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The View From My Back Door

Because Celia from http://www.thekitchensgarden.com asked…
Here are two views from my back door today.
These were taken in Palmerston North, New Zealand on a grey, mizzling sort of day. Winter is coming, but Yoshi doesn’t care

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Poppy

We’ve had so many trips to the vet over the last two months, that they are no longer charging us full rates.
Percy has been in hospital three times – twice with a blocked bladder, after which he contracted the flu. His poor nose blocked up so he couldn’t smell his food. Apparently, if a cat can’t smell it won’t eat. In the end, they were so worried they kept him in and fed him with a syringe for three days. Now, thankfully, he seems to be back to his normal self – still on his special urinary tract diet however.
Poppy has been having more allergy problems … Then she started peeing in odd places again. It was obvious something was not right, so I took her back to the vet last night.
Some time ago the vet said if medication didn’t fix her allergies, we should do blood tests to make sure there wasn’t something more sinister happening.
Turns out there is.
Kidney failure.
She is very young for this to be happening, so they think she was probably born with poly cystic kidney disease.
She is off all allergy medication and on a strict special diet to try and stabilise her kidneys… If it works … and it is a BIG if… she may live a few years with a reasonable quality of life. The allergies COULD go away once her kidneys are functioning better. But, they may not. And that would be a deal-breaker. Allergies make her miserable, and she is just too much of a sweetheart to be allowed to live in misery.
She is asleep on my knee, having no idea of her prognosis. And I am already mourning for her. Daft eh?
It should be a consolation that in the year since she spcame to us, we have done our very best to make sure she had a lovely life. It will be one day, I know. But, not today.

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Famous last words…

Ok, so now they’re not eating the homemade food… sigh.
I’m not giving up though. All I’ve read suggests it takes time to get them to change their diet… a bit like folks I guess?
Oh, and we had another trip to the vet… Poppy this time – her allergies again. Poor little dot’s eye went all bung again. And now the vet is worried she might also have diabetes – so we’re to watch her weight carefully. Apparently, if she loses weight it might be an indication of problems. She eats as if she has been starved, but remains very very small. She also drinks like a wee fish. I have never known a cat to drink so much, but it has been very hot, and she eats mostly dry food, so perhaps it is nothing?
We have all our fingers crossed.
Ina asked for the recipe for the cat food.
If you follow the link from Connie’s comment, you will find the American Vet I was telling you about. She has the recipe there. I will not be buying a grinder to grind them bones – rather, I will import bone meal. I had slow-cooked the chicken for this first batch of food, and the bones went all soft, so I was able to just break them up with my fingers.
I used stock instead of water, and that seemed to go down very well. They have always been cats that licked the gravy off the Fancy Feasts, and left the lumps…
We’re having a quiet Easter weekend. Chores done this morning. Now Rick is watching something he taped from tv, and I am planning my winter craft project… perhaps a Peggy-square blanket… or I might make the supreme effort to learn how to sew (dressmaking).
We have a family dinner here on Sunday. My brother is home again from
Sydney. We have seen more of him since Sue got sick than we have in the 30 years since he moved to Australia. It seems it’s true that every cloud has a silver lining.
Happy Easter everyone XXX

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Hat Trick

Wikipedia says ‘hat trick’ is a sporting term which means three amazing things, one after the other…
Yoshi left home early yesterday morning to make his way to his hidey, which is under the front porch at the Doctor’s office three doors down.
This is normal behaviour, but he usually comes home for lunch, and then returns for the evening at a bout 5pm.
Yesterday he did neither of these.
So, I went looking for him. Found him. But, he didn’t come to greet me, chirping and rolling in the dust…
I thought… hmmm…
So,I reached in and scooped him out into the open… He snarled, hissed and hid under a shrub.
I thought… hmmm…
I picked him up… He snarled, hissed and settled in my arms to be carried home. He HATES to be carried.
When I put him down, he limped a couple of steps…
We scooped him up and took him to the vet…
Where we asked for a concession ticket for multiple visits…
The vet can’t find any broken bones, but little Yoshi is now on antibiotics in case he has been fought with and is nursing a bite.
He was very quiet overnight, but has eaten well and is now sitting outside.
On a more positive note.
You people are amazing. I thought – when I mentioned I wanted to make my own cat food – that you would think I was a complete hippy nut-case and disappear in droves…
But, NO
Thank you so much for the suggestions, the links you sent – and, as always – for your encouragement.
I made my first batch today. Poppy, who for a tiny wee cat has always had a prodigious appetite, ate enough to stonker a small horse!
Percy, Mr Fusspot Fatty Bum, licked his dish shiny-clean
And Yoshi, who is still feeling quite sorry for himself, ate a goodly amount.

I’m thrilled. I so hope they don’t do a Fancy Feast on me, and decide after a while that they’re not going to eat THAT!
I’m feeling very virtuous and am spending a hot autumn afternoon watching NZ play England at test match cricket – a game that lasts five days – and which we may actually win… GO the Black Caps!

Code

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Stubborn!

Thanks for all your good wishes. It is lovely to have him home, he seems to be doing well – though he will NOT take his medicine.
I’m supposed to give him two tablets in the morning and two in the evening, along with his special diet – which he also WILL NOT eat.
Sigh.
His vet was very dismissive of the new biscuits I found at the supermarket. She will not hear of anything other than the stuff they sell at the clinic. Sadly, the supermarket biscuits are the ones my cats now Hoover up.
I have resorted to giving Percy a small amount of Temptations Treats and I break one of the capsules up and stir everything up. He loves his treats and it is the only way I can dose him.
The problem is me, not him. He is such a very big, strong cat. I am a little afraid of him as he can hit and bite if he is afraid. He hasn’t done either for a very long time, but I still have scars from our early days.
I have been researching on the interwebs about making cat food at home… all natural. I found a recipe devised by an American vet and will try to source the additives this week. It bothers me that commercial cat food is based around grains and seed oils, and I have time to experiment a bit.

On a completely different subject – I’m having one heck of a time commenting on some of your blogs… I get the ‘comment will be visible after approval’ message, but then it seems to disappear into the nevernever… Such a pest! Please know that I am still checking in on you daily XO

Sue is doing ok. She is following my blog now. Chemo is not going as well as we’d hoped. The side-effects are pretty debilitating. Her 5th treatment was delayed because her blood went wonky. Forgive me, I can’t think of the medical term… there was a danger she could bruise and they would not be able to stop the bleeding. She had the treatment on Friday, but they were iffy about doing it because they said she was too dehydrated…
Frankly, the sooner chemo is over (there is one more to go), the better. Then she can start to get better.
She is still eating really well. Her potassium levels got really low, so since bananas are high in potassium, she began making pancakes for breakfast…
Two eggs, one mashed banana. Mix together and fry (in butter). She eats them with bacon and maple syrup. A simple and delicious way to fix the potassium deficiency

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Thankful

Percy had a quiet day yesterday… VERY quiet… by the time we realised he was far too quiet… it was 8:15pm and he had just tottered out to the lawn. Where he lay.
We scooped him up, rang the after-hours vet and took him in.
Cystitis – blockage of the bladder.
He is a very sick boy. He has a catheter in place to drain his bladder, and an IV thing in his arm. He is under gentle sedation and will be for the next few days (Percy, because of his background – which we can only guess at, but which we KNOW was not good – has trust issues. The vet decided it would be kinder for him to be sleepy for the time he has to stay at the hospital)
He will be there at least until Thursday.
We had debated taking him to the vet – thought perhaps he would be ok till the morning. But, thankfully chose to take him in. The vet says he would have died.
We are so very lucky.
He has used one of his nine lives.
He will need to be on a special diet for the rest of his life. Even then, there are no guarantees it won’t recur. Poor little sod.
Speaking of which… Poppy has had another bout of allergies. I have to give her pills this time,as Rebecca is right… too many steroids can bring on diabetes… She is not a happy wee girl.
Having cats means I will never have diamonds… and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Compromise

Poppy thanks you all for your good wishes and advice.
She wants to tell you that, though her mama loves her very much… Crystal was not an option.
Instead, mama has unearthed some pressed glass jelly dishes that she inherited from her mother-in-law.
The dishes are very pretty and they can go in the dishwasher, which the mama says is a consideration not to be ignored.
All our plastic dishes have been donated to the SPCA, so now we use the shiny steel and the pretty glass.

Also, the mama has just returned from a lightening raid of the supermarket… And LOOK what she found!

They are already approved by Percy and Princess Poppy

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Back to the Vet

I had to take poor little Poppy back to the vet this morning – her poor little chin was all scabby again and her lips and eyes had started to swell.
So, she had another steroid injection, and I have to put ointment in her eyes and bathe her chin…sigh.
Also, I have to replace all their plastic dishes with either ceramic or stainless steel… Or crystal…

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Better

I spent the afternoon sitting with Sue as she underwent her third chemo treatment.
I had expected it to be harrowing… In the end – I was there for four hours… The time flew. We talked and laughed the whole time.
The treatment time had been extended in an effort to reduce the side- effects which had been so ghastly last time. And it worked!
Not only was it easier at the time, but today – though she is cold, shaky, and her legs feel heavy – she is so much better than last time.
We are all hugely relieved – as you can imagine!
One day, everything will be better.
Until then, here is a picture of a cat.

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