A Little Repairing and Renewing

Though it was not one of the chores I set for myself during my holidays, I wanted at some point to wrap layers of sisal rope around parts of our cat-trees, repairing them, rather than buying new trees. After all, the ones I have are still structurally sound. I have been long threatening to make these renovations and, at long last, I have. Well, I have started, at any rate.

The inclined portion of the shorter cat-tree in the bedroom had been used by the cats as a scratching-platform so long that much of the carpet-like surface had been torn away, and the wood beneath was being ripped up by the cats’ claws. I was afraid they would get splinters, so I thought I would experiment first with that tree.

I neglected to take photographs of the ‘before’ phase, and I was not about to unwrap one hundred feet of rope once I remembered. However, this is the finished version. I used quarter-inch sisal rope, though, now that it is completed, I think three-eighths’ thickness may have been better. The shops I visited to buy the sisal did not have such a size, anyway. Half-inch was available, but that seemed too thick; it would not have been pliable enough.

I hope that the rope won’t unravel under feline attention; I will deal with that problem if and when it arises. The cats so far have not gone near it. I suppose this was predictable. However, it is now ready for them, if they ever decide to use it. In any case, this task has given me experience, so even if this tree goes unscratched, it won’t have been a waste of time. And as you can see, they were eager to show their gratitude.

You’re welcome, Cammie.

Cleaning Was Just the Beginning

My holidays are the time for chores. Putting the two together may seem incongruous, but my three weeks off are the only period when I have time for large-scale tasks that don’t take up all my available free time. I could spend several hours doing this or doing that on a Saturday, but that would occupy half or more of my day off. If I do them now, they use up the same amount of time, but the proportion remaining is much more consoling.

One of the big tasks of my holidays is cleaning the cat-trees. Out come the rubber gloves and the pail of water; up rises the smell of damp cat. Pounds of cat-hair are removed from cat-tree platforms, giving them an almost pristine appearance. It takes some effort and time but, as a friend told me, it beats using a thousand lint-rollers.

Then come the cats’ reactions. Their smells are gone. Substituted is the odour of bathed feline. Most of the beasts are equanimous about the cleaning. Renn, of course, does a great deal of sniffing – the prerogative of having such a big nose; Josie and Tucker don’t seem to mind; Parker doesn’t care.

Cammie is another matter. One of her favourite spots is the top platform of the taller cat-tree in the sitting room. Well, now something was wrong with it. All the carefully laid out hair was gone. The bits of dried food – she likes to take her dinners there – were missing. Worse than new, it was clean. She refused to use the top platform. She started squatting on the next lowest level, even though that too had been cleaned.

This was a bit worrisome, more so than it might seem, since, as I wrote, Cammie likes to eat her soft-food at the top of this cat-tree. She will eat it elsewhere, but that’s an iffy proposition. The best place to get her to consume the soft-food is where she no longer wished to go.

However, I have not lived with these confounding animals for ten years for nothing. I had earlier bought some cat-nip spray, to use on toys in an effort to interest the beasts in the more neglected items. The effects of this attempt were ephemeral. But they had an initial allure, so I sprayed a very small amount on the top level of the high cat-tree, while Cammie lurked grumpily immediately below.

It worked. Cammie has returned to the highest platform, and has resumed eating there. She doesn’t stay there as long as she used to, and has chosen other spots in which to lie. But she is no longer suspicious of her formerly favourite location. Her times there may increase as the cleanliness of the surfaces erodes.

The irony of this situation (there is usually irony with cats) is that one of the alternate locations the princess has chosen to reside is the cylinder-house cat-tree. She has resumed curling up in there after months of ignoring it. The irony is that the interior of the cylinder took me longer, and received more attention, than any other portion of any other cat-tree. But Cammie was the first to jump into it after its washing, and was apparently untroubled by any change in smell.

Did I mention that these animals were confounding?

Renn in Recovery

Renn came home late this afternoon, and is recovering well. To observe him, he is back to normal, but that can be deceptive, so I am staying cautious with him.

He had two teeth removed. An x-ray showed that the roots of one were hardly enough to hold on to it, and its opposite number on the other side of the mouth was in the same condition. Aside from those extractions, he had a thorough cleaning. It was almost double the cost of Cammie’s dental procedure, though she kept all of her teeth.

Renn is tremendously hungry. It occurred to me that my big boy has not had surgery while he’s been with me; not had anything that required him to fast. When he came home, he had not eaten for eighteen hours. That really isn’t much for us, but Renn eats so little that missing a nibble here and there must be similar to starvation.

He is forbidden hard-food for a couple of days. I was told to ‘soften’ his food. To soften hard-food means to soak it until it is a sludge that no cat would recognize, and most would not consume. Fortunately, Renn does eat soft-food. I fed him a small amount of it a couple of hours after his return. Then, at snack-time, two hours later, I gave him more. He sucked it back like a black hole swallows space-ships in a science fiction movie. I probably gave him too much, but that was several hours ago, and it has stayed down. I will give him some more food to before bed-time.

Right now, he has come to see me at the computer, as he frequently does. He is purring and gave me a head-bump. A good night’s sleep in his home, and increasing amounts of food will heal a great deal. I was provided with three doses of Metacam to dull pain, one dose to be given a day. I’ve never given the big boy anything by syringe. This should be interesting.

I want to thank everyone for keeping my big boy in their thoughts, and for their good wishes. Renn is home and, now that those two teeth are gone, he is in very good health. He is happy, and I am happy. The long day ends well.

Ad Astra

Renn is currently at the veterinary hospital. Nothing is untoward and I await the telephone call to bring him home, though that won’t be until later this afternoon.

For now, I can apprise you of Parker’s progress. I am still working to control his diabetes, though I think a major step forward has been taken this weekend. I conducted a ‘curve’ on the sturdy boy five weeks ago, and he did well. His number didn’t reach lower than twelve, but the doctor considered that to be very good, considering where he had been. It was also reflective of a stability in his insulin dosage. Then, the weekend before this one just past, I performed another ‘curve’, and Parker’s nadir didn’t reach even sixteen. This was disappointing.

I spoke to his doctor about raising Parker’s dosage, which neither of us want. We have been working to reduce it, and increasing it would be a motion backward. We considered as well switching the kind of insulin he is given. In any case, the doctor wanted me to run another ‘curve’ on my guest to make sure of the previous results.

Then, by chance, I noticed that, though he likes his current varieties of food, the orange boy doesn’t clean his dish, as he had the odd time I gave him Merrick brand chicken, the same sort the perma-cats receive. So I thought of giving him that instead. Though I was pretty sure Merrick is low in carbohydrates – Tucker, also diabetic, eats it – I researched further. I had been using a couple of charts that detailed the ingredients of various foods for diabetic cats, but very recently came across an extremely detailed chart compiled just this year – and, coincidentally, devised by a veterinary who had written some other information that the rescue-group with whom I work has used.

Parker’s two soft-foods were Koha chicken (and turkey, now and then) and Blue Freedom Grain-free. According to this new chart, the latter’s carbohydrate count is seven, just at the edge of what one wants to feed a diabetic feline. Koha, however, of which I thought better, was at eleven, and I had just started feeding it to Parker.

So prior to this weekend, I switched my foster-cat to Merrick chicken. I then conducted a ‘curve’ on him yesterday. The results showed marked improvement. Parker’s numbers dropped to twelve, even a few tenths of a point below the good results of five weeks before.

Though these are not conclusive, I suspect the change in diet was to blame for the unfortunate numbers a week ago. I of course do not want to switch any cat back and forth from one food to another. I want to keep them consistent, especially the diabetes boys. But I also want something that they enjoy. With two brands for variety – both very low in carbohydrates – and a third on stand-by in case he tires of one or another, I think I have achieved the stability that satisfies both Parker’s health and his palate. I will perform another ‘curve’ on him to make sure, but not for another month. I think his doctor will agree that the diet – its change and the timing of it – were the cause of the bad numbers.

This also means that Parker will be able to have a dental that he needs. We have been waiting for some consistency in his diabetes-treatment. After some disappointment, I believe the path ahead is now rather encouraging.

(By the way, you can probably see the sturdy-boy’s misaligned jaw in these pictures. He doesn’t need his mouth open to breath, but I think it opens when he lies like this. Who knows what happened to him before he was rescued, but his slightly crooked jaw and jutting chin don’t cause him pain – they just give him personality.)

A Big Day for the Big Boy

Renn goes to the veterinary hospital Monday morning. It is not serious – as much as surgery can fall into that category – but a more or less routine dental procedure. Like Cammie, Renn passed his earlier physical examination very highly, and it is expected that little needs to be done to my big boy. Even so, surgery is surgery, and I will be glad when I receive the telephone call telling me all is well.