Thrilled Thursday

Kitties!  

Tiny Johnson here.

Could you tell it was me?

I'm having the time of my life, hanging out with Daddy in the garage--and look, he fixed up this great box just for me.  It has two towels inside, for extra cosiness.  And get this: he put a litter box out here, too!  I've said it before and I'll say it again, Daddy Rocks.

Happy Thursday!

XX  TJ  XX

The Mommy here:  Poor TJ has had the squirts for a few days--we're keeping him sequestered to control his input and monitor the output (currently catpats).  He's taking medicine and absolutely adores being an "only cat" and exploring the garage.  It's heated, and Scott spends a large part of the day in there, doing Retired Guy stuff, so he has plenty of company.  Johnny comes in the house every so often to see if he's missing anything--and requests to go back out.  Hopefully his GI system will be back to normal in a day or two, however I thing the garage thing may be the new norm!

By Abenture Do Da Ved

Kiddies!

Tidy Jodson here.

I hab a summer code.

Dis means I *god* a trib to da ved's office.

Involubtaribly.

Bomby broghd a towel to keeb be hidden warm.

I did NOD hide!

See?

Todal brabery.

Please, tage be home, Bomby!

Dow.

I bromise nod do sneeze.

Kitties--The Mommy here.  Johnny has, once again, a cold.  He has feline herpes virus and whenever he's stressed it flares up.  I noticed a couple of days ago he was littered with scabs; my theory is he mixed it up with someone here (probably Maui), things got a little out of hand (Maui is...erm...enthusiastic), and he came out the loser--which upset him--and the herpes struck.  

*sigh*

Anyway, he has antibiotics and he's on the mend...he slept in my armpit all night (we spooned--he smells so good) and he only sneezed a couple of times which was a huge improvement over the night before which was a disgusting evening of snot bombardment.

Poor lad.

I'm sure in a couple of days he'll be back to his normal self, instigating mischief.  As of this writing he's sat by me, buzzing his heart out.

Happy Thursday!

XX  Johnny and The Mommy XX

One Word Wednesday

Ka-CHOO!!!

to be continued...

(un)Happy Wednesday!

XX  Tiny Mystery Patient  XX

A Status Report, By: The Baby

Kitties!

The Baby here.

Some of you may have read on Facebook about my impromtu vet visit on Monday.

First off:  THANK YOU all so much for your purrs!  They worked, because;

Secondly:  I am back to my sassy spoilt self.

It was very strange--Monday morning I was in fine form, pestering Mommy requesting my cream dot  (without the coffee, natch) and pacing for pets and loveys--but by the time Mommy got back from yoga at 11:00 I was hunched up and visibly shaking, obviously in pain.  So the peeps packed me up and whisked me off to see Dr. Auggie tout suite.  I had only a very slightly elevated temp (they took it TWICE) so given my history of irritable bowel disease I got an injection of Cerenia for nausea (with pills for later, if I need 'em) and Clavamox for infection, just in case.  And all of you were purring for me!  So by 6 PM I was much better.  I had several long drinks at the water fountain (and pooped), and ate a big midnight snack when Mommy got home from work.

Hopefully, my distress was nothing more than a passing thing.  I had eaten some dried kibble the week prior and Mommy thinks that may have irritated my innards.  No more of that for me!  Which is kind of a bummer, but I'd rather not have to see the vet again until my next check-up, and not a moment before.

Thank you again for keeping me in your thoughts.

Happy Thursday!

XX  The Baby  XX

Unwell Whitey

Kitties!

The Baby here.

Could I have some purrs?  I think I may be the latest victim of the cat flu that's been going around the ranks here.  I'm a bit tottery on my pins and all I want to do is snooze, and I have some prodigiously HUGE eye crusties going on, too.  Thank Cod Mommy wiped 'em off before she took my picture!

  Mommy made a special trip to the store for tunas, potted meats (gross, but she loves it--ed.), Gerbers, a fresh broasted chicken, and canned ham to tempt me into eating, and I'm happy to report I've been cleaning every dish offered.  The horrid pink juice is administered twice daily, and so far I'm not too snotted up, I'm just so tired, I'm just sleep sleep sleeping, all day and night.  I started feeling cruddy last Wednesday, so if I'm not perkier by the end of the week Mommy will tote me off to the vet's office for a check up; everybody else here stricken with the sickies has improved in that time frame.

Sooooo...a few purrs would not go amiss--help me avoid a vet visit!

Thank you so much.

Happy Tuesday!

XX  Ye Olde Grizz  XX

Ailing Ornj

Kitties!

Feligs here, and I hab a teddible code in by head.

Tidy Johdson gabe id to be, dat big jerg.

Bommy is gibink be vile bedicine so I cad beel bedder.

Dow I need a nab.

*ka-chew*

Mommy:  Yes, Johnson's URI was good enough to share--poor Felix started gulping and snot-spewing Thursday evening.  Poor lad is sick as a dog...nokitty does miserable quite like him.  He's on the same antibiotic I gave John (it took about 36 hours before we saw any improvement) so hopefully by Saturday evening he'll be feeling a whole lot better.  What with Kona's passing, the flu that both Scott and I had, allergies, and sick kitties, I'm about at my wit's end here.  Enough, already.

 Happy HEALING Caturday!  

XX  Feligs and Bommy  XX

Uh Oh...Purrs, Plz!

Kitties!

Johnny here.

A word of advice:  If you feel all gulpy and sick and raspy, do NOT sleep with your Mommy (or Dad).  They will notice and then, well, you are hauled off to the vet.

Like so.

The vet does unspeakable things to see if you have a fever...

...and listens to all the highly private things happening in your innards.

The stress of it all can cause you to lose a whisker!

The Mommy here:  Poor John has been under the weather for a couple of days so I carted him off for a check-up; little guy was so low he didn't even make a peep in the car on the trip there.  No fever, and his lungs sound clear--Dr. Auggie suspects either allergies or an irritated trachea from the dental procedure--he is doing a weird swallowing thing and his purr sounds really raspy.  He got a steroid shot as an allergy preventative and has antibiotics "just in case";  he's prone to kitty colds when stressed and the dental certainly qualified as that.  I fed him some minced broasted chicken with a side of cream when we got home, and he toddled off to sleep in the sun for the afternoon.  I'm sure he'll be just fine but a few purrs wouldn't go amiss...and I'll make sure he gets the prime spooning spot at bedtime.  Thanks everyone...xx

Happy Friday!

XX  Sickie John  XX

Two Weeks of Awfulness

Kitties!

Salem here.

First off, let me say that everything is fine now, 100% all better...but it's been a wild ride around here health-wise the past couple of weeks.

Remember when I had to go to the vet with my blocked *whispers* anal glands?  Well, there was more to the story.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

About three weeks ago there was an outbreak of the Prodigious Vomits--we were all yakking, all the time, everywhere.  Now, this coincided with a cold snap and a massive shed so Mommy put it down to hairballs, as historically this has been the case.  But this went on and On and ON...for a week...and then stopped.  Hallelujah.

A day or two later the Pernicious Squirts began.

Kitties, it was awful!!!  Some of us couldn't get to the box quickly enough and Mommy got to test her gag reflex more than once.  I was one of the worst affected, and Mommy thinks this is ultimately what irritated my "behindal" region into flaring up.

Thinking back, Mommy remembers getting up one morning a month ago and one of our food dishes had been completely untouched--which is unusual because we are little pigs.  She didn't think much of it and just left the dish down, and by the end of the day it was eaten.  Talking it over with Daddy he said that he had to toss a can of food that had a broken seal on it, and they think we must have been fed a bad can of food!  (We have some canned food delivered and one box came pretty banged up and odds are it contained the culprit.)  They felt terrible about it, and let me tell you they'll listen for a "pop" every single time they open a can from now until forever.

But if the barfs and the browns weren't bad enough, the worst was yet to come: Mommy put us on STARVATION RATIONS for 48 hours to let our tummies settle down!  We got only half the amount of normal wet food, a few measly Catio Chips (per kitteh) and a paltry serving of hand-shredded rotisserie chicken.  Oh, and Gerber's.  It was Pure Torture.

Moral of the story--have your peeps check every can and listen for the hiss when they pop the top!  Because half-rations are No Fun.

Happy Monday!

XX  Salem  XX

A One Year Update and a RE-Thank You

Kitties!

The Baby here.

A year ago things looked pretty bleak for me.  I was terribly thin, slept all the time, and was in considerable pain from Irritable Bowel Disease.  Nothing stayed down and I was constantly vomiting bile.  Mommy and Daddy were very afraid that my time was close...and Mommy decided to take the risk and have my innards surgically examined as a last-ditch effort to find out what was ailing me.

It was a really tough decision.  She had to do it (secretly) while Daddy was on vacation so he wouldn't freak out.  She wasn't sure I'd make it through the procedure, I was so frail.  She was a mess--as bad as me, actually--and then there was the expense.

Which you, my friends, so generously helped with, as well as the many many many e-mails, phone calls, and texts wishing me well and giving Mommy hope.  I want to thank you all so much, again, for everything!

Today you would never know that I had been so ill.  Sure, I've slowed down a teensy bit, but I am, after all, almost sixteen years old.  (Although you would never suspect it from the way she beat the tar out of a paper bag this afternoon--ed.)  I "get" a prednisone pill every day, and along with a canned food diet supplemented with lots and lots of real chicken, beef and bacon (!!!) I'm back up to a healthy 8 pounds of White Sassy Cat.  

So, once again, all of us here at The Lounge would like to say thank you for all the support.  Especially me.

Life is Good.

Happy Friday!

XX  The Baby  XX

For those of you who don't know my story, here are some links:

http://katniplounge.blogspot.com/2014/06/purrs-please.html

http://katniplounge.blogspot.com/2014/07/bibbles-update.html

http://katniplounge.blogspot.com/2014/07/mommy-visited-me.html

http://katniplounge.blogspot.com/2014/07/home-at-last.html

http://katniplounge.blogspot.com/2014/07/caturday.html

Kitties!

Johnson here.

Today is:

  International Box Day!

*I* got to "celebrate" in a Highly Specialized...um...Box-like item:

or click HERE

I am prone to The Sneezies (official diagnosis) and got hauled off to the vet for an exam and a course of the dreaded pink juice once daily for the next ten days.

*sigh*

This is one box I could permanently do without!

The good news is that I've whittled off THREE pounds in the past year, thanks to Mommy depriving us me of dry kibble and switching to canned food.  My heart murmur sounded the same (grade 1, not too serious) and the vet loved on me and gave me many many many head kissies and body rubs.  I have to have my teefs cleaned some time soon, but paws crossed Mommy will forget about that--she does, after all, have the attention span of a gnat.

A boy can dream, right?

Happy Friday!

XX  Sneezy Johnson  XX

Thankful Thursday

Friends and Kitties!!!

Sheebie here, with an abject apology for our extended absence.

I've been sick.  I caught a small head cold on the flight to Finland, no big deal, it didn't get in the way of having an absolutely fabulous trip and enjoying myself to the max...it was the flight home that killed me and I've been prostrated in bed for three days hacking my lungs out with what I'm pretty sure was bronchitis.  I'm up and on the mend now, and dying to weed through my photos and FB page to record my adventure properly...all in good time.

The Cats were suitably miffed at me when I got home although Rupert DID sleep on my face the first night!  (He usually resides on my chesticles.).  Scott was happy to have me home and has been an absolute star taking care of me...and the Horde...I'm just a little bit jealous how they didn't miss me so much!  Although Scott said around the ninth or tenth day there was some testiness amongst the ranks.

Anyway, sorry about the radio silence and I'll get on the stick soon with photos and more!

Happy Thursday!

XX. Sheebie. XX

Plate Techtonics

Friends and Kitties!

Sheebie here.

So...I'm assuming that you are are all passably acquainted with the idea of plate techtonics; the shifting of the Earth's crust, forming various, ever-changing land masses.  Sometimes the crust gets a little thin or weak and a volcano erupts over the hot spot...like my spectacular barf-o-rama earlier this week.

Well, the crust shifted.

The norovirus hot spot found a new crevasse.

Scott has it now.

The "good" part is that he was more of a shield volcano--gradually (yet relentlessly) depositing magma at the surface, layer by layer--rather than the furious explosive ones I chose to emulate, which helped minimize the collateral damage to life and property...

 I took another day off work to be at his beck and call keep an eye out in case things went downhill like they did for me but Scott's G.I system's a trooper and as of writing this he's up and even feeling a little peckish.  I admit the extra day off did me no harm; I took it easy on myself the whole day and feel all the better for it.  Hopefully we're both done!

What a week.

Here's to a better one...

Happy Sunday!

XX  Sheebie  XX

Sam-n-Ella

Kitties!

Today, we have no photos...please feel free to use your imaginations.

Picture the scene:

Monday night, and Mommy feels a bit gassy at work.  This is not an unusual thing--Mommy lives gassy--so she takes some medication and the feeling passes.  She attributes it to having  an"extra-active" evacuatory pattern earlier.

Tuesday.  Mommy gets up, goes to yoga and has a great practice.  She comes home, eats lunch, and does stuff around the house the rest of the day.

Tuesday evening, and Mommy eats dinner.  She's not too hungry, so she doesn't eat much; a small BBQ pork sandwich, some baked beans and cole slaw.

Nine PM:  Mommy is feeling distinctly queasy

Nine-thirty: Truly awful

Ten-fifteen:  Mount Vesuvius erupts.

Ten-forty:  Mount St. Helens blows.

Eleven Thirty:  Krakatoa.

At midnight Daddy gets up to go pee and finds Mommy crouched on the bathroom rug, doing the World's Best impression of Linda Blair in The Exorcist, only with BBQ and beans instead of pea soup...and he called 911.  The paramedics were there in less than five minutes, got Mommy cleaned up enough to transport, (she was mortified) and hauled her off to the emergency room.  She vaguely remembers that she didn't rate getting a siren and being moderately pissed...

Anyway, Daddy was a hero--he tidied the bathroom in record time and hightailed it to the ER--so by the time the nurses at the hospital got Mommy changed into a gown and hooked up to monitors and IVs and gave her shots and stole her bloods (and poop!) (and vomits!) she was coherent enough to know who he was and say (weakly) "thanks".

The next few hours involved two bags of fluids, several anti-nausea shots, pepcid, and the highly entertaining antics of the other ER patients; most notably the guy who shot part of his foot off and the pill-shopper who mysteriously knew exactly how much fentanyl and dilaudid she needed to kill the pain.

Turns out it was just "something there's a lot of going around", how's that for a diagnosis?  Mommy's digestive system is her Achille's heel and this isn't the first time this has happened, the only new wrinkle was the ambulance ride--and that's because Daddy wisely decided that transporting an erupting puke-cano was better left to the experts...really, Mommy is 52 and it could have been a heart attack, you never know.

But back to our time line:

Wednesday Three-forty AM:  Mommy and Daddy arrive back home after a GatorAde pit stop, which is slowly consumed over the next sixteen hours.

Wednesday Six PM:  Mommy wakes up, eats a little soup and two saltines, and goes back to bed.

Thursday Eight AM:  ♫♪♫*Heavenly Choir*♫♪♫  Mommy is awake, coherent, and hungry!

Welcome back, Mommy.

We enjoyed sleeping on you for the past 24 hours, but our ears aren't gonna scratch themselves...hop to it!

Friends,  this is the worst bout of food poisoning I've ever experienced, and I've been "blessed" with five trips to urgent care due to uncontrollable emesis, so I know.  Scott never got ill and I bring food from home to work so I must have picked it up via some stupid slob's poor hygiene--jerk--I'm a little OCD about washing up but obviously I forgot one critical time.  Let me remind you all: wash your hands everywhere and often, and when in doubt, call 911.  Oh, and one last thing, BBQ and beans taste terrible.  And I did NOT accidentally re-chew the cole slaw.  Because that would be just gross.

I'm taking Friday (today) off from work (and yoga) for R&R--however I will have a fun Catio video to post so the Kats will return on Saturday!

Happy to be Alive Friday!

XX  The ENTIRE Katnip Lounge  XX

Nurse Rupert to the Rescue

Kitties!

Nurse Rupert here.

As you can see, I took good care of my* Mommy when she was feeling queasy.  She says "thank-you" for all your purrs...she has pesky adhees, addledhesuns, um, sticky bits in her innards that occasionally seize up and make her colon put on crankypants.  It doesn't happen often, thank Cod, but when it does I'm right there to stick my Soothing Bum in Mommy's face to help her feel better.

Well, to be purrfectly honest, I stick my Bum in her face all the time, but when Mommy is feeling poorly I make sure my hindquarters ooze some Extra-Soothing mojo.  (You kitties know what I mean.)

So, as long as I wasn't being flung to the floor during a frantic human litterbox room run I stuck to my post--successfully--by Caturday Mommy was well enough to go back to work.

Where she saw this one gorgeous cloud!

We had four days of gloom and 0.2" of rain last week, so it was so nice to see the last of them, floating away.

Happy Sunday!

  XX  Rupert (and his Soothing Bum)  XX

*MINE.  All mine.

Queasy

Kitties!

Just a quickie to check in: Mommy says she feels like hurling a hairball and her head hurts too.

Mommy is never sick (or sits still, for that matter) so it's kinda-sorta a bonus that she's been nailed to the sofa all day...we're enjoying it while it lasts, administering healing snuggles and therapeutic purrs.

See you tomorrow, Happy Friday!

XX  The Kats  XX

The Awful Terrible No-Good Day

Kitties!

The hind end of Johnson here.

Apparently a Mancat can't wheeze and sneeze and shake his head and fling snot all over in his own home without the peeps having a hushed discussion and then dragging said Mancat (howling the Song of His People) off to the vet.

The trauma forced me to lose a whisker! 

Naturally the vet loved me, but unfortunately not enough to prevent her from violating my exit valve to see if I had a fever (no) and prying my inlet valve open to inspect my teefs (clean).

The whole traumatic experience almost made me want to get back into the car...and that's saying something.

The verdict?  I have a little kitty cold--I am prone to them--so it's ten days of the Vile Brown Ooze and helicopter peeps until the wheezing subsides...

*crappity, crap crap, crap*

Happy Tuesday!

XX  Snotty John  XX

(This actually occurred a few days ago, John's already feeling much better--ed.)

Thankful Thursday

Kitties!

The Baby here.

"Here" being behind the tomato plants, that is.

I have wonderful news: 

Mommy spoke with the Vet today, and Dr. Augustine doesn't want to see me until the end of July!  I am feeling so much better.  I'm back to playing and acting crazypants and being naughty and getting into everything and being bossy and running around like my tail's on fire, just like before I felt so ill.  Depending on how my blood work goes I may have to have another round of medicines--it seems that my gall bladder isn't working 100% any more--but the vet thinks my condition is manageable without surgery.  Paws crossed things stay that way...

And thanks to you, my pals (from all over the world!) the Extra Large vet bill and medications have been almost completely paid for!  As in, Mommy and Daddy only had to pay a little bit, and my total bill was almost fourteen hundred dollars...your generosity was (is) amazing.

A big shout out to Marg from Marg's Animals for being the World's Best Internet Auctioneer, and also to Ann from Zoolatry for designing the auction page header and badges.  

You ladies ROCK...

So I owe all of you the biggest THANK YOU, ever!

Your love, purrs, prayers, and donations warmed my grizzled flinty heart right down to the core.  

(and made Mommy cry a lil' bit)

It bears repeating that my/our Readers are just the absolute best group of folks in the world.

Thank you all, for everything.

I love you. 

Now, back to bird-watching.  I'm grateful to be here to do it!

Happy Thursday!

XX  The Baby  XX

Ye Olde Grizzled Whitey Report

Kitties!

The Baby here.

I'm outside in the back, sun-bathing.

Daddy brought out a padded box for me in case I didn't want to rest on the rocks.  He, with his puny human intellect, fails to understand that I like laying on hard, pokey surfaces, and damn the soft life! 

In fact, I was so comfy I went belly up.

::INCOMING::

Daddy knows just how I prefer to have my tummy rubbed.  It's taken many many many many many biteys to train him, but it's been well worth the effort.

I gave him a nibble as a reward for a well done rubbing.

Kitties, Tuesday I went back to the vet for an ultrasound.  (These photos were taken before I had my tummy *gasp* shaved.)  The vet didn't see anything unusual, no lumps or masses or swellings--which is good--so she and Mommy have decided to pull out the big guns and combat the infection in my innards with three types of antibiotics, plus another medicine that dissolves gall stones, just in case I have a partially blocked biliary duct--which the vet thinks might be the root of the problem.  I get FOUR pills in the morning, one in the evening, milk thistle sprinkled on tuna juice as a snack, and plain yogurt for my gut flora.  I need a daytimer to schedule all my stuff!  Mommy's a champ piller but she's going to visit Shadow on Friday so Daddy (that gutless wimp) will be taking me to the vet for my pills whilst she's away.

The good news is the vet is optimistic that I can beat back, if not completely eradicate, the infection.  I may be taking pills for a while, though.

The bad news is that I've racked up an impressive bill at the vet's office.  (fourteen hundred bucks!--ed.)  

BUT...

...the best news is that Marg will be running an auction for my expenses!  We'll have more details in a few days, and Mommy will be putting up a PayPal link, too.  We have a bunch of cool stuff to auction so I hope you'll take a look.

Once again, thank you for all your purrayers, I think they're the best medicine of all.

Happy Whitesday!

XX  The Baby  XX

He's HOME!

Kitties!

The Mommy here.

Just a quick update:  Our Tiny Johnson is back where he belongs!  

heh heh heh.

After the obligatory House Inspection he ate mass quantities of deli ham and kibbles, used the box (firm--ed.), and right now he's all skootched up next to his Daddy on the sofa.  He's very obviously feeling better, thank Cod.

Gotta run...these swag bags aren't gonna assemble themselves...

Happy Wednesday!

XX  Trish  XX

If it's Not One Kitty...

...it's ANOTHER.

Kitties!

Tiny Johnson was hauled off to the vet Sunday...mainly cos he had the Massive Squirts (which are much better after a dose of Squirt-Stop*) but while he was there he got a Senior work-up and it turns out he has 1) advanced arthritis in his hips and spine, and 2) a heart murmur.  The peeps are going to give Johnny the supplement Cosequin for his hips, but Mommy wonders how best to administer it.  Anybody have a good way to get it down?  And where's the best deal to buy it?

Secondly, is there anything they should be doing for the murmur other than monitoring?  Mommy will speak with the vet Tuesday when she picks Johnny up (yup, he "got" to stay over two nights) but she trusts all y'alls advice a whole bunch more--you've got the Down in the Cat Trenches experience, so to speak.

The Baby continues to improve incrementally, taking marathon catnaps in between sleeping sessions.  Daddy stuffs her full of kibble and treats (of which WE get none--unfair!) every time he sees her awake and takes her out for patrols any time she pesters requests a stroll.

Napping in the catnip

So, in between running a Feline Hospital and attending BlogPaws, Mommy says our posts will be spotty this week.  Why she can't do everything is totally beyond our ken; she's a lazy wench in our opinion.  What she needs to do is get organized!

Just how hard can that be?

Happy Tuesday!

XX  The Kats  XX

*Mommy's term for anti-diarrhea medicine