Felicity

Have I told you about my cat Felicity’s health problems? It’s gross. On (rare) occasion, she would yowl and cry in pain and then defecate on the floor, not the cat box, in a small number of drops, sometimes with blood in the somewhat runny stool. Especially as there was blood involved, I took her to the vet. What? In September, I think. X-rays, urinalysis, I don’t remember what all, but about $600 worth. And no real answer. But it was decided to put her on special cat food for the urinary tract and not let her eat the less expensive food we have been getting from Costco nor allow her outside anymore. Since then, the incidents seem to have become even more rare. But she is quite unhappy about not being allowed outside or in the garage where the regular food is in a self feeder.

We have to get special expensive food that Chewy had the vet verify that she should get it. BUT. Joseph’s cat Velox really likes Felicity’s food and we don’t actually have a place we can feed F without V being able to get there. So, I spent about $165 on a special cat food dish that reads the cat’s microchip and only opens for the right cat. Of course, it takes some time and training for the cat to get used to it. The cat sticks her head under an arch which reads the chip and slides open the dish cover. When the cat moves away, the cover closes. You train the cat in steps. At first the cover is open and barely moves so the cat hears the motor and sees a very little movement. We are now at step two so the cover moves not even two inches. Felicity is not thrilled with this so we will be at this step for a while. Unfortunately, that leaves the dish mostly open so Velox can get food and she is not pestered by the sound or noise because it doesn’t do anything when she approaches. I need to give Felicity less food at a time so she doesn’t leave as much for Velox. I usually give Velox a tiny amount of food when I feed Felicity so V won’t go after F’s food. That doesn’t work. They run and trade places. CATS!

We persist, however, because it seems like it’s helping. One day Felicity managed to both get in the garage for a while and to get outside. The next day she had trouble. Cause and effect or coincidence? Don’t know, but trying to keep her restricted.

Felicity got used to her feeder.  We went back to the vet in early April - carefully maintaining social distancing. I wondered if she might be in pain that I didn't know about - aside from her episodes.  We put her on twice daily pain medicine.

email to my cat's doctor April 21

Dr. Koncz,

It's been a bit over 4 weeks that Felicity has been taking her pain medicine.  I cannot say that there has been a change in her behavior.  She is lazy and seldom playful. I think it may be just her personality.  Even though when she was younger she was a bit more playful and I know she is not that old.

Could be partly her weight.  I pick her up every morning and every evening to give her her medicine and she feels just as big and heavy as ever.  You know how every once in a while you hear about some woman who thought she was pregnant but actually had some big tumor?  I would wonder about Felicity except that would have shown up in the earlier tests, right? 

She has had one episode since she saw you.  Last week only a couple minutes after eating, she cried and vomited. Still recognizable food. Didn't see anything else in it.  I am not aware of her having gotten outside or to Velox's food.  It was the first time she had an episode close to eating her prescription food.

At first, I was feeding her 1/2 cup food in the morning and 1/4 cup at night.  One problem with that was that she still had a little morning food left in the evening.  To give her her medicine, I would go to her.  She would waddle away as quickly as she could and hide under the furniture where I couldn't get her.  Partly because of that and partly because she was not losing any weight, I switched to giving her 1/3 cup in the morning and 1/3 cup in the evening.  I get her food ready and put it out of reach.  I get her medicine and sit down on a low stool near where she eats.  She has learned that she will get her food after she has her medicine so now she will reluctantly come to me so I can pick her up and give her the medicine.  As soon as she has it, she hops down and I give her the food.  She is very good.  But I am not sure that it is helping. 

Her pain medicine is nearly done.  Do you think we should renew it or give it up?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day she threw up after eating her dinner.  I am sure she had not gotten out or had access to other food.

She finished her pain medicine Friday night..  Today is Monday. The only difference I have noticed in her behavior is that MAYBE she is eating slightly, very slightly less. 

Most of the time, she seems ok, just lazy.  I wish I knew.