Tuna and Oliver had their annual visit to the vet for vaccines and physicals. Here is Tuna being the king of everything at the vet office.
Tuna, predictably, was lovely to the vet, let his blood be taken, sat like a rock for vaccines, and has normal bloodwork.
I would take a pic of Oliver for you but I have no clue where he is. He is hiding. Oliver is allergic to life. He is allergic to cedar, he is allergic to Texas, he is allergic to food additives commonly found in cat food. He has constant nasal discharge, which means he sneezes a lot, he rips his hair out, which I clean daily, and he can only eat Royal Canin Sensitive Stomach food, because everything else he throws up.
Oliver will not eat special cat treats, tuna out of the can, or vet cat bribe treats. Only Royal Canin. That’s it. Also, he loves Meow Mix kibble, which he cannot have, because he regurgitates it right back out.
Oliver is also the reason why I have furniture covers on everything. Not only that, I have doubles, so I can swap them when company is coming. I cannot stand pet hair on furniture. It drives me up the wall so I religiously clean it with a special tool.
Oliver hid in the carrier at the vet, had to be forcibly removed, and they could not draw blood even after putting him into the kitty bag. We had to leave him at the vet so they could sedate him with gabapentin. Finally, blood was drawn and the results have come back. He has IBD, Inflammatory Bowel Disorder, which we already suspected. He also has a UTI. We picked up an antibiotic for him, which we have to squirt into his mouth twice a day.
Oliver fights for his life every time we wrap him in a blanket to give him medicine. Every time that happens, he truly believes that we will murder him. Given a chance, he will claw you bloody and bite, and I just wish there was some way to make it less alarming for him, but there is not. So now, when he sees either of us, he runs and hides.
::exhales:: Oliver is a lot. He is now classified as elderly and he doesn’t react well to change. He is a sweet, clingy kitty, and I was the one who took him out of a cage in PetSmart, so he will have a home with us for the rest of his days.
Also a lizard got inside two days ago. Charlie killed it – we know this because he brought us the still twitching tail – which we confiscated. We looked for it at the time but couldn’t find it.
We found it this morning, safely tucked under a large dog pillow. It had begun to rot and it stank. I’m washing the pillow cover and contemplating if I should give up and throw the whole pillow out.
I’m supposed to be writing today, and I’m not feeling it. But I really want to get this novella done before the end of the month.
::pretends to gird loins::
Don’t write, don’t eat. Onward! To cleaning cat hair, putting pillow cover in the dryer, and then writing like the wind.
My mother always said orange cats had the sweetest temperaments. All the orange cats I have known were very relaxed about everything. Our orange guy is relaxed at the vet and lets small children crawl all over him. Just don’t try to use the hair dryer near him.
Good luck with Oliver.
We have had some success with animal communicators and energy work.should you be desperate enough to try something really outside the box
Big Hug!
Tuna is a trip! There is an antibiotic injection that lasts two weeks. I have used it several times
I once woke up when my cat dropped a live mouse on the bed while I was sleeping. Thank goodness it only happened once. Our current problem is the 14 year old dog licking everything, leaving wet spots all over. Lots of drooling, ick. My husband has to hide his pillows because Lacey likes them, but she doesn’t touch mine!
Fresh air and sunlight will sterilize and freshen up the pillow.
I like ‘girded loins’ the best!!!!!☺️☺️☺️☺️
Sorry this is so late 🥰🥰
Pets! Been there, so totally get it. I used to have a (completely) white Staffordshire Bull Terrrior cross doggy. He loved me, & I him, never growled at me once in his 17 & 1/2 years of life. He would let me do anything to him, eye drops were no worry (got scratched by a kitty).
Next I acquired my friend’s 14yr old long haired Tortoiseshell kitty, a total little princess, she would threaten to scratch my eyes out if I tried to give her worm pills.. but was super affectionate, & very demanding. She lived to the ripe old age of 24, outliving my man’s gorgeous 12 year old kitty by a year.
In her last year she was hard work, as she never could work out how to use a litter tray, she would stand paws in, bum out.. but only for the liquid stuff..honestly!!
There were other issues too, but you don’t want to know..
We had covers, pet brushes, wipes.. yup the lot.
I feel for you, pets are hard work, but they did love us so much, & we them.
Now the only one in the house who leaves hair everywhere is me ..sigh..
Hope you feel refreshed soon, & Oliver overcomes his worst issues. Tuna seemed quite happy, at least that’s a positive.
You are great pet owners, & they are lucky to have you.
Poor Oliver. Food allergies are hard. Medicating cats is hard. Having them run and hide from you is harder still.
That pet brush looks amazing though! I go through waaaayyyyy too many lint rollers or just get the vacuum out. I’m tried pet specific brushes before without much success but that one looks skookum.
I wish you success in defurring and clean up!
And of course, when Oliver gets into the Meow Mix and barfs it back up, the dyes in it stain everything it touches. Do I sound like the voice of experience? Well, yes.
Don’t have cats now, but when I did, instead of the towel and purrito method or a cat sack, I used to wedge whoever needed pilling between my ankles right in front of the pelvis, just tight enough to hold them. This gave me one hand to pry open the cat’s mouth, and one to shove the pill down their throat. My cats would stand still for this and take their meds without a fuss. I think—no expert here—that not having their legs immobilized, etc., they didn’t quite see it as much of a threat, and it gave me both hands free to deal. I had tried a lot of things. (The pill pockets got licked off and the pill left behind.) That one seemed to work, YMMV.
I am so sorry about Oliver. Our Elder Statesman Cat Chester had IBD. He would not tolerate a towel, medicine or anything else.
We ended up doing prednisolone melted in about 1 ml of water and my husband would hold him for pets and I would use a little syringe and squirt it in his mouth. We also did monthly sq B12 shots at home. Royal Canin was all that he would eat too.
I put up little christmas lights in his spots for him to see at night, ended up with pine litter and 3 litter boxes for him and it was a lot. It is hard to help them, especially when they are very, very set in their ways. But he did well until his kidneys shut down and we still miss his big, yelling ways.
He made it for another 3 years and finally went over the rainbow bridge last winter. I miss him every day, he left a huge hole in our hearts but everything we did and all the adjustments we had to make were worth it.
I hope things go well with Oliver and everything else.
hello sorry to Annoying you but i read again ^ Sweep of the Heart ^ and i come to a scene where a Planet of the swordman is mentioned, now my question will ore is thera a Story to read more about this Planet as in Sweep of the heart….?
thangs and sorry to Annoying
There is no further story. The people are Sophie and George, who have appeared before in Innkeeper and the Edge.
My elderly cat has renal failure. Stage 4. She yacked up everything until the vet suggested that I try 1/4 tab of Famotidine (antiacid). Worked like a treat and the daily cleanups have been moved to once maybe every 10 days. I grind it up with a mortar and pestle and sprinkle it on her daily Churu fix.
Oh Oliver. My Bug is also a lot. He’s a walking existential crisis with IBS and I have to do all his emotional processing for him, because he just can’t. He hasn’t been the same since we lost the 2 kitties he grew up with. I was really thoughtful about the new kitty friends we brought into the family and he is convinced that they will eat him. Not that I meant to get as many as I currently have (5, all together), but the most recent kitten must smell right or something, because he LOVES the kitten and they sleep together with Bug’s entire face pressed into Echo’s fur. Echo also loves this.
The things we do for people we love……
You have an Oliver I have a Buddy. Other two Ralph and Alby are like Tuna 🤭 but life would be boring without them! I still where the scars of pride just trying to get them to the vet… three journeys next time vet comes to me 🐾
God bless you for making us laugh right when we need it! And those hair removal brushes remind me of red ones we had over 30 years ago! They worked great! Thanks for sharing these new ones!
I can’t stop laughing 😂 Thank you
I so very much love these little accounts of domestic adventures. Thank you so much for your willingness to let us into these moments! Makes my day better every time.
Such different cat personalities ❤️ I just finished re-reading One Fell Sweep (this series might be even better the second time, which I would not have thought possible) & very much enjoyed the cat adoption elements. Much love to the cat parents out there, I hope to be a cat parent again one day.
See if you can find Tide Clean Boost fabric rinse. I does a superlative job of removing odors. I used it for my Mom’s clothes, as she became incontinent in the last year. Removed the urine smell from her clothes and bedding. It removed the sweat smell from my exercise clothes. Give it a try, it can’t hurt.
I am in Canada, but it is a Tide product.
I’m so sorry for the smell that caused 🫢 but at the same time, he’s showing he loves you, so I guess that’s good?
Cats also get you gifts when they see you’re not feeling well. I’ll never forget when my cat brought us a dead mouse the morning we got the news that my grandfather died. She was really quick about it, too, like, RUSH DELIVERY, HUMAN IS CRYING!
I am running to go buy that tool! Thank you. Our German Shepard creates hair bunnies on a daily basis that seem to breed and create new hair bunnies.
I just wanted to say thank you for all the wonderful stories. They help in times like these. I look forward to reading your next stories and books.
Heh. My cat has been put on the naughty list b/c she hisses and claws at the vet. She, too, needed anesthesia to have blood drawn, and was woozy and uncoordinated for a long time afterwards. Luckily, her bloodwork was fine. Being on the naughty list seems to mean that the vet needs an assistant to handle her, which has created scheduling issues when said assistant was unavailable. I shouldn’t wonder if they also charged us more, though I don’t know that for sure.
However, we recently started seeing another vet (from the same clinic) and she has a calming effect on our baby. Also, we started training our cat to get her used to riding in the car and wearing a harness, both of which she used to associate with trips to the vet. I’m cautiously hopeful that future visits will get better.
Oh, and she’s a champion shedder, too. BUT: we bought her a ‘castle’ (one of those contraptions with platforms, a cradle and whatnot) which she absolutely adores. Now, the majority of her hair stays in the castle. Still need to vacuum often, but at least the furniture stays more or less clean.
This is unrelated to the poor adorable kitty, but I wanted to ask if your Amazon listings were hacked somehow. For example, white hot is listed right now as: White Hot: A Suspenseful Fae Romance Novel Featuring a Billionaire and a Kick-Ass Heroine (Hidden Legacy Book 2)
If that’s something you did on purpose than okay, but based on the plot of the books I am concerned that it’s not a deliberate change you made.
OMG! Thank you, Sam! Clearly a mistake has occurred. I am going to go make some phone calls.
We’ve had a couple of cats that simply would not allow us to put anything in their mouths. The trauma for both the humans and the felines was biblical.
Now, when necessary, our the vet gives them an injection of antibiotics and we trust the cat gods to manage the rest.
Mark Twain said it best “If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.”
I feel you. I need sedation myself after a vet visit. Just the drive to and fro is an ordeal. Cats.
Hi everyone. My cat of 13 years died from cancer two weeks ago. I had no idea that animals especially cats got cancer. He was with me through some of the most trying times of my life, helping me to cope. I miss you Bad Billi Boy.
Ah, Meow Mix. Everything loves MM. Cats, dogs, squirrels, birds. It’s a universal feed.
Ah yes. What we do for our kitties\pets. I feel your pain.
Teal’c (the worlds tiniest Maine Coon) has seizures if exposed to beef (cheese in the general vacinity is fine, but we can’t even bring beef into the house). That took a LOT to figure out because every test by a vet was a big shrug and anti-seizure meds and cats don’t mix. He WILL take CBD treats which have reduced his seizures from (at times) several times a week to now going for 3+ months between. We think they’re also stress related – when I’m stressed, he’s stressed. But CBD helps (he’s now 15). Frankly, CBD helps me too (but I digress LOL). Because of the beef thing and so many cat foods have “animal fat” not just “chicken fat” added – Royal Canin Salmon and Duck are all he’ll eat that doesn’t contain beef that I’ve been able to find (for wet food).
Saxo (short for Mr. Saxobeat) is a Short Hair tuxedo. Anything other than Royal Canine Digestive (for kibble) and it doesn’t stay down. Now that he’s 12 he’s having trouble with the extra “sheath” on his claws so I ALSO get the joys of clipping his nails before they curl under and puncture his pads.
Love them both and do what I can because they’re our rescues and as long as they’re happy and loving life, we’ll do everything we can for them.
You have my sympathy on the IBD. One of our boys was diagnosed over Christmas and it’s been a never ending balance since to find a food that he’ll both eat and not trigger vomiting. So far on kibble the Hills Biome is working for us but still trying to find a soft food. We’re also identifying that hairballs send him into a major flare requiring antacids and anti nausea medications to resolve. We have a follow up next week and I’m going to ask if he should get a shave to see if that helps lengthen the time between hairballs/flares. He also is prone to bladder crystals, has a heart murmur, and is also classified as elderly now. It’s a lot, but we love him and are trying to keep him healthy and happy for as long as possible.
Love y’all. Would love to hold Oliver…. He sounds so beautiful…. Tuna is such a cutie.
We needed a full set of plate armor to give our kitty any medicine.
The medicine struggle. I love being the great betrayer when I put on the flea medicine. I swear I just think about it and they both know and run for the hills. Also, I have one furbaby who has gone through so many medical trials, medicines etc. Mysterious paralysis of her hind legs (thankfully succumbed to broadshoot medication because the vets had no idea). Then Overgrooming (or plucking the hair out) because of allergies, etc. Finally after many trials, tribulations, medications she HATED the vet thought of something he used to do in the 70s and it has mostly done the trick. But here was the magic of it — the medicine was chicken flavored and my cat loved it. Would happily let me dropper it in. Someone tell me why all medicine cannot be flavored so cats love it????? And not in a stupid pill form?
I have to say though she has remained amazingly sweet throughout it all other than running for the hills when she does not care for whatever it is we must do.
Just wanted to thank you so much for posting about your pets; I love all your books (have most of them and have enjoyed many reading binge days/nights) but I can so relate to the trials and joys of pet ownership you post as I have my own geriatric “pet hospital”. We have a 14 year old orange tabby who is allergic to all poultry (chicken, duck, turkey) and reacts to the most minute amount with projectile vomiting and hair shedding that looks like it snowed overnight on my hardwood floor; a 13 year old beagle/basset/blue tick who is petrified of thunderstorms and loves beer (the carbonation causes her to roll on the grass like a horse, so funny!) and a 6 year old torty kitty who chirps instead of meowing and expresses her displeasure and any small stressor by peeing on the offending person’s paperwork/magazines. Never a dull moment at our household! Thanks again for the comic relief and pet love you share. (If you ever need any funny pet photos just email me.)
I’m sorry to hear about your cat-medicating woes!
We lucked out with a couple of our cats, who apparently liked the taste of bubblegum-flavored amoxicillin — one would lap it right out of a spoon and then complain when it was gone.