In the past couple of weeks, I’ve realized how many people I know, because all of them called and emailed wanting to discuss the situation in Ukraine and Russia. It’s war. It’s a nightmare. No, nobody is okay. All I can do on my end is rage, feel helpless, and donate money. It’s hell over there and purgatory for anyone whose relatives are caught up the war zone.
My father told me during our last call that I’ve been over here too long and I am now an American, because I want to hold Putin accountable for all of it rather than accepting it with cynicism and apathy, like it was some natural disaster. He might be right. The right to demand accountability from the government is very American. I’m glad I am an American.
This is my fourth draft of these two paragraphs as I am trying to express myself without resorting to profanity and ranting.
Let’s talk about something else today.
How is Salem?
Whoever suggested that she might have trouble with her esophagus is an MVP. Thank you on behalf of the elderly kitty. We don’t know if that is it for sure, because our vet has been booked solid, but we tried Hartz Delectables Stew Lickable Treat, which is basically stew like food with little chunks of meat in it. It is a resounding success. She licks up the broth and eats a bit of the meat. Not all of it, but enough to make a difference. She is no longer lethargic, and we’ve had zero vomit since February 21st. Now I need to find a food that’s mostly liquid like that rather than a treat.
Tuna, on the other hand, is most vocal about her right to liquid treats, so she gets one too. Otherwise, she screams. Not meows. Screams.
Are you used to the bread machine now, do you use it regularly?
Bread machine and I are bestest friends. Yesterday I made pizza dough and served two pizzas, a pepperoni and mushroom and a vegan cheese. I even attempted pepperoni twists. Everything was eaten.
One thing is, the dough didn’t have that… I don’t know how to explain it – maybe volume? – of a good artisan pizza. It was delicious but more like thin crust. Gordon loves thin crust, so that worked out. It wasn’t the rise. The dough rose like a mushroom in the bread maker, and I followed the directions to flatten it into disks and let it rise again for 30 minutes. I might have to look at more pizza dough recipes online.
Also, I’ve made various types of bread now, the French bread, the wheat bread, the honey wheat bread. 10 out of 10, will use again.
What does self-care mean to you? Once you finished Ruby Fever, which took a lot out of you, what did you do for your mental/physical wellbeing? The past 2 years have been a lot and I’m looking for inspiration on recovery techniques.
I was never very good at self-care and lately most of my coping mechanisms have been failing. I have made numerous attempts at it in the past two weeks with very mixed success.
As one of my self-care options, I decided to write a bit on the project that had been backburnered for two years. No, it has nothing to do with anything that we have written before. It doesn’t belong to any of our universes. I wanted to sit there and quietly poke at it to see if it is something or nothing. The problem is, the project called for a dead dog. The dog dies off page, but it is very traumatic. It’s a John Wick type of a scenario. I had to get through it to get to the actual story and it was so difficult.
Mod R: How are things?
Me: Still killing the dog.
Two days later.
Gordon: How is it?
Me: Still killing the dog.
Two days later.
Kid 1: I thought you would work less.
Me: I’m trying to kill this dog.
Kid 1: What do you have against dogs, Mom? Can you go through a book without killing a dog?
Me: … We only killed two dogs over a 15 year career…
Kid 1, who is in charge of a certain adaptation and all of the work that goes into it: Brutus, Mom! You did not tell me that was a dog-killing book!
I finally killed the dog and then cried, so I managed to stress myself out even more with my “self-care.”
I did have some success. On Friday, Gordon and I went on a date to Gruene Door. We sat outside and it was lovely. It is a quiet place with good food off the beaten path, and I really like it.
Kid 2 is obsessed with squishmallows, so I got to go on a squishmallow hunt twice so far. The last one was on Saturday and she and I ended up having dinner at a sushi place.
I tried to paint the other day. I am very unskilled but there is something about watercolors that makes me happy, so I bought these art paper sheet preprinted with geometric patterns. I was going to sit there and color them, and I even got to start, and then Salem came and lay on me. She rolled on my painting. She tried to drink the water. Long story short, I put it away and sat on the couch with her for a bit until I got sleepy and went to find Gordon who had the right idea from the start and took a nap.
Mostly my self care is sleep, lately. I did start the Princess Bride knitting project but I am far behind. Will post pics when I have something substantial.
My dog had some stomach trouble for a while. I just bought normal wet dog food and mixed water so it was kinda soupy. I don’t know if that will help with Salem and I am not a vet so that suggestion has no medical proof behind it but it helped my pupper. And might help short term until you find a long term food you’re happy with. That’s really stressful but glad you found something that helps.
I did the same thing with my kitty. He slurped it up.
There is now zero salt chicken broth/stock in the boxes you could also use to thin down regular cat food. Have done this myself. Works well with pates.
I was going to say this. The broth alone will help if the fur kids will lap it up. Sending good wishes everywhere.
Please tell me brand of no salt stock of any variety. I’ve found some with as little as 35mg per cup but none with zero salt. And if they make a fish stock, I’ll be eternally grateful. My 16yo cat is allergic to chicken. Catfood is absurdly difficult to find with absolutely no chicken content. It also gets repetitive and boring and what was delicious last night is going to cut it the next day.
My 16 yr old cat couldn’t eat well and I tried all kinds of food. I decided to try something different. I bought chicken thighs, boiled them skin bones and all is as much water to cover. Drained and saved the liquid. Deboned the chicken. Put the meat and skin in a large bowl and emulsified it to much. I measured a cups and placed on a cookie sheet and froze them. I keep them in a zip lock in the freezer. I put all the broth in a portable bottle in the fridge. Each night I put a portion in a covered glass bowl the thaw. In the morning , I add some broth to make a sludge and microwave for 20-30sec just to get the chill off. Stir and serve. He loves it, eats it all and is even adding on some weight. If you get thighs on sale, it’s cheaper than commercial food. Hope it helps!!
My mom’s cat will only eat liquid food, we put a can of wet food with a splash of water in a bullet mixer and turn it into soup. He loves it.
My cat had to have his teeth removed due to stomatitis. The only way he could eat wet food was if I ran it through a blender on the puree setting. It’s gross but it works, and using the normal canned food is much healthier than relying on treats. Just make sure it’s the pureed style food to begin with. It will come out the consistency of a thick milkshake which he can lap up. Good luck!
That… sounds so much more efficient then my pouring food and water into my dogs bowl and mashing with a fork until it’s a combined mush. Where were you two years ago?
I do the mashing/stirring routine with the fork and heated water. My cats prefer their dead meat warmish. We call it “kitty soup” and it is their primary food.
Nothing on earth would make me wash a blender twice a day instead of just a fork, but I have cats rather than dogs- the quantity must be less, so much easier.
Could a stick blender work? It’s pretty simple to clean. Just a thought. =D
My kidney kitty wouldn’t acknowledge commercial wet food, I wound up putting his favorite dry food in a food processor with water, oil, and fiber powder. It made sort of a loose pate that was less vile than the other options.
+1 Our cat had digestive issues and wasn’t getting enough protein but lumps in his wet food freaked him out. We bought big cans of a good brand he liked, blended it with a little water until very smooth, and then froze the result in ice cube trays so it wouldn’t be an every dang day chore (he didn’t eat much, if your cat’s got a decent appetite you may not need to freeze). We dedicated one of those little bullet blenders to the project because I didn’t need cat food in my own smoothie. Weird but it worked.
I was also going to suggest this. Or you can make your own food and blend, pour, freeze into small paper cups, like small ice cream cups. My dog loved to lick the icy liquid and it seemed to help with digestion. They last for a few months in the freezer.
Have you tried baby food for Salem? You can get turkey, chicken, beef, sometimes lamb. It isn’t liquid exactly, but is generally very finely ground. I generally use the BeechNut brand (website lists only meat and juices, no onion or salt). In my experience elderly cats that have issues with food like it and it doesn’t have any solid pieces.
+1 for baby food organic puree no. 2 no additives. Except it is not nutritionally complete. Try Applaws tuna chicken purees. Very good and my diabetic cat likes it. You might also try the soupy varieties of weruvia – weruva-grandmas-chicken-soup-canned-cat-food is a good one.
When my 19 year old Siamese was put on prescription food for kidney failure, he wouldn’t eat the food. My solution was to buy stage 1 baby food and mix a little bit in with his prescription cat food. It didn’t take much baby food to change the taste enough that he would eat. As Amy said, just make sure that it doesn’t have any added salt or onion/garlic. Try both chicken and turkey. My kitty liked one but not the other.
Another great option, especially mixed with broth.
I had a cat who adored baby food. She wasn’t the cat who needed to eat it, but I’d give it to her as a treat sometimes.
Nulo silky mousse wet cat food is basically like a slightly thicker version of the lick treats and is made to be main food. Cat can lick it up and doesn’t have chew at all. Comes in pouches. Could even thin it with water more if that is too thick.
I had an old cat who would stop eating for days, so we tried all sorts of things.
It was a pain! but we managed to get it right in the end.
He passed on at the end of last year, but he was 19, it was his time!
I hope you’ll find a good food for him that’s not a treat, I had the same issue but was not successful.
As for self-care, that’s hard! I try not to feel guilty when I do nothing and that’s already hard enough
Love the knitting pictures. Her paws look huge with the needles. She still probably knits better than me.
My self care- comedy. I pull up comedy acts and listen or watch on YouTube. Sarah Milligan, Louis Anderson, Nate Bargatze. No comedian that’s goes into a political or news rant. Just make me laugh and forget for a while the state of the world.
Laughter is my self care too. I watch my favorite comedy or listen to my favorite audio books or re-read books that never fail to make me laugh out loud. Best stress relief ever!
John Mulaney for stand-up comedy and my husband and I have been watching Frasier on Hulu to de-stress before bed. Comedy is definitely medicine.
I agree – comedy is the best destresser. I love Jeanne Robertson on YouTube. Nothing political or gross. She does a routine about sending her husband (Left Brain) to the grocery store that causes my eyes to tear and my bladder to leak.
Love that routine. Also reminds me of Mark Gungor and the difference between men’s brains and women’s brains. Not intended to be a comedy, but hilarious none the less.
I also like watching some comedy on you tube as a de-stress. My favourite are old Taskmaster episodes. It’s a British show where comedians compete on challenges which are sometimes clever, sometimes stupid and always funny
I love taskmaster too! It’s very funny ???? highly recommend????
I am glad Salem is doing better, and that you are enjoying the bread machine.
Our cats have all been big liquid eaters, so we add Beyond Mixers Chicken Bone Broth for Cats to their food. We make it very liquidy, & they love it. We also only gave them pate foods. You can buy it lots of places, just be careful not to buy the dog version by mistake, they aren’t interchangeable. Also, make sure you aren’t sent the dog version instead, Amazon did that to us a couple of times.
https://www.purina.com/beyond/cats/cat-food-toppers/mixers-bone-broth-chicken
Sorry you are finding your usual self care activities aren’t working, this seems to be happening to a lot of us lately, the last two years have been rough, and that’s without adding the stress of RF. I hope the water colour thing works another time.
Ugh. I feel the pain of vets. My whippet has something going on with his esophagus and I have to take him to a specialist at UF. I’m not looking forward to that bill.
Sleep is my self care. Used to be knitting but like you, my hands have decided to get angry very easily so I can’t do anything with my hands for very long which drives me insane! Even vacuuming causes them to hurt. So annoying. I need my hands!
+1 on sleep. Except I’m not sleeping that well these days due to a huge todo list bringing up the anxiety. Time to just allocate some time to that instead of using the time for YouTube or kdramas.
Hands – I sometimes strain my forearms which impacts my hands. I use an exercise band to stretch out my arms in front of me to release between shoulder tension, a percussion massager, and a hand massager gadget. Possibly most impactful, I stretch my body at bedtime and mind my posture & ergonomics. I feel it more when I’m leaning my head against my hand (horrible posture), gripping too many small devices (knitting needles can fall under that but strains my wrists more than muscle under thumb), switch from mouse to trackpad, and take breaks from typing. Most of it is recognizing the signs and taking a break for a while. Hope your hands feel better soon.
You might try Baxyl. It’s a thick clear viscose liquid, essentially hyaluronic acid which our bodies make anyway.
6 oz $35. Downside is it takes about two months before you can positively tell if it’s helping. It’s also good for your eyes. My last glaucoma eye pressure check was 14, best in 12 years! Even with 2 eyedrops never lower than 16 or 17.
Naps are golden. I also vote for sitting in the garden and sipping tea.
Kitties are rapscallions. I love them, but not their furball upchucks or testing of gravity my pushing things off edges. Right now my two are galloping and rumpaging through the house, chasing each other.
I watched “The Electric Life of Louis Wain” – very bizarre yet I had to keep watching. Wishing you all the best.
PS: I am now remembering my tabby cat who would sneak onto my silkscreen and then hunker down into the ink while I was hanging the prints or the t-shirts … good times. The bathroom and I would be a mess by the time she was clean. My first experience with cat limbs expanding exponentially beyond the realm of possible to prevent immersion in bathwater.
Do you write too? That last sentence…classic!
+1 you have bathed cat and survived to tell the tale…
Oh and check out How To Dad on YouTube. It’s a good laugh and maybe Gordon will agree on How To Dad.
Our most senior dog had all his teeth removed and became very picky as he struggled to figure out how to eat with just his tongue. We tried everything soft we could find but he would eat something for a few days then turn away. Finally realized he wanted his kibble back. All three dogs have eaten it happily for years and the vet said pets usually do know the food they are getting is different from fellow pets and can get pissy about it (as evidenced by Tuna knowing Salem is getting something “special”). So we grind it to dust then mix it with water, adding more water as he is eating it to keep it the right consistency.
And a little baby food (meat only, no veggies thank you very much) during the meal helps stimulate his appetite.
Yay Salem is eating. Yay bread machine.
I have a question. It is very sad about the dead dog (I have dogs I totally understand the trauma) but I’m trying to remember the other two dogs. I know that one is in Magic Burns in the Honeycomb. Kate kills it when Jeremiah and cronies try to exhort money.
Mod R will you use your magic and remind me what the other one is?
It’s referenced in the blog post: Brutus at the beginning of Clean Sweep. He dies off camera, but the plot is set in motion by his passing ????
Thank you!
Glad you asked, Casey. I couldn’t remember either.
Don’t know if it will help, but ::hugs::
Awww! Sending you all the hugs, Ilona!
Re the current war, any suggestion for charities to donate to?There are so many scammers anymore that I’m reluctant to send money.
Hey Anet,
Thank you for your willingness to help. The UN Refugee fund is one option you might consider https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/ukraine-emergency.html
Thank you so much. I was going to ask but just thought to check the comments first. Should have known the BDH would be on it.
What about a food processor or Vita-Mix, a can of soft food, and some low or no-sodium broth in lieu of the treat?
Are Tuna’s hands that hyuge, or is that an optical thing?
As to your pizza volume; you may need a hotter oven. The dough( gluten strands) may not firm up fast enough to hold the gases that give the loft to the pizza. Look up countertop/tabletop/portable pizza ovens. There’s a lot of info out there, of course. These turkeys can be quite expensive, but they are goof for more than just pizza. Put slightly soft escargot butter under the shells of big shrimp and roast, whole fish stuffed with herbs, spatchcocked chicken, asparagus, etc. in the oven as well. Also, you can do pizza in a BBQ, which will get hotter than most ovens. Of course, the internet is your friend here.
Squishmallow?
You do know that watercolors are the hardest of mediums, right?
Self-care? What the heck is that?
I have great admiration for you and your willingness to tackle anything that catches your interest. And you keep trying it until you get it or are sure you can’t do it well enough to satisfy yourself. Or you don’t like doing whatever it is.
Dogs. I would love to see a snippet where Bug gets a new dog. I love Bug’s swearing. “Cockalorum” is one of my favorite words now. Along with spatchcock.
Thank you.
Tuna is a Maine Coon, big and beautiful.
Squishmallows are plus toys filled with super soft polyester fibre, called marshmallow fibre.
I’m sure you can figure out self care ????.
I had to look up Squishmallows. Never heard of them. Wasn’t there something similar about 20 years ago?
Beanie Babies of the 80’s ????. I also was working at McDonald’s when they had them in their Happy Meals. Not that I am aging myself or anything ????.
I think soft things/ stuffed animals are always going to be a popular comfort source.
My cat loves her beanie babies, elephant, husky and a bear. She Carrie’s and kills them all over the house. I dread the day one is finally disemboweled for good!!
Our vet recommended baby food for an elderly kitty of ours. He really liked the lamb. If you decide to blend your own, a stick/immersion blender works really well and is very easy to clean. Cooked chicken in no sodium broth blends well and be made as thin as you (or Salem) like.
Self-care: sounds like you could use a nice relaxation massage.
My orange and white Maine coon has feet like Tuna’s. So cute!
Glad Salem is feeling better.
Wishing you and yours all the best.
Hmmm…backburner project and a dog dies? Not the goofy beast in IC, I hope.????
I can officially confirm that it does not refer to Iron Covenant or any dog within ????
Glad to hear kitty woes are a bit better. Sibling rivalry, what can you do?
Actually things sound ok, given the rotten circumstance that there’s so little we can do about it. I’d say that your self care efforts aren’t at all bad either (you dog killer, you. ROFL over your rebuttal to kid 1). Dinner dates, lunch dates, spending time with family, bread making, and the extra sleep never hurt a thing. Hang in there!
I can see where cats would interfere with watercolor! I’m glad you have had opportunities for rest and meals with family. And that the bread machine is going well! May you have more opportunities for rest and care during this really scary time.
Glad you all found a solution that helps with Salem! That sounds much more pleasant for everyone involved.
I’m glad that your kitty’s health is improving now that she’s on the kitty food/gravy diet. There is nothing worse than when our children or fur babies are suffering.
A couple of month ago, I dropped a 600mg Motrin. Our active and opinionated Carin Terrier chased it down as it skittled across the floor while I screamed, “NO! No,No,No,No,No,No,Noooo. She squeezed behind the sofa and the wall to swallow it. We wrangled her out and did the doggy Ipecek thing to make her puke up the medicine, then called the emergency vet. The vet was certain that it was a fatal dose for her size, so we opted for comfort care surrounded by love & family rather than letting her pass at the vets office. I stayed up with her all night and in the morning we were relieved to see her wake -obviously feeling rough around the edges, but alive! We made sure to call the vet to share the glad news and are happy to share that she has improved steadily from there. However, she is still eating a soupy mixture of chicken and steamed rice with veggies every day for her tummy and esophagus. Her personality is intact; she stares at me with woe filled eyes and sighs dramatically if the chicken-rice isn’t seasoned to her liking. I feel like Linguini from Ratatouille when he get critiqued by the rat…
My cat loves the Weruva BFF OMG (Oh My Gravy) wet food pouches. They’re very hydration focused and have a soupy texture. Completely nutritionally balance and can be fed without any additional supplements. Might be worth a try.
Second on this brand. My elderly kitty loved the hydrating pate pouches. Not sure on the etiquette of posting links but you can find them on Amazon and the product title is “Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Slide N’ Serve Grain-Free Natural Wet Pate Cat Food Pouches”
Third this! My elderly kitty will absolutely inhale a weruva oh my gravy pouch as long as it doesn’t have chicken. She’s missing some teeth, poor friend, but it’s helped her energy levels so very much.
Hubby and I did a date night Painting with a Twist. That was lots of fun. It was nice talking to each other and trying to get our very different styles to match. We painted a tree. Trees can be ugly and they are still recognizably trees. I recommend. If you’re not comfortable with inside things, they have painting to go around here.
See, my brain jumps to the part about the dead dog…… is Cedric going to die???? D: Cuz I can see Hugh having a John Wick moment…..
O.o
No, this is not about the dog in Iron Covenant, it’s a different project ????
god bless i had a heart attack
My elderly Kitty developed IBS, which is a precursor to cancer. (She was around 12, but she always had issues) It started with vomiting that didn’t respond to the usual treatments.
We had excellent luck with a gluten free food our vet had. If I can find the name, I’ll post it. She had a prognosis of 6 months. With the correct food and care we had her with us for four more good years. Don’t give up.
Oh, and I am a watercolor painter.
Dear gods…I had to lock my office door to keep our Grey Menace at bay. I never did figure out if there was something in the paints, the brushes, or the paper that made her crazy. (though I did catch her halfway into eating one of my very expensive red sable brushes.)
Hubby is still convinced she thought I was playing when I was using a brush to lay in a wash of color.
I was more afraid she’d lick the paint and poison herself. I had all ‘non-toxic’ paints, but I never knew if that meant it was safe for cats.
Anyway, I hope you can play more with watercolors. It is soothing and fun.
You might try watercolor brush pens. That would at let you do it in your lap and lessen the kitty interventions. I love painting stamped patterns with them.
I was going to suggest napping as self care. When we were deep into WFH and remote schooling my husband and I no longer cared about our self care go to’s. We wanted to turn our brains off. He would job circles around the neighborhood and listen to podcasts. My son loves “relaxing videos” (ASMR) which became a great help as the pandemic screwed with his anxiety. While helping him find videos he liked I discovered I also liked certain types of ASMR (no talking hair brushing for the win). They absolutely knock me out. I bought some sleep headphones and started taking naps. My brain turned off, I slept, and I was able to tackle the rest of the day.
I thought you as this invasion started. It is one Megalomaniac responsible for this insanity. Our world is so #*#*#*.
On your cat food issue, the same company that makes the stew also make “Delectables Bisque”. It is a purée and my elder cat Phin loves it. Also in a pinch, if you use a fork, you can pulverize the bits pretty well in the stew.
I have a cat who inexplicably lost weight he couldn’t afford to lose, and I found that the Tiki Cat Velvet Mousse, available from Amazon, was great for him – he’s back up to 10 lbs! He’s not good at eating the chunks in wet food, and this being a more even consistency was helpful – and I add some water to it to slow him down a bit. The 18 lb. food hog gets a very little bit with extra water, and they manage to finish at about the same time. Hope it helps!
I have 5 cats and 3 dogs. The cats are trying out hypoallergenic food, not that they necessarily have allergies, but just in case. Keyser Söze has a not clearing up ear infection and polyp. The vet said to try the food so all the cats are trying the food. They don’t love it. I am giving it 2 bags, maybe 3 and if nothing happens so be it.
On another note, the pills for the heart condition cat are going down a treat with the gelcap into a pill pocket method. Sigh
Keyser Söze. Classic. Does he have a limp that mysteriously goes away when he thinks no one is looking at him?
No, but he tells stories and has a distinctive walk
I found that the flour choice made a big difference in the rise and chewy quality of my pizza crust. I make it using my stand mixer, so I don’t know how a bread machine would work with this flour. I like Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour for pizza. So yum! When using white flour, I get the same flat pizza you described.
The rest of our self care: reading, re-reading or anticipating new Ilona Andrews work. We don’t care what, we just want, want, want. Just sayin’. 🙂
Tried crockpot bread the other day; crumb is good, rise is good (in my ‘tall’ v ‘large’ crock), but need to take off a little earlier as despite the top still looking soft until you broil it, it’s done. Again, just sayin’.
The world is a scary, scary place. You would think, with all the steps forward we have made, we would not need another retreat by miles back. But that seems to be what we have done. Political mechanics in ALL countries appear to be broken, even the one in which we live. And I speak globally, no one has been left out of the nuts machine.
Here is hoping now that you have gotten through the difficult scene, the rest will be a breeze.
FTR, it’s snowing again in Overgaard, AZ. Just enough to encourage our inner ten year old, then it evaporates.
Try purina pro plan Hydra care – it’s a hydration based liquidy supplement that cats LOVE! (It’s meat flavored).
Ah Dearie, All my warmest regards to you. I wish I had a magic wand to help you during this difficult time, actually, for all the people affected,and distraught. Thank you for this lovely post, you always make me smile.
Hi, for self help I watch something funny. Try Ghosts on HBO Max. It’s the British version. Sooooo funny!! On and the Legend of VoxMachina on Amazon Prime, it’s bloody but the jokes are hilarious. It’s an adult cartoon.
British version of Ghosts is awesome! I know they redid it for the American market, but I haven’t watched that version yet. I’ll have to check out Vox Machina now;) Hey, does anyone out in the BDH know how the two versions of Ghosts compare?
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/the-easiest-pizza-youll-ever-make-recipe
I make this dough all the ti.e. it rises well, can be used for deep dish,thick crust or thin crust. I add shaker cheese and garlic powder to it. It really is easy.
Yes, a table spoon of olive oil, for every two cups of flour. The oil adds some slip to the gluten molecules, enabling the bend/chew factor to the dough.
I bake like a grannie, so I’m gonna say a bit over/under can change the flex, so put in a splash…. If it improved for you, keep adjusting each time till you find YOUR perfect crust.
I discovered their crispy cheesy pozza recipe over lockdown. So delicious!
I’m going to give this one a try next – thanks!
Some years ago, had a relative gift me a book on making pet food from scratch, can’t recall the title this moment, but am certain you’d locate one without difficulty. Andrew C had the same thoughts with a food processor, Vitamix or a Ninja: so as to not have to wash twice a day, make a big batch and pour into ice cube trays & freeze, then place them in a bag. Take out a cube or few, heat up by method of choice, over time or quickly, but at least to room temp or a bit warmer, cats hate cold food. With the long fur, my family has had the thing of offering butter to kitties, and the fluids from cans of tuna- the remedies that can be bought are usually fish flavored oils, really. Deb was on the same track with the pens, some have very lovely brush points, or consider pastels, chalks or oils. Consider music in the background while in a comfortable lounge type chair, while doing your chosen art time. If you drift off to nap, the drier mediums won’t be tempting to the cats, as much as the water cup.
We had the same thing with one of our old cats. Basically we got a little mini-chopper/liquidiser, put one of her favourite cat food sachets in it, added a little water then liquidised it.
Looked like disgusting brown sludge, but she loved it
Naps and reading are my selfcare currently. I finally graduated college in October, so there is time in my schedule for trying other things. But after working all week, managing family and kids. I just want to lay down.
We are moving soon around summer time, but not sure where so I maybe organizing and packing in the next month or two instead of napping once we figure it out.
Note at my yearly physical I said, I dont have time for stress because if I fall apart my family falls apart. The doc sent a note to hubbys command so we ended up in family counseling. (Military voluntold BS)
Anyway the nice therapist lady said napping is good as long as it not for more than 6 hours at a stretch.
Blessed be, may the insanity end soon. It’s good to hear the cat is perking up
The dog dies off page, but it is very traumatic. It’s a John Wick type of a scenario.
My husband, who is a big fan of the John Wick movies, had me watch the first one. He said that, after one rewatching, he thought about it and realized that people were being slaughtered because of a dog and that it was kind of out of proportion.
I completely agree. John Wick did not kill enough people in the course of the movie to balance out them killing his dog.
????
I look forward to seeing your progress on the KAL. I haven’t even cast on yet.
My sister and i love squishmallows, they feel sooooo good. I have a purple cat called Frank, I mean seriously who calls a purple cat Frank! and my sister fell in love with the really big ones, and has 4, a mouse, a rabbit, a green sloth? and a neonpink raccoon!
Glad to hear that Salem is doing better! Tiki Cat Velvet Mousse is a nutritionally complete liquid cat food. It’s a big enough brand that it is sold at major pet stores like Petco and Chewy.
I was going to comment as well about putting cat food through a blender. We have an elderly cat who is missing some teeth. My husband buys Little Friskies shreds and puts them in a blender.
Try Tiny Tiger canned food. It’s “extra gravy”, with some chunks. We get it via Chewy and the cats love it.
Funnily enough my self care is re listening to Kate Daniels audio books whilst diamond painting. So relaxing ????
Emailed some friends in St Petersburg and they had attended some protests but are feeling about the same as your father. Hopeless and apathetic.
I … I don’t understand how killing the dog would be relaxing. Did the story work out to something?
“The right to demand accountability from the government is very American. I’m glad I am an American.”
For a whole bunch of reasons we’re very glad you’re an American, too, Ilona. You are a credit to this country in ways that go well beyond the wonderful stories House Andrew creates.
No advice or suggestions, but the rest of the BDH has both covered. 🙂
I read and lurk, and have only commented… twice? Anyhow, your comments about self-care and the watercolors resonated. My daughter is a newly fledged trauma therapist and decided watercolor was going to be her self-care medium. She desperately needs self-care given the deeply traumatized people she works with. Got her this book for Christmas and she adores it. And the site has TONS of wonderful stuff as well as free YouTube tutorials. Good luck, Favorite Author! Be kind to yourself. You give us so much joy that I pray you receive it back tenfold.
https://www.letsmakeart.com/products/watercolor-with-me-in-the-forest
Thank you for your perspective.
A good way to release stress is to watch animal clips.
Recommended Clips, for ultimate cuteness:
-Close Encounter with a Baby Sea Lion
-The PERFECT MOMENT between mum and CUB! – The Big Cat Sanctuary
A recent video that will most Definitely put a smile on your face!????????????
– Two- Legged kitten ditches tiny wheelchair for something much better – TinyKittens
Hope this helps with you stress!????
There was a very funny one around Christmas; a bear was doing battle with one of the giant inflatable decoration in the yard.
Another one that was very sweet was Fernando the sloth eating roses – just be sure to add „the sloth“ to the search or you end up in some very strange places …
Do I want to know what you mean. When you say “ strange places”?
It was not the sloth video. I stopped when I saw the titles & quickly redid my search. 😉
On Instagram, look for “hobbikats” – their “mom” Tina frequently posts about the lickable treats the cats like. There might be posts about soft/lickable cat food, too.
The Hallmark stores in my area (north suburban Chicago) have a variety of Squishmallows. You could try the ones near you, if that’s not already one of your sources. They are cute!!
Prayers for you and your family! Love all your animals and your stories. Thanks for the info on the lickable treat.
Omg
“I finally killed the dog and then cried,”.
I know you were trying to explain this but I couldn’t stop laughing. Am a terrible person but omg. This reminds me of Pink Panther. ????????????????????♀️????????♀️????????♀️
“I thought you said your dog did not bite!”
“Yes, but that is not my dog.”
Laughter helps, in very weird and stressful times. Thanks for bringing back a memory of a movie our whole family laughed over.
I also recommend Tomlyn High Calorie Nutritional Gel for the elder kitty – it has made an incredible difference with our 15.5 year old
Tightwad Gazette Pizza Crust
1/2 to 3/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees) – Temperature is important! It should feel about like a kid’s bathwater.
1 Tablespoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 salt
1. Combine 1/4 cup of the water with the yeast and sugar. Stir to dissolve the yeast, and let stand until bubbly, about 5 minutes. If the mixture doesn’t bubble, then STOP. This means that either your water was too hot or cold and it killed the yeast ,or it was old or bad yeast to start. Start over, paying more attention to the warmth of the water (remember, kid’s bathwater) and if it doesn’t work again, then get new yeast. Of course, it’s ideal to use a thermometer, but eventually you get the feel for it so there’s no reason to run out and buy one.
2. Stir flour, oil, and salt together in a large bowl.
3. Add the yeast to the flour mixture, and then stir until combined.
4. Add enough of the remaining water and stir so the dough forms a mixture that cleans the side of the bowl. Get your hands in there and kneed until it forms a ball.
5. Place the dough ball on a 14-inch greased pizza pan (you can use a larger pan, but your crust will be thinner) or a large cookie sheet. Put the bowl over the top and let it sit for 10 minutes. It should have risen a bit when you lift up the bowl. The bowl is important because it keeps the dough from getting crusty and dry around the edges.
6. Spread the dough on the pan. I usually let the dough sit for a few minutes after the first spreading, and then give it another spreading. That bit of extra time lets it rise a little more so you get a thicker, softer crust. Top with sauce (recipe below), cheese, and whatever else you’d like.
7. Bake at 425 for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden and cheese is bubbly. You can also lift the bottom slightly with a spatula and check if the bottom crust is golden brown.
Pizza Sauce
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar (optional) I add this because I like my sauce slightly sweeter
Stir it up, and it should be just enough for your pizza.
You might try Wellness CORE Tiny Tasters. It’s sort of a cat food mush in a foil packet. I used them when I had a very elderly girl going off her food.
Agree! Worked well for my elderly cats.
Here in the UK there are several brands of cat food that make soup for cats. I had an elderly, finicky kitty who absolutely loved them. I couldn’t always find them in the actual pet supply shops, but they almost always had them available to purchase online. I hope you find something nice for Salem that you can easily share a little bit for Tuna.
Hi Kat, I am from the UK too with 2 19 year old cats. One of whom struggles with eating at times. She is cared for by the vet, but I just wondered if you could remember the name of a soupy cat food?
Hi Kat
I’m in the UK too and have had to buy these for elderly cat – Sheba and Gourmet do soup varieties but the biggest variety I found was from Felix.
I recently discovered there are a few reputable pet food companies that fresh food sourced in America. You might look up The Home Kitchen on Amazon. No, I do not work for them. They just seem as if their founder cares.
Bread made without a whole lot of kneading, in a Dutch oven. Found out about it today. Trying Saturday.
Fun. The man and my life and I were having a discussion about this last Friday. Do we remember what it is? He’s making a list of his fun stuff. I’m making mine. Hopefully the two shall meet and we can apply the self care of fun to our lives. Together or singularly. Fun needs to happen.
Self Care in these times. I find the best self care is turning off the news, or at limiting it to an hour a day. That in itself has helped me. I also like to listen to Frank Sinatra and his rat pack’s songs. I don’t know what it is, but I find the music of that era soothing. Generally I’m a 70s rock girl. Massage, aromotherapy and candles can all help with the self care. I hope your stress lessens and the world stops being crazy.
Some how, knowing that as a writer killing the dog was super hard for you makes me feel better about reading that sort of thing. You read a book and you are bawling and railing at the author for doing that “to you” at least they had a hard time with it too. Much love. I am excited about Ruby Fever.
I had some success with a very elderly cat for a couple of years with a hand blender – where I would blend wet cat food with lactose free milk like a cat food smoothie. She went from frail and eating very little to living happily another 2-3 years. Fingers crossed for your Kitty!
You should be able to add water to a normal patè style cat food until it becomes more of a gloppy soup. Kitten food is usually high callorie and pretty finely ground. If that doesn’t work, try calling the vet and asking if they have any cans of a/d high calorie patè you can purchase, it’s what they add water to for tube feeding.
Yay glad Salem is eating. My cats went through this when they got elderly.
– pate food, no chunks. I would use a hand blender if needed as they are simpke to clean
– raised food dishes – less air is swallowed as they chow down which helps prevent vomiting. Elevation makes sure that your cat’s mouth is in a better position in alignment with her stomach. This helps her to swallow her food easily and reduce the chances of vomiting.
https://www.catlovesbest.com/best-anti-vomit-cat-bowls/
One more thought on your kitty food
I add 1/2 cup water and one boiled egg yoke to 5.5 ounce can of pate cat food. I mix free freed dry and then feed the wet soup mix 1× a day. Has helped with my senior male cat’s kidney issues. He is over 16.
Glad you are self caring. Live the menagerie updates. Hope your family is safe.
Oddly enough, I can usually find squishmallows in drug stores like Walgreens, saw a bunch today. Your kitties look adorable, and kitties are my self care (I have 3). The youngest likes to zoom, steal my dice and test gravity (voidcat with a few stars Morpheus)
Hugs for you and your kitties.
Re: liquid cat foods. I’ve had a great deal of success buying the pate style and mashing them up with some warm water. Well mashed it turns into soup. Downside: if she’s a grazer style eater you may have to remash with more water frequently
I see I should have read the other comments first lol, oh well!
I have friends and family in Ukraine and I can’t breathe. The rest of the world has spring and it’s surreal to feel so out of tune.
I’m so sorry, Irina. I cannot imagine what it feels like.
My mother is next door from Ukraine and I haven’t been able to think rationally since it began, some very deep fears are awakening.
I hope we will all breathe easier soon. Somehow. Big hugs of solidarity.
So glad Salem is eating and keeping it down! Our kitties loved Fancy Feast gravy lovers. They would eat the gravy first and then the meat. Some of the options have very small minced meat which they preferred.
So glad you’re finding ways to decompress. When I’m stressed, I read books like yours. The more action packed and snarky the better to totally check out and relax.????????????
Please take care of your self. If you din’t take care of you, how can you take care of others in your life? Remember you are important and deserve to be cared for. Sending lots of virtual hugs!
I was doing some research related to stroke recovery and was surprised to find that extra sleep not only helps with illness, but it can reduce/heal neural damage from strokes, make vaccines more effective, improve stress levels, and reduce the effects of anxiety and depression.
???? As a heavy duty insomniac, I did not come here to be attacked.
Just kidding, absolutely those of you who can sleep, please treasure it.
> Whoever suggested that she might have trouble with her esophagus is an MVP.
That was me! I’m so glad it helped.
> Now I need to find a food that’s mostly liquid like that rather than a treat.
What the rescue is doing is mixing Friskies wet food with water and using a manual food processor to turn it into a creamy slurry.
Thank you, Katherine ☺️
I second that! We use slurry to transition foster kittens from milk to solid foods.
I just unsubscribed from all the news stuff. I don’t have time to read it and I don’t need the stress and aggravation right now.
Saturday is my “day off”. I lay in bed and read until Dani let’s me know it’s her turn so I get up and make the bed so she can get under the quilt. I binge watch shows I’ve already watched while clearing out emails. I do just enough useful stuff to feel good and shut down the guilt switch. I’m really tired of people and noise by Friday nite and it’s a relief to shut down my “people face” for a couple days.
If you have the time and are so motivated, grab Gordon and spend a few hours at the round top antiques shows in a week or so. Early in the game is not as hectic, might be inspiring in a market kind of way.
A lady I follow on Instagram said, “We can’t self-care our way out of collective trauma.”
Remembering that has helped take pressure off me to be okay; self-care is an individual managing of energy, rest, health….when we’re all suffering from unrelenting, systemic societal woes, war, pandemic, no amount of self care will erase that stress. It can feel isolating, like yet another way to shift all responsibility from those with the power to help onto individuals scrambling for resources.
When I remember there’s no way I’m running at optimum, it helps me not add on additional stressors if I can help it; when I can’t, I try to give something else the bare minimum. And definitely lots of sleep.
That’s a very helpful insight, thank you for sharing!
I’m not sure how applicable this is to you since I’ve never used a bread machine and I’m not sure what flour you’re using, but I make pizza dough at work. We use high gluten flour with a starter that I make the night before. Once the dough is made, portioned, and balled, it rests in the walk-in for at least a day (optimally 3 days).
Could that technique work for you? Our starter has very little yeast though.
I don’t know everything about dough or pizza though. Before this job, I made humble dumplings.
But I did enjoy this nerdtastic read about pizza dough and 00 flour:
https://www.seriouseats.com/the-pizza-lab-on-flour-foams-and-dough
Delectables are the only liquid type that Was acceptable in Oreo’s home whic she allows me to share with her. Then she developed kidney disease. I thought she would starve herself rather than eat the “special” food the Vet wanted her to eat. In my desperation to find suitable as well as acceptable, I discovered Delectable comes in a kidney health version and Amazon delivers.
Kitty purring is a trigger for me to relax and let go. I spend way to much time monitoring Russia/Ukraine, as well as our current administration. My prayers for all.
Puree wet food and add a little water. May help to easily slurp all of it up. More nutrient intake. One yutuber put some flavor food that desolve in water and make them drink water. Helps with dehydration too.
What finally worked for our ancient kitty is beef baby food. Turkey, chicken, and ham baby food also exist but our 19 year old cat won’t touch those.
We now mix it with those Temptations cat treat tubes, or Delectables bisque, for flavor variety.
I’m sort of assuming that pretty much all the sales of meat baby food are off-label purchases by pet owners, because the stuff is vile!
Beechnut is cheaper and a bit more whipped in texture (but lower calorie) than Gerber.
I love Salem’s eyes:) The shape makes her look like the Disney version of ‘Evil Stepmother Kitty’. Alternatively the uber villain in a Bond movie “Goodbye Mr. Bond; purr, purr, purr”. I think a contented little purr as Bond was placed in peril would sound uber menacing!
As for Tuna, what adorable fluffy paws. Self care as per cats: find comfy spot, preferably one that humans want to occupy so am centre of attention, snooze. Extend claws as needed. It takes a lot of snoozing to look that pretty. People should pay attention to how cats/dogs sleep & emulate. We’d be happier & so would they.
Our two Maine Coon cats also had issues – we discovered that if we bought the Whiskas cat food pouches, which are both gravy and small pieces of meat (the bites not the chunks pouches) and mashed some of the pieces into the gravy, both our cats inhaled their food – sometimes we also added additional gravy – they added weight and were delighted with it – except one wouldn’t eat the fish flavor.
Canned pate cat food with warm water to make it into a soup. I did that with my kittens and now, as full grown adults they turn their noses up to canned food if it’s not soup.
My son loves squishmellows. He has a large Grogru that’s almost as big as him and a pink kitty. I have to admit they are so squishy and make great pillows. ???? Our Costco has Hello Kitty ones. There might be one for me in the future. Lol!
When our elderly dog started to have trouble chewing we started feeding her some carefully selected (ie, no dangerous-to-species ingredients) baby food mixed with wet canned food and it went very well. We used the really runny stage 1 foods so it thinned out the mushy canned food well.
Hugs. Self-care is an elusive b*tch for me these days, too.
Use a blender or food processor to liquefy your kitty’s food. One of my fellow cat ladies swears by it.
Oh my, I’m glad that you found a workable solution for your senior cat. If you’d like a laugh in these trying times…My Senior cat eats the dog food, all the kitten food, and ANYTHING on the counter. She gacks if you don’t feed her when she wants food. Her favorite thing to do is to eat plastic in front of you (bag handles, soda holders, and other hard types of plastic containers) and then throw up. This is a very workable process for her as we immediately run to fill her bowl when we hear the dry heaves. We tried the wet food and the mousse…she throws up both. She only likes her dry food mounded in her dish. She’s weird but we love our 13lb old fatcat. Best of luck that yours continues to flourish!
Regarding the kid that loves the squishmallows…I too am obsessed. I originally purchased them for my 3 college kids but they don’t love them like I do. If you have a Five Below store, they sell special ones but sell out quickly. Aldi’s (grocery chain) has some but again, sell out quickly. I’ve been lucky that my Walgreens & Walmart have a great selection. There’s a FB page that you can follow too that will alert you when new ones get released. I love them for car trips and lounging with the pets. Happy Squishmallow Hunting! 🙂
I’m also doing As You Wish!! I got the Miracle Max set from Miss Babs. I finished Clue 1 this past Saturday and started Clue 2. My thumb joint still hates me. It’s probably going to take me a couple weeks to do each clue, so if I’m done by July, I’ll be happy.
I am glad that you are an American, too, Ilona. I have grown very fond of you, your family and your menagerie of very fortunate critters. Hugs to you. We, too, are doing what we can.
You are in my prayers.
Fancy Feast has 3 different types of broth, 2 my cat likes. He doesn’t eat much of the meat but appreciates the broth.
Thanks for the comment about The Gruene Door. I live in Kyle and am always looking for good restaurants in our area.
I saw on facebook that ppl were booking air bnb or vrbo in Ukraine but only when the owner/manager is on site – and just not going – obviously – but a way to get money on the ground to assist. Apparently air bnb is waiving booking fees in that case….again it was no facebook not sure how valid or truthful it is – cause yeah you can only believe what is on facebook!!
There is something to be said for sleep. I was between jobs for 2 months and I think I slept half my days away. It was wonderful. My previous job had been off-the-charts stressful, and I think sleeping helped me “heal.” It’s okay to take naps (just saying;) Love to you all!
My self care depends on the weather. I love gardening! It helps with stress helps releave my blood pressure. If it’s too hot or raining then I just snuggle down with a good book, playing some Enya. Occasionally taking a break and watching my fish tank and of course having at least one cat stretched out on my legs and another curled around my shoulders. A cup of tea is the final touch.
For Salem, how about watering down a pate cat food (e.g., in a mini chopper/blender). I’ve done that before for my sick and elderly cats.
Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park,CA has Squishmallows as prizes for their carnival games. They all look so cute.
If you have a Sam’s Club near you, I’ve seen pictures of Squishmallows for characters from Pixar’s”Up”
Before my cat Guen passed, I would have to coax her to eat. Some of the things that worked were the fancy feast pouches as well as putting her food in the blender and making a kitty smoothie out of it. With my current batch, they don’t like the prescription canned food straight from the can, I have to mash it up and mix it with water, but once I do that they snarf it down, even if I mix their meds in there. (Thank goodness for that, because this clowder is a PAIN to pill.)
I hope you find something that works for Salem!
Would you be willing to share some of the bread machine recipes? Mine sits on the shelf collecting dust because my loaves have all turned out horrible. I haven’t had much luck with any of the recipes I’ve tried (even the ones in the booklet it came with).
For Pizza: try Pizza flour. King Arthur Flour Pizza Flour can be found in my local grocery stores.
One of the ways I deal with being really angry or upset is I’ll write all the thoughts clogging up my brain in the most impassioned way possible. Even the stuff I know isn’t true, but I just need to get it out of my head. Not censoring anything seems to be the key. Then when I get it all out I destroy it in some satisfying way, usually ripping it into tiny places, but burning it can be satisfying too (just be safe obviously). I might still be angry or sad afterwards, but I feel a lot of relief. I can then move on to using my time more productively and stop obsessing over whatever is bothering me.
Hi Ilona, I am not sure if you can get it in the US but I can really recommend “Royal Canin Recovery” cat food. It is rather liquid and intended for cats after sickness, surgeries etc. My elderly cat loved it almost until his last moments. Here in Europe it is mostly sold at vet clincs but nowadays everything is of course on the internet too. All the best to your kitties! Anja
P.S.: I am on a rerun of Kate Daniels audio books. It am grateful for a bit of distraction these days! Thank you so much!
After reading this I wanted to hug you, fawn over the cats and then give you another hug.
Tiki cat makes some mousse cat foods that may work. Ive also seen Nulo. My fuzz gets them as treats when hes being food picky. I also blend regular food and add water as he has hydration issues. The things we do for our fuzzy rulers ????
If you have a blender you can make your own semi-liquid cat food. I did this for my elderly cat. You can make a large enough batch to last a few days and keep it in the fridge.
My four year old car was trapped in a house undergoing renovation, we went round the village asking people if they had seen him, out up posters, nothing. My husband asked homebuilders at that house if he could go in to search, it’s a large house and they refused, even though it’s empty, Finally ,13 days later ,the cat was found in the house by the owner who had stopped by to view the work. He survived by drinking from a toliet but he was so thin! His system has been fragile ever since and I spend lots on various foods but I don’t mind. I could have done something nasty to those builders though. How they didn’t spot a distressed cat or hear him I don’t know. He’s a Siamese and very vocal.
I fed baby kittens boiled chicken with the water that was boiled in. I added fish-tasting vitamins for extra punch. They ate it and loved it. Just boil a big batch, keep it in the fridge and blitz it in a blender. Heat it a tad in the microwave if she likes her food warm.
I’ve been leaning towards getting a bread machine, but seeing as we just got an air fryer (free! One good thing came from sticking with the same company X# years!), pretty sure the husband doesn’t want to give up any more counter space. Woe. Hope you find a pizza dough recipe that works! And glad kitty is feeling better!
For me, self care involves stepping back from whatever is running me ragged. Sometimes I spin. Lately I’ve been making color charts for these pencils my mom gave me (Derwent Inktense. Sort of like watercolor pencils, which are already easier to control than watercolor, but the color sticks to paper better). I watch a show I’ve seen a billion times for background noise and just…do something repetitive. Even if it’s petting the dog (because she loves being petted). On the writing front, I’ll often veer off and basically…fanfic my work I guess. Write a short story here or there to fill in a gap or a bit of backstory. Nothing ever meant to be seen by readers. For my reference only.
Hope you are able to wind down! Please take care!
I watch Gardeners Eorld in the evening. It’s on Prime. I find it relaxing – all the beautiful sounds and colours, and people are nice and they talk about what things smell like or fell like, not just what they look like.
For self-care, Emily and Amelia Nagoski have a book called Burnout and a podcast called The Feminist Survival Project 2020. Both are good. If you are currently burnt out, then do not listen to the book as audiobook as I did – it was too much. A copy that can be skimmed through if it gets overwhelming works better. And it’s overwhelming because someone describing the conditions of burnout while the person is burnt out just makes the burnout more intense – it’s not that the book is bad.
*Gardener’s World
Also, I listen to a white noise appointment my phone as I fall asleep. It is set to turn off half an hour before I’m supposed to wake up, so all the little noises in the night get smoothed out.
I’ve lately started also listening to Gordon Hempton as I fall asleep, at the same time as the white noise. He does nature recordings in places that have little to no human noises. The recordings can be 20 minutes to an hour long. Very relaxing.
I spent a small fortune tracking down a jack skellington squishmallow for my neice for Christmas. I know the pain.
The new nacho flay cat food has a substantially higher moisture content than anything else I have seen recently. Try the turkey or salmon in particular.
I didn’t make it through all of the comments, but you can also try mixing kitten formula with wet cat food for extra calories and nutrition.
I started watching Last One Laughing Canada on Amazon last night, I’d never heard of it before, but apparently there’s a whole series of them, and I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.
I think really good pizza dough requires sitting around for a while. I can whip out a pizza in under an hour. But the crust ends up missing something. When I make the dough Monday and bake the pizza Tuesday, that’s when I think it tastes best.
Tiki Cat has pouches of mousse cat food and broths that might work. My cat absolutely loves everything I get from Tiki Cat.
Re: Russia and Ukraine, very best to your family and friends for safety. Re: aging cats, try a low salt jarred or powdered gravy mix. Re: killing dogs, why not a big spider or scorpion. Re: leaving Texas, (a few posts ago), come to Maryland! Be well.
Is Tuna a Norwegian Forest Cat?
For the last seven months of our senior kitty’s life, we fed her chicken baby food (the kind that’s only chicken and water, nothing else) and Fancy Feast Broths to keep her from vomiting. Broths seem to be tasty goop with some slivers/pieces of meat or fish mixed in. I mashed up the solid bits with a fork to make them as small as possible and our kitty could keep it all down. Hope this helps; I am so sorry your family is going through this kind of struggle on top of everything else.
The link below is to a dehydrated food grade cat food. When mixed to the recommended consistency it’s mush but you can just add more water to make it soupy. When my dog had a tooth removed & the wound came open we gave her the dog version. It was convenient & they have samples so you don’t have to commit. I don’t know about the cat one but the dog one has an unpleasant smell,to me,pup loved it, husband didn’t care. Good luck
https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/cat-food/meals/grain-free-cats
Try baby food puree. I nursed my elderly cat Frankie (also velvet black) with throat problems with baby food, the thin meat kinds. I also used no salt chicken broth to blend cat food, but I think he got more nutrition from the baby food. My vet ok’d it so Frankie was my baby for a few years. Inspurred a few interesting convos in the grocery aisle! lol 🙂 And yes I had to guard his dish from LB the food thief. Who got treats and extra samples, but loved the thrill of the baby food stalking.
Lot of essential nutrients required by cats missing from human food. Just sayin’. I’d be pretty careful with that one if it was the only source of food.
The cathartic benefits of a profanity based rant are highly underrated. To avoid “Karen” associations, my family requires a public announcement “I need to rant”, “I’m going to whine” in advance (keeps you from taking yourself too seriously, too). Feel free.
Yep
I get it..
I had to Google Squishmallows. Very cute and wow. What a variety!
Weruva cat food is very soupy and my cat loves it. I am glad your cat is doing better ❤️
I made cheese piroshki today. I need more practice but it was well worth the very tiny effort.
I’m glad to hear the kitty is better. Fancy Feast makes a food with liquid centers that when warmed is lickable. It’s called Fancy Feast Savory Centers. Might find a can or two to try it.
Tiki Cat has liquid cat food. I think they call it “velvet mousse.” They have a few different kinds for elderly cats, special needs food, etc. It’s super hard to find cat food where I’m at (Michigan) so good luck.
My self-care in this current time of tribulation involves Dr Who and Girl Scouts. We found at the library a 12-disk collection of the first 4 seasons of the modern Doctor. We also spent $20 on Girl Scout cookies. Every day, my husband and I take a break to make a cup of tea and watch one episode of Dr Who while eating 1 Girl Scout cookie and sipping our tea. We know it’s a particularly riveting episode when we reach the end and realize our tea is cold!
For Self care
As a massage therapist. We have to do a lot of self care .
A dietician said self care starts with you and treating yourself to certin things you really enjoy doing
Pampering onesself. Pedicures
I found paper art very satisfying
You collect squares of artistic paper and make pictures out of the designs . Frame them or sell them. They go for a lot a friend sold one of hers 4 by 4. For 150.oo
Pizza stone + parchment paper + 550° oven + 6 min bake time really made the difference for me. It makes no sense to me, but the hotter the oven, the softer the crust. I have small square pizza stones that cover the bottom rack of my oven and I don’t take them out of the oven.
Sending good wishes/supportive vibes to everyone for help in dealing with problems, both near and far.
Couple of commercial options for very wet cat food:
– Tiki Cat Compliments “topper”
– — mine like this better than the Tiki Cat Broths
– Blue Buffalo tastefuls turkey & chicken entrée pate wet cat food
– — this is the wettest of wet cat foods, and mine really like it
– Churu lickable cat treats, puree in a tube
The store Aldi often has Squishmallow stuffed toys. Next week there will be Disney and travel pillow Squishmallows. Sorry, no sushi though.
There are so many comments on this already, not sure this will be read, but if you are looking for good pizza dough recipes, check out the King Arthur Flour website. (I am trying one today where you start the dough the day before and don’t even have to knead it!) They also sell different kinds of flour for pizza dough, if you want, and flavorings that make it taste more like pizzeria pizza. I haven’t tried those, but all the recipes on the website are really well tested, and the comments from people who have tried the recipes are also really helpful. They sometimes also have videos to help. Give it a look.
All comments are read ????. Thank you for your suggestions, Laurel.
My cats love saucy food. One of the biggest hits is Weruva B.F.F. OMG – Best Feline Friend Oh My Gravy! assortment. I just pulled that out of my order history. It is very soupy.
I give my dogs Trader Joe’s Bone Broth in their meals to make it soupy. They love it. Good source of protein Good luck with beautiful Salem
Like many others here, I took my cats’ and dogs’ hard food, added water and let it set in the fridge in a big bowl. Then take out food scoops, add more water or broth, mush it with a fork and voila kitty soupy food. Worked well for us over the many years of pets and health things. Self-care I try outside and unplugged as much as possible. As a career teacher/administrator, my stress runs high and I try to soothe in nature… Just my way, not surefire.
“The right to demand accountability from the government is very American.” This concept, that citizens in other countries do not see their governments this way, is so shocking to me. Thank you for teaching me one more thing to be grateful for, having been raised in America. It also gives me one more reason to be grateful for modern communication … maybe the concept will spread to all of the people in the world. May all beings live in peace, harmony, contentment, equality, and happiness.
I have a very senior kitty, 18, and she likes her canned food with added water also until it is a thick soup or slurry. If you try it I do suggest trying it with a paté style. Will probably still have some lumps but they will be small.
And I hope you have better luck with you self-care!
You might be missing “chew” for your bread maker dough. Gluten formation that makes it have some “tearing” when you bite into it.
Try mixing the dough, then let it rest for 30 min to an hour. That should give the dough a chance to naturally develop its gluten. Then start to knead.
I hope that helps.
Bread can sense stress. Bread is a bitch about that. Do not fear the bread or it will know.
Have you heard of or have any place that sells Tiki cat? They have something called velvet mousse it comes in pouches and is a complete a great food for cats. I tried to feed it to my cat when she had some teeth removed.
My senior kitty gets a quarter can of tuna fish (chunk packed in water) mixed with water and squished up with a fork every morning. She seems to enjoy it and is in pretty good health for a 16 year old!
I’ve also been struggling on the self-care, and thought I’d share a book that’s been helping. It’s gentle and wise, very outside my normal paranormal/urban fantasy genre reading, but it’s lovely. Like taking a nap without the 25 minutes of “why can’t I sleep? I’m exhausted, I should be able to nap, what can’t I even do this right?”.
For Salem,
My cats have trouble as well. I take their prescription canned food and blender it. You can mix a bit of water in to the consistency Salem likes.
I can relate to your elder kitty issues- my old girl enjoyed Boston Market chicken pot pies (minus the crust) for many years. Of course, they were heated up to make them tastier!
Ho, Italy here. A friend from Napoli once told me you have to flatten pizza by hand, no tools, and the let It rise once more (10 minutes are enough). Don’t know if you already tried it
Older pets are fine eating treats as dinner unless they start to get chubby.
Keep feeding your wet treats or add salt free broth to any wet cat food “dinner” meals and blender it. No different than people who cannot chew food, you know?
One thing about buying broth from a regular grocery store — I had trouble finding commercially made broths that did not have added flavorings like onion or garlic — had read that these are bad for cats? My senior girl wanted more of the broth/liquid toward the end of her life (lost her in Dec 2020). I finally found some broth/stocks that were just the chicken broth, no added salt or flavors. But it was a tough search.
The new girls (adopted in 2021) are good drinkers, lots of water, and like the looser very wet foods (I’ve nicknamed the Halo stews as Inhale-o). And the Blue Buffalo Tastefuls Chicken/Turkey, which I mentioned in my first post.
Hope you find something that helps Salem to keep the weight on.
Regarding watercolor painting: my art teacher uses a technique where you pour watercolors &/or liquid black ink on layers of rice paper. Once the layers dry, separate them & get inspired to add details. This is based on how Chinese artists painted for years. It’s a lot of fun!
Try baby food for your geriatric kitty. It’s reasonably healthy and they seem to love it. My cat’s always liked the chicken flavor best, but beef and ham are good too. Good luck, old girl.
YouTube Chanel Vito Lacopelli knows everything about pizza. Love from Germany
Here’s an example of one of my paintings…
Hi Judy,
Comments have a limit of 1 MB for attached media. If you can take a screenshot of the picture that might work 🙂
Are you sure Tuna is knitting? It looks to me like she’s purrling.
????
If you haven’t tried it already, after you let the pizza dough rise for the second time on the pizza pan, cook it for about 10 minutes on high heat (450) till the top starts to look a little golden. Then take it out, put the toppings on as usual, and continue cooking on high heat. This prevents the dough from getting soggy and falling from the toppings. My bread maker pizza dough stays thick and fluffy this way. Good luck!
What about putting soft food into the blender with a little water or (low-salt, onion-free) broth for Salem?
Re Salem: Also look into using food for kittens – it’s higher protein, so Salem would get more food for the lick. I’d even blend together kitty food with water to make a slushy type of thing, to make it easier to eat. A friend was able to coax her elderly cat to much better health by using kitten food for a while. It might be an option for you.
Hartz has a bisque that has no meat and different flavors. You can get it here: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hartz-Delectables-Bisque-Lickable-Wet-Cat-Treats-for-Adult-Senior-Cats-12-Pack-Tuna/946570465 or here: https://www.chewy.com/hartz-delectables-bisque-senior-10/dp/133637
I have problems with my cats vomiting and with diarrhea so I feed my cats a proboitic : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RKQF6QA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.
I’ve received my princess bride yarn but haven’t cast on yet so feel accomplished!
There is a minced grain free food from The Honest Kitchen. It comes is a box and our cat slurps it up. It has tiny meat chunks.
This is my very first ever comment on the site despite reading every single one of the post emails. But the Squishmallows made me have to.
I recently moved 4,000 miles in October from my born and raised state of Alaska to Texas for work.
My 23 yo daughter had me go get her and her stuff in South Carolina to live with me so I wouldn’t be alone.
I didn’t ship much because the cost is exorbitant, so we had to go buy Christmas decorations and we had a fun time in Walmart.
While walking to the checkout, we walked through the kids toys and I playfully picked up a stuffed toy. It was a Squishmallow and it was just so soft and cuddly that I held it for awhile.
I am a 47 year old woman and for some reason that dang teddy bear hit me in some kind of spot because I carried that thing around the whole store in my arms during grocery shopping and he ended up with a spot on my bed. His name is Pillar and I can’t sleep without him.
The Squishmallows are a cult. Because my daughter dearly loves frogs, I found one online for her and that one seems to live in my bed, too.
And on our latest trip to Walgreens, there was a carrot with bunny ears that just had to come home with us.
That is how three Squishmallows ended up in my bed.
May Pillar long reign over an ever prosperous Squishmallow kingdom!
Things that give comfort are especially precious right now.
Thank you for the kind words and reply, Mod R.
While Pillar rules the roost, I have a king sized bed, so there is room for expansion of my Squishmallow flock.
When we hosted exchange students from Holland and Denmark we found it more economical to buy a bread machine and keep lots of ingredients on hand then to try to buy the kind of bread they liked in the quantity they ate. We found 2 books by Donna Rathskeller German called The Bread Machine Cookbook I, and II. One of my favorite recipes uses leftover cream of wheat cereal – the cooked kind. Fluffy and chewy at the same time.
Lots of hugs, as someone who is russian american i literally had to turn off any and all news and social media because its just too painful. In some ways im thankful to read your post because it makes me feel that im not so crazy. Im glad kitty is feeling better. I believe tiki wet cat food is mostly broth with some meat
Recommendation for cat food: Tiki Cat Velvet. Their velvet line are mousses that provide a nutritionally complete meal and come in multiple recipes. They also have some that are specific for kittens or senior cat lifestages. It is on the more expensive side for cat food though.
Hugs. Inadequate Internet hugs. My husband and his family are all from Russia and lived for years in Ukraine. The look of helpless despair on my FIL’s face this last week will haunt me forever. We have all been watching really cheesy old comedies as family wide self care. It helps a little.
Write what you want to write. However I threw away my Harry Potter books when she killed off the owl and Dobby. I just could not cope. Too much sadness these days. I cried when the krill fishing trawler found 3 dead juvenile whales that had starved to death because the trawlers just had to have krill for the fish farms. I hate people sometimes because we have to kill everything.
I bought the As You Wish MKAL right away when it was released. No idea when I’ll have time to knit it. So no matter what, you’re ahead of me.
The current Ukraine situation is also upsetting to me. I was thirteen years old when the Hungarian Revolution of the late 50’soccurred and the US did not set in to help even though a promise had been made. To this day(at age 77) I will never vote Republican because they break promises, not trust worthy. Enough said by me.
I also am in the process of updating a book I self-published in 2003, a historical book about a special craft. When I hit times like you have, I go to large local city parks, Sometimes I take or buy a lunch, and walk the whole park. If it has lots of trees and plants the better. This return to contemplating nature is calming and removes me from the turmoil in my mind. On break lasted for 4-5 weeks, and I walked parks 2 or 3 times a week. Focusing on handwork can do the same, especially in a park setting. Sometimes people will come up and ask about what I am doing. Do not expect doing it once or three times will do the job right away.
I hope this is of some help to you.
I am not sure ChiaoGoo needles are a great cat toy. LOL Bit on the expensive side. ???? But adorable kitty.
I studied in St. Petersburg. Traveled through a good bit of Eastern Europe, and the Balkans. I have been torn between tears and rage.
At some point I had to turn everything off for like 24 hours. I couldn’t sleep.
I took out a silly romance novel. A bottle of wine and took a long bath. Then I spent the day ignoring the world doing things that eased my mind.
Eventually I had to check on the news again, but not until my head and heart calmed.
If it’s bad for me, I can imagine it’s a thousand times worse with a family connection.
I totally understand needing self care. Do as much as you need. We all need to pay attention to our mental health right now.
Tiki cat Mousse pouches easy order off of chewy site. And I add a little warm water in and voila instantly eaten. I prefer that brand to the cheaper ones believe me the litter box smell gods will thank u..also small human children who won’t use the bathroom after the cat do too..heh also been sleeping like crazy as my self care but my dr said I’m pushing into depression territory again and need to find something else for self care I may try yoga instead. Love and wishes from Philly
Naps can be excellent self care and what is it with cats and knitting? My neighbor’s cat sits on my knitting when I knit outside and my dog lays on my sewing. It must be the fiber because it can’t be for getting attention… I have a son and a brother who decided to go help out in the Ukraine. I find that knitting is as close as I can get to relaxing/meditating. I hope that your cat has something that is easy to fix, poor thing.
Best lazy self care I have ever found.
Find a sunbeam in house.. (mine in in the kitchen under the harvest table by the sliding glass door… best sunbeams every
Lay blanket or rug in sunbeam
Invite elder kitty to lay in sunbeam with you.
Doze/daydream or build something in your mind(my own personal quirk)
Stay there until you want to get.
Yes the children and the spouse might ask you why you are laying under the table, or other odd spots, but…. you feed them, they need to just zip it…
Mmmm – similar idea to Bri (haven’t yet read past that). Perhaps consider cooking an unfamiliar protein (my beloved cat developed a food intolerance to all the usuals of beef, fish and chicken) such as a whole fresh Turkey dumped in a crockpot (a.k.a. slow cooker) with a little water at the bottom to stop it sticking. By the time the Turkey is cooked there’s usually a lot of liquid in the crockpot. Remove the flesh from the bones while the liquid is cooling, put the flesh and the liquid through a food processor/blender/something automated to liquidise it and feed it to Salem? And thank you for being an excellent role model – as someone personally committed to non-violence I’ve been struggling with my personal response to Putin’s behaviour since every time I start to reflect on the situation my mind starts to produce violent fantasies. I find this disturbing in myself, but found the words you managed to write about holding a government accountable for its collective actions as well as those of its leader very helpful. Thank you. And those are the CUTEST pictures. Yes my usual self-care strategies seems to be failing rather dismally. I am dabbling in something new, Tombow Water based felt-tips used with water and a brush to colour in those Stress Release for Grown Ups colouring in books. Kind of like you with the water colours. But Salem might condescend to play with a felttip you’re not using instead of lying on your work of art.
It is not easy finding something to release the pressure valve. I can not draw, seriously challenged in any artistic endeavour. However, I love to doddle and then colour in the doodles. This is my stress relief. I hope you find something simple that works.
Our cat, Teega, was 18 years old and had thyroid and swallowing problems. The vet had us give her baby food. Chicken was her favorite.
My cat that I hand fed from a kitten who lived to be 21 had intestinal cancer the last 5 years she was alive. We also ended up feeding her very wet wet foods. Her favorites were Lotus’s “Just Juicy” line. They have a wide array of meat types like rabbit, venison, and pork…all good if allergies are conflating things. We also fed some of Weruva’s stuff (they have a mix pack with gravy / au jus foods) and “food topper” pouches that we fed as a meal once every few days because it was the most “wet”. I also often put a few crushed, freeze-dried shrimp on top because they’re very stinky and sometimes older cats have trouble with palatability when their sense of smell has dulled. Here are some links to make it easy:
https://www.chewy.com/s?query=just+juicy&rh=c%3A325
https://www.chewy.com/weruva-mideast-feast-grilled-tilapia/dp/325101
https://www.chewy.com/instinct-limited-ingredient-diet/dp/170067
https://www.petsmart.com/cat/food-and-treats/treats/purebites-freeze-dried-cat-treats—shrimp-63275.html
Walgreens has some very cute squishmallows right now. Claires also usually has some really unique ones, although they’re more pricey.
As for the war, I have no words, but you, your family, and all the people in Russia and Ukraine have all my heartfelt sympathy. I thought with covid I really understood to my core how helpless I was to do anything meaningful in the grand scheme, and it was so hard. This is infinitely worse. I feel like I’m grieving something I can’t even name, while frozen in place with inaction. What do we do? What can any of us do, really? Perhaps I am less American than I used to be because I can’t see any accountability anywhere.
Lots of love and grace to anyone that needs it.
I am excited about the adaptation mentioned above. Is Kid 1 an artist?
It’s all shrouded in secret atm ????
It took me years of try and fail to realize, that with pizza, it’s not about recipe, but about technique. In this case, flattening the pizza might be the problem – I never flatten whole pizza, just the center, and I leave the air in the edge. Learnt it from Netflix show Chefs with Jon Favreau and Roy Choi. Works great.
Few more things that I have learnt and I wish I knew them years ago:
– let the dough rise slowly in cold place (fridge over night) = more delicious taste
– it’s good to have really hot oven AND cast iron, as it helps with the crust (pizza should be baked at 300-350 °C), while keeping inside nice and soft
– cooling rack also helps the crust, since it helps to get rid of the steam
– I also moved to pizza dough made with my own bread starter recently and it’s amazing, how much easier it is to work with that dough. And it’s slowly raised dough, so… yummy taste!
Sorry I can’t help with anything else but for your pizza dough you have to let it rest in your fridge for a minimum of 24 hours. You can go up to three days but then it starts to lose some of it’s rise and tastes really yeasty. For us 36 hours is the sweet spot.
As for the self care, keep trying. With a busy life and all the added stress it even more important. Try everything you can think of until one works. Your books are one way I self care and they helped me get through my father’s death. It’s still bad but it’s getting better. I know it’s a cheesy cat poster but hang in there.
Please let us know if you find a suitable liquid(ish) food for Salem. My 15 and a half year old, ‘Autumn, still wants kibble, but doesn’t do well eating it. I get regular Fancy Feast cat food, non-fish when I can find it now. Then I take a tablespoon of it at a time and stir it with warm water and fork mash larger bits. I try grinding cooked poultry, regular meat and liver or bits of beef and beef liver. Then I “soupify” them. She prefers the liquid/lumpy commercial. Maybe I’m just not a very good cat chef, but she is doing well with her multiple slurpy meals. She’s in good weight, reasonably perky and has a nice coat.Not bad for a kitten who, at approximately 5 weeks old, was dropped on a driveway on a cold October night.The vet I brought her to, said, ” You’ve got a little girl orange cat. Don’t worry she’ll make it. She’s a survivor, this one.” He was right.
Regarding Salem: My cat will not eat wet food unless it is prepared special. I get Friskies Pate, scoop out half a small (regular) can into a cereal bowl and mush it witht the back of a table spoon with a little hot water until it is very liquid. Once it is totally mushed and will not hold any shape, I slowly add hot water until it is very soupy. (about half a cereal bowl). My cat laps it up and he gets water and food in one go.
Agree with the other folks suggesting wet food with water to make it drinkable.
Also not sure about sustainability for long term, but if kitty is elderly and quality of life is concern it may not be as big of a concern for how long you can do it, but my vet previously had me buy turkey baby food for my kitty
I would recommend Honest Kitchen https://www.thehonestkitchen.com. I use the dehydrated powdered food with my dog (they also have a cat version) and you can reconstitute it with warm water to whatever consistency your cat can tolerate.
When my cats were sick I gave them meat baby food. It’s lickable and high protein.
Greetings,
Suggestion for you kitty:
https://weruva.com/brand-summary/bff-omg/
My cat has difficulty with solid food since he has no teeth. So, what we do is mash the wet food with some water. He seems to like it okay. Maybe that will work as a permanent solution if you find wet meat that is minced enough to do it with?
Churu puree treats=cat crack
First time poster and it’s because of the dog dying.
Re. dogs dying in fiction. I have two stories.
We saw Independence Day at the cinema and I remember leaning over to my mum (when Will Smith’s family are in the tunnel and the fireball is coming) and saying – “If the dog dies I am leaving.”
A story I read probably a year or so ago – the dog dies. (I am not naming the story because…spoilers). The protagonist pushes the dog away and moments later it dies, in doing so it saves the protagonist’s life. But a couple of days later I am driving to work and suddenly start crying because the last thing this (fictional) dog knows before it died is that it’s owner pushed it away. 🙁
We have had many feeding challenges over the years with our elderly cats. Those days when you offer numerous things trying to get them to eat something.
Most successful have been the very moist almost pureed foods. The vet carries a Hills high calorie/nutrient prescription canned food called a/d which most cats like. We were first given it to use with a feeding tube one of our cats had to have for a while. Tastefuls pate is very loose and creamy almost. The small cans seem to have the best consistency. Friskiest has a pate with gravy that has a lot of liquid so making a slurry is easy ( I always shake the cans to find the ones with the most juice!). And their shreds can be mashed up with a fork. Wellness Signature had some flaked with broth that are very soupy and easy to lick up. I had one oldster who would only take the liquid, gravy/broth/whatever but no solids…. thankfully the other cats ate the leftovers. I tried to find options that don’t take a lot of prep. Time is a limited commodity with me. It sounds like you are familiar with that.
My thoughts are with you. Hope you find something that works for Salem and the vet visit goes well.
Tiki Cat has a full line of food in mousse form that are “full meal” based on Salem’s weight, 2-3, per day. It has been a godsend for my fussy cat who needs meds mixed in his food.
My elderly cat pensioners love the Weruva BFF oh my Gravies in the can and the pate pouches – they are high quality foods that have very finely chopped meats.
My semi-elderly royal cat empress will only eat dry food, so I have to get her the Royal Canin Mature dry food – it literally melts when it gets even the slightest bit moist and she refuses everything else.
It is hard when they have esophageal problems and won’t eat, but the Weruva has made a huge difference and no more vomits.
Hey as to food ur kitty can eat, I adopted a kitty from the streets ( she’s A black cat to!) that has a broken healed jaw she can’t eat hard food well and even has trouble with soft food. What I do is take canned food but it in a food processor thin it down with Bone broth and some oil for extra fat and make it more easy for her to lick up. Hope this helps!
Oh, poor Salem. I hope he is doing ok. One of my childhood cats had a condition called mega-oesophagus. If you think he might have that, feel free to read on or otherwise please ignore the paragraph below.
There was lots of vomit, but more of the “my food accidentally slid out of my oesophagus” type than projectile form, as far as I remember. We gave him a rich but thinner consistency diet, wet any of his dry food, and did our best to hold him upright over our shoulders for half an hour after eating. He was only diagnosed at 12 years old so he didn’t take to the being held after eating too well. He did have a medication to increase gastrointestinal motility but I don’t know that it is prescribed anymore. My cat had another four years with us post diagnosis. We just had to watch out for aspiration pneumonia and make sure we were on top of it asap.
I don’t know if this will help Salem, but my vet had me feed my very sick kitty baby food. The first level pure meat stuff not the later combos. It’s very likable, 100% protein, and low in salt.
I love my bread machine. I play with recipes and it’s part of my self-care. Recently I have been trying different types of flour. I’ve enjoyed flour from: http://janiesmill.com
I got a sampler set of flour for Valentine’s Day last year and it was a great gift. I especially like the Turkey Red, but I also use the pizza flour and the high protein flour.
Elder Cat Food options- our vet suggested taking a pureed wet food (consistency of pate) and blending it with warm water. We used one of those rechargeable/battery operated milk frothers to whip up small portions twice a day. They make some styles where the whip attachment can go in the dishwasher. Very handy tool to have around.
I’m sure there are recipes for liquid cat food available for those who like to cook for their pets. I imagine a low sodium bone broth pureed with some baby food would work very well. Likely someone has designed a product like this already for aging cats.
Love Pet Hospital on Brodie in Austin was always our go to for novel solutions since they do both traditional veterinary medicine and holistic medicine. They’re probably booked solid too, but give them a call and they might at least have a suggestion. Dr. Davenport is a wonderful, smart, and compassionate Vet.
I know you already have good vets too! On your list of good things about Texas, besides low taxes, I have to say the Vets are amazing. I have never had such wonderful choices for veterinary care as I did in the Austin area even and including driving to A & M. Really top notch care.
But not enough of a good thing to override scorpions. Nope. That’s a deal breaker.
Sending out thoughts of strength and peace to you and yours.
Ahh. Sympathy from here. For people who care about others, self care is very very difficult to do for yourself. I finally had to put one thing on my daily chores list per the psychiatrist. At first I felt terrible doing whichever one thing was on daily list because I wasn’t getting anything checked off the never ending chores / projects list. But they were correct. It didn’t turn me into a narcissist and I am better emotionally balanced. So good luck to you on your self care.
It’s Friday night woohoo. After drinking a margarita or 2 lol I had a wonderful conversation with my husband. He’s reading book 1 of the Innkeeper. I converted another one!!! I told him I have read every book at least 3 times. Y’all are my go to when I’m stressed. Thank you! I hope you know we love you ???? and wish you zero stress, but that’s not life. You, your family, Russia and Ukraine are in our hearts and we are thinking of you. Take care!
I don’t know if you can get it in the US but Felix does a soup & so do Sheba & Gourmet. They come in pouches & I buy from Amazon. My cat prefers it to other wet food & he’s a proper little fusspot.
Fancy feast gravy lovers is a big hit with one of my three furballs.
Hope the non vomiting continues!
I have an older kitty who is 18 1/2. He has always been a cat who vomits, but as he has gotten older it is worse. He can’t eat dry food as he swallows it whole without chewing. Then vomits it up. We have found success with Fancy Feast Pate in small amounts and Temptations treats 3 or 4 several times a day. Fancy feast does have a good in “gravy” and there are several different ones with a lot of gravy. Hope your kitty starts feeling better and the non-vomiting continues. Don’t know what I would do without my fur-babies. My Kid 1 and Kid 2 are grown, so I enjoy having them around. He is the last of 4. Will not add another animal until he is gone. He is finally King of the castle, gets to sleep on the bed or where ever else he wants to, drink the water out of the shower after we are done with it and has all the big people at his beck and call
Try a pate food (Weruva has a good selection) add water or unsalted broth to the food to make it more liquid. Good luck with Salem!
I love your writing, so anything you write is a joy to read! Thank you for the tea maker reveal, I have tea friends and I like tea but also, I like strong coffee. Go figure! And thank you for the blog posts, the release schedule, newsletter, more about us…. Thank you. As to the war, I just don’t watch the news! There is nothing there that is helpful and much that is upsetting. I prefer to think quietly, fold a hundred paper cranes (as prayers), or anything that feels a tiny bit constructive, but not watch the awful stuff. I know war is heinous, & (I feel) we will need higher intervention to see any effect. We could be kinder to one another-perhaps if each of us acted in kindness, a wave of good might be generated & overwhelm the unkind deeds. Well, perhaps.
Try baby food meat. It’s 100% soft and lickable, no chewing required and very easy to swallow.
All of our cats have lived into their twenties and all of them ended up on baby food meat for one reason or another at the vets recommendation. Hope this helps.