Finicky stomach's & weird allergies

The trials and tribulations of having 12 cats varying in ages ensure that there's never a dull moment. Just a small recap: we have 1 diabetic cat - Jasper - who resides in the large bathroom, 1 FIV+ cat - Dobby - a free roamer of the entire house, 2 cats with kidney disease - Smokey & Rollie - free roamers of the entire house, and 1 cat with chronic bronchitis/allergies - Vera - also a free roamer of the entire house. Doesn't seem so bad in writing, right?! Those are just the ones with some sort of health issue!

Jasper - he's on a controlled diet - a set feeding schedule with a set amount of food throughout the day. This came about for 2 primary reasons - diabetics need to be mindful of weight/carbs/sugars (yep, still applies in the feline world!) and he turned out to be a fast eater who would wolf down his entire serving in a mere few seconds and immediately throw it all back up. Out the door went a simple twice-a-day feeding. Enter the greatest thing in technology - an automatic feeder! It goes off on a schedule - based on what we programmed it to - and only a set amount of food at each serving. It easily holds a little over a week of food, has a battery backup if the power goes out! So he now gets several mini feedings throughout a 24-hour period. Keeps his sugar levels better maintained, and now no fast eating to the point of getting sick. He still eats really fast sometimes - but no more getting sick because he has time to process each tiny meal he gets. He gets an appetizer of chicken squeeze up in the morning with his probiotic mixed in - he LOVES that and will wait at the door for it, calling out if he thinks we are late with it.

Enter the Siamese Rollie & Smokey - kidney disease - this changed some things in our house. Mainly, it put us at a higher price point for food - that is now being fed to 11 cats. Just to give you a picture - I used to buy a 22 lb bag of cat food (healthy weight/hairball control) every 2ish weeks for 11 cats. So, 44 lbs of cat food in 4 weeks at a more reasonable price of about $46 per 22 lb bag. Now we feed them Renal support dry cat food - 11 lbs for $69.99 once a week. So, I used to spend $92 a month for 11 cats and now I spend $279.96 a month. (Yes, that makes me absolutely sick to my stomach!!) That's just the dry food - it doesn't include the wet food.

Wet food brings its own set of challenges. Let's start with prescription renal food -

also expensive, that is for Rollie & Smokey. In my house, crack a can of anything and ALL the cats come running for wet food. So I have to buy prescription and non-prescription - just to save some money. Depending on where I get it, wet food goes on sale - so long as it's not prescription. Enter the million-dollar bathroom cat Jasper. He is literally the anomaly here - in a perfect world he could eat the non-prescription food, but he is allergic to the fish flavors, fish additives, fish oil, salmon oil. I know, shocking - a cat allergic to all things fish-related. Now, take that allergy to the wet food aisle, read a few labels of the Beef, Beef/liver, Chicken, and any other non-fish flavored food. Get just a few ingredients in and you'll find there is some sort of fish/fish oil additive. No big deal, right? It's not like that's the number one ingredient. Jasper would like to tell you in no uncertain terms - It's a huge deal. He will eat the wet food because he absolutely LOVES the wet food and it truly is a treat for him. But no sooner does he eat it, and he has emptied his stomach from all the food he's eaten in the last 12 - 24 hours.

So we have:

Rollie & Smokey - Prescription Wet Food - for Kidney Disease

9 other cats that can eat non-prescription food

Jasper - non-prescription wet food - but it can have no trace of fish or fish oil.

Let's also stop and ponder - wet food has a higher water content. But my wacky cats like their wet food to be more of a soupy mix that tastes like wet food. I'm thankful for that as it makes the wet food spread a little farther around!

We have entered the stage of crazy cat owners who now have food containers labeled for each set of food specifications. All to make feeding wet food easier (I can mix it with water and have it ready for doling out!) This also ensures that any guest in our house doesn't attempt to eat anything from those containers.

So, if feeding 12 cats seemed easy while they are all rubbing on your legs and crying while you scoop out the 12 bowls, add in all those extras who can have what, who needs what, etc. No walk in the park for sure! There have been days when I would think, just don't give Jasper the wet food, but he sits at his door and cries because he most certainly heard the cat food can top pop.

The last two pieces of the wet food headache - Smokey doesn't love to eat when I put out the food, so it's hit or miss if she's getting what she needs from the prescription food. Hazel - she's adorable for sure, but absolutely prefers to eat on the step, partially hidden by the wall. It's a safe spot for her, I guess, although the other cats do come and eat from her bowl - so it's just safe from the humans!

Till our Tails cross again,

Mel

Never-ending cleaning

As you can imagine a house with 12 cats and 3 humans - there's never a shortage of cleaning to be done. There's never a day that goes by that I don't have to do some sort of cleaning. Whether it's scooping litter, sweeping floors, vacuuming, laundry, picking up toys, cleaning up little hairballs, the list truly goes on and on.

We did recently replace our washer - money I would rather have spent on something else. But the washer is amazing, the wash time is shorter which I love - and the clothes come out just as clean! Laundry is one of those things that I never have completely done. I can do 2 - 3 loads a day and still not get caught up. For the longest time, I would wash the cat beds & blankets weekly or bi-weekly to help with the cat hair and dander but felt that they could still be covered in cat hair.

About 2 months ago, I realized, why am I washing the beds and cat blankets so often? They aren't dirty to the point of needing a wash, they just need a good deep hair removal. My ah-ha moment came one day when I was like how can I get the laundry done faster. My brain started thinking and came up with a simple solution. The cat beds now get sprayed with a few spritz of water or a water/laundry softner mix, tossed in the dryer for about 20 minutes and put back out!

They are fresh smelling and free of hair. The cats also get to enjoy a hot bed at nap time! I know, what am I saving? 30 minutes of time for 3-4 loads of cat bedding - trust me that adds up when you are out of the house for more than 8 hours a day. While it may be a ton of energy/electric to run the dryer (for those conservative people out there). I do line dry some items that get washed everyday.

We have some cats that prefer to pee direcly on puppy pads instead of in a litter box with litter. So I do 2 loads a day of re-usable puppy pads - on days the weather coaperates, they get hung on the line. I have an entire closet dedicated to cat pads. This way if I get behind on the washing, there are always clean ones.

As you can imagine, it could get a bit stinky where they use the puppy pads instead of litter. One of my cleaning finds - OdoBan. It works to freshen the air, puppy pads and litter boxes. This is something that is a multi-use and a true product win in my house. Not only does it help keep the house smelling fresh and clean, but I can also add it to the laundry as a disinfectant! Which helps keeps things smelling fresh too! I recently discovered - it is available on chewy and amazon for a refillable size - much cheaper!

I'm sure you can imagine the amount of litter, dust, hair and dander that is flying around and collecting in the corners of my house. I have been throught a billion heavy duty vacuum cleaners that all claim to be made for pets. Another more recent find - a lightweight bissel vacuum - that I absolutely adore. It works on all of the hard floors and has the ability to be a dustbuster. The one thing I don't like - the cord is exteremly short. Otherwise it checks off all the boxes: Lightweight, easy to use, picks up more dirt and debris than if I used a broom.

I use that everyday now on any hard floor surfaces. Followed by that I do a quick swiffer mop of the floor. I'm still amazed at how much I can vacuum up in one day - but now my house is that much cleaner by using it daily.

The take away here - use the dryer for a quick removal of pet hair and vacuum or sweep everytday!

Till our tails cross again,

Mel

Hazel

Did I save the best for last? Absolutely not - all our cats are the best. I did save Hazel for last, as she is the last cat that Gene mentioned he would be "ok" taking in. Hazel is a calico - so she's a mix of all the colors: Black, white, orange, brown. She is adorable beyond words.

While Gene may deny he said he would take her in - his words were if there's a calico in this litter I would be interested....low and behold there was a calico along with a few other standard cats. Gene ultimately named Hazel (I believe he had a name picked before he knew for sure there was even a calico to be had!)

Much like her siblings she is a little shy and skittish, I'm really hoping they all grow out of that phase - I'm used to cats who are more needy for pets and cuddles. Hazel will cuddle and let you pet her, just once you are situated and not really moving. Her favorite spot to eat wet food is on the stairs, where she is half hidden by the wall, and can hear everything. I'm not sure what it is about those steps, but lots of our cats prefer to eat there. Hello tripping hazard!

Hazel loves to watch me crochet or work on projects at night when I watch TV. My wind down time before bed has become her wind up time. We watch TV for an hour or so before I go upstairs for bed. Once I get in bed she climbs in, walks around, makes biscuits and finally settles down on my shoulder or next to my side. If we don't have TV craft time, she doesn't come to bed with me. Guess she needs that time to feel comfortable with me. She has a tendency to walk back and forth from Gene to me, which bothers him to no end as she won't just lay down.

She has claimed the window behind our bed as hers. She spends most afternoon's laying in the window, hidden behind the curtain. It does have a great view for cats - shaded, with just the right amount of sun coming in. Tree branches that allow the birds & squirrels to entertain her. Best of all, she has all the quiet time she wants! When she's not chilling in the window, she naps on the chair next to Gene's desk while he works.