Mandarin'sMom
Member Since 2014
Yesterday's condo
Thank you so much for all of the vines, well-wishes and prayers - I am finally starting to feel like my normal self again.
...and while the pups are thrilled that they at least got a short walk this morning, the cats are a bit disappointed that their bean is no longer laying around with them all day. I don't think I have felt this crappy in years and I for sure have never slept so much.
It actually felt good to clean the house this morning - to my surprise, there still are hardwood floors under the carpet of dog and cat hair that I vacuumed up.
With four big hairy dogs, not vacuuming for 5 days is not pretty, that's for sure.
The furry crew managed to get by without my constant supervision... even though Mandarin and Walter's BG suffered and both of them ended up with skipped shots. Mandarin is back to being my sweet little boy and has forgiven me for the dental trauma. Walter earned himself a reduction... and after the BCS yesterday, his depot is starting to fill up again and I hope that he will start to head down sometime soon.
In response to some of the questions from yesterday's condo:
Ivy (the little Maine Coon) and Fern (black and white) are doing fantastic! Ivy is huge for her age and growing like weed. She started out as the smallest kitten and is now the second biggest. She is a picture of health, still loves to talk, play in the water fountain and wrestle with her foster siblings.
Fern, who had her eye removed at only 7 weeks of age, is turning into a lanky teenage kitten. She is probably getting close to 4 months (she is quite a bit older than the other three) and looks and feels great. No concerns since she her surgery.
Flora (black) and Iris (Siamese) are both having a tough time. Flora continues to have frequents bouts of diarrhea. She does well for a week and then, all of a sudden, she goes back to having liquid diarrhea. She has now had three fecals (none of them found anything wrong), has been dewormed multiple times and has been on probiotics for weeks. I took her back to the vet today because she is once again losing weight and they started her on Metronidazole. Not something I wanted to do to a tiny 2-pound kitten, but they are running out of ideas. If this doesn't work, we will run bloodwork (even though that will probably also prove difficult since she is so tiny). The other option is a homemade diet to eliminate food allergies.
Iris is still incredibly congested and is starting to gasp for air. She has now been on three rounds of antibiotics (Clindamycin, Clavamox and Zithromax) and an antiviral and none of them have made a difference at all. The vet started her on Doxycycline today, but if she doesn't show improvement in 3 days, they will do more diagnostics. One concern is that there might be a polyp. She is also on Lysine, a tiny dose of Zyrtec, and probiotics. Amazingly enough, her stool is entirely normal... despite all of those antibiotics.
So, to come back to the original question: I am trying to offer the two little ones canned food every hour or two, but neither one of them is eating enough. I also just got a tube of Nutrical and I am adding that to their food. The problem is that my two diabetics really need to lose weight (Mandarin has gained 2 pounds over the last few months) and that they are pretty obsessed with food. So unless I am actively supervising (and pushing the chubby boys out of the way), I can't leave food out. But I think the bottom line is that we have to figure out Flora and Iris's health issues first.
Sorry about the super long post... it feels like I haven't been on here in forever. ...and I am looking forward to visiting some other condos today - lots of catching up to do!
Thank you so much for all of the vines, well-wishes and prayers - I am finally starting to feel like my normal self again.
...and while the pups are thrilled that they at least got a short walk this morning, the cats are a bit disappointed that their bean is no longer laying around with them all day. I don't think I have felt this crappy in years and I for sure have never slept so much.It actually felt good to clean the house this morning - to my surprise, there still are hardwood floors under the carpet of dog and cat hair that I vacuumed up.
With four big hairy dogs, not vacuuming for 5 days is not pretty, that's for sure.The furry crew managed to get by without my constant supervision... even though Mandarin and Walter's BG suffered and both of them ended up with skipped shots. Mandarin is back to being my sweet little boy and has forgiven me for the dental trauma. Walter earned himself a reduction... and after the BCS yesterday, his depot is starting to fill up again and I hope that he will start to head down sometime soon.
In response to some of the questions from yesterday's condo:
Ivy (the little Maine Coon) and Fern (black and white) are doing fantastic! Ivy is huge for her age and growing like weed. She started out as the smallest kitten and is now the second biggest. She is a picture of health, still loves to talk, play in the water fountain and wrestle with her foster siblings.
Fern, who had her eye removed at only 7 weeks of age, is turning into a lanky teenage kitten. She is probably getting close to 4 months (she is quite a bit older than the other three) and looks and feels great. No concerns since she her surgery.
Flora (black) and Iris (Siamese) are both having a tough time. Flora continues to have frequents bouts of diarrhea. She does well for a week and then, all of a sudden, she goes back to having liquid diarrhea. She has now had three fecals (none of them found anything wrong), has been dewormed multiple times and has been on probiotics for weeks. I took her back to the vet today because she is once again losing weight and they started her on Metronidazole. Not something I wanted to do to a tiny 2-pound kitten, but they are running out of ideas. If this doesn't work, we will run bloodwork (even though that will probably also prove difficult since she is so tiny). The other option is a homemade diet to eliminate food allergies.
Iris is still incredibly congested and is starting to gasp for air. She has now been on three rounds of antibiotics (Clindamycin, Clavamox and Zithromax) and an antiviral and none of them have made a difference at all. The vet started her on Doxycycline today, but if she doesn't show improvement in 3 days, they will do more diagnostics. One concern is that there might be a polyp. She is also on Lysine, a tiny dose of Zyrtec, and probiotics. Amazingly enough, her stool is entirely normal... despite all of those antibiotics.
So, to come back to the original question: I am trying to offer the two little ones canned food every hour or two, but neither one of them is eating enough. I also just got a tube of Nutrical and I am adding that to their food. The problem is that my two diabetics really need to lose weight (Mandarin has gained 2 pounds over the last few months
) and that they are pretty obsessed with food. So unless I am actively supervising (and pushing the chubby boys out of the way), I can't leave food out. But I think the bottom line is that we have to figure out Flora and Iris's health issues first.Sorry about the super long post... it feels like I haven't been on here in forever. ...and I am looking forward to visiting some other condos today - lots of catching up to do!
Walter is testing the waters again already! It kills me that I can't have Ivy 
Sending tons of vines and prayers for little Flora and Iris...too young for issues. Happy to hear Fern is doing well!
Sorry, just seeing this now. S. Boulardii works wonders for both humans and cats with digestive issues. Hopefully it will help little Flora. And I love SEB too, but I have no idea what the dose of either SEB or S. Boulardii would be for kittens... I take Klaire brand of S. Boulardii myself as a regular probiotic (about $30 a bottle from Amazon) but I don't know what the other ingredients are. Florastor would be worth it since it has no other questionable ingredients and you wouldn't have to pill Flora. And hopefully the steam bath will help Iris a bit too. You have your hands full!