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the_dala at 06:28am on 14/09/2013
the_dala at 06:28am on 14/09/2013This is a bit late, but only a bit because I conveniently up at 6 am on a Saturday. I am up at 6 am on a Saturday because Milo woke me up before 5.
I can't remember where we were the last time I posted an update, but the basic medical issue seems to be that, since switching to the all-canned diet, he's having trouble pooping. He goes every 2-3 days instead of more regularly, and when he does it can be so uncomfortable that it leads to him avoiding the box. But since this diet is regulating his urine very effectively, we don't want to go back to the dry food. Right now his feeding routine is half a can twice a day, mixed with a couple spoonfuls of canned pumpkin (fiber), about 1/4 teaspoon of Miralax (stool softener), and a once-daily 5mg dose of Prednisone to help with the inflammation/discomfort.
This has been sporadically successful. At my parents' place he'd be doing well for a couple weeks, then have a flare-up. It was really hard for me to track what was going on because my dad was helping with litter box maintenance, especially when I moved and before I moved him in. He had trouble remembering exactly when the pooping was happening. While I was gone he had two incidents, one with peeing outside the box first, which generally happens when he's held in the poop so long that he can't hold anything anymore. This was right after I'd taken him to the vet and his exam and urinalysis came out fine. It was also after he'd gone a few days without pumpkin and then got a lot at once, which may have been a factor. I also don't entirely trust my parents' assertion that he always ate his pill with his food, since I've been feeding him and sometimes he takes it, sometimes he leaves it - I always have to check the bowl to make sure. So that could've been part of it.
When I moved him in last Saturday, he started peeing in the box right away - success. Then he pooped in the box on...Monday, I think it was, once early in the morning and once later in the evening. Progress! So I thought. On Wednesday, I noticed him leap out of the box like he was startled and leave one little bit of poop on the floor. I hoped it was an anomaly. Then he pooped on the floor by the bed on Thursday while I was at work. I called the vet to ask if it was okay to give him the steroid twice a day for a flare-up and they said that was fine, so I gave him another one with dinner. I went to babysit and when I came home and gave him some treats, he pooped on the bed. That was the last of any pooping.
This isn't entirely unexpected, so I've been keeping him confined to my room basically at all times except when I'm home and out in the common area, including overnight. He's been tolerating it until this morning, when he started crying and scratching at the door. It's a loud, piercing cry, and I wasn't sure if it was because he was hungry (he's always hungry), he just wanted to go out, or he wanted to go out and shit on my new couch. I tried to ignore it for nearly an hour before I gave in and got up to feed him. I tried closing the door again but that wasn't happening, so now he's out wandering around and I keep getting up to check on him. Sleep was obviously not happening either.
Of course this is all heightened by the fact that I have a roommate and I'm trying my absolute best to keep from disturbing her. That means keeping him from eliminating out in the space we share, and also trying to keep him quiet, which was my dilemma this morning. It's all so fucking exhausting. I love my cat dearly and most of them time I've very happy I have him. But there are times, like today and any of the vet visits in the past few months that ended up totaling an entire paycheck, when I question my getting a pet. I just wish I could go back to before he started having medical problems, or at least figure out a surefire way of treating them. Why can't he be my sweet affectionate kitty all the time and actually do what I say? Yeah, I know, he's a cat. I was so happy to have him back and have him doing so well, and now...I'm tired. It's early. I'm whining. My life was a little simpler during those three weeks he was with my parents. Lonelier, yes, but simpler. And I feel like a horrible person for saying that.
I can't remember where we were the last time I posted an update, but the basic medical issue seems to be that, since switching to the all-canned diet, he's having trouble pooping. He goes every 2-3 days instead of more regularly, and when he does it can be so uncomfortable that it leads to him avoiding the box. But since this diet is regulating his urine very effectively, we don't want to go back to the dry food. Right now his feeding routine is half a can twice a day, mixed with a couple spoonfuls of canned pumpkin (fiber), about 1/4 teaspoon of Miralax (stool softener), and a once-daily 5mg dose of Prednisone to help with the inflammation/discomfort.
This has been sporadically successful. At my parents' place he'd be doing well for a couple weeks, then have a flare-up. It was really hard for me to track what was going on because my dad was helping with litter box maintenance, especially when I moved and before I moved him in. He had trouble remembering exactly when the pooping was happening. While I was gone he had two incidents, one with peeing outside the box first, which generally happens when he's held in the poop so long that he can't hold anything anymore. This was right after I'd taken him to the vet and his exam and urinalysis came out fine. It was also after he'd gone a few days without pumpkin and then got a lot at once, which may have been a factor. I also don't entirely trust my parents' assertion that he always ate his pill with his food, since I've been feeding him and sometimes he takes it, sometimes he leaves it - I always have to check the bowl to make sure. So that could've been part of it.
When I moved him in last Saturday, he started peeing in the box right away - success. Then he pooped in the box on...Monday, I think it was, once early in the morning and once later in the evening. Progress! So I thought. On Wednesday, I noticed him leap out of the box like he was startled and leave one little bit of poop on the floor. I hoped it was an anomaly. Then he pooped on the floor by the bed on Thursday while I was at work. I called the vet to ask if it was okay to give him the steroid twice a day for a flare-up and they said that was fine, so I gave him another one with dinner. I went to babysit and when I came home and gave him some treats, he pooped on the bed. That was the last of any pooping.
This isn't entirely unexpected, so I've been keeping him confined to my room basically at all times except when I'm home and out in the common area, including overnight. He's been tolerating it until this morning, when he started crying and scratching at the door. It's a loud, piercing cry, and I wasn't sure if it was because he was hungry (he's always hungry), he just wanted to go out, or he wanted to go out and shit on my new couch. I tried to ignore it for nearly an hour before I gave in and got up to feed him. I tried closing the door again but that wasn't happening, so now he's out wandering around and I keep getting up to check on him. Sleep was obviously not happening either.
Of course this is all heightened by the fact that I have a roommate and I'm trying my absolute best to keep from disturbing her. That means keeping him from eliminating out in the space we share, and also trying to keep him quiet, which was my dilemma this morning. It's all so fucking exhausting. I love my cat dearly and most of them time I've very happy I have him. But there are times, like today and any of the vet visits in the past few months that ended up totaling an entire paycheck, when I question my getting a pet. I just wish I could go back to before he started having medical problems, or at least figure out a surefire way of treating them. Why can't he be my sweet affectionate kitty all the time and actually do what I say? Yeah, I know, he's a cat. I was so happy to have him back and have him doing so well, and now...I'm tired. It's early. I'm whining. My life was a little simpler during those three weeks he was with my parents. Lonelier, yes, but simpler. And I feel like a horrible person for saying that.
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