Sassua

[helen99]

On August 19, 2005, I adopted the Floop. She wasn't the Floop then - the name she came with was Filene, which we quickly changed to Sassua by way of aekiy who always said "Sassua" when he saw her. But now aekiy says "Floop" when he sees her, because she has gotten so large that "Floop" and "Eat" are her two main aspects... Mostly I call her "The Planet Sassooine", which hopefully soon will change.

I took her to the vet today because her paw had once again become irritated - she has an ingrown claw that I have to keep trimmed at all times or it will grow into the pawpad - and I let it go too long. The vet trimmed the claw and removed the ingrown tip, so she should be much more comfy now - but after a few days of antibiotics and waiting until the irritation subsides, we're going back on Friday to get the extra claws she has between her pawpads declawed. We finally got an official count - she has 8 toes on each paw (double paws, actually). The vet identified three small extra claws located between her actual toes that are causing slight swelling. Only one of them is serious, but the rest are uncomfortable. I think that once those claws are removed, she will be able to be more active since her feet will not feel constantly irritated. That may allow her to lose a few pounds (I hope).

Upon examination, the vet also found that her teeth badly needed attention - that she had the beginnings of gingivitis, and also (and this is the most serious part), she is twice as fat as she is supposed to be. Not just a few pounds overweight. Not just 5 pounds overweight. She is nine (9) pounds overweight. She weighs 18 pounds, and for her size she is supposed to weigh 8 or 9 pounds. While I totally adore huge cats (part of why I let them eat all they want), this could be a precursor to diabetes and heart disease. She is officially on a diet. This of course means that all the other cats have to be on a diet too, or else it won't work too well (aekiy is occupying my quarrantine room)...

The first step will be to put her in my bedroom while feeding the other cats (so they can actually get some food). Next, I will be putting them all on food "for the less active cat", and each one will get about a half a cup a day (I'll have to adjust that as necessary - possibly a little more). I'm still not too sure how I'm going to make sure each one of the five gets enough (as opposed to one getting nothing and someone else getting twice as much).

Hoo boy.

Comments

[dogemperor.livejournal.com]

Heh, I can relate, if secondhand.

Friends of ours--the same ones who ended up having Kali knock on their doorstep and thus causing aforementioned Kali-beast being adopted by me and hubby--have three kitties. One can be described as, well, a feline football (as in shape); she was formerly a feline basketball O_o One of their kitties is a rescue and doesn't eat so much (and is also neurotic, the poor dear; she was abused as a kitten).

The basketball cat had to go on a diet; aforementioned basketball cat would steal food from the neurotic cat O_o

(The cure, as it turned out, was the third cat, who insisted both kitties play with her. Hence basketball-cat is now football-cat :3)

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Exercise sounds like a good idea. I think when her paws heal up I'll start having more play sessions with her. She has a lot of playmates but has alienated most of them by being a putz (and adding one more to the mix would make 8, which would drive me out of the house for sure). I'll have to run her around the house with paper and string toys - that should cause her to burn calories. The vet seemed competent and I'm pretty sure she'll do a good job, leaving Sassua with 13 of her 16 front claws for attack and furniture sculpture. She won't have all 16, but she won't have to deal with painful paws or frequent clippings anymore. She's very kittenish still (which is amazing, considering her girth), so exercise will be fun for her.

[laurelindel.livejournal.com]

Oh, gods... good luck. I'm glad the claws are better!

[helen99.livejournal.com]

They'll be even better when they're gone. Trimming that claw really bothers her, and I think maybe her disposition will improve once it's gone.

But then she'll have to be quarrantined and use only newspaper for litter, which means I'll have to put her in my room. When I first brought her home she stayed in there, and she went stir crazy and would romp around the room, knocking everything over in her path. Hopefully some of that has subsided (and maybe she won't have to be in there that long), now that she's fat...

[fearadyn.livejournal.com]

Oh no poor you, I can feel a huge headache coming on. The beauties will of course be offended by the change and will let it be known.

Too bad someone could not create 'house kitty play zones'. A space filled with catnip, fake birds that jump out at random times, plenty of dirt to dig in, fake trees for climbing, stuff like that.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Hey, I want a play zone like that for me too!