December 17, 2021

So Spoiled!

Once again, I have pretty much nothing on my camera roll this week! So I'm going to skip Friday Night Photos--which is a bummer because I really enjoy writing my Friday posts. It's almost like a journal with a little bit of everything throughout the week. But hopefully I'll have more to write next week.

Duck is still doing good! Today, he seemed about 85% back to his normal self, so he's making good progress. The vet called me today with the results of his FUO (fever of unknown origin) blood work, and it came back negative for everything! I asked exactly what it was looking for, and this is what the vet sent me:


They've given Duck a broad spectrum of antibiotics to cover their bases as far as a bacterial infection after his surgery. The vet said there is another test we can do (where they swab his mouth) to look for a couple of different viruses (I think...?). That test is $170, which actually doesn't seem bad when you look at the entire vet bill from the past two weeks, but I asked if he thinks we'd be okay if we wait and see what happens over the next few days.

Since Duck seems to be getting better (no more fevers!) I'm hoping that this virus or whatever he has will run its course and be done soon. The only real symptom he has now is sneezing/congestion and that seems to be doing better today as well.

Anyway, I thought this was a funny story so I figured I could share this instead of photos today...

Duck has gotten super spoiled by eating nothing but canned food (the cats all LOVE canned food, but I've always used it for a treat--probably once a week). With Duck being sick, the vet stressed how important it is for him to eat, so I knew our best bet was to give him canned food. I think he'd be totally fine eating his dry food again now (after his surgery, he needed the soft food) but I've continued to give him the canned food because I am just happy he's home and he deserves to be a little spoiled!


Today, he revealed just how spoiled he's gotten, though. I grabbed a can of food from the pantry and brought it to my bathroom (where I've been feeding Duck, since I've been keeping him confined to my bedroom and bathroom). He was meowing like crazy, knowing that I had a can of food for him. I opened it up and scooped it out onto a plate, then set it on the floor in front of him.

He looked ready to dive right into it like he always does, but then he paused. He sniffed it, gave it a tentative lick, then sat down and looked up at me, letting out a single, "Meow?"

He didn't want that flavor! It was some sort of fish flavor. Duck will eat ANYTHING (he literally just had surgery for eating yarn) but he turned up his nose at the fish-flavored canned food. I thought it was hilarious (although it revealed just how difficult it's going to be to switch him back to dry food soon). I brought the food into the kitchen and gave each of the other cats a scoop of it (which they happily ate). Then I grabbed a turkey and cheese flavored can to give to Duck; as soon as I placed it in front of him, he dove in and ate it all!

It reminded me of one of our squirrels that we feed. The squirrels LOVE walnuts and that's what I  mostly hand out. I usually keep some hazelnuts and almonds on hand, too, but the walnuts are definitely the favorite among the squirrels.

We have one squirrel, though, who doesn't like walnuts and she'll hold out until I get her a hazelnut instead. It's so funny! The other squirrels all come up and grab whatever I have and happily move along; but she sniffs the walnut, then sits and looks at me expectantly. And because I am very well-trained by cats and squirrels, apparently, I got get her a hazelnut and she readily runs off with it.

I don't know why I find all this so funny, because animals are bound to have different tastes (just like we do). Duck is probably the smartest cat I've ever had, but he never fails to find ways to make me feel like *I'm* the one who is being trained!

7 comments:

  1. Duck is an excellent trainer! 😹 So glad he's feeling better -- that must be a huge relief for you all.

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  2. You have taken such good care of Duck; happy to hear he is improving every day. Good luck with retraining him to eat dry food!

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  3. Thank you for keeping us updated on Duck, and glad to hear he's stopped having fevers and is eating enthusiastically! (when it's what he "ordered", of course ;))

    Has the vet mentioned covid-19 as a possibility for what Duck is recovering from? When I read the symptoms I was like hmm, fever, sneezing, and lethargy, and tests for normal cat stuff are negative...I keep reading about big cats in zoos getting it, and the CDC page on covid in pets matches some of the symptoms you've described: https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/covid-19/pets.html. I'm wondering if he could have picked it up from a human when he went in for surgery.

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  4. So glad he seems to be on the mend. This story gave me a chuckle!

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  5. So glad Duck is doing better. Please don't ever let your vet give your kitties Metacam or Meloxicam. It has a high chance of sending them into kidney failure. This is a pain reliever. Again, so happy Duck is doing well.

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  6. Love this so much! Go Duck!! Train her well!!

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  7. Our little cat, Sherbert, just lost her buddy Scooter last month. She has always been the talkative cat but let me tell you. Her meow's have increased tenfold and because I was trying to get Scooter to eat, we were feeding them wet canned food (we call it good food). Well she has figured out that the more she meows the more likely she will get good food. Now I'm wondering who has who trained. I felt bad so I've continued it, she is nibbling at the dry food too, but I'm not sure if I have the heart to make her go back to it totally yet.

    So glad Duck is feeling better. Have the other cats recovered too now?

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