Better Late Than Never Post

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

So, over the last four days, one of the newest kittens, tiny Circe has been on hunger strike.

As you probably imagine, this means I didn’t do much in the way of sleeping or concentrating.

Last night she finally ate a half can of kitten food, and today she’s had some dry kibble, and I’ll give her more gooshy tonight again. It’s good to have her eating, because when they’re this young they lose weight very fast. So she’s all sharp tones and skin.

Hopefully she now recovers quickly. She’s very cuddly and knows everyone. She knows her own name, and the name of all the other cats — she looks at them when we mention them — and who Dan is, and who i am. So…. anyway.

I realized that losing another tiny orange girl this horrible year would just about finish me too from the depression POV. And yes, I realize it’s very weird to have cats as emotional support animals. Sorry.

This is tiny Circe, taking a nap.

Oh, we think it was a reaction to the vaccines that made her go on hunger strike.

It’s kind of funny that during her not feeling great, Indy never left her side, and was all protective when Muse tried to play with Circe.

But he’s made up with Muse now, so that’s okay.

I finally slept well last night, so today I did all the things I’ve been putting off, like cleaning the truly awful box room, so you can’t smell it in other rooms. And clean and organize my office.

I’ll probably do an early night tonight, then work on the serialized stories — somehow over the weekend of being sick and worried about Circe I lost a couple of chapters of Witch’s Daughter — and two short stories.

And put out the outdoor lights, stripped down version this year because I’m not putting up anything that interferes with painting the front probably right after Christmas. (Yes, I got the safe ladder, okay?)

I really need to write and make writing THE priority this year, so I’m trying to finish the work on the house and unpack my library before January.

This year has not just been bad because of all the deaths, but also because of the ridiculous mess remaining in the house. I need my house organized because it affects my mind.

Anyway, I guess that is the state of the writer. Real post tomorrow.

52 thoughts on “Better Late Than Never Post”

  1. Hope the baby improves soon…. and why are cats not good emotional support animals? BTW- I always keep a half dozen jars of baby food around, chicken or turkey, because if any of the animals are sickly, just thinning about one teaspoon of water to one jar of the baby food, induces them to eat, and it is nutrient rich. Since cats are obligate carnivores, I try to give mine plain tuna at least a couple of times a week, besides their usual mix of dry and wet. They all send their best wishes to your little crew!!!

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      2. Reminds me of my parents’ cat. She’s got an old injury (possibly dating back to her birth). One ear and one eye don’t work, and I think her sense of smell isn’t all there. Sometimes when I’m feeding her I have to tap the food bowl to drag her attention to it.

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        1. See I was worried, and somewhat still am, that there’s some birth defect in ginger girls of that family. We ever found out why Helena died, and the vet thought she’d failed to thrive, because she had gained no weight/size in a month.
          Circe is much smaller than her sister, and I don’t know if there’s some of that. I’m hoping the fact she’s still lethargic, etc are just effects of the hunger strike.
          She ate a whole half can of kitten food and a lot of kibble this morning, so we’ll see. I’ll breathe easy when she gains some weight and doesn’t just cry when Indy tries to play with her.

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          1. If there’s nothing obvious, and Circe gets past this current crises (and it sounds as if she finally is), I suspect she’ll be fine going forward. But it’s got to be terrible to watch a kitten just basically shut down and starve itself to death.

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  2. I’m very glad to hear that the little one’s doing better. And those photos are adorable!

    Take care, Your Highness. And Merry Christmas to all!

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  4. Oh, gosh – we were so worried to hear that Circe was unwell! You had counted so much on another little ginger girl, and with Muse taking up the author-wrangling…
    Me – I have the back yard to sort out, now that I have a week without any of Wee Jamie’s therapists coming for a session…

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      1. I prefer to think Himself doesn’t work that way. Trials we get, and our reactions to them, they aren’t all on Him. Some, we ask for it. I did. Others, might be we’re what’s coming (as in, “hope he gets what’s coming to him,”).

        For the most part, the chain of causality is so mightily twisted there’s no straights to follow. Least as far as I can tell, and I’m not always the brightest bulb in the drawer.

        The joys we get in life come at a cost, though. That is as it always has been, since the days we sacrificed grain for the hope of good weather and healthy crops. The more you love, the worse it hurts when they go away. The more you worry when they’re not well.

        I’m glad to hear the wee one is on the mend. May such a trend continue, and there be many more years of shared happiness between two feets and four feets.

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  7. Glad to hear Circe is doing better. Those photos are so cute.

    Zeus went to the vet today. The isolation procedure was a little strange. It was…drive up. Called when I got there, went through a questionaire, and they had me pull up to the back door where I handed him through the window to a vet tech in scrubs, and then went and parked. My wife sent me a photo of him yesterday all curled up on her new fluffy blanket. He apparently slept almost all day. But when I got home last night he was running around and jumping over things, jumping up for me to pick him up, and not hardly coughing at all. Upshot is, he’s improving on his own, no lung or heart issues, but may have the beginnings of a collapsing trachea (happens a lot in poms). He’s on antibiotics for the next two weeks just in case.

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  10. Glad Circe is feeling better. I know how scary it is to see a kitten declining in front of you.

    Something I learned with Tj and Amber, the last kittens we got young (5 weeks). Even though they were eating kibble and canned, we offered them KRM until they wouldn’t take it anymore (young adult stage at 6 months -ish). Force feeding KRM with a syringe/bottle-with-a-plunger (very slowly) works too. Vaccines definitely can cause them to go off their feed. Difficult to tell if you have multiple cats and kittens on the same food. Until you notice the weight loss. Kittens don’t have a lot of weight to lose. Our cats have kibble available 24/7, because I have never figured out how to dictate when they eat. But they each get a little canned in their own bowl every morning. But too often the picky eaters will turn up their noses at that. Our oldest cat just got her, every 3 years, vaccines, including rabies. Gave the info sheet to son, because cat hangs with him. His exact words “How am I to know if she is eating? She won’t eat in front of anyone! We have 5 cats, who knows who have eaten the disappearing kibble?” He isn’t wrong. She’ll have to lose half her weight before we will notice a problem. That is deadly with a tiny kitten. With Bits she’d be down to 6#s. Not ideal for an adult, but not deadly either.

    KRM = Kitten Replacement Milk (because people milk isn’t good for them).

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  11. I’m hoping that little Circe is truly on the road to recovery.

    Kat-the-dog got her heartworm medication a couple days ago, and to our surprise, she ate well that day. OTOH, the next day was a challenge to get her to eat any kibble. She does better when she gets the chewy after she gets her breakfast canned, but after that, it’s a crap shoot.

    Kat is also pretty grumpy when she gets a vaccine shot, but the only one that’s annual (for her) is Lepto. We don’t do Bordatella since she’s not near (most) other dogs. We haven’t seen the neighbor’s Lab (Kat and Daisy will touch noses when they get the chance) since Daisy and her buddy got sick. I’ve been hesitant to ask.

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    1. Pepper get Lepto, because wildlife and she can pick it up just walking in ground water. Bordatella because she goes to the groomers and it is required, & I take her to the veterinarians to be weighted regularly. Will be starting the Flu annual because the 3 are recommended, for now, to lesson the severity of the illness going around. Pepper doesn’t interact directly much with any dogs (toy poodles used to run the fence line with her, haven’t now since they were 3). The “let’s play” barking fest at the corner with the big lab happens but we stop it immediately. We don’t go to dog parks. We don’t go to play dates. Come March 2024, my pocket book is going to be screaming “ouch”. At least as my medical alert dog, she is part of my medical. Doesn’t help a lot Federal (still under 7%) but helps state.

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      1. Our first vet up here (since retired) wanted the dogs to get the Lepto vaccine, partly to protect him from the disease. He was a really good vet, and we were happy to oblige. (The junior partner bought the practice when Mike retired, but that coincided with Covidiocy, and it was getting awfully tiresome. The new-to-us practice is a lot more friendly, and did their best even during Kate’s reign-of-(T)error. And, they’re really good.)

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  13. I am told that lamb is a good meat for people (or critters) that can’t keep food down. Very mild and highly digestible.

    I had good luck with it with my elderly cats when they were on their last legs and wouldn’t eat anything else.

    Since my grandfather was a sheep farmer I’m obligated to recommend American lamb, over any other country’s lamb. We graze our sheep on grass!

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  15. So good to hear about the little one’s recovery. Maybe not quite above the threshold for a “genuine Christmas miracle” (whatever that may be), but definitely a Christmastide blessing.

    And cats (of the right nature and disposition) can be magnificent emotionally-supporting animal friends. Our old blue mama-cat was the best one I’ve ever known; when the human voices grew too loud or too upset-sounding, a piercing meow would cut through the verbal clutter; when one had to lie down for a little respite or rest, sometimes she’d jump up on the bed or sofa, walk up your chest to face you, and clearly ask what she could do to help.

    Hoping your supportive, mutually-supporting felines all have a good Christmas with you!

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  17. We went through that with one of our cats,Taiki. He stopped eating, and we couldn’t tempt him to start again. Our vets told us that he was getting to the point of permanent organ damage, and the best thing was to bring him in for euthanasia. We reluctantly scheduled the visit, and even had his previous owner over to say goodbye to him. And then, the morning of that day, I went out to the kitchen, and found that Taiki had jumped up on top of the refrigerator and was eating from the bowl of kibble I had placed there . . . And of course I said, “Cats!” but we were so relieved.

    Taiki was very fussy. We tried soft canned food; we tried cooked chicken breast; we tried chicken baby food . . . all the things that are supposed to tempt cats to eat. He declined to recognize them as food. The only thing he would consent to eat, when he eventually did, was kibble.

    So believe me, I understand and sympathize. I’m glad you’ve gotten a reprieve.

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    1. Circe ate half a can of kitten food today, and perhaps as much of kibble. Part of this is the girl has champagne tastes. She eats only royal cannin wet kitten food, and Orijen kibble for kittens, so far. the rest she ignores. These gingers…..

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      1. Not just gingers. Sure Tj is a ginger. I guess Amber is ginger adjacent (tortoiseshell coloring). She was the only female in a litter of 4. Tj, the ginger, and two other 100% black. She is black with ginger blending, just a tiny patch of white on her chest.

        All of our cats, both these two, who we have had since they were 5 weeks, our black tuxedo female, the oldster (at 10) gray long hair tuxedo female, and the new gray ex-semi-feral* male, get picky. Worse they get picky over different foods. Sigh. Right now the following are no-go: Salmon or beef or chicken – not even with crab or shrimp. Tuna without crab. They won’t even eat people cooked chicken or salmon. I may try lamb if I can find it in cat food. They do eat the Hills sensitive stomach kibble varieties (Tj is suppose to be on the prescription version). But the canned, given separate, is the only way we know that each is eating something (besides if we have to give medicine we can use this method). They expect it. Son usually gives it before leaving for work M – F at 6 AM. It is hilarious watching them gather and herd him on weekend or days off when the canned offering is “late”, whether all of them eat it or not.

        ((*)) You’d think a feral cat, now being fed with unlimited food, wouldn’t be “picky”. We’ve had him home less than 6 months. He learned fast. Barely lets me touch him, but cries (loudly) when dad isn’t with him.

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        1. It might be a long shot, but Diamond Naturals does lamb for dogs, so they might have a lamb kitteh food. Also, Wildology is a possible. $SPOUSE had “experiences” with border collies and lamb in the past, so it doesn’t come home.

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    2. Our ginger male, Max, is the same way. When we first got him I tempted him with a variety of canned and dry food. The food he likes is fish-flavored kibble. Gooshyfood of any flavor, including fish, was ignored; non-fish kibble was ignored – only the Little Friskes Seafood Medley, and now the HEB salmon kibble got him to eat.

      Here’s hoping that Circe was just having a reaction to the vaccines and will start eating enthusiastically now.

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    3. Sam had to get a bunch of teeth pulled this and a supple of skin cancers removed summer, and was lethargic and not eating.

      Tries switching to wet canned food and he was semi-enthusiatic about it, but still not eating nearly enough. The breakthrough was when I got one of those shreds in gravy things, and he licked all of the gravy off and left the solid meat behind. Doh, his teeth hurt so he couldn’t chew!

      After that I would use one of those immersion blenders to blend his cat food to a smoothie, and he finally started eating again.

      Of course he can’t handle full canned cat food (he will only eat half a can at a time max, and he is big enough he needs 1.5 cans a day, which means he ends up leaving it out too long) so he’s back on mostly dry food, but he’s gotten into a habit of half a can of wet food every evening. And gets very pushy if it’s not there on time.

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      1. There are the new “lick it” (treat) options. None of our cats will touch them, wrong flavors I guess. But worth a shot. Probably need to add liquid or powdered missing vitamins for regular dietary requirements.

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        1. Yeah, ran into those too. I actually grabbed a couple of packs, and would throw one in with the cat food/water puree every few days.

          For him, the real challenge with full wet cat food was he’s used to loose food, so he will have some, wander off, come back and have some more, rinse repeat, for lost of the day. And wet cat food gets dodgy after being out for a couple hours, so I’d have to do 3-4 smaller feedings to get his to eat enough.

          Now that he’s recovered, it’s just easier for both of us to leave him on mostly dry food, with canned food as an evening nice thing.

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          1. Son feeds the cats the canned about 5:30 AM before leaving for work (has to be there at 6AM, relatively short commute with no traffic). This means by the time I’m up, if they haven’t eaten any or very little, go ahead and pickup, when I get around to it (will be at 3 to 4 hours), because they aren’t eating on it anymore.

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  18. I’d offer to come over and help you with the house, but first I have to go through my office and [gulp, waaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!] sort through books to discard, or at least move into storage.

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  19. Oh My God, you mean you have a life and desires just like any other human being?
    Who of thunk it? Sarc.
    Be happy, you can’t feed the monsters out here until you feed yourself, and that includes your soul, if kitty’s feed your soul, all the better for the kitty’s.

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  20. I, like you Sarah, and like many others of us weirdos out there, am just getting through the week this week. I’m doing better this year, things are less irritating to me than any time since 2019, really. Go me. ~:D

    So, hope the cat perks up, and hope you perk up too, Sarah. And don’t worry, okay? Every day above ground is a good one. This too shall pass.

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  21. Good to hear of a once again lively kitten.

    And sympathy on the library as well. Our new house may finally have space to unpack all the books, after two years and three moves.

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  22. All the gingers in my life have been high-maintenance.

    Especially the humans.

    Most especially the dye-job ginger humans.

    Had a 15 pound solid red/orange Maine Coon, with the musculature of a gym-rat. He could leap up to the top of a fridge or closet shelf, where he would then ambush folks.

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  23. Many prayers for a healthy Circe and all the all beloved animals. May they have extra wonderful food to eat on Christmas day! Happy kitties mean happy writer, and that is all for the good.

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