I keep finding myself checking out the rescued cats that the ASPCA places in the local pet stores. Some of them are so appealing but I haven't seen the perfect one yet for Ginger. Also I remember the knot in my stomach when I added up the first bills from the vet and they were over a thousand dollars. I think I will hold off for a little while if possible. Maybe Ginger will get a late Xmas present from the ones that were gifts for some one who decided they were not meant to have pets. I know some of you are dead set against indoor/outdoor cats. I know in most cases it is for the best if they are strictly indoor cats but Ginger was a stray and short of a miracle I don't think I can change that. So far she has observed our property line except for one case recently when she got curious about the noises going on in a neighbor's house. She took only a quick peek and came back quickly. She spends a lot of time lounging on the brick wall in front of the house watching the kids at play across the street. She is always there when the High School a block away lets out for the day and she watches all the big kids go by. Ditto for the runners and dog walkers. She seems to have favorites although she doesn't let them too close. Pookie used to do that. Yesterday, I was watching her waiting for the school bell. She suddenly was looking up in the trees for some reason and it quickly became apparent why when she started ducking the hickory nuts being thrown at her. The squirrels wanted her GONE! She was interrupting their search for food to store for the winter. She tries to ambush them but they are too quick and there are too many to keep watch for her. The number of squirrels, moles, chippers and rabbits is terrible here. They do a lot of damage. Our driveway partly collapsed because the chippers dug out so many tunnels and nurseries under it. I hope they don't all figure out she only wants to play catch and release. Perhaps they will look for less threatening territory. I do keep things as safe as possible for her and the vet is becoming used to my precautions. The worst worry is the raccoons. As amusing as they are, I would wish them gone. They don't have the good manners of the ones in Wisconsin and I worry about diseases. I haven't noticed any sick ones, but they seem to be prime vectors when something is going around.I keep trying to educate the neighbors about the raccoons but they still keep putting their dogs out at night and you can tell when the raccoons go through because of the dogs barking. Sandy

I hope I'm not butting in here. I've been a vet tech/ER vet tech for many years. Commercial cat foods are causing the vast majority of health issues in cats. Cats are obligate carnivores. They are desert creatures, evolved to get moisture from their food -raw prey- small animals. They never evolved(changed in any physical way) to eat cooked, grain-based dry diets. Pet food companies spend millions to flavor inferior foods that get cats addicted to a certain brand. Then they make billions in profits, because the cats won't eat other foods. The spray-on flavors cause a burst of flavor in every bite, so cats refuse other foods because they seem bland to them. A "normal" cat will eat/try/taste nearly any food. What they need is **raw** foods. But few people will feed rats/mice/birds/lizards/insects. So, we are brainwashed into feeding cooked beef, lamb, fish/shellfish(have you ever seen a cat in the ocean catching shrimp??), chicken, turkey. Cats that eat diets with grains, will be hungry all the time. They will get fat easily, develop diabetes, hyperthyroidism, bladder infections/blockages, cancer and kidney disease from the crappy diets that are promoted as being healthy. **Never*** feed Science Diet products- reading the list of ingredients should repel you!! Diet foods are useless. They are full of fillers and cellulose (sawdust) which are totally wrong for carnivores. You get a hungry cat that produces huge poops. Fat cats need high protein,low carbs, exercise and raw chicken necks/backs to keep them busy and satisfied. If you can do it, lock your kitty in the bathroom with a mouse. Great fun for the cat, a perfect meal, and hours of exercise. A healthy cat should look sleek, muscular, shiny, with none of the fat bags that hang under the typical kibble fed cat. If you must feed commercial, go with canned food. Wellness is a good brand that is made from quality ingredients. But, it is cooked. Cats have not evolved to cook their foods, it is us that force them to eat the wrong things. Do you know that the only creature on earth that cooks is mankind? And we are unhealthy! We should eat fruits/veggies-raw. Cats have a lousy thirst trigger. They don't drink enough to offset the dry foods, thus the high incidence of kidney disease. Dry foods do not clean teeth at all. That is a myth. We do dentals on kibble-fed cats every day, and they have horribly diseased mouths. Please look at your cats as the smaller versions of Lions. Try offering a hunk of raw meat as a treat, and see how they respond. Most cats will accept raw chicken or beef as treats, and it really helps the hunger pains! Cats can live 20 years or more. Kidney disease and cancer are the top killers. Both are definately diet related. Cancers feed off sugars, from carbs. The cancer diet from Hills (Science Diet) is all protein and fats. The fact that they have a diet designed to help pets, that have cancer, caused by their other foods, really ticks me off. Either way, they profit. Lisa P.S. I've fed my dogs raw for the past 14 years. My breed median age is 6 (giant breed, lots of genetic problems). Mine routinely live 12 years. They have perfect teeth, never needing dentals, from the raw diet. They are active, muscular, sound and cognitive until very old.

Hi Everyone, Thank you for the responses, suggestions, and advice. laurief - I found the links you sent to be very informative and helpful, thank you. So, as an update over the past few days... following my last post on Monday, I cleaned the litter-boxes and found that her stool had become more liquidy. I had been informed that if this happened, we would want to lower the dosage. Neither of the vets I had spoken to before was in, but it was recommended that I lower the dose and skip that night, and give her 2 doses the next day and that the nighttime vet I'd been in contact with previously (the one who initially saw and treated her) would call me the following evening. Her stool was liquidy again yesterday, so upon talking with the emergency night vet, we have lowered the dose further to 1 time per day, and as of today stool was back to normal. If this continues, the intent is to lower the dose further on Saturday to every other day, and take her off of it completely within the next week. (YAY!) I asked about the pumpkin, and the vet said that she has never tried this herself, but has heard of it working well and thought it was a good idea for me to try. I have also increased her canned food amount over the past couple days so that she is gettig some every day rather than as an occassional "treat." I have tried the Wellness before, as well as others, but since switching her to Innova she won't touch anything else, so I don't think a complete change in diet is an option right now. But I am going to cut back on the dry food and increase the wet food and try the pumpkin and see how she does. My cats are essentially my kids. They even have health insurance that rivals my own... so I'm going to try whatever I can to get her back to her regular old self!

My cats enjoy the 'Catch Me if you Can' (Walmart has them). It's a battery operated toy that spins around under a tarp erratically. You have to change the batteries frequently but the toy seems to hold their interest. They sell tunnels that were a big hit for my cats for quite some time until the novelty wore off. They still run do them once and awhile, though. I hooked 2 together so they have a long tunnel to buzz through. They make a crinkly sound when they run through them similar to paper bags which are always a delight. I think that you have to keep experimenting with toys until you find what is a hit with your cat. I have a little box of toys accumulated, some they play with some they could care less about. Anything with real fur is preferred here opposed to synthetic. Only of three cats of mine like catnip toys. I have two Bengals that retrieve but they both have different interests. One loves the real fur mice and these plastic jaks I bought in the kids section at the dollar store. The other one loves balls, mainly those plastic colored balls with the slits. She spends a lot of time knocking them around the kitchen floor. (If you squeeze them, the annoying little bell inside comes out). A window seat or a place for kitty to sit and watch the birds and squirrels helps keeps them occupied, too.