The kitties have been on their “one can of wet per day” diet for about 3 weeks now, and they always manage to lick the bowls clean.  This of course means I am going through cans a lot quicker than I am use to.  Today I came upon the mother of sales at my local feed store that I buy their food at:  1 case/24 cans of Nature’s Variety Homestyle for $9.99!!!  That equals about 42 cents a can.  Usually they are $1.25 a can, so this was definitely a surprise.  They only had Ocean Whitefish and Duck & Chicken stew flavors, so I still bought cans of all the other flavors.

So got home… and counted up all the cans in the cupboard… 79!  Looks like I won’t be having to buy food for several months, which is always a good thing!

Also picked up a trial pack of Fancy Feast’s new “Appetizers” as a treat for Ari.  I am pretty sure Sammie won’t touch it.  Looks pretty yummy I suppose (I don’t like fish, so I can’t really say either way, LOL).  It’s nice to see one of the mainstream brands make a move towards food without fillers and what not!

And of course they still get free fed Orijen.  I buy the 15 pound bag size.  Before they got a can of food everyday, the 15 pounds would last about 2 months between them.  Now it seems to be lasting a bit longer since the canned food is taking a bigger portion of their diet.  I store it in this awesome air tight plastic container I found at Petsmart.  I like it because it keeps the food smell inside it, and also keeps the food really fresh.

For other news… yesterday was Ari’s first birthday!  My kitten is now a lil’ man!  Hard to believe, as he has remained pretty small and delicate.  I like it though, makes him easily to handle than the 13 pound beast that is Sammie.  The special birthday dinner was some canned rabbit, which they seemed to enjoy less than one of their daily stew varieties - go figure!

Sharing the birthday meal:

Ari’s cat grass garden has been doing poorly… Ari tends to lift the whole mess out and spread it around the kitchen.  I don’t think I see a career in horticulture for him in the future

Sammie enjoying the special dinner:

And Ari:

Apparently, this is appetizing to our feline friends:

Looks like a yucky, stinky mess to me!

On May 25th we welcomed another very spoiled bengal to our family:  Ari!  Registered as Piescalientes Sahara Sand, he’s a handsome snow mink spotted boy from Wisconsin.

Sammie isn’t exactly the happiest cat since he’s arrived, but every day they become better and better buddies.  Today I caught them sleeping on the bed together, and they often enjoy their meals side-by-side, ears touching.   Ari was use to eating wet, and this propelled Sammie to start eating a lot of it, so a diet change has been made, and they each get half of a large can of wet food daily as a supplement to their kibble.

Now some pictures from over the summer!

Tonight I was dishing out the rest of the canned rabbit I had in the fridge for Sammie, and Sammie was sitting her floor-to-ceiling cat tree.  I held up the can so she could see what I was doing, and she immediately got up and came running into the kitchen meowing!  She knows what the can is!

I am getting pretty proud of Sammie, she does well on the Nature’s Variety rabbit and venison cans.  I am going to try to feed her canned a few times a week, hopefully being able to transition to some raw later on.  Just trying to give her a more balanced diet versus strictly kibble.

As always, I have been terrible with updating… so here’s some snow pictures from the beginning of March when we got a big snowstorm!

Sammie really didn’t know what to think of the snow and just froze in the spot she was in and meowed.

My Lovesac came today, and Sammie soon claimed it as a new sleeping spot.   Matches her fur quite well! :)  World’s largest cat bed!  And maybe the most expensive *wide eyes*  As long as she shares, it should be ok.

Sammie has been doing better, no vomiting in 3 days.  It’s been easy giving her the antibiotics, and even though she kinda fusses, once it’s time swallowed them she does.  Her appetite is definitely back, and the Hill’s Prescription Diet has run out so she’s back on the straight Orijen (I’ve been reintroducing it for the past few days, mixed with the Hill’s so it wouldn’t be a sudden shock). I hope she’s on the way to recovery!  It’s been a stressful past few weeks with her healthwise, and we both hate going to the vet so hopefully no more visits are needed until it’s vaccine time in the spring.

Here’s some more Lovesac pictures!

Just as I thought we were in the clear, Friday Sammie vomited a few times, and I noticed that she hadn’t been eating a lot.  :(  I immediately called the vet, and got an appointment for Saturday morning (today).

The doctor rechecked her, and took her temperature and she had a slight fever.  It’s possible that the first shot of antibiotics wasn’t enough to make her better, and if it was an infection, the stuff came back.  She got several more injections (Bayril, Metoclopramide for nausea, and more subcutaneous fluids), and I have to give her liquid amoxicillin twice a day for 7 days.  Hopefully this helps her out this time!

An interesting thing I learned… in the past few days Sammie has been going crazy licking fabrics:  straps on bags, curtains, and a particular blanket.  I mentioned this to the doctor, since it was something strange she started, and he said cats will often do that when they are feeling nausea!  So I learned something!

Blood test panel came back normal!  Only thing not normal on it was a bit of elevated protein, most likely due to her dehydration.  Good news indeed!  Sammie also didn’t vomit last night or this morning, and has been eating and drinking and playing just fine.

She is to stay on her prescription diet for a few days, and I’m just on the look out for more vomiting.  I think the medicines and fluids really helped her, and hopefully that’s all she needed *crosses fingers*  Sammie has also begun to drink out of her new fountain after a bit of apprehension, yay!

Poor Sammie!  Today she was at the vet and had two x-rays, 3 injections (Baytril, Famotidine, and fluid), and blood work drawn.  The past few days she’s had bad vomiting, consisting recently of pure liquids and very projectile.  Very stressful indeed!  It’s so hard to see my little kitty sick, and knowing she can’t just tell me what’s wrong.

After a struggle to get her squeezed in for an appointment, I packed her up and headed to the vet.  The doctor recommended x-rays and a blood work up.  Blood results I won’t know until late morning.  X-rays came back good.  Sammie has some gas in her intestines, but no big bulges that would suggest a forgein object in there.  Her tummy looked full, but she did eat before we went to the vet.  The doctor is concerned that it’s one of two things, an infection or a ingestion of a foreign object.  Objects, unless metallic, tend not to show on x-rays, though, so it makes the diagnosis harder.  Otherwise, her kidneys and bladder looked fine.

Sammie is down about 1 pound in weight (11.1 pounds instead of her normal 12+ pounds), which is probably due to all the fluid loss.  She didn’t have a fever, which is a good sign.  She received an injection of Baytril, which is an antibiotic, and Famotidine, which I researched to be something to reduce stomach acid (I would assume this would be to lessen the damage from further vomiting).  Fluids were given subcutaneously to rehydrate her.   She got to come home with me, where I am observing to see if she vomits further or has any changes in health.

I’m at a loss as to why she’s sick, and it makes me really sad.  Erring on the side of caution, we purchased a new water fountain for her tonight, one from Catit.  The Drinkwell is hard to thoroughly clean as it doesn’t really come apart enough, and even though it is cleaned frequently, it has been worrying us for awhile whether it was growing pathogens.  Sammie is a bit apprehensive of the new fountain design, but she’s getting closer to using it.  (Don’t worry, I also have a bowl of water out in case she’s not ready for the fountain.)  The vet gave me some Hill’s Prescription Diet I/D kibble, which is for gastrointestinal problems.  Sammie really liked it and quickly ate it.  It has extra nutrients to replace those that are loss due to vomiting.

My only concern is that Sammie has been vomiting very late at night or early in the morning before I am a awake, and since the vomit has been clear liquid lately, I won’t be able to tell if she has vomited more, as it soaks into the carpet.  I’m tempted to try to stay awake as long as I can to observe her.

I am hoping the blood results come back okay in the morning, and that Sammie doesn’t vomit further.  Hopefully the medicines are enough to get her back to normal!

We’re enjoying a quiet day… Sammie has yet to open her presents.  I wrapped bell balls in wrapping paper in hopes she’d shred up the paper, but no luck so far.  I think I’ll be stuck opening her presents for her!

Sammie just got a can ofNature’s Variety Instinct venison and quite enjoyed it!  I just wish it didn’t come in such large cans, as she only eats a small portion of it at a time.  She even chowed down on the peas and carrots in it, along with the deer meat!

I made an awesome discovery on a late night trip to Walgreens last October (I now, I am downright terrible at updating!). I found this awesome leopard print cat bed that is, well, a cat!  Sammie of course took to it right away, and we’ve started calling it her “Kitty.”

Unfortunately, now that the weather has definitely turned to the colder end of the thermometer, she has abandoned Kitty for her heated pad on her condo.  But Kitty still sitting there, ready to be occupied again!

Here we find Sammie enjoying some “Fresh Price of Bel Air”

The bed only cost $10, so it was quite the bargain!  I had also gotten Sammie’s leopard print fleece blanket for $3 from Walgreens, so they’ve proven to be quite the place to find a treasure at!

Sammie’s 3rd birthday is on November 23rd, but we celebrated a night early!

She got a bowl of Nature’s Variety Instinct canned rabbit with a special “3″ candle/

Sammie seemed to enjoy the food very much, and went crazy the minute I set it down for her.  So that is nice to know!  She’s usually not a fan of canned food, and will usually ignore it.  So either she has a thing for rabbit, or was just happy to get her “birthday cake!”

And since I’ve been lazy about updating this… here are a few of Sammie’s “formal” Halloween portraits.  She was a little devil this year!