So last Monday I brought the Rescuees home, and they were all perfectly fine, healthy, running around like their tails were on fire. Especially Sheila, who won me over with her wild ways at the vet. I weighed them all Monday night to see where they were.
As the week wore on, Sheila got quieter and quieter and stopped eating, and it got to the point where every time I walked into the room, I was carrying something to try to tempt her to eat. She seemed to rally Thursday – I got her to eat – but when I walked into the room a little later there was a large puddle of vomit. By Friday, she’d lost 4 ounces from a beginning weight of 1 pound, 6 ounces. She was seeming to rally again, she ate Friday morning, but then vomited again. She’d go over and sniff the bowl of food, but then walk away and sit there, hunched over, looking miserable. She clearly wanted to eat, but was nauseated by the smell of the food. We had an appointment for Spanky Friday afternoon, so I called the vet’s office to make sure it was okay to bring her with us. It was, so we did.
The vet looked her over, they did a fecal, and the vet offered up a couple of suggestions as far as what could be going on with her. She gave us a few things to give Sheila, and we were on our way home.
(Spanky, by the way, at the age of almost 14, has ACNE on his chin. He’s never had that issue before, but in his senior years he’s all acne’d up like a, well, a 14 year old boy, now that I think about it. He’ll be fine.)
So poor Sheila, all weekend long every time we went into the kitten room, we were putting medicine or PediaSorb into her mouth, and she was getting pretty tired of it, thank you. But she seemed to be doing better on Saturday, and last night she was back up to 1 pound, 4 1/2 ounces. The best thing, what really made us feel better, is that she was playing. She hadn’t really done any serious playing since Tuesday night, but yesterday she was chasing the boys around and showing them who the boss is.
(Hint: SHE is the boss.)
So she’s doing well – they all are – eating well, and now every time I walk into the room, they all howl at me because they got accustomed to my constantly bringing tasty food to tempt Sheila to eat.
Garrity, on the cat tree, where he’s safe from Sheila. Check out his gorgeous eyes – here’s a closeup:
How neat is it that the gold is spreading outward from his pupils like that? SO neat!
Gavin kicks some toy mouse butt. He’s got the really cool eyes, too:
Sheila, kicking some Garrity tail.
“I was just playin’ dead so she’d go away. When she’s not looking, I’m totally going to jump on her and bite her neck!”
::SMILE::
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The Bookworms are also doing well. They’re now in the house 24 hours a day instead of being locked up in the guest bedroom at night. I had planned to start letting them stay out all the time a few weeks ago, but ended up deciding to keep putting them in the guest bedroom as long as they didn’t fight it too hard. Friday, they fought it, and I decided we’d just leave them out and see how it went.
It’s going okay. At various times through the night, I wake up and have all the kittens in bed with me. There’s been the occasional Bookworm-Elwood/ Jake spat, and they LOVE to race through the house like a herd of elephants the instant all the lights are off, but I’ve been sleeping okay, so I’m not going to complain. Rhyme and Bolitar take turns sleeping curled up right next to me. They both purr constantly, and waking up to a sweet purring kitten curled up next to you is always a good thing.
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Kara in her favorite sleeping place.
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Previously
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Aren’t I nice, taking toys away from our cats for the foster kitties to play with?
Robyn…my 4 yr old kitty has acne, too. I had never heard of such a thing! The vet said to feed her from a plate instead of a bowl…..she eats kibble and now she pushes it all off the plate & I have yet another mess to clean up!
Oh my goodness – go Sheila! What a worry! But glad to hear she is rallying and showing everyone who is boss!
Garrity and Gavin’s eyes are beautiful and I love love love Garrity’s expressions!Awwwwwwww!
Great to hear too that the Bookworms are thriving and so sweet to know they are with you when you wake up! 🙂
Kara is lovely!
take care
x
glad sheila is feeling better!!
oh spanky, i feel your pain. i’m 31 and dealing with acne. 31!!!!!!
I’ve had several cats get a little acne, all when in the teenage years. I’ve heard the theory that plastic ware is worse than ceramic, but I feed off of ceramic and plates and my older cat has it, and the younger one does not – eating off the same dishes. The only plastic is the water fountain.
I just keep an eye on it, use a little soap on a dishtowel to wash the chin when they cut open the pimples scratching them, and watch for any bigger infection. I’ve never gotten any vet medication for them, since they haven’t had a huge problem.
We had kitty acne at our house in 2009 – but only on the older cats. Floyd had it really bad but that was partly because he was sick I think. That is when we switched from their cute plastic plates to using paper plates (the water is in ceramic dishes). I think they get it from rubbing on the other plastic aroudn the house (storage bins are very popular with them).
I am so glad that Sheila is doing ok now – it is too bad she felt bad for so long though. But we are so glad she is doing ok! Gavin and Garrity have very cool eyes – they are like the opposite of Virgils (his are green inside, yellow outside).
Oh, and I saw your question on my blog – I use Out or Kids and Pets in the laundry – Out is great but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere lately (they used to have it at WalMart but not anymore for some reason). Kids and Pets is pretty good too. I have used the Out on the cats boogie mats when they were peed on and they seem ok – no smell to me and the cats use them without peeing on them so I am guessing they aren’t attracted to pee on them by the smell either.
could you take a picture of the acne? Freya has something that everyone says is acne, but it doesn’t look like acne to me…
You were really teasing us with Sheila! I was just getting ready to book a flight to Oklahoma or wherever it is you are, to sit with Sheila, and then you tell us she’s getting better again! 🙂
Our vet said that ceramic too sometimes can cause irritation, and that stainless steel was they best. This was for a case of the itchies, not acne, but may help to try stainless steel if not already using?
Thank heaven Sheila is feeling better and is now able to return to supervising (bossing) her brothers!
I may not comment on every post, but I want you to know I check in every day – you always make me smile through your posts and/or kitteh pixs!
Freya – Well my current cat scratches them, so they are little scabs on top of a bump, on the underside of the chin – if you make a circle on the tip of the lower jaw, looking from below, they are in that circle. Can be a black spot, to a bump that hurts to touch a little, to a half bump with scab on top. Usually only one or two at a time in my cats’ cases.
My cats only got them past the age of 10. If your cat is younger or you have more you might want to ask the vet.
Ha-ha-ha, how cute is Garrity! Looks like a little pirate kitten in his second last shot! and then he has that smug little smile, why he is edible cute, i tell you! it is good that Sheila is better, we want no heart breaks, thank-you very much. kisses to the house cats, get some homeopathics for the Spanky, it’ll clear the acne right up without steroids or anything. keep the super cute snaps comin’. 🙂
Oh boy, when I read the start of this entry I was afraid you were gently working your way up to telling us poor little Sheila had faded away and died. I’m SO glad I was wrong about that! Eat up, Sheila, and get big and strong!
I had a cat called Rose who got acne on her chin when she got old – it never got really inflamed, just lumpy with blackheads. We would wipe her chin with a warm damp washcloth and it was mostly okay. She did have a plastic bowl, but my current cat and kitten have ceramic ones, so hopefully they won’t become zitty kitties.
Oh, Spanky. First, your name is Spanky; second, you’re a pizza face. It’s a good thing everyone loves you!
Sheila get well soon!
That zoom in pic of Garrity’s eyes… I want to plant a kiss right between. I love me some orange kitties, but then again, I love ALL kitties. 🙂