Talk to the Animals

My neighbor, Gordon, is a real down-to-earth guy. He has two bearded collies that are simply adorable, clever, and fun. He keeps them busy with agility training, and it keeps him on the go, too.

This weekend, we had a rummage sale. It was an opportunity for all the neighbors we never see during the wintertime to come over and visit for a while. Gordon stopped in with both his collies, Molly and Annie, in tow. He told us his daughter had been in town over Father's Day weekend, and as part of the visit his wife had arranged for a consultation with an animal communicator. He hadn't expected much, but thought it might be fun -- what he didn't expect was to come away wishing he had prepared better for the session, because he has questions he wishes he had asked!

Okay, you can think what you want ... but Gordon was most amazed when the animal communicator asked Molly and Annie if there was anything they wanted him to know ... and they responded that they really missed the chew treats he used to give them. Now -- NO ONE knew Gordon had stopped giving them the rawhide treats three weeks prior to this session ... not the wife, not the daughter, and certainly not the animal communicator. Only Gordon, Annie, and Molly knew!

Another thing Gordon wondered about was how Molly and Annie felt about the little cockapoo his wife had just gotten. The bearded collies' answer? They don't really see the little dog very often, so it's okay. What? Well, Gordon and his wife life on opposite sides of town, and when they do see each other, the dogs aren't always with them! Interesting.

Other things were communicated: Molly is older, and said she is having some pain in her left front "ankle" and her back. Gordon suspected this, from the way she moved after agility training ... but she wasn't showing any signs of it at the consultation. Annie, young and energetic, was asked how she liked agility training; she said she was having trouble with the "teeter" (like a teeter-totter on a playground) ... which Gordon says was the only thing they had a problem with that day at practice! Gordon asked what he could do to make it easier for her, and Annie said she'd like it if he would stay near her until she was off the teeter and feeling more confident. They tried it in their next practice session, and it worked like a charm! Annie also said she liked agility except when she does things wrong, and then she doesn't like doing it anymore because she really wants to please Gordon. Awwwww....

Okay, so where am I going with this?

Sometimes, like most pet owners, I wonder what my cats are thinking. When Mack was sick, I NEEDED to know why he wouldn't eat. I know the answer, once he was in the midst of liver failure, would have been that he just didn't feel well. But before that ... why did he stop eating?

Amy wants to know, so she can feel better ... she doesn't want the answer to be, "because of the little cat" that Amy brought home. That's what WE think was the problem. Along with losing our 16-year-old dog, Cinnamon. And the fact that mom and dad went away for a week and some of our pet-care plans fell through. Not enough to have a dramatic impact, under normal circumstances. But the combination of factors, we're thinking, might have been the reason.

Why does it matter?

Our week-long vacation starts Sunday.

I was feeling desperate to have one of these animal communication consultations, so I could tell Mack that we'll be gone -- that *I* will be gone -- for a while, but that I need him to be okay ... I need him to keep eating.

The animal communicator website says we are all born with the ability to communicate telepathically. There are classes to help us enhance our abilities.

Well, I thought, maybe I should just TELL him myself.

Mack was in the other room, in my line of sight, grooming himself, when I had this thought. I looked intently at him, and thought, "Mack, I NEED YOU TO KNOW ..." Mack stopped his grooming and looked up at me, staring straight into my eyes. I continued, "We're going away for a while, but we'll be back. I NEED you to keep eating!"

He continued to stare at me for about 30 seconds. Then he went back to grooming himself, as if to say, "yeah, yeah, yeah. stop worrying."

Then he curled up and rested his chin on the side of the carpeted nest.

Maybe, just maybe, we had a moment of cross-species communication?

Long overdue - Mack update

Last night I woke up to the touch of something soft and warm very lightly pressing on my eyebrow. My hand discovered that it was Mack's paw -- he was stretching in his sleep, curled up in the space above my pillow.

Sometimes, I feel as if he's just reaching out for the reassurance that I'm there.

Sometimes, I think he doesn't consider me a person at all, but sees me as a fellow feline. This was reinforced recently when I read a tip from CatAge.com that said cats don't meow to each other -- only to humans. My cats are singularly silent, most days. Why should they meow, when we're the same species?

Ah, but which species do they think we are?

I've come to the conclusion that they think THEY are people, not that I'm a cat. It explains why they think they belong at the table when we're having a meal, and why Mack believes breakfast (and dinner) in bed is the way things ought to be.

Really.

I can put the dish of canned food on the FLOOR in our bedroom, to keep it away from the other two cats ... but he will often ignore it, and wait for me to serve the same dish ON the bed, instead. (Mack is still the only one who gets canned food, since Reggie and Lucky don't NEED more calories or more reasons to be obnoxious.)

I try not to indulge this eccentricity, but when the food has been sitting, untouched, for hours, there are times I will lift it to the bed, just to see ... yes, there he goes ... that's what he was waiting for.

Other times, simply conceding the bed is not enough to make up for my neglecting protocol. Sometimes, he won't touch it unless I lift the bowl to within an inch of his face, at which time he will bend ever so slightly and begin nibbling daintily, as if to communicate that he does, after all, forgive me for expecting him to eat on the floor.

There are other residual behaviors that Mack displays, and I'm not sure when they will fade. At times, all I have to do is hold him and cuddle him for 30 seconds, giving him my undivided attention and love ... and when I put him down, suddenly, he'll walk over to the food dish and dig in.

Certainly the 4:30 a.m. expectation that if he paws the hollow-core door (exceedingly loud at 4:30 a.m.!), someone (me) will get up and put food in the dish and coax him to eat. THAT has not happened for at least a month, so I'm not sure WHY he still hopes it will!

In fact, John has adopted a new behavior of his own, in response to Mack's early-morning demands for attention. He keeps his slippers by the bed, not to slip onto his feet when he gets up -- but to fire at the door when Mack is particularly insistent about early-morning in-and-out and in-and-out of the bedroom routine. (We hate to ignore his request to leave the bedroom, since we don't have a litter box in there anymore!) Don't worry ... John only throws the slipper when Mack is OUTSIDE the door, and only after he has gone in and out, in and out at least a couple of times.

The long and the short of it is that Mack is fine -- a bit more eccentric than before he took ill, and even more cuddly and loving. Our biggest worry now is what will happen when we go away to summer camp in early July. We're hoping our daughter might stay at our house to keep him company, just this year, so he doesn't decide to stop eating again.

Otherwise, I think it's safe to say -- we're home free.

His fur is even growing back!

The top two pictures below are of Mack today. The bottom two are of him right after the feeding tube was removed. I think you'll agree ... he's looking pretty good!

Tete-a-tete

Hallelujah!

You've got to be tired of good news by now, right?

Well, I'll bore you with one more delightful fact: Mack has been spotted eating REGULAR CAT FOOD, *twice* yesterday, alone -- for the first time since he's been sick.

I've hesitated to announce "Mission Accomplished!" before now, for fear it would prove to be premature and overly optimistic -- but I feel pretty safe, now that he's overtly eating with the other guys.

That means we can gradually wean him off the Kitten Chow and Wellness canned foods.

The whole crew may get a treat now and then, but our goal is to get everyone on the same food again.
Every time I have given Reggie & Lucky little bits of the special foods, it has crossed my mind that I'm taking a chance that Lucky will get another urinary blockage (he's had 4-5 already in his lifetime ... most recently about 2 years ago). That's why everyone has been eating Purina ONE Special Care - Urinary Tract Health Formula for years and years. We had tried moving them to the older-cat formula because they are all really pretty much couch potatoes ... but even as an older cat, Lucky's body accumulates crystals that create blockages and threaten his life ... so -- Special Care it is!

We've been monitoring Mack's caloric intake since the tube was removed 1 1/2 weeks ago, just to be sure he's within a healthy range. The values have varied wildly, from a high of 442 (oink!) to a low of 129 (not nearly enough).

Based on what I've read at the website of the Hill's Prescription Diet a/d food that brought him back to life, a cat his size that is recovering from hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver) should get about 231 calories ... the vet estimated 273 ... so we're trying to be sure he's somewhere in that range.

My question is: what about a WELL cat? We don't want his weight to go so high that he's at risk of hepatic lipidosis again ... so I have to research what his range should be, now that he doesn't need to GAIN anymore weight. (At his last vet appointment, Mack was 9.25 pounds. This morning, on my unscientific scale, I'm guessing he's nearer to 10 pounds. Enough!)

Oh! One more detail: Mack's neck has healed beautifully! The area that was sore around the feeding tube, as well as where the tube entered, is all closed and healed with no complications at all. He's still a little bare, of course --- I'm surprised how long it's taking to grow back that fur on his neck and legs --- and I've discovered the true purpose of cat fur is to insulate unsuspecting humans from scalding themselves on the true body temperature of a healthy cat. Zowie! They're warm!

Our next challenge is getting a good night's sleep ... Mack has still been in our bedroom with us, and (affectionate as it is) I'm not getting much sleep when Mack decides to park on my chest and poke his nose into my face!

This is a small price, though, for having this cuddler back in true form. I find myself petting him and saying things like, "You're such a good boy ... and so ALIVE! What a wonderful kitty!"

Thank you for wishing Mack to wellness!

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Mack video

Mack playing with daddy - April 13, 2007 - 2 weeks with feeding tube and feeling better!





Mack - April 13, 2007 - Now that I have it ... what do I do with it?




Mack - done playing - huddled near the heater - April 13, 2007




Mack - healthy and relaxed - May 11, 2007





Mack - eager to enter the "dining room" - May 11, 2007





Mack - May 11, 2007 - "This is where you offer me the delicious expensive canned food in a bowl ...."

Calories per can of Wellness brand cat foods

Just received these calorie counts for the Wellness brand cat food Mack will eat.

Since we're supposed to be getting him 273 calories every day, this is important information ... but it wasn't listed on the cans or on the company's website.

Their customer service department is very responsive, though -- I got these values this morning, after sending an email request yesterday in the evening!

I'm posting them here for future reference, and in case it will help anyone else in a similar situation in the future!

Calories in Wellness Canned Cat Foods- by Can Size

Chicken
3oz 120
5.5oz 220
12.5oz 500

Chicken & Herring
3oz 103
5.5oz 189
12.5oz 429

Beef & Chicken
3oz 105
5.5oz 193
12.5oz 439

Turkey
3oz 119
5.5oz 218
12.5oz 495

Turkey & Salmon
3oz 99
5.5oz 181
12.5oz 412

Sardine, Shrimp & Crab
3oz 89
5.5oz 163
12.5oz 370

Salmon & Trout
3oz 113
5.5oz 208
12.5oz 472

Chicken & Lobster
3oz 107
5.5oz 195
12.5oz 444

Kitten
3oz 121

Nicole Bibeau
Specialist
Consumer Affairs

(request #000026373B)

Appetite stimulant and new toys

My friend Mary wrote:

Just read your Sunday post and had a thought - check the cans for additives/preservatives. Mack didn't "eat" for such a long time that maybe these "extras" have a smell of their own that he only now notices? Just a very wild guess. It's just good to hear that he is eating on his own (and with your cross-town trek, apparently eating very well-traveled cat food : - ).


That's entirely possible, Mary. I do know, after further research, that the Wellness brand uses human-grade food products in its line of pet foods -- which makes it less icky for me to be stirring it up with my *fingers*! Some of that canned pet food is absolutely disgusting, from a purely human mostly-vegetarian point of view!

Last night before bed, since Mack hadn't eaten enough food all day, I popped a half-tablet of appetite stimulant down his throat. He wasn't happy with me, but it was pretty quick with the new pill plunger I picked up at the Cat Doctor on Friday, for just this purpose. It places the pill well past the cat's tongue, so it's less likely to end up getting spit out!

Anyway, between 10 p.m. and 6:30 this morning, Mack ate a whopping 5 2/3 tablespoons of Kitten Chow (compared with 4 1/3 all day yesterday). He *really* wanted his canned food, too -- and gobbled down 2 1/4 oz. before I left for work! That's as much as he ate yesterday, all day!

He was really bouncy and energetic yesterday, though. I bought some new cat toys, and Mack (along with Reggie and Lucky) played with every one of them. The first one, a 2 1/2" glow-in-the-dark white pom pom with metallic blue threads, Mack tossed up in the air (I swear!) about 4', and followed with a leap of his own, about 4" behind it -- but he did a flip instead of catching it, and landed smack on his back on the hardwood floor. Didn't hurt him -- he took off like a demon, and hid under the papasan for a while. Didn't play with THAT toy again.

I coaxed him out, and he wasn't hurt, just shocked and embarrassed, I think. I had to laugh out loud, though!

He's been darting around, in and out of doors as if we can't see him streak by ... just like before he was sick. He's DEFINITELY feeling better.

This morning, though, after gorging on the canned food (which was less than we'd been stuffing into his tummy when we were tube-feeding, so I wasn't worried that he was overeating), he was all relaxed and curled up for a nap at the foot of the bed. Made me smile.

Mack is back.

When did we get a finicky cat?

So, I'm driving down the street, with the express mission of buying a reasonable supply of the one brand of canned cat food that Mack will eat. I've already called our local natural foods coop - the Outpost - and they say they don't carry any canned Wellness brand products, just dry. So the only store I know that carries the stuff is Beans & Barley, where I happen to have had dinner with a friend on Friday night. Before we had dinner, I picked up samples of canned cat food, to see whether they would appeal to Mack's appetite.

The good news is that I picked TWO WINNERS.

The weird question is: what if I hadn't scheduled dinner at Beans & Barley on Friday night? What would Mack be eating????

The bad news is that I only bought two cans. I did get a can of some other brand, as well, but Mack won't touch it, after a few initial licks.

So, I'm on my way to B&B to buy more Wellness canned food. And I realize I'm passing Pet Supplies Plus. I wonder if THEY carry the Wellness brand canned food -- that would save me several miles and several more minutes on my errands. So I pull into the parking lot of Pet Supplies Plus. They do not carry the Wellness brand, but they have a fabulous selection of Purina Fancy Feast products -- none of which were on the recent recall list of foods contaminated with melamine. (Remember melamine plates, from the 50s and 60s? they were just plastic? why didn't they just call them plastic?)

Aware that this is a risky business, I decide to buy about a dozen different flavors of Fancy Feast, hoping one or two will appeal to Mack, and that I can save 60 cents per can over the Wellness brand, which is also several miles farther away.

Quite pleased with myself, I bring my selection of Fancy Feast home, and crack open a can of Salmon Feast -- Sue's recommendation when we were trying to get Mack to eat prior to intubation. I mix it up and call Mack to the dining room -- he follows eagerly because he's hungry ... he hasn't had anything but Kitten Chow since 7 a.m. when he finished off the first can of Wellness brand.

Mack jumps up on the bed, eager, excited. He sniffs the food in the can I'm holding. He bumps my other hand so I'll pet him.

I stir the Salmon feast with my finger (eeew), and offer it to Mack. He bumps my hand so I'll pet him.

I try again. He bumps my hand for petting.

Salmon Feast is rejected.

I try a can of Purina Friskies Kitten Formula, which I picked up on a whim because Mack liked the Wellness Kitten formula. This, too, is painfully rejected. (Well, not painful -- just smelly and messy.)

Sigh. I will not open the other ten cans to see if any of them appeal to Mack. It's just too wasteful and frustrating!

John and I get in the car and drive down to Beans and Barley, have a nice early dinner, buy 14 cans of Wellness brand canned food in the two flavors Mack has not yet rejected -- aware that, at any moment, his taste may change and this investment, too, may be wasted.

When we get home, the first thing I do is pop the top of a can of the Kitten formula, call the cat to the dining room, and offer it to our recuperating cat (I have to remind myself of why I'm going through this trouble ... he is still recuperating ... he is still recuperating ... he is still recuperating!).

Same procedure, very different result: Mack dives into the can, nose first, and gobbles about a half ounce of the canned food. I'm relieved. He will get his nutrition today. But I'm puzzled, too. How does he know this is the right one!?!?

More importantly, what the heck would he be eating if I hadn't found the "right" one?

Wow. I just don't know the answer to that.

Macks-a-million Kitty update

Two weeks ago, the vet cleaned up Mack's tube-insertion site, gave him a clean tape collar to hold things in place, and sent us home with instructions to put antibiotic ointment on the area if it looked inflamed.

After about a week, Mack started scratching at his tape collar more and more often. Soon, we noticed that it was looking dirtier -- and getting kind of smelly, too. I thought, maybe, the petroleum base of the ointment was turning rancid?

By last Monday, I was on the phone with the vet's office, asking about getting it cleaned up again. They suggested that, with warm water, we might be able to take care of the problem ourselves. We tried, for a couple of days. Things only seemed to get worse. So, on Friday, we took him in to the vet again.

Apparently, Friday afternoon was a busy time at this vet's office. By the end of the day, when we arrived, they were not only short one doctor (on vacation for 2 weeks), but also short on patience. The vet examined Mack, and pulled at the tube-entry site in ways I would never have thought -- much less have the confidence -- to do. Under the tape, where I hadn't ever looked, was greenish goo -- the source of the smell I was detecting. I felt like a bad parent.

The vet took Mack to the back room to clean him up and put new tape on the tube -- but came back empty-handed. His sutures were out, and the tube was in danger of popping out anytime if she didn't suture it back in place right away. To do that, she'd have to sedate him. Did we want her to take the tube out, or suture it back in?

Fortunately, we'd brought the three sheets of graph paper on which we'd documented every speck of food Mack had eaten or been fed for the last six weeks, since the intubation. His oral intake, primarily Kitten Chow, had been all over the map. Some days, it was as low as 2 1/2 tablespoons, some as high as 10 1/2. There seemed to be no relationship between the oral intake and tube feedings, the oral intake and appetite stimulant, or any other discernible pattern.

The vet said, "If he's eating pretty well on his own," it was safe to take the tube out. We appealed to her to tell US, based on her expertise and our records, whether he was actually eating enough. After an extended consultation, (which left her pretty impressed with the extent and detail of our record-keeping!) we all decided it would be best to take the tube out -- his neck needed to heal, and if worse came to worse, we could always syringe-feed him orally to supplement his voluntary intake. But it was a scary step to take! "What if ... what if ... what if ...?"

Since Mack hasn't shown much interest in eating anything besides Kitten Chow -- with the exception of 2 1/2 T of that Trader Joe's Ocean Fish & Salmon over the course of 2 days, and a single tablespoon of the Purina Urinary Health formula over a period of one full week! -- we were a bit worried about him getting enough nutrition and calories without the tube.

The great news: since we brought him home, Mack has gobbled down about 2 oz. of a Kitten Formula canned food by Wellness, as well as about 1 oz. of the Wellness Turkey & Salmon! All this in addition to between 4-6 T of Kitten Chow. This may not sound like much, but I can't tell you how relieved we are!

I don't even mind (much -- yet) that he seems only to want to eat the canned food when I'm physically holding the can or bowl it's in. That will get old quickly, but right now, it seems a small concession.

Also, his neck is showing excellent progress in healing, already. This is the Amazing Healing Cat, I gotta tell ya!

As Sue would say, "Go, Mack, go!"

Extubated!

I've watched enough doctor shows on TV to know the term for putting a tube into someone: intubation.

Funny how they never talk about the inevitable event on the other end of the recuperation ... is it DEtubation? OUTtubation? Is the patient detubified? (Note: Thank you, Lindsey, for the proper term: extubation!)

Well, whatever they call it ... we called it "taking it out."

YES! The exciting news is that our beloved Mack cat is without his orange halo, as of about 5:30 last night, when the vet took it out!

Poor baby has really sore spots around the opening itself, which is closed and quickly healing with plenty of "triple antibiotic" ointment. Looks icky, though.

Details - as in how this decision was reached, what precipitated it, and what we need to watch for now -- will be forthcoming.



Meanwhile, we are apparently scheduled 3 times daily (at least) to give this kitty a 30-minute belly rub. He's gotten VERY accustomed to the undivided attention he's been getting during tube feedings. I guess we don't mind ..... puurrrrrr.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Erratic Appetite Frustration

No, not mine. My appetite is quite healthy ... goldarn it.

I'm talking about Mack's appetite.

The euphoria over him eating the Trader Joe's Ocean Fish & Salmon canned cat food lasted just about 24 hours. The next day, he ignored it completely.

Lucky and Reggie, on the other hand, gobble as much as they can get. That's ending, too, since a moderate portion last night ended up as slush on my floor afterward. Yuck. Smelly, too.

ANYWAY ... I'm trying to remind myself that patience is what is called for here. I'm also trying to find out how long it's going to take for Mack to eat enough on his own that we can get that tube out of his neck. It's crusty and, while not inflamed or infected, obviously bothers him enough that he is scratching at it quite frequently.

For some reason, I didn't realize we were supposed to be cleaning it on an ongoing basis. I don't know what I was thinking. Now we're applying triple-antibiotic ointment regularly, and cleaning it beforehand with warm water and swabs. This process has made me more aware of the vulnerability Mack is being exposed to, regarding infection. (It's an open wound. Duh.)

So I'm wondering HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE? When will his appetite be robust enough to send him to the food bowl on a regular basis. I don't even care, at this point WHAT it is he wants to eat. I'll keep buying Kitten Chow, if that's what it will take. But the sooner that tube is out, the sooner he can stop itching, and the sooner that wound can heal.

I found online resources that say it can take six to eight weeks of tube feeding before appetite returns to normal. Tomorrow, we mark the end of 6 weeks.

We're in the home stretch, then.

Good.

Trader Joe's Ocean Fish & Salmon canned cat food!!!

Hooray! Mack actually ate something besides Kitten Chow!

Reggie and Lucky have been VERY patient, eating (almost) exclusively their healthy Purina cat food every day, while Mack gets the gourmet liver pate ... and DOESN'T EVEN LIKE IT!

What I mean is ... Reg & Lucky go NUTS when I open a can of Mack's prescription canned food. The aroma brings them to the kitchen from the farthest reaches of the house. Yet Mack has no interest in EATING it. He barely tolerates its smell under his nose if we happen to have a "spill" while we're tube-feeding. The closest he's come to eating it is when he cleans his fur after we've made a mess.

Reg & Lucky, on the other hand, crave the flavor so wildly that they hover while I prepare it for Mack. Once in a while, I'll let them lick the squeegee'd spoon, just for flavor -- but this stuff is so high-calorie and high-fat that it's just not good to let them have much. So I've held them at bay with tiny portions of the Purina Fancy Feast Liver Feast that Mack also rejected. It's lasted quite a long time in the fridge.

Yesterday, at Trader Joe's, I picked up a couple of cans of their Ocean Fish & Salmon flavored canned cat food -- for Reggie & Lucky. I figured it was good for their coat, and a treat they might enjoy by the teaspoonful. I first offered it to them this morning, and just for laughs, I put about half a tablespoonful into a bowl and took it to Mack in his special dining room (aka our bedroom).

Since I had been offering Mack other tidbits in this same way for weeks, I had no expectation that he'd actually EAT it, especially right after I'd finished putting 33cc of prescription food into him about 20 minutes earlier.

Lo and behold -- as soon as I put the food on the floor, Mack started sniffing the air actively ... then got up and stuck his nose right into the bowl ... and ate, or rather DEVOURED most of the treat!

Now -- was it the fish, or was it the 1/2 tablet of appetite stimulant?

In our 6th week of tube feeding, and no end in sight

I have to admit that it feels like we've been pushing food through a tube into Mack's stomach for EVER. I counted the weeks -- on Thursday, we'll have completed 6 weeks, and he's still not consistently eating enough food on his own to sustain himself.

What is more disturbing is that he doesn't seem to care much.

He doesn't eat MORE food if we push LESS through the tube. He doesn't eat LESS food if we push MORE through the tube. He doesn't eat more if we push more; he doesn't eat less if we push less.

There seems to be absolutely no correlation between the two at all.

He doesn't even eat more if I give him the appetite stimulant than when I leave it out of his diet.

And he isn't interested in ANYthing but Kitten Chow. Not liver pate (Hill's Prescription Diet a/d). Not Fancy Feast Liver Feast (which his brothers would KILL for). Certainly not the everyday Purina urinary health food the other boys are eating.

I don't want to rush him, but ... I'm not sure he is moving ON, if you know what I mean.

I'm also getting a little worried about the condition of the site where the tube goes into his throat. He's been scratching at it more, and it seems a little exposed and crusty. I don't know how long it can be okay to have an open wound like that.

Tomorrow, I'll call the vet.

Good Friends, Good Cats

I had one of the most enjoyable weekends I’ve had in memory. Good friends, good cats.

It seems only yesterday that my arms were criss-crossed with tiny little scratch marks from Reggie attacking me to feed him.

They were orphaned at 17 days old when their mother went hunting and never came back (I fear the neighbor, who had no love for cats, was responsible). There was no way I could let the poor little things die, so I began feeding them first kitten formula, then switched to goat milk.

They lived in a tall cardboard box (until they learned to climb) and nestled on a heating pad for warmth.

Feeding time was always chaotic. They were screaming for food, I’d be talking to them as I warmed their milk in the microwave.

I quickly learned that the only way to shut up Reggie was to feed him enough to quiet him, then rotate the bottle between them until they all had full tummies. Reggie would always wrap his tiny paws around the bottle and hold it as I held him when he was fed.

They grew quickly and one of the best days was when they started using their little litterbox on their own! No more wiping little tushies with warm, moist paper towels to simulate their mama’s licking so they would evacuate. THANK GOD.

Now look at them. HUGE boys. Happy boys – even Mack. He purrs when he is being fed and his purr is a roar.

John and Sharon relax with him, petting him, cuddling him, and he so enjoys this. Sharon laughs that he now associates being petted with a full tummy. What a disappointed boy he is going to be when the tube feedings are no longer needed and his tummy doesn’t magically fill with each chin rub and back scratch!

They are 3 of the luckiest cats in the world (especially “The Six Million Dollar Cat”) to have Sharon and John looking after them.

Who Could Ask for Anything More?

No matter how I try to depict this in a photo, I don't seem to be able to get a picture of Mack that communicates the relaxed contentment he is projecting right now, especially after his belly is full and he's been subjected to 20-30 minutes of continuous belly-rubbing and throat-stroking!

I'm trying again. He is all stretched out, not a tense muscle in his body, except for the one that controls his neck, because he knows I'm there flashing the camera at him. I wish I could have sound effects along with the photo!


The sun is POURING into the living room, and Reggie is also in his "all's right with the world" pose.


And there's Lucky, too -- he always looks a little dazed if he's not asleep. But the paws tell the story ... no tension there, either.



As I said ... who could ask for anything more than sunshine, quiet, and three contented kitties?

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Blood Test Results Confirm: Mack is Back!

All Mack's blood values are normal now, except his bilirubin. He's at .6, and the top of the "normal" range is .4.

Hey! That's close enough for me!

It's close enough for the doc, too, it seems. She expects it will drop to within normal range in the next day or so.

Mack got new tape around his neck, and a little bit of neosporin on the place where the tube goes in. Otherwise, the doc says, it's healthy tissue ... so the tube can stay in as long as he needs it (or until he knocks it out).

Sue, Mack's first mom, is spending the weekend with us, so Mack will get extra doses of affection (as will Lucky & Reggie) -- there's nothing better for healing than love!

Life is good.

Another visit to the cat doctor

As a well kitty, Mack weighed 11 pounds, 5 ounces.

When we first took him to the cat doctor at the beginning of March, he weighed only 8 pounds 5 ounces. He'd lost about 1/4 of his total body weight!

Even after emergency care, he continued to drop weight, hovering just over 8 pounds. And after two weeks of tube feeding, although his health definitely improved, his weight had dropped to 7 pounds 15 ounces.

He simply was not getting enough nutrition. His liver function was improving, the jaundice was fading, his red blood cells were increasing ... but his weight continued to drop.

At the vet's office today, the vet and her assistant were immediately impressed with how much more healthy Mack looked. The jaundice is completely gone, and his weight today was an encouraging 8 pounds 13.5 ounces!

He's gained almost a pound in just 2 weeks!

Blood test results will tell us, in a couple of days, how his liver function is doing. We'll finish up the liver support supplements in the next two days, and use the appetite stimulant if he seems to cut back on his food consumption. We'll continue with the tube feedings until he is eating enough to sustain himself, for at least a week.

Later, we'll worry about weaning him from the Kitten Chow and gradually replacing it with the regular food he'll need to eat in order to be reintegrated with the rest of the clan at mealtimes.

Right now, we're enjoying a hard-earned optimistic moment, coasting toward full recovery and hoping for no relapse or complications.

If you hear what sounds like a Mack truck idling in the distance, don't worry. It's just us, purring contentedly.

Intertwined

As carefully as I sometimes try, it's impossible to keep one thread of my life from becoming intertwined with others.

Early in March, the news of something that happened in Chicago ... kicked me into "action" mode and caused the series of events that saved Mack's life.

It was not a fair exchange. The event was violent and tragic, and every bit as horrific for those affected, as the events on the campus of Virginia Tech this week.

I'm not sure what this intertwining means.

I'm not sure it's useful to try to make meaning where such things are intertwined.

It simply is what it is.

And the single story of all our lives continues.

Getting Better All the Time

Mack continues to eat solid food, and continues to improve in ways that make me smile at things I used to be frustrated over ... like his tendency let us know he wants a door opened by pawing at it (hollow core) for several seconds at a crack. It's almost as bad as fingernails on a chalkboard! But now it means he's feeling well enough to HAVE demands, and that is a GREAT thing!

I will know he's REALLY feeling well when I find his teeth marks in plastic grocery bags and in the lint roller's sticky-tape that has been pulled out of wastebaskets!

His solid food consumption seems to be steadily increasing, which is very encouraging. He's learning that he doesn't need to wait for us to feed him!

Saturday night, while I was sleeping, he parked himself next to my pillow and laid his head on my shoulder for several hours, purring most of the time. Very sweet ... except I believe it was less a gesture of affection, and more an attempt to get the full belly that often results when he purrs next to me.

Unfortunately for him, it didn't fill his belly this time -- which could be why he didn't come near me at all last night. But there was a measurable increase in the amount of dry food missing from the bowl of Kitty Chow in the morning!

Today's selection on the Jukebox in My Head: "Getting Better" from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band