Surviving 'Hurricane Lola' Part II

See my previous thread for some background. Her "homecoming" thread can be found here.

For those not familiar, Lola came home as a foster last Dec & has never left. She has seizures & is on meds. We've had many ups & downs - she lacked any common sense & didn't know how to be a cat when she came home. She is a very slow learner, and has never gained any common sense in the 10 months she's been here.

O-M-G this cat is driving me insane. When she's on the ground she cries wanting up, when she's in your arms she cries/wiggles wanting down. She'll play with a wand toy of 5 seconds then "get bored". She has 9 other cats to play with, and rotates around the house (I have 3 "family groups" that live seperate). She has oodles of toys - turbo track, turbo scratcher, multiple cat trees, crinkle balls like you can't believe, noisy/ball toys of 5 varities, stuffed mice, small human stuffed animals, squeaky dog toys, a weighted feather "bat" toy, a light up mat, springs, pom poms of a variety of sizes - and three dogs to play with! (I just spent $50 on new/different toys to see if that helped)

Yet she's always bored! She wants outside in the worst way. She spends hours pawing at the windows, trying to scratch her way out (and no - she can never ever in a million years set foot outside, not even on a harness!) Open doors mean she bolts through to the "great & magical beyond" - who cares what's on the other side of the door, surely it's better than here?

She's up all night long - meow meow trill purr howl yowl - I swear to god this cat never sleeps. Because she's awake all day, too! I have to laugh, she's always underfoot yet doesn't want to be picked up/restrained in any way. There's never a Lola-free moment. Any ideas on how to keep her happy & occupied?

She has a vet check coming up, including blood panel, to ensure it's not a health problem. With her being on Pheno for seizures that makes me especially nervous.

I've had cats with weird habits, almost like compulsions before, but never in the manner that Lola's compulsion drive her life. I don't know that I'm making any sense here.....

I definitely think her behavior is related to the seizures - I personally think her wires are crossed. It is believed that her seizures are more genetic & based upon brain structure than due to some sort of trauma.

My goal was to get her on the lowest dose Pheno possible. When on pills, I was ever increasing her dosage & she'd still have "breakthrough" seizures. Now on liquid, she's on 1/3 the dose she was on in pill form (and she would still have seizures on the pills) & is seizure free.

I didn't know it when she was taking the pills, but she was acting "drugged up". Now that she's on liquid, she's incredibly OCD, neurotic about things (obsessive about the laser light - she saw it once & now at about 10pm every night she sits in the middle of the room yowling & looking for it - for hours she'll stay there). She chews cords - but *always* chews on them in the same spot. But not to chew through, just kind of "tosses" them around in her mouth. Almost absentmindedly? And it's not that she wants to chew through the cord, or she's teething, it's more of a compulsion than anything??

And eating - oh my don't get me started on her eating habits! She eats, all day long - yet she's barely 8lbs I swear. But she has a hard time eating, she flips the food up & out, like trying to throw it into the back of her mouth. She doesn't eat normal, someday I need to get a video of it. It's like she never learned how to eat right.

She's very very weird for a kitty. Less affectionate in terms of concerned she's going to be restrained when you hold her - she does not handle being held tight/restrained well. I've had feral cats be nicer than Lola when you try to restrain her.

Never tried any Cat TV DVDs, I may have to try to pick one up Saturday if I can. The TV upstairs is still beyond her real of comprehension, but she's glued to the downstairs TV.

Have I mentioned she's a weirdo cat? The single most affectionate cat I've ever met, yet also the "dumbest" (in terms of slow learner, lacking common sense, etc). I'm kinda glad I didn't unleash her upon the world, as the more time I spend with her the more I realize "normal" people would not tolerate her behaviors.

Alrighty - so now we have even more toys!

We now own:
Panic Mouse
Undercover Mouse
Two more toys that suction cup down to the floor

We already own:
Petstages Flashing Firefly Mat (new addition from Wed)
Turbo Track
Turbo Scratcher
Star Chaser (light up Turbo Track, I just never realized they were different )
Ba Da Beam
Something similar to this swat toy (feathers on the end & it chirps when they play w/ it)
Cat n Mouse Game

Oh yeah, we also have like 8 of these cat ball/track toys. Both the small & large size.

I keep looking at the Fling Ama String, but haven't bought it yet.

For reviews - Panic Mouse she LOVES!! I have videos I hope to upload soon. Undercover mouse is "too smart" for her as of yet. Ba Da Beam, the petstages light up mat & cat-n-mouse game are also too much for her. I need to take pictures to show you the stock of toys we have for her.

But I think Panic Mouse keeps her focus enough that she sat to play with it for 45 minutes tonight. She's never retained focus on any toy for that long!


ETA: Here are some toy pictures.

And videos of her (and others) playing, she's not normally this "interactive" for so long! (And if you listen you may be able to hear her chattering)