Ruby Tuesday

We got mail!

A box arrived on our doorstep yesterday. The human children were slightly let down that is was not for them (especially the human child with a birthday on Friday). The feline children were thrilled!

The box came from Jeanne at Random Felines. It's full of treats, toys, and other goodies that she got at the Blog Paws convention in Washington DC. I won it simply by knowing that Miller, Stella, Busch, and Killian (her current foster kittens) were named after beer. Considering that I have never partaken of any of them, I will consider this an achievement. :)

Thank you so much. Charlie thanks you for the treat. Norman, Simba, and Clarice thank you for the snacks. Ruby thanks you for the box. And, most importantly, the soon-to-come arrivals thank you for their brand new toys. TOYS!

"What do you mean the foster kittens thank Ms. Jeanne for the toys? The toys are not for Ruby?"

"No toys makes Ruby CRANKY!"

Everyone calm down. Ruby has plenty of toys... 

even a brand new one that I let her take out of the box.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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The Munchkin Report

Unless they were captured overnight, the munchkins remain on the loose with their mother. The weather is just starting to dry out and Mama Marmie has been keeping her youngsters better tied to her apron strings since losing them in the storm the other day. The forecast is perfect for the remainder of the week. My friend anticipates catching them in the next few days and then I'll meet her at the vet to collect our lovelies soon afterward.

By the way, we're going with Mayweather for a last name since the May weather has played havoc with our fostering expectations. Their romping wresting match on the video last week also reminded of boxer Floyd Mayweather for toughness and ferocity. Thank you to Lisa and Noelle for the fabulous suggestion!

So kitten namers? You've got Mayweather to work with now. GO! (I'll post photos of them as soon as they arrive with numbers and genders on them. You can then pick your favorites and send me names by e-mail. We'll get it worked out who gets to name whom later.)

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The Norman Report

We continue to ride the roller coaster o' diarrhea with our boy, Norman. Interestingly enough, one of the tips I read about in my Google-a-thon of treatment research was to have him fast for a day or two before reintroducing the right kind of foods. Well, first of all, he is supposedly already on the right kind of food. And second? Could you imagine trying to deny Norman food????

This is what happens when you try to deny Norman food.

And this.

This too.

The one part of his diet that I knew could use an overhaul was his canned food selection. I have always fed him the same kind of food that came from the rescue. It was just easier for making sure there was adequate stock of everything in the house and in keeping everyone on a consistent diet. There's nothing wrong with the food provided. It works well for most felines, unless you're a feline with a wonky pancreas that is.

Crazy thing happened when I decided to make him (and the others too, because I *so* was not fighting that battle) fast from canned food. It's been three days since we've had a diarrhea episode. That is eons in Norman time. You have no idea how thrilled I am to have gone three straight days without smelling it, cleaning it, and washing it off his back feet (and off every surface he walked across between leaving the litter box and my finding him). Having said all of this, I am virtually guaranteed to clean rivers of it tomorrow but at least I had the weekend. TUESDAY MORNING EDIT... Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Sigh.

Since his system appears to have reached a contented equilibrium. Now is the time to start the new diet from Gail that she calls chicken gravy. She fed it to picky eaters and underweight cats at the shelter and to her rescue ferrets as well. Many of you asked for me to share it so that you may try it with your own weight-challenged kitties. The recipe and comments about it below come from Gail:

4 chicken breasts: cook and save juices

Raw ground turkey (1 pack)

Raw chicken livers (1/2 tub)

Olive oil (1/4 cup)

Heavy cream (1/2 cup)

Nupro (1/3 cup)

I would also add rendered chicken fat if I could find it.

Soaked high quality kibble (1 cup)

Mix it all up. Then add a cup or so at a time to a heavy duty blender. Add water to make it blend. I killed blenders this way and bought a heavy duty one. But I made (literally) gallons at a time. Put it in tubs and freeze. A thawed tub is good for 4-5 days.

Gail warms it up before serving. Sounds like I'm going to have a happy and (hopefully) fat cat after this. 

I am starting Norm on this diet tomorrow. After a bit of evaluation to see how the diet works with his system, I will start adding the pancreas enzymes. I feel badly for withholding them from him just yet. But as this is an experimental treatment for him right now, I feel more strongly that we need to change things one piece at a time to make sure that we know which part causes which reaction.

Norman weighed in right around 7 pounds last night (I have ye-olde-fashioned rotary dial scale and that's the best I'm going to have for the conceivable future). It's not completely accurate, but I weighed him by holding him while I stood on the scale and then weighing myself alone. The good news is that I have lost weight since the last time I weighed myself. The bad news is that he has lost weight too.

Keeping my fingers crossed that one of us gains weight... and it's not me.