CATS ON TUESDAY # 7 ... plus more !!
It's been an interesting few days in the world of Meow. Some parts of it I would rather not have had happen ...
On Saturday afternoon, Chicky was down the other end of our street (which is a double ended court / cul-de-sac) playing with a couple of friends who live down that end. They were playing with their cat, who is the same age as our Bambi. They were having lots of fun, as kids and cats always do !! All of a sudden, one of the residents of the street (a young girl, on P plates) started her car, and began speeding out of the street. The cat freaked out at the sound of the car, jumped out of Chicky's friend's arms, and ran across the road, right under the car. The girl driving didn't even stop. The kids were horrified, and somewhat hysterical, to have witnessed their friend, Jack the cat, being run over. Initially, the cat picked himself up and ran home (as seems to be the way with cats and dogs), but passed away quite quickly thereafter. Chicky's friend's parents barely had time to wrap up the cat, put him in the car to take to the Animal Emergency Hospital, before he stopped breathing. Those poor children, Chicky included, were absolutely inconsolable. What a horrible thing for them to see. None of them were able to sleep much that night ... I'm sure the scene was replaying itself over and over in their minds. I imagine it will be the source of nightmares for some time. I have to admit to shedding quite a few tears, myself. You know, as hard and horrible it was that the cat was killed, all I could think about was ... what if had've been a child on the road, and this girl (or any other person) was racing down the street in their car. The residents all know that there are heaps of animals and children in the street. They should know better ... they should drive SLOWLY at all times. I hope this has taught the girl driving the car a lesson ... a very hard one, yes, but a lesson none-the-less.
The past day or two, my kitty Bambi has been struggling with her wee-ing again (she had this problem mid-December last year). Back in December, the vet suggested she may have a problem with crystals forming in her urine, but at the time, we decided it may just be a one-off urinary infection, and would wait and see. It did go away, and all was fine again. Well, it has happened again. Poor kitty, it isn't nice when you need to go all the time, and you sit, and sit, and nothing happens. I took her to the vet this morning, and the vet (a different one, this time) told me about an interesting study she has read the report of. Apparently, cats that eat almost exclusively dry food, have a water intake of at least 50% less than those on a "wet" food diet. Even thought they may appear to drink an adequate amount of water, it still may not be enough. In some cats (although not all), this can lead to crystals forming in their urine (as has happened with Bambi), causing the problems she has been experiencing, and worse. The solution used to be to put them on a Prescription Diet dry food (Hills have a good one) to assist with reducing this problem. But, no more. The solution now, apparently, is to take them off dry food completely. So, this is what we are now trying. I don't think Bambi will be too impressed, as she is almost addicted to her dry food, and isn't a great fan of tinned or fresh food. We will have to perservere, though. Hopefully this will do the trick. Maybe down the track, when I am confident this won't happen again, I can give her a treat once or twice a week, of dry food (it is good for their teeth), and see how she goes. The vet also gave her an anti-inflammatory injection, to ease the problem, and hopefully by tonight she should be right as rain again. Poor little kitty.
We had a pretty quiet weekend. Hubby watched alot of TV (a change from working all weekend ... it appears there is not alot of overtime on offer at the moment at his work), and did a few little Mr. Fixit type jobs around the house and garden. I spent most of the weekend (and yesterday) at the computer, fiddling around with my photos from our trip to Broken Hill last year. I am using a program called Magix Photostory for CD & DVD, to turn these photos into DVDs, by adding transitions, zooms, commentary, music ... whatever. It is great fun, if somewhat fiddly and time consuming (I'm a bit of a perfectionist at times ... if it isn't quite right, I will fix it, over and over and over !!!). It's looking great, so far ... not much more to do !!
I'm on my way to come and visit you all now ... look out for me, won't you !!
Enjoy the remainder of your week.
Take care,
MEOW
45 comments:
OMG! Meow that must have been horrifying to wittness at any age. How is your daughter now?
So sorry about your Bambi..I hope she gets accustomed to her new food and feels better asap!
i am so sorry to read this. how are the children now? how is your kitty? i hope that everyone will be well soon, poet.
Heidi and Poet ... thank you for asking ... I should have added to my post that the kids seem to be doing OK on the surface now, although at quiet times the tears still come ... it's still very much on their minds. Particularly Chicky's friend, who's cat it was. She is doing it quite hard, I think.
Also, Bambi seems OK ... she ate some canned food before ... searched everywhere for her dry food !! I think she'll be fine. She is outside, snoozing on the spa cover !!!
Take care, Meow
Oh what a nightmare. It's just awful. The poor cat; all she could think of was going home to those she loved and trusted.
About Bambi: I am sure things will improve. You may want to check your water. When one of my cats had this problem, I was told to first check my well water. Sometimes the minerals in it can cause this and some cats have to have only bottled water.
I know you will probably get loads of advice about this and I don't want to stress you out, I just wanted to pass on something my vet told me.
Please have a calm week. I can't get that poor cat off my mind.
I can only imagine what those children are going thru, having two beans of my own.
Hope that Bambi gets better soon, and gets to liking the wet food. Thanks for the info about dry food, didn't know it.
I hate to say this, but do you think that young driver learnt a lesson? After all she didn't stop. Was she spoken to by anyone, because as you said, it could have been a child.
As for Bambi, my beautiful black Shadow had exactly the same problem and I had to take him off dry foot altogether, which put his nose out of joint. However, later on when I was sure his FLUTD had cleared, I used to give him some cat biscuits as a treat, mixed in with his canned food. Probably only about once a week or so. It didn't seem to cause any problems.
Have a good week.
Meow, I am so sorry that your daughter and the kids had to witness that!! I work for a vet and unfortunately, we see this a lot. Very sad. I hope Bambi is much better. I had a cat several years ago that had to be on Hills food-- C/D. I love the picture of Bambi in the tree! I love cats anyway...I don't have human children, I have 4 cats and an African Dwarf Frog--she will be 2 years old on Feb. 18th! Hope you have a better week!!
That is horrible! I live on a quiet street too, but people sometimes drive on it faster than I would like them to. I do not like my cats to go in the front yard, but they do.
In other news, Cleo the new cat goes to the vet tomorrow to be fixed. Strange cats I have never seen before are starting to pop up in the yard.
What a terrible story ! I could kill people driving like mads in streets with children and animals ! It happened here too, but now they put humps in the street, (they are also called sleeping policemen) so it's impossible to drive fast. It sure will be a nightmare for the kids for some time.
Lisa (the old young grandma) never gets dry food she is almost 17 now. For elder cats it's not good becausse the weak spot of a cat is always the kidneys. Pookie also only wants to have dry food, but slowly, slowly she also gets used to "normal" food. I never gave dry food to my cats, but Pookie and Kim were raised by my son and as he was away the whole day, he gave them dry food. Arthur and Lisa don't touch it. Hope Bambi will soon get better and I am sure she will get used to the other food when she is hungry she will eat it !
oh, i am so sorry about that, how horrible for the kids, and poor Jack.
also poor Bambi...it seems a bad week for cats. I had to take Kitty to the Vet on Saturday. She may be allergic to her food. I have some drops for her poor itchy ears, but now i have to put her on an expensive Duck and Pea type food, or she may be diabetic. But i won't know until i can have her tested, which will cost me $100, which i don't have at the moment. But she is still frisky for all her 16 lbs!
cheers for now.
p.s. i have misplaced the postcard i bought for you, but i will look for it soon.
can you delete #5 dragonfly?
My heart goes out to you and Chicky and the other children who had to witness the horrific demise of Jack. It is one thing to find them injured and quite another to witness it.
I hope Bambi is feeling better soon!
^5 on the photo fiddling.
I can't wait for a visit from you. It has been a long time since I have seen you at my place.
Have a wonderful day!
*^_^
(=':'=) hugs
(")_ (")Š from
the Cool Raggedy one
Meow - Man! That is so sad! What kind of person runs over a kitty and doesn't even stop! Shame on them!
Those kids are going to be heartbroken for awhile over this!
I don't know what I'd do if something like that happened to my Cody.
Hope your cat comes out of the little problem ok.
Have a great week.
Peace & Hugs,
- Neo
Oh Meow
I am sorry that Chicky and her friends had to see that , it is so awful , the poor dears, and poor kitty ! what a horrible experience , I hope she still isnt too shook up ,and I hope the driver gets to face what she has done !!!!!
awful !!just sad!
and Bambi is sickie pooh again! well your not having a great time with kitties your way , I have had those issues with kitty kats before and it was caused by the ASH in the food , our vet said to buy a lower ASH ((( formulated with low ash to help increase urine acidity and lower magnesium concentration. This assists in prevention of calculi and crystals forming in the urinary tract. "from Low ash Whiskas bag" ))it is marked on the bags usually .
and as we took them off the dry first , it worked and then a better dry formula ,,perfect ever since :)
wishing you good health for you all and hope Chicky is OK!
HUGZ friend
Greeneyes
Oh Meow
I am sorry that Chicky and her friends had to see that , it is so awful , the poor dears, and poor kitty ! what a horrible experience , I hope she still isnt too shook up ,and I hope the driver gets to face what she has done !!!!!
awful !!just sad!
and Bambi is sickie pooh again! well your not having a great time with kitties your way , I have had those issues with kitty kats before and it was caused by the ASH in the food , our vet said to buy a lower ASH ((( formulated with low ash to help increase urine acidity and lower magnesium concentration. This assists in prevention of calculi and crystals forming in the urinary tract. "from Low ash Whiskas bag" ))it is marked on the bags usually .
and as we took them off the dry first , it worked and then a better dry formula ,,perfect ever since :)
wishing you good health for you all and hope Chicky is OK!
HUGZ friend
Greeneyes
Meeeooow
I'm so sorry to hear about Jack, I almost cryed and I didn't even know him , I only know that all cats are sweet and special.
I am a kitty owner now ... I took in an abandoned kitty cat two weeks ago , She has been Amazing !!!
Hi Meow ~~ What an awful thing
for the children to witness and I guess time will help wipe it to the back of their minds. Sorry that your Bambi is unwell and hope the new diet helps her. Thanks for your visit and yes thank goodness today has been much cooler with another few looking good also. Maya Angelou has written poetry and books, which I must try to get one to read. Take care, Connie of yourself and your daughter. Love, Merle.
OMG!! How awful! That family will be in my prayers! I hope you get Bambi used to her new food and she starts to feel better soon.
Have a great Tuesday!
I am so sorry to learn of the demise of Jack the cat: a beloved pet being killed by a car is a true horror for all who love animals. I believe it is especially horrible when children witness the death.
I pray that Bambi is doing better. I do not have a a lot of experience in cat care. (Alex is only the third feline to live with me and the other two were many years ago and neither stayed around very long). However, I did notice early in Alex's kittenhood that he drank very little water: where I was used to refilling the water bowls of the dogs I had several times a day, Alex's water bowl seemed seldom to need refilling and I would usually have to empty most of the water to refresh it. I brought this to the attention of Alex's vet and she said that many cats-Alex certainly being one-have an aversion to not only being bathed in water (I still laugh at the great video you posted) but also in drinking it.
Since then I have provided Alex with his choice of dry cat food and wet cat food (Alex will only consume wet food that is cut into very small bites). What I've noticed is that he usually laps up the "gravy" from the wet food before eating it; at least he is getting a bit of liquid in some form. Perhaps such a choice would also benefit Bambi (says this notice cat servant).
Thank you, Ms. Meow, for your kind words and thoughts regarding my mom's latest health problems.
I'm so sorry to hear about the accident and that the kids had to see it :(
I hope that Bambi feels better soon!
That's so sad about the poor little cat and the children having to witness such a thing. What about the lass who was responsible...did she do anything at all about it?
I knew about the dry food causing problems for cats if they eat too much of it...mine aren't huge fans of dry food, only having a little once in a while, which is good.
Cats being killed by car or dogs are the most horryfing for kids. I can even today remember one of our cats killed by a dog (back in the late 40's).
We feed our cats with white fish (buy them in deepfrozen blocks - Alaska Pollock) for dinner every day. For breakfast we give them readymade food in sauce (change the type every day) and during the day and evening they supplement with dryfood and water and "catmilk". Expensive? Yes during the winter - but during the summer they hunt most of their food - except the Pollock.
Good written post.
=^.^=
So very sad. Those children are scarred. That girl should be made to make amends somehow. Driving school. What if it HAD been a child?
Poor Bambi! Crystals hurt, too. I do hope the injection helped.
You deserve a break in the action now! Hugs & smiles D
How terrible! Poor Jack the cat and those poor kids who witnessed him being run over.
That speeding girl needs to have her ears boxed and her butt kicked!
I hope Bambi adjusts okay to her new food and starts weeing again in a normal fashion.
I hope your week is going well.
Meeyauw ... thanks for the advice. Fortunately, our water here in Melbourne is one of the best in the world, so it should be fine.
M, M & M ... thank you. The info on the dry food I thought was very interesting.
Robyn ... thank you. I'm sure the girl has been spoken to ... her parents were spoken to by my daughter's friend's mum, so I imagine she is aware of what she has done. Regarding Bambi, she is ok with canned and raw meat so far, and in a few weeks I will offer her dry food as a treat once or twice a week. She'll be fine. She already is 100% better ... thanks to the injection she had, I guess.
Cecil ... thanks. My vet no longer stocks the Hills dry C/D. We'll see how she goes for now. Fur babies are sometimes easier than 2 legged ones ... my 2 legged baby is almost a teenager ... I think I'll be tearing out my hair before long !!
Lazy Iguana ... thank you. I hope Cleo handles her surgery well. My Bambi is desexed, but still receives potential suiters visiting regularly !!!
Gattina ... thank you. We also have speed humps on many through roads, but these local no through roads you expect people to drive slowly !! Bambi will adjust to no dry food quickly, I hope. I will give here a little, now and then, though.
PJ ... thank you. Good luck with your kitty. Hope the diet change helps. Not to worry about the postcard. Oops, I don't know how to delete No. 5.
Raggedy ... thank you. Huge apologies for not being by to visit ... I actually thought I had ... blogger must have eaten my comment. I'll be over soon.
Neo ... thank you. I agree ... shame on them. It was a young girl, must've panicked, not known what to do (or even not even realised ... who knows). The kids are doing ok so far, and so is Bambi.
Greeneyes ... thank you. I'll look into the labelling of the food, and see if we have such a thing here. Worth trying, for sure. Hugs xx
Susie ... thanks.
Jack ... thank you. Yay for you becoming a kitty owner ... hope you get lots of love, fun and happiness from your bundle of joy !!
Merle ... thank you. Yay for the cooler weather, it is wonderful to actually feel like doing things, and not sweltering.
Jodi ... thank you.
Nick ... thank you. Cats are such funny creatures, and terribly finicky. Glad you liked the video ... it was very funny !! Bambi is very much like Alex, and licks up the gravy stuff first, but doesn't seem to like meat varieties, preferring fishy varieties. Cats !!!
Christina ... thank you.
Lee ... thanks. Not sure if Chicky's friend's mum has spoken to the driver yet ... must ask !! I imagine she has been told what she has done, and must feel awful. You are lucky your cats prefer "wet" food ... this is a learning experience for Bambi ... she does love raw meat, though !!
Toraa ... thank you. Sounds like you are a very loving cat parent. I think your kitties are very well fed, and very lucky !! You are lucky they can hunt their own food ... we live in suburbia, and all she can catch is birds (not the done thing, killing local wildlife) and mice from behind the shed.
Felinefrisky ... thank you. Bambi is doing well now, so far. Hope it continues. The kids are OK, and I am having some me time !!!
Take care everyone, and thank you for your thoughful, caring comments. It is a pleasure to have blogging friends like you all.
Bye for now, Meow
Jamie ... sorry, you snuck in as I was commenting !! Thank you for your kind comments. And I agree, she should have her butt kicked. Interesting to be talking about cats weeing, don't you think !?!?!
Take care, Meow
Oh I am so sorry to hear about that cat, how sad. Also I'm sorry to hear yours has problems. I am not sure if you can find it where you live but I work at a pet supply house (pet store) and we sell a product that has cranberry in it for cats uninary tact. you put it on there food as a suppliment and it is suppose to help. I've heard that also about the wet food. Mine get a can of wet every day sometimes twice a day and dry is open to them all the time. If yours won't eat the wet, try mixing just a spoon full at first into the wet then every few days add a little more until you are serving on the wet. Hope that helps
Take care
oops I should have read over my post before I hit send. I wasn't very clear on what I said about the food. What I meant to say was...
If your cat won't eat wet food. Take a spoon full and mix with the dry food, and then each day add a little more wet and a little less dry until they are only eatting the wet. I hope that made better sense
Oh dear, what a horrible thing to have happened, and right in front of the children! It's no wonder they were all traumatized:-( I feel so sorry for the poor little kitty too. That young driver has just learned a real hard lesson!
So sorry to hear that Bambi hasn't been feeling well again...hopefully the new diet and antibiotics will help!
Take care and big hugs are going your way:-) xox
that's awful Meow! poor kitty. You are lucky you don't live in greece Meow. We see dead cats on the streets all the time. I used to cry but now i avert my eyes. Sometimes when i am in the car with M he pretends to show me something on the other side of the road so i won't see it.
I hope your girl and Bambi are fine now. xxx
I am so sorry the kids had to go through such an ordeal. That would have been tragic for me as an adult so I can imagine how they felt. Hugs to your daughter!
Hope Bambi feels better very soon.
Take care,
Connie
Oh Dear Meow im so sorry that chicky and her mates had to witness this careless act by the driver and not enening stopping just heartless on her part.
I hope Bambi feels better soon and adjusts to new food. Take care (((hugs)))Jen
You should take a stroll down the street and slash the bitch's tires
Oh those poor kids, and poor kitty. I'm sorry Chicky witnessed such a terrible thing.
My vet put my cat with urine crystals on a dry food only diet. It is a specialty food for kitties who have urine and kidney troubles. After two rounds of antibiotics and the switch in food, he is good as new. I hope Bambi gets well soon.
Once I was driving with my dad and we saw a black lab get hit by a hit and run. I don't think I will ever forget that, and her owner came running out of the house screaming...it was horrible, especially since at that time my family had a black lab.
Really horrible thing to happen, you know how you yourself would feel, and can imagine that it would be magnified in the childrens' minds. I hope the P-plater has had pointed out to her how irresponsible she was.
As for your Bambi, I remember a vet saying years ago that dry food diet can lead to urinary tract problems because of the lack of water. Our two have a little dry food in the morning and the main meal of tinned food at night. Sometimes we run out of dry food and I think they are quite happy to have tinned food in the morning.
Hi Meow!
I just wanted to come over and see how you are...it's been awhile. I'm glad that everything seems to be good, and I love the new banner (but it's porbably not new any more!)
Cathy
Hi meow... that poor cat, those poor children... and yes, how easily it could have been one of them - I bet your heart was in your mouth.
I'm like you on the perfectionism, especially when it comes to getting the photo things the way you want them, but it is a lot of fun. I get mesmerised and time goes SO fast... I've tried a hundred different programs, some free, some paid, but I keep returning to Paint Shop Pro -
also, I haven't added you to my blogroll before, such a young chick, but do you mind if I do?
I'll put you in the 'in Australia' category, there are one or two there who don't have 'elderblogger' status either ::smiles::
Autumn ... thank you, and thanks for the advice. Fortunately, Bambi was quite OK with eating raw meat, not so much with tinned food. She looks for the dry food, which I may reintroduce in with her wet food in a few weeks. I will look for that cranberry supplement ... sounds interesting.
Pea ... thank you. Yep, the driver has learnt a hard lesson ... shame it had to happen. Poor kitty, he was so young, and poor kids to be so traumatised.
Chloe ... thank you. Fortunately, we don't see that many dead pets on the street (although there are some) ... more bunnies, kangaroos and the like out in the country, though.
Connie ... thank you. I'm glad I didn't see it, as I'm sure I would have been just as traumatised as the kids. Not a nice thing to witness at any age.
Jeanette ... thank you. I just hope the driver had a valid (!?!?!) reason for not stopping. Maybe she honestly didn't notice ... seems hard for me to think that would be the case, though.
Malnurtured Snay ... interesting way of dealing with things ... not my style, though.
Lois ... thank you. My vet used to prescribe this food for such problems, but after learning more about the condition, no longer stocks it, and doesn't recommend it. I guess everyone has their own ideas. I would have preferred to change her over to such a dry food, but the vet said not to. We'll see how things go !!
Silverneurotic ... gosh, that would have been a horrible thing to see. Fortunately, I have never witnessed a dog or cat being hit by a car ... birds, yes .. that is awful enough.
Val ... thank you. I heard that about dry food years ago, too, then all the advancements in pet food formualations were meant to have solved these sorts of problems ... apparently not, in this case !!! Time will tell !!
Cathy ... thanks for the visit, nice to see you. I haven't been visiting as much as I used to, either. There seems to be less hours in my days these days !!
Della ... thank you. I sent you an email, hope you don't mind.
Take care, everyone.
Meow xx
That really must have traumatised them; how sad for them to see it.
Jean-luc ... thank you, I'm sure it has. They're doing ok now, though.
Take care, Meow
Sorry to read about the accident - I'm so sorry for your daughter and friends, it must have been horrible.
As for Bambi, Tobi had the same thing. We do give him dry food, but also some wet one. We had to "massage" his blater to help him to pee, not fun - now he's ok.
I hope everyone turns out ok and not too traumatise. Poor kids & kitty!
omy goodness how horrible. I hope things are getting better.....that is so sad..
I'm so sorry to hear about that accident with the cat. Teenagers do dumb things. She must be feeling very bad about it too... knowing how preventable that accident was. I'm sure you are feeling very relieved that no kids were hurt.
It's always good to get a second vet's opinion!
Thanks again everyone for your kind comments. Everyone is doing well, hope it stays that way!!
Take care, hugs to you all.
Meow
Post a Comment