Paper Pellet Cat Litter

Mar 2

I'm slowly introducing this into the scoopable litter in one of the boxes. I'm not sure how it's going to work once it's the only material in there. There's a lot of waste when picking out the poo or urine because the pellets are so large the good ones don't fall through the scoop. At least the cats aren't objecting to it. They seem more inclined to use it for pooping and have taken to using the other box more for peeing. Even if I do have one box that's paper and one that's dusty, that's 50% less dust.

Mar 11

I'm continuing the pellet experiment. Even if I don't convert to it entirely, I may continue to mix it. The pellets sometimes do get out. I'm still not sure how they will absorb urine without the clumping clay litter.

Jasmine to the vet

The good news was that her kidney function has not decreased. She continues to be in the early stage of kidney failure. So the blood in the urine was from an infection and/or crystals. She was given the 2-week antibiotic shot and a shot for pain. 

She was much more outgoing while on the pain shot, which leads me to believe she's more often in pain than I have been aware of. 

I have to say that I hate that a cat has to be sedated in order to take a blood sample (required to assess kidney function).

Though it was inconsistent, adding liquid to her food helped, whether it was water or chicken broth or the turkey broth at the pet store. I mixed pumpkin with the turkey broth and both cats would finish it with food so I'm going to continue that going forward.

I also need to keep her on the urinary goo daily.

Cat crisis

 I think Jasmine has a very bad UTI infection.

This afternoon, when I went in to feed them dinner, I saw what I thought was orangey diarrhea. It would make sense from the color of the food I've been feeding. There was also a lot in their box for that time of day. I decided to clean it while they were eating. Jasmine only ate a little and then had a fit of vomiting bile. My assumption is that she's the one with the loose poop. One of the cats had also vomited their earlier meal. 

But then when I went in to check about 8pm, it looked like bloody, mucusy pee rather then poo. I dug out some old antibiotics and gave her a dose and am trying to figure out how to keep her from getting worse until I can get her to a vet. Though it's not advised, I may give her some of my clavimox. 

I had given her antibiotics during the week. I had a full bottle provided by my vet for such an event. It ran out a couple of days ago so this seems to be a resurgence of it. --On the assumption it's Jasmine, which is my assumption from her not eating much and vomiting in response to food. Pooka isn't showing signs of illness except excessive hunger.

Cat Photos

 I'm discovering how to use my phone's camera and managed to do an extended kitty photo shoot recently.

The kitties are getting old. It's harder to keep them healthy and yet they don't look that much different from when they were 3 or 4 years old.