09/18 Ivana BG=86 Still plodding along!

Last post from ages ago

Yes, we are still alive and well! It's been way too long since my last post, life has been crazy-busy lately as I've recently started studying again - postgrad Masters degree in Human Nutrition, which I'm loving but has been taking up a LOT of my time and focus.

The good news is that Ivana is still doing really well She's been staying in the green numbers so her remission is strong, although we still check every week or so just incase.

We noticed before her last vet appointment that she was starting to change her eating (not as eager), and she did have some plaque/tartar (not sure which) build-up on her teeth. The vet got some off, and we're still brushing her teeth most nights, but her teeth are still far from wonderful. Vet said that we may need to talk about a dental in the future, but that it has risks and the risks may be too great for the benefits. I'm leaning in that direction too, but we'll see when the time comes. Anyway, Vet said that her teeth may have been the reason why she was not eating as eagerly, gave her a shot of antibiotics for gingivitis and it helped immediately so I guess that was an issue for poor Ivana. She was also a little dehydrated so we stopped the Healthy Mouth in her water incase that was making her drink less.

Her eating has changed a bit though - as some of you will remember, Miss I was diagnosed with CKD in January last year so we've been managing that along with her FD diet. She had a list of allowable foods that I would take shopping with me. BFF food was recalled and taken of the shelves maybe 6mths ago, and unfortunately she lost about half of her allowable menu, so I can't wait til it comes back so we can give her a bit more variety. She is going through stages of not liking a particular flavour - right now, she won't eat any chicken (possibly because she shares the loungechair with a pet chicken every night?). Makes it tricky when a good portion of the food we can give her is chicken-based! And you know how it is, you have to open 4 cans to find the thing they feel like eating that meal...

As it stands we are pretty much just giving her whatever food she wants, whenever she wants (within reason) because we figure that sooner or later the CKD is going to take away her appetite so we'll take advantage of her appetite now while we can.

Other than that, all is well here. We still have our lonesome chicken Shiraz who lives indoors with us from sunset til morning, and her and Ivana spend the evenings on the lounge next to each other. With a bit of a gap between them of course haha. Our foster guinea pigs Sasha & Big Ted were adopted, and we now have a new foster of Bamboo the bunny. The four ducks are still going well, although now that it's spring the boys Bill & Ted are busy trying to make ducklings much to the annoyance of the girls Thelma & Louise.

It's not an Ivana-update without a photo, so here you go! She doesn't look 19 yrs old does she?

 

Sounds like she's doing well. She's as beautiful as ever!

 

HRH looks amazing Tara!!! Good to have the update. Good luck with your degree!

 

Hi Tara it is so nice to hear from you. It sounds like Ivana is doing well and hopefully she will stay in remission.

 

What a gorgeous girl! She looks much younger than her age. I hope she still likes laps.

 

Great to read your update, Tara - I'm sorry Ivana's teeth/gums have been giving her grief, but love the thought of her on the sofa with Shiraz each night Best wishes with your studies - I know that is an intensive course.

 

Great pictures. I'm glad Ivana is staying in good numbers. I hope you can continue to manage her teeth and find food she will eat. Good luck with your degree.

 

How great to get this report and to see how well Ivana is doing. I think it's neat that she and Shiraz have bonded (sort-of). It's good that she's liking some of her fuds. I wish I could get Rusty to eat better.
Love the pics. Ivana looks wonderful.

Hugs and scritches,

 

Oh my, I didn't realize when I commented on your last post that it was so old! Obviously I missed it the first time around. I'm glad you were inspired to update us. I think these pictures of Miss I are much more flattering!

Have you tried making her food yourself? I think Bron said the supplement kits weren't available in Oz, but I imagine you could find all the necessary ingredients if you needed to.

 

She sure does! A few times she's even slept on the bed between us and slightly under the covers, which she has never done before. I like to think it's because she loves us so much, and not that she's trying to steal our body heat

 

Yup, my bad for taking so long to update! I always think of it as I'm adding her numbers into the spreadsheet each week, then I get distracted by something shiny

Yes we have. When Ivana was first diagnosed with CKD, I picked Bron's brains about raw diets and tested it out by buying a small amount of a few different things for her to try. She loved it! So we bought in bulk, spent an afternoon cutting up and portioning the food, and then she turned her nose up at every single thing. Everything, every time. So all that food got donated to my parent's cats and we reverted back to the tins. Actually it reminds me of this, which I'm sure we've all been familiar with at some point:

 

It's so hard sometimes hey. I've figured out that I need to hold Ivana's head over the dish for about 10sec until she starts eating. I thought it was because she was losing her sense of smell and that warming the food would help, but it didn't make any difference. If it's mealtime and she's not in the kitchen, I carry her to her food. And sleepy-eating is great too! Wait til they're asleep and then shove the food under their nose and they wake up and start eating automatically. No idea why, but we've had to utilise that a few times too. Do you have any other tricks you use for Rusty?

 

I've found recently that that works for my 18 year-old Burmese, too. I'll put food down, and she won't eat; it's almost as if she doesn't know that the food is there. I've been assuming that she doesn't want that brand, but if I get her to stand up and then hold the bowl for her, she'll usually eat it, and then I can put the food down. Could it be eyesight/sense of smell for the older ones, I wonder? Girlie has arthritis, so I put her bowl on a box so she doesn't have to bend down too far.

 

@Girlie's mom yes I agree that a raised bowl is easier for them, Ivana loves anything that makes life easier for her so we do that too. Interesting about holding the bowl and then being able to put it down, I might give that a go if I need it too - thanks!

 

One option for raw is to mix a spoonful in with the tinned food. Then a couple days later up it to two spoons, etc. Get them slowly used to the texture and flavour.

 

Tried that too, may as well have added poison to her tinned food the way she turned her nose up at it. She seems to have a thing about different foods mixing - even different flavours of tinned foods that she likes individually, she won't eat if we mix them. If we want to give her two different flavours they need to be on opposite sides of the bowl. She really is like a toddler with her eating habits!

 

Hi Tara. Good to see you and hear news of Ivana!

 

Hi Bron! Hope all is well with you too, Ivana says Meow

 

Hey Tara, how is Ivana doing?
I hope it's not too hot up your way

 

Hi @sarahtee ! I'm about to do another post for Ivana now But yes, it's been stinking hot