I want to say . . .

THANK YOU! for celebrating my birthday with me and for the congratulatory pawmails, pictures and gifts! You made my Sweet 16 Birthday extra special!

Mommy has been feeling downright crummy because of allergies, a sinus infection (with headaches) and arthritic achy joints and hasn't felt up to coming here to thank each one of you personally or answer pawmails, although we plan to thank you personally and answer pawmails over the next few days.

Have an enjoyable Sunday!



Love & hugs,
Kaci

I'm Sweet Sixteen!

Today is an exciting day for me. It’s my 16th birthday! Mommy says for girl peoples it’s traditionally called Sweet Sixteen. Well, why not for girl kitties too? I love being Sweet Sixteen! MOL!

Wow, May 1 sure is a popular birthday on Catster. There are 2,642 Catster kitties celebrating their birthdays with me today. Wow! Wishing a very Happy Birthday to all May Day kitties!

How am I going to celebrate? Mommy told me she bought a can of Tiki Cat Salmon. It's delicious and has a nice amount of broth in it. Later on today, she'll give me the salmon broth and then take the salmon and put it in the blender and puree it so the salmon chunks don't upset my sensitive tummy. She says that's what I'm having for my dinner. Yum, yum, yum!!!

Mommy didn't buy me a pressie because I don't want or need anything. It's true! I feel very blessed 'cause I have more toys and beds and things that make me comfy and happy than any one kitty could ever need or want!

Thank you for the happy birthday wishes! There's a buffet with birthday cake and ice cream on my page -- please help yourself!



Love,
Kaci

I'm feeling better!

Good news! I’m eating again and doing well.

The chicken flavored liquid meds are working out well. Mommy likes the syringe because she can measure out the exact dose. The liquid goes in easily and because it doesn’t taste nasty, I’ve been swallowing it. The cyproheptadine has me eating again. I get 0.2 ml every 2 days, which is equivalent to a little less than 1/4 of a pill. That’s not a lot. It’s the full syringe of famotidine that really sets me off.

I’m not happy or cooperative about it and let mommy know exactly how I feel by crying and protesting in my most pathetic little voice and I struggle hard as she’s giving me my meds. Truthfully, I’m not completely sure she’s not trying to poison me!

Afterwards, I put on a performance worthy of a Drama Queen. I run around the house, shaking my head and pawing at my mouth and shaking my legs and spazzing all over the place. I run when mommy tries to come near me. After awhile, I go off by myself and sulk and won’t let mommy approach me or touch me. I cringe when she tries. I put on my saddest face -- the one where I look hurt and abused and pathetic. How can anyone, esp. my mommy, torture me like this?

My performance works. It makes mommy upset and feeling very bad. She keeps apologizing and once she even started crying.

How do you act during and after getting your medications?

After a few hours, I approach mommy, all forgiven, or go off to sleep somewhere safe where she can’t get me easily. My days are spent hiding from mommy. But the cyproheptadine makes me hungry and a girl has to eat, so I have to come out of hiding at times.

An exciting life event is fast approaching. My birthday is May 1 -- I’ll be sweet 16!

Hope you’re all enjoying nice weather. Have a great weekend!

Love,
Kaci
=^..^=

I wouldn't eat and had to see the vet today

Oh cats, mommy has been so worried about me and frankly, also feeling very depressed because of me. I haven’t been myself this past week and haven’t been eating much except when mommy managed to get the appetite stimulant in me.

I barely ate anything all weekend. I ate some food on Saturday but almost nothing yesterday. Yesterday morning I threw up lots of white liquid stuff in the morning. Last night mommy tried to tempt me with my favorite treat in the whole world: *human* salmon. I love salmon as much as most kitties love tuna. However I only ate a few bites of the salmon and left the rest in the dish. That's when mommy started to get really scared. This morning, other than lapping up the gravy in my breakfast lamb dinner and a little later lapping up the broth in Tiki Cat Wild Salmon with mommy's strong encouragement, I didn’t eat anything.

Mommy called my vet and off we went!

As usual, the vet visit was horrible from beginning to end! To summarize and skip all the gory details, they took my temp (it’s normal), weighed me (I gained 1 lb. -- yippee!) and Dr. G gave me a thorough physical exam and said everything seemed ok. Bonnie was my tech today and since I know her and like her a lot, I was well-behaved.

The vampires stole my blood for a kidney check. My creatinine went up to 3.8 and my other kidney values went up slightly but not so high we need to be alarmed. It isn’t unexpected because my thyroid medication dosage was increased to bring down my thyroid value.

Dr. G said it’s possible I have a stomach virus but it’s much more likely the increase in my thyroid meds is causing my diminished appetite and made me more lethargic. It likely accounts for the weight gain too. Since my thyroid value is going down, my kidney values are going up and that’s most likely making me feel lousy. She said this is the way it has to be from now on because it’s too dangerous to keep my thyroid level high. She reminded mommy that it’s not normal for a 16 year old cat to be as perky and active and kittenish as I’d been acting until we increased my methimazole dose.

Mommy told Dr. G that the cyproheptadine (appetite stimulant) and famotidine (Pepcid) aren’t working for me in ear gel form plus she simply can’t get pills into me. (I’m the only cat who’s ever defeated her!) Mommy tricked me twice last week by putting the cyproheptadine pill in pill pocket treats. But I’m no fool and will no longer eat the pill pocket treats, so that’s no longer an option.

Dr. G called in a prescription to the compounding pharmacy to have my cyproheptadine and famotidine made into chicken flavored liquids. Mommy will pick up my prescriptions tomorrow morning. Mommy reasons that even if the full dose of liquid medication doesn’t make it into my body, some of it will and some is better than none. Dr. G said I'll probably need those meds almost every day.

Dr. G and Bonnie, who was my vet tech today, gave me subq fluids with a dose of famotidine injected into the fluids. So mommy gets a break and doesn’t have to give me fluids tonight!

Dr. G said she’d give me a dose of cyproheptadine to get my appetite started and to spare mommy the difficulty of getting the pill in me at home tonight. What really happened was Dr. G and Bonnie TRIED to give me the cyproheptadine pill and couldn’t get the pill in me! MOL! So they had to dissolve the pill in water and squirt it into my mouth. I promptly began drooling it out of both sides of my mouth and drooled all the way home. Icky! My vet apologized to mommy and said she’s not sure how much of the medication actually got into me and how much I drooled out. Mommy just laughed! Not only can’t mommy get pills in me but so far, no vet or vet tech has been successful either. (The only pills mommy has had success getting into my mouth and get me to swallow are very large ones). Dr. G says I’m very quick to react to something being put in my mouth and much quicker and squirmer than most cats. Now that’s something I’m proud of!

We got home sometime after 5 and mommy gave me some salmon broth, which I ate. Later mommy gave me Tiki Cat Chicken and Salmon with broth and I ate only the broth. Mommy added water to the food in the can and let it sit for awhile and later gave me that liquid with the chicken and salmon. Some of the appetite stimulant did make it into my body and is starting to kick off because I went back and ate both the broth and the food too. Yaay! Mommy hopes I’m soon begging for more food!


Hugs,
Kaci
=^..^=

Blood test resuts show some improvement in my T4 number

My blood test results are in. The vet called mommy this afternoon but mommy was not home. Dr. G left mommy a message with my test results and said she also wants to talk to her, esp. about my weight loss and how I'm doing overall and to make sure mommy understands everything she's supposed to do. Dr. G is very concerned about my weight loss and said it's a priority to get that under control. Mommy called her back but Dr. G had left for the day. Mommy will have to wait until tomorrow to talk to her.

My T4 (thyroid) test result showed improvement. It dropped from 5.1 to 4.4. However, that's still too high. The lab considers test result numbers between 0.8 - 4.0 as normal. In her message, Dr. G. told mommy to increase my evening dose of methimazole to the same higher dose she now gives me in the morning. Hopefully that will drop my T4 value somewhere in the 3.0 - 4.0 range.

Not surprisingly, my kidney values went up but not too much. The important kidney values are the creatinine and BUN numbers. My creatinine went from 3.3 up to 3.5 and the BUN went from 40 to 46. Dr. G said I'm going to have to live with higher kidney values in order to keep my T4 number in the normal range. We hope my kidney values won't go too high.

Mommy says I MUST stop losing weigh and MUST gain a pound or two! I ate like a pig yesterday and the day before yesterday because mommy gave me cyproheptadine, an appetite stimulant. Watching me eat to the point of gluttony seemed to make mommy happy. The cyproheptadine is wearing off. I've been eating less today and mommy is unhappy again. She says she needs to give me another dose of cyproheptadine. But I'm hiding under the bed and she can't get to me. Earlier today, mommy took out the scary monster machine that makes lots of noise and sucks you up when you get too close to it (she calls the monster a vacuum cleaner) and I ran and hid under mommy's bed to get safely away from the monster. I fell asleep under the bed and that's where I'm staying until I'm ready to come out. Mommy and her stupid pill will have to wait! Ditto for my subq fluids!

Thank you for your purrs, support and love!

Love,
Kaci

Having a bad day 'cause I went to the vet this morning!

(Two diary entries in one day?! So sorry but they're both very long ('cause I'm such a chatty cat!) and the subjects are unrelated and mommy says it best for me to write 2 of 'em!)


It was just a feeling I had. The dirty word *V-E-T* suddenly popped into my head. Somehow I knew today wasn’t going to be a good one. I did what any self-respecting kitty would do: HIDE! I hid under mommy’s bed which I know is the one place where she can’t get ahold of me. Then I heard her on the phone and knew who she was calling. She was using her *vet* voice and I knew I’d won! After a few minutes, I came out of hiding. I’m under the influence of the appetite stimulant and mommy fed me. Then she picked me up and put me in my cat carrier and off we went! *Woe is me,* I cried to myself and to mommy during the whole trip.

My vet’s reception and waiting area has been changed and now has a walled off section where cats can wait and not have to see or be bothered by nosy doggies sniffing and barking at them. (kewl!)** They took me to the back room right away and stole my blood for T4 and kidney tests. When the vet tech brought me back out, she told mommy I had behaved better today than I have at any other time when getting my blood drawn. A record! She said I’ve lost more weight and am down to 6.44 lbs.

Mommy is very upset about my weight loss. Hey, there are times when I don’t eat a lot but I do eat! And I take an appetite stimulant as needed and have been on the appetite stimulant since Friday. Both kidney disease and hyperthyroidism can cause weight loss and the vet tech thinks it’s probably my thyroid disease causing my weight loss. Cats with Hyperthyroidism can eat like gluttons and still lose weight. The vet tech told my worried mommy that she’s doing everything she possibly can for me and doing all the right things.

My thyroid number has to come down but we’ve been increasing my methimazole dose gradually so my kidneys won’t crash. That’s why I had to go today for thyroid and kidney re-checks. High thyroid levels have an adverse effect on the heart and I already have a heart murmur and mitral valve regurgitation, so that’s another reason to lower my T4 value. When my thyroid level does go down, my creatinine value will go up. As my vet says, it’s a delicate balancing act between my diseases. Mommy thinks (hopes!) I will still do well living with higher kidney values. My test results will be in tomorrow or Thursday at the latest and we’ll take it from there and see if my medication needs even more adjusting.

If you remember, please add me to your purr list and PLEASE PURR a little for me?

In between meals, I've been hiding under mommy's bed since we came home. Back into hiding I go!

Have a wonderful day!



Love & hugs,
Kaci




(** The vet clinic where I go renovated their existing space and added a new wing. Mommy hasn’t seen what they’ve done to the existing space but our friend Bonnie the vet tech gave mommy a tour of the new wing. There are new offices for the vets, a new lab and pharmacy, a big grooming room for doggies and 4 new exam rooms. Mommy told me that one of the new exam rooms is FOR CATS ONLY! No dogs are allowed inside that room! How kewl is that? She said they have Feliway dispensers in there and spray the blankets and towels with Feliway before exams and even have a fish tank with a real live fish swimming around in it! There’s also a special room mommy says is called the Rainbow Room. It looks very nice!)

Thank you for making my COTW so much fun!

Goodness, I’ve been on Catster for 5 years and had long ago given up any hope of being chosen for COTW. That’s life, as they say! MOL! So imagine my complete astonishment and disbelief when I saw my photo and name on the homepage. ME?!! COTW?!! Wow, was I ever surprised and excited when it did happen! I have no idea why HQ chose me as COTW, but no matter, I’m very grateful. Thank you Catster HQ for choosing me for such a pawsome honor!

Congratulations to Napoleon, my successor and Catster’s new COTW! Have a fun week!


Now it’s time to say THANK YOU!

Thank you everyone who left congratulatory comments in my diary or sent pawmails. You’re the bestest friends ever and I love you!

The picture mementos were all fabulous! I’ll cherish them always. Special THANKS for the lovely pictures:

Wally angel, Alfie angel, Teddy Bearz, Milo and Ollie
Pipo and Minko
Tundra
Colorado and Catstertown friends
Jasmyne, Shawna, Sebastian and Sammy (an Angel) and Da Cats Meow friends
Big Harry and KCK friends
Dusty the Puppycat


And THANK YOU to those who sent stars, gifts & rosettes!

Furrever Stars:

Wally♥ Angel DB#20, Alfie♥ Angel DB#19, Teddy Bearz♥ DB# 35a, Milo♥DB#35b & Ollie for the Crown
Leofur Longtail RIP 4/2/10 for the Heart of Gold
Hamlet for the Crown
Skylar db#39A, Mrs. Murphy DG#22 & family for the Heart of Gold
Athena for the Heart of Gold
Tigger - Dreamboat #33a for the Crown
Sundance (Sundance, Shannara, Shade & Sterling) for the Crown
Norman for the Crown
Aedan for the Heart of Gold
The family of Scooter, PAWS, Mrs. Trudy, Spirit & Faith for the Crown
Muppet for the Crown
The Bush Furs for the Heart of Gold
Ringo, Webster, Dusty the Puppycat *DLM* and Iris for the Crown
PixieBelle for the Crown
Scooter, SooLing, LOLA, Beepers & Ashlynee for the Heart of Gold
ZOEY for the Crown
Sasha Elizabeth and Samantha Louise for the Diamond
Monida for the Heart of Gold
Chadwick, Creampuff and Orangie for the Crown
♥Sam, Mr D - D'boat #19, Raza, Baltimore & family for the Heart of Gold
SUNNY for the Heart of Gold
Toffy and Vanessa for the Diamond

Special Gifts:

Anonymous for the Vase of Flowers
My sweetheart Spirit for the Vase of Flowers
My sweetheart Spirit for the Hoppy Easter Bunny
Pigeon for the Trophy
Romeo and Lola for the Trophy
Big Harry- Dreamboat #57, Patches & family for the Trophy
Catstertown friends for the Trophy
Tigger, Cali, Scaredy Cat, Sobe & Family for the Trophy
Diogi McNoNo for the Trophy
Alfie - Angel DB#14, Dave, Ollie & Buzz for the Easter Eggs
Casey for the Easter Eggs
Baby-G and Little One for the Butterfly
MILO Dreamboat 73a for the Butterfly
Jack, Bobby and Teddy for the Butterfly
Gavroche RIP 7/28/2009 & family for the Daffodils
Felix and Critter for the Daffodils
Tigger, Maizy and Smithwick for the Daffodils
The family of AnnaBelle, Whispers & family for the Daffodils
Sally Maria for the Daffodils
Julius for the Daffodils
Kato for the Dove
Tink the Cat and Snow the Kitten for the Dove
Jobel, Zoe, Jasper & Jillian Grace for the Dove
Harley for the Dove
Ali for the Sushi


Rosettes:

Kally Kat for the Tulips
Simon and Reuben for the Easter Eggs
The family of Rex, Bugsy, Max, Simba & family for the Easter Egg
Midnight, Popeye, Samantha & Peanut for the Easter Egg
Sonny Bono, Presley & Paris for the Easter Egg
Pinky, Biggles, Nonny & family for the Easter Egg
Tate for the Easter Egg
Lucy Ua Cellaigh for the Bluebird
Pipo and Minko for the Red Rose
Bugsy for the Pink Ribbon
Spot Kat, Pepper, SQuishie & family for the Shrimp
Trooper, Dakota and Smokey for the Heart
Gunnarr T, Miss Muppet and Peekaboo for the Pink Ribbon
alley cat angel, Calie & family for the Easter Cross
Orion for the Ladybug
Smiley Cassanova for the Tulips
Jezebel for the Easter Egg
Molly Angel, Macy, Misha Angel, Emma & family for the Tulips
Rascal our OCP Angel for the Bluebird
Patches and Phantom for the Easter Egg
Bella, Orange Ruffy, Natalie the NatCat & family for the Easter Egg
Nala Sue [Angel] for the Easter Egg
Princess for the Bunny Rabbit
Pixie for the Easter Egg
Friskie, Homer, FRANCIS, KIBBLES & famiily for the Easter Egg
Monster for the Tulips
Tessa for the Bunny Rabbit
Mugsy, Taffy (Angel Dreamboat #30) and Texas for the Easter Egg
Mac, Ivy, Legolas (Legaly) & Zander for the Shrimp
Gentleman Jack for the Easter Egg
Twix (Forever Missed) for the Tulips
Cleo for the Tulips
Tony, Anna, Greystone, Sammy, Stormy & family for the Easter Egg
Sparkman! for the Tulips
Pooters for the Ladybug
Zachery Tristan Byrne, Zoe Sunshine Fitzpatrick DG#2 for the Easter Egg
Ava 4 ever Mommy's Angel, Andy Loves Hazel Lucy for the Easter Egg
Mr. Sam - Angel Dreamboat#15, Mr. Pink & family for the Easter Egg
Edwina (Eddy) for the Tulips
Tessa, Percy, Sawyer, Murphy & family for the Easter Egg
Tasha for the Shrimp
Gimli for the Tulips
Murray , Willie, Pearl, Cindy Lou for the Tulips
Sleeper of the Air, Samhain of the Water & family for the Easter Egg and the Bluebird
Natasha for the Bunny Rabbit
Rocket Sprocket© (Rocky), DustytheDogcat©(Dusty) and Shady for the Easter Egg
Tyson for the Easter Egg
Sammie, Kiki and Ember for the Easter Egg

REANAN for the Easter Bunny
Ishtar for the Tulips
WESLEY, Dekker (in loving memory), SMUDGE & family for the Tulips
Pitch for the Bluebird


Thank you for making my COTW so much fun!


Love & hugs,
Kaci

It’s raining Easter eggs! And I want to tell you about a- delightful surprise!

Oo-la-la! It’s raining Easter eggs! The vibrantly painted eggs are very pretty and really brighten up our pages. As designated spokescat for my family, we thank you for the Easter egg gifts! We sent Easter eggs to our friends too and hope we didn't miss anyone. If you didn’t receive Easter eggs from us, please understand that it was an unintentional oversight and we wish you a Happy Easter!

Now for my surprise! The mail person delivered a big box to our house on Friday. Mommy opened the box and inside there was a blue gift bag wrapped with a yellow ribbon with gift card attached. The gift card wished me an early Happy Birthday! The card said it was a present from my neffews Teddy Bearz, Milo and Ollie!

Mommy removed the ribbon and opened the bag. Guess what was inside? A tent-shaped heated kitty bed! It’s just what an elderly and not-so well gal like me needs! THANK YOU Teddy, Milo & Ollie for such a wonderful and thoughtful gift!

At first, I only sniffed and investigated my new bed. Mommy plugged in the bed and has seen me sniffing at it and going into it and walking through it a few times. Whenever I see mommy looking at me when I’m checking out my new bed, I wonder why it interests her so much and walk away. Last night mommy caught me curled up in my new bed but when she came over to fuss and coo about it, I thought it was because she was excited to see me, so I got out of the bed and ran over to mommy for some petting (and I heard mommy say something that sounded like a bad word!)

Mommy should know better than to coax me into my new bed or make a big fuss over it! When mommy wants me to do something and fusses about it too much, it makes me suspicious and often has the opposite effect of what she wants. My usual M.O. when I get a new cat bed is ignore it for a few weeks. Mommy knows she needs to ignore my new bed too and act nonchalant about it. That’s the way it’s been with every bed I have and now love. Have some patience mom! You see, a new bed needs to be acclimated to my environment and take on a familiar smell. It has to stay in one place for awhile. I have to know that it’s a safe place to sleep! Doesn’t that sound reasonable to you?

Happy Easter!


Love,
Kaci

Mommy tricked me with pill pocket treats!

What an exciting week this is! My brother Pete was a DDP on Monday and on Monday evening I found out to my complete surprise that I’m COTW. Wowza! Monday was my mommy’s birthday and what a wonderful birthday present for her! Today my brother Pete is COTD! Double wowza! Mommy is overjoyed that her sweet angel boy received such a pawsome honor!

Oh my gosh, thank you for the friends requests, picture mementos, congratulatory pmails, comments and gifts! We’re a tad bit overwhelmed (but in a good way -- MOL!)

In the midst of all this joy, mommy is worried about me. So what else is new, I ask you?

It was 70 today and I spent hours out on the back porch, basking in the sun. Yesterday it was chillier but I went out on the back porch anyway and found a spot in the sun and stayed there for about 2 hours. While I was out on the porch and walking around before settling down, mommy noticed how skinny and frail I am. My fur/skin is loose and sagging and with the subfluids in me, everything is hanging close to the ground. I'm all skin and bones! That worries and upsets her.

Now that I’m taking a slightly larger dose of my thyroid meds, I’m calmer and sleeping more. But I seem subdued and my appetite is poor again. *sigh* Mommy’s been giving me an appetite stimulant in transdermal ear gel form, but it hasn’t been working very well. Last night she put a double dose in my ear and it did get me to eat but a few seconds after I finished eating, I threw up all of my food. The appetite stimulant is also an anti-nausea med but apparently that part doesn’t work when it’s given as an ear gel.

Well, tonight mommy tricked me! She went shopping at Whole Foods today and in a moment of extreme weakness, she put a box of butter cookies in the cart (and if she’s honest, she’ll confess that she also bought 2 muffins!) She forgot how much I love butter cookies! After dinner she opened the box to have a cookie and I appeared out of nowhere, demanding that she give me a little bit of those delicious cookies. Apparently my appetite is just fine when it comes to junk food! MOL! Despite reservations, she gave me some of the cookie and I gobbled it down.

That’s when an idea popped into her head. Treats! She found my appetite stimulant pills and cut one of the pills into 4 quarters. Then she got a pill pocket and broke it into 3 parts and made 3 little round treats. She put a quarter of the appetite stimulant pill in one of the 3 little treats and gave them to me, one by one. The first treat didn’t have the pill, the second one did and the third one didn’t. I ate all of the treats and didn’t seem to notice the nasty-tasting pill. But just in case I did get a taste of the nasty pill, she gave me a little more butter cookie to take away any lingering nasty taste. She hopes she can continue to trick me with the pill in the pill pocket treats. It takes a few hours for the pill to work and it’s starting to work now. The effect should last a few days. Mommy says she doesn’t care if she has to stay up all night feeding me. She wants me to eat and hopefully gain weight!

Well, that's it! Have a pleasant evening!

Hugs,
Kaci

OMC, is it true that I'm Cat of the Week?!

Friends, I'm in a state of shock and am pinching myself to make sure I'm really COTW and not dreaming!

Mommy was just about to get off the computer and make dinner but received an email notification that my angel brother Pete, who is a DDP today, received a rosette. So she took a minute and went onto the Community home page to see who sent him the rosette and glanced over to see who the Cat of the Week, Cat of the Day and DOD are.

She saw my photo and name! It says Kaci Sunshine! That's me! Mommy did a double take to make sure she was seeing clearly and sure enough, it is me! She's checked several times now and my picture and name are still there!

Gosh, we haven't even received an official notification from headquarters yet and hope it's true!

If it's really true, I'm thrilled and honored beyond words!