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3+1 makes 4.... Maybe... oh boy! - Page 2

post #31 of 48
11/2/10 at 11:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carolina View Post
I think she is doing a little better... She has been eating normally, and loves being petted on her head.. Using the littebox like a good girl too! I am stopping by the vet to get her test results and some flea meds for everybody. Will start the scent exchange today. I plan to leave her in the bathroom for at least 2 weeks... But she doesn't look depressed - whenever I go in, she has these big bright eyes, and is very talkative. I think she will be happy here!
she sounds very happy
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post #32 of 48
11/2/10 at 11:54am
Even though she may not fully understand it, you've saved Gracie's life, and I really hope you're triply rewarded for your kindness. Mega that she becomes acclimated quickly and that your crew accept her completely.
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post #33 of 48
11/2/10 at 12:15pm
You know, she may have been grumpy because she didn't feel well these many months!!!!!
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post #34 of 48
11/3/10 at 2:54pm
Thread Starter 
So..... My little old lady is in my bathroom since Monday, and I am glad to report she is doing GREAT!
I got her tests from the vet, and everything is on normal range, except for her thyroid, as expected, and her ALKP which is a little high 135, normal 14-111.
(sharky, sorry, I gave you old numbers )
One sad thing to see on her chart is that she lost 1.8lbs since March... It makes sense, since she's been out of her meds since April
But apparently putting back weight is not going to be a problem - she is an eating machine! She is eating 3 small cans of wet food, plus almost a cup of dry food a day!
She is showing no signs of stress at all, and is slowly becoming a sweetheart. I thought she was never going to want anything to do with me..... boy I was wrong! She is already giving me the belly! She loves to get pets and loving, and is very chatty!
The vet paperwork says she is 12 years old...
Her fur is a royal mess - she is very dirty, has poop stuck to her tail... I contacted a groomer that does in house services, I plan to have her groomed, flea bathed, and perhaps a lion cut
Tonight I am going to target to buy a bunch of washing cloths - she is starting to get curious about the door, it seems it is time to start the scent exchange. My plan is to do this very very slowly, only bring her out when she has completely transitioned into the other kitties' food too, so there is no tummy problems.
She is also PERFECT with the litterbox! Thank goodness!
Oh, now I totally think I did the right thing, I think she will be very happy here!
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post #35 of 48
11/3/10 at 3:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carolina View Post
So..... My little old lady is in my bathroom since Monday, and I am glad to report she is doing GREAT!
I got her tests from the vet, and everything is on normal range, except for her thyroid, as expected, and her ALKP which is a little high 135, normal 14-111.
(sharky, sorry, I gave you old numbers )
One sad thing to see on her chart is that she lost 1.8lbs since March... It makes sense, since she's been out of her meds since April
But apparently putting back weight is not going to be a problem - she is an eating machine! She is eating 3 small cans of wet food, plus almost a cup of dry food a day!
She is showing no signs of stress at all, and is slowly becoming a sweetheart. I thought she was never going to want anything to do with me..... boy I was wrong! She is already giving me the belly! She loves to get pets and loving, and is very chatty!
The vet paperwork says she is 12 years old...
Her fur is a royal mess - she is very dirty, has poop stuck to her tail... I contacted a groomer that does in house services, I plan to have her groomed, flea bathed, and perhaps a lion cut
Tonight I am going to target to buy a bunch of washing cloths - she is starting to get curious about the door, it seems it is time to start the scent exchange. My plan is to do this very very slowly, only bring her out when she has completely transitioned into the other kitties' food too, so there is no tummy problems.
She is also PERFECT with the litterbox! Thank goodness!
Oh, now I totally think I did the right thing, I think she will be very happy here!
Whooo!!! A thousand blessings on your head, kiddo, for doing this!
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post #36 of 48
11/3/10 at 3:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AddieBee View Post
Whooo!!! A thousand blessings on your head, kiddo, for doing this!
Thank you hon
So, little lady is scheduled with the groomers
I am not doing it in house, but I am taking her to what I was told to be the best cat groomers in Dallas.
It is going to be a bit sour on my pocket, but I think she will feel a ton better! They will do a flea bath, do a complete groom, and a lion cut... I wish I didn't have to do that, but she is so matted... Maybe she can keep her fur, we will see. With the Lion cut, $100; without about $65... IMO worth it to give her a good start in her new life.
She is going in Friday at 1pm, and pick up time is around 5:30 - they take about 4-4 1/2 per cat!
I can't wait to see her all clean and nice looking!
Off to target to buy the wash cloths!
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post #37 of 48
11/3/10 at 3:45pm
Nothing makes a princess feel better than to be pampered!

Gracie knows love and care when she sees it - and she is clearly letting you know how happy she is about it!

Just..... Aaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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post #38 of 48
11/3/10 at 7:39pm
I am so happy for you and Gracie.
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post #39 of 48
11/3/10 at 10:34pm
Thread Starter 
Things got.... interesting!
The scent exchange was funny... Well... Gracie could care less - attacked her food as though she hadn't eaten in a week didn't even notice anything different. I got three different wash cloths and rubbed one on each of the kitties, Lucky, Bugsy and Hope. Then I put them under Gracie's plate. Not a reaction - none.
While she was eating I rubbed other 3 wash cloths all over her - one for lucky's plate, one for hope's and one for Bugsy.

Lucky didn't care, Bugsy ate and found the wash cloth quite handy to cover his plate and then there was Hope... ah Hope had a hard time....
Hope smelled every inch of that cloth very carefully, as though it would jump to bite her and after a long while doing so, walked away refusing to eat the food.
Only after taking the cloth out she ate... I then folded the cloth under the plate, and she ate the rest...
Hope seems to be the one stressing out the most about this situation - I need to be very careful with her...
Lucky has been extremely curious with who is behind the door - anytime I am in the bathroom she is right there, scratching the door... If I open the door, she watches Gracie very carefully
Today I opened the door for them to see each other - the scene was priceless: Standing outside of the bathroom the three resident kitties, very quiet, capable of hearing a pin drop quiet; inside Gracie, quiet, with the occasional Hissssssss, hissssssss, hisssssss.
She doesn't have a problem with Lucky; whenever Lucky watches her, she just goes on to grooming herself, eating, or whatever... But the others do make her nervous.
How long can she be inside of the bathroom?
I work out of my home, and visit her all the time... Sometimes I just bring my laptop and stay here with her...
She is not stressed, and doesn't looked depressed at all... She is eating really, and I mean REALLY well...
What do you think? I do not want to ruin this, and want to do the absolute best for this to work...
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post #40 of 48
11/3/10 at 10:42pm
Just keep doing it .. though I would place the scent cloth not by the food
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post #41 of 48
11/3/10 at 10:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sharky View Post
Just keep doing it .. though I would place the scent cloth not by the food
I always heard/read it is good to place it by the food/under the food plate so they relate the other kitties' scents to good things.... Is that information not correct?
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post #42 of 48
11/3/10 at 11:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carolina View Post
I always heard/read it is good to place it by the food/under the food plate so they relate the other kitties' scents to good things.... Is that information not correct?
I will let the Real Experts chime in ... but I always started in communal non food areas... I would have issues with someone new at my dish... I do place stuff in beds , on the furniture( human and cat) plus I wore a piece when Introing Dal
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post #43 of 48
11/4/10 at 7:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carolina View Post
Things got.... interesting!
The scent exchange was funny... Well... Gracie could care less - attacked her food as though she hadn't eaten in a week didn't even notice anything different. I got three different wash cloths and rubbed one on each of the kitties, Lucky, Bugsy and Hope. Then I put them under Gracie's plate. Not a reaction - none.
While she was eating I rubbed other 3 wash cloths all over her - one for lucky's plate, one for hope's and one for Bugsy.

Lucky didn't care, Bugsy ate and found the wash cloth quite handy to cover his plate and then there was Hope... ah Hope had a hard time....
Hope smelled every inch of that cloth very carefully, as though it would jump to bite her and after a long while doing so, walked away refusing to eat the food.
Only after taking the cloth out she ate... I then folded the cloth under the plate, and she ate the rest...
Hope seems to be the one stressing out the most about this situation - I need to be very careful with her...
Lucky has been extremely curious with who is behind the door - anytime I am in the bathroom she is right there, scratching the door... If I open the door, she watches Gracie very carefully
Today I opened the door for them to see each other - the scene was priceless: Standing outside of the bathroom the three resident kitties, very quiet, capable of hearing a pin drop quiet; inside Gracie, quiet, with the occasional Hissssssss, hissssssss, hisssssss.
She doesn't have a problem with Lucky; whenever Lucky watches her, she just goes on to grooming herself, eating, or whatever... But the others do make her nervous.
How long can she be inside of the bathroom?
I work out of my home, and visit her all the time... Sometimes I just bring my laptop and stay here with her...
She is not stressed, and doesn't looked depressed at all... She is eating really, and I mean REALLY well...
What do you think? I do not want to ruin this, and want to do the absolute best for this to work...
C - Hope was a stray, a street cat for a while, right? It makes sense then that she would be the most wary. Just give it time. And I am not surprised by Grace's appetite.. she is making up for lost time!
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post #44 of 48
11/4/10 at 10:14am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AddieBee View Post
C - Hope was a stray, a street cat for a while, right? It makes sense then that she would be the most wary. Just give it time. And I am not surprised by Grace's appetite.. she is making up for lost time!
Yes, Hope was a stray, the others never had that fear...
Here is a little movie I did of Gracie the day before yesterday - that's when I found out she was covered with fleas... The movie is long, sorry, but you can see how she doesn't look stressed and how chatty she is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlJg8jU7BgE
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post #45 of 48
11/4/10 at 11:25am
Gracie is BEAUTIFUL
I have a soft spot for senior kitties, we adopted three, two girls and a boy. The boy Sammy has hyperthyroidism. Constant eating, extreme weight loss, unkept coat and heart problems are big symptoms of this disorder, so I am not surprised she is eating all the time and yet hungry all the time. Her body is overworking and will do so until the Methimazole will start doing its balancing act. You should see her apetite leveling off if she is on the right dose, also she will gradually gain weight. Her coat is greasy and dull because of the thyroid also (I am not minimizing the fact that she was neglected). She may also not groom a lot anymore since she is an older girl...

In Sammy's case his T3 and T4 panels were normal so rechecking the values afer a month of treatment did no good. We had to rely on his apetite leveling off and him gaining/maintaining his weight to know for a fact that he was on the right dose of Methimazole. He does have a heart murmur but it's stable and not life threatening. Did your vet say anything about Gracie's having developed a heartmurmur?

I am sure the experts will chime in here. Like you said, I would take it easy and slow with the intros. Our Leo had very hard time accepting Sweet Pea but we kept at it. We did put the scent cloth under the water/food dishes; just like Hope, Leo did not like it very much. I used to pet Sweet Pea and after leaving his room I would go and pet Leo and transfer Sweet Pea's scent this way onto Leo's coat. You will have to give Hope tons and tons of attention...

A big hug to you for saving this very special little old lady
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post #46 of 48
11/4/10 at 11:52am
I forgot, do you have baby gates up? If not, you might want to get some and try that for a week or two. We left Tumbles in his room for a total of 3 weeks with the screen door on. (Part of that time he was in a big dog crate and the 2 resident cats could come "visit" him when they wanted.) I'd say keep her in the bathroom for at least 2 weeks to get her totally comfy of the noises, smells, etc and also to make sure she eats well, learns to trust you, and is doing okay medically. Then you can start working on the integrations.
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post #47 of 48
11/5/10 at 10:54pm
Thread Starter 
Fun update here: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...80#post2957480
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post #48 of 48
11/6/10 at 1:43pm
Carolina, if Hope won't eat at all with the Gracie-scented cloth there, then remove it! Try putting treats down on one after a good play session and see what happens.

But you're right - the point in scent swapping is to get them associating the scent with good things, things they love, so they transfer that association to the scent.

They know she's there, and they can smell her under the door and on you.
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