Finally. Stella had her fluids on Friday and then didn’t eat much… but today she started eating again. (Yay!) A friend of mine at Phydeaux pet store suggested a trial size of Call of the Wild no-grain cat food. Stella’s pickiness has rubbed off on Ambush. For the first time ever, Ambush is refusing to eat his dry food. He prefers Stella’s Fromm to his own Indigo Moon. He even snubbed a new...
Continue reading...Stella
Getting Stella to eat
Getting Stella to eat is not an easy task. This weekend she didn’t want to eat much of anything. I’m not sure what to do. She is drinking well, but she doesn’t want to touch the wet kitten food, her Fromm dry food, Ambush’s food, the tuna cat food from Trader Joe’s, or the other various things I’ve tried. She hasn’t touched anything that I’ve seen since Saturday. She’s tried to eat Ranch...
Continue reading...Stella doing better
Stella finally seems to be doing better. After two courses of trying to give her Clavamox antibiotic twice per day (and her successfully avoiding it 25% of the time), the vet gave her an injectible antibiotic that lasts for two weeks. The dose is determined by the cat’s weight, so it has the potential to be expensive. At five pounds, Stella’s dose was cheaper than one run of Clavamox. Every few weeks, Stella...
Continue reading...Stella has a UTI
Stella had blood in her urine this morning. She was straining every few minutes and was not comfortable. Poor kitty. I had no idea what was wrong. I’ve never seen a cat with a UTI with so much blood in her urine. Stella stayed at the vet’s today. I got a call this afternoont: the vet thinks Stella has a UTI. A bad one, but that’s better than what I was worried she...
Continue reading...Stella’s Vet Visit
Stella was really good at the vet’s. She seems to have calmed down and knows we’re trying to help her. She’s been quiet in the car and good about getting into her padded carrier. She let Dr. Kipp draw blood without too much fuss for the blood test. While we were waiting for the test results, a friend of mine arrived. She has an older kitty who gets subcutaneous fluids twice per week....
Continue reading...Stella: No UTI
Stella does not have a UTI: lab culture came back negative for anything. Dr Kipp thinks that Stella’s urninating is due to a progression of her kidney failure possibly also some senility. Stella has a follow-up visit tomorrow afternoon at 4:45 to check her blood work (luckily that test is only $25 instead of the $99 for the urine test). The blood work will also help us know if Stella needs to be...
Continue reading...Stella and the bed, part 2
It was late when I went to bed on Sunday night. I’d had a nice evening playing Guild Wars with a friend. Stella had been curled up by my monitor for most of the evening. I crawled into bed, pulled up the covers, and smelled cat urine. Stella had peed on the covers again. (I love waterproof mattress covers!) A friend of mine suggested that Stella be checked for a UTI just to...
Continue reading...Stellster and the bed
Stella has developed a bad habit: if any piles of clothes are left on the bed or within her reach (like the laundry basket), she will pee on them. If the litter box is not clean or does not have enough litter in it, she will pee on my bed. (Mattress covers are worth their weight in gold!) Two nights in a row, I forgot to buy new litter. The three litter boxes...
Continue reading...Stella. Again.
Stella is having trouble again. She has been doing so well for the past two months. She has decided that she prefers Ambush’s high protein food to her own lower protein dry food. She won’t eat her dry food now. I’m feeding her wet food but I have to constantly keep Ambush out of it. Stella still uses the litter box. All of the boxes are cleaned at least once per day and...
Continue reading...Stella over the weekend
My youngest sister watched my kitties over the weekend. She was great: regular visits and pettings for the kitties. Stella didn’t eat her wet food at all. She also didn’t touch one of the places where I put out dry food in the kitchen. My sister was pretty worried about Stella. Tonight I gave Stella some different wet food — and she has been eating it all night off an on. I also...
Continue reading...Worried about Stella
I’m heading back to Tennessee this weekend to work on the house. I’m bringing Ambush with me and leaving Stella at the apartment. She eats better when I’m around, but I’m worried that the stress of a 11+ hours in a car over three days would be too much stress on her. So she will be a the house by herself until Sunday. My sister is going to check on her, so theoretically...
Continue reading...Finally some progress with Stella
Stella hates the wet food from the vet (NF kidney prescription diet). Ambush (aka “the Vacuum”) won’t eat it. Stella still didn’t like the Merrick’s Turduken or Granny’s Pot Pie wet food, which both smell marvelous. Ambush and Kiesha were in love with these flavors. Stella couldn’t care less. The good news? Stella likes one dry food I found: Blue Buffalo Spa Selects. It’s a Lite formula, which she doesn’t need, but the...
Continue reading...Stella. Again. Sigh.
Last night, Stella did not look good. When we were going to bed, she tried to stand up to position her self next to me. Her rear end didn’t cooperate and she flopped over. She hadn’t eaten much that night and it was definitely showing. Poor kitten. The vet said that ideally Stella should be on an all wet food diet. That might happen if I could find a wet food she would...
Continue reading...Wet-food Wonderland
I love my kitty. I love my kitty. I love my kitty. Cats are notorious for being finicky critters. I’ve been blessed with two cats who are not. Put almost anything in front of Ambush or Kiesha and they will eat it. They might even meow for seconds. Stella, on the other hand, more than makes up for the others’ indiscretionary diet. Stella must have her wet food heated to body temperature. It...
Continue reading...I can has wet food?
Stella, bless her heart, is not eating most of the food I leave out for her. She prefers dry food over wet food. With her kidney issues, wet food is much better for her. So far, I’ve tried cans and flavors from four or five differnet brands. Stella ate the Wellness wet food pertty well for three days. Until I found a dry food she would eat… and then she quite eating the...
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