2/5 Rusty PMPS 140, +4.5 110

Yesterday

Good Morning, Everyone,

Another very cold morning after yesterday's respite from the cold temperatures. Rusty snuggled between his beans. At 4:30 a.m. he woke me up with a coughing/bad breathing spell. But he settled down again. I worried that it might have been owing to the new food he liked so much yesterday (Merrick Purrbistro chicken paté). (It has salmon oil as one of the last food ingredients on the list.) But it could easily have been the change in the weather or just Rusty having one of his congestion "events". In any event, I plan to serve him the Merrick again today at lunch time and we'll see: 1) if he still likes it, 2) if it agrees with him. This morning for breakfast he got FF T&G and Wellness Core turkey & duck.

I must get to paperwork now (balancing the bank book; been putting it off). Be back later.

Everyone have a good day,

Ella & Rusty

Good breathing vines for Rusty. It is so scary when they have those spells. Nice AMPS today! Breathe well big guy. Have a great day Ella!

Morning Ella

Nice amps Rusty! I suspect that you will be back managing the lagoon soon. You surf well today.

Bummer on the breathing episode today. I am glad though that it quickly resolved itself. Gotta be somewhat scary when that happens. Breather easy today Rusty. Is he still taking his "lung treat" well?

Good luck with the fuds to. it's nice to read that folks are finding more new foods that our sugar babies can eat.

Have a great day Ella, and stay warm! Good luck too with that paperwork.

Rusty is having a low-blue "rest" day. His breathing is good. Good appetite. Enjoyed his lung treat. Ate some more of the Merrick (another chance to see if he has an allergic reaction to it). He really likes it!

It has been a beautiful, sunny, very cold day (I think the high was 9 degrees). The Ice Palace is just about finished. It is huge this year (good thick ice on the lake). Winter Carnival begins on Saturday.

bbl,

Ella & Rusty

I'm glad Rusty is breathing better today. I hope the new food doesn't cause him any problems since he likes it.

Glad to read Rusty's breathing is better and appy is happy!

Looking forward to pics of the giant ice palace!

Glad to hear that Rusty is feeling better, I hope it isn't the new fuds. Nothing wrong with a beautiful Blue Day- have a great evening Ella!

I agree, a blue day is kind of restful. But maybe that means he was saving for a lagoon visit tonight.

Bummer on the coughing spell last night. I hope that was it and he can continue to enjoy the new fuds.

I remember the ice palace from last year so am looking forward to the pics too. Has the chair contest started yet?

I hope Rusty is ok and didn't cough any more. Nice blue day today!!!

Sorry to just get back to you on the Merrick Purrfect Bistro chicken pate'. One thing about all the Merrick foods is they are lower in calories and fat than the WN. When I switched to Merrick, I had to increase Gracie's calories but she still lost some weight. Now that I"m feeding Wild Calling, which is more like WN in terms of fat, she's back to a really nice 8.5 lbs and holding so I'll have to watch her closely. I don't want her gaining weight. The other thing about the Merrick foods is they tend to be higher in phosphorus especially the chicken (408 mgP/100 kcal). Because the chicken was also 2%, I didn't feed it to Gracie very often but she loved it. I think if it is in the mix and his kidney value are fine, especially his P, then he's ok. I did notice when I first started feeding Merrick that Gracie's P values came up a bit but now they are back down. That could have just been a snapshot from having eaten before bloodwork.

Hi Ella and Rusty! Sorry to hear that Rusty was coughing. I'm sending lots of good breathing vines his way. Billie absolutely adored the Merrick Pates. I had to cut them out of her rotation because she seemed to be allergic to something in them (maybe the eggs or the poultry itself) but she has never loved a food more. Billie's allergist told us that it takes at least a couple weeks of regular exposure for the symptoms of an allergic reaction to show up, so based on that, I don't know if a new ingredient would bother Rusty so soon. I hope the Merrick works out for him!

@Marje and Gracie , @Deanna & Billie : Many thanks for your observations on Merrick. I fed Rusty a little more of it today and he really does like it, but he is having an "off" (subdued) day and I don't know whether or not it is the Merrick. All in all he had about 3 teaspoons of it today, certainly not very much. He has eaten all of his foods today, so I don't think he has a stomach upset. Perhaps it's his congestion that's bothering him. Two weeks from today we have our consult with the IM specialist in Vermont and the ultrasound.
Rusty doesn't have a problem with phos. But he does need the calories. The Merrick chicken, according to the info. on the can, has 110 k cal in the 3 oz. can. I think that compares pretty well with the Wellness chicken or turkey?

Thanks for visiting, everyone, We kind of vegged out tonight. It is COLD out there--already -15 in our backyard.

Wishing all a good night,

Ella & Rusty

p.s. to Marje: FF T&G does not have carageenen (sp?), but does have guar gum.

Ella

I didn't go back and check the calories but I know some of the Merrick's are less in calories and fat. I hope the Merrick is not causing a problem for him although when Gracie was first dx, she was allergic to the surf and turf and I've never been able to give that to her again.

In my conversations with several of the smaller company commercial food makers, they've indicated that every single canned food must have some thickener be it carregeenan, guar gum, cassia gum, etc. I think the one that is the worst for some cats is the carregeenan but I can't imagine any of them are great. However, we do the best we can....

Brrrrrr. Still, seems appropriate for a Winter Carnival. Sounds fun. But cold.

Hope Rusty's through with his congestion for a good long while. Poor guy.

Learning lots from the food discussions. Little store here in town has some Weruva and some Hounds and Gatos. But other than that, I'm surfing Chewy.com and hoping what shows up on my step gets into my cats' tummies. So far, so good.

Stay warm.

Marilyn and Polly