Sorry, no pics – I was really tired after a broken and short night’s sleep (partly feline-induced, but only partly).
Friday:
He had a good, if ordinary day, doing all his usual stuff. Really nothing special to note. He was doing so well that we decided we could get away with dropping his buprenorphine down to 6 units (0.06cc), a further tiny jump, for his evening dose. From 8 down to 6, in both cases twice a day, is a pretty substantial reduction in less than a week, with zero negative effects, and I’m really happy with that! We aren’t going to be in a hurry to bring it down further, however. Pushing too fast is going to be counterproductive. A 25% reduction is enough for right now. Between his evening shot and beditme (which was at least 5 hours later) I saw no reason to think that it’s too much too fast, he was eating and drinking comfortably.
The viral diarrhea may not be 100% gone, or maybe the virus is but it did some harm to gut bacteria. I dropped Trick and Freya to half the FortiFlora probiotics a few days ago, and that was apparently okay (they were splitting two packs a day between them, so each got one full one over the course of the day… it dropped to splitting one per day across 2 meals). However, when I stopped altogether, I found messy stuff in the litter box. Cory doesn’t like the stuff at all, but a few days ago I started mixing it into his evening wet food syringe, just to get it into him, and the last of his diarrhea seems to have cleared up within 24 hours. So we skipped the pumpkin for this evening, to see if that makes any difference. None of them like it, and I don’t like stressing them out, even though I will if I must for their own safety. So far, evidence suggests that probiotics are more significant than fibre right now. I’ll ask the vet for more on Monday, I don’t think that will be a problem.
A couple of cute small episodes near bedtime that help illustrate how normal and engaged Cory is. Briefly, both boys were in the bathroom window together – Cory was in it, and Trick was on the bench under him looking up, so I rearranged a few things to make room and gave Trick a boost. Trick wasn’t entirely happy about sharing, his body language stayed pretty drawn-in and he was trying to take up minimal space, but once Cory identified him, he (Cory) just ignored his presence and went back to watching something fascinating outside the window.
The other episode also involves the boys. Trick jumped up on the trunk in my room where Cory’s fountain is, and started to drink. Cory came bounding up behind him, using the inverted covered milk crate that I added as a step for Trick on stiff days, and while I missed exactly what he did, it led to Trick hissing halfheartedly once and leaving in a huff. Cory settled down for the next few minutes in the shallow box on the other end of the trunk, in whapping reach of anyone after his fountain.There’s nothing terribly unusual about this. Cory is used to being the perpetual baby of the household, and admittedly is a bit spoiled. Now and then he decides that something is his and, if he’s around, will try to stop the other kids from using it. Usually it’s a box he particularly likes. It generally wears off after a while, and he doesn’t persistently guard anything, just intervenes if he’s in the area and spots it. Trick has easy access to a second fountain and a frequently-changed cup next to the bathroom sink, so this wasn’t a big deal.
Otherwise… eating and drinking on his own, surprisingly well, and sleeping in his various beds in turn, and soliciting attention, and checking out the world… all the things his daily life should include!
Trick is now getting CBD oil too. He has Irritable Bowel Syndrome and is on prednisolone (a steroid), Cerenia (an anti-inflammatory), and a tiny bit of antacid (generic Pepcid AC) every day to keep it under control. He’s been doing very well, and regained all the weight he lost while he was throwing up frequently for a while. He’s also our old guy, who has found ways to be hard on his body despite being an indoor cat and all efforts to protect him, and he’s definitely getting a bit stiff in the hips when the weather is bad, it takes him longer to get moving when he wakes up and if he can, instead of jumping, he’ll hook his front claws in and pull himself up. That’s why we added a few steps for him here and there. Glucosamine is a problem, since he refuses to eat the treats, the liquid would involve an impractical volume, and capsules of powder upset his stomach. Neither condition is very visible on a day-to-day basis and we aren’t expecting to see any dramatic and obvious changes. However, CBD is supposed to be effective for both IBS and arthritis, so if adding some to his routine has a reasonable chance of reinforcing his IBS meds and helping to minimize arthritis discomfort, then it’s worth it. I just don’t think I’m going to have much to keep track of, really. “No vomiting still, and he’s at a normal activity level, considering that it’s high summer…”
Freya has no chronic conditions that need it, so she’ll be the exception.
Just to make sure there’s a pic of some kind in this, I went back through old photos to look for one. One of the first I came across was Cory with his feline foster-mom Angel, who crossed the Bridge in early 2014 at roughly Cory’s current age. I don’t know the date – it was taken on an older digital camera, and the info on it says Jan 2004 which is more than 5 years before Cory was born. It’s from sometime between 2010 and 2014.
Flashback: Cory and foster-mom Angel
