random bits

[cellio]

I wonder how subcutaneous fluids are processed. If my cat isn't eating/drinking enough I can give him fluids, which don't enter through the mouth, but they exit the normal way -- which means somewhere inside the cat they enter the GI tract. My vet probably already thinks I'm weird, so I may as well ask her. :-) (What actually prompted this is the observation that, it appears, a dose of fluids can stimulate his appetite, almost as if the fluids were clearing out some blockage or something -- but how could they? And anyway, there shouldn't be any blockages; he had a blocked bile duct a few months ago and they both cleared it out and installed a much-larger bypass.)

We have an invitation for seder for the first night, from a fellow congregant. This is good; Dani knows the family, so he won't be among strangers, and they like to sing, and they're the sort of people who don't race through the haggadah to get to the meal. So everyone's happy -- yay! Second night is odd: as a Reform Jew I don't see the need for two-day yomim tovim, and Dani is secular, but he's used to two nights from his family (necessity of parental divorce) and I don't mind, so I may yet try to find us something. (I said "well, there's always Chabad" and he said "let me know how that goes for you", so I guess not that since the point would be to do something for him.) He's still opposed to just holding one ourselves.

My rabbi will be leading a trip to Israel at the end of this year. I'm thinking seriously of going. I'd like to see some of the place, and I'd love to do it with my rabbi -- so there'll be, y'know, some religious content, as opposed to just being a tourist. I'll have enough vacation time to do it, since most of the fall holidays have the decency to land on weekends this year, and a bonus I'll be getting at work removes any doubt about being able to afford it. It sounds like this will be a family-friendly but not family-obsessed trip; i.e., I won't feel like e fifth wheel. So I don't see a down-side here, and I think it would be an exciting experience.

Short takes:

This comic reminded me of some cats I've known...

Hold my beer, a look at washroom multitasking (not safe for work), from brokengoose.

Comments

[spiritdancer]

What she said :-)

It also works well for dehydrated cats (or sick cats in general), as they tend to lose their appetite when they don't drink (probably as a result of metabolites/wastes that the kidneys normally excrete building up in the body. Cat's kidneys are remarkably efficient, but they still need water to work!

As an aside, the other thing I tend to give sick cats that aren't eating is a B Viitamin injection, as they require B vitamins in their diet, and they are water soluble so the amount in the body goes down pretty quickly if they are not being taken in. And the first sign of this deficiency? Lack of appetite :-/

[cellio]

Thanks. (There's more about Erik's history in a reply below.)

B vitamins: yes, my vet gave him a shot of that when he was there two weeks ago and it seemed to make a big difference pretty quickly. I wonder if that's something I can do on my own, or if I can just lace his food with B vitamins on an ongoing basis (before he loses interest, thus taking out the conventional delivery system) to keep it from getting that bad.

Hmm. Maybe they should put B vitamin in the fluid bag?

[spiritdancer]

Unless it's for use in the very short term, we don't put the B Vitamins in the fluid bags, as they are light-sensitive (IIRC, they break down with UV exposure or some such).

Some of the cat nutritional supplements have extra b vitamins added (Nutrical and the like). I did have one cat that the specialist who saw had the owner giving B vitamins at home as part of it's treatment, but that was a while back.

[cellio]

Ideally (I suppose), the bags/delivery systems would provide an interface for mix-ins -- a place between the bag and the end of the tube where you could inject drugs or vitamins in liquid form, for instance.

Remember that I'm an engineering-type, not a medical-type. :-)