Tuesday, August 16, 2016

IT'S GOING TO BE A LONG RECUPERATION I THINK.



 This is where she spends her time, all the way in the back of the hay barn.  

This is where she ends up, when she sees someone headed her direction, this means she expects at least 2 animal crackers...!!

Penny has always been a challenge to feed.  She is not a good eater, probably because of her broken jaw.  It's fairly straight but who knows what it's like inside.  That's one reason I was surprised that she was impacted with mesquite beans, who knew she even ate them.  Well, that isn't true, we always do POO101, when we are in the pens, so we usually know who the worst ones are for eating beans or anything else they shouldn't.  She would have a few beans in her poo, but not even close to how many Rosie or Coquette have.

We have tried her on just about everything we have, but she would just pick at it.  The vet said to feed her whatever she will eat.  Yesterday I stayed home to monitor her when John went to his radiation treatment.  I called him to bring home, grapes, watermelon, and oranges to see if that would get her attention.  She ate about a cup and that was all.  So we made a trip to town to get a bale of alfalfa.  For those that know me, they know this is NOT something I feed on a regular basis.  We put it in with her and cut the strings.  She immediately started chewing on it, although not very effectively.  This morning I put some in a feed bucket and fluffed it up.  She has been picking out the leaves, so I would imagine the dried stems are hard for her to chew.  

This afternoon before John got home from his radiation treatment I cut her up some more fruit and she ate all I had.  I fed it to her by hand, which seemed to work.  She has never liked me, so I think she might like the idea of me being her slave........!!!  LOL  She will also eat applesauce off a plastic spoon, BUT, will not eat it if I put it in a pan on her feed.   

Everyone else is very unhappy today.  Yesterday afternoon they all went out for a couple of hours.  When it was time to do round up for feeding, most of them decided they didn't want to be fed, they would rather feed themselves.  After a lot of chasing, darting around and in general being monsters, we got everyone in except BlackJack and Tula.  John had put Tula's food in her pen and shut the gate, so when she go there far ahead of us, she couldn't get in.  John got there, opened the gate and she went in.  Unfortunately so did BlackJack, which is a no-no.  Tula can't stand to have any of them in her pen, so out she went with BJ in hot pursuit.  She didn't even slow down, but headed right back over to Burroland. It was almost dark, I went over with a flashlight while John fed the others, but never found them.  When John went out at bedtime to open up the internal gates, there stood the culprits, waiting patiently for the gates to be opened, so they could go into their pens.  Since they were late to the party, they spent the night in their pens, rather than being in with the others. 




3 comments:

ellie k said...

It is nice that she is training you so well. It's amazing how our animals can get us to do what they want. My friend has a cat that likes to sleep in a warm chair. The cat goes to her water dish and cries like she wants fresh water, my friend goes to get it and the cat runs and jumps in the warm chair and curls up.

Tish said...

Yes she is training us nicely. I had to get hold of the vet today and we picked up some meds in Tucson before we came home from John's final radiation treatment this afternoon. She has loose stool that is just water, so we're trying to nip it in the bud, before she dehydrates. She's still drinking and eating a little, but it won't take long for her to dehydrate unless we can get it stopped.

That's funny about your friend's cat, she needs to furnish a heating pad, if she wants to be able to sit in her chair. Cats can really whine and hang on with their claws when you try to move them, I know from experience with the 4 we have in the house. LOL

ellie k said...

Glad to hear Johns treatment is over, wish him good health now. I just found out I have breast cancer and will have surgery Sept. 12. The doctor will decide how much he needs to take after he checks my l.nodes. I live I Fl. So the cat can find plenty of warm places to be, she is just a very spoiled cat and her owners are two old ladies that hurry to her every demand.