06-18-14 – 12 Weeks after surgery
I’ve been gone for almost two weeks – drove to the Northeast for a friend’s wedding and left Misty and my plants in the care of my fiancĂ©. I also forgot to post anything on Wed June 3 as that was my day of departure – sorry!
Misty was fine while I was gone, except that she decided either that she hated her litter or that she was entitled to have a temper tantrum or both, and spent almost the entire time pooping on the floor next to the box instead of in it. So yesterday I stopped at the store on my way home and got unscented litter, and changed it when I got home. She seems fine now that I’m home, other than her usual problems stepping in it even in a completely clean box. I’ve got no way to tell whether the reason for the improvement is due to the change in litter or my return. Ah well, all’s well that ends well. Til the next time I leave her and we see whether the litter makes any difference.
Here’s a photo of my darling girl from today, which is also 12 weeks since her surgery. She still loves to drink out of the faucet. And the missing leg doesn’t seem to cause her a bit of trouble balancing in the sink while she drinks.
Here’s a photo showing her back. There’s still a difference in fur length, and as I expected the browned ends will be a noticeable demarcation even once it’s fully grown in. But it’s beginning to be less noticeable. And when I pet her I can’t feel any difference at all.
One last photo: she helped me harvest some of my basil this evening so I could make pesto for the first time ever:
June 20, 2014 @ 9:15 pm
Misty is looking beautiful, of course! I have to say I love the difference in fur color…it makes her special!
One of my cat also tends to change his bathroom habits when I leave for extended periods of time. Hopefully that’s all it is for Misty as well. Litter box problems are no fun.
Keep enjoying tripawd life, Misty!
June 21, 2014 @ 6:46 pm
Thanks, and yes I think she will be beautiful either way. However I still wish I knew what caused her old fur to discolor and whether it was harmful or not.
June 21, 2014 @ 7:45 pm
Oh boy was she mad at you for going away! I hope everything is good now and she’s pooping in the right spot.
I love seeing photos of her, you can post away, we can never get enough. That one of her drinking from the sink is priceless.
June 22, 2014 @ 11:44 pm
Hehe yeah, I love the faces she makes when she is drinking out of the sink. She’s so focused.
She is going in the right spot although the other morning I saw her jump up quickly and hurry to the box. I followed her and found her with her front feet in and her back feet out. I just barely saved her from missing the box again. I think she was in a hurry and not feeling well due to some new food we had just tried. I switched her back to the hypoallergenic food and she’s been fine since. My poor wallet – there is just no escaping the pricey Royal Canin stuff I guess.
June 22, 2014 @ 1:46 am
Misty is not the first kitty I’ve heard of throwing “temper tantrums” when mom or dad is away. Thankfully Steve doesn’t do it.
We have 3 different sized litter boxes (3 different sized cats, too, really). Two are covered, one is not. The uncovered litter box is the lowest and it seems to be the one Steve prefers the most, though she occasionally uses the biggest…maybe she’s trying to challenge herself. Have you tried changing the litter box all together? Try a box that is really low, or even break out your DIY skills and cut one of the sides so it’s lower for Misty to step into.
Litter box difficulties are probably the number one complaint of cat owners. If I could solve them, I could probably make a fortune!
June 22, 2014 @ 11:55 pm
I had a covered box when Misty was a kitten but when we got Alley we had to get rid of the cover because Misty was chasing her all over the house and Alley wouldn’t go into the litterbox because she was afraid Misty would corner her in there.
At the moment Misty has five litterboxes of four sizes with two different kinds of litter to choose from. She usually has three but I pulled two out when I got home because after driving all night from KY it was way less work to fill two clean boxes with the new litter and place them with the old ones than clean and change the old litter out. Plus I thought maybe I could test whether she actually does use one type of litter more than another.
There is one very tall litterbox (used to be Clevercat but I stopped putting the top on it), a tallish one that used to be covered but the cover is long gone, two normal sized boxes, and one kitten-sized box (which was recommended I buy when she was recovering from her surgery). She seems to use them all equally, except lately she has been using the very-tall Clevercat one less. I was thinking I might try putting the top on it and see if that is any easier for her. If she used that one she’d never miss since she’d have to be inside of it to go.
All the boxes are either on linoleum or on plastic mats, so when she misses it’s not a terrible disaster – just scoop it up and wipe down with disinfectant and it’s good as new. Thankfully she only seems to miss with #2. Her #1 always lands in the box.
June 29, 2014 @ 4:22 pm
By the way, it’s not too evident in the photo, but the one of Misty drinking from the sink was taken in the mirror.