With a Pet, You Never Stop Learning

Cuddles has just recovered from a gastro-intestinal illness. While I won’t go into gross details, I did learn some things.

For example, we told the vet that we had been adding a teaspoon of pumpkin to his wet food. You’ll read and hear from all sorts of people that plain, pureed pumpkin adds fibre. Unfortunately, the vet said we’d have to give him many more spoonfuls a day to make it effective. So, no more pumpkin.

We also learned why he wasn’t using the giant, high-sided litterbox upstairs. I’d purchased it years ago for Miss Sugar. She was very sweet but she obviously failed finishing school. She ate like a wolverine and peed like a potty-training three year old boy. In other words, everywhere. The high-sided box solved the problem.

It was pristine and clean but Cuddles refused to use it. At almost seventeen, he’s getting creaky with arthritis. So, the vet said climbing into the taller box was uncomfortable. I immediately purchased a small box to replace the large one. He used it within a couple of hours.

The Tender Kitty Belly

Cuddles and I have something in common. Our stomachs get thrown off more easily than most. When we brought him home from the vet, he was very doped up and pretty funny, actually. But not funny enough to stop us from being concerned.

Part of the fix involved a couple of things they did at the vet’s, and then a couple of prescriptions. Plus, instead of being only on high-fibre kibble, he’s also now eating high-fibre wet food. The next morning, he was sneezing and had a runny eye. I called the vet and she explained that when they’re stressed, it’s common to get an upper respiratory infection. It’s a virus so you have to wait it out. But she said probiotics have been effective at helping them get better. What did we have to lose?

Derek got a bag of powdered probiotics from our local pet store and we mixed some into his food. Within a day his eye dried up and he stopped sneezing. He looked like his old self as he slept off the drugs and the trauma of going to the vet. We had our little lad back.

Reality Bites

Everyone knows someone who had a cat that lived into its twenties. However, a cat’s “average life span” is sixteen. We are in the bonus years with our lad. We signed up for this when we adopted a senior. But when he gets sick, I go into protective mama mode and I worry. Just because I know we won’t get a lifetime with him, doesn’t mean it isn’t difficult.

The good news is, our little house panther seems to have weathered this storm. He’s back to being a happy cat who still has bursts of kitten play almost every day.