Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, tagged cat, cats, grief, loss, Rumpelmintz on June 16, 2013| 7 Comments »
Rumpelmintz is gone. My friend Barb used to say “Rumpelmintz is too stubborn to die.” I guess she was right. In the end, we did have to give her a little help. It was time, and she needed to be told it was okay to let go.
My little girl, a princess napping on a pillow
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cats, cholongiohepatitis, feline, IBD, Latifah, liver, lymphoma, pancreas, pancreatitis, Rumpelmintz, triaditis on September 29, 2009| 46 Comments »
Feline triaditis is actually three conditions occurring simultaneously: pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), cholongiohepatitis (inflammation of the liver), and inflammatory bowel disease or IBD (inflammation of the intestines).
There may be no known “cure” for triaditis, though I would argue that proper nutrition is the absolute BEST method of treatment and prevention. By proper nutrition, I mean a raw diet or a canned diet – and most definitely no dry food/kibble of any kind.
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, Human nutrition and health, Life of the Lintee Bean, tagged diet, exercise, nutrition, Rumpelmintz on February 4, 2009|
I’ve been disheartened by just how out-of-shape I am. I started exercising Sunday, and I chose my “easiest” exercise video. I used to dislike that one because it was “too easy”. It kicks my butt now. I did it on Sunday and Monday and thought I’d die.
It doesn’t help that dear Rumpelmintz HATES for me to exercise. I don’t know why, but she HATES it. Perhaps it’s just because I’m not paying attention to her. Sunday I started the video, and about half way through, Rumpelmintz bit the back of my head during floor exercises. Ow! I had to hold her for the rest of the video. Monday night, she started to attack me – Kitty.com jumped to my defense, and they proceeded to fight on top of my head. They stopped – then Rumpelmintz came up to bite my head – I fended her off, but got my arm bit. She may need to go in “time out” when I exercise.
Exercising annoys me, as does most everything else.
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, Human nutrition and health, Life of the Lintee Bean, tagged cats, diet, Jellybean, Kitty.com, Louie, Ralph, Rumpelmintz, Studley, vegetarian on January 5, 2009| 4 Comments »
I have an aversion to the word “resolutions”, for whatever reason, so instead I try to come up with goals for the year ahead – preferably with steps toward achieving them.
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, tagged cats, Jellybean, Kitty.com, Louie, Ralph, Rumpelmintz, Studley on November 27, 2008| 1 Comment »
Most frequently asked question I get, absolutely, is “How many cats do you HAVE?”
One of the other frequent questions: “Do they all get along?”
Answer – no, not really. My three girls (Jellybean, Rumpelmintz, and Kitty.com) do NOT like other cats. They have a tendency to whine/growl/scream/cry in other cats’ presence. In particular, Jellybean and Rumpelmintz fear Studley greatly and aren’t keen on Louie. Ralph is Mr. Agreeable and loves everyone and everything. The girls still bop him on the head on occasion – but even for them, it’s hard to not like that sweet little face of Ralph’s.
My boys are pretty good friends, on the other hand. I LOVE it when my cats get along, and groom each other, and cuddle together, and play together…. if there’s anything cuter than my adorable cats, it’s my adorable cats appreciating each other as sweet loving furry beings.
Louie and Ralph snuggling
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, tagged cats, Jellybean, Kitty.com, Louie, Ralph, Rumpelmintz, Studley on November 25, 2008| 2 Comments »
The cats’ “Aunt Terry” gave them a new pet tent for camping in the kitchen. It’s an adorable pop-up tent – I think she got it at Big Lots.
Jellybean was first to fall in love with it. (At least until what must have been some “blitz attack” because one day I discovered poop in the tent as well as lots of fur tufts nearby – and Jellybean hasn’t really used the tent since.)
Jellybean comfy in the tent
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, tagged cat pictures, cats, Kitty.com, Louie, Ralph, Rumpelmintz, Studley on November 24, 2008| 2 Comments »
My friend Adrienne suggested perhaps what my blog needs is more pictures of my cute cats. My cats ARE very very cute, in my opinion. Oh, they’re a little rough around the edges, most of them, and they’re not babies (the youngest is about ten years old) but I think they are pretty much adorable most of the time – when they’re not fighting amongst each other or acting as destructive forces of other sorts, or just annoying the crud out of me… they’re VERY cute.
Anyway, a few weeks ago we held a “catnip wake” in honor of Afer, Omaha, and several of our friends’ cats that passed away recently (including Rumpelmintz’s cyber-boyfriend and Studley’s cyber-girlfriend/wife).
The wake started with an assortment of catnip toys. Jellybean did not participate. Catnip toys are not sufficient lure for her to leave her perch on top of the kitchen cat tree and chance proximity to the other cats.
Catnip wake
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, Feline nutrition and health, tagged cats, pilling, Rumpelmintz, Studley on November 23, 2008| 3 Comments »
I’m not the world’s best “piller”, but I consider myself fairly adept at medicating cats. Not only have I had (and have) several cats with medical needs, but I also volunteered for a few years in a cat shelter’s clinic. I can pop a pill down an average cat’s throat. For your “more difficult” cat, I’ve learned most of the “tricks” – using a pill gun, “hiding” the pill in food, a bit of cheese, a bit of cream cheese, a bit of real mayonnaise, a soft treat…
You can get many, if not most, medications compounded into flavored liquids or even treats, which can make medicating the difficult cat a lot easier. Some medications can be compounded into transdermel gels you rub on the ear.
Pill Pockets are a handy little trick in the medicating bag. The ingredients make me cringe (corn syrup? pregelantized corn? wheat flour? wheat gluten? starch? soy protean?) However, they are relatively inexpensive, readily available, and easy to use. So, when I found out I’d be medicating my formerly-feral one-eyed wonder cat, Studley, I decided to go with Pill Pockets when cheese failed me. (Cheese “breaded” in freeze-dried turkey treat crumbs did work nicely, but I’m admittedly too lazy to prepare elaborate appetizers for my cat twice a day.)
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Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, Feline nutrition and health, tagged canned food, cat food, cats, dry food, Rumpelmintz on September 9, 2008| 3 Comments »
Friends of mine compared dry food to doughnuts, candy, or chips recently. They noted that a little bit given to a healthy cat, probably won’t hurt them. I actually agree – but if your cat is anemic, vomiting and/or has diarrhea/constipation, is borderline diabetic (or full-blown diabetic), obese, or has a tendancy to develop urinary tract stones – I would argue (once again) they should be given absolutely NO DRY FOOD!
I DO understand about some special cases, but in my opinion there’s a difference between understanding your choices and the risks and benefits of those choices and choosing something for which you feel the benefits outweigh the risks… and making a choice ignoring the evidence, justifying your decision with “my vet said” or “well, all my cats in the past” or “I know cats that”… like the people that *know* canned/raw is better for diabetics but don’t want to bother with the “effort” required to open a can twice a day.
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Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, Life of the Lintee Bean, tagged Afer, cats, Jellybean, Kitty.com, Louie, Omaha, Ralph, Rumpelmintz, Studley on August 5, 2008|
We had a ton of storms yesterday. Lots of rain, thunder, and lightening. For once, I got lucky and I actually landed up commuting when it wasn’t horrible out and got home pretty dry. I was nearly done with evening “cat chores” when the radio announced there were three of four tornadoes sited. One was destined to reach a neighborhood very close to mine in ten minutes.
What to do? Of course it wasn’t my neighborhood, but it was close enough that did I really want to take that risk? Not like I could manage to get eight cats downstairs quickly. So, I sprang into action (and if you knew me, you’d know just how ludicrous the idea of me “springing” into anything is.)
I finished giving Afer her sub-q fluids, then dished out their food. Why would I choose to feed my cats at this moment? Easy – so they’d stay put, in the kitchen, and I didn’t have to chase them all over the house.
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Life of the Lintee Bean 