When your sweet cat has a dark side

Ahh, Jetson (RIP) he was a lover cat, he loved people and spent most of his day worshipping in front of the heater God (aka heat vent). So mild mannered and sweet, EXCEPT when he saw another animal, then it was Mr. Hyde time. Strange yowls and hisses would this come out of his small delicate mouth. He'd puff up, the hair on his back and tail standing on end. It was well known in our house, if Jetson glimpsed the neighbor cat you better watch out. He was an indoor cat, so he never got in a cat fight, but cats weren't the only potential targets. He'd attack the closest thing that moved. One morning I was the victim of one such attack. One Saturday morning I heard the plump, neighbor cat Scooter outside. I went out to give him some pets and when I opened the door to go back inside, Jetson was right there all puffed up. I quickly put my foot up to block his exit, and in a panicky instant he chomped. Chomped my ankle. I remained calm and got back inside, Jetson was freaked. I couldn't be mad at him, it was temporary insanity, I know. But it hurt like hell and by the next evening my ankle was throbbing and swollen to over twice it's normal size. Monday I went to the doctor who prescribed heavy duty antibiotics. I was cured, and gave Jetson a wide berth when he was in his dark side possessed him.

Note: If you're bitten by a cat, go to the doctor right away, it will certainly cause an infection.

A Healthy Challenge

It all started with Theo's first visit to the vet. The only issue we needed to discuss was one regarding the phenomenal odor coming out of the litter box. World class. It turned out to be much more complicated. Theo, we found out had colitus. From there, a few weeks later when he wasn't feeling well at all, a blood test revealed the poor guy was diabetic. But, the vet suspected that all of this may actually be caused by pancreatitus. A few weeks later after a most expensive test that's what we found.

Now we've found we're juggling a whole lot of variables: a tricky diet where helping the colitus might be in conflict with the proper diet for a diabetic cat. Insulin doses and blood sugar readings that are hard to pin down. And, then the chronic problem of monitoring the pancreatitus which can strongly effect the diabetes, even make it go away for periods of time.

Like I said. It's a challenge.

Adventures in catsitting a high maintenance cat

This wasn’t going to be the usual slam dunk catsitting gig of just feeding and lots of petting. Oh no, this time syringes and drugs were involved. After an orientation from Theo’s “mom” of how to administer antibiotics and insulin, and the all important demonstration of how not to hurt myself with the syringe, I was up for the challenge. My main concern was that I was going to hurt Theo, afterall I’ve never given anyone, let alone a cat, an injection. Actually, giving a cat a shot was easier than I expected. While Theo was eating, I gently pulled up the scruff of his neck with one hand and then with the other hand poked a needle in the back of his neck. In the subsequent days, the insulin shots were a breeze and Theo lapped up the antibiotic-laced milk. The hard part was gauging Theo’s mood… one day he was friendly, the next day he was skittish and anti-social, then the next day he was friendly again. I thought maybe the drugs were making him bi-polar, but when he pooped outside his litter box, it did cross my mind that he was sending me a “high maintenance” message.