Woof Woof Wednesday with Ornery Astrid

There have been a lot of vet visits for various furry babies in the family this week. Everyone is doing okay, and I'll give full updates in tomorrow and/or Fridays' posts, but for today you get yourself a pup Astrid.

Behind Astrid in these photos are some very old, very abused well-loved cat scratcher houses. One reason these scratcher houses are so dilapidated is, well, Astrid. When Astrid doesn't get her way, such as if she's told she can't eat cat food, she sometimes goes over to these scratchers and just straight up punches them. She knows that makes them collapse in on themselves, and then she happily watches us humans put them back together. Astrid has always been ornery, and even at an arthritic 12 years old, she has not lost that orneriness. I'm honestly so very glad for that.

As we mentioned recently, after starting to show some strange symptoms over the past couple of months, Astrid was tested for the disease myasthenia gravis. Her test results came back negative, though our vet did admit that, though rare, there can be false negatives. We've found a couple of ways to improve Astrid's odd symptoms, namely her occasional difficulty swallowing. Raising her food bowls helped with this, though not completely. Astrid's vet is having us try her on the antacid omeprazole, to see if her swallowing issues have a simple explanation like gastric reflux.

Some of Astrid's other odd symptoms, which largely affect her legs and mobility, could potentially be explained by her arthritis and residual vestibular disease side effects. There's also a chance Astrid is having a second, fresh bout of vestibular disease, thereby causing an increase in and additions to her symptoms. One of my childhood dogs suffered from vestibular disease on two separate occasions, but her symptoms were incredibly severe. Astrid's form of vestibular disease is surprisingly mild, which has made the emergence of her symptoms somewhat strange to witness. All in all, though, Astrid is doing pretty good, all things considered. This week especially she's been more peppy again, which has been really nice to see. We'll of course continue to monitor her and further pursue diagnoses and treatments if her newest symptoms continue or worsen.

Astrid hopes you all have a wonderful Wednesday! She's likely going to celebrate the day by yet again obliterating the kitties' cat scratcher houses. Because why not.

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Flashback Doodle of the Day

Though Astrid is having a pretty good week, the couple of rough weeks she had over the past month or two makes sharing this old "Halfway to Halloween" doodle apt enough.

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Tip of the Day

The next tip in our series on bringing home a new cat or dog is to ensure that you are prepared with all of the supplies needed for bringing home said furbaby. For example, the new furbaby will of course need food and bowls, and also possibly a litter box, litter, a leash, toys, beds, perhaps a product such as Feliway, a collar and ID tag, and so forth. What's more, though, when selecting such supplies, keep in mind the particular furbaby you're introducing into your home. Is it a kitten or puppy, or a geriatric cat or dog, or a furbaby with special needs? In such cases, have on hand food and other items that would best suit the particular kitty or pup. That being said, it is often recommended that you try to slowly transition a new cat or dog to a new food, so as not to disrupt their digestive system with a sudden change in diet. Therefore, it might also be reasonable to purchase at least a small amount of the food they were eating prior to you bringing them home, and transitioning them to a new food over the course of a few days. All in all, as you all surely know, make all necessary considerations and make proper preparations prior to bringing home a new furbaby.