Merry

All the signs are pointing to a food intolerance.

I got some good advice from Chez, who suggested we try and wean him off the prescription food slowly. Maybe it was too much too soon. This is something I will chat to the vet about this evening. I will also attempt to get a stool sample from him (that's Merry, not the vet) and see if we can shed some light on the situation.

I feel gutted for Merry. He was so miserable eating the same old boring chicken and rice food day ...

... after day

... after day

... after day ...

... after day ...

... after day.

Think Eeyore.

As soon as he came off the prescription food and onto the Hi Life, he was like a different cat.

Think Tigger.

It's such a tricky situation with Merry. We want him to be well AND happy and at the moment it's impossible to find the balance.

If we didn't have Sam eating normal cat food, it would be easier. At the moment we have to separate the two cats at meal times, which Merry hates. He gets really frustrated and anxious about being separated and not getting the same 'yummy' food as Sam. In fact, Merry spends so much time fretting about this, that it disrupts his mealtime anyway. It's quite tough all round.

Any ideas??

Uh oh ...

... there was a big pile of foul smelling, mushy poo in the litter tray this evening. Could it be that Merry is back to square one?? He's been soooooo happy since we put him on the Hi Life diet yesterday morning. I don't think I could cope with him moping about for the rest of his life if we had to put him on prescription food indefinitely. He hates it.

Please Lawd, pleeeeeease!

Cat Fence

When we got Sam and Merry we had every intention of letting them roam the neighbourhood. It's a fairly quiet area with one residential through-road.

However, since getting the cats we've noticed that some cars scream up and down at frightening speeds (we estimate 60mph in a 30mph zone). It's only one or two idiots, but one of the neighbour's cats did unfortunately get hit and killed.

So anyway, we made the decision to keep Sam and Merry confined to the garden until we can afford a house in the countryside. This, of course, left us with the problem of how to contain two lively, agile creatures, both of whom have Higher National Diplomas in climbing.

We looked at two different options:

Firstly the Purr-fect Cat Fence enclosure which is a normal fence with an inward turning arch at the top. http://www.purrfectfence.co.uk/

Secondly the Katzecre system, which uses rollers. http://www.katzecure.com/gallery.php?type=single

Unfortunately both were out of our price range (between £500 and £1000).

After scouring the Internet, The Boy found a website that explained how to make a cat proof fence using drain pipes. http://www.kittyklips.com/quotes.htm

Sounds ugly I know, but we tried it and it works! What's more it cost us no more than £75.

The Back Stroke

Caught Merry in another excrutiatingly cute sleeping position this morning.

Merry worships at the alter of Hi Life

OMG, what a difference food can make in the life of Merry. He is walking on air after wolfing down his flaked sardine and mackeral breakfast.

Merry's poo

Merry's bottom has settled considerably this week. He obviously has a sensitivity to food. But he's finished his prescription food now and tomorrow he moves onto the Hi Life diet with Sam. I'm hoping it'll put a smile on his face ...

Sniffing Sammy

A weird thing has happened to me over the past two weeks. I have developed an obsession with sniffing Sam's fur. I find that if I am sitting on the sofa and Sam comes and sits next to me, I just have to bury my nose in his fur. As you can imagine, Sam isn't overly happy about this, judging by the funny looks he gives me. But oh ... he has such a lovely, furry, kitteny, fluffy, warm kind of smell :-)