In Which the Pirate Presents Feline Friday.

I don’t talk about it a lot here, but Kipling has had a mystery tummy problem. I won’t go into the details – trust me, you don’t want me to go into the details! It’s why his first owners gave him up, and I knew about it when he came to live here, but lately it’s been acting up pretty badly.

A few weeks ago he went to the vet and was tested for a weird bacteria that’s rare in most cats, but pretty common amongst purebreds due to the close conditions of many catteries. I was convinced that’s what he had… but the test came back negative.

Last week he went in for an ultrasound. I told him that I was going to take pictures of his shaved belly and show them to the whole internet, but fortunately for him they were able to soak his fur with alcohol and do the ultrasound without shaving him. And… the scan showed nothing abnormal.

Kipling hates the carrier and riding in the car.. When I got him home from the vet, he was damp with alcohol and, er, other liquid. So he got a bath. This also made him unhappy.

So now, two things:

First, I’m going to try him on new, limited-ingredient food with a single protein. The vet also suggested adding Metamucil to his meals. Yeah, that’s right, my cat apparently needs more fibre in his diet.

And second, as I posted earlier this week, I’ve been making Kipling-themed (and other) stitch markers to help fund the vet visits, which haven’t been cheap. These were my test run, but I expect to have full sets in the Etsy shop soon! The rings are snag-free, lightweight, and as you can see, they fit over a US 9 / 5.5mm needle with room to spare.