Posted by bozeman on February 23, 2003, at 22:06:56
In reply to Re: Cranky, crabby, crappy -- Part 2 » bozeman, posted by IsoM on February 20, 2003, at 1:56:24
Fortunately, he's been drinking, and drinking, and drinking, on his own. But I took your advice and got the dropper to give him his meds. Easier than the weenie dropper they gave me, considering what a big lunk he is and how much medicine I have to give him.
Zorro's a quintessential male -- does what he wants, when he wants, pretty much. The only reason I'm winning any will-battles at all is, I'm the mom and it's my job, and he knows that (however grudgingly.) :-) He's not much for veggies. At all. Won't eat anything remotely resembling a vegetable, with the one exception of the barley or wheat grass I grow for them, and any forbidden houseplants he can reach to munch on. Actually, that's more of an attention-getting thing, he doesn't really want them, just wants me to think he does. He'll eat as much grass as I'll let him, enough that he will eventually barf it up, but it doesn't seem to have an effect one way or the other on his hairballs, it's just something he likes. My other two boys (Sulley and Wally) will eat just about any veggies, and Wally will beg for lettuce - very cute! -- but not Zorro, that's why he's the Great Hunter. If he can't catch it and kill it, it ain't proper food, in his book. Since veggies don't put up a fight, it's not fair prey, I guess.
I'll have to try the raw green beans, see if that's any luck. What do you do, grow them yourself, or buy them frozen and give a few at a time?
Like you, I get so *MAD* at the rest of the world sometimes -- how can you call yourself a cat food maker and put poison crap in the cat food? "Tomato Seafood Bisque", indeed! I'm not a deep scholar on the stuff or anything, but even I know cats are poisoned by nightshades! Makes me crazy to see peppers, potatoes, tomatoes in their food. But I owe you one, I had either forgotten or never caught the allium thing. And there's garlic powder in all their food!! AARRRGGGHHH!!!!!! I had just found something Zorro wouldn't throw up -- he's as sensitive and allergic as his Mom, and can't tolerate "typical" cat food with it's food color, preservatives, "mystery meat" meal, etc. So Now what am I going to buy? I've run through everything I can find. <sigh>
And don't get me started on the "petroleum jelly for hairballs" thing! I wouldn't feed my kid petroleum, why would I feed it to my cat? Zorro gets butter every morning, and that has seemed to help a lot, he's not thrown any hairballs up for many months. Wally started getting them, too, when Zorro was shedding so bad. Zorro raised Wally from kittenhood and Wally thinks Zorro is his mother, but don't tell Zorro or he'd be embarassed for his masculinity. :-) They groom each other and sleep together. When I had to take Zorro unexpectedly back to the vet, Wally was sleeping and didn't see me leave with Zorro, so he was mad and hateful to Sulley because he thought Sulley (the newest cat and therefore still suspect -- I found him starving under a dumpster the middle of November in a blizzard) had done something to Zorro. So Wally, who is about five pounds smaller than Sulley, was going to whup Sulley's butt. It was the cutest, and sweetest, thing I've ever seen. You should have seen Wally's face when I brought Zorro back. If he could have cried, he would have, and wouldn't leave Zorro's side for the entire first day. So imagine me, with Zorro in my lap, and Wally's chin on my knee, and Sulley looking on mournfully because there's no one to play with. You have my life in a snapshot for several days, there.
Tough-boy Zorro thinks he's healed (though his wounds say otherwise -- they are healing remarkably fast, but not that fast) and has taken to howling at me at medicine time. It's quite an amusing scene. Poor Wally can't stand to watch, so he has to leave the room, as he can't figure out where the monster is that is threatening Zorro, so he can kill it and protect Zorro, so Zorro will stop howling. All he sees is Mom and Zorro, so the poor thing gets very confused. :-)
So what do you think I should do about the garlic powder? It's in the food in about the same amount as the taurine, which as I'm sure you know is added in trace amounts to protect kitty eyes, as they can't make it on their own. What's the actual process of toxicity? Is it something that harms their liver, or what?
Medusa's lucky to have as intelligent and caring a person as you to look out for her. I'll bet you two do each other a world of good. There is nothing, nothing in the world, more peaceful than a purring kitty in your lap. Dogs are terrific, but they don't purr.
My seventeen, eighteen, and thirteen pound boys and I wish you goodnight, and thanks for your notes of encouragement along the way. Zorro's going to be fine, by all appearances. The vet says he's doing better than we had any right to expect he'd be doing twice this far out.
bozeman, Sulley, Zorro, Wally
poster:bozeman
thread:201723
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030223/msgs/203196.html