I intended to write much sooner but it’s been a bit crazy around here.  Most fortunately, our Baby has been home since last Monday.  I was so very happy to see her.  I think she was happy to see me too but, of course, that would be totally beneath acceptable kitty behavior to exhibit that much emotion. 

Hubby-honey sleeping but Baby caught me taking her picture

When she first came to live with us, she was absolutely insane when we put her in the carrier and after being kept in a cage all weekend, I expected the same behavior.  I was wrong, thank goodness.  She did let me know she would really rather not but she was  pretty good all the way home.  (It’s about 25 miles from Keizer to the vet’s office in Albany, Oregon so it takes about 30 minutes to get home.)

I was also afraid Gizmo would have “forgotten” about Baby and she would relapse into her old snappy behavior, but again, I was most happy to be wrong.  Giz gave her a good sniff (from a safe distance of about 2 feet) but she didn’t hiss or slap.

I understood the nurse to say  Baby could not have any fish but she could have a variety of other flavors of foods.  I thought she could still have Fancy Feast but not the fish flavors.  The next day Baby threw up in the doorway to the livingroom and sometime during the night, she threw up in the laundry room.  I called the doctor as soon as he opened on Wednesday morning and asked if I should bring Baby back to see him. 

Baby sitting on the hood of the Ford finally looking at me.

I was most grateful that Dr. Braat took the time to talk to me himself so I finally understood exactly what he wanted me to do.  I’m not criticizing the nurse in anyway; I am hearing impaired and I may not have heard her instructions correctly.  He explained to me that  Baby was not to have ANY Fancy Feast at all.  The ONLY brand of food she was to eat was any non-fish flavor of Friskies.  I went out and got several Friskies flavors for her to try. 

As I was fixing a plate for Baby, I got a surprise from my other little darling.  I thought Baby was waiting at my feet to be fed but it was actually Gizmo.  She LIKED the smell of the flavor I was feeding Baby.  I was really surprised because it was Turkey/Giblet pate for Special Diets.  Giz hasn’t liked turkey in a long time. 

I started feeding her the same food as Baby.   Most unfortunately, after eating the Turkey/Giblet stuff for a couple of days, she suddenly went off it.  She hasn’t been too keen on much of anything for the last two days so I’ve been giving her an extra  dose of tagamet.  She’s shown some improvement but is still a bit fussy. 

Giz playing with the new squeeky toy mouse

For the last two years, Giz has had to take Tagamet for her ulcer along with two other medications.  I thought she was having an ulcer because she licks herself a lot and ingests a lot of hair.  She throws up a lot of hairballs, which I thought kept her tummy upset and caused the ulcer to constantly return.  Now, I think she was having food problems along with her hairball problems.  I’m hoping that changing her food will help her have fewer ulcers.  Only time will tell at this point.

Yesterday, I talked to my sister who lives in Michigan with her family and two kitties.  She says that both of her kitties can eat neither Fancy Feast nor 9 Lives.  The only food they can tolerate is Friskies.  Unfortunately, we had never discussed her cats having feeding problems or I might have thought about allergies in my own cat.  I feel really guilty about my poor babies having needlessly suffered as they have but I had NEVER heard of food allergies in cats. 

Changing from Fancy Feast to Friskies will have a positive impact on our finances.  The Friskies is a lot cheaper than the Fancy Feast, but the thing I liked about the Fancy Feast is that they have the individual serving size cans.  When Gizmo was my only cat, I had a lot less waste with these cans.  So far, with both the cats on the same food, I don’t have a lot of waste either. 

Giz is scratching but she's also keeping the toy mouse from Baby

I do worry about spoilage.  Gizmo has always been partial to having her food warmed.  Often, I microwave her food for 6 or 8 seconds and she will eat it much quicker.  Baby really likes the Friskies but she doesn’t like it really cold from the refrigerator either so I’ve been leaving the open can on the counter.  I’ve tried several flavors but for buying convenience, I bought two cases of Friskies Turkey and Giblet Pate for Special Diets.  Baby still likes this flavor but Gizmo seems to be “not so much” about it right now.   I’m still experimenting with different flavors for her.

One of the very best benefits of the change to Friskies is that Baby has completely stopped vomiting.  I was very concerned she was going to have continuing problems with the gingivitis and would have to take medication for the rest of her life.  Because the medication was causing her to have diarrhea, I really didn’t want her to have to be on it long-term. 

Also, our house has been much quieter since Giz continues to have a quieter relationship with Baby.  They haven’t been hissing at each other very much.  Occasionally, if they come upon each other unawares, they will have a bit of posturing but other than that, life is pretty quiet, thank goodness.  We are comfortable enough with the situation to leave them in the house together when we go out.

Baby has to spend the weekend with our vet, hurt my heart so very, very much. 

As you know, when we got Baby, she had the world’s worst case of gingivitis.  Even after the vet had cleaned her teeth and scraped her gums. (Bllllrrrrrr), she spent another month getting antibiotics and shots of prednisone to reduce the inflammation.  In August, she finally started to show some improvement and in September, her gums and teeth were finally healed.  Unfortunately, every time we started to take her off the antibiotics, she started vomiting, which is why I took her to see the vet today.

Vet's office

I explained to him that my job is going to disappear forever in a couple of weeks and as reasonable as he is, I was not going to be able to bring either Baby or Giz back in the foreseeable future unless he was willing to let me clean out the horses stalls or sweep and mop his office.  He laughed and patted my hand – comforting but hardly a solution for poor Baby’s problems. 

While he was looking her over, I explained that about her situation.  I told him that if I forgot to give her a dose or if she started to get diarrhea and I decided to stop giving her the antibiotics for a couple of days (his suggestion), she would vomit.  He asked what she threw up (double bluck).  I told him it was always undigested food, which is why I knew which cat had the problem.  (The girls like different kinds of food and they are easily distinguishable if you’re unlucky enough to see them again.)  I announced with some pride that she only liked Fancy Feast Yellowfin Tuna with Delicate Sauces.  He said he wanted to keep Baby for a few days.  He told the assistant he wanted her fed anything but fish.  He didn’t want her to have any form of fish or anything with fish in it.  He suspects she has a food allergy to fish.  At first it didn’t make any sense but as I was driving home thinking about her eating habits, I thought he might be right.  Maybe the antibiotics make the fish tolerable for some reason but when she didn’t have them, the allergy took over.

The vet is so wonderful and understanding, he’s not going to charge us anything for housing her over the weekend.  Of course, if he has to do any tests or x-rays, he’ll have to charge us for that but nothing for food or observation.  I can’t begin to express my gratitude to this marvelous human being.  Still, it was horrible to leave her there for three days.  As soon as she was out of sight, I started crying.  I cried all the way to the car and half the way home.   I called Hubby-honey and told him his best-bud was going to be staying with the vet.  He loves having her spend the night on his chest.  I know he’s bummed about it but he thinks she’ll have a short memory about the whole thing.  I hope he’s right.

Baby a the Vet

What broke my heart was that I knew it’s taken a long time for Baby to trust us.  Now, she’s going to be spending three days cooped up in a cage with strange cats around her and strange people handling her.  I pray she still trusts us when I pick her up.  I miss her too.  You know what, Giz would rather go bald tonight than admit it but I think she misses Baby as well.  She’s been sitting in the window all afternoon, looking at the place under the bush where Baby usually sleeps.

Hubby-honey and I know it’s for the best especially if the vet can find out what’s causing her to have problems so she can live her wonderful life in peace, but we miss our little girl.  Such a tiny little beast and yet she’s found her way firmly into our hearts forever.