out the Z/D, anyway), so hopefully Cammie will have the dish to herself, and eat enough of it to keep her from wanting any of the Orijen.

As for soft-food, the Fancy Feast chicken-and-liver claims not to have any fish in it, but I don’t know that I trust the manufacturing methods of cat-food companies to keep each variety or flavour pure, so there may be danger to Cammie from that direction. But she eats little of it anyway. Her water-consumption is very good - except during her episodes when she can’t keep it down - so in her case, however desirable soft-food may be, it may not be contributing a great deal of moisture.

That is my newest strategy on the food-front. As well, I brought home from the hospital a bag of fluids and the necessary accoutrements for its delivery into Cammie’s system. If she develops vomiting again, I want to be able to give her fluids independent of the hospital, and, possibly, to give her fluids regardless of her vomiting. Though it took three to persuade her to accept the fluids in the hospital, I hope to accomplish this alone: I theorise that her violent reluctance previously was due to the stressful setting. Having me administer fluids at home may be different. Then again, I may be fooling myself. I can call on assistance, but as Cammie dislikes and distrusts every human but myself, that may not solve the problem. We will see about that at the time.

This is where we stand now. Cammie is enjoying her new food, which should be much less of an irritant to her little body than other nutrition, and her consumption of any other food is diminished. If her episodes are the result of allergies, this should help. If not, you’ll be reading more about this sort of thing in the future. I hope not to write its like again.