The Kitty, again

[Georgina]

Just because she's one of my favourite subjects.



Looking at the picture, though, it occurs to me that I ought to give the coffee table frame a coat of paint.

[MacBeth]

Moving takes its toll on painted furniture.....

Bean does not look like she is completely awake, or not thrilled to be photographed ;D

[Georgina]

Moving does do that to furniture, doesn't it?

She was rubbing her chin on the edge of the table and thus has that slightly blissful appearance of someone who loves having her chin rubbed, even if she has to do it herself. ;D

[Calluna]

I think she's just trying out places near that fireplace so she knows which is most comfortable for when there's an actual fire burning in it.

I'd add an updated Ember photo, but she's pretty out of sorts right now with a urinary tract infection. She looks quite uncomfortable about the whole idea of leaking...poor thing is grooming herself constantly to stay clean, and bless the little baby, she seems to be trying desperately to find places to sit that won't be terrible for her to leak on. It's like she knows some places are easier to clean than others...I was braced to have to just clean up carpet and furniture after her until the antibiotics start clearing it up enough for her to stop leaking, but she's been pretty good about choosing to sit on things like cardboard boxes and junk mail that I can throw out, and bath mats and other washable things. Even though she still wanted to sleep on the bed last night, she conveniently chose the ratty old blanket I tossed on the foot of the bed over the comforter that's harder to wash. I just wish I could make the medicine work faster. At least it's doing something and she's looking more perky than when I first took her to the vet.

[MacBeth]

Poor baby....hope she is feeling all better soon

[Calluna]

Thanks, Beth. Ember and I share that wish. She's decided the towel I laid on the floor right behind my chair is a good place to lie down, so that's helpful.

[Georgina]

Poor furry little girl. For some reason I thought she had a bladder infection and didn't realise it was a urinary tract issue. Those are becoming more and more common these days. Here's hoping the antibiotics kick in soon.

[Calluna]

Ahem...the bladder is part of the urinary tract. All we know is there is bacteria in her urine, we don't know where it's coming from along the way. The treatment is the same anyway. She just gets a broad spectrum antibiotic...it actually contains two different types of antibiotic that should cover most of the possible culprits. If she doesn't get better on this antibiotic, then we try to culture the specific bacteria. Apparently, bacteria in cat urine is very difficult to culture. The vet said he will see huge amounts of bacteria in a urine smear under the microscope, send it off for culture, and it'll come back negative instead of telling him what the type of bacteria are and what antibiotics it is sensitive to. So, he doesn't waste time and money doing cultures unless they don't respond to the first antibiotic. The vet and I actually had a nice chat about why it might be that they can't culture the bacteria from cat urine that easily, including things like pH and survival of the bacteria during transportation to the lab, etc.

[Georgina]

Ah, okay, sorry. Whenever I think of "urinary tract" problem, especially in cats, in my mind that refers to an issue that's predominantly contained in the urethra. That's likely because all of the urinary tract problems I've had to deal with were with male cats having crystalisation build-up in the urethra that caused a blockage so, in my head, that's where those words are associated. I didn't realise the "urinary tract" included the whole system, bladder and all. I learned something.

[MacBeth]

Learning something makes it a good day

[Calluna]

Yep, urinary tract means everything from the kidneys on down to the urethra. Even those crystals that male cats have trouble with form higher up, tend to settle in the bladder, and only become a problem when they can't fit out through the urethra. Though, most likely, the infection really is a bladder infection in this case. I doubt it's up in her kidneys, since she isn't having trouble producing urine, just with how often she seems to feel the need to empty her bladder. Poor thing, she piddles little teaspoon amounts all over the place, and then there isn't much left in her bladder by the time she gets to the litter box. At least she hasn't given up on the litterbox yet, but I felt like I should give her a magazine to read yesterday when she'd go sit in the box for 10 min at a time, just staring at the wall, trying to urinate, and there isn't much left in her by then. Still, I'm sure anyone who has ever had a urinary tract infection knows how bad it can be to feel that urge to urinate when you only have accumulated a teaspoon or tablespoon of urine in your bladder since the last time you felt that urge only a short time before that.

[Georgina]

Yeah, I know that feeling and can sympathise. I hope it starts improving for Ember soon.

[Georgina]

How's Ember coming along, Calluna?

[Calluna]

She's much better today. She seemed greatly improved even by yesterday evening. I haven't seen any indication that she's still leaking, or using the litterbox excessively, or over-grooming, so I think the worst is over. She's been running around like her usual playful self, too (well, other than it got a little hot in the house today, and we're both just taking it easy to stay cool). I stayed home from work today to give her a little more attention since I had plenty I could work on from home. The vet's office called to check on her before the weekend too, and I was happy to tell them she was looking all better.

[MacBeth]

That is wonderful !!!

[Georgina]

Good to hear, Calluna.

[Georgina]

And how is my other favourite patient, Ember, coming along?

[Calluna]

She seems all better. She still has a week of antibiotics left (apparently, bladder infections in kitties are pretty stubborn, so you have to give them a very long course of antibiotic to make sure they don't come back). The package insert was left in the medication boxes along with the bottles, so I read the whole thing. For every other type of infection the antibiotic treats, in cats or dogs, it's only about a 5 day treatment at most. Only cat urinary tract infections seem special, and require 10 to 14 days of treatment.

So far, Ember seems to still be eating okay, and no signs of tummy troubles from antibiotic for so long. That's my main concern at this point, with such a long course of antibiotic, that it'll start to disrupt the good bugs in her digestive system. I don't think I could get her to eat yogurt (she doesn't eat anything dairy anymore...she decided one day as a kitten that she didn't like her bowl of "milkies" at anymore, and that was the end of her interest in anything dairy). So, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the antibiotics don't bother her tummy and I don't need to make another trip to the vet just to get something to help the good bugs grow back.

As far as she's concerned, she's all better. She's starting to get wary of me with the syringe full of white stuff to squirt in her mouth twice a day, too. So, I have to sort of switch around the routine a little each day so she doesn't know when it's coming. (By the way, whoever came up with the idea of using eye droppers for medicine? The one that came with the antibiotic is useless...the dose she's supposed to get is 1 ml, which is a full dropper (there's a line up at the top to tell you where 1 ml is), but the bulb on the dropper isn't big enough to actually get the dropper completely full...and when you have a cat already fidgety about having some icky liquid squirted in her mouth, you don't get two chances to fill it halfway and then refill it with the rest of the dose...I had to bring home a 1 cc syringe from work to get a proper dose in one fill.)

[Georgina]

Yeah, whoever thought liquid meds for cats was a good idea didn't have a cat, I'm thinking. I use a 1 cc syringe for Bean when necessary too. We've actually become expert at it because I give her water after her twice-a-day pill. Generally, though, if it's meds in the syringe, Bean wears it, I wear it, the floor gets it. I'm never certain how much med I get down her throat. Some cats, I've heard, are better about liquids than pills, though.

That is a really long course of antibiotics, isn't it? I don't know if this will help you, but when I have to give Bean antibiotics, I pick up some liquid acidophilus at the health food store and add a teaspoon or so of it to her wet food. It's mostly odourless and flavourless and so -- as best I can tell -- Bean doesn't notice it in her food. Just a suggestion.

I'm glad to hear Ember thinks she's all better now. That's really good.

[MacBeth]

That is where dogs are easier. If you have peanut butter, you can get a pill into them easily. If you have a little water with their liqiuid meds in it with something tasty floating in it, they drink their meds

I am sooo lazy.

And thrilled to hear all is going better with dear Ember. Do you have any recent pics?

[Calluna]

Oh, actually, I prefer liquid meds over pills for Ember. Since she's not even into eating treats (she just bats them around the floor), I don't think I could get her to swallow a pill...not without getting my fingers bitten off. I was complaining about the medicine dropper design. I can work with a syringe. She tries to chomp down on it, but at least it's the syringe and not a finger! I figured out with some trial and error that the best way to deliver medicine to Ember is to squirt the liquid under her tongue. That way, I can get it all in with one squirt and not choke her by squirting it to the back of her mouth, but she can't really just spit it back out as she could if it went on the top of her tongue. But it's a one-shot-deal. If I don't get it all in before she escapes, I'm not catching her again for a while.

Yes, dogs are easier. Go ahead and rub it in, Beth. Yep, wrap the pill in any kind of treat, and it goes down in one gulp. I can't even mix liquids into Ember's wet food, because she doesn't even reliably finish that...some nights she gobbles it as soon as I put it out, others she leaves it until morning, and sometimes she just snacks on a little at a time.

I just took a couple pics. I'll go load them up and get them posted. One is her glaring at me because I woke her up with the sound of turning the camera on, and then I finally managed to sneak one of her sleeping. She's so cute when she's sleeping, but I rarely can get a picture of her without her waking up from either me moving or the sound of the camera turning on.

[Calluna]

Okay, here she is (if I'm using the right code to share these photos anyway).

[MacBeth]

She is so pretty - I love her color pattern

[Georgina]

Her colours are gorgeous.