Willow Monday

Willow has the right idea on how to approach another Monday! Here it is 2016, and today will be my first day back to work after taking the week between Christmas and New Years off. I actually cheated and did some work on the "vacation" just different kind of work than what I usually have time for. I'm actually feeling eager to get back to work, I suppose it helps to really like what I do!

Happy Willow Monday!

health updates

Buddy and Marvin both visited the vet on Tuesday.

I wanted to follow-up with Buddy since he was looking so miserable on Sunday. The vet said it could be a lot of things and gave me a few options of things to try. I was grateful to have somethings to try, as just seeing him look miserable and feeling helpless is hard. She thinks it could be the higher felimazole (thyroid) medication dose could be upsetting his tummy. We've been giving him Pepcid in the evenings, but will now split that dose between morning and evening. The vet didn't think Buddy was suffering from a tummy rub deficiency, so that's good.

Buddy still wanted cuddles on Sunday night even when he was feeling miserable

Buddy's been feeling better these past few days. He's eaten more than he usually does. We let him eat whenever he wants - the more he wants to eat the better. We can't free feed due to Theo, so Buddy lets us know when he wants some food and we give him a private dining experience. (Private in that no other cats are invited, he likes human company when he dines, but gets really annoyed fast if a feline tries to share his meal.)

I know his feeling better is only the upswing of the roller coster, the down swing won't be far behind. I'm enjoying the feeling better part though for as long as it lasts. He's such a delightful cat.

Marvin was one ounce shy of 8 pounds! When I rescued him, I think he was only 5 pounds. He's a little chubby at 8 pounds, but then he fits in with everyone else who lives here! And he had that long stretch of not wanting to eat, I kind of don't mind if he packs on a little excess in case he decides to go back to not eating.

Marvin went to the vet to get his chronic cough looked at. Some of you thought it might be asthma. 

Marvin's innards

Well if you said asthma, you were right! Asthma is exactly what the diagnosis is. So, some meds and hopefully it clears it up. Because of his dental problems he doesn't like his mouth being touched, so pilling is not really an option. I usually just crush the pills and put into his food and he eats them up. But, if he doesn't, I'll need to get him an inhaler - that'll be fun.

Poor Marvin, his medical problems keep pilling up - he's got chronic kidney failure, rotten teeth, and now asthma. He also has an awesome personality, is a complete cuddle-bug, and can't get enough playing fetch with his sparkle ball! He's still available for adoption, but it's going to take a very special human to want to take on a cat with so many problems. And it would be really, really hard giving him up.

Meanwhile, look at who got some inside time!  

Oliver, claiming his spot on the couch!

Mr. Gotcha Day-Theo didn't take kindly to Oliver being inside on his special day, but I made him cope, as poor Oliver rarely gets inside time. I've been giving Oliver a little more inside time lately, usually in the form of holding him, while walking around the house. I so wish he didn't urine mark, then maybe he could become an official inside kitty. I've tried lots of things to get him to stop spraying, but he's so territorial. And of course, if Oliver came inside, then Pierre would need to come inside too. Theo doesn't like having Oliver inside, I can't imagine he would like Oliver's son being inside too!

Six years of Theo!

Yikes, almost missed Theo's Gotcha day! (Sadly, I missed it the last two years too.)

Theo is quite the cat - he keeps us on our toes - he's still very fixated on food, so any unattended food gets claimed by him. Sometimes he stretches the definition of unattended to mean human food stored in the cupboards or food that's locked away in the latched and secured kibble bins. Theo still eats his meals in solitary confinement (locked away in the bathroom). When he's left out in the general population, he can't help himself and must eat Nahum's food.

He's about seven years old now, and each year he grows more and more cuddly. He loves to be held or to cuddle in a lap with his front paws perched over an arm. He's probably our most emotionally sensitive guy. He wears his emotions right out on his furs. 

Our lives would be very dull without this guy's huge personality. He's a character for sure! I'm grateful for his presence and his quirkiness, even when it drives me bonkers! Here's to six wonderful Theo-filled years!!!

perfect circle

Marvin continues to amaze me.

Marvin demonstrates the Perfect Circle position

I'm pretty convinced he's a purebred Havana Brown, so I reached out to a Havana Brown breeder and asked if they could help figure out where he came from. If he's lost from his loving home, I would want to reconnect him. I heard back from the breeder today, she checked with a number of other breeders who have sold Havana Browns to people in my general area, but no one reports one lost.

This boy cannot get enough of playing fetch! He goes and goes and goes. He only chases the sparkle ball, nothing else! Glad I just happened upon the right toy!

He's been feeling better these days, what's going in and going out of each end is within specs. That's good! One thing that concerns me is he gets awful coughing fits. He rarely horks up anything but often coughs and coughs. I'm trying to get a good video of such an episode to show the vet.

roller coaster

As I was packing up getting ready to leave my office this afternoon, reality hit me like a load of emotional bricks. I realized Buddy's health is fading rapidly and he most likely will not be with us much longer. That moment of reality was accompanied by a host of tears as my heart broke. I spent the 20-minute walk home sobbing as I thought about what felt like a painful truth.

Undated photo (circa a few years ago)

Buddy's health has been up and down. Periods of not wanting to eat and looking really uncomfortable mixed in with times of being his tummy-rub demanding, super-lovey self. It's really hard seeing him so miserable, it's not the quality of life I want for him. Tonight, he's back to his perky self (I'm grateful). When I got home from my commute, he was the first to greet my sobby-self at the door with lovey meows and climbing up on me, desperate to be held (exactly what my ouchy heart needed). Seeing him be his usual self tonight is quite the contrast to last night, when he was all hunched up on the heating pad looking quite miserable.

Earlier this afternoon, I had a conversation with my vet about Buddy's health and the last blood work results. The tests basically indicated he's old (16) and his body is really starting to show that age. Organs are sometimes struggling to function properly, as they do with old age, thus times of feeling miserable. I asked if there was more non-invasive diagnostic work we could do, and she said not really. The best we can do is to keep the medicine regime, maybe start Sub-Q fluids if needed and monitor his quality of life.

The reality moment for me was realizing that there is nothing we can do to fix what ails him. Which means, me needing to accept the inevitable, as painful as that is - I'm going to need to say goodbye to my tummy-rub loving machine sometime in the near future. Damn. Meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy every moment I get with this guy.

I recently discovered a new Fancy Feast food offering. We got some free samples to try and Buddy gobbled them down with great gusto. I was excited to find a food that he'll actually eat somewhat consistently. This cat food looks like real human food, so I think Buddy might think he's getting human food which he loves.

The food is called Purely Fancy Feast. It comes in little 2 oz trays and it's pretty pricey. But I'm at that place with Buddy, that I'm willing to pay a lot of money if it means he'll eat. He's always been a picky eater and now he's taken that to the extreme. I remember with Max, near the end of his life, finding food he would eat was a huge challenge. I tried all sorts of new flavors, hoping it would entice him just to eat a little bit more. 

Continued prayers for Buddy's health and our ouchy hearts are always appreciated.

Monday Rose

What better way to start a Monday than with a precious Christmas Rose.

Happy Monday!!

And welcome to winter!

Christmas party

Friday night was the company Christmas party at my house. And since I own the company I could invite all my friends and actually have a fun party! There was plenty of hot spiced apple cider and eggnog and rum - yum!

Laura outdid herself with the yummy food offerings. Nahum had a hard time resisting the cheese ball, he made several attempts at grabbing it.

The stockings are hung anticipating the coming of santapaws.

This year's Christmas kitty is Nahum!

Theo auditioned to be Christmas kitty, but the selection committee unanimously chose Nahum.

Trouble brewing:

That oddly peaceful moment before disaster strikes.