Happy Cat Family

Hi Folks Meowmy here!
Yep you read it right this was visit 1 of 2... Hope will have to go back on Monday, for further testing. 
The suspicion is really IBS, but the doctor wants to rule other things as well, and since I am not going to go on the biopsy route, I do believe this is a good idea.
They do have a lab in-house, but she wanted to run more precise tests, in an outside lab, and discuss them with a vet cytologist. He only works on Monday, which will be Hope's vet visit 2 of 2 :). 
Monday she will have a fecal, a complete blood panel, and possibly an X-ray. Why an X-ray? Because she heard a murmur on her heart... 
I do think Hope was just extremely stressed the poor thing was shaking so stressed she was! In any event the vet will ask a second vet's opinion and if they think there is a murmur they will run an x-ray.
Hope doesn't fit the profile for murmur though - she is just about the highest energy kitty in the planet! Well, before April 1st that is!
Anyways, now she wants her to be only on a blend diet, but not on meds to get a good baseline on the tests which makes her have bad bad diarrhea :(
My poor child... I just hope it is something simple... 

Hi, 
Hope here... I have been sick again... Remember this? It is back... At least that is what meowmy and my vet, Santa Claus, think it is... All I know is that I have been hiding under meowmy' bed since last Thursday, and today was my first day out - meowmy was so happy I came out, she took this picture to post here in the bloggie... But I am already hiding again... I didn't fee like eating at all, and the runs came back... I don't feel like playing, and when I play a little, I have no energy. 
Santa Claus (my vet) thinks I have IBD, and put me on a special diet now - I can only eat one thing forever, he says... meowmy says it is bamby... That's quite mean :-/ 
I am also taking that bitter, bitter, nasty, nasty medicine again, and hopefully I will get better soon... I heard meowmy leave a message to another vet, something about a second opinion/diagnostics if I don't get better... My vet, Santa, wanted to sent me to the Hospital for something that sounded complicated- a biopsy and a ultrasound, but that he was pretty sure by my history that what I have is IBD, and most likely a sensitivity to fish (meowmy was giving me Freeze dried Salmon treats when I got sick). So they decided to treat me first, and if I don't get better, go for more diagnostics. Please please I want get better... I don't want to go to another vet again! They do mean things and stick things in places they really shouldn't... please please I want to get better...  
Please folks, purr for me... I don't feel so good... :(

Hi, Meowmy Here!
Today our Thankful Thursday is dedicated to our little Hope! I have been waiting to post an update until I had definite good news...
Last Thursday I went out of town 5am, and I was VERY scared... Frankly, I was scared I was coming back and she would be in a bad bad shape, and God forbid I don't know what was going to happen... (this was 2 days after the vet visit).
Her appetite was just not there at all, and in the morning I left, her belly was really swollen, felt like she had a lot of gas... I couldn't spend a lot of time with her, to make her eat, as I had a plane to catch. There was not vet to leave her with. All I could do was pray she ate. I did make sure she ate at least a little bit...
The day before I believe she had her breakfast, but not her dinner, or had 1/2 of it.
As soon as I arrived in Vegas for a job interview, I called my vet, and I swear, I have no Idea how I pulled that interview off - I was frantic... Crying like a baby.... But I spoke to the vet assistant, and she calmed me down, and assured me she should be fine.
All the while, I was PM'ing a member from TCS for instructions on what to buy for force feeding her in case she hadn't eaten breakfast and dinner... Got home, went to the pharmacy, got the baby food, syringe...
Anyways....... THANK GOD - she had eaten her breakfast!!! Not her dinner (I had left in the wet food auto feeder). So I made some fresh one and she ate 1/2 of it and then came back for some baby food...
Now as of yesterday I can say that she is finally getting back on track as far as her appetite goes. She is finally licking her plate clean again. It takes her several trips, and she doesn't do it at once anymore like she did before... A lot of times she turns her nose and I need to pick her up and bring her back to her food, but nonetheless, she is eating the whole thing. I know it is just a matter of time before she is completely back to normal. 
She is now back on ZiwiPeak exclusively, which will break my bank to feed her, but at least I know that she is getting the best food she can possibly get, and will not get sick from it... And after this scare.... I Tell you that is PRICELESS....
It was SO scary having her not eating, with an inflame bowel, and a diarrhea on and off for over 20 days... My poor sweet little baby
My vet told me to give her between 5-10 days of metronidazole ... Yesterday she had her last dose;  I gave her 8 days, which is the advised for giardia - this way I covered all basis... He said that he felt the way her bowels were inflamed she was probably going to need more that 5 days anyways... I do not want to risk it.
Anyways, she is doing ALL better, playing, running around, happy, cute, trouble maker sweet little girl that I came to love so very very very very very very much!
Thank you all so much for your support and vibes and purrs!
Here are a couple of new pictures of my little trouble maker!

Hi, Hope here!
You guys are not going to believe this! Remember how I got the runs about two weeks ago or so, because meowmy fed me some dry food? Anyways, since then I have been having the runs on and off... I have been mostly fine... Meowmy picked up some yummy yummy stuff from the vet called Fortiflora, and that made me feel good for a while... But a couple of days ago I felt really bad at night, and didn't want to have my dinner... Then the next day I didn't feel like eating either, and all of the sudden I had the runs again... Not only that, but guess WHO took 2 baths again? TWO baths! Ok... Ok... I was pooped all over... Meowmy even tried to cut my fur, but there was no way... 
So yesterday morning I ate just a little bit... like half of what I eat... that is when I heard meowmy talking to somebody on the phone, and next thing I know... I am INSIDE OF A BAG!

I was being abducted and taken to the V-E-T! NO fair folks! 
Luckily my vet is super nice (he is Santa Claus), but he poked me, stuck things in places he should NEVER dare to stick, and then shoved two huge pills down my throat! 
Did you ever dream Santa Claus did that??? See with you own eyes - HE IS SANTA!

As you kitties know... cat nutrition is a very touchy subject... Most of the times we want to eat one thing, our meowmies want to feed us another... the vet tell them to give us something else, then they go on the internet and read something different.... Oh my goodness! So much information out there, it is not even funny!
Here in our house for example:
Kitty Lucky Eats only dry food, meowmy tried EVERYTHING, and she will not eat stinky goodness - for her there is no goodness in the stinky!
Bugsy, is allergic to chicken, and because of him we all eat a mixture of Orijen 6-fish and Acana Grassland. For wet he eats Tiki Cat - Tuna tuna tuna... He likes a bit of sardines too, but his favorite Tiki is tuna. He also eats a bit of Natural Balance Venison and Pea...
Hope eats all wet - Ziwipeak, her favorite flavors are venison and fish and venison. She also gets a little of the ziwipeak "dry" (kind of a jerky meat) throughout the day as a snack...
Complicated, huh?
So.... meowmy was wondering if you would take a few seconds to answer our food survey? Thanks thanks thanks!
Oh, and feel free to come back here to answer to this survey at any time!!
( Meowmy here) BTY: Survey accepts multiple answers, so if different kitties in the household eat different diets, like in my house, feel free to mark all the answer - i.e.: I marked: dry only for Lucky, Combination for Bugsy and Wet Only for Hope.