Toothless

I'm toofless. Er, toothless. Ahem.

Mommy took me to the vet to get my teeth checked, and after a week of antibiotics I went back for a cleaning. Well they did some cleaning, and a lot of pulling. All of my back teeth are gone now, some had already fallen out and the rest were beyond repair. The vet estimates that I am 8 years old, and reassured Mommy that it was nothing that she did or didn't do, but that I probably have bad genetics predisposing me to dental disease.

At first I wasn't feeling too good about the whole thing. I had to be on antibiotics for awhile, and I HATED taking them. Mommy would have to chase me down and force the dropper in my mouth. Not only that, but after the surgery, she had to give me pain medicine too that got rubbed in my ear, and I HATED that too. But after we finished with the medicines, things turned out not to be so bad actually. At first I just thought I was being spoiled, but Mommy told me that the vet says I am never to eat kibble again since I have no teeth. Turns out this was Mommy's plan anyway, but regardless of who decided that I should only dine on delicious canned food, I'm LOVING it.

At first I thought I was just special, but soon after, my other feline siblings all started getting nothing but canned food. Oh well.

Yesterday, Mommy did something weird to my food. My yummy canned food was in my bowl, but there was something else mixed into it too. It was... (hopefully you haven't eaten recently, cause I know this is going to gross some of you out) RAW MEAT. Yuck, I know. I turned my nose up and wouldn't eat a bite. So after 30 minutes, Mommy took my bowl away, untouched. A girl like me can skip breakfast every now and then, no biggie. But then it was the same thing for dinner. GROSS. I went to bed hungry that night, but at least I still had my dignity. But it didn't get better for breakfast this morning either. I still refused to eat, but was really starting to get hungry. *pout*

When Mommy put my dinner bowl down tonight, I was really hoping that she'd give in by now. But no, it was still my canned food tainted with that raw chicken mess. I reluctantly walked away slowly. Mommy picked the bowl up right away, opened another can and did some mixing, and then set it back down for me. I sniffed it again... hmm, what was that smell? TUNA! She bribed me... but I couldn't resist. The hunger and the little bit of tempting tuna finally won me over. I finished everything in my bowl, including the raw meat.

It actually wasn't all that bad...

Thoughts

Mom has been very stressed out lately, especially since my vet appointment. She says she's very worried about me, and worried for what the future holds for my feline siblings. She says that she feels like she's failed us because all this time she hasn't been giving us the best care afterall.

Mom did a lot of research after my appointment, and learned a bunch of things about cat nutrition that she didn't quite know before, most importantly about how cats need to consume their water with their food, so cats fed kibble are slowly leading to chronic dehydration. Her favorite and most influential site that she read was catinfo.org and she printed a bunch of stuff out and took it to work to show her manager and her boss so that the store would start pushing the importance of canned food and the pre-made raw for cats. Mom is completely convinced that my feline siblings and I shouldn't be eating kibble anymore and has a plan now to switch us all to canned and then to raw. We'll use up the kibble we have and then not buy anymore. So far it's been great getting canned food every day. My siblings still have to eat the kibble for breakfast, but I get canned food at breakfast and dinner.

Mom is kind of frustrated that in general, customers don't want to do what's best for their pets. Mom feels so defeated every time she tries to get someone to put back a bag of Science Diet or one of the other low quality brands that the store has in stock, and she tries to get them to buy something better, but they won't listen. She's been trying to sell more canned cat food this week, but so far everyone's been resistant.

Part of this of course is Mom beating herself up. I wish Mom wouldn't be so hard on herself, because none of us like seeing her so depressed and anxious. I try to tell Mom that it's not her fault and that I'll be fine. I wish she would listen to me more.

The Vet and My Age

Mom took me to the vet today. She noticed over the weekend that my teeth have really started giving my trouble. It's been an issue for awhile now, and Mom has done the best she can to take care of my teeth herself, but it was finally time to have some help from the vet as well. I lost a tooth this past weekend, and I finally let Mom have a look inside my mouth (I admit, I'm usually difficult about this, which is why Mom hasn't had any luck getting me to sit still for her to brush my teeth. Mom wasn't too happy about how irritated my gums looked, and although she couldn't see my back teeth too well, saw enough tartar and plaque to warrant a dental appointment. I've also for the first time been having some trouble chewing my solid kibble, and despite all her efforts, I continue to refuse to eat anything raw. Mom tried giving me raw bones to chew on to help clean my teeth, but I turn my nose up every time. For now I'm eating some canned Evo since it's easier for me.

So anyway, Mom took me to the vet, despite my protest. I made sure to yowl the whole drive there. The vet looked at me and said I'd have to have a dental cleaning/surgery to remove the teeth that can't be saved, and to scrape the ones that can. At first he said my yucky mouth was a potential symptom of Feline AIDS, and Mom got really scared as they drew my blood and waited for test results. Mom has had me for five years, and when she first decided to be my permanent home, she took me to the vet for a full work-up. Since I'm strictly an indoor-only cat, Mom hasn't had me back to the vet for the "recommended" annual shots - Mom has a more holistic perspective on vet care, and didn't think it was necessary to pump me or my other feline siblings up with chemicals every year. It was a stressful ten minutes or so waiting for the test results to come back, but everything was negative, thankfully.

The vet asked Mom if she was sure I was only about six years old, and Mom said "no, actually..." Mom always suspected that I was about a year old when she first found me, just because I was small and looked young. But, in the five years that I've been with Mom, I never grew any bigger. Mom and the vet now suspect that I was actually older when Mom originally found me, so I'm much older than six years old now. When Mom told Dad this, he said he wouldn't be surprised if I was more like 12 years old. This still is just a guess, but maybe when the vet gets a good look at my teeth during my dental, he'll have a better estimate of just how old I really am. For now, it's a mystery to the humans, and being the respectable lady that I am, I'm not telling them my real age.

So, my dear furiends, please keep me in your thoughts. I'll be dining on delicious canned food for the foreseeable future at least, but Mom and I still worry about my upcoming dental. I have to take disgusting antibiotics for the next 20 days, twice a day. Yuck. But hopefully it will make me feel better and help clear up this nastiness in my mouth.

New Collar? Pffft.

Ok, so I have a bit of a habit (Mom says a "bad habit") of destroying any collar she buys for me within a few days. Not my fault that nylon shreds so easily. Geez. Well apparently Mom thought she was going to be clever, and she found me a new collar that isn't made of nylon, it's some sort of vinyl or something. Well didn't she feel smart when she came home with it, only to realize that the girl that checked her out forgot to take the security device off! Ha! No collar for me afterall! I'm surprised she didn't get arrested for suspected shoplifting. That really woulda showed her. Yeah yeah, I know she's gonna take it back today to get the thing removed, but at least I have a few more hours of collar-less freedom. Too bad she didn't throw away the receipt... although maybe I can remedy that. Oh crud, hope she doesn't read my evil plots here....

Moved

Today Mom came to the house and packed up all our kitty things. Then she put us all in carriers and drove us to a new house. All the dogs were there already (I've been wondering where they've been... it was kinda nice and quiet without them, but oh well). That other cat that I had smelled on Mom is here too. He leaves me alone, so whatever. Mom says that Dad will be home soon and that they are separating, so we're going to live here with Mom's friend instead. He seems pretty nice. Cirrus, Stitch, and I are still a bit in shock, but there are some comfy couches and chairs that I've already found and decided I like to lay on. So I think everything is going to be ok.

I knew it...

I knew Mom was cheating on us! She has another cat! Look, she even made him a profile on Catster. I wasn't paying attention to it until now, but I just read over this new cat's profile, and I want to cough up a hairball! Mom tried to play it off whenever she'd come home smelling like another cat, tell us it was no one special, that she encounters other random dogs and cats all the time. Well I see how it is now. Mom tried to tell me that I'll like him when I get to meet him... WHAT?! I really hope she's not planning on bringing any more animals into our house, especially not another cat (well, even more especially not another DOG)!

Overdue Update

Meows all.

My life is pretty much same old same old. Mom keeps adopting new dogs and cats, so our family is quite large now. *sigh* I miss the days when it was just me, Mom, and the rats. Oh well, the other dogs and cats aren't too bad I guess. As long as they all acknowledge that I'm queen of the household... but they don't all the time, so they get on my nerves quite often. But I guess I still love them anyway.

Mom has finally spiffed up my page a bit now, and I figured it was about time I posted a new diary entry since it's been about a year since my last one. I think I should spend some time exploring Catster as well and try to make some more furiends. Us cats are feeling a little left out because the dogs get to spend so much time on Dogster and have so many pals there.

Mom has been good to us though. For the holidays she spoiled us all rotten. She got us lots of new cat toys including this thing that is like a big circle and it has a ball trapped in it. It's fun batting the ball around the circle. It's also got a scratchy spot in the middle, and Mom keeps it pretty loaded with catnip so that makes me extra happy.

Hm, I guess that's about all I have to update. Meow at ya later.

UGH!

I can't believe it! Now Mom brought another dog home! And I think this one wants to eat me for real. Luckily Mom hasn't let her anywhere near me or Cirrus except one brief meeting through the babygate when she first got here. *scowls* I don't like dogs.

It's About Time

Mom finally updated my page here on Catster. Now I have more pictures of myself up, and she filled out some more of my profile as well. It's about time. She's just been spending too much time on Dogster updating Wrangler and Jack's pages and posting on the forum there for them. What about me and Cirrus? Well, I guess we're not as social as the dogs. But still. Mom needs a reminder about who really is the most important critter in this house - ME!

And I guess I'm not as afraid of Jack anymore. I've actually ventured outside the No Dogs Allowed room and will stay in the living room when he's in there too. He isn't chasing me or barking so I'm starting to tolerate him. He follows Mom around all the time anyway, how pathetic. But yeah, since he so busy tagging along with Mom, he leaves me alone. So that's good.

I guess I should have a diary too

I've been here on Catster for quite some time however this is my first diary entry.

I should start out this entry by explaining why I will be ranting here. I do not like it when we get new members in our family. When I first came inside to live with my Mom, she had some rats and that was fine by me. In fact I actually like the rats, they are fun to watch and we lick eachother through the bars of their cage. No, I don't intent to eat them.

Anyway. Besides the rats, I was the first here. Then Mom got Cirrus. I really didn't like him at first, especially because he tried to eat my rats. He was a little whiney thing really, so I beat him up a bit and wouldn't let him use the litter box or get to the food. Oh well. We've become friends since then.

But then, Mom decided to get this puppy. I do not like dogs. I do not care for Wrangler, but at least I'd gotten to the point where I will tolerate her. I'll sleep on the same bed as her with Mom at night. I even sniff her occassionally, and occassionally let her sniff me as well. Sometimes she oversteps her boundaries, and I have no other choice than to swat her on the face with my claws (not that she seems to learn), however it's not a big deal.

But this new dog, Jack.. I do not like him at all!!! He is huge!!! And he chases and growls at me. Mom says he probably just wants to play with me (she says the same about Wrangler when she chases me around), but I think he desires to eat me. He does not meet my approval at all.

That is all.