I have felt cats rubbing their faces against mine and touching my cheek with claws carefully sheathed. These things, to me, are expressions of love.-- James Herriot

Kiki, the "foster" cat

 Jonesie has not been outside since I found him down the path on the hillside a couple of weeks ago.  He still gets antsy and begs to go out in the afternoon, but so far I’ve been able to distract him by playing with him and soon he goes off and takes a nap.  I’m guess I’m pretty boring.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that Ellie’s chin was really swollen.  When I checked it, she wouldn’t let me touch it because it was sore.  We suspected a case of ache like some of the other cats have had, but Charlie took her to the vet to make sure.

It was a very big zit.  Dr. squeezed it and Ellie didn’t seem to mind and she wouldn’t let me even touch it that morning.  But, like most of our other cats, she’s very docile when she goes to the vet’s office. 

Since Ellie just turned 12 last month, we had them do a “senior” blood panel on her to make sure she was doing all right.  Her last panel was less than a year ago, but this way we wouldn’t have to make another trip later.  Dr. called the next day and said that everything looked fine, but Ellie’s white blood cells were a little high.  Could be because of the infection on her chin.
       
We had antibiotics to give Ellie for a week and then bring her back for a follow up at the week’s end.  They ran another blood panel just to check if her infection was cleared.  The white blood cells were normal, which was good news.  Ellie has lost a little weight though.  She has always been 9 or 10 pounds.  She is now about 9 pounds, but seems to be eating fine.

The doctor also gave us some medicine to help with Ellie’s muscle spasms.  She sometimes just trembles and it’s related to the neuropathy she has with her hind legs.  Toby also had the same problem.  This medicine, Robaxin (Methocarbamol), is supposed to relax the muscles and hopefully stop the spasms.  We wanted to finish the antibiotics before starting the Robaxin so we don’t know if it helps or not.

Ellie had another asthma episode this morning.  Each one seems to get worse.  The pills, Terbutaline, do help her and they work fairly fast.  In addition to being so congested in her breathing, the trembling doesn’t help.

Ellie in her "day" bed.  She also has a chair to sleep on.

After giving her a pill, I warmed a blanket and held her until the trembling stopped.  It’s amazing to hear the congestion start to break up.  She starts taking deep breaths, finally being able to breath better.  Her airwaves have opened up.  I’ve said I love to hold her, but it’s really the only time she will allow herself to be held for very long.  When she starts feeling better, she lets me know that she’s ready to get down.

Charlie took Mr. Creme to the vet last week to have a fructosamine and blood glucose test.  He is doing okay, but in the past few days, he has vomited several times.  I wanted to make sure he was still stable with his insulin dose.  The glucose test was good, but his fructosamine test came back with a lower number of 282, so the vet said to lower the insulin by 1 unit, from 7 to 6/day.  I was giving 3 units in the morning and 4 units in the evening.  We’ll try it and check him again in a few weeks. 

Mr. Creme does still walk like a raccoon.  He walks on his heels instead of on his toes.  Since he was “stabilized”, his legs seemed to be stronger, though not normal. 

I was talking to my friend, Jan, about it.  Her daughter has a diabetic cat too.  His name is “Neo” and, like Mr. Creme, Neo could once jump six foot fences.  He was indoor/outdoor.

Now, Neo’s legs are very weak and my friend says it just breaks her heart to see him like that.  It is hard when you remember how strong these cats once were.

The only thing positive is that Mr. Creme, like Neo, stays close to home.  In MC’s case, he stays in the backyard and seems perfectly fine with it.  I have taken him to the front yard a couple of times, but I stay out with him to make sure he doesn’t wander off.  Mr. Creme and I have become very close.

Jan told me that her daughter was giving “Neo” a B12 pill, Methyl B12 (Methyl cobalamin).  She said that Neo’s legs were better.  She had crushed the pill and put it on his food.  He was fine with the unflavored pill, but then she couldn’t find unflavored and bought a cherry flavor.  He didn’t like that at all, and hasn’t been taking the pills.  His legs have gotten weaker again. 
 
I have done some research on this B12 for cats and finally found a site that tells me more about it.  I also read blogs from people who have used it for their diabetic cats.  The B12 pill for cats is Xobaline (Zobaline).  I ordered a bottle today.  I will try it on Mr. Creme to see if it helps.

Kiki

Kiki still has the run of the house during the day.  She hasn’t been causing any problems.  We forget she’s in the house actually.  Rhody like to watch her, but she doesn’t give him any signs that she wants to be friends.  She makes herself at home, curled up on our bed or on the cushion by the fireplace.

Her “kittens”, Dash and Cody, also have been integrated into our family.  Kiki ignores or hisses at them and they avoid her too.  They don’t know her as their mom anymore.  She’s just another cat to them.

Yesterday we went to see Cyd, the lady who adopted Dot, Dash and Cody’s sister.  Her name is Spicey now.

When we got there, Spicey was hiding.  Cyd’s other cat, Cynnamon is very friendly.  We visited and talked for awhile.  Then Cyd said we should look for Spicey if we wanted to see her.

We found her upstairs under Cyd’s bed.  She ran out and down the stairs.  I saw her in the kitchen, but she darted across the counter and back upstairs, like a white streak.

Cyd says she doesn’t get much of a chance to pet her, but she knows she’s eating and is fine.  Spicey doesn’t really care for Cynnamon though.  Spicey has gotten wilder.  When she was still here, we could pet her, especially when she was in the cat tree.  She was more friendly than Dash then too.  Now she’s untouchable it seems.

I may get a chance to pet sit for Cyd at the end of the month.  She is going out of town and asked if we could stop by to check on Cynnamon and Spicey for her. 

To be continued later.......