Remembering my sister Kali on our birthday

Today is my birthday. It’s the day my mom picked to celebrate my birthday actually. But it’s not only my birthday, it’s my sister Kali’s birthday as well. If you didn’t get to read about my gotcha day story before, my sister Kali and I were found as stray kittens. I wrote about it last year in my diary, but Kali was found first and then a day or two later (Mom doesn’t remember exactly) I showed up. Mom still vividly remembers when she saw a little black furball run from the woods and under our deck at the time. Mom is pretty sure we were dumped. Possibly by a strange neighbor who Mom remembers had a tuxie cat (who looked like me!) she had seen when she went for walks.

Today I wanted to remember my sister and write a little about her. Kali was a beautiful girlcat. She had tuxie markings, but she had more black than I did. She was small (like me) and delicate and had sort of an exotic look. Mom thinks we may have some persian in us. Mom named her Kali after the Hindu goddess because she seemed rather exotic. My grandpaw used to say she was demure and would flirt. MOL! Okay, grandpaw.

She used to like to eat her dry food by pawing out each piece out of the bowl and eating it. She did this most of her life; she just liked to eat like that. Kali lived with my grandpawrents and was an outdoor/indoor kitty. I think that bothers some people, but my grandpawrents had a number of acres and at that time they had kitties that were outdoors a lot.

Kali lived there with my brofur Mango, who was big orange boy with a lot of personality. Mango was a kitten who was adopted that same summer we were found (we showed up soon after they got Mango). Kali also lived with at least one other cat at the time, a lady cat named Alex. Alex was older and had a litter of kittens at one point. My grandma often called her “the mother cat”. I guess they hadn’t gotten her spayed yet. I think she was a stray they adopted who was used to being outside alot.

Mom is planning on making a page for the the kitties (and doggies) she had over the years (those she has photos of). But I just wanted to write about and acknowledge my sister today on our birthday.

Kali got sick in about 2006/2007. Grandma was upset and took her back and forth to the vet. Mom wasn’t knowledgeable about feline health issues like she is now. She got sick and ended up passing fairly soon after that. I’m not sure what it was with Kali. Maybe cancer or kidney failure. She seemed to be healthy and happy up until the time she got sick. Grandma and Mom cried when Kali died, and our brofur, Mango, seemed lost and missed his sisfur when she left us.

Here is a photo of Mom and Kali. (Mom is in her 40s now, btw).

Sending loving thoughts and birthday wishes to my beautiful little sister.


Mom has to work for part of today, but I hope to be back later and maybe have a casual, small birthday celebration in my diary. Thank you to everyone for the thoughtful gifts, photos and messages. I appreciate it very much!!

Much love,
Gumpy

The water dish monster.....and I'm turning 18!

So there has been this monster in my water dishes! Lately when I go to get some water I get spooked and dash away. Mom had moved my dishes and said it was probably just the reflection of the light or maybe there had been a bug in there. But I’m not quite buying that -- I just know there’s something in there! I saw it. Mom said she’d move my dishes so they aren’t under the light, but I don’t know, I think there is some creature in there and it’s making me skeered. But I need a lot of water becuz of my kidney problems, so hopefully this monster will stop scaring me. (I don’t think I’m getting dementia, btw ;) ).

Speaking of my kidneys, I wanted to post a little update since my birthday is tomorrow. I went to the vet a couple weeks ago, and I had been in a couple times before that too. The news is that I am stable and one of my kidney values came down. My creatinine came down from 3.7 to 2.8, so that’s good news (it had gone from 2.8 to 3.2 to 3.7 since January). My other values are about the same. My phosphorus is still too high and my BUN is pretty high. But I am eating well and seem to be feeling pretty good. I still want to go outside when I can, though I do like to snooze a lot. Dr. T said some kitties can handle these higher values and I seem to be one of them. We just have to keep me stable and I need to be monitored and get bloodwork at least every two months. Mom is also feeling more comfortable with all the treatments for me and hopefully they will continue to help keep me stable. Dr. T did say that I need to try to gain a little weight and that it’s more important that I eat than getting any special food.

So tomorrow I’m turning 18! It’s the big one eight! We are super busy right now. We’ve had our house for sale and we’re getting ready to move so we haven’t had a lot of time to work on our pages, etc. But I want to try to have a little birthday celebration in my diary tomorrow later in the day (Saturday). I hope my furiends (and anyone) can stop by. I’ll be 18 and I’ve dealt with diabetes, I’ve had pancreatitis, and now Mom and I are taking on kidney disease. But I’ve had a very happy 18 years even with all of that. Every birthday is important, but this another big one for me. I appreciate the furiendships here on Catster and again sorry about missing things lately.

I’ve haven’t gotten a photo of it yet, but my sweet friends and nephers Ollie, Angel Alfie and family sent me a Calvin Collar for my birthday (and some other fun goodies). Thank you, sweet friends. Mom is going to get some photos today or tomorrow. Yay, I finally have a famous Calvin Collar! It’s royal purple. :)

Love,
Gumpy

I got birthday goodness in the mail all the way from- Bangladesh!

A couple weeks ago Mom got a big pink envelope in the mail. She said it was for me and it was from Bangladesh....wow, from Bangladesh!? That means it was from my Neph-T (Tao)! I got mail? From Bangladesh! Cool pink envelope!
Mom and I were excited to open the pink envelope and there was a really cute card from Tao, and he and Sissy also included some other Tao goodness (the inside of the card was really cute too). There were a couple cute photos that Sissy and Tao made and also a very sweet poem.

MOL! Look at this. Luv it! Too Hut Doods: Nifty Neph-T and Oldie Furty Unk-G! :)
So cute and funny. Gotta love Tao.
Gun-a purrtay hard!

The poem from Tao and Sissy was so sweet and cool that I had to share it:

“Unkies beez impurrtent purrts of a kitty life.
Without an Unkie beez no fun.
Meez beez sos lucky to haz U’s, Unk-G!
Your Birdday beez too impurrtent too!
Weez is gun-a purrtay and drink niptinis and dance all the night! (wait, isn’t Tao only one?)
Hopes U’s gets to leaf another 18 healthy years! (me too)
Efun more. U’s can beez an oldie furt butt U’s will always beez my Unk-G
all nine of my lives and meez lubbs U’s lots!

Sos hear meez says:
Happy Birdday!!!

Lubbs and bonboncarz,
Nifty Neph-T (Tao)"

That was so pawsome of him to write that for me! I will always treasure the poem and the Tao goodness I got for my 18th birthday all the way from Bangladesh! I’ll always have this and remember it. You know, I think Sissy is about my age and still in school, so it was very thoughtful of them to do all of this and send it to me across the world. It’s not always easy to send things across the globe either. It took a lot of effurt to do this for little old me and I appreciate it very much. Thank you so much, sweet Neph-T! You made this oldie furty Unk-G feel good! Lubbs you lots, and Sissy too!

(P.S. I would have written this sooner, but I thought Tao and Sissy were going to be offline for a little while.)

More photos:

Nadi reading my birthday card

My sis and me taking in all the Taoy goodness

Thank you, Tao, for all this Taoy goodness

Hello, thank you, and laying low

We haven’t been around lately, but before all the Easter eggies disappear from our pages, we wanted to thank everyone for sending those to us. They’re so colorful and have looked very nice on our pages. We didn’t get to send eggs out during the egg exchange, but thank you for all the purrty eggs!

I mentioned in my previous diary about not being around much, and we have been taking a break from Catster. But my birthday is coming up and I think I’ll be back around for my 18th birthday. It’s the big 1 - 8 which is something to celebrate! I know we’ve missed things lately, and I hope you can furgive us fur that. We missed Tao's Gotcha Day purrty and I’m sure there was a lot of tunie juice that I missed. :(

Mom has actually been thinking of slightly changing the date of my birthday. She picked June 1st cuz she found me in the summer and doesn’t know the exact date. But she thinks that date is a little generic and there are so many kitties with that birthdate. Mom’s thinking of June 2nd....that could also be a way to include (symbolically) my sister
Kali (the 2 of us were found as stray kittens), or the end of May? I will let you know if we end up changing the date.

I’ve been doing okay health wise. My appetite has been good, but I haven’t gained any weight and I’m probably losing a little more. I’m hovering around seven pounds; sometimes less and sometimes more. It makes Mom sad to see me so thin, even though I’m eating pretty well. I am a smaller guy, but I’m not normally this light. Mom also can’t just give me lots of food as easily because she has to be careful with what I eat, and she usually mixes in phosphorus binders so that makes it a little complicated too.

Mom is still getting the hang of all the stuff she’s doing for my kidney disease issues, but she’s feeling a little more comfortable with all of it. Food, meds, supplements, fluids, and figuring out what seems to help me feel better. I’m getting fluids everyday (Mom and Dr. T decided to try that), but only a small amount (about 50 mls) because of my heart murmur and my size. I am NOT enjoying it, but it only takes a few minutes. I’m going to go back to the vet sometime soon for yet another blood check (grrrr).

Mom has discovered that one good thing about me being an adventurous eater type (remember my last diary) is that I will ‘eat’ my medication if it’s wrapped in something good. We were using pill pockets, which I really like, but Mom was concerned about some of the ingredients for everyday use. So lately I’ve been getting meds in cream cheese (organic). I’ll even take this humungo capsule called Azodyl (a probiotic for CKD kitties that is supposed to help absorb some toxins before they reach the kidneys) in cream cheese. Nom, nom...taking pills can be tasty! Actually, I don’t eat the pills, I end up swallowing them with the stuff it's wrapped in. So much better than having them shoved down my throat! The bad aspect about me liking so many different things is that I can get into things that may be harmful. Mom thinks she remembers me getting a raisin and maybe part of a grape sometime within the past year and she thinks that could have done more damage my kidneys? She didn’t completely realize these could be harmful. She's a little upset for not being more careful.

Talk to you later.

Purrs....

UnDDP, chocolate and a burd!

Yay, I got a DDP today! Except I’m an invisible unDDP. We got an email about it, but I didn’t show up on the diary picks list. I’m invisible, kinda like I was at Tao's birthday purrty. Hmmm, I hope they get this DDP thing figured out soon and maybe the unDDP-DDPs can be DDPs again and be visible? Ollie (my nephoo) and family made me a couple mementos, and one was a cute UN-DDP memento.

About the chocolate. Mom freaked out the night before last because I gobbled down a little nib of chocolate! This little piece of chocolate had fallen on the floor and Mom set it on the coffee table, and then before she knew it I was on the coffee table sniffing it and then she saw she me gobble it down! She knows chocolate can be toxic to cats, so she tried to grab it out of my mouth....but too late! It was already on it’s way down. It was a small little piece, but Mom was still very worried. It was late and she called two emergency vet places. They both asked for my weight and how much I ate, and they both said I would probably be fine. I was okay, but it really worried Mom since I have these other health issues to deal with (see my previous diary entry). I did seem to sleep a little more yesterday, but today I’m feeling good and I ate a lot for breakfast. I am a cat who likes to check out everything and I’ll eat many non-cat things. I’m fine, but Mom has to be super careful with me.

There has also been this burd - a woodpecker - pounding very loudly on the top metal part of our chimney the last couple days. Mom made a lot of noise to scare him or her away, but s/he kept coming back. I guess she (maybe it’s a she) wants to make a hole and build a nest in our chimney! Get out of there, you silly, noisy burd. Back in the day, I could catch you, Burd.

My previous diary that was a DDP is more important and more interesting than this one, if you haven’t read it, btw.

I also want to send my heartfelt purrs to Booboo & family and the other kitties who have gone to the Bridge recently.

A Little Update on Me

We haven’t been around as much lately and I wanted to let you know some of what’s going on. Mom took me back to our regular vet for a blood pressure check last week and my BP was very high. Way too high and it scared Mom. The vet techs had been checking it over the last year and it tended to be a little higher than it should be....but the vets didn’t make a big deal out of it. They thought that vet stress (stress from being at the vets) could be elevating it some. Mom is feeling some upset that we didn’t figure this out before it got so bad.

I got some meds right away and Dr. T wanted me to come back soon to recheck my BP. The good news is that after four days of being on meds (Amlodipine) my BP was down. The doc was happy and mom was also feeling a lot of relief. Hypertension often comes along with kidney issues and I guess I’ll have to be taking this med indefinitely - though we’re not sure. It concerns Mom that I might have to be on this med all the time, but it is necessary.

Since I was there at the Cat Clinic, Dr. T also thought it would be good to take some blood (those darn vampires!) to see how I’m doing. They also thought it would be fun to stick a needle in my bladder so they could check my pee...I mean urine. Well, my kidney values have all increased again in a little over a month since I saw the in-home vet, and I also had bacteria in my urine which indicated a UTI. Mom was feeling pretty sad and upset about the high BP, higher kidney values and urinary infection.

I’m taking an antibiotic along with the BP meds. (Pill pockets are yummy and work well for taking meds, btw.) I have been more energetic since being on the BP meds and the antibiotic. Maybe the high BP and UTI were making me feel crappy, and we’re also hoping that the higher kidney values may be (at least) partially due to the untreated hypertension and/or the urinary infection.

Mom is also working on other treatments for my kidney issues. She is working hard getting appropriate foods and she’s putting in a phosphorus binder in my food (my phosphorus was too high). I’m also getting sub-q fluids which means being poked every other day (ouch!) by Mom and she’s still getting the hang of it. She’s doing all these different things, and it’s difficult and stressful for her to figure it all out. Mom feels that diabetes was easier to manage and figure out than CKD. (CKD = Chronic Kidney Disease aka CRF). And she also worries about the pancreatitis issues I had last year

Mom is feeling like she has made mistakes and is feeling sad about it. She didn’t think my kidneys were that bad because my creatinine (considered the main kidney value) was only near the edge of the normal range last year (1.9 - 2.3) though my BUN was higher (she read that can be due a higher protein diet). But now she knows that my kidneys were weakening then and she wishes she would have been on this sooner.

Mom is also wondering if the in-home vet (Dr. Lisa) has that much experience with older kitties with CKD and other issues. We really like her, but just aren’t sure what to do, and Mom isn’t happy that she didn’t check my BP in January. We need to discuss this with her because older kitties should always have their BP monitored.

Mom thinks I’m acting better and more energetic since getting on the meds for the BP and UTI, along with the other things she’s doing. We’re hoping my numbers come down in a couple weeks when Dr. T wants me to come back to get more blood (vampires - grrrr!). We just need to try to keep me stable with these kidney issues. While kidney disease isn’t reversible, it can be stabilized.

On top of this, we’re probably going to be moving this spring or summer. It’s not anything bad, it’s something we’ve been planning, but there’s a lot to do. So between my health issues and moving, we can’t be here all the time - and also sometimes we just need to step away, anyway. I’m sorry about missing diaries, special days and not being involved in groups.

Oh, and on top of that, there was a tornado on Thursday evening that did a lot of destruction to the town my grandpawrents live in. Furtunately they didn’t have any damage, but the tornado did touch down several miles from their house. The story made national news, and G & G are lucky that they weren’t in the path of that tornado.

If you could purr for us, we’d appreciate it (gifties aren’t necessary). Thank you!

P.S. What’s with the lady with the cat litter face mask on up there on the button bar? That’s a little creepy. MOL.

Woolly Mammoth, Dr. Lisa #2, Tao, 17 & 3/4 and...more

Interesting title? :)

Mom stopped into the Cat Clinic yesterday to get some copies of my recent health records. She needed them because she wants to get a consultation with another vet for me. Another vet?? Yep....and her name is also Dr. Lisa? Mom’s working on getting a phone consultation with Dr. Lisa Pierson from the well-known feline health website, catinfo.org. Geez, how many vets are going to be looking into little old me? Well, I am happy about it, cuz it could help me. I’m 17 & 3/4 years old now and Mom wants to get as much info as possible to help me. She feels bad and guilty about not doing some things right when I was younger, and now wants to do everything she can for me. I try to tell her not to feel guilty, I mean, who knew....about so many things back then. And thank you, Mom, for trying to do so much for me now and the last several years!

When Mom was at the Cat Clinic there were two cages of kittens that were up for adoption (they always have cats and almost always kittens for adoption there). Mom said this one kitten was so cute and unique. She said he almost looked like a little Woolly Mammoth! MOL. He had long black fur with these long highlights of gray fur and his little mane area had more of these long light gray fur highlights. And he had big paws. What a little doll. Kittens are delightful and Mom kept thinking back to when I was a kitten. She doesn’t want to lose those memories of me. She’s sad about not having many pics (she can’t even find them, but is going to go back to my grandpawrents and look again; she did find a couple of my real sis Kali).

Hey, if anybuddy doesn’t know Tao, aka Pharaoh Purrince Tao, you should meet him. He’s my new little Nepher. I call him Nepher- T or he likes Neph-dood. ;) He’s a pawsome little dude from Bangladesh who is a lot of fun and a sweet little mancat. He’s celebrating his first birthday on March 2nd, but because of the time difference I think he’s going to be celebrating both on March 1st and 2nd. Let's celebrate his B-day in a pawsome Catster way!

One last thing. Mom was sad that Whitney Houston left this place and passed away recently. What a big loss of an amazing talent, human being, mother and more. Mom actually got to see Whitney perform when she was working at a performing arts center in college. That was over 20 years ago, but Mom feels fortunate to have been able to see her in person. Peace to you, Whitney....

Our mild winter is almost over and it feels like spring could be around the corner....But you never know.

A Valentine and Good Friend

I’ve always loved the name Bella, and this year sweet Bella asked me to be her Valentine! Bella is a lovely and gentle lady cat who I’ve always thought was beautiful, and we also have a lot in common. We’re both older kitties (or 'elderwise' as her sister Natalie says) and we have had some similar health concerns, and we're both very close and special to our moms. Bella also likes to snuggle, enjoys good things to eat, and like me, she likes her Yeowww Nanner (catnip banana).

She also comes from a family of wonderful poets. She and her siblings, Orange Ruffy, and Natalie the Nat Cat, write the most amazing poems that have always touched me. I have to say I actually wasn’t that into Valentine’s Day this year for some purrsonal reasons, but I was touched and honored when Bella asked me to be her Valentine and now I feel happier and part of Valentine's Day.

I was touched when Bella said in her diary, “I can face anything with you as a Valentine!” How sweet. We are good catfriends and that is really important.

Oh, and Bella also said I was the Cary Grant of the cat world! Wow, what a compliment! I told her she was like the Ingrid Bergman of cats. She's lovely and gentle, and she's also a girlcat who is strong enough to ask a mancat (me) to be her Valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day! Thank you, Bella, for asking me to be your Valentine!

Wishing love for everyone on Valentine’s Day.

Feeling good, nice weather, and I'm a Dreamboat!

We’ve been having a pretty mild winter here. There hasn’t been much snow and we’ve been having some warm days (up into the 40's and 50's). Monday was a really nice day; it was sunny and warm and almost felt like spring, and I even got to pop outside for a little while too. :) Mom also saw a beautiful full moon in the evening. Then when she came home we found out that I got onto Samoa's list of mancat Dreamboats! I’m Dreamboat #70! Yay, I guess this older guy still has it!?

Mom always tells me I’m beautiful, wonderful and adorable (etc, etc...*blushes*), but it’s pawsome to be considered a dreamboat by the lovely Samoa. She said she liked my pale pink nose, and she thought I was brave to venture out in the snow and that I looked good in my winter jacket. She’s sweet and thoughtful to find all those photos and write such nice things. She does a great job with her diaries and the special photos of these mancat dreamboats. Thank you, Miss Samoa! You made this old guy feel good! I'm honored to be on your list of dreamboats.

I also wanted to give a quick update since seeing the new vet. It’s been almost two weeks since I saw Dr. Lisa, and I’ve been happily taking my renal support supplement (I’m actually eating it as a treat), and I’m also getting fluids every three days. I’m not happy about getting poked again to get fluids, but the fluids and the supplement seem to be helping me because I’ve been more energetic, my appetite has picked up some, and Mom even thinks I’m being sweeter to my sis. Well, I don’t know about that last one, but I do seem to be feeling good. Hopefully when we recheck my blood things will look good.

Btw, I bet we’ll still get a blizzard before winter’s over.

Housecall! My Vet Appointment in the Living Room

Last Friday I had an appointment with a new vet and her mobile veterinary clinic . Mom set up the appointment and thought we’d be getting my check-up in Dr. Lisa’s mobile clinic vehicle. But Dr. Lisa knocked on the door and told Mom she sees clients in their home. Okay, a little surprise for Mom! But it was actually great...I was examined by Dr. Lisa on our living room coffee table - how funny is that! Dr. Lisa also had an assistant who took notes and helped hold me if needed.

As you can see from this photo, I really liked Dr. Lisa. She was sweet and caring; she kept calling me “kit-tin” in a sweet little voice. She also head-nudged me a few times and of course she petted me alot. She’s also a really good vet and one reason we like her is she is more holistically oriented and open to alternative ideas on veterinary care. For example her ideas on vaccines and diet.

So Dr. Lisa did stick a needle in my neck to get some blood. Sheesh, she was so sweet and then she had to do that vampire thing to me. It was cute when Dr. Lisa was laughing when I growled during the blood draw. She said every time I growled she got more blood. Grrrrr :)

So we got my blood test results back yesterday. It’s not horrible but not great. Basically, the main thing was that my kidney values have increased. My creatinine and BUN both increased more. Mom was expecting it to some extent, because I’ve lost some weight and I’ve just started to slow down in the last few months. However, Dr. Lisa wasn’t too concerned about the weight loss. She said it’s somewhat normal for an almost 18-year-old cat. Also Mom has been giving me more food to try to “plumpy up Gumpy” and I have actually gained 4-5 ounces, so that’s good.

Dr. Lisa said that my skin felt like I was somewhat dehydrated and that could be part of the higher kidney values. She wants me to have fluids every three days (50-75 mls - a purrty small amount) and she gave me a kidney support supplement which is a ‘whole food’ supplement. She wants to recheck my kidney values in about a month and see if they improve with the fluids and the supplement. The other good thing is my T4 (thyroid value) was the same as last time. Mom was a bit concerned that I could becoming hyperthyroid because of the weight loss and water consumption - but it’s apparently related to my kidneys. My glucose was also good - yay for being OTJ!

Mom feels sadness to see me aging, but we are going to do everything we can to keep me stable and healthy, and we feel that Dr. Lisa will help do that. She's purrty pawsome and we feel lucky to have found her. Mom will still stay connected to our Cat Clinic to have a resource for more specialized care, but we’re going to see Dr. Lisa for regular check-ups, etc. Mom might talk to Dr. T at the Cat Clinic and explain what we’re doing. It's always good to get another view point anyway, right?

Oh and she gave Mom a print out of her physical exam findings, and in the behavior area, she wrote “Sweet boy!” Awww, that’s what Mom calls me too.

Thank you for reading about my in-home vet experience, sorry if it was long.

One more thing, I wanted to say congrats to my buddy Hobo on being the Cat of the Day. He is a sweet guy who is almost the exact same age as me.

Edit: Here are some photos. We moved them to the end of the diary because they had been showing up as very large photos even though we had resized them in photobucket. But now they are showing up as the smaller resized size (hours later). Grrrr to photobucket.

It's very relaxing and comfortable to see the vet this way

Getting ready to take some of my blood