Dietary Changes

The cardiologist recommended that I try kale chips.  My response was that they are nasty and I would not consider it.  Well, I did buy a package of kale chips, and maybe it was because I was pre-programmed to think so, but they were  nasty.

Also at the suggestion of my cardiologist, I purchased some whole wheat pasta.  The first couple of times I tried it, it was also nasty.  Sorry, it just did not taste right. But I had the rest of the package, and I could throw it out or figure out how to eat it. So I did.  I figured out if I boiled the hell out of the pasta, it was palatable. Not more palatable, but palatable. 

Cats Eating

Haiku did not eat well today.  She did not like the smashed liver I put out, and ate very little dry food this morning. She ate some dry food and human tuna this evening, and later ate some smashed liver, but all amounts were small.

Taki ate a little dry food, and some wet food both this morning and this evening.   I did not see her do so either time, but her food dishes were changed.  She did not vomit tonight, so hopefully whatever affected her previously has resolved. 

A Finicky Haiku

Haiku has been eating fairly well lately. But not tonight. She did eat a little bit of dry food, and then turned up her nose at smashed liver. She did not want Fancy Feast liver and chicken paté.  She cried a lot tonight, and sniffed multiple times at the various food dishes.  I finally put out a second dish of smashed liver, and she ate from it, twice.

It is very frustrating trying to feed Haiku.  I will however, keep trying.

Eating in Bed

Eating in Bed?  Do you eat in bed? When I was a teenager, and a college student, I ate in bed. Crackers. Chips and dip. What else? But, that is a precarious habit, especially since the reappearance of bedbugs, that I assume may be attracted by crumbs left by eating in bed.

Years ago, I used to feed Haiku at the foot of my bed, because she was intimidated by my other cat, Sake.  But, after a while, I started feeding them nearby each other, and Haiku ate okay. Not great, but okay. 

Over the past few years, sometimes, Haiku would be lying on the top level of the cat tree we have, and cry, so I would feed her there. That is really a safe option, because Taki would not intimidate her. 

Most recently, Haiku has been asking to eat in bed again.  Because her eating habits are so fragile, I have decided that I will not deprive her of eating in bed, but she will only get dry food.  It is too easy to spread the wet food onto the sheets and linens.  I may change my mind, but for now, it will be dry food only.  

Gouda Cheese - Revisited

Haiku is a very bright cat.  I have been feeding her Gouda cheese at the dining table.  So, today, after I offered her liver, dry food and tuna and she was not interested, she jumped to the dining table and nosed around the papers on the table.  So, I produced a piece of Gouda cheese, and she licked it a little bit. And, several times during the course of the day, she has asked for Gouda cheese, by repeating the same behaviors, and licked a little bit.  This is okay with me.  My concern is that when I return to work, I will be unable to satisfy her desire to snack. 

Feeding Haiku

Last year, early in the year, Haiku started acting very strangely.  She would chase around and cry, sit in the closet and sit and cry, and act like she did not know where she was.  I took her to the vet. They did lab work, said she had kidney problems, gave me kidney care food (dry and canned) and antibiotics.  She took the pills for several days, but got worse and worse. I called the vet and we went back in, they could find nothing else.  After another day or so of worse and worse, I just stopped the antibiotics. I was convinced Haiku was having a reaction to the medication.  Shortly thereafter, Haiku started behaving better. More like her self. The vet said she had cat dementia.

Haiku was not really excited about the kidney care dry food, and totally uninterested in the canned food. The sad part was that Taki, who will eat just about anything, did not like the canned food, either. The cans were samples, so no loss.  Taki liked the kidney care food, and I think Haiku ate it because Taki did, and she did not want to be outdone. (There is some of that in their relationship.)

Haiku still has some days when she cries and races around, or hides in the crate in the closet, but she is much more interactive and attentive, and her racing and chasing is not so disorganized.

When I got back from vacation in early April, the cat sitter had left me a note that Haiku and Taki were not eating much of the canned food I had for them (that they ate for me), and she tried other flavors. They would not eat the other flavors for me and for the first 3 and half weeks or so after I returned, neither cat ate well.  I was not sure if that was to punish me, or a reaction to the stress I was feeling because it was so hard to get caught up at work during that time.  I think the latter, because once things calmed down for me at work, things were better at home with the cats.

When Haiku went in for her yearly exam earlier this month, she had lost 1.5 pounds.  She weighed 6.3 lbs. The vet was not too concerned. Older cats just lose weight.  But I was concerned.  And early this week, Haiku stopped eating.  Wednesday, I check with the vet, and they had other kinds of kidney care or kidney support food.  I picked up samples of dry and canned food.  Haiku ate the dry food, and sat waiting for more, and ate, then later in the evening, asked for more. I called the vet after she ate the dry food, and they had more in stock, so I arranged with the vet and my boss to go by the vet to get a bag of this food in the morning, and go into work late.

I am so pleased.  Haiku is eating well. She eats a little, then sits at the dish and waits, and eats more. She does not let Taki intimidate her into leaving her dish. She comes and asks for food.  She seems interested in eating again, instead of just sitting there, looking at the dish.  I do not know how long this will last, but she will get this food as long as she wants. I think I might occasionally give her the other food, to keep her interested and not bored with eating.















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Fussy Eater

Haiku has become a fussy eater. She has always preferred dry food to canned food, but even that does not appeal to her any more.  Because neither she nor Taki ate canned food yesterday morning, I did not put out any last evening.  Haiku wanted me to get up about 4 AM but I did not, and I do not know what she wanted, but I should have arisen, and checked.  So, when I did get up this morning, Haiku did not want canned food, or dried food, but she did take treats.  I left a second dish of treats on the kitchen counter. Taki can jump up there, but rarely does. Haiku easily jumps onto the counter, and does to check out anything that interests her, including the other day when I was cutting celery leaves off the celery stalks, or I had shrimp thawing for shrimp cocktail. She  did not eat the treats during the day, and turned her nose up at it tonight.  She later ate some freshly put out treats. She did not want the canned food I put out tonight that she has eaten just a few days ago, the last time I put it out. Taki ate some.  Haiku at first did not want the kidney care food, but finally ate a little.  She did finally eat a different flavor of canned food.  I hate that she has become so picky. I am going to try to call the vet tomorrow after work, and see if they have any other kind of kidney care food we can try.  I think she gets bored.  Always before, I have varied her foods and she has liked that. In the last year and few months, she has been on the same food, over and over, and has "gone off feed" for a meal or two. I do not blame her for getting bored. But with her weight loss over the last year, I do not want that to be common.

Cat Eating Habits

I have written about this before, but it just never seizes to amaze me.  And, I know that this is not a phenomenon limited just to my cats.  When there is dry food in a cat dish, but the bottom of the dish shows, my cats do not want to eat.  They want there to be more food in the dish, or I have to rearrange the food so the hole does not show.  I do not understand this, but it is what it is.  Hmmm.

I Want Something to Eat

Haiku has had some health problems and has new dietary restrictions.  She has to eat kidney care food. We are using Hills Prescription Diet Kidney Care http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/products/pd-feline-kd-dry.  Haiku started off eating it fine, then totally stopped, but now has started eating it again.  She "grazes," eating a little bit several times a day.  I know this from being home on the weekend.  Taki eats it, because I took up all of the other dry food the cats had free access to, but I am not sure which cat eats how much.

When Haiku was not eating well, I took to bringing her food dish to her chair in the computer room to encourage her to eat.  Well, one time makes a tradition, as a friend of mine says.  Haiku will eat at the table, but later on, she will sit on the chair and cry, until I bring her food dish to her chair.  She will then graze off and on all night.  So that is good that she grazes. 

Pork Rib Tips

Sake had not totally stopped eating but she was eating so little, I knew it was time to take her to the vet. Especially, because Friday morning, after I put breakfast out, including gravy canned food, mashed liver, ground chicken and really finely cut up port, she sat at the table and slapped at me, wanting to eat but I did not know what else she wanted.

So, I took her to the vet and she got a shot. And ate a little better last night. But not well this morning.  I bought pork rib tips today:  she ate the pork roast I bought, and it was tender, but it was not falling off the bone tender like ribs are.  So, after the ribs had cooked for more than an hour, Sake started telling me that she wanted to eat.  I put out some ribs for her tonight, and she ate.  Not well, but better than she had been eating. Yeah!

Sake Continues to Eat Well

Today, Sake continues to eat well:  Hard treats and ground chicken.   It is what I have to do to get her to eat, and I am willing to do what I have to do.  I am just thankful she is eating well.

Sake Eating

I have not been able to tell if Sake is eating or not, since Saturday.  The trick of sautéing chicken in butter did not work for very long.  I do not see Sake eat, but her food disappears. A couple of times, I have happened into the kitchen and seen her working on hard, dry food, eschewing the soft, moist food I have put out for her.  But she spooks, and that is that.

Tonight, I cooked a chicken pot pie. Sake was definitely interested, but when I put some gravy and chicken in a dish for her, she decided she did not want it. She acted hungry, checked out the food I put out, but did not eat.

However, tonight was boiled chicken night:  I have been boiling a chicken, cutting it into pieces and freezing the pieces, thawing them to offer to Sake.  Well, this last go round, except for the butter sautéed chicken, she lost interest after a couple of pieces. Since she was not interested,I wonder if the chicken tastes old or dried out to her (it seems fine to me, I eat it, too). Well, she did not eat tonight...

Until I put out some freshly cooked chicken. She ate two big helpings of the chicken.  So, after this time, my next strategy will be to buy chicken in bulk (as I have been), freezing it in pieces, and cooking the pieces separately. If this does not work, I will buy fresh chicken as we go, which will be much more expensive, but if I can get Sake to eat, I will do what I have to do.

Am I Being Played?

That Sake is ill with a mouth infection is well documented.  The Monday before Labor Day I took her into the vet because she seemed to just barely eat over the weekend, although it did not feel like her weight was down (it was not.)  She objected strongly to being crated for the trip to the vet, and when she said "aaah" (hissed), the vet said her mouth did not look as bad as it had. 

Since then, her eating habits have not varied much:   She eats a little at meal time.  When I am not home during the day, I do not know what she does, but she does not show up at meal time as if she is very hungry, sniff the food, and leave. She may or may not show up at meal time.  Because she prefers her food fresh, I wait until she shows up to put it out, and she usually eats something, even if it is a small amount of something.

She has been getting chicken, and eating at it  She has stopped eating beef liver, but continues to get chicken liver, which she eats at.  Haiku likes chicken liver, too.  I discovered Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Liver, http://www.fancyfeast.com/gourmet-cat-products/ and the cheddar meals.  She really goes for the Gravy Lovers Chicken and Liver.  Which makes sense, since I am giving her chicken and chicken liver. I add the cheddar meal for variety.  Sometimes she chows down. Sometimes, no.  But I know Taki and Haiku have started invading her space on the dining table and sharing in her foods.

Sake has been grooming more.  She also has been more active, chasing around the house, asking to sit in the garage.  She hisses at Taki when Taki tries to invade her space while Sake is eating (when she was really sick, she just walked away.)  She is also asking to eat on the kitchen floor with the other cats, and not away from them, as she had before.  And, if she is interrupted while she is eating, she is not easily frightened off, as she had been for a while.

She is still matted, and not as fluffy and chunky as she had once been.  But, I think she is doing better. We will be going on 4 weeks since we have been to the vet. This is good. But in the past, her eating as turned off, as if a switch was thrown, which could happen any time.

But, she is doing better.  She woke me at 5:30 this morning, so I fed all the cats before I went back to sleep.  At about 7:30, everybody wanted treats again, and they got them.  About noon, I sat down to eat lunch. Sake joined me on the dining table, checked out what I had, did not want what she had, but after I finished lunch, she ate.  She did the same thing at dinner time tonight. (She does not usually get to sample what I have.  Haiku will eat right off my plate, even if it is inappropriate for a cat (too spicy), but Sake does not.) So, I am not sure this delaying action is all about. Today, I fed Sake 5 times. She ate some every time. And during the week, when I am at work, most of the chicken and chicken livers have been disappearing, along with some of the canned food she likes.  

I hope she is better. 

Eating Better

Sake did not eat well last weekend, well it started a week ago last Thursday and progressed.  She was eating, but not well. Monday morning I took her to the vet. She had only lost .3 of a pound, so that was good.  They gave her a shot and said her mouth did not look too bad.

That was consistent:  She hid from me and resisted going into the crate.  We just took the top of the crate off in the exam room. Sake was not debilitated, so she was not compliant.  But she did let me pet her when I took her home. It was 3 weeks since I had brought her into the vet, and she was not as sick as she had been the last few times I took her into the vet.

Sake did not start eating better until Wednesday evening, but there was quite an improvement then.  That was actually not bad.  When this first started, Sake would respond to the injections the same day.  Until the past couple of times she was given an injection. More recently, it would take 2-4 days to work, so this response was better than the last couple of times.

This Saturday, she has asked for food four times: I fed breakfast late, and she asked for food 3 other times.  Because she asked for food mid-afternoon, I did not put food out at "dinner time."  The boiled chicken she likes dries out quickly, and I saw no reason to put some out until she was ready to eat it.  So, we did that 3 times today.

Mid-afternoon, Haiku asked for a treat.  I gave some to her and Taki at the same time:  I hate to be ugly, but Taki has gained too much weight, so I do not respond to her requests for treats. But if Haiku asks, they both get treats.  I think that they have that figured out.

They did get dinner, but again, late, because they had later afternoon treats.

I am just thrilled that Sake is asking to eat and eating better than she had been.

Beef Liver is a Blessing

I while back I wrote about Sake really liking beef liver. And, how I thought I would have to take her into the vet because she did not respond to the latest injection she had received. But finally, she started eating.

Well, she is still not eating well. But, she is grooming. And, she is eating a little. Mostly chicken, beef liver, and drinking some milk.  She has asked for food 4 times today.  Only once when I gave her beef liver and chicken did she not eat, although she drank some milk.  This is encouraging to me.  I do not know how long it will last, but it is encouraging to me for as long it will last.

Breakfast on Demand

Saturday and Sunday, I allow myself to sleep in but the timing on that is variable. Friday evening, May 9th, 2014, I went to the Catholic Charities Volunteer Appreciation event http://www.cclubbock.org/.  Although I returned home before 8:30 PM, it took some time for the event hype to wear off and for me to wind down. It was about 1:30 AM when I went to bed. 

That was okay by me. I slept in Saturday morning. Haiku and Taki were giving me signals that it was time to get up well before the alarm went off at 5:30 AM.  I shut the alarm off, and went back to sleep

At 8:18 AM (I checked the clock) Sake started slapping me.  You will remember that Sake is the cat who has been ill and does not eat well in my presence. She has not eaten well since Tuesday, and it was Saturday morning. (I know she eats throughout the day, though, sometimes well, some times just nibbling.)

I got up and started feeding cats. Sake was so hungry, she jumped on the kitchen counter and started eating the newly cut up chicken in her dish. This is the same cut up chicken she has been snubbing this week until Friday evening. 

I was so pleased that she ate well today. I do not understand the waxing and waning of her appetite. Suffice it to say she is an old lady, and she can do what she wants. I try to offer her a variety of foods so she has something she will eat. This may or may not work.

I wish Sake would let me brush her more, but she does not, and she has lots of bad mats.  But I do what I can. She hides so much when she is not feeling well. So, when she is out, I do not want our time together to be a total war of the mats, me trying to brush her, and her hating it. I do a little, but she calls the shots.

So, when she calls the shots for breakfast, no matter the hour, even too early, I abide by her wishes.