New kitty -- name suggestions welcome

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

A friend took P.K. back to the vet today due to not eating still. He’s slightly dehydrated, so he’s getting some fluids.

The vet is one of the vets who saw him when he first came in, which is nice. She said he likely has some very uncomfortable inflammation of his abdominal fat pad that can happen from a blow like he had. So, he’s getting an anti-inflammatory for that, and it sounds like it may also be improving a bit on its own, which is why he’s been very gradually getting better.

I can administer fluids, so they’ll send him home with a bag, plus some super appetizing food, which is also easy to syringe in. He just needs a little to keep him from getting liver complications.

Ollie is the talkingest cat I’ve ever had. He was long next to my legs, then started telling at me and came up to lie on top of my hand and purr. I’ve also discovered he’s an “innie” kitty – goes under blankets, etc. – and he’s a bush cat not a tree cat. P.K. is not an innie, and is a tree cat.

102

Here’s good thoughts on his continuing to improve.

Are those shark bean bags? They’re awesome!

A few years ago I was in the waiting room at the vet’s and the people across from me had a kitten busy going bonkers trying to escape its carrier. Their humans stared at my now late Imhotep who was just lying there chilling with this attitude of “my god am I slumming being in the same room with those yipping dog things” and finally asked me how I got her to be so calm. Their kitten was a fearless terror they’d name some punning form of Kamikaze.

103

Update: P.K. is eating again, and generally acting like himself again. I don’t know what did it, but when he got home from his recheck, he immediately ate a little food, walked over and rubbed against me and laid down against my leg, purring.

He had really been absent before, and now he’s back.

Ollie has snuck in a couple of times, and they aren’t best buddies yet, but I think they’ll get along well.

Yeah those were a gift for my kids, but they also make cool cat beds.

104

Yeehah!

Glad to see that.

105

Awww, that’s such great news to hear!! I’ve wanted to reply to this thread, but things have been busy. So pleased to learn P.K. is well on the mend!!

106

Excellent news. You are a good cat parent.

107

I am glad he is doing better. Be careful with the Covid, though, because cats are susceptible.

108

Like I often say, it’s all fun and games until someone ends up wearing a cone.

109

P.K. got his stitches out today. Looks pretty good. He has a tiny gap where his incision isn’t closed, which we have to keep an eye on to make sure it closes up, and that he doesn’t lick it too much.

I let P.K. and Ollie have some supervised time together, which I let go a little too long. They sniffed, then were keeping distance, but then Ollie swatted P.K. in the face a few times. P.K. kept his cool, though. Ollie got taken back upstairs.

I kind of think things might go better after Ollie is fixed.* If Ollie winds up staying a rude boy to P.K. and Gracie, though, they still have a final veto. Ollie gets nervous, I think, and winds up smacking them in the face. No claws, just being assertive. There’s time still for everyone to get comfortable.

*Would be done already if up to us, but no vet appointments to be had. Three weeks ago, we had to make an appointment for mid-November at a vet 40 minutes away.

110

It’s been almost a week, so hope you don’t mind me (and my wife) asking for a status on PK. We have a less skilled escape artist (thankfully so easily distracted they make it out the door and start sniffing the world) and so we have been on tenterhooks in sympathy.

111

Of course. But remember you asked for it…

P.K. has a history of bladder crystals, and is on special food for that, which he hasn’t been eating since his accident. We’ve been serving him whatever he’ll eat, which has mostly been kitty junk food like Fancy Feast. His bladder symptoms can also flare up from stress.

He started having some symptoms last weekend, (going in the box every 5 minutes to try to pee, only a tiny amount coming out) and we took him to an urgent care vet on Monday morning to make sure his urethra wasn’t blocked. It is a potential emergency. I was fairly certain his symptoms were from irritation of the urethra and not a blockage, based on what I’ve seen from him before, but we did get him in ASAP.

The urgent care vet determined that he was not blocked. She had some concerns about whether there was still an issue with his inflamed abdominal fat pad, which was still a bit swollen and hard,and she thought there was some fluid in his abdomen. She put him back on antibiotics, plus some pain meds and other medicine to address the discomfort of the urinary tract issue.

He has always been super hard to get meds into. He does not respond like any other cat I’ve had to scruffing. It seems to have no effect on him. I did manage to pill him the whole time for the 2 weeks after his surgery, but he was weak then and liquids were still super hard/impossible to get in him.

The urgent care vet initially sent a liquid antibiotic, and we took it back. They only had a chewable as an alternative. Of course he won’t voluntarily eat that. He also won’t eat it in a pill pocket, nor smashed and stirred into wet food. We tried to get it in pill form, because they’re smaller, but no one – not even human pharmacies – has it. So, I have to pill him with the chewable. He gets 3/4 of one, so he gets pilled a quarter and then a half, twice a day.

The second time I did that, he kept spitting them out, and contorting to get away, or kick my hands off his head. He wound up hurting himself a bit. He was walking and sitting very gingerly, which had us worried that he’d reinjured the surgery area. I gave it til morning, and he seemed better, so we didn’t take him back in. He seems fine again now, so I think it was minor.

I’m now pilling him with more assistance, and with a pill shooter, which is helping. Still difficult, but minimizing the chances of him hurting himself. I’m also only giving him the antibiotic. It’s too risky and stressful for him forme to try to wrestle him multiple more times per day to get the other meds in him.

He is slowly improving. The fat pad is back to being all soft, and the swelling is down, and he’s still peeing more often than usual, but the litter clumps are getting bigger, so he’s able to wait long enough between trips to the box that there’s actually something in his bladder.

Other than when he was briefly hurting, he has been his awesome extremely loving self. It’s all worth it when he comes up and sleeps next to my head and gradually steals my pillow. :slightly_smiling_face:

112

It is indeed.

Will think of you tonight while wearing one of mine as a night-time hat. (Sometimes an additional hat is needed, because sometimes he can’t be persuaded not to knead in my hair. Which hurts.)

113

Haha. Yeah, sometimes P.K. decides to groom my hair, which is very short. So he’s actually sandpapering my scalp while I’m trying to sleep. I appreciate the gesture, but I have to pull the covers over my head to stop him.

114

Today, P.K. and Ollie ate bonito flakes about 6 inches apart, on opposite sides of a door that was open about 2 inches. No growls or hissing.

A little later, I let Ollie in the room with P.K., unrestrained. He went up to him and sniffed very stiffly, but then moved about a foot away and rolled around on the floor. No hissing or growling.

But, when P.K. turned away, Ollie started stalking him. Can’t have him pounce P.K. right now… And, when I’d taken Ollie out, P.K. looked nervous and worried. So, we’re still going super slow.

Also, we’ve been calling him Ollie, but my partner and I are not sure it’s really his name. It might be Iggy,* or it might be something else.

*Sr Ignacio del Stripeypants for long.

115

I firmly believe if the ancient Greeks had been in possession of modern veterinary medicine, Sisyphus would’ve been trying to pill a cat instead.

116

I love hearing about P.K. and Ollie’s progress together and am glad to hear P.K. is doing so well! He had a rough go there for awhile. It sounds like P.K. and Ollie are going to be just fine with some time. Good papa you are to keep a close eye on their interactions for now.

Quick update on Goblin. He now eats about 2 feet away from me but would really rather not. He… endures it. But he’s gradually becoming less fearful of me, and that’s the whole idea. I still haven’t tried to put a hand on him.

His latest silliness is to dart away the instant he’s done with his meal. Then he trots down the long driveway, picking up the pace to a hasty lope as he rounds the corner out of my sight on his way up toward the road and god-knows-what mischief.

This morning I was happy to see him resume some Table Time. He curls up around a planter I have on a patio table and goes to sleep in the brief sun, just outside the kitchen door. He is beginning to associate proximity to the house and me with safety. Good progress.

117

Goblin is a great name. I love hearing how he’s doing.

118

Thanks. :slight_smile: The more I know him, the more the name seems appropriate!

I had a friend visiting for the past several days. Goblin didn’t mind, so long as we were all separated by the glass door. It was almost like he was watching TV, keeping track of what we were up to in the kitchen.

He’s now breakfasting about 6 inches from my foot and hanging around the outside of the house more. But there’s not a chance I’ll get a hand on him anytime soon. He startles at the least movement of my feet. As soon as he’s done eating, he… RUNS AWAY!!! But then he sometimes returns, sits patiently outside the door to make sure I see him. “More, please,” he says, without saying a word.

He looks healthy and happy. That’s enough for now.

119

Sorry to bug you again @eschrodinger but my wife wants updates on P.K… I’m so far in the hoping that no news is good news, but you’ve not posted in two weeks and she’s still worried after the repeat visit and the minimal eating thing. Although she enjoyed the mental image of the side by side bonito nibbling.

And we want to know what name has stuck (if any!) for Ollie/Iggy/Etc.

120

Sorry, yes, no news is good news, generally, at least for P.K.

He’s doing really well. Getting more and more back to normal. He can jump up on the cat tree now. And…he’s back to escaping when he can. I can’t believe it. He has been coming back in pretty quickly after, but it’s stressful.

As for Ollie – yes, Ollie is what stuck after all – he’s neutered now, and is a ball of young cat energy. He wants to play all the time. I can use the bird toy to get him worn out to the point of lying down panting, and then he’s meowing at me to play again in 5 minutes.

We have baby gates up in the doorway of the room he’s in, so he and P.K. can see each other all the time. They’ve gotten into a physical fight once when the dog pushed a door open, and still there are signs of that from Ollie’s side.

P.K. looks like Bambi when Ollie comes at him, like he can’t imagine why Ollie wants to be so mean. It would possibly go better if P.K. just swatted him hard to stand up to him.

We are still worn pretty thin from our Covid ordeal and some other stuff, so we haven’t had time or energy to do more to introduce them.

We spent months finding the right cat when we picked out and adopted P.K., and he’s so wonderful. I’m really concerned about stressing him out. We’ve started talking about whether it’s going to work out for Ollie or not. We really want it to, but I’m not willing to do something that’s bad for P.K.

If it doesn’t work out, we’ll get in touch with a rescue and continue to foster him until he finds a great home.

I feel awful about even thinking about that, but I have to keep reminding myself that we didn’t decide to go out and adopt a cat. We took in a stray who needed help, helped him with vet care and vaccinations, and fed him and neutered him, and we play with him and love him, and we’ll make sure he’ll never be left to fend for himself again. It’s just unlucky if this little bit of happenstance doesn’t work out for him to stay with us.