Caregiver's cats behaving badly.

My best Dachshund dog ever lost both his eyes just 5 weeks apart from diabetes while I was caring for Mother but he lived for quite a while with no eyes.I had to catch his urine and see how much insulin to give him by matching up the color of his urine on a color chart,then give him a shot which I'm sure hurt me more than him.He had a zest for life and a spirit that wouldn't quit and taught our family the meaning of "blind faith".We were all blessed by him.

It's amazing how animals learn to cope with disabilities and illnesses. My other elder cat, she's 18, had a stroke last year and couldn't stand up... so I had to carry her to her food dish and hold her up to eat/drink... same with the litter box. This cat was heavy, so it wasn't easy :P

Eventually she was standing up on her own, and learned how to walk compensating the weaker side. Here it is 6 months later, and she can waddle about getting from point A to point B. She will even come down stairs on her own, but going up I need to carry her. She prefers to live upstairs. The only thing she is not doing is challenging the male cat to a fight. Funny, he use to be scared silly of her but now they seem to be bonding... as he has is age related issues, too.

Animals are amazing. The way they learn to adapt. Although a lot of them couldn't do it without their loving owners. Lucky and Frequentflyer, I think today you two are the joint winners of "Best Pet Moms and Dads" Take a bow, or a curtsey, whichever you prefer.

Thank you Gershun....I don't know where I'd be without my babies.They have truly kept me going on my darkest,hardest days.

Dog and I made it through our trip relatively unscathed, though I think he's getting a little too old for these trips. They're kind of hard on him. He gets anxious when he's in a new place and won't eat his regular food unless I put something in it (like a little canned food). At home, he never gets canned food. If we travel, he won't eat for 2-3 days if I don't put some canned in the dry food. At his age, I don't want to take too many risks with his health - not eating and drinking very little for 2-3 days could be just enough to cause problems. But he traveled well in his crate in the vehicle - except when we approached a toll booth on the turnpike. He really hates those, because all he sees is someone reaching towards the vehicle (and me), which he considers "his". We've made these trips often enough now that he remembers the toll booths and starts barking as soon as he sees them.

Cat was very happy to see me home and has been stuck to me like glue, sleeping near me all day and night since I got back. Dog gets to go with me on the next trip, but not the one after that - it's too long of a trip and I have to stay in a hotel, which doesn't work for him - so he'll have to stay home that time.

Prayers for USA

The kittens are turning into beautiful little cats at 17 weeks old today,but they are very destructive,very fast.Yesterday,they broke 2 of Mother's glass heart shaped boxes in the bathroom and then ran at the wall,jumping up and knocked 2 pictures off the wall and the last thing they did just before bed was knock the lamp over and then they started chewing on the electrical cord to it and I had to remove it from the room.But they are wonderful anyway and a beautiful sight when they're sleeping.

Hey Lu,
I think church mouse was thinking her doggy needed a cat companion

Ugh, trying to give an elderly cat her thyroid pill... was doing ok with hiding it in rolled up cheese, but she now is spitting the pill out. Went to PetSmart and bought packets of soft treats to try. First packet, again the bright pink pill was back onto the carpet, time and time again. The coating on the pill is too hard for her to bite through.

This cat isn't the type that you can wrap in a towel unless you want your obit in the next day's newspaper.

At her next doctor's appointment, I will ask for liquid and order it from a pharmacy that does animal medicine compounding.

Even if you sit on the bundle, FF?

The thing is, if you squirt liquid onto her food and mix it in I wouldn't put it past her to go on hunger-strike altogether, don't you think?

Shots, next?

I can feel your cat hating me from several thousand miles away..!

Mom's roomie is a cat lover so I got her a Gund stuffed kitty - I felt badly when she thought it was real but awfully quiet - she fell asleep with it on her chest

MsMadge,You have a heart of gold~
How kind of you to bring that dear lady a kitty,all her own,to love and hold.
It's so thoughtful of you to do things for the other residents living there....Bless you!

Luckylu and MsMadge,
Then, the next morning, the roomie awakes with a cat sitting on her chest, thinking it is real but forgetting it is hers................

O look, there is a dead cat in my bed.

Send,
Better than a live cat on a dead body, though - just say'n

We'll see......

Muah ha ha ha.
Luckylu just renamed this the 'Catgiver's Thread' for short.

"Catgiver" is kind of appropriate at our house Send,so I must've had a slip of the tongue.I give the kittens all my patience,my off key silly made up songs,clean litter boxes,clean bedding,tons of toys and a scratching post and 2 other scratchy scratches,a cat playhouse.shelves to climb on,a whole room ,every flavor and texture of food,recesses,Vet care every penny I have at the grocery store and Lots of my Love and they give me ALOT of Love and accept me how I am and joy and a lighter heart,so it goes both ways I think.I give and they give...The Catgiver's thread....for short....yeah,seems right to me.

Was at the animal ER yesterday because one of my elderly cats was having tummy issues. X-rays were clear. Vet gave her something to calm her stomach.

Now, for the next two days I can only feed her 4 small meals a day... so that means picking up all the dry food that I leave out. My gosh, the other two cats went nuts about what happen to their all day smorgasbord. There was a lot of pouting, temper tantrums [at 4 a.m.] , and litter kicked out of the littler boxes in spite.

Knock on wood, no clean ups from tummy-issue-cat. I need to narrow down what was bothering her. Too many Temptation treats? The cheese I used so I could get her to take a pill [she now needs thyroid pills]? The soft treats to tried to use to hide the pills? The whip cream she likes? Her morning dab of butter [real butter]? Potatoe chips?

Lol @ FF. It could be the cheese.............I sometimes let my cats drink the leftover milk at the bottom of my cereal bowl. If I do it too often I wake up to what looks a vomit massacre. Do your cats start vomiting in one spot and work their way around the house like mine do?

ff,
The only thing new is the thyroid meds.

How is your mom's roomie liking her kitty MsMadge?

Gershun, oh my gosh, yes there is always a trail around the house. There I am running with paper towels and old newspapers trying to get the paper under them, without freaking them out.

Sendhelp, the Vet now gave me a script for liquid thyroid meds which can be mixed at a pharmacy with chicken.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, this morning at 5 a.m. we were at the emergency ER with the oldest cat... she had another stroke during the night... poor baby... I honestly thought we would need to put her down but the ER vet sounded very positive. A neurologist will be checking the cat out this afternoon.

So sorry FF. Keep us updated on kitty.

FF, hope it is good news. So sorry, our pets are family to us.

Tiger and Midget did as well as can be expected for traveling 650 miles. We put tiger in the laundry room for the first 2 hours here to help him reduce his stress. He is adjusting well. Midget is adjusting as well and both tend to follow me around the house all day.

Hubs and I are adjusting too, resting today as I came down with bronchitis.

Sharyn,
Just cannot wait to hear about your new house-when you get time, of course. Are you so very happy?  Get well soon!

Update on elder cat at the animal ER.... she is staying overnight there, the ER ran a whole battery of tests, thank goodness this cat is cooperative and understands that people are trying to help her.

We will pick her up tomorrow once her blood pressure goes down to a normal limit. The Vet said the cat was sitting up on her own and moving about... oh my gosh, as this morning she couldn't do anything by just lay flat, couldn't pick her head up. Animals can be amazing :)

Send, yes I am happy,yet very overwhelmed.

Update on my elder cat at animal ER.... she is in the ICU section. An MRI was done on her brain to see if there were any tumors, none... there is indication of very mild dementia... and yes, she had a stroke. Then there was the issue of her oxygen level, so she is on a ventilator and a blood clot was found in her lung. They are now trying to break up the blood clot and wean her off the ventilator.... this could take days.

The only reason we are going through all this, is that the cat is a tough old bird... she bounced back from other health issues over the years with amazement. And she learned on her own how to walk after her previous stroke, and how to communicate with us her needs.

This animal ER is always packed with pet owners, as they offer all services there. Our cat needed a sonogram on her heart, so there was an animal cardiologist on-site. She needed to see a neurologist, yes there is a group on-site. There is also physical therapy group, and a cancer-care center. It's like going to a people hospital.

The other two elderly cats at home just noticed that "Katie" hasn't been around since Tuesday. The cat in the hospital is the alpha cat, so the two at home are confused.

Sadly we had to say good-bye to our old gal, Katie, this afternoon. The Vets did everything they could, Katie had taken a turn for the worse. Oh how we will miss her, as do other pet owners who really cherish their pets.

I believe in her former life she was an electrical engineer plus a prison warden. She could figure things out. She would take her toys from the toy box and arrange them in geometrical figures. And she would take no gruff from the other two cats, especially the male cat... if looks could kill she could stare down him with the pupils of her eyes getting bigger and bigger. She was a helicopter "parent" to the other female cat. She had 17 good years with us, came as an abandoned cat.

What is odd is that I cried more for her passing then that of my parents, who passed in their 90's.