Rose and Pearl Update (10 years later)

My two sweet kitties turned 10 years old earlier this year! While both of them have enjoyed good health for the most part, it turns out that Rose has a delicate stomach so we've had to order special Veterinarian-prescribed food for her. I've also switched to using "World's Best Cat Litter" because of my own sensitivities (allergies?) to most of the other name brand litter.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I've had a life-long allergies to pet dander! I've been able to manage this around my kitties by taking over the counter antihistamine (like Claritin) and I wash my hands after petting and cuddling them. There have been a few times where I've forgotten to wash my hands, and then rubbed my eyes, and then had to deal with swollen, teary eyes until I could take a shower or splash water into my eyes.

So the biggest news is about Rose -- she's developed hyperthyroidism :(.

It took quite a while for us to notice that something was wrong with her -- she's super sweet and shy and snuggly (everyone loves her) but she started to lose weight and I noticed that she'd start having daily diarrhea and losing her appetite. When she stopped eating, I took her to the vet for a check-up and blood test, and that's when we found out about her hyperthyroidism.

The first meds we gave her were a liquid that we were supposed to feed her, but she spat it out and fought pretty hard not to open her mouth. We then switched to a cream that we rubbed into her ear (with gloves on so I didn't accidentally get it on my skin!) Rose accepted that treatment and things were okay for a while.

Things went bad when my family went on vacation to Europe. We had a pet-sitting service come into our home each day to feed the cats, give Rose her meds, and change the litter while we were gone. One evening, while we were having a lovely dinner in Paris, the pet sitter called us and said that Rose was having a medical emergency where she was panting, lethargic, and her heart was racing. The pet sitter took Rose to the emergency vet (it was a Sunday) and we found out that Rose had experienced heart failure--her heart was enlarged and fluid was getting into her lungs (probably due to her hyperthyroidism.) The vet put Rose on oxygen and heart meds right away, and Rose stayed overnight. While we waited to see if Rose would make it through the night, we discussed our options. The emergency vet costs were adding up very quickly, and her prognosis was not optimistic, so we discussed the possibility of "putting her down" -- ugh! I did not sleep at all that night, of course, and waited by my cell phone to hear back from the vet.

Fortunately, Rose did recover, and the pet sitter took her home with a bunch of meds that Rose would need to take twice a day. (We increased the dosage of her thyroid meds, too.) Rose wasn't crazy about the meds, but we give her lots of praise and extra snuggles, and I've bought several catnip plants and toys as rewards for her.

Note: The Pet Sitter's caring and quick action saved my sweet Rose's life! I thanked them profusely and gave them a huge tip to thank them! I was very sad to hear that their Pet Sitting business would be closing this month, so we won't be able to use them again when we're traveling. :( 

It's been a month since Rose's heart failure episode. I brought her into her regular vet for a checkup today, and her weight is back to normal, her appetite is back to normal, and she seems much happier and energetic! I'm so happy to see that the meds are finally making a difference. And I'm treasuring every day I have with my sweet Rose. According to the vet, with her condition, we might only have a few months left with her...

By the way, through the entire ordeal, Pearl has felt a bit left out and has acted out a bit (attention-seeking behavior, acting annoyed and stand-offish when Rose is getting extra attention.) Kind of like a jealous sister! So I've been trying to give Pearl extra cuddles and snuggles so that she knows we haven't forgotten her and love her too. I have a special "Pearl time" in the morning when I just focus on playing with and snuggling Pearl, and I think it helps. 💕

Setting up the Cat Room

After the first day of keeping our newly-adopted kittens in our master bathroom, I realized they needed a larger place to play and sleep. (Also, I wasn't too crazy about keeping their food and litter box in our bathroom.)

I wasn't ready to let them out into the house yet: the kids were still nervous around our new kittens, and our kittens needed a place to feel safe and settle in.

Luckily, we had a sitting room with our master bedroom. The sitting room was a fair-sized room with glass doors, big bright windows, and french doors out to a balcony (which we never use, but it offers a beautiful view of the sunrise over the mountains.)

So I bought some kitten supplies to set up our new "cat room." Here's what I bought:

- Cat tree with scratching post and feather toy (they slept here together every night)

- Food bowls and place mat (I added another food dish later, but they still preferred to eat from the same bowl)

- Covered litter box and mat (that's Rose in there--hi Rose!)

- Cat carrier and baby blanket (they shared this one when they were little kittens)

- Cat bed (they never actually slept here, but they liked to jump on it and drag it around)

- Dry cat food (I tried Blue Buffalo, Wellness, and Science Diet, but our picky kittens preferred the Royal Canin Kitten 36 Formula)

- Canned cat food (the kittens loved the Blue Buffalo and Wellness kitten dinners, but Rose threw up when I tried Natural Choice--yuck, so I went back to their favorites)

- Kitty litter (I started with Fresh Step, but soon found out I was really allergic to it--ugh, so I tried a variety of litters before switching to World's Best Cat Litter, which is awesome--no dust, no smell, and easy to clean up)

- Litter Genie (cat litter disposal system, which works like a diaper genie to store "used" litter until garbage day)

- Cat cleaning products (already had Kids N Pets, but didn't work well for cat vomit, then tried Nature's Miracle, which worked much better!)

I also bought a variety of cat toys, which I will review in my next post.

Kitten Adoption Day!

Saturday, March 23rd. A beautiful day to adopt kittens.

We were on our way to the local pet shop. I called ahead, and found out that 12 week old kittens would be available for adoption today. We entered the parking lot just after the shop opened, and raced into the shop almost before the car stopped.

The kittens were displayed center-stage. A few buyers were already sticking their fingers in the cage and cooing at the kittens. I beelined it straight for the kitten cage.

There were three of them: two tabby females (who had just been fixed and had shaved tummies) and one black male. One of the tabbies was batting at everyone's fingers, seemingly friendly and outgoing. The other tabby was snuggled into the clean litter box with the black male at the back of the cage.

I listened to the adoption guy explain that the tabbies were litter mates and he'd prefer to keep them together, but the buyers were reluctant to buy two kittens. They started to discuss the black kitten instead. That was my chance to step up.

"I'll like to adopt both tabby kittens, please." The adoption guy looked me over and asked me a bunch of questions to make sure I'd be a good owner. I guess he was happy with my answers, because an hour later (and $300 poorer), I left the store with two adorable tabby kittens, cat carrier, bedding, food stuff, litter stuff, and assorted cat toys.

We took the kittens straight home and set them up in our master suite bathroom for their first day. We named them: Rose (brown nose with a black M on her forehead) and Pearl (white nose with a white M on her forehead.) Rose had a sweet, shy, cuddly personality. Pearl was the outgoing one, the first to explore and get into trouble.

Rose and Pearl were inseparable those first days, sleeping together, eating together, and following each other around. In fact, if one was separated from the other, they would meow until they found each other again.

This was just the beginning of Rose and Pearl's feline adventures together...