Truffle Girl is Well - Day 204 - (Semi) Daily Haiku

20180812_115657 - Lolo and Truffle.jpg

Truffle girl is fine
glad our little girl is well
back to silky fur

As many of you know, for the past several days we've been dealing with a sick kitten, brought on initially by our adult cat Musica coming home sneezing several days earlier.

But sniffles and sneezes being what they are, they seem to have mostly run their course, and though they both still sneeze occasionally, neither is acting sick, both are back to their normal behavior, and Truffle no longer has a crusty nose or watering eyes.

Best of all, her fur had become quite dry, as though she was dehydrated, which she likely was, but now that has subsided and her fur is back to being soft and luxurious, which tells me more than anything else that she is truly on the mend.

Even though I knew in my heart that I had made the right decision by turning down antibiotics, so as to give her budding immune system the best chance possible to act on its own behalf, when she was still sneezing several days later my resolve was wavering, and I was concerned that I had misread the signs, and that she was actually much sicker than I had realized.

And I know so many of my friends with kids at home have gone through the same thing, trying to do their best for their child despite opposing medical opinions, some of whom stood their ground, and some of whom were bullied or coerced into taking more invasive action, for better or for worse.

In our case we were lucky, and the illness was truly as self-limiting as I has originally thought, but I recognize that luck has indeed played a role. I am far from perfect as a caretaker, continue to make mistakes, and am well aware of that fact.

As just one example, despite being a devoted cat lover and kitty mom since my former husband and I found our beloved Bonnie kitty in 1991, when she turned up at our campsite three months after we had adopted her older sister Clydesdale, I managed to misread both Musica and Truffle during this latest bout of illness.

In Musica's case, I initially thought that she was being jealous of the kitten and hostile, whereas now I realize that she was simply feeling crappy and wanted to be left alone to recover, which is pretty much how I respond to being really sick.

With Truffle, I thought she had lost her appetite and her interest in food, whereas the truth was that she simply didn't want to be fed in a room by herself, away from the other cats; she is very much a social being, and started eating immediately - and ravenously - once I realized my mistake, and started feeding the three cats together.

So now that Bear has decided not to eat, despite his normally being the first to push his way to the head of the chow line, I am assuming that this may be his own manifestation of whatever ailment affected the other two cats, since he has been exposed to them from the start.

At the same time, I am watching him closely, in case I am again incorrect in my assumption. I am currently augmenting all their food with chlorella, diatomaceous earth, garlic and homemade buttermilk, soon to be augmented with milk kefir, in order to bolster their immune systems as much as possible.

In Bear's case, his fur remains silky smooth, so I'm not as concerned as I would be if that changed. But again, I am monitoring him closely, and will thus be aware of any changes as they occur. He is, after all, our elder statesman, and has well earned the utmost level of care and respect.

I'm also back to hitting the books regarding natural remedies for our cats, as I definitely want this latest illness behind us once and for all, and I want the scabies gone permanently as well.

The other major thing we've been dealing with, which doesn't seem to be affecting Lolo or the cats, but has been affecting me, is that every time I cuddle with any of them, I wind up with an itching rash on the inside of my wrists,

Finally, after a fair amount of online research, I realize that I am dealing with scabies, which is effectively the same mite that causes mange, but at lower levels. And interestingly, according to Juliette di Bairicli Levy, high populations are brought on by vaccinations, which makes sense, because I am least affected when I handle Truffle, who has yet to be vaccinated.

I have managed to discover that the cat and dog versions are far less virulent to humans than the human version, and itch for only a day or two versus continuing to get worse and worse over time, so that's a blessing.

I also tried my tick and poison ivy remedy on the resulting rash, which worked well, and then read that one of the best remedies is sulphur, which is of course the primary ingredient in my tick and poison ivy remedy. I love intuition. ;-)

So prayers and healing wishes for all of our cats, and for our dog Lolo, who thus far seems completely unaffected, that they (and I) regain and maintain their optimum health, and that I become ever more adept at reading their signals, and at making the proper choices to keep everyone happy, healthy and thriving.

Blessings to us all! ;-)

This post, and all those from now until the end of 2018, I am dedicating to the work of #tarc and #yah, aka @rhondak's nonprofit dog rescue and @sircork's charity @youarehope.

Half the liquid proceeds earned from my posts will be evenly split between the two organizations.

The photo above was taken by me using my Samsung Note 8 smartphone.

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