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April 27, 2007

Frisky's Update

It means a lot to me that so many people care about Frisky's condition and I want to keep everyone updated semi-regularly because lymphoma in cats is so common that some of you must have a sick cat or know someone with a sick cat, and might benefit from reading about Frisky's treatment.

When Brent and I were in Greenwich on Wednesday (before and after the PEN World Voices event in NYC) we were both very impressed with how well she is doing. As I said a couple days ago, her fur looks better and she seems to have gained a bit of weight. Also, her nose had turned completely black (we're not sure what from) and it is going back to its usual pink color. I'm not entirely sure what this means, probably just that the prednisone is making her feel much better so she is more able to take care of herself.

Frisky with her little pink nose:

Feeling much better, for sure:

Before leaving for home, Brent and I stopped at Petco so that we wouldn't arrive empty-handed when visiting my sick litte kitty. Brent got her a little sock filled with catnip which she absolutely loves. She rolls around with it and even fell asleep resting her head on it, she was so happy. I got her a package of catnip mice, another favorite, and a catnip bouquet. I figure that when you visit a sick person you bring flowers, but for cats you bring catnip.

Frisky's catnip bouquet:

The catnip bouquet was a big hit and comes highly recommended by Frisky, a catnip connoisseur.

Frisky's C-Caps arrived on Wednesday and my mom got her started on them on Thursday morning. Frisky's vet thought they sounded great and recommended that we start her on them right away and hold off on the reishi mushrooms until we see how she reacts to the C-Caps. The C-Caps and reishi mushrooms were my discovery from doing a little online research. If you have a sick pet, you'd be surprised at how many herbal remedies there are that your vet might not even know about. Pet Alive (which produces the C-Caps) makes a lot of herbal products for pets with all sorts of ailments:

Frisky's C-Caps:

I put one in my hand for scale:

They're pretty big so for the safety of your cat, as well as yourself, I would not recommend trying to get your kitty to swallow it whole. Instead, open it up and mix it with a little pad of butter, half to be mixed in with your cat's food in the morning and half at night.

On the subject of cat food, make sure that if your cat has cancer that you are giving him/her home-cooked "people food" like organic chicken or filet, one of Frisky's favorites (she's horribly spoiled). Also, for dry food, make sure there are no additives or chemicals. Try an all natural brand like Purina Naturals. Even if your cat is not sick, switch to a food that has no chemicals for artificial coloring or flavoring because there are actually studies linking these foods to cat cancer.

Not on the subject of cancer, the vet tested Frisky's feet and confirmed that she does, in fact, have a non-cancer-related foot infection. We knew this before, but her old vet did nothing but tell us to soak her toes in betadine which she hated and proved utterly unsucessful... for over a year. I am so happy that her new vet knows what she is doing and Frisky is now, finally, on antibiotics.

Posted by lauren at April 27, 2007 11:22 AM

Comments

Posted by: Jocelyn at April 27, 2007 02:11 PM

Posted by: Cupcakes at April 27, 2007 04:39 PM

Posted by: G at April 27, 2007 05:07 PM

Posted by: Lauren at April 28, 2007 08:23 PM