Her incision site healed well, she didn't bug at her sutures at all while she was healing, and the technician removed them with no problems. I actually could have done them myself at home, but I chose to be the good client and bring her in for the recheck appt:) She's back to playing normally, running around with the others having crazy kitty time.
But it seems like Danger inherited the chubby kitty gene...she's got quite the belly already! So, since both Stitches and Fluffy have a little extra too, I decided to switch their dry food over to the weight management version of EVO. So it's the same high quality, grain free food, just the adult "indoor cat" version instead of the "cat and kitten" formula.
A note when switching foods for dogs and cats: Even if it's the same BRAND of food, you should still switch over very slowly over 7-10 days. The first day, simply mix a few kibbles of the new food in with the old. Then at the end of the day, or next morning, you'll be able to tell if they're actually even eating the new food or if they left all the different kibble in the bowl. Once you've seen that they are eating the new food, gradually add more over the next few days, so that by the end of the week you have a 50/50 blend. In about 10 days you should successfully be able to feed the new kibble exclusively.
You may think this is a lot of work, or say "I'll just put down the new food and they'll have no choice but to eat it because they'll be hungry!". Wrong. Cats are fussy, love consistency and hate change. They're also stubborn, and you can't typically "starve out" a cat, like some people in the industry say you can do with most dog breeds (though I really don't recommend "starving out" ANY animal as you never know what could happen). If the cat isn't sure about what's in the food bowl, or stressed out by change, they just simply won't eat. The cat's organ functions can begin to seriously fail in as little as 2 days of anorexia (not eating). Here's a quote from an article by Cornell University: "Whatever its cause, anorexia can have a severe impact on a mature cat’s health if it persists for as little as 24 hours. For a kitten younger than six weeks of age, food avoidance for just 12 hours can pose a lethal threat." You can read the whole article here: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/healthinfo/anorexia.cfm
Another important reason to switch food slowly is to avoid digestion issues. Even if you put down only the new kibble and your cat eats it right away, the ingredients in each formula of cat/dog food are different and can cause digestive upset, resulting in vomiting or diarrhea. And who wants to deal with that? This reason is especially important for dog owners too. Even though dogs aren't typically as fussy about their food, switching too hastily to a new formula often causes intestinal issues that can last up to a month or even longer with dogs who have very sensitive digestive tracts. Adding probiotics to their diet can also help with the transition. When I had my dog, and was switching her from kibble to raw (which was a great transition and extended her lifespan and the health of her organ functions!), I added probiotics (DDS plus) to her food. The amount and type of probiotics to add depends on the size of your pet and their overall health, so I would definitely advise talking to your vet before adding any to their diet. I had the bonus of working at a conventional/holistic vet clinic when I was doing this, so I had great advice whenever I needed it:)
Basically what it comes down to is this: Would you rather spend a little extra effort and time to make your pet's food transition a smooth process, or spend a lot of extra cash if something goes wrong by feeding too much new food right away? It's a pretty easy decision, once you're aware of the facts.
In other news, I still have my Indiegogo campaign active, though I haven't had many donations yet:( As people are still recovering from Christmas, New Years, and it's "winter vacation" season, it's probably a difficult time for people to be charitable, which is perfectly understandable! I'll keep it up for a couple more weeks to see how it goes. The money that's been donated so far will be saved in my "animal rescue" fund, and I'll add any amount I can save over the next few months to add to my airfare funds. I'll get there eventually! I've also been looking into other places to volunteer, and possible opportunities with World Vets:)
Here's the link again, if you know of any generous animal lovers: http://igg.me/p/329086/x/1971336
I also added a new perk of pet photo sessions:)
Also, there's been a Fluffy purring ON MY LAP during half of the time that I've been typing this :D
I've taken a couple more videos! One is of Danger playing in the cat tunnel, still one of her favourite games...and one of Yin playing in a box to get out a piece of plastic, which I later took away from her so she didn't try and eat it:p Here are the links:
http://youtu.be/NUHCQL9zObk
http://youtu.be/oVBDao3gd1w
Enjoy the cuteness!!!
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