A non-feline question… Fred writes, you write, which is appropriate… y’all or ya’ll.. I think grammatically, it’s y’all with the ‘ taking the place of the missing ou in you, but ya’ll seems more balanced from aesthetic perspective… goodness! this has become a deep thought – BEFORE caffeine… never done learning… Love & Hisses – your one stop shop for cats, kittens, and grammar.
It’s y’all. It’s always been y’all, it’ll always be y’all, I will hunt you down and challenge you to a duel if you use ya’ll, I swear I will.
(Okay, I won’t. But it’s y’all. It really is. FIGHT ME. I mean, don’t. But it is.)
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I have a question for your Friday column. My cat, Mewlan-is almost 5 years old. Healthy, eating – but she does have constipation issues. She eats dry food but won’t touch the wet stuff. I’ve tried numerous brands to introduce moisture to her diet, plus including the cat milk, clam juice, those packages from Hartz which my other cats love, like seafood bisque. I’ve never had an animal so unmotivated by food. Baby food she may deign to eat sometimes – but I’d love if anyone has ideas for wet food for a very picky eater!! We have lactalase, but I hesitate to give it to her, she is so skittish, if I can avoid stressing her by forcing it into her mouth with a syringe, I will. Plus, I would like a solution that isn’t just one or two times, basically a way to get her to drink, or eat moister foods. I appreciate any help!
Jeweled Skye said: I don’t know about hydration, and, truthfully, I don’t know the pros and cons of this, but my cats are 15 & 10 and still alive 🙂 and going ‘seniorly strong’… This may assist with the constipation as it works for hairballs… when my cat or cats are working on a hairball and running around with ‘unproductive wretching’ (hows that for a term?), I give them chunk light tuna canned in oil – not the whole can but a heaping spoonful on a saucer… usually the hairball comes up then within a few hours, I’ve not noticed any ‘runny’ or ‘less firm’ bowel movements afterwards… but may help the other way by ‘lubricating’ the innards… That’s all I got… it’s early here and I’m not a vet, but it’s helped my girls…. yikes, right?
I have two suggestions, both of which you may have already tried. First – a water fountain? Might the movement of the water catch her interest and make her want to drink from it? If you haven’t tried, it’s certainly worth a try. Secondly – goat milk. I have yet to meet a cat who doesn’t like it, you can find the canned kind in the canned milk aisle of the grocery store (near the condensed milk), and it’s another thing that’s worth a try.
That’s all I’ve got for you, but hopefully there’ll be more suggestions – if y’all have suggestions, please chime in!
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New month, new calendar pages! If you have a Crooked Acres Permanent Resident calendar for 2017, then when you turn to September, you will see…
Maxi!
And our calendar girls and boys for the Love & Hisses foster calendar are…
The Fakers! Let’s see if I can do this from memory. In the front we have Bert Macklin and Art Vandelay; in the center, we have Chanandler Bong. And in the back row we have Princess Consuela, Susie, and Ken “Moe” Adams. (I could not do that from memory – I mixed up Chanandler and Susie.)
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I realized late Wednesday that Mercury had stopped eating. The last time I’d seen her eat was mid-afternoon, and a while after that she’d left a pretty unpleasant surprise in the litter box. She wouldn’t eat no matter what I offered her, and except for drinking just a bit of water, her intake was pretty much down to nothing. She was keeping the kittens fed, so I asked Fred to check on her when he got up yesterday morning. He did, and woke me up a little after 4:00 to tell me that she’d had another litter box incident. I went up to clean up after her (oh, the SMELL) and to try to get her to eat something, and she still wasn’t having it.
By the time I took her to the vet at 10:00, I’d convinced her to drink a little watered-down canned goat milk, but still couldn’t get her to eat. They checked her temperature at the vet and took a fecal sample, and the vet examined her. Her temperature was normal, she wasn’t dehydrated, and her fecal showed no parasites. Mercury, who had been doing nothing at home but laying and letting her kittens nurse, was all OVER that exam room, sniffed every single inch of it, all curious and bright-eyed.
Then the vet opened a big container of treats, and Mercury was all “HALLO THERE I SEE YOU HAVE SOMETHING FOR ME” and proceeded to suck down a bunch of treats. The vet went and got some sensitive-stomach food, and when she popped open the can of food, Mercury said “WHY THANK YOU. THAT LADY WAS REFUSING TO FEED ME AND I AM STARVING! SHE IS A VERY BAD LADY.”
So we ended up with a couple of cans of the food, a probiotic, and some anti-nausea medicine just in case. As of bedtime last night, she had eaten a couple of servings of the canned food mixed with goat milk (including the probiotic, sprinkled over one of those plates of food), drank plenty of water, and ate some kibble. She was also back to her friendly, talkative self, which was a definite relief.
“What? I wanted a vacation!”
Aurora, daydreaming. Oh, those blue eyes!
Hubble, in the middle of the pile.
Nurse Stardust is all “Are you okay? You feel warm!”
Pretty, pretty Stardust.
Phoenix, keeping an eye on Mama.
“Paws up, y’all!” (Stardust)
Hubble looks a bit dyspeptic.
A tussle of kittens.
Phoenix, waving her paws in the air ’cause she just don’t care.
Hubble thinks I’m weird.
::boop!::
The kittens are spending most of their time out of the nest, though they return to it occasionally for napping or to nurse. They’ve been all over the carpeted part of the room, and have even ventured onto the floor occasionally. They’ve got their first few teeth – well, Stardust does, at least; I’m assuming the rest of them do too, but haven’t checked to be sure – and they’re still a little wobbly, but move around with no problem. My favorite part: they’ve all climbed into my lap at one point or another.
I’ve put out some small litter boxes. None of them have been used yet – it’s a little early, really – but they’ve all climbed in, chewed on some litter, looked disgusted, and spit it out.
These kittens are growing up WAY too fast. Can’t we slow them down a little? (I’m sure Mercury votes “NO.”)
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Videos! In the first, Phoenix is a genius. Okay, maybe the video isn’t THAT exciting – but she’s 3 weeks old, it’s kind of fun to watch her figure stuff out.
In the second, Hubble learns the first rule of Kitten Fight Club: you gotta be CLEAN. And then you’ve gotta TELL everyone that you’re clean. They might ignore you, but who cares?
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Khal Drogo (formerly known as Fancypants v2.0) on the platform in the back yard. I took this picture through the window, and it’s a good thing – when I stepped outside to get a clearer shot, he vamoosed.
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Previously
2016: Throw Back Thursday: Terry.
2015: Terry update!
2014: Oh, it’s so fascinating when she tells that story. I can’t wait.”
2013: No entry.
2012: RAZZIE HAS BEEN ADOPTED!
2011: These kittens are the standing-up balancingest kittens I’ve ever seen.
2010: Jake of the l’Unervilles.
2009: “O crystal ball, when will I get my fancy new eyelips?”
2008: I know. I’m an unreasonable monster.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Morning kisses.