Toxins that you might not think about...

Hi all!

The new kitten Pyewacket is doing well, but we did have a scare and I wanted to share, so that the info might help someone else in the future.

June 6th she started displaying neurological symptoms out of the blue: muscles twitching, sort of dancing in place or swaying as she couldn't seem to stand still, eye's glassy. My son Xander woke to her crying and called me at work immediately. I took one look and grabbed the cat carrier.

At the vets, she had a seizure. She probably had at least one at home too, but we didn't see it.
He ran basic labs and her BG was elevated. Did an xray but that was inconclusive. Valium didn't calm her down the way it would have if it was a regular seizure like epilepsy. He sent us up to the ER at NorthStarVets.

I was told it isn't uncommon with a seizure for the BG to elevate then drop low, which is what it did, then it came back up to normal again. She also developed a slight fever from the seizure and muscle spasms, but it also came back down to normal within a day.
They kept her for two days, pushing fluids and giving her something to stop the muscle spasms. Regular bloodwork and virals came back inconclusive.

Now...the possible causes...

MOLD TOXICITY
On the way to the ER, Xander called me to find out what was happening, and I quizzed him about anything he might have seen her get into the day before. He said at 3 a.m. he caught her coming out of his room with a piece of paper that was covered in brown/black mold, that he thinks she dug out from under his dresser (he'd cleaned everywhere else before we brought her home). This is our most likely culprit, since she was dancing around for an unknown time with it in her mouth. The timing works with when the neurological symptoms started, as well, about 8 or 9 hours later.
We live on the water, so mold can be an issue here. There has been some in Xander's room before, but we thought we'd gotten all of it.
http://www.coem.com/programstreatment_MoldToxicity.shtml

PLUG-IN AIR FRESHENER
I thought of this when I was looking around the house for any other things I might have missed in the original kitten proofing. About a week before this happened, I plugged in the air freshener that I hadn't used for awhile. Never even crossed my mind that such a thing could be a danger.
But it occurred to me then that maybe she'd stuck her curious little nose up in the top of it where it vents and what if? So, I looked it up.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5421665_dangers-plugin-air-fresheners.html
http://www.mcs-america.org/airfresh.pdf
Needless to say, it's thrown out and I will never use another one.

Hope this helps keep others from getting sick. It was very scary!
She's back to herself again.

Living with a Bengal kitten

Well, we've had Pyewacket with us for a month now. She was nervous at first and more restrained.
She is NOT nervous anymore!

The Ferret Nation crate is working out well, just like it originally did for Cricket previously. Pye likes to have her own space and we have seen her go in there to sleep on her own, not just when we say so. It's also helped keep the dogs from stealing her food or raiding the litter box.

Now that shes warmed up!
Nothing is safe, lol. I knew they liked to climb, but I didn't expect her to climb the window screen. I'm discouraging this but it might be a lost cause. She does adore her climbing tree and we are still laughing about the older gentleman who asked us "How many cats do you have?" when he saw us in line at PetSmart with it. We knew she would need something that she was allowed to climb and scratch!

I'm thinking something more elaborate and even taller for the future, like maybe this?
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12843513

Well named, indeed.
Pyewacket is the name of the Siamese cat from "Bell, Book and Candle" starring Jimmy Stewert and Kim Novak. A long time favorite movie of mine. The name originated in the 1600's as the name of one of five imps claimed by a witch during her trial.  It was also the name of a rock band more recently in the 70's. And...our Pyewacket is definitely an imp!

She does something you don't want, like digging in my amaryllis pots. You make her stop. A few seconds later, back she goes, and she looks at you like. "So? I'm having fun, here!" It's a game to her.

Five minutes before that, she was leaping through the gauze curtain just behind my head where I was sitting on the sofa, claws out, latching onto my scalp, then jumping back, and repeat.


Scott reminds me with a grin, "You wanted this."

Yes. Yes, I did. I still do, lol. Wouldn't miss a minute of it.

Mojo's Stalker.
Mojo is being excellent with her! I was really worried about him, with his high prey drive, but he's been trying really hard to be good and he seems to enjoy having a cat here again. I think he really just wants to play with her at this point. She has to get more comfortable with the idea though.

Right now, she stalks him when he's not looking. She's jumped across the sofa at him and landed right in his face, then arched her back, hissed and growled like he invaded hers. I've seen this about six or seven times now. Eventually, she's just going to jump on him.

Yesterday, she was playing in the vine that sits on our coffee table. Mojo got really interested in what she was doing, so he came over for a closer look. This turned into a back arch/growl scenario, but Pye didn't leave the coffee table and Mojo didn't wander away very far before he came back. Pye finally just continued to play in the vine while moving around and watching Mojo watching her.

It's going to be really fun and really noisy when they finally comfortable enough to rough house. Both breeds play really rough with a lot of mock biting and growling. 

Risa touches noses with the kitten and moves along. She's such a big, gentle girl.  Pyewacket is mostly comfortable around her.

Nursing and insecurity.
For all her bravado (and she has tons), little girl has some insecurities. I have seen cats nurse before on shirts, blankets and pillows, but I have never seen one nurse on her own belly! Pyewacket does this while purring like a lawn mower. She'll purr even louder if you pet her at the same time.



I had the vet look her over during her recent trip for vaccination. She's not hurting herself, so I'm not going to stress over her stress. We'll give her lots of love and hopefully, she'll outgrow it.

Pyewhacket's Gotcha Day!

Today is the day! We pick up our little girl.
The den is as cleared as we could get it since we are not quite done with the utility room, but it will be done later this week.

Her Ferret Nation two story crate is ready and loaded with toys and comfy places as well as a dining area and rest room. Her cat tree awaits. The food is thawing.

We are as ready as we can be for the Bengal invasion. *gulp*

More later.....

Pyewhacket - House Prepping for the Kitten

It's Tuesday! We pick her up next Monday. 6 days! Woot.

The utility room is painted, just have to put in the wire shelving and I'll have my den back to more or less normal. Then we can set up the two story ferret nation crate as the kitten crate.

Pyewhacket's raw food is prepped and in the freezer.
We have a nice tall climbing tree and a bengal spotted kitty bed. CAMO KITTY!
I have an appointment set for the vet to look her over the day after we pick her up.

This is what she looked like at 4 1/2 weeks - She'll have grown so much!

TO DO LIST:

• Assemble crate. Spray it with the SCO10x solution to remove any previous cat scent.
• Clean the cat carrier. Spray it with the SCO10x solution to remove any previous cat scent.
• Put breakables AWAY/behind glass. Jersey Devil glass piece in particular!
• Get a shelf for inside the china cabinet to add space?
• Put things away!
• Kitten proof as much a possible, block crawly type spaces somehow.
• Tie up all loose cordage shop cyberguys tiebacks? use releasable  cable ties? 

I don't expect her to be unattended enough to actually get a chance to chew on a cord, but you never know.

So excited!

Mojo is giving me more gray hairs

Mojo had this new thing he was doing this week. He kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other, like his feet hurt. Scott said he'd seen him licking at his right foot several times, so I looked over both feet and in between the pads and toes with a bright flashlight.

Nada.

Night before last, he woke us up with a wail. I thought he was itchy (one flea bite = a rash) so I went to get him his antihistamine. He spurned the pill pocket. A first. Then I realized that he was really shifting his weight on those front feet, even while sitting, so I also gave him a mild aspirin. Again, he spurned the pill pocket. I had to do the standard procedure for pills instead, which he wasn't thrilled with.

Yesterday morning, he wouldn't eat. I saw him alternating lifting up his feet, and he didn't seem to want to stretch his head down to the bowl, even though for a shiba that's not that far of a reach. Tried to get him to lie down and eat but he wasn't having any of that nonsense. So no food all day. Finally coaxed him to eat in the evening, by adding a little cheese. I also so him doing the feet lifting while trying to drink at the water dish. I figured his feet hurt, so leaning down hurt.

I called the vet this morning to make an appointment for the next morning to check his thryoid (feet pain, increased allergies, weight gain)

We mis-read the signal.

Later in the morning, he was walking slowly through the kitchen like he was afraid he would fall. More feet lifting. I saw him stop, then stretch his head way up, with an expression of pain, as if trying to stretch pain out of his neck/back. Then he wobbled into another room, stopped again and stretched his right hind leg way out. Wobbled back into the hall and stood there with his legs trembling. Before all this started, I found him resting on the bathroom floor in his usual lionlike pose, which he normally does when something has him spooked, like loud noises, but the house itself was quiet.

I freaked out. I took a quick shower, crying the whole time, and while I was getting dressed I had Bethany call the vet. office for an emergency appointment.  Mojo always cries in the car when he's not sure where we are going, but the wails this time clearly showed how much distress he was in and even before we got in the car, his breathing sounded labored.

Described to the doc all of the symptoms we'd observed over the last few days, including the scary episode. He may have had a petite mal seizure. I haven't seen one since Roxie passed away, but she used to have grand mal seizures a few times a year. She would also hide just before one hit.

He might have just been trying to get back or neck pain to stop, so we started treatment on that assumption, as we won't know if it's seizures until we see more happen. The vet gave him a cortisone shot, and prednisone pills that he has to start tomorrow. Within two hours, Mojo was already acting more himself, although he found out a few minutes ago that jumping up on the bed is still a good idea. We didn't see it, but we heard the yelp.

He's hiding under his hudad's desk atm, poor lil guy.  Cell pic isn't the greatest.

I'll check in with the vet tomorrow about the improvement. Next I guess we'll start looking at his spine to determine where the problem is.

I did have his thyroid checked - he's fine in that respect.

The vet also felt that the left hind leg had a luxating patella, but that will be a problem for another day, as we haven't seen him limping or favoring that leg yet.

Diabetes, Diet and The New Cat

"The smallest feline is a masterpiece."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Having discovered through Puff's developing diabetes that her lifelong diet was, to put it bluntly, crap, I'm now extremely concerned with the diet for our new cat when she arrives. I want her to be as healthy as possible for as long as I can. YourDiabeticCat.com and DiabeticCatCare.com: If your cat is diabetic, these are GREAT support groups, especially DCC!

This is an Indian Creek Bengal. She's a brown  spotted hybrid cat. She won't be home with us until sometime in April. We get to meet her officially on Monday. I'll probably go nuts with a kitten drool-y blog post then.

So. A healthy, balanced diet. Low carb, good protein. Should be easy, right? Aarrgh!

There are a gazillion (yes, I know that's not a real number, lol) cat foods to choose from!

CANNED

Processed dry food = BAD. Almost all of them are loaded with grains of one kind or another.
First thing I learned in the YDC and DCC forums was to avoid them all. I've eliminated a lot of choices right there. http://diabeticcatcare.com/nutrition

Too many Fruits and Veggies = Bad. A lot of canned foods are overloaded with these, which sounds great and balanced for a person, but for a carnivorous animal, it's too much of a good thing. Carnivores do not chow down massively on fruits and veggies. More foods off the list. I'll allow for a small amount for vitamin content, figuring that a cat in the wild would get this much from it's prey's stomach. Gross, but true. Again I'm looking for a good, healthy balance.

Made in USA = A MUST. I don't want food manufactured in foreign countries. You'd be surprised how many there are once you read up on it. We have standards here that aren't enforced in other countries, and I want that. http://www.petfood.aafco.org/IngredientsMakingPetFood.aspx
There have been some serious illnesses and deaths. Look up pet food recalls for more information.

So...as far as canned foods go, I've narrowed it down to Before Grain, by Merrick.
The cattery lists this as one of their recommendations along with Wellness (too many veg/frts) and Weruva (Thailand), but I read up on them all, as well. I was considering B.G. kibble as well, because it's the best ingredient mix for dry that I've seen, but even with a healthy cat, I want to try and avoid the kibble.


RAW

I've read much about RAW diets, especially as recommended for the hybrid cats. I'm reluctant to go full out homemade raw because of the difficulty in balancing the diet so that all essential nutrients and vitamins are covered. There are some good quality commercial raws out there.
 
I'm concerned that some of the processes to make these safe to eat or handle might also be damaging to the natural probiotics in the foods. More reading to do still. I'm leaning towards Honest Kitchen to supplement the canned food.

Biggest factor may be, will my cat eat ANY of it?

Treated Raw:
The cattery recommends/uses Blueridgebeef.com I'm a little leery of the "charcoal process" I'll have to read up on that some more before I try this out.

Dehydrated:  Honest Kitchen has the best reviews. http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/products/cat-food/

...are gently dehydrated (not canned, baked or extruded) and are served with a high moisture content, which is optimal for cats’ digestion and urinary health. We only make 100% human grade cat food, and production takes place in a human food facility.

Freeze Dried: 
 http://www.grandmalucys.com/artisan_chicken_fish.html 
  Grandma Lucy's might be a little potatoe heavy according to one review, I'll have to try it and see.

Some helpful reading (starters):
Feeding Your Cat: Know The Basics of Feline Nutrition
http://www.holisticvetcenter.com/pet-food.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_feeding
What's Really In Pet Food?
Dr. Zoran's article on carnivores

The Mighty Leaf!

TEA!

Scott and Bethany gave me a bunch of tea things for Christmas. I've been enjoying them immensely!

First, this great little personal teapot w/built in cozy cover by Degrenne.
I took it to work, where I'm handling it with care because I had NO idea it was $89!

They also got me a white infuser mug for loose leaf tea.

And...a box of a hundred of Decaf Earl
Grey tea in the wonderful silky bags (no paper aftertaste, yay!)

Along with all that, four bags of loose leaf tea. Two were the decaf earl grey. I already got Earl Grey, you say??? There is NEVER enough Earl Grey!

The other two were African Nectar (a rooibos blend) and Mayan Chocolate Truffle. I've always loved rooibos and this was just wonderful. The Mayan Choc. Truffle is to die for!

Interested in teas?
www.uptontea.com
www.themightyleaf.com

New Year

Well, here we are in 2012 and we seem to be off to a better start.

Bethany bought Xander two dual nerf swords for Christmas. They unscrew so you can either use it in each hand, or have it together as a two bladed long weapon. He's been getting great exercise for a change working out attacks and defenses every day until he's in a complete sweat. It's good to see him working out so enthusiastically.

She also just came home yesterday with a floor style punching bag, and it looks like both of them are excited about using it. He liked it so much that she's getting him some protective gloves to use.

As for me, I'm resolving to use that Zumba program more. Ashley wants to do some buddy walks, so we'll be getting more exercise ourselves, which is good, since our jobs mostly have us at the desk.