04/30 Ivana BG=95 Vet visit; sad OT news

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Tara & Ivana (GA)

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Ivana was such a brave kitty for her vet visit on Thursday, and I'm pleased to report that her quarterly CKD checkup went very well - she's about as stable as she can be :-) Her results are in the Labs tab of her spreadsheet, but basically most of her numbers are almost exactly the same as three months ago, or better. Go Ivana! Blood pressure could have been a little better, but considering it was taken at the vet it's not too bad. She's still on meds for that, and also the Calcitriol for her CKD.

Her teeth were a little worse than last visit, probably a combination of us not being as diligent as we should be with the toothbrushing, and when we do brush we can't do as good a job as a professional - it's tricky getting to the back teeth, but we do the best we can and it's still not awful or anything. The vet got off a bit of the tartar, and also gave us a bottle of something to add to her drinking water that balances the bacteria in the mouth to help with any gingivitis. So far we're still at half dilution to get her used to it, but she's drinking it which is great.

Here's the Princess just after we got home from her vet visit - her face is blurry because she was busy looking around for where her treat was :D

20170427_113850.jpg


In other non-kitty related news, we had an incident on Friday with our chickens - while we were both at work, during the day, a fox attacked. We lost three of our four girls... rest in peace Jane, Chablis and Bacardi :( We have no idea how the fourth girl managed to not be taken, but we are so thankful that she found a hiding place. Our one extremely lucky girl, Shiraz, is still quite traumatised from what I can only imagine she witnessed, and we've kept her inside since Friday with two short outdoor visits today. She doesn't appear to have any injuries but we are monitoring her very closely, have given her some antibiotics just incase, and will be moving her in to live with the ducks as soon as she's strong enough. Here is Razzy is this morning, her first time outside since the attack - she was very cautious about being in the open and moved slowly, but I think she really enjoyed the sunshine. (She is also moulting hence the scruffiness.)

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So sorry to hear of the fox attack and the loss of three of your girls.
That must have been awful for them and for you.:bighug::bighug::bighug:
I'm sure that Razzy will be traumatised for a while. Poor girl.
Those foxes are just so brazen to attack during the day.
Glad Ivana is doing well.
 
Those foxes are just so brazen to attack during the day.
Yes we were really shocked, apparently it's very uncommon. I think because Calicivirus has been released recently in our area, the foxes don't have their usual abundance of wild rabbits to feast on so chickens are the next best thing :(
 
Oh no! I'm so sorry about your three girls! Poor Shiraz, to have to experience that kind of trauma, but I'm glad she survived. :bighug:

Ivana is looking gorgeous, as usual. Yay for a good vetty report. I'm very impressed that you brush her teeth. I've never been able to do that with any of our cats, but plan to try to train our next kittens early on.
 
Yes we were really shocked, apparently it's very uncommon. I think because Calicivirus has been released recently in our area, the foxes don't have their usual abundance of wild rabbits to feast on so chickens are the next best thing :(
When DD lived in Bowral on acres, they had a few visits from foxes in the late afternoon and early mornings. They had one fox attack but only chicken injuries, not deaths thank goodness, and that was only because they disturbed the fox attack.
 
Oh Tara, how very sad about the chickens. Ugh......Poor Shiraz witnessing the massacre. We have fox in the field behind us where Bubba likes to hunt and it always scares me. One day recently, I looked out the window and saw one running towards my sand mound and I knew Bubba was outside. I flew out the door and found Bubba and the fox about 12 feet apart having a Mexican Standoff. Bubba's posture was like "Oh, no" The fox ran off when he saw me and I haven't seen him back since. I am hoping that he feels unsafe hunting in our field now and won't come back. I wish there was something to be done to keep the fox off the property. Do you think dirty litter sprinkled around the chicken coop would deter the fox?


ETA: Great Ivana report and I will look into the liquid for the teeth.
 
Do you think dirty litter sprinkled around the chicken coop would deter the fox?
Eeek, how lucky is Bubba?! That would have been really scary for you to see :nailbiting: I have been researching deterrents/repellents, and this is what I will be doing starting tomorrow - several mirrors hanging on the outside of the fence, so that the fox thinks it's approaching another fox's territory; scent-based deterrents - alternating between aluminium ammonium sulfate and methyl nonyl ketone; soaking biodegradable coffee filters in good old supermarket ammonia and scattering pieces of it on the outside of the fence (we don't have any neighbouring yards to worry about). Re litter, given that cat wee stinks of ammonia, I reckon that might just work... or, it might tell the fox that there's a resident cat and he might want to come and 'meet' Bubba... I really don't know o_O
 
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(((Tara))) I am so sorry to hear about your poor girls, how horrible for you and Shiraz. I hope she recovers fully from the trauma :bighug::bighug::bighug:

Great picture, as usual, of the beautiful HRH Princess Ivana and so glad she is continuing to do well.
 
So sorry about your chickens. I would love to have a few but my subdivision says no. We had quite a flock growing up. I think we kept the entire church in eggs for several years. One family gave us whole, fresh milk in exchange (with the cream). Best butter and ice cream ever.

On the Healthy Mouth - are you concerned at all about the glycerin in it?

Can you tell me any more about the ckd med (Calcitriol)?

Ivana is beautiful. I love the smokey blacks. So glad to hear her numbers are holding - you are doing something right! :bighug:
 
On the Healthy Mouth - are you concerned at all about the glycerin in it?
The vet is confident that it won't affect the diabetes (perhaps because of the heavy dilution of it) so I'm fine with giving it a go. Given that if her mouth continues to go downhill an infection could take her out of remission anyway, it seems a fair risk I think.

Can you tell me any more about the ckd med (Calcitriol)?
Check out this page and this page - it really seems to be helping Ivana!
 
odd.... I was on pinterest the other day and it showed me this.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/462111611750171320/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/462111611750171320/
if you do a search on chicken runs....there are lots of other ideas.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/367676757060343479/
and
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/780891/30-7ft-chicken-run


sorry you lost a few. I deal with lots of predators too.
Thanks for these links, I will check them out - the more ideas the better!
 
Eeek, how lucky is Bubba?! That would have been really scary for you to see :nailbiting: I have been researching deterrents/repellents, and this is what I will be doing starting tomorrow - several mirrors hanging on the outside of the fence, so that the fox thinks it's approaching another fox's territory; scent-based deterrents - alternating between aluminium ammonium sulfate and methyl nonyl ketone; soaking biodegradable coffee filters in good old supermarket ammonia and scattering pieces of it on the outside of the fence (we don't have any neighbouring yards to worry about). Re litter, given that cat wee stinks of ammonia, I reckon that might just work... or, it might tell the fox that there's a resident cat and he might want to come and 'meet' Bubba... I really don't know o_O


I haven't used it myself. But you can buy lion pee ( mountain lion) and bear.... bigger predators that would supposedly keep the fox out.
I'm sure they are like dogs....
once they taste chicken.... they are going to keep trying until they find an easier food source.
Sometimes that circle of life is hard to watch......
 
or, it might tell the fox that there's a resident cat and he might want to come and 'meet'
It could be worth a try and I am going to dump litter around the field line and see if it helps. So far, since the episode and the fox ran, he might feel like this area is not safe for him and not come back. Fingers and Paws crossed. I just went out at dusk to find Bubba and he was in the middle of field.
 
Sorry about your girls. Have you looked into electric netting? The other day there were 2 fox in my pasture and I kind of did like Bobbie and ran at them waving my arms and yelling, it seemed to scare the crap out of them and I haven't seen them since. I've heard that turning a radio on to a talk station can help. If you're not familiar with it, http://www.backyardchickens.com/f/64/raising-backyard-chickens
is a great forum with lots of ideas. Good luck.
 
Gorgeous pic of Ivana! Glad her vet visit went well. Awful about you chickens! We have problems with foxes, too, got my children's rabbits when they were little, very traumatizing.
 
So sorry for the loss of three quarters of your chickens, Tara - so traumatic for everyone including Shiraz :(

Great to see Ivana is doing so well, though.
 
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