"Okay, maybe I'll take a taste..."

Angel's bowl at the top, Chucky snacked at the bottom bowl

Angel ate a little...

The Hubby had ceased giving Angel her holistic vitamins about a week ago, because she put up too much of a fight in the pilling process.  We were figuring out how to get into each cat their respective vitamin load, when Angel stopped eating on Sunday.  So last night, he scooped her up and stuffed her pills in as he'd done prior.  What could it hurt?

And voila!  This morning, both Chuck AND Angel danced around the kitchen, as I opened cans and made up their bowls.  Angel ate some...not a lot...but more than before.  Cannot really credit the vitamins as being the key, but she showed that she has an appetite.  I am NOT reeling back my desire to get her to the veterinarian, until I see some stronger indication that she is back to 100%.  However, things seem less dire than they did yesterday.  Thanks to everyone for your support!

WARNING!  RANT AHEAD!  YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!!!

Chuck takes three meds for his heart, and two meds for his intestines.  His original veterinarian put him on the intestinal meds, especially budesonide.  It's a mild steroid to keep inflammation down. I took Chuck to this same doc when he had his first 'running-'round-the-house-pooping-and-peeing-and-barfing' incident, and she said he needed a heart specialist.  That was in July, 2015.  Fast forward to today, when I called her office to ask for a couple of budesonide capsules, since refilling that prescription got ignored until too late...100% my fault.  SHE WOULDN'T DO IT, saying that she hadn't seem him in over a year (July 14, 2015 to August 10, 2016?!), and that her office had faxed his health history to two other offices (heart doc and holistic vet, as supplemental to regular vet).  She said that if I made an appointment today, then she would be happy to make the prescription, once she had actually seen the cat.  The vet said that this is all STATE LICENSING REGULATIONS.

Oh really?  For two or three little capsules of cat steroid that she has already prescribed?  For a client of about ten years AND two cats worth of visits?  A year?  This stinks to high heaven, and The Hubby concurs. Thanks alot, so nice of you to help, but you've just lost us as our primary cat veterinarian. I understand following rules, but seriously, what rule would be broken, to refill a script that is already on record?  Hey, I take responsibility for creating this mess in the first place, but a little assistance from the vet's office that I've spent a lot of money at AND have referred several other patients...well, screw you.  And screw me, for having stuck with you all of these years.

Bacon Balls

"I want food, not pills!"

Chuck's daily medicine; these are little tiny pills!

Bacon Balls
The manufacturer knows NOTHING about this post!

Chuck gets a lot of meds each day:

1 capsule of Budesonide, an anti-inflammatory for his intestines

1/4 pill Plavix, blood thinner

1/2 pill Lasix, twice a day; diuretic

1/2 pill Enalapril, twice a day; blood pressure reducer

At first, we used those pill pocket things, but Chuck refused to eat them after awhile, so we ended up simply pilling Chuck.  Erm...um...The Hubby does all the pilling; there is no 'we' about it!  

Then, I discovered pill masker while reading a comment on a blog (thank you, whoever you are!), and ordered some online.  It is like edible Play Doh; you simply pinch off any amount, since it's really pliable.  Wrap the stuff around the pills, and you've got a nice brown bacon ball. Well, it SAYS it's bacon-flavored, and it certainly smells like it!  Voila!

Chuck loved his bacon balls; I'd roll everything up before each meal, and he'd chomp away (even the capsule!)  But then, one day, he bit into the Plavix, and he spit that bacon ball out and foamed at the mouth.  I tried again, but he was done.  That pill must be bitter.  So, now I make the bacon ball and hand it to The Hubby, who drops it down Chuck's gullet. Just to be fair, I make a smallish no-pill bacon ball for Angel to eat at the same time.  She eats hers.

I have no photo of a bacon ball to show; it looks like a piece of poop on camera!  I've also discovered that I can get pill masker at one local pet food box store; it's pricier than online, but no shipping.  And luckily, Chuck doesn't seem to hold his twice-a-day pilling as a grudge against The Hubby (or me, for that matter!)  He does get pretty elusive, however...see him hiding in the first photo?