Breakfast in Bed

Greetings, Fellow Felines! (and, of course, our C-A-N-I-N-E and Human Friends)!

Pixie here, to tell you, I have been threatened! Yes, I have! Yesterday, our Human threatened Me with a return visit to the V-E-T to have my teeth and gums checked! What's more, she said that if I don't eat, she'll have to get appetite-enhancing pills from the V-E-T and make me swallow them twice a day!

Well, I am here to tell you, Fellow Felines, that I will not be coerced! I made that very clear to her yesterday. As a result, she went to bed very upset and with leaky eyes.

But this morning, I woke up in quite a good mood - and hungry. I think she could sense that. She mixed up a couple of tablespoonsful of my moist dietary food with about half a teaspoonful of FF Chicken Feast to improve the flavour and aroma, making sure there was plenty of gravy and before serving it up to Me, she put Possum's food on the balcony. He went for it and Mummy shut him on the balcony, so I was able to eat my food in peace, even leaving it from time to time and going back to it, without Possum gobbling it up the moment my back was turned. Then she went and made herself a cup of coffee and something to eat and took it back to bed with her. When she had finished her own breakfast, she came to check up and see how much I had eaten. I really don't like it when she stands over me, watching to see how much I am eating but I managed to eat almost half my food while she was making and eating her own breakfast. She was very pleased with Me - but not pleased enough. She wanted me to eat the whole lot. So she took my food bowl with her back to the bedroom, got into bed, sat me down beside her and coaxed me to eat about half of what was left. It took the better part of an hour, on and off - but it was nice to be petted and cherished and loved so much. Then, she went and let Possum back in and he came and sat on the bed and got loved while I went to sit in the kitchen on Possum's favourite perch, in a sun puddle. 

Here I am, hiding behind a potted plant:

And in the afternnon, I was Extra Good and I even let Mummy give me my infusion, without making any fuss. I didn't bite or scratch even once, and I only started to fidget towards the end, when it became too uncomfortable. I was a Very Good Kitty, wasn't I?

And what about Me? Yes, Fellow Felines, it's Possum here!
What do you think was happening to Me while Pixie was having Breakfast in Bed with Mummy? You've got it in one, Kitties! I was imprisoned for almost an hour on the balcony, with nothing to eat (because, of course, I finished my food in a couple of minutes, without having to be coaxed or threatened). And then, when I was finally released from my incarceration, I wasn't given any more food. But I did get to lie down on the bed next to Mummy and have my tummy rubbed. Pixie went off and stole my favourite perch - but I found a much better sun puddle in Mummy's bedroom. Mummy took a picture so you can judge for yourselves.

Now Mummy is going to have her Shabbat afternoon nap and we are Both going to curl up next to her and have a nap too.

Have a nice weekend, Fellow Felines.

 

A Few Words from Mummy

Greetings, Fellow Felines (and our C-A-N-I-N-E and Human friends also)!

It's Possum the MagnifiCat here again. Pixie, who is having another one of her Bad Days (well, Bad Week, actually) is curled up, asleep, on the bed. She's still barely eating enough to keep a mousie alive and our Human is having to think up all kinds of subterfuges to persuade her to swallow a few mouthfuls. Mummy is in such despair, she asked if she could write a few words here, in the hope that someone out there could advise her. So over to you, Mummy!

Mummy here!
I am at my wits end. When I first offered Pixie the moist veterinary food, she seemed to love it, and ate more than she had for weeks - though even then, it wasn't much and certainly not the amount she used to eat before she got sick. But after the novelty wore off (which didn't take more than a day), it was back to a  bite or two in the morning and then, in the evening, when I'm home from work and have time to sit with her, I have to coax her with endless patience to eat a few bites more. Since she has a weekly ration of half a can of Fancy Feast, I decided to add half a teaspoon of FF to her moist diatetic food, because the stronger smell helps to increase her appetite. But I still have to sit beside her for an hour and slowly coax her to eat. She still comes eagerly when she sees me taking out the food, but then she sniffs at it, eats maybe three or four pieces and then turns away. When she does eat, she makes a great business of it, pushing the food around in her bowl, taking a very long time to chew a single piece and then, when she seems to have been at her bowl long enough to have licked it clean, I discover that she has, in fact, scarcely swallowed more than a few morsels. Does it hurt her to swallow? I don't know. I've seen her go to one of the three water bowls I have placed around the house and drink. Yesterday, she even went to Possum's bowl and ate a few pieces of his dry food. I read somewhere that cats with kidney disease often develop ulcers on the tongue making it painful for them to eat, but I've not seen any sign of that. Most of the time, she doesn't seem to be showing any signs of distress, other than for the fact that she's painfully thin - so I would feel like a murderer if, at this stage, I were to give up the fight and help her to the Bridge. The vet says there are pills I could give her to increase her appetite, but I would have to administer them twice a day(!) and I know what a struggle it is likely to be to force her to swallow them. Wouldn't that just be torturing her and making her last weeks miserable? I don't know what to do. Please, someone, anyone, advise me.

Down to Earth Again With a Crash

Fellow Felines!

It seems that Mummy's joy was premature. Pixie wolfed down the new diatetic moist food on Thursday, but yesterday, she was far less interested and today, she turned up her nose at it. She did eat about two-thirds of her weekly half can ration of Fancy Feast (Tuna and Ocean Whitefish flavour) but merely sniffed at any other food that was offered her. Our Human thinks it was only the novelty interest that caused her to eat the new stuff on Thursday evening.

Mummy was kind of relieved that she didn't put up a fight over her infusion - but, right afterwards, she started worrying that it was because Pixie hasn't the strength any more to fight.

But she had quite enough strength to run  when I, Possum, chased her.
Mummy says it's not nice of me to chase Pixie when she's sick - but she needs some fun, she shouldn't be moping around all the time and losing hope. What do you think, Fellow Felines?
 

Cautious Optimism

Greetings, Fellow Felines!

Well, after a long wait (a week!) caused by a nation-wide shortage of the moist dietetic cat food, the V-E-T managed to obtain one box (containing a dozen individual pouches) of the precious commodity. It's very expensive - and Our Human paid extra to have it sent round by Special Delivery. But Pixie seems to like it and fell to with a will, when presented with a bowl of it mixed with her regular dry food. She even displayed an interest in the remains of Mummy's yoghurt - but I, Possum, beat her to it. She got the lovely smelly chicken-flavoured moist food while I had to make do with dry food (though Mummy did flavour my food with a few drops of Fancy Feast gravy - Ocean Whitefish and Tuna) - so it was only fair that I should have the privilege of licking out Mummy's plate, wouldn't you all agree?

Pixie here. No, I do not agree. I've been practically starving myself because I can't eat those dry foods and now that I've finally got a bit of an appetite back, I want to make the most of it.

Well, let's not squabble over it. It makes Mummy very unhappy when we do that. The main thing is, that we have found something that Pixie likes and which isn't bad for her.
I do wonder though - how is this going to affect our weekly ration of Fancy Feasties?

Rollercoaster

Greetings, Fellow Felines!

Possum here. Pixie has had rather a bad week, hardly eating anything, though yesterday evening our Human managed to pursuade her to eat quite a bit, by adding a few drops of gravy from the Chicken Hearts and Liver Fancy Feast, instead of the tuna. It has a stronger smell, you see. 

On Wednesday, Pixie submitted to her infusion (poor Pixie, I think she was feeling too weak to resist). 

Mummy felt quite despairing mid-week. I heard her talking on the phone with her Daddy and I know she was thinking it might be time to help Pixie to the Bridge, but then she talked to the V-E-T on the phone and he said there is a canned, moist version of the special Renal Diet, though he didn't have any in stock and will have to order it, which will take a few days. Meanwhile, the Lady V-E-T (who is his Mate) said that in the meantime, there is nothing for it but to add some drops of FF gravy to Pixie's dry food, because if she doesn't eat, she'll die. But only a very few drops. But I also want gravy added to My food, it's not fair that only Pixie should get it. So I went on strike and refused to eat until Mummy flavoured My dry food as well.

Fellow Felines, I love Pixie and I know she's very sick, but sometimes, I get quite angry with her, because it seems Mummy is devoting all her time and attention to her (even though she always makes an effort to make quality time for Me). Am I a very wicked kitty for having such feelings?

Oops! Mummy Slipped Up...

Greetings, Fellow Felines!

Possum the MagnifiCat here, with Princess PixieCato as co-pilot right beside Me.
We knew it was only a matter of time before our Human slipped up, what with her new feeding schedules and diets and so on...

Today, instead of putting both feeding bowls away after breakfast, she left My bowl out, in the kitchen and took Pixie's to the bedroom, to try and coax her to eat. She calls it "Room Service". When she saw that Pixie had eaten all she was going to eat for breakfast, she cleared Pixie's bowl away. But she forgot all about Mine and she left it out on the kitchen floor and went off to work. When she came home this evening, she found the bowl completely empty. Now she doesn't know which of Us has been nibbling throughout the day, or if, perhaps, it was both of Us. And we're not going to tell her, are we, Pixie?


Pixie here, Fellow Felines. No, we aren't going to tell her a thing. We're going to keep her guessing. MOL.


It's me again - Possum. Pixie got the better of Mummy for the second time this evening. Mummy tried to administer her infusion, but the needle didn't go in properly and when Mummy changed it, she pricked her own finger. But she didn't fall asleep for a hundred years. No, instead, she went and stuck another needle in Pixie. But Pixie wasn't having any, this time. I guess she's decided no more Mr Nice Guy. She pulled away and the needle came out and the liquid squirted all over the place. So Mummy gave up and said Pixie will have to have her infusion tomorrow instead.
Pixie is already checking out suitable hidey-holes.

Stormy Weather

Greetings, Fellow Felines!

Possum here at the keyboard, with the latest news. 

Pixie (who is napping under the quilt on Mummy's bed) has been feeling a bit better since the day before yesterday and she ate more than half of her food on Wednesday (though not quite so much on Thursday and today even less, though the day is still young). Our Human did some research on the Internet and found a very useful web-site about Chronic Renal Failure in Cats and, as a result, arrived at some insights as to why Pixie was refusing to eat her new Veterinarian Renal Diet. With a flash of Enlightenment (isn't that a lovely big word We have added to Our vocabulary?), it dawned on her that nobody, especially not a Pussycat who was feeling poorly, would be tempted to eat dry pellets that smell (and taste) like sawdust. (I could have told her that!) She therefore craftily added a few teensy weensy pieces of Fancy Feast to our dry foods and mixed them in well to give a more appetising smell to the food, and do you know what, Fellow Felines? It actually seemed to work, though she still had to coax Pixie quite a bit. 

I do hope this is not going to come off our weekly ration of half a can of Fancy Feasties... Oh, no! Mummy is nodding. It is going to come off our ration. Now, that is not Good News, Fellow Felines!

To other matters, however! We finally had a taste of Winter, Fellow Felines. We have been reading on so many of your blogs about snow and storms, while the Sun continued to shine here, that We were beginning to feel rather left out! But last night, there was quite a storm, with lots of water falling out of the sky and flashy lights and sudden, loud, crashing noises.

We aren't frightened of storms, Fellow Felines. No, indeed, not at all. But just in case Mummy was frightened, we ran and snuggled under the blankets with her, to comfort her. Wasn't that thoughtful of Us, Fellow Felines?

Now we are all set to enjoy the weekend at home with Mummy.

Shabbat Shalom to you all.