From Aimee:
Robyn, I’m asking for advice/suggestions from you and other readers. I have a cat who is about 20. Although she’s been mostly healthy her whole life, she is pretty frail and starting to have issues. She had a UTI earlier this year, which she’d never had before. She also has feline herpes and takes L-lysine every day for that. She’s been a cat that pukes a lot pretty much her whole life. She’s been eating Newman’s Organic canned food for a while now and it HAD been great. Once we switched her to it, she all but stopped throwing up. Before settling on Newman’s, we’d tried MANY MANY brands. All the grocery store brands get puked almost immediately. We have also tried a bunch of brands at the high end fancy pet store, and most of them make her throw up also. Anything with chunks, most brands with grains, all dry food. Well, the last few weeks, she doesn’t want to eat the Newman’s, she doesn’t like it. At first I thought it was her appetite, but she’s hungry, she just doesn’t want the Newman’s. I tried putting baby food on the Newman’s, but no matter how well I mix it, she’s extremely adept at licking the baby food off the cat food. I went to the pet store yesterday and got a few cans of food she hasn’t tried, so far two came right up, one stayed down. The one that stayed down was by B.F.F., and is a tuna blend. I’m not sure a fish-based food is good for ALWAYS, though? Anyway. She went to the vet Monday and she’d lost half a pound (and now weighs 6 lbs, she’s tiny) since she was there a couple of months ago. Any advice for feeding a finicky old cat?
Although a fish-based food isn’t the greatest choice for always, it really comes down to what she’ll eat – and she’s 20 years old, you know? I mean, if I make it to 100 years old (or whatever the human number of 20 cat years is), the people at the nursing home just better give me all the chocolate I can put in my face. 🙂
Spanky’s 16 and has turned pretty finicky in the past year, and just when I find a food he’ll eat, he decides he doesn’t like it any more. I have a wide selection of canned food that I keep on hand, but not a lot of each since I know he’ll just change his mind without warning. SIGH.
(Oddly, though it isn’t his main form of nutrition, he likes to finish meal times by eating chicken baby food out of the jar. On a plate, he doesn’t care for it, but if he hears me open a jar, he’s at my feet like a flash ’til I put the jar on the floor for him. Weird.)
So, how about it y’all – got any suggestions for Aimee? I’m sure you do – please share!
Update on Tyrion (see his pictures here if you haven’t already) from Gail:
Tyrion has gained weight. His hips are not as bony as they were. He is up to almost 1.5 lbs. he has grown a tiny bit, but has put on a layer of fat. He is still so skinny everywhere but his belly. He does walk and run and play, but tends to roll over as he lives for belly rubs!
Thanks for the update, Gail! He certainly appears to be one happy little man.
Have you ever noticed, as I did today, that Brandywine has on the most lovely gold gloves? or orange… But lovely all the same!
Oh yes indeed, I love her fancy golden-orange gloves. She’s a lady, she wears her gloves at all times (even when she’s being a goofball!)
I love the second to last picture of Kennebec. It looks like Mr. Flower Kitty on the bed fabric is looking adoringly at him (as he should be!)!
I hadn’t noticed that, but now it’s cracking me up!
I just (re-)read about Alice’s wheeze back in her early days with you. Has she got over it? (Pardon my grammar, English is not my native language and sometimes my memory fails me.)
She has completely gotten over it, actually – she just seemed to outgrow it. She had a nasal endoscopy in January 2011. They were looking to see if she had a polyp above her soft palate. They didn’t find that, but they did find a little scar tissue at the back of her throat, the origin of which they were unable to determine. We thought that it was going to be a lifelong issue with her, but a few months later it seemed to just go away. She went from occasionally wheezing to not doing it at all, and it took us a few months to realize that it had stopped. I can’t remember the last time I heard her doing it – I would guess it’s been well over a year.
In the picture of Agata, where you are mentioning the green ring around her pupils…..if you look hard, her pupils seem like they are pulsating!! Freaky, but gorgeous!
Ha – I hadn’t noticed that, but it totally does!
Is Rupert’s tail hanging down between the cracks? That seems like some kind of old-timey Southern saying. “It’s cat-tail-hangin’ hot today!”
Yeah, it was hanging down between the cracks – and it’s TOTALLY been cat-tail-hangin’ hot lately!
This seems to be the appropriate time to mention that my 7-year-old is going through a, uh, challenging phase right now, and has earned herself the nickname Stompers, inspired by a certain wee orange kitten. I’ve cajoled her out of more than one sulky fit with the phrase “Stompers is STOMPING!” which always makes her giggle too much to keep on being mad.
This is way too cute – but I have to admit I totally assumed you meant your 7 year-old cat, and was caught by surprise that your cat giggles. HEE.
I rarely comment although I’ve been a regular reader for years. I know how you like it when your readers dream about you, so here goes…… While I didn’t dream about you or Fred specifically, I did spend my slumber hours chasing four little orange stripey kittens all over the place. My friend and I were trying to get the four kittens somewhere (the details are fuzzy) and they were all over the place. As soon as we would get one corralled, another one would be off in another direction. There’s no doubt where the inspiration for that dream came from 🙂 Keep up the good work with the kitties – if they are half as much fun in real life as they were in my dream, that’s a good way to spend your days!
I love it! You know, this sounds a LOT like a scene that happened here the other night. I was trying to get the Taters into the guest bedroom for the night, and the ‘Maters were POSITIVE that I was giving the other kittens canned food, and they were desperate to get in there. Fred was picking them up and shoving them out the door and they were flooding back in – it was quite a sight, let me tell you. When you’ve got a flood of kittens who are sure there’s food on the other side of the door, it’s complete mayhem.
Anyway, as has been vaguely banging around my head this past week:
And Robyn said, “Brandy, you’re a fine girl. What a good pet you will be! But I’m sorry, we’re out of room on the cat tree.”
HA. Also, I love that song so much!
Aw, poor black and white chicken, whose breed I cannot recall at the moment, showing signs of too many suitors, rooster or duckboy, with that bare back. Why does it look like she’s the only one? Is she the hussy of the group? lol
Oh, I so hate seeing chickens with bare backs, and it makes me tell Fred that we have TOO MANY roosters (he says we only have three. I’m not sure I believe him.) The truth is that for some reason, roosters will take a liking to a particular hen, and she ends up with a bare back because they grab onto the feathers on her back while they’re, y’know. BEING ANIMALS. I never know why they focus on one hen, but I hate it. The male ducks really like the white hens and can often be seen chasing them around, and I’m not too fond of that, either, though the male ducks usually give up once the hens run under the coop.
I can’t remember the name of the breed of that chicken – we usually just call them “The Specks.”
Edited to add: Fred tells me they’re called Barred Rocks. Which I knew – I just couldn’t remember!
Kennebec is what a friend of mine refers to as a Felis altitudinus – a cat who likes high places. (Lots of them do.)
Jackson Galaxy says that some cats are bush dwellers and some are tree dwellers. Until recently, Miz Poo has always been a bush dweller, but she’s suddenly started hanging out on the platforms in the front room (which are up high). I don’t know if she’s changed her stance on the best place to hang out, or she’s changing her ways in her old age, or even if she just never noticed the platforms ’til recently, but she certainly loves laying up there and looking down on us all!
How did Miz Poo react to Caspian’s mighty floof suit? I assume there was some hissing involved, or maybe she just hoped he’d magically disappear?
Miz Poo was not impressed by Caspian’s floof suit. She didn’t hiss or smack – she just gave him a look of disdain and pretended he didn’t exist.
I should add here that despite the fact that Miz Poo pretends to haaaaaaaate kittens and is all “Kittens? Yuck! Ptooie! Ptooie!” every time we discuss them, she seems to always position herself so that there’s a kitten close by, and she always looks very entertained by their antics. So she’s not fooling me!
I got an update from Kristyn about Stompers! She said:
He just finished up his medicine and was a real trooper about that. He seems happy as can be. He follows me everywhere, which of course just made me fall even more in love with him. But he’s been pretty confident about branching out and exploring on his own as well. He and other kitty, Wisp, are tolerating one another. She’s still not thrilled about him, but has played with some of his toys instead of hers, actually slept near where he was, and has dialed back the hissing tremendously. So it seems to be going well! He is quite delighted that my sons play with legos. Lego heads are apparently the best thing to bat around (Wisp tends to build up collections of them next to her food bowl. No idea what that’s about, but its a blend of adorable and slightly creepy). Stompers has successfully charmed every person who has met him so far and demands kisses from every one of them! You did a great job with him. He’s an absolute angel!
Awwww, Stompies. I knew he was going to do great in his new home! (Also, would it be weird if I went out and bought Lego people for the cats to play with? Probably, right?)
I’ll be leaving in a bit to take Kennebec, Agata, and Fianna to Petsmart and get them settled in. They’ve been particularly sweet the last few days, making sure that I would miss them that much more. Argh! This is the worst part – in a perfect world, they’d all get adopted tonight. I’ll settle for one or two going tonight and the rest tomorrow, though. Wouldn’t that be awesome?
Kennebec was actually laying on his back, half in and half out of this little bin (which I put toys in), but woke when I ran to get my camera.
Brandywine’s checking to see if the coast is clear so she can run away from the little monsters.
Sungold would like to know where his mama is, please.
Fianna, coming to see what’s going on.
“YOU ARE A STRANGER TO ME. I AM CONSIDERING PUTTING ON MY STRANGER DANGER FLOOF.”
Responds Fianna, “Dude. I don’t know about this floof you’re talking about, but this looks JUST like a room I used to live in! I had a blue cat tree JUST like that one! This is trippy, man!”
Kennebec, keeping an eye on things.
I was totally NOT tapping on the wall so they’d look up. Caspian’s face (blue collar) is cracking me up.
This is what Agata thinks about those ‘Mater kittens.
Oh, look. Miz Poo in the middle of a crowd of kittens. Yeah, you hate kittens, Miz Poo. Sure. Tell us another story.
Fianna guarding the ball from Mr. Stripey.
Nap time.
Sweet Fianna.
I have, of course, a bunch more pictures of the Taters. I’ll either post them this weekend or Monday, depending on how my weekend goes.
Also, I had intended to do profiles of the ‘Maters starting today with Brandywine, but instead I’ll do that starting on Monday. Maybe I’ll double up the kittens one day so they’ll all fit in one week.
I just adore Corbie’s fantastic caramel-colored belly. Also, he is SO SO SO PRETTY. You probably didn’t know that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2011: But she IS working on her anger management…
2010: Poor long-suffering Moxie.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Oh, you have to submit those kitties on the stairs pictures somewhere!!! They are great!!
I agree! Love those pictures.
I agree with Paula (above). The stair picture is wonderful. Speaking of wonderful…Corbie’s belly! Oh my…I would be burying my face in that one and giving it many kisses!!!
Aimee, I agree with Robyn. Give her what ever she likes and will keep down…even if it is straight from the jar. 🙂 20 is very old and she is probably in renal failure (very very very common in old cats). That is probably why she is losing weight. My sweet girl had the same problem along with a hyper-thyroid which could not be treated with the radio-active iodine due to her being in renal failure. Do the best you can and give her all the love and snuggles she wants. At 20, every day is a blessing! Robyn, when I am 100, I want Pastries…tons of soft, moist, yummy pastries! LOL
Miz Poo, you are fabulous!
That’s how it was with my cat Bruce when he got to be about 16-17. We could only treat his thyroid with a super-low dosage of medication because his kidneys were failing. He didn’t get super finicky, but he did get tired of foods pretty often and I had to change brands/flavors a lot to keep him eating.
The thing he did get really fussy about was water. I’m not even sure how this happened, but somehow he went from drinking from a normal water bowl to drinking only from a big glass beer mug, which had to be kept filled to the brim with fresh ice water. Luckily for him I was doing the stay-at-home mom thing at the time, and every few hours he’d come and chatter at me and show me how his glass had NO ICE in it AT ALL, and geez, lady, the service in this place is TERRIBLE.
Mine wanted to only drink from the bathroom faucet. I did buy a kitty water fountain and had it in my bedroom. This helped at 2:30 am!!!
Aw, the stairs photos are great! My mother takes annual staircase photos of me with my brothers and cousins.
I’m no expert on older cats, but I do know that taste buds get less sensitive with age and the Newman’s might not taste appealling to the 20 year old kitty anymore. Fishy food is more strongly flavored (or at least it smells so!) and I actually limit how often/what kind of fish based food I will give my young cats, so not to ‘ruin’ their taste for their regular food. (Trader Joes- their cat food is great!! They love it, and it has no by products or corn or soy in it. And its only .69 a can!) I’ve heard of cats that get ‘addicted’ to tuna, because everything else tastes bland to them if they have it too often.
I agree about the smell. When Boo was in her last years (she lived to 21) the smell and temperature of food was very important to her, so I sometimes zapped her food in the microwave quickly (just a couple of seconds) to “enhance” the odor. But let her eat whatever she wants, and just be happy she is eating! You are blessed to know the love of a senior kitty! 🙂
I love the song “Brandy” too! Great song to start the morning with (though somewhat bittersweet to me today).
Safe journey little Taters! I hope you find your forever homes as fast as the other Taters did!
I’ve been buying Trader Joe’s too, our 3 cats love it, and I love the price too. I did ‘luck onto’ some Wellness chicken and herring at an excellent sale price and they LOVE that stuff too (plus no byproducts or grain). I don’t know exactly how old Mabel is but she is in early renal disease and is on Science Diet g/d (which does have byproducts, ew) so I supplement her with the Wellness (and the younger cats cannot understand why they don’t get that all the time….fun). Thankfully she loves most canned food, but doesn’t do well with chunky varieties. For whatever that’s worth!
Caramel Corbie belly, cute kittens on stairs, Brandy, what more could we ask for?? Of course good lovin’ homes like the one Stompers went to for the ones going off the Petsmart, too. Keepin’ fingers and toes crossed for that.
Thanks, as always, Robyn
For Aimee – I went through similar issues with my geriatric kitty a few years ago. She was diabetic, had some allergy that caused her to puke up most foods (esp. the diabetic kibble…), and had kidney disease. She basically stopped eating, I still think because she was tired of throwing everything up. The ONLY food she could keep down was the Fancy Feast *grilled* wet food. Other types of Fancy Feast she’d lose. Possibly this was because there wasn’t in the grilled type whatever she was allergic to?
Good luck.
I love Brandywine’s “butterscotch paws”. My mom used to have a similarly-colored cat who had that golden color just on the tip of one paw. It always looked like she had just dipped her paw in something good, so I called that her butterscotch paw. >^..^^..^<
I call them “caramel paws”. My eldest has them!
For Aimee,
I had a kitty that lived into her early to mid-twenties (she was an adult rescue and never would tell me her exact age!). During her last few years she would change her food preference. There were times when the only thing she would eat was Gerber chicken baby food. As Robyn said, when they reach that age you just feed them whatever they will eat, as much as they want, whenever they want it. She would wake me up once or twice during the night and demand to be fed. I did it. After she died and I got to sleep full nights I realized how sleep deprived I had been! I would do it again. Also, there was no putting the baby food on a dish. She would only eat from a spoon held by me. Crazy kitty. She deserved it, she was the best cat EVER!! Good luck with your old kitty!
Beth
I have the same issue with my 16.9 year old girl – she is finicky, too, and for the past 2 days has been turning up her nose at HER food. Beforehand she was eating BFF tuna and tilapia – then, BFF tuna and pumpkin. I took said cans of food to the vet to have them look at the ingredients, and she said, this is formulated to be CAT FOOD. So it’s not like you are giving her tuna – people tuna – which is, indeed, not good for cats in the long run. She also echoed the sentiment that at this point/her age, she’s gotta eat, so at least if she is eating, that’s something.
My Queen, Her Royal Hineyness Tubbysnuggles, will get different food this afternoon too in an effort to just get her to EAT SOMETHING.
Little turds. They really have us wrapped around their paws, don’t they??
For Aimee: I suggest get the kitty some famotidine (“pepcid”) and then whatever you can get her to eat!
My Harley is 21 now, thyroid and renal issues. He gets thyroid med 2x per day, compounded by a pharmacist into syringes – sort of a peanut butter consistency, tuna flavor. He tended to barf and vet put him on famotidine same dose as thyroid, also compounded, also in syringe. Yes, is pricey. He barfs a lot less now. He is also on prescribed food for kidney problem (low protein). He doesn’t like it and hangs around my kittens (6 mos) to scarf up their leftover wet food (high protein, bad for him but what can you do….).
He loves butter. I give him maybe 1/2 tsp a day. He loves vanilla ice cream, so he gets half a spoon of that when we’re having it. He loves bacon and gets the fatty part for brunch on Sundays. Anything to get the calories in. Hugs to you and your bebe.
Wow. That is devotion. This is a very lucky kitty!
Yes, I forgot all about famotidine!!!! That should help!!!
Also, Regalin (sp?)…it is anti-nausea that they use for chemo patience. My kitty got that with her thyroid meds.
patients…. lol
Go Gail!! Great work with Tyrion. Keep us updated on the little guy.
Also, I think we all knew that Stompers would have Krysten’s household wrapped around his cute paw, didn’t we? So pleased he’s settling in and making process so quickly with his big sister.
And seriously, if Wellington, Caspian and Dingwall would make up a boy band, I’d so buy their albums and get concert tickets, hang their poster on my wall…
Sungold I might add is much more of a solo act. He’s Bieber-iscous.
Oh that’s so cute that Wisp and Stompers like Lego. I have two cats and also twin 4yo boys and my almost 5yo maine coon cat loves playing with the Lego mini figures! He has a R2D2 one that he is constantly batting around and if he thinks the kids aren’t noticing he will try to steal more Lego.
So my 11-year-old old man Norman is really too young to be dealing with thyroid or kidney issues?? Of course, we only know that he’s **at least** 11… sigh. No news yet. Still worried (and in a way, thankful that I panicked over his non-existent ringworm and took him to the vet yesterday)
Old kitty advice from someone who got a particularly finicky tortie to almost 19… Let her eat whatever she pleases (and the vet approves of). Her senses are diminishing and she may not be recognizing former favorite foods as the same thing anymore.
Go babies go!! Flash them your best smiles at Petsmart. My Penny is visiting during adoption hours tomorrow and (I hear) is probably getting the next available spot to stay.
No, he is not too young. If there is ever doubt, have him tested. I learned my mine kitty’s renal failure because I was going to get her the radio-active idodine treatment for her thyroid. However, if they are in any state of renal failure, this treatment cannot be administered. They tested her kidneys and that is how I found out.
Okay, so the vet just called with the results and I’m confused. He’s losing weight, but all of his levels (thyroid, kidney, liver) are completely normal. The old man just got the green light to eat whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Lots of kitten food and a couple of extra snacks on top of the extra snack he’s already getting.
If any of you have strategies for getting weight on an old man kitty, feel free to send them along.
Kelly, try a nice high calorie canned food (for example, Nature’s Variety Instinct canned rabbit is really nice and high), and perhaps add in a raw supplement. My cats love Nature’s Variety Raw Supplement in chicken (it comes in a powder and smells mostly like liver) and a teaspoon (I think) is an extra 30 calories. My Pandora is 14 and skinny as a kitten (she’s 6.5lbs), and I use it to get a few more calories in.
Other than that, I’m glad at least that Norman’s bloodwork shows normal levels. You might want to inquire for copies of the bloodwork and research what the levels are, or have the vet tell you exactly what the highs and lows of ‘normal’ are. Sometimes if a level is at the low or high range of ‘normal’ it can be enough to have an effect that might not show on other cats.
And for Aimee, my advice for an older kitty is the same as above for Kelly, but I’d also add that microwaving the canned food can sometimes help bring the smell out, and help a kitty who can’t quite smell as well to take an interest in the food. 🙂
Robyn-the stair pictures are great. Best wishes to all the kitties that need forever homes.
Thank you everyone. Handy had a full round of blood/urine tests recently, ruling out the most common old cat ailments, there were no issues with her thyroid, diabetes, kidneys, etc. I did speak with my vet and he affirmed what y’all are saying, that calories in is, ultimately, more important than the quality of the calories. Of course, now that I’ve found a food she likes (the BFF and another one, Hound & Gatos rabbit food, oy, we keep making morbid jokes about the cat eating Thumper), there’s something else going on and she’s going to the vet in a couple of hours. This little cat was born to a feral mother in my back yard and has been with me her whole life, almost half of MY life.
If it were me, I would be asking about giving subq fluids too. A cat that doesn’t eat well and vomits can be a little dehydrated and giving fluids can help make it feel better.
I know that one. When you get them as a wee little one and they pass at an old old age…it is and they are a huge part of your life!!! To this day, I miss her cheek on mine at night when I sleep.
Gabby, who I mentioned below, will be 18 in November and has lived with me since she was about four months old. She would be perfectly happy if I carried her around like a baby all day. ♥
Rabbit is a good meat for getting calories into a kitty. I just wish I could find more of it here in western Canada (without having to buy actual rabbits myself!) 🙂
Aimee, I have a cat who’s 5 years old and has the same issues your older kitty has. I managed to stabilize her with a raw balanced diet (raw meat from grocery store balanced with My Natural Cat from Feline Instincts)
Feel free to email me, I would be happy to share what worked for us! chibitotorooo at gmail dot com
The concept of a chibi-style Totoro has got me going “ERMAGEHRD!!!” 😀
Those are some pretty cool stair pictures.
Also, please ask Corbie if he’ll marry me? Kthxbai.
I fed Tigie [24 yrs old] chicken baby food and canned chicken [looks like a large tuna ca, and has dark and white meat]. She ate this for a long time. The point is to get them to eat.
I have a 20 year old cat that I’ve had since he was 8 weeks old. He’s finicky about what he eats, too, and I basically give him whatever he’ll eat. For awhile, he liked fish based food (Fancy Feast). But I recently put all of my cats on a canned food diet for more protein and now he eats poultry and beef. I also found a dry food that is free of starch and they happen to love it. It’s Wysong Epigen chicken forumula. It’s a big hit here. The price of the food itself isn’t any more than what I paid for Science Diet, but the shipping is a little steep. The canned food that I’ve settled on is PurinaOne beef, chicken, and turkey classic flavors. Nothing with gravy because it has wheat gluten. They also eat Fancy Feast Medleys in the shredded varieties. On that one, I saw on a vet’s web page that the shredded varieties have less than 10% carbohydrates.
are you talking about Janet & Binkey’s food charts?
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html
it isn’t ‘gravy’ that is the issue with the gluten, but the shredded and chunked food that needs it to hold the shape.
Aimee, I have a cat with food intolerances. She eats Nature’s Instinct varieties. You might give them a try. They are available in the single serving cans and are grain-free. They are also minus some common food additives that are a problem for my cat. You might also consider mixing the baby food into her cat food. It will add flavor and moisture.
I agree with Robyn: At 20 years of age, your cat can have whatever she wants. You know what the alternative is 🙁
After all the comments about older kitties, I am feeling more and more fortunate that my Gabby has almost made it to 18 without any major health problems. She has a touch of arthritis in her hips, and I’m pretty sure she’s going deaf, but she’s overall in very good shape. Still has all her teeth, and still grooms herself well. Of course, she’s a calico, which means she’s got a bit of natural orneriness!
I have found that Hip Action Treats by Zukes is awesome for cats with sore joints. Their website is http://www.zukes.com. The treats made a huge difference in my Rainbow Bridge boy’s joints. He went from never jumping on things to jumping on my tall bed again. Awesome treats for cats and they have them for dogs also. The treats made the last years of Dusty’s life enjoyable to him again….
Good luck to the kitties heading off to find their forever homes! I hope they don’t have to stay at petsmart long!
I love question and answer day! Just thought I mention that.
I love the staircase pictures!
Miz Poo with the kittehs reminds me of my Rootie (also a Tortie). She acts like she doesn’t care about little Charlie, but I notice them sleeping near each other and she grooms him a lot, keeps her eye on him and let’s him get away with sniffing a lot more than she does Taco (my black cat). 😀
i luv luv luv that looking glass song. it’s been my jam for the last few months. ‘….made of braided silver from the north of spain….’
Huh; I always heard it as “finest silver.” Are there two versions, maybe?
And this bugged me enough to come all the way back to the computer: That song has always annoyed me anyway, because of that line. (The way I’ve always heard it, it goes) “Brandy wears a braided chain made of finest silver from the north of Spain/A locket that bears the name of the man that Brandy loves.” WHAT kind of egotistical [expletive deleted] would bring an expensive gift from distant lands to the woman he loves/who loves him but whom he will not commit to, and has said expensive gift engraved with HIS OWN NAME?
I suppose it’s engraved with “Brandy and Sinbad the Sailor, true love forever except until it comes time for Sinbad to commit” or something, but seriously. SERIOUSLY. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! A locket with his own name on it?!?! That’s right up there with, “Remember my name, you’ll be screaming it later.” DUMP HIM, BRANDY! Find someone who’ll be able to provide you the kind of life that will let you get a job in an office or something instead of serving booze to pox-ridden waveboys all day. If you pick up roots and move clean, you’ll eventually get over Sinbad, because he won’t be popping back in every few months for a (probably crab-intensive) roll in the hay and more emo moping about how he just can’t leave the sea. He can damn well leave it long enough to come tumble you every so often – if he can’t leave it for anything more long-term, maybe he should just not leave it at all!
I WANT to like the song, but the staggering egotistical cluelessness of a man who would give someone a – HIS OWN NAME. I mean, come ON! Ugh!
Bwahaahaaaaaaaa! This made me snort coffee all over my keyboard.
I have always disliked that song, but I never could have said WHY quite so beautifully. Thank you.
Also, a side note for Robyn – I love your site so much. It’s the first thing I visit every morning. Yesterday DH was trying to get my attention and my son (13) said “Forget it, Dad. She’s getting her kitten fix.”
HEE Elayn. I think that break-down of the song should be required every time it is played on pop-up video! “Brandy (i.e. some men are a-holes who can’t commit and just want to play head games)”
Tons of good hopes and thoughts, Kennebec, Agata, and Fianna, in finding your forever homes quickly! Loved the update on Stompers. Sounds like he’s charming everyone in the household – human and feline. What a good boy!
My kitty, Silver, lived to over 20 years old – was diabetic 1/2 his life and on insulin twice a day, so he was a healthy boy in spite of that – and I was very blessed that he had very little trouble until the very end. The last year, the only thing he would eat is chipped smoked turkey or chipped ham lunchmeat and a little dry food. I’m like the rest of you – at that age, I gladly gave him anything he wanted to eat, as long as he ate something.
This is for Aimee…Our vet once told us that when they have a cat that won’t eat, they give then some KFC. They said most cats really seem to go for it! Good luck..she sounds like a sweetheart!
Yes! I used to make a special trip to KFC to get chicken for my sweet Calvin kitty when he wouldn’t eat anything else. And he wouldn’t eat unless I sat on the floor next to him. I’d have the breading, he’d have the meat. Ah, memories. Poor little guy didn’t live much past 7. The vet never could find anything wrong with him — he was just very skinny and didn’t want to eat. He was found as a nearly grown cat, abandoned and starving in someone’s apartment before he was brought to the shelter where I adopted him. But he was the sweetest, friendliest, most outgoing cat a person could want.
I remember the vet also telling me to try a scrambled egg if he wouldn’t eat, or small amounts of tomato juice just to get some fluids and calories into his system — he said that some cats are attracted to the saltiness of tomato juice.
For Aimee- you might want to try Nature’s Variety Feline Rabbit canned food. I had the same issues with my kitty- he was throwing up constantly. Rabbit is easier to digest than other proteins since it is similar to a cat’s natural prey. It is also grain free (grains always upset my little man’s stomach). He used to throw up 5-7 times a week but now only does it once every month or two. You used to be able to only find it in smaller pet food stores but the Petco near me recently started carrying it. We’ll occasionally feed him their duck and venison variety but he mostly gets the rabbit. I hope this helps!