Stacy Horn

For the first time in two months, Buddy has actually gained weight! He weighs 14 and a half pounds. At his last two monthly visits he weighed 13 pounds. “He does look really boney,” the vet said, I think to make me feel better about being so wrong about his weight.

Bottomline, the vet was not alarmed about the diarrhea that’s been lasting so long. He gave me a new medication called metronidazole that tasted so bad Buddy was running around the apartment foaming at the mouth. There’s a pharmacist nearby who flavors cat medications to taste like tuna, so I’m going to take it to them. The vet also encouraged me to continue the transition to raw food. So I feel better. I’ve got things to do to address the problem.

Buddy is drinking water almost non-stop now, as pictured. Oh, he just went to the bathroom. Still very loose.

I know this blog has become all Buddy all the time, but now I’m really worried. Buddy threw up twice yesterday, once in the middle of the night. I upped all his meds yesterday so that should have brought him some relief, but he threw up and still has diarrhea.

Of course my vet is closed today. If I bring him to the animal hospital on a Sunday that will cost a lot of $$$ I don’t have, and I mean a lot, and what am I supposed to do, make my cat suffer to save money.

I don’t know what to do. I’m going to wait a couple of hours and see what his next bowel movement is like and decide.  I was so hopeful yesterday for a few hours.

Buddy’s diarrhea is pretty bad today, in spite of the medication, but at the same time, he gobbled down the raw food. I didn’t have to transition him or anything. I’m very hopeful, I’ve read report after report that this helps with IBS. So I’m going to try not to panic about the diarrhea and see how he is in a couple of days.

He’s well enough to park himself at the window, staring longingly at the shadows of birds. Like they will somehow materialize on this side of the window.

I’m going to try to watch a movie I downloaded. Wait, maybe I should go for a walk. That sounds healthier. And more relaxing.

I’m so happy about Buddy eating. I was all prepared for this to take a month. And then not work maybe. Finney didn’t do well on the raw diet, but maybe the problem was putting him on the raw diet exclusively. Maybe I’ll just slip a cube of meat into each of his meals.

I’m pretty sure he’s lost more weight. And his diarrhea is getting harder to keep under control. I bought raw food yesterday to try to start switching him to a raw food diet. I did this once before but it caused Finney’s FUS to flare up horribly.

So now I’m going to have to try to switch only him to raw food which means separating them while they eat, and owners of two cats know how problematic that’s going to be. Finney is getting as big as a house, by the way, while I try to fatten Buddy up.

Oh Buddy. You are my new millennium cat. (I got him in 2000.) I think you can see how boney he is in this shot.

According to Gothamist, “Anyone interested in adopting one of these little guys is being instructed by the ASPCA to report to 424 East 92nd Street at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, January 13th. The ASPCA is making a point to tell people not to arrive earlier than that, but we suspect they’ll be a line forming overnight. If you have any dogs already, you need to bring them with you to see if they’re going to tolerate each other, and you should also be prepared to pay between $75 to $200 for “medical behavior treatment, vaccinations, spaying/neutering, and a microchip.”

There’s only 15 dogs.  But man are they cute.