Saturday, April 9, 2022

While I Was Away

None of this happened while I was away but, rather, while I was selfishly pre-occupied with my own tiny, insulated world of surgeries. How I could have been thinking of something other than cats, my beasts surely have no idea.

Renn was ill last week. At the beginning of the week, he started throwing up, unable to keep anything down and with very little appetite. This has been a recurrence with my big boy for a while. I suspect there is something wrong with him but have not been able to find it through blood or urine tests, and it is not consistent. But for its latest manifestation, he could have chosen a less inconvenient time.

Fortunately, I have a good supply of Cerenia pills left over from Tucker’s last sickness. They did help him keep things down, and so I gave Renn a dose on both Wednesday and Thursday. I had visions of trying to force-feed him immediately after my operation, which probably would have been bad for both of us, but by Thursday evening he was better, and has eaten well since then, keeping everything down. His appetite has returned and, despite my earlier opinion, I think the Mirtazapine has offered some prompting to his hunger. He has two kinds of hard-food that he eats, and he also enjoys some Recovery soft-food now and then. I like that, as the more choices that are available, the less likely he is to reject all.

Now, however, he has a bad cold, with sneezing and snot, but it’s not keeping him from eating, and that of course is my main concern. I can’t see that it is connected with his prior upset.

Also food-related is Minuet’s latest development. When she came to stay with me, she arrived eating Fancy Feast and a ‘dietetic’ hard-food. (Originally, it was called ‘diabetic’, but a suitably important government department complained that it doesn’t actually help diabetes, so the name was changed.) She soon started throwing up her food, so I took her off Fancy Feast and put her on to a seniors’ variety. The vomiting, never constant but just every few days, continued, so I decided it might be the hard-food. This I recently removed from her menu, and the upchucking stopped.

In the last few days, Min inadvertently ate some of the ‘dietetic’ food and I heard her puking in the night, two nights running. (Interestingly, and annoyingly, I could never find her debris in the mornings, so it may have been a dry-heave type of rejection.) This seems to confirm my concerns over the hard-food with which she arrived at the Cosy Apartment, though why she would have these symptoms after being on the food for a year, I don’t know. (It’s possible that she was going through the motions of being sick all that time but, without physical evidence, her former owner never thought it was occurring.)

Now, however, Madame has started to go off her seniors’ variety of soft-food. I think this is nothing more than boredom it. Fortunately, she enjoys Recovery, so I am mixing it with the seniors’ food, and this appears to satisfy her. She also likes the Orijen hard-food, which is the general hard-food left out for the other beasts. If she does not puke over the next week or two, I will think that my hypothesis regarding the ‘diatetic’ food was more or else correct.

Recovery, aside from being very expensive, might be rather too rich for a very-oldster like Minuet; Orijen, too, might not be the best for someone her age. But her age is nineteen years; she surely doesn’t have much more time left on Earth (though I will be very pleased if she does) and if her current fare is enjoyable to her, why should she not indulge herself? It can be tough coaxing a senior cat to eat enough to keep her going; if Minuet looks forward to her meals, if they give her pleasure, rather than being a boring part of a bland day, why should she not eat well?

I have found the convoluted agonies of attempting to feed a cat correctly – or at least satisfactorily – to be the most difficult part of caring for these beasts. The complicated plotting of a cat’s menu over the years must resemble a chart of the secret diplomatic negotiations of the most devious Renaissance princes, or the collected scripts of a decade of television soap operas. But if Minuet or Renn or any other animal in my household walks away from an empty bowl purring then all the fantastical plotting will be worth it.

(A couple of readers expressed surprise that Minuet was not wearing her shirt in yesterday’s picture of her. She wears it during the cooler parts of the day – the night and the twilight times on either end of night – while I remove it during the warmer hours, such as when I am at work. That’s when I see her grooming herself, an action I believe is as morally beneficial for a cat as physically. Her nakedness is then compensated by a higher temperature in her room.)

17 comments:

  1. Oh Minuet, nekkid for only a part of the day...hahaha!
    You are absolutely correct, John; you can offer the bestest food available, but if the beasties won't eat it, then it's in the trash.
    The trick is, that the cat food manufacturers aren't supplying us with enough information on contents, and veterinarians are not trained well with nutrition, so all bets are off and it's every cat human for themselves and their furry overlords.

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  2. I can sympathize. Trying to keep a cat on a special diet in a multi-cat household is not easy. However, all you can do is try your best. I agree with you. - as long as the cats eat and they don't suffer any ill effects from the food, I'm happy. As for Minuet, you're quite correct. At her age let her enjoy her food, and as long as she maintains her weight, all is well. Meanwhile I hope Renn gets over his cold quickly. Get well soon, Renn!

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  3. We sure send lots of purrs to you and your sweeties, never a dull moment.

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  4. There always seems to be a bit of excitement at the Cozy Apartment. I hope both Renn and Minuet's tummy issues are in the past, at least for now.

    Saku is and always has been a puker. I think that comes more from his haste in eating than anything else. It doesn't happen every day or sometimes even every week. I've started feeding him smaller meals more frequently and it seems to have helped somewhat. He's kind enough (?) to holler before he heaves so I always know what's coming. :)

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    1. My Josie was like that. She even tried to make it to the bathroom, where there was no carpetting; she was a smart old lady.

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  5. You are a wise kitty daddy, John, and its a never ending saga with the food issues...same for pups...

    It used to look like a buffet around here, both for Pipo & Minko and also when MJF was here...he rejected his fave foods quite often.

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  6. Poor Renn and Minuet. We're purring and praying for both of them to feel better, and for your own recovery, too, John.

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  7. Purrs to Renn and to Minuet and you too, John. We'll echo Brian's comments: Never a dull moment at the Cosy Apartment. ♥

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  8. I imagine it would make a very interesting looking chart if you were to graph all the kinds of food that you have fed your cats over the years. What worked what didn't work what they liked what they didn't like. Oh my what a list. Good news that Renn is is currently eating but very sorry that he had to get such a bad cold. Who brought that bug into the house?

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    1. Even though I don't have as many cats as I once did, I think it may be a case similar to kindergarten, in which one child gets an illness, it makes the rounds of all the pupils, then eventually hits the first one again after he's recovered.

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  9. I swear, it never rains-but it pours!! Of all times to get into a state, Renn. But your dad mustered through. Min, I was thinking the same thing, If you can tolerate the food and love it...you should have it. And I can see that your new coat is growing in quite well, too. Katie has to have teaspoons of wet food at a time or it's right back on the floor. She eats too fast and too much if it's a favorite. Never a dull moment in any given day.
    Your words on the "convoluted agonies" of trying to feed a cat correctly and well...spot on!!!! Couldn't have said it better.

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  10. It does seem that NASA had an easier time planning the moon landing than you do planning meals...

    I'm sorry to hear Renn has a cold. As I recall, he had one not too long ago. The odd thing is, my Mac, who looked just like Renn, also got frequent colds with stuffy noses. He was the only one among my cats to have this happen. Perhaps their particular breed is more susceptible to colds. In any case, I hope he's better soon, and your recovery is continuing to do well.

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  11. I hope everyone, including yourself, feels better quickly.

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  12. I hope your kitties are soonwell again. We have had similar go-rounds in our menage over the years...One of the vets finally decreed that the important thing is that they eat - whether it is their special diet of not.

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  13. My vet was hapoy that poppy was maintaining her weight as it can be a struggle with renal cats. She turned her nose up at dinner tonight at 5pm, but then ate 1/2 of it at 10pm.

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  14. I hope Renn and Min are feeling better by now.

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