Of Cats and Cardstock: October 2019

25 October 2019

Feline Friday: It's Stress-Related

Well, last week I reported that on Wednesday, Lily had had an excellent trip to the vet.

Unfortunately, by 12:30pm on the following Saturday, just a few days later, we found ourselves at the ER. No worries, Lily is fine now but we both had a stressful day!

Exactly five minutes after our vet closed on Saturday, I found Lily trying to urinate in various places around the house. That's a sure sign of trouble so I immediately scooped her up with the litter box and shut her in the bathroom whilst I went to retrieve the carrier. Regardless of what else I had planned for the day, it was clear that we were headed to the ER.

When I returned a few minutes later with the carrier, I found Lily in the bathtub where she had produced three dime-sized spots of urine which were clearly tinged with blood. I guess in retrospect it was helpful for her to go potty there because I could immediately see the blood. Lily willingly went into the carrier (poor baby) and we left immediately for the veterinary ER.

Since Lily's anal glands had just been expressed a few days prior, my working theory was that perhaps some bacteria from that procedure had caused a urinary tract infection. As it turned out, there was no sign of infection except a trace presence of one type of bacteria.

The diagnosis: feline urinary tract cystitis.
Caused by what? Stress.

By all accounts, Lily lives an exceptionally comfortable life so what could have brought on the stress? You guessed it: Wednesday's anal gland appointment. We could tell that she was pretty upset at the time as she growled continuously as she came out of the sedation, but who would have guessed that she'd develop cystitis as a result? Certainly not me. This was a new one. 😟

There's no real treatment for this condition other than pain medication and time. But since Lily's urinary tract had trace amounts of an unusual bacteria, the vet elected to give her a 2-week acting antibiotic shot as a precaution. We left with instructions to give her pain medication every eight hours as needed and follow-up with our regular vet in two weeks.

Lily also left sporting a lovely blue bandage on her leg from where the technicians drew blood. I was told to remove the bandage as soon as we arrived home which seemed like it would be no big deal, but Lily was having none of it. She became an incredibly nasty, snarling ball of teeth and claws every time I approached her to take it off -- which in turn caused her (and me) a great deal more stress. After a call to the ER, they suggested I take her back so they could remove it. It took multiple technicians to handle her. Poor sweet girl.

Needless to say, the second trip did nothing to help our mutual stress levels! So the rest of the afternoon, Lily slept and recuperated while I fretted.

Lily recovered very quickly from her ordeal and later that day was back to going potty in the litter box. Her appetite never decreased (of course!) and her activity level has improved significantly.

Because I now know that she's susceptible to stress-related cystitis, I am vowing not to take her back to the vet unless it's absolutely necessary. I've ordered non-absorbent litter so that I can collect a urine sample in two weeks without having to take her to the vet for that uncomfortable procedure.

Hopefully last Saturday is a distant memory for Lily. She's back to living her stress-free life.

I'm not so sure about me, though! 😩

Happy Feline Friday!

jp and Lily

18 October 2019

Feline Friday: Whew!

Lily had her pre-arranged anal gland appointment this week. We last had her checked in the summer, and I had hoped to make it to October without incident -- and we did! Lily has not been scooting so I was fairly certain everything was A-OK.

One gland was completely normal and the other was almost clear. Turns out the increased pumpkin program is working GREAT! This is fantastic news, as we had been traipsing to the vet fairly regularly to have them cleared. I have been keen to avoid this because sedating her that frequently is hard on the kidneys.

Lily is now getting a teaspoon of canned pumpkin (pure pumpkin -- not pumpkin pie filling!) every day. She will eat it straight out of the can, but I've been mixing it into her canned food, along with her powdered join supplement. The pumpkin bulks up the food slightly and makes it last longer, which I think is good for her diet. And the extra fiber helps her glands stay clear naturally. So we're not going to make her go through that procedure again unless she starts scooting. YAY!

I had also noticed a small bump on her chin, smaller than a pea but getting a bit bigger over time. It moved with her skin, so I thought it was probably a cyst or acne. It wasn't at all like the bump our sweet Tinsel had, which was attached to her jaw bone and turned out to be cancerous. Still, I wanted it checked and removed as it seemed to be uncomfortable for Lily.

Turns out it was a fairly inflamed zit which the vet successfully removed. What a relief it was nothing to worry about! During her sedation, Lily also got a complimentary nail trim and a weigh-in, which showed she's lost a tiny bit of weight. I'm not quite sure how that happened but yippee!

It did take Lily a little longer to wake up from the light sedation at this visit, during which time she growled steadily as if to say "I know you're messing with me but I can't wake up to do anything about it". The vet reassured me everything was just fine, so we all got a good laugh listening to her fierce sound effects.

That evening, Lily was treated to a dinner of Fancy Feast then took a good long nap -- with no growling! With her chin feeling better, her newly trimmed nails, and clear anal glands, she should be in tip top shape for the foreseeable future!

Happy Feline Friday!
jp and Lily

14 October 2019

Family History Mystery

I've been working on a mystery in my family tree and I'm pretty excited that I've now solved it, at least in part!

The mystery involves the family lineage of my 2nd great grandfather, Sam Weaver. As I've been working on my family tree, I've run into a fair amount of confusion about his parents. I want to know exactly who they were and what happened to them.

This photo of Sam Weaver and Mary Hayes, my 2nd great maternal grandparents, was taken in 1930.

My best source of information about Sam and Mary is this delightful family history book which was written by one of their daughters, Mate. Aunt Mate lived to be over 100 and had an avid interest in family history. I am so grateful she took time to write down everything she knew. Her book doesn't include a family tree, but instead features several chapters with colorful stories that bring our ancestors to life. I've read through it many times and discover something new each time. It's a real treasure.

When I first started reading the book, I began putting the names and dates Aunt Mate referenced into my family tree on Ancestry, verifying them with contemporaneous documents. Other than a few typos and slightly off dates, her information has been extremely accurate. In addition to being quite interesting and entertaining, her book has been invaluable as I try to piece together this particular family line.

So back to Sam. When it came time to write about her father's early life, Mate had very little information. She knew his birthdate and that his parents were William Weaver and "Levina" Biery, so I added that information to my tree. It was at least a start.

But things got very murky from there!

I also inherited another distant relative's research into this side of the family. I could see in her notes that she had written to a library in Pennsylvania about Levina Biery, but they actually sent her information about a Levina with the MAIDEN NAME Weaver, not Biery. The library materials suggested that Levina had married a man named Samuel Owen. After digging around in many records, I concluded that while this information may be correct for Levina Weaver, it is not at all correct for our Levina Biery. Sadly, our relative passed away before figuring things out.

In addition, some Ancestry trees suggested that Levina had a twin sister named Sovina -- and they were born a month apart. Now...how likely is that? 😏 In researching this I discovered that on old census records, the letter "L" often looks like a letter "S". Turns out there was only one girl -- and her name was actually Lavina.

Meanwhile, in the very old family Bible I found a few other clues to Lavina's (my 3rd great grandma's) life. On a page of pictures, there's a photo of a girl named Amanda Bergstresser, labeled as "father's sister".

Hmmm... Assuming Mate also wrote in this Bible, then she would have been referring to Sam as her father, making Amanda his sister.

I'd seen the name Bergstresser before. The relative whose research I inherited guessed that perhaps "Sovina" married David Bergstresser and "Lovina" married Samuel Owen. Of course, both of those theories turned out to be false.

But a quick check online confirmed the facts: David and Lavina were actually married and Amanda was one of their many children. They were married just a few years after Sam Weaver was born to Lavina. It was a second marriage for him and POSSIBLY a second marriage for her, although I've yet to determine if Lavina ever actually married Sam's father, William Weaver.

The lesson here is that when you're doing family research, you must always verify -- and verify some more. It's extremely easy to find yourself going down a completely wrong path and you may never realize it. You can never take someone else's research as fact without verifying!

The other lesson is that when you come up against a "brick wall", as I have with William Weaver, you can often learn a lot by researching others in the family. I want to learn about William, but in order to do that I need to piece together details of the ENTIRE family. In researching broadly, you'll often uncover the missing information you need.

Since I cleared up the mystery about Lavina and David, I've been able to identify Lavina's parents, too -- my 4th great grandparents. I'm just starting to fill in their family details which will include Lavina's siblings. In the process, I hope to learn more about Lavina's relationship with William Weaver, my elusive 3rd great grandfather.

Did Lavina ever actually marry William? If so, when and where? If not, what happened to him? Did he leave her to raise Sam on her own with her family, as seems to be suggested by the census records? Or did he meet an untimely death? It sounds a bit like a soap opera...but it's really my family history!

If you haven't started looking into your family's story, I highly recommend it! It's a fascinating journey and you never know what you might discover!

11 October 2019

Feline Friday: Flamin' Hot

Lily spends a good portion of her waking hours (at least when we're around) trying to get food. This includes her own kitty food, of course, but also EVERYTHING we're eating...almost without exception. It's a constant battle to keep her away from people food, especially snacks. And obviously I'm not always successful.

Her new object of desire: Flamin' Hot White Cheddar Popcorn. Spouse bought himself a bag this week and she became completely obsessed with it.

FLAMIN' HOT.

What kind of cat wants anything Flamin' Hot?

I said NO right away to everything Flamin' Hot.

Nevertheless, she persisted. 😉

She sat by his feet, hoping he'd accidentally drop a piece. He didn't.

She angled herself around the chair, plotting to sneak up behind him. He didn't fall for that trick either.

Early the next morning, I found her sniffing under the chair where, using her super-powerful Snack Detector, she discovered the TINIEST MORSEL of Flamin' Hot Popcorn. Before I could catch her, into the hopper it went! Fortunately, she seemed no worse for the wear for having digested this spicy tidbit.

Still, Lily is not going to have ANY MORE Flamin' Hot Popcorn. The bag is empty and gone from the house. I'm glad, because out of sight is out of mind...until next time!