Kitty A

17/11/2024

Some great advice for senior kitties 🖤

Just as people are living longer than they did in the past, cats are living longer too, and it is important to understand the special needs of senior cats.

Although many complex physical changes accompany advancing years, age in and of itself is not a disease. Even though many conditions that affect older cats are not correctable, they can often be controlled. The key to making sure your senior cat has the healthiest and highest quality of life possible is to recognize and reduce factors that may be health risks, detect disease as early as possible, correct or delay the progression of disease, and improve or maintain the health of the body's systems.

Click the link below to learn more.
https://hubs.la/Q02XzWW20

14/11/2024

Saturday 16 November update:
Very pleased to repawt that I woke Mum up an hour early this morning for my breakfast - she was overjoyed as it means I’m feeling a lot better. She popped into the vet this morning to report back and got more prescription gastrointestinal wet food which I’ll be on in the short term until my digestion and pancreas settles. This is the only food I feel like eating at the moment. (It’s not ideal for diabetes but we’ll reassess in a few weeks: with my recent frequent pancreatitis flareups we may have to focus on preventing a reoccurrence and keep me on this food.) I’m still on anti nausea and pain relief too. We are also raising my insulin dose. Having several concurrent health issues with conflicting requirements is a juggling act.
** This is the most serious pancreatitis flareup I’ve ever had, not sugar coating things, my health is rather up and down at the moment, but I am having many more good days than bad, and Mum will keep doing whatever she needs to do to make sure I am living my best life. At the moment I am still not fully recovered and am being monitored very closely, we would really love lots of love and purrrs/ prayers/ positive energy from all our followers and furriends**

After a couple of days on strong steroid dose, Mum is feeling a lot better. We are both enjoying the evening sunbeams on the deck. Mum even got stuck into to veggie garden and has planted tomatoes - we plant a combo of Tasty Treats and Sweet Treats, which are hybrid toms that do best in our harsh windy climate, and Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes (See new photos.)


Thursday 14 November 2024
Health Update - mostly good!

Both Mum and I went to our respective v-e-t-s today. Mum is still feeling unwell and had booked this appointment 10 days ago as the earliest she could get into any doctor. My blood glucose has been unsettled since my last pancreatitis flareup and I have not been eating much today. Within 1 hour of the vet getting my latest BG result and after hearing that I wasn’t eating, she’d called mum to ask her to bring me in today, as my vet decided she wanted to run new blood tests and do further investigations to try to understand what is going on, rather than just raising my insulin dose. Soooooo guess who got the better service, lots of cuddles, pets and overall Queen service? (Hint: it’s the most beautiful kitty in the photo!)

The great news: my bloods are all really good for a senior kitty. Even my SDMA (which was 16 ug/dL last time and a red flag for early kidney disease) is back at the highest range of normal (14ug/dL) and my phosphorus levels are down from last time to 1.47 mmol/L - so we are not so concerned about CKD at this time. My T4 (thyroid function) continues to creep up but still in the high end of normal. No sign of infection, electrolytes good.

The not-so-great news: the consensus amongst the vets at my clinic is that I am still in a pancreatitis flare up which never quite resolved, so I’ve had more aggressive therapy for this: buprenorphine injection for the pain (hence the big pupils mol), anti nausea injection and 100 ml of subcutaneous fluids. I have also lost weight in a short period of time even though I’ve been eating as much as I want: from 5.7kg (12.5 lbs) on 29/10 to 5.58 kg (12.3 lbs) today. Mum has some gastrointestinal wet food to give me tonight, and I get ongoing pain relief and anti nausea for the next week.

Mum will be repawting back to the vets on Saturday (tomorrow Friday is a holiday). Oh and Mum got antibiotics and steriods for her nasty chest infection, but no pets or treats nor was she fussed over! 🖤

PurrS: I’ve noticed a couple of laugh reactions to my post, I am assuming to my large pupils rather than the message of my post. Giving followers the benefit of the doubt, but if you find my health issues a laughing matter, I suggest you find other pages to follow.

12/11/2024

Today has been a pawsome sunbeamy day, I’m supurrvising Mum while she does some weeding of my flower bed. 🖤🐈‍⬛🐾🌞☀️

11/11/2024

Calling all sugar kitties in the USA (if you participate in this study you need to send a blood sample, I don’t think overseas shipment will work?)

****Update! You can now click this link for submissions https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/ef5e4d23883846e38c544cb5ab0880b6
Thank you all for your help!***

If your cat has been diagnosed with feline diabetes mellitus, you can help Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine!

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common disease of cats, that is due to a loss or dysfunction of insulin secretion, or diminished insulin sensitivity, resulting in hyperglycemia. The disease requires careful management, that may include daily insulin injections. Very little is known about the genetics underlying feline DM.

Our study aims to identify the regions of the cat genome that are associated with this disease, with the goal of developing a genetic screening test.

We are looking for blood samples (2-3 mL in EDTA tube) from diabetic cats to be taken at their next vet appointment. We also require diagnosis confirmation in the form of blood glucose values, urine glucose result, and/or fructosamine levels.

The study will provide a shipping box (containing blood tube, ice packs and prepaid FedEx label) for the sample to be mailed to the Cornell Veterinary Biobank.

If you are interested in helping with this study, please email Dr. Hayward ([email protected]) for more information, or provide your shipping address and phone number for a collection kit to be shipped to you directly.

This study is supported in part by FHC and the EveryCat Health Foundation.

11/11/2024

November 11 2024

Today is Armistice Day. After four terrible years, fighting in the First World War finally ended with the signing of an armistice between Germany and the Allies on 11 November 1918.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns fell silent. This day is also known as Remembrance Day, or Veterans Day.

I believe it is very important to remember the sacrifices and deaths of the past, not to glorify war, but to try to move forward to a more peaceful world. Sadly, 106 years later, humans are still as obsessed with war and conquering, and have learned nothing from the disastrous wars of the past. 😿

I want to commemorate the animals who served in WWI. Dogs have been the most common animals to serve Kiwi troops, and cats, rabbits, donkeys, monkeys, lizards, pigs, goats and birds were also adopted as mascots. Horses, donkeys, mules and camels were invaluable transport animals, and carrier pigeons were used to convey messages.

08/11/2024

Ready for bellyrubs 🖤

06/11/2024

Having quiet time with Mum. She is fighting off yet another nasty cold (for sure due to a number of stressful family things happening), and is taking time out be in the moment with her most precious, beloved kitty. I am well, and am giving lots of therapurry to Mum. To all of you dealing with similar life situations, we love you. 🖤🐈‍⬛

05/11/2024

Tuesday 5 November 2024

Today is “Guy Fawkes Day”. This is celebrated primarily in Great Britain, but also in Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand and Australia, involving bonfires and fireworks displays. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. The Catholic plotters had intended to blow up and assassinate Protestant king James I and his parliament. Celebrating that the king had survived, people lit bonfires around London. Months later, the Observance of 5th November Act in Great Britain mandated an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure.

In my opinion, a rather bizzare commemoration to have in NZ (which no longer has such close ties to the UK and which is a highly secular country), as the meaning of the day has long been forgotten nor is relevant today, and we are left with idiotic behaviour around fireworks. It is still legal to buy fireworks in NZ (for a very limited number of days) despite repeated petitions from the SPCA, animal welfare groups and a large number of concerned people.

For the first time in NZ, we have a special Concert for Animals that is being broadcast by RNZ Concert, from 6pm to midnight.

Please make sure your animals are safe tonight if your country or area is having fireworks displays.

RNZ Concert is offering a Guy Fawkes night radio show of music chosen to be gentle for pets, and people, during fireworks, in collaboration with SPCA.

05/11/2024

Please send my furriend Spot love and purrrrs: his brofur Chance has just crossed to the Bridge.

Oh Friends,

We don’t even know how to begin to tell you this.
Mommy just got home to find that our precious Chance has passed away.
We are devastated and in shock.
What are we gonna do without our Chancey?
We very recently found out that Chance had heart disease. He was taking a medication to help prevent blood clots because the heart disease increased his odds of getting one.
Mommy figures that he either had a blood clot or a heart attack.
He just looks likes he’s sleeping. Mommy doesn’t think that he suffered at all. He looks so at peace.
We just want him to wake up.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

04/11/2024

Doing some interior decorating…I think this crinkle paper will work well in my box castle…

02/11/2024

A great update from my young furriend Gibby, who had liver shunt surgery in May. 🖤🧡

Our little fluffy ball of love has grown back his adorable tum fur since surgery now. It’s so long! He’s enjoying some tummy brushes to keep all the tangles out. 🧡

01/11/2024

Mum and I are both feeling a lot better and getting groomed to look our pawsome best for Miaowloween. 🖤🐈‍⬛

29/10/2024

Having Mirtazapine makes me verrrrrrrrry hungry, it has a long half life for kitties with renal issues (I have very early Chronic Kidney Disease) but I had to get it to stimulate my appetite as I had a pancreatitis flareup on Fri/Sat and wasn’t eating - I also have chronic pancreatitis and diabetes - and no matter how much I eat I am verrrrry slowly losing weight. So Mum is happy to give me as much of my diabetic food as I want, but salad isn’t any good for kitties. It’s really tricky balancing food and treatment for a senior kitty with several chronic diseases with conflicting requirements. At the moment we are still prioritizing my diabetes above everything else (high protein low carb) but we will have to look at early CKD diets (lower protein, less phosphorus with phosphorus binders), as protein becomes increasingly difficult to digest as kidney function decreases, at some point. It’s not easy getting older for any species. 🖤

PS. Mum is going out of her mind trying to ensure I maintain a good quality of life. Anyone commenting negatively (as I’ve sadly already had) can take a hike and will get banned.

27/10/2024

October 27th is National Black Cat Day in the USA and Catnada. I am always open to celebrating the gloriousness of panthers on any and every day, so here’s to the magnificent voids, mini panthers, and black cats amongst us! 🖤🖤🖤

Oh and head over to my other project Boo Boo Moriarty's Movie & Video Place for a whole week of pawsome black kitty videos! 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

26/10/2024

Purrrrrrs dear furriends, I am feeling much better today! I had a good breakfast and Mum and I are inspecting my catmint plantation. Thank you to each and every one of you for your love, care and suppawt, I love you. 🖤❤️

25/10/2024

Update 9:30am Sat 26 Oct
Thank you for all your love, prayers, good thoughts and positive energy, they have worked! ❤️🖤
I am eating again after Mum gave me Mirtazapine (appetite stimulant and anti nausea) this morning at 7am. One of the side effects of Mirtazapine is increased vocalisation, and I woke Mum up a little while ago (she’d gone back to bed to catch up on sleep after seeing that I was eating) with a blood curdling series of loud Miaows to proudly announce I’d made some nice 💩 in the litterbox!

Update 9:30pm Fri 25 Oct
I’ve now had about 60% of my food today, due to Mum hand feeding it to me in small amounts over most of the day. Mum has increased my daily nupentin dose to help with any pain and will keep offering me small amounts of wet food for the next few hours. I’ll get an appetite stimulant tomorrow morning if I’m still not eating by myself. (We are well stocked up, I do get pancreatitis flareups every now and again.) Because I’m diabetic, it’s very important that I eat, and for cats having a pancreatitis flareup, it’s important to get them eating and make sure they stay hydrated. 🖤

One of the complications of diabetes: Mum thinks I’m having a pancreatitis flareup, as I’ve not eaten well today. So Mum is offering small amounts of food every hour or so. I am still very happy and purry, just not that interested in food (BIG red flag!) I have chronic pancreatitis as well as diabetes, so Mum knows the drill here… hand feeding small amounts every so often, I don’t think she’ll get much sleep tonight… We have The Glorious Fire going even though it’s a warmish night, as I looove the fire and Mum thinks this will help me eat better (?!) - we may not be able to answer your comments but Mum will post updates. 🖤

22/10/2024

A beautiful sunbeamy day today. I am enjoying some quiet time with Mum while she has a coffee break in the shade of one of our big trees, listening to the birdies twitter. I’m trying to purrsuade Mum to bring her laptop out and work from the grass today! 🖤

22/10/2024

Purrrrrs some fantastic news from my dear furriend Pea. 🖤😽