. . . in the distant, early morning . . .

Milton’s stomach, and fluffy black cats

On Monday, the dogs went to daycare for half a day.  Mom and I brought them home and fed them dinner.

About 30 minutes after they came in from eating, I checked on Milton on my bed.  He was in a huge pool of drool.  I called the vet and they said that if I didn’t see anything in his mouth, and he didn’t have any stomach pain, to just keep an eye on him.

I poked and prodded his stomach: nothing.  I examined his mouth: nothing. 

Mom and I went to dinner.  I spent dinner-time researching “excessive drooling in dogs” and “hyper-drooling in dogs” on my iPad, and getting more and more worried.

We went home and Milton was drooling really badly.  It was just after the local vet closed; after some hemming and hawwing about “paranoia” and “over-protectiveness”, I caved, and took Milton (and Elka came along) to the e-vet.

His vitals were fine, so they gave him some shot to help calm his tummy, and some medication, and I brought him home.  I contacted my raw-feeding mentor and asked her advice on the medication.  The vet gave him the meds because he was on raw and it “has more bacteria”, hence asking someone more experienced at raw-feeding for help.

She recommended green tripe with every meal for the enzymes, and 3 capsules of slippery elm, emptied into some water, in his food, twice a day for 4-5 days.  I made sure to give him some bone with every meal to help that as well.  I also split his meals into 4-5 meals instead of 2 so that his stomach had to do less work.

Tuesday morning he was 100% back to normal.  He’s been fine the rest of the week, and spent today in daycare, no problems.

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Mom and I spent the day at the Christmas Expo.  I got some delicious blackberry wine, and peach wine.  So sweet and yummylicious.  The winery is about 80 miles away and has tours and welcomes dogs.  I may have to go out there this summer, and I know exactly who to invite for the drive and winery tour.  He’ll have to fly in from San Jose for that, but hopefully I can tempt him with delicious wine and the pleasure of my ever-witty company.

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At the Christmas Expo I had the chance to chat with some of the ladies about cat adoptions.  They recommended I go and spend some time with the cats there, talk to the handlers about my needs (one special needs cat, two boisterous dogs) and find a cat that might be a good match.  Also their website, I found out, is updated constantly throughout the day.

So this night, around about 7:30, I went to the website and ticked the boxes for “may be good with other cats” and “may be good with other dogs” and hit on two candidates that I liked a lot.

Mom refused to go, so I pouted a lot and she finally gave in.  We arrived at the shelter at 8pm.

First we met Pax, the cat whose looks I preferred.  Pax was kind of sweet, but his primary interest was getting out of the doors.  It was a visual love only, not a personality love.

So then we met Pat Pat.  Pat Pat is a gorgeous, slightly overweight, black fuzzball of complete, adoring love.  He spent the entire time headbutting mom and I, purring, and getting all the love and attention he could manage.  He let me examine his mouth and claws, he was happy to be picked up, and he was content to lap sit.

Between that and:

Pat Pat has lived with other cats and dogs in his previous home and did great.

It was love.

Pat Pat (and Pax) are at the shelter because their owner died - a grandmother to the family that relinquished the cats, and she had 6 cats, so they’re familiar and enjoy living with other cats.

I now have a 24 hour hold on him.  If I want him, I need to be at the shelter by 8pm tomorrow.  He appeared healthy, but will need to be quarantined for a minimum of 2 weeks to make sure he has no diarrhea or upper respiratory issues.  I’ll need that time to convince Mali that Pat Pat isn’t the devil, anyway.  I know she can get along with another cat, and love the cat, and everything - but it’s those introductions that matter.  Last time I shortcutted it by bringing in Kayne as a 12 week old kitten; but truth be told, I don’t want a kitten at this time.  It’s a lot of commitment and it may be too much for Mali.  I think Pat Pat may be the perfect match.

Mom and I got home and immediately got our “contaminated” clothing put away and disinfected body parts that came in contact with the cats (to protect Mali).  But mom wants Pat Pat and, honestly, so do I.

Still - two cats.  Separate feeding, double the boarding cost, potential health issues, potential never getting along issues, introductions with the dogs, and possibly losing Mali to the new cat - she never snuggled with me as much when Kayne was around.  But that would be better for her; and when I do have to board her, I’d feel better if she had a companion at the vet for the boarding.  It would feel less like torture if she wasn’t alone in a cage for a few days, you know?

Plus, I’m ready for another cat.  And if this one is good with dogs, it may be just the thing that helps my dogs behave even better with cats.

I have a few concerns with Pat Pat. 

1. He’s older, he may have a harder time adjusting and Mali may have a harder time accepting an adult.
2. He was an inside cat with “access to the outdoors”.  That means potential access to strays and the diseases that come from them.  OHS tests for things like FelV and FIV, but there are others.
3. Who really knows about adults?  With a kitten I would know pretty much everything.
4. This cat is overweight, so the free-feeding that Mali needs would need to be tempered by smaller amounts out, and regular meals.  An inconvenience, but maybe a do-able one.
5. If Pat Pat is indeed used to have outdoor access, he may be willing to follow the dogs into the yard.  This is worrisome both because I don’t think Elka would do well with a cat outside, and because Mali might learn that behavior.  Ugh.

I think these are all managable though. 

I have 24 hours to decide, at least if I want THIS cat.

-Lisa, on December 3, 2010 at 10:32 pm

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