Jasper's latest Vet adventure

Chillin' at the vets office waiting for his intake paperwork to be done.

So last month I wrote about Jasper heading back to the vet to see his favorite doctor and vet techs. As much as I love them also, it's the last place I want to go with Jasper knowing the diagnosis is going to cost me a pretty penny, let alone whatever prescriptions/diet changes, etc., will cost me.

First, we start with the very bougie visit - it's a Friday, and we didn't want to chance waiting till Monday for an appointment. Our trusted doctor was scheduled for surgeries all day. So we take the option of him hanging out most of the day at the vet's office in the cat section. Dr. B will do her exam, check him out, run tests, etc., between her surgeries. So he gets lots of visits from all the staff throughout the day.

I knew going in we would potentially need blood work and a more detailed ultrasound that gets sent out to the ultrasound professionals. As you can imagine, the dollar signs are going up and up and up. At drop-off, we go over the usual paperwork, I give him love, tell him to be good, and head out.

His initial exam results indicated he was healthy and happy. Moving on to the ultrasound, he gets his belly shaved for this procedure! He's accustomed to odd shaved spots due to his diabetes and the Librya tester. Meanwhile, I receive a text saying everything appears fine so far, just awaiting the ultrasound results. He's relaxing and enjoying the company of his favorite people. We receive the final diagnosis - nothing significantly wrong. His pancreatitis is simply having a flare-up, so we need to make a small dietary adjustment and add some fiber to his diet.

Who doesn't love a good cat nap!?

Just a few hundred dollars for this diagnosis, but also some comforting info: bloody poop is no longer an emergency visit for him. We just need to be aware and know that he is having a flare-up, keep an eye on it, make sure he is eating/drinking and holding a steady weight. If any of that changes, we go to the vet. Easy enough!

He's now on the most expensive diet possible: a prescription dry food costing $80+ for an 8 lb bag, $100 for prescription wet food for 24 cans (that should last us about 2 months), plus he gets Metamucil twice a day in his wet food and some sprinkled in his water.

Headed for some pets and kisses from his fav hooman!

His system is still flared up a bit—a big change from all the foods he used to eat to the new prescriptions. He no longer gets to do his "food tour" through the house, which he lets us know his disappointment in by sitting at his door and doing his biggest, loudest meows. Maybe one day the food tour will come back into play, but not anytime in the foreseeable future.

Till our tails cross again,

Mel

#purrfectdozen #Jasper #pancreatitis #prescriptionfood #dietchange #feline #catdiet #milliondollarcat #tabbycats #cutecats #catsfyp

Embracing the Spring Vibes: Letting our Cats Enjoy the Great Outdoors

It's no surprise that Roughy (the toughest cat straight from the streets of Philly) enjoys fresh air, time outside, and watching the wildlife. Spring, Summer, Fall and any unseasonably warm winter day he wants all the windows open so he can hear and see everything. His best life would include unlimited amounts of time outside unsupervised. As responsible cat owners we don't let that happen. Instead he gets limited time outside and it must be supervised and on a leash. Really in a house of 11 cats he's the only one who desperately wants to be outside.

A few days ago, Dobby had her chance to explore the outdoor world. She is the least likely to set foot outside. She runs from the door opening - wanting no part of being out in the wild. This makes absolute sense as her first days living she was abandoned by her mom and litter mates. She was the runt and very sick, left to conquer the world on her own. We put a leash on her recently and she did the normal "backwards walk" which is of course cute. Something in their brain says walk backwards to get out of this thing that has been strapped to them. It doesn't work. Then she started walking forward with those big exagerted steps like she could just step out of the leash. Once she was a little more comfortable, we opened the door to the outside for her to go out. She just stood in the doorway - like WTH am I supposed to do now?!

With some help, she went out the door and slowly started to explore. Walking down the steps, down the sidewalk and eventually into the grass over to the patio area. Slowly inspecting as she went. All seemed good until a loud noise scared her and she wanted to head back inside. Since her little adventure outside, she hasn't been back out and doesn't seem to care one way or the other if she goes out again.

Now, Roughy - he is ALWAYS ready for an outdoor adventure. It doesn't matter to him what the weather is doing, if he's allowed out or not - he just wants to go out. He has figured out how to open the sunporch screen door - now we keep that locked all of the time. He also knows who walks the slowest, is most distracted, or most likely to let him walk on their heals out the front door. That brings its own little fun - I am his first choice to follow out the front door. Always in a rush, hands full it's easy to slip thru the door. Since my hands are full I have to put everything down before I can scoop him up. Giving him a few added seconds to sniff and take some steps. Depending on whats going on outside he can be extremely cranky and nasty when he gets returned to the inside world. Othertimes he's happy to have had his few seconds and it's no big deal to go inside again.

Just recently he had two un-approved outdoor excursions. First, he figured out the door was broken and let himself out. When it was noticed, he decided to play hard to catch and run from everyone or hide far under the neighbors deck. The better part of 3 hours he spent doing his best to avoid being caught and brought in. Just a week or so later he got his second chance, he got out again when the wind blew the door open - but was happy to come in with minimal delays.

Needless to say, anytime one of the cats manages to get out without a leash it sets me on edge. I become panicked, anxious and worry they won't come back. Cat's unlike dogs, rarely come when called. I truly don't know how people knowingly let their cats outside without a leash or secure way for them to stay close.

Keep your pets safe with properly installed fences, proper fitting leashes & collars, Catio's that are secure and being hyper aware of your surroundings!

Till our Tails cross,

Mel

#purrfectdozen #roughy #dobby #orangecat #blackwhitecat #felinelife #catoutdoors #greatoutdoors #springadventure #catadventures #cutecats

Cat Wheel Adventures

With a house full of cats, there's always a long wish list of things I want, ranging from cat toys, fancy water bowls, automatic litter boxes, air purifiers, and more! Pets are expensive, just dealing with vet visits, food, and the average pet toys. In my world, that means I keep a mental list of things I REALLY want to spoil my cats with.

At the top of that list: a cat wheel/cat treadmill. These are super expensive brand new and not exactly the smallest. There are times in my life when I doom scroll on Facebook—more specifically, the marketplace. Usually, I'm not expecting to find anything, and I truly don't need anything. Until one day, I stumble on a listing for—you got it—a BRAND NEW cat wheel.

My little disclaimer on buying used pet items (especially cat items): Be extremely careful. Cats can be very territorial, and this can result in them marking any new-to-them items to claim them as theirs. If you do buy used, clean it extremely well!

Ash watches the house from her new seat.

So - this lovely posting saying it's a new, unused cat wheel - I could not pass it up. $80 - brand new AND it was already assembled! SCORE for me and the #purrfectdozen crew. The lady was nice enough to hold it till I got done with work. I pick it up and say nothing to Gene. I just move some furniture around in the living room and bring it in. He catches me as I set the wheel in place. His question - what did you get? As I'm beaming - A cat wheel brand new for $80! (Need I mention, I'm always broke - so he's already figuring that in the end it's coming out of his wallet in some way.)

Cat wheel in place, cats ready to inspect. The majority of the cats have all been on the wheel. Most of them prefer to use it as a napping place or to scratch. Smokey has taken to the wheel pretty well. She has figured out that if she walks/runs on the treadmill, she will get attention. That's her big motivator to actually use the wheel. Not that she needs to exercise, as she is tiny already!

Dobby using the carpet as a scratcher

Dobby is the other interested cat. She gets a little hung up because her nails get stuck in the carpet - she hasn't quite mastered the "keep the claws in" part yet. That makes her walking consistently on the wheel a little difficult. I have tried to catch her using it with a video, but she has a sixth sense and stops before I can catch her.

Clara has been on the wheel exactly one time. She started as a scratching pad. With a little help from me, the wheel turned, and she would super slowly take a step or two, then stop and rub her face on the edges. She's unsure that it's truly safe yet.

Clara looking pretty and adamantly not using the wheel to walk.

The other cats are more interested in using it as a napping spot. I'm just glad that I'm mostly getting my money's worth from this Facebook Marketplace gem. There's hope that the rest of the gang will get on board and use it for its intended purpose. In the meantime, Smokey has gotten my money's worth out of it, and for that, I'm thrilled!

10 stars for a new affordable cat wheel! I highly recommend getting one!

Till our tails cross,

Mel