Aliens Have Landed!

I realized that there have been no feline updates in the last little while so I thought……..

Thomas returned to the vet’s yesterday.

He has lost 1.4 lbs which I thought was good but the vet felt that it might have been a little fast in the last month.

I am not feeding him a lot at once but several smaller meals throughout the day which is the way to go.

And even though I have cut his portions back he is eating less.

Not gorging.

Several small meals a day is not hard when I am off and a little trickier when I am working.

So for the foreseeable future I will be coming home on my half hours to feed both him and Loki.

What precipitated the vet visit is that I had noticed Thomas’ belly hanging down and it looked like there was liquid in there.

When both Tember and I touched it it felt liquidy.

Turns out that it is normal.

It is the fat pad.

It will go away although the skin will still hang down.

His energy levels are also starting to come back up as well.

He is playing with Loki.

Running around the house.

Cuddling.

Curling up in my lap.

He is happier.

As for the little monster.

The chin biting is becoming a thing of the past.

Not totally yet but getting close.

He is still a food bully…..

although I have discovered why…..

when he eats all the food on one side of the bowl he cannot/will not eat the other side until I turn the bowl.

So if I am not paying attention off he goes butting Thomas or Lucky out of the way.

Thomas walks off.

Lucky just looks at him and goes back to eating.

The little fiend has developed a taste for my plants.

Despite having a thing of cat grass to eat.

I discovered he had torn one little lone root out of my pot and was chasing the poor thing around the floor.

After catching him and removing the little guy which I put back in his pot I decided to search…..

How to keep cats/kittens from digging in plants.

River stones. Smooth. Where am I getting these?

Hang them up. No? Really? If I could I would.

Spray bottle. Not working.

Tin foil. Place over the soil and it will keep them from digging.

So I did.

And it has.

Loki looked at it and tried touching but did not like.

We will see if this really does help.

For now it looks like aliens have landed in my living room.

©Sept. 25/20

Pictures are my own

He’s Just Fat

Saturday I noticed that Thomas was so not himself. He was sleeping  a lot. Not eating. I was worried and made a vet appointment. And he was looking really bloated.

I had been going immediately to worse case scenario because if I could wrap my head around that anything else is a walk in the park. Weird? Nope this is how I work. A leftover from days passed that helped me to cope with anxiety in situations where I lack absolute control.

I bought a cat carrier. Rather inexpensive I was thinking that it would cost me an arm and a leg. $34.99 and tax is awesome. Brought it home and made sure that Thomas fit. He did. Continued to monitor him and was going to his rescue more than I was going to Loki’s. With him not feeling well Loki thought he would take advantage. Well he is going to learn. Then yesterday prior to leaving for the vet’s I noticed that he is limping. Oh great. Here is my 6 year old tom who up until recently was racing around the apartment playing.  I thought he would love having a kitten to play with.

Go out and pull car up in front of step so I can put Thomas right into the car. The last time he was in a carrier he almost escaped. But it was an older carrier so the gate did not latch right. Got him in no problem. Locked the cage and picked it up. Ooooof………it had to be him and the weight of the carrier right????? Tommy boy was not a happy camper in the least.  He mrawled as we went up the stairs. In the car. I had to put window up because the sound of vehicles were causing him distress.

Get to vet’s and hop out to read the door. I never thought to ask about protocol when I made appointment. Easy enough. 3 clients at a time. Mask and sanitizer provided and must be used. Back out I go collect Thomas and enter.

This is my first experience of having to wear a mask in an establishment. Yes it took a bit to figure out how to adjust so my glasses did not fog up but whatever. It was only for the time I was inside.  After all the info was giving I went out to sit in the car and wait.

I cried a little.  I messaged the ex and asked that if I had to make that choice could I bring Thomas there for us to bury. He said yes of course.  And had I told Tember yet? Well Tember knew that I was bringing Thomas to the vet’s.  Within moments I received a text from Tember asking questions.  I have included screen shots of our conversation. Please ignore all spelling errors. Tember spells phonetically. I think that is when you spell as it sounds? If not please let me know.

Within ten minutes or so the vet came out and explained to me that Thomas was overweight and had a yeast infection in his ears. I would have to give him ear drops for the next two weeks. And he really needed a dental cleaning but  at  $700-900 cost that will wait until income tax time next year that is for sure.  Relief swelled and I blurted out: So he is just fat????

Vet: Well and has a yeast infection in ears and the dental issues.

Me: But bottom line he is fat. Needs to go on a diet. Everything else is good?

Vet: Blood work is good . His heart and lungs are good. But he is  16lbs  and needs to lose weight.

Me: I am so relieved I thought something was seriously wrong with him.

A flurry of texts went out.  He is just fat!

Today is day two. I soon have to give him his ear drops.  He is still not eating the way he usually does but that is okay.  At least this morning he was sitting looking at me waiting to be fed.

No more grazing for Thomas. Trying to figure out how to feed Loki who has to eat all the time. I put his bowl up in the cat tree. Thomas is a little too fat at the moment to get up there so we should be safe.

©August 14/20

Pictures are my own