New Toy

I got this great birdie with lots of feathers from Tamar and the cats at I Have Cat. I checked it out really well and pawed it and groomed it a bit, but didn't really play with it. Maybe later. Some days I play quite a bit and some days I don't. Mom can't figure out why. Mom has been acting really strange lately. She lies down and whole lot and goes to bed early a bunch.

Karen Jo: I have just been feeling really tired lately. I am going to blame it on the weather. It has been cloudy and windy and cold at night. Call it Delayed Spring Syndrome. That's why I haven't been blogging regularly.

Mom is getting too smart for my liking. Tonight she announced that it was time for my medicine and I disappeared. She got everything ready and couldn't find me. I had remembered that one time she got my medicine ready, but I was using my litter box, so she waited for me to finish. Sure enough, when she saw me in the litter box, she went away. The trouble is she soon realized that I was just lying in the box and not using it, so she came back and gave me my medicine right there in the litter box. Darn!

Karen Jo: You just have one more dose of the antibiotic that you hate the taste of so much, then you don't have to take it again until June.

Really? That sounds great. Does that mean no more syringed medicine?

Karen Jo: No, you still have to take your Centrine until your poop gets normal, but that's just a little pill and it shouldn't bother you so much. If you would just take it in the pill pocket, you wouldn't even notice it. At least, you didn't notice it before; it was the antibiotic that turned you off the pill pockets.

I won't touch those things again.

Karen Jo: I noticed. I tried to give you a plain one and you wouldn't even lick it. I could just stick it down your throat.

Don't even think of trying that. I have claws and I'm not afraid to use them.

Karen Jo: I could turn you into a cat burrito and do it that way.

I think I would rather have the syringe after all.

More Good News

See that mousie? I am getting ready to whap it up into the air! It fell in the track of my Turbo Scratcher, which made Mom laugh. She scooted it around the track a little ways, but I just fished it out again with my mighty claws and threw it around some more. I still feel great and am still making lumpy poop. Mom went out this morning and she smelled like the v-e-t when she came back.

Karen Jo: I went to get you some more medicine, Herman.

Yuck!

Karen Jo: Aww, Herman, you know that the medicine is making you feel better. I have some good news for you, too. Once you finish up your antibiotic that you hate so much, you don't have to take it any more until next month. You only have to take the Centrine until your poop gets back to normal. If everything goes well, you will have some time when you only have to get your Prednisol and your Interferon, neither of which you mind taking at all. Best of all, you don't have to go back to the vet again, unless something happens.

That sounds good. I am so glad that I feel better. Mom and I played soccer when she got home tonight. I really missed that. I am glad that the weather is warming up a bit, too. Now Mom will stick her arms out from under the covers and cuddle me more. I love it when she stretches her arm out to make a pillow for me. She doesn't even mind petting me in the middle of the night, at least for a little while.

Karen Jo: I love it when you pat my cheek with your paw to let me know that you want petting. I really do believe that you have gained a pound. I've checked three times now and each time I come up with a ten pound difference in our weights.

I finally let Mom see me eating my green pea and duck food. It was driving her nuts that she thought I was eating some of it, but just a tiny bit at a time. I am nibbling at all my dry foods and eating more of my pea and duck and kitten chow. I am eating most of my Medley and some of my Stinky Goodness, too. I just wish that the weather would settle down, so we could have open windows.

Karen Jo: So do I. I wanted to open the windows yesterday and today, because it was warm enough, but the wind was blowing something fierce.

Mancat Monday

Who's da Mancat?! ME! I gave Mom a great Mother's Day present. When she got up and went to the litter box room, there was a lumpy poop in the box. I didn't bury it because I wanted her to see it. Not just little raisins, but good sized lumps! I did another one before she went to work. She is so happy! After she got dressed and came into to living room, she noticed that my nip ball was missing. She looked under the couch and found my flashy ball. She rolled it in my direction and I crouched down, switched my tail and did a wiggle butt, but then it stopped flashing and I lost interest. She looked under the couch again, and there was my nip ball. She rolled to me and I whapped it. We played soccer with it for a while. Then she went to my toy basket and started throwing toys out for me. I watched them without much interest, then I walked over to my canvas mouse and clawed it and rolled it around. Mom went for the camera. When she got back, I went for one of my Wooly Bully toys. Can you see my paw on it? Just after Mom took this picture, I whapped it a good two feet. I didn't chase it, but I whapped it a good one. A little bit later I smacked my nip ball around and chased it for a little. I haven't played since my poop got all watery months ago. This is great. It's like all my toys are new again. Mom and I played soccer some more with the white ball you can see behind me when she got home from work. While she was brushing me, I took the brush away from her and played with that. My medicine is doing me a lot of good. I didn't fight it too hard today, just clenched my teeth together for a while. I am even eating a little bit of my green pea and duck food, but mostly my Stinky Goodness and kitten chow. Right now I am napping on my platform, which I hadn't been doing lately, either.

Karen Jo: Thank you so much, Herman. This is the best Mother's Day present you could have given me. I am so glad to be able to play with you again.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! I know I'm late, but I just wanted to get it in anyway. Thank goodness Mom decided to dress up a stuffie and not me. I'll try to get around to the parties.

Many thanks to Zoolatry for this beautiful watercolor rendition of me. I absolutely love it. Now on to the updates. Mom has developed an unhealthy interest in my poop. I was sitting in my litter box, taking care of business when Mom came into the litter box room to take care of her business. Instead of politely turning away and giving a fellow a little privacy, she sat there and watched very carefully. She even told me that I was a good boy after I finished burying.

Karen Jo: It was a very good poop, Herman.

Sheesh! Could you possibly be any more patronizing?

Karen Jo: I mean it. You not only made pudding poop, you made pudding poop with raisins.

Do you have to be so cutesy about it? Can't you just say that I had a little solid matter in my poop?

Karen Jo: I like being cutesy about it. Poop isn't the most pleasant thing to discuss.

Mom was following me around with the camera again today.

Karen Jo: I wanted to show all your friends how you are holding your tail up now, instead of at half-mast, but you wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a picture. You are getting playful again, too.

What makes you think that? I haven't touched any of my toys.

Karen Jo: You like to lead the way down the hall for breakfast. This morning I got in front of you and you snagged at my socks to make me stop so you could get in front. You haven't done that in such a long time. You batted and kicked and bit your brush while I was brushing your tummy this morning, purring the whole time. You were playing with your brush, which you also haven't done in a long time.

The better I feel, the more I dislike taking my medicine. I fought you a bit tonight.

Karen Jo: But you took your medicine in the end. It's over in just a few seconds.

But the taste lingers on. Boy, I hate how that stuff tastes.

Karen Jo: I gave you a whole bunch of Party Time treats to help with that. Here's the deal, Herman. When your poops get solid, you don't have to take that nasty medicine any more.

Really? Not ever again?

Karen Jo: Well, if your poops get runny again, then you will have to take it again, but the medicine stops when you poops get normal.

Come on, normal poops! I can hardly wait.

Karen Jo: Neither can I. I do have a bit of bad news for you.

What's that?

Karen Jo: Simba told me that those treats that Daisy told you about are made from raw chicken liver and you can't have raw food because of your compromised immune system.

Drat! They sounded so good, too. I am pretty much off human-type food, anyway.

Karen Jo: I noticed. You never did eat your steak and you didn't want the piece of chicken alfredo I gave you at lunch today, either.

Ha! Did you notice that chicken in my dish when you got home tonight?

Karen Jo: Oh, so you did eat it after I went to work. It beats me why you won't eat the tastes I give you of my food while it is still warm and fresh, but wait a few hours, then eat it, sometimes. I think you nibbled at your duck and pea, too.

I'm not telling. If it isn't obvious, then I didn't eat much of it.

Karen Jo: Even if you just ate a little, that's good. It's very good for you. You really are enjoying your kitten chow these days.

It's yummy. I love how you keep filling up my dish, so I have plenty to eat while you are gone, even if I don't usually eat much until you get home.

Karen Jo: I love how you head straight for your food and start eating almost as soon as I get home. Eat up as much as you can hold, Herman; you need to gain your weight back.

Thank You So Very Much

Karen Jo: Thank you all so very much for all your purrs and prayers for Herman. I am sorry that I am so late in acknowledging Purrs for Herman Day, but Sunday and Monday are my busiest days at work and I often come home too tired to do anything more than look after Herman and go to bed. On top of that, I forgot my thyroid pill on Monday, so it was really wet noodle time when I got home. I want to especially thank Brian for coming up with the idea and to KC for the beautiful graphic. I appreciate it more than I can say. Your good wishes, purrs and prayers seem to be working, because Herman is doing much better.


Thank you very much to Zoolatry for this wonderful collage. Ann also sent me a beautiful watercolor rendition of Herman, which I will post tomorrow. Now I better let Herman have his say.

After I started refusing to have anything to do with those new treats with the pills inside, Mom got tricky again. First she tried squirting something in my mouth with this white bulb thing, but I managed to spit quite a bit of it out.

Karen Jo: I tried a baby aspirator, because I could draw up some diluted baby food inside, then open the plug in the end of the bulb to put the crushed pills inside. The trouble was that I got too much liquid that way and Herman could just force a lot of it out with his tongue.

When that didn't work, she started syringing stuff inside my mouth. It tastes better than the last time she did that, but it is still really yucky.

Karen Jo: I found that I could draw up 2 to 2 1/2 ml of the baby food mixture, squirt that into a small bottle, add the crushed pills, mix it all together really well and draw almost all of it back into the syringe. Herman accepts the syringe, as he is used to getting his Interferon that way and the Interferon doesn't taste bad. Even with the baby food, the pill mixture still tastes bad, but so far he is accepting it without too much fuss. I give him a treat right afterward, to kill the bad taste in his mouth.

I like getting treats and often ask Mom for them. I am still eating very well. I am not cleaning up my Stinky Goodness dishes now, but I am eating more kitten chow. I do that from time to time -- switch from eating mostly Stinky Goodness with a little crunchy food on the side to eating mostly crunchy food with some Stinky Goodness thrown in. I ate half a bowl of my kitten chow yesterday. I am feeling much better and things are beginning to interest me more. Mom was talking to someone I couldn't see and rustling some papers on the table, so I jumped up and helped her rustle the papers by stepping all over them, especially the one she was reading from. That was fun. We got open windows today and I jumped up on my platform to watch the birds for a while. I hadn't done that for a week. While Mom was brushing me tonight, I batted at her hair.

Karen Jo: I was amazed to see the bottom of your kitten chow bowl when I got up this morning to feed you breakfast. You haven't eaten that much dry food in a very long time. I am really glad that you are eating your kitten chow, because that has extra protein and calories that you really need. Your Natural Balance Green Pea and Duck dry food came in today, but you would rather rub up against the sack than eat the food that came in it.

I checked it out, but it didn't smell as good as my kitten chow, so I didn't eat it.

Karen Jo: You didn't even taste it.

I might later on. You never know what I will like.

Karen Jo: That's for sure. I dumped your I/D dry onto a saucer to give to the ravens because you hadn't touched it in weeks and you suddenly jumped up on the counter and started eating it while I was washing your bowl to put your duck and pea in it.

I love messing with your head. I found a tasty bit of something else on the counter, too.

Karen Jo: That was a piece of ham fat that I was going to give to the ravens. You didn't seem to like the ham itself much, but you ate up the fat quickly enough. I love how much you are eating. While I was petting you today, I noticed that you didn't feel so bony, so I got out the scales and weighed myself, then picked you up and weighed both of us. I think you have actually gained about a pound. That made me so happy that I decided to celebrate with a steak, but you didn't want the bits I gave you.

You did leave them on my dish. Maybe I'll eat them later, like I did with the chicken liver. Those chicken liver treats Daisy told us about sound really yummy. Will you get me some?

Karen Jo: I will certainly look for them. If I can't find them at out local store, I bet I can find them online. Thanks again, everyone. Things are looking up and I think that Herman's poop is getting a little thicker.

Award

I got this award from Ayla and Iza some time ago because they thought I might be feeling blue from not being able to get rid of the pudding poops. They are so right. I am also blue because my Mom is trying to trick me. I trust her completely and she is trying to trick me. Do you know what I found in one of my new treats? Do you?!? A nasty pill! I ate the treat and spit out the pill. Then do you know what she did? She tried it again! She gave me a really big new treat and it had that same nasty pill inside. I ate the treat and spit out the pill again. Tonight she tried to give me two more of my new treats, but I don't trust them now. She put them in my PTU with my Party Mix treats that I always get in there, but I haven't eaten any of them. Luckily I still have lots of good food to eat and real treats. I cleaned up my dish for breakfast again this morning. I didn't eat much while Mom was away at work, but as soon as she got home, I started to eat everything up again. She asked me if I wanted fresh food and I meowed YES as loudly as I could, but when she bent down to pick up my Medley dish, I started eating the food that I hadn't eaten yet, so she picked up my Stinky Goodness dish. I had mostly finished my Medley by the time that my Stinky Goodness arrived, but I wasn't really interested in my Stinky Goodness. I jumped up on the counter to make sure that she was giving me good Medley. I started eating it as soon as it hit the dish, but then she put fiber in it, so I tried to eat what was left in the can instead. Mom pushed me away from that, so I started eating the fiber-laced Medley. I don't really mind my fiber at all, I just don't eat much at night after Mom goes to bed. For some reason, I eat more when Mom is around. I better get back to the award, or I will never finish.


You just saw this picture yesterday, but Mom took it for this post. She just didn't get this post ready in time to post it yesterday. I love my BLUE blanket and sleep on it all the time now. Mom tried to get a new picture of me sleeping with my head on the pillow at the other end of the sofa, but I wouldn't cooperate.

The best PINK thing about me is my one pink paw pad, but I won't let Mom take a picture of it. Second best is my pink snuggle on my chair. I used to nap up here a lot.


This is my GREEN crackle frog. I sometimes use it as a pillow, but I don't play with it much. I like to sniff it occasionally.


And this is my ORANGE mousie. It has a rattle inside it and I used to be very interested in it. Maybe I will be again some day, if I start feeling a lot better. Mom has hopes. Now I have to pass this award on to four other bloggers, one for each color.

I give the BLUE part to Samson and Delilah because they just moved and are blue because their new apartment doesn't seem like home yet.

I give the PINK part to Daisy because she looks so good in pink and she has such a cute pink nose.

I give the ORANGE part to Rudy because he is an orange cat and I want to remind him that he is still a great orange cat, even if the groomer stole a lot of his fur.

I give the GREEN part to Roxy because she loves broccoli so much and there is nothing greener than that.

Good News

This is an old picture of me scarfing up every last crumb of my Temptation. It's appropriate because I have been asking for more Temptations than ever in the last couple of days. I am one hungry boy now. Mom got up early to go to the litter box room and I joined her and started telling her that I wanted breakfast, like right now! She went into the kitchen and noticed that I had been eating in the night, which I hadn't been doing. While she was getting my Medley and pro-biotic ready, I ate up some of the Stinky Goodness that I hadn't finished. While she was getting my Stinky Goodness, I ate up all of my Medley and even licked the dish clean. That's a speed record for my eating up my food. Then I started in on the new Stinky Goodness. I didn't eat a whole lot of that, but I ate some more later, while Mom was back in bed. When she got up for the day and gave me my Interferon, I wanted my elevenses, cause she slept right through second breakfast. I ate up all my Medley again. I have been demanding new food, and getting it, throughout the day and eating quite a bit of it. I also ate almost a quarter bowl of my kitten chow. Mom thinks I ate at least a whole can's worth of wet food today. She is so happy because she thought maybe my increase in appetite yesterday was just due to the shot. She has seen this before. When I was getting my steroid shots, I would act all frisky and hungry, but it only lasted about 24 hours. I am still making poop puddles, but it is all pudding poop and it may even be just a tiny bit thicker.

The really great thing is that Mom has stopped torturing me with those super-yucky pills. I got a great new treat today instead. They are soft and yummy and I really like them.

Karen Jo: Shhh! Don't anyone dare tell Herman that his new treats are pill pockets.