Big sigh

[catnapper]

Pouncer's sick again. Again! Each time he gets sick is worse than the time before. Thank goodness I've got a new job -- as soon as I can catch my breath with bills I am going to find out whatever I need to do to make sure he remains healthy. Even if it means a $1,000 surgery.

Hubby made a good observation tonight: Pouncer gets sick every time I neglect to dish out wet food for two or three days in a row. I've been so busy and since we've got the baby gates set up, it has just been easier to feed them dry food in the bedroom than worry about getting everyone over the gate safely from Cam's grasp. I can't feed wet food in the bedroom... trust me, I tried it and Nicki becomes unbearable whining and crying all night. We just can't get to sleep because she SWEARS that a morsel of wet food is left behind somewhere, even after I give her the dishes to lick out.

Its gotten worse in the past few days with how determined Cameron is to get to the cats, and now he's found out the dog food bowl is at the perfect hieght for him to stand there and eat dogy kibble :rolleyes: BAD grandmom this afternoon for stealing the gate that blocks the feeding area in order to set it up as a stair blocker -- little dude is FAST -- I never expected him to crawl into the kitchen in the two seconds it took me to move the gate. Boy was he mad at me for removing him from his smorgasborg! LOL

All that to say I just haven't given wet food like normal for the past week.... just too much involved to dish it out like normal. And now Pouncer's sick again.

I've started him back up on valium. Gave him some Benebac (who knows, it might help) and set up another water fountain in the bedroom.

I'm so frustrasted at this point. I want Pouncer happy and healthy. I purposefully turned away Promise as a foster because of Pouncer (he was offered to me) can you imagine the guilt I'd be feeling right now if Pouncer got sick? I'd think he's sick from the stress of Promise coming here. I actually had the fleeting thought tonight of perhaps rehoming him where things are settled and quiet. We're a busy home, and part of me wonders if we're too chaotic for him :(

Anywhoooo.... I just had to vent. Please say prayers for my little boy. I love him so much, and I hate to see him sick. And I KNOW that Harry's going to go back to picking on him now that he's back on the valium. Harry must know Pouncer's vulnerable on the valium. What am I going to do?!?! Separating them makes things worse, Pouncer becomes depressed and Harry becomes quite testy. Sigh.

PS: I have some sweet pictures of Allen and Pouncer snuggling.... I will post them tomorrow. :)

[kt_luvs_kitties]

I am so sorry that this is happening. Sounds like the moisture from the wet food keeps his kidneys flushed. I hope that you dont have to get him surgery, and that medicine will help.
Hugs to meowmie and to poor Pouncer. I will be praying for him.

PS- lol@Camerons smorgasborg! How cute is that. :p

[jennielynn1970]

Awe, poor Pouncer! Honey gets really testy when I don't feed him his wet food twice a day now. He'd prefer 3 or 4 times, especially if I'm home during the day. He just sits in front of me or on me and stares very intently. He's such a stinker about it too. If it's not exactly what he wanted, he walks back to me and whines. In the beginning, if I didn't feed him wet food twice a day, he'd gobble it all down so quickly, and then he throws it all back up. UGH. He also does that if he feels stressed by other cats watching him while he eats. I've resorted to giving them all wet food at the same time, which is not what I wanted to do, but they leave Honey alone, and he actually gets to eat. He will eat an entire container of Friskies or 2 Fancy Feasts, whereas the others will split a can of Fancy Feast or Friskies between the 4 of them and still have some left over. They don't really want the wet food, they just want to irritate me!

I hope Pouncer gets better! I've gotta go and feed Honey since he's sitting here staring at me and drooling on me too. That's the final signal before he stages a coup and has them all revolt for the wet food. :p

[krazyaboutkatz]

Kim, I'm sorry to hear that Pouncer is sick again.:( I sure hope that you won't have to rehome him. Storm eats both wet and dry mixed for 2 of his 4 feedings and I also add a little bit of water to it so he has even more moisture. So far he's been doing well but he did have a UTI in Jan. even though he drinks a lot and the Royal Canin Urinary S/O formula keeps his system flushed.

How attached are you to Harry? Maybe he should be the one that you rehome. I hope that everything will work out. Good luck.:)

[catnapper]

How attached are you to Harry? Maybe he should be the one that you rehome.
I love Harry but not as much as Pouncer, and truly if it were up to me Harry would be seriously consdered as a rehoming candidate. He's really turning into a major bully, picking on everyone now. Thing is Harry's husband's #1 boy. In the beginning of the school year, he asked his students if they knew who his favorite cat was. Half them named Harry and the other half named Flutter. He apparently talks a lot about his two favorites!

But I really want to try to Feliway before I consider anything drastic like rehoming anyone. Maybe all Harry needs is some Feliway magic. I've heard it works. I just need to come up with an extra $100 to buy plug-ins for my bedroom and office.

Harry's mastered looking like he's Mr. Innocent. You should have seen what he did to the bathroom a few nights ago. Shredded three whole rolls of TP in one evening. :mad: :rolleyes: We'd clean it up, replace the roll and an hour later, the new one was shredded. We knew it was the orange and white brat because everyone else was in the bedroom during the crime(s), but if we didn't know everyone else was in the room, certainly he would have been the last one blamed! I wonder if I have a patholical kitty on my hands? Maybe Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Harry? Sweet as can be one minute, picking fights or destroying the house the next minute. Hmmmm.... something to ponder :p

[Laura's Babies]

Poor Pouncer. He is at it again worrying you to death. THAT BOY!! Just think how boring your life would be without him to keep things so upside down!

How about a table JUST for you to feed them on? A card table or something just for their food and water. Or another baby gate?

http://www.carealotpets.com/

Someone here recently posted this sight. The Feliaway here is SO much cheaper than at Pet Smart and so are the refills. I ordered 2 of each and it seems like they were here within days!!! Plug ins are 23.95 and refills 13.65. I also ordered their pill pockets since they were 5.29 for 45 of them compared to around $10 at PetSmart for 12.

[jazzcat]

Kim, why don't you buy a bottle of the Feliway Spray and give it a try first before investing in several plug-ins. It will require you to stay on top of spraying it where it's needed and I know you are very busy but it would probably be worth seeing if it will help before spending so much on the plug-ins.

Feliway did great to help Ripley's stress when we just had 3 cats but once I added R&R it seemed like the Feliway started having an opposite effect. I've tried it again recently to help with adding the kittens and it really makes Rocky wired. When I use it he picks on Scout more and all the cats seem to be more aggressive and fight more. I can't figure it out.

Good luck and I'm sorry to hear Pouncer is sick again.

[catmandu]

Poor Pouncer, He Has Had His Ups And Downs.
Pouncer Angel Has Moved In To See If She Can Somehow Comfort Her Little Namesake.
We Are Praying That Pouncer Does Not Need An Expensive Treatment, And That He Will Turn The Corner And Be A Healthy Cat.

[Catty1]

KIM - TRY THIS! Oscar needs Feliway. Instead of diffusers and spraying it "in his favourite place" - diffusers being expensive and 'favourite places' changing all the time, I got Oscar a regular nice nylon collar. (Removed the bell because it drove me nuts!)

Twice a day (his dosage), I just take a bit of the collar and hold the Feliway up close and squirt a tiny shot into the collar. It soaks in and Oscar gets his full dose.

My vet LOVED this idea, and said he would recommend it to others.

So whoever is getting the Feliway...get them on a collar. Oscar was a bit ornery for the first several days, but now I go up while he is eating, put a finger or two under the collar (while he is wearing it), give it a SQUIRT (not spray), and away we go!

I do hope things work out this time!

[catnapper]

Harry and collars do not mix. He nearly kills himself in getting it off and its nearly chewed in half by the time he DOES get it off. I can get the Feliway pretty cheap at work, and if it doesn't work, I can simply return it for a 100% refund. I just need to buy a few for the different rooms the cats spoend their time in.

[jenluckenbach]

Poor Pouncer. He sure has us all baffled as to his problems.

[Catty1]

Ummm...maybe put Harry on the Valium and THEN try the collar...?...

Too bad he wouldn't tell Nancy Efrusy about himself. Maybe he would on Valium?