Friday, March 20, 2009

Plush Piggy

Plush Piggy, the year he grew the most fur ever.

Hi:

It's Grover. Listen, I want you to know another creepy fact about Piggy. Sometimes, he grows FUR. I know. It's horrible and further proof of his Monster-ness.

Our mom was chatting with Marley and Reggie's mom about Sphynxs and she shared this picture of Piggy from a few years ago. Every winter he used to grow some fur, just a wee patch, but that particular year he grew a plethora of fur! It was so horrifying that I tried to lick it off him. I licked and licked in an effort to remove it and, because he is daft, he mistook my efforts as my trying to groom him. As if I were trying to be NICE or something. Bitch, please.

Anyway, when my mom was discussing Pig's symptoms with our vet a few days ago, she told him she had missed noticing a few symptoms; one of which is that this winter is the first time since he was born that Pig did not grow any fur at all. She realized this could have been a symptom when Teri shared that hair loss could be a sign of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, which Pig was just diagnosed with a severe case of. He doesn't have hair, so he didn't lose it, but he didn't grow it either and that was probably a sign.

Also, a few months ago, Pig began needing three to five tries to get up on the bed at night, where he used to gallump up in one try like he was in flight and often landed on me, scaring the bejesus out of me.

So, when he was no longer gallumping onto the bed at night, my mom began pretending she's a freaking cheerleader, forgetting that in school she did NOT make the cheerleading team and, instead, had to settle for being a TWIRLER - and I don't care if she did twirl batons, flags, rifles and fire. I don't care that she wore a short, flippy, trollopy skirt just like the cheerleaders, everyone knows that cheerleaders are better than twirlers. Anyway, so now she cheers Piggy to encourage him to get on the bed.

My feeling is that if he can't get on the bed, that is HIS problem. But no. She now does this annoying counting-his-tries thing and cheering-him-on thing. Like this:

Come on, Piggy! Come on, Piggy! One! Two! Come on, Piggy! You can do it! Three! Four! YAY! Five! You did it! Good, Piggy!

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Anyway, so she attributed Piggy's sudden inability to join us in bed as Piggy being bottom-heavy (she is so PC, let's call a Pig a pig, shall we - he's FAT! Or was...), instead of realizing it was his muscles becoming less strong. He used to feel like a plump, hard football and now he feels like a deflated football. And they really DO make footballs from Pig skin, so let that serve as a warning to you, Mr. Piggy.

Anyway, I am only telling you this because sometimes "symptoms" of something amiss do not seem to be symptoms at all and instead are written off as 'nothing'. Most of the time, they probably ARE nothing, but sometimes they are not.

And that is what we learned this week.

Just sayin'.

Luv,

Grover

P.S. Pig ate more baby food and more yogurt and did not puke! He won't eat more than a few bits of our regular dry cat food though...who cares, more for me!

P.P.S. Pig says to tell you that his sometimes-fur is luxurious, not scary. He also said to tell you he wishes our mom would wash his sweater.

17 comments:

Daisy said...

Piggy, I think your little sometimes patches of fur are very cute.

I think you are very right about symptoms being important. Many, many years ago, right before Pixie was first diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, she had been doing this coughing thing at night.

Anonymous said...

The winter fur looks very cool. We're so glad things are going better, however small the steps are. We're still hoping for full return to form.

The Meezers or Billy said...

Grover, that is a furry good lesson!

Piggy, we like your fur patches.
and we hope your mom washes your sweater.

Teri and her Stylish Adventure Cats said...

Oh Grover...you "threw up a little in your mouth"!?!

Teri said she is going to have to use that quote the next time something grosses her out!!

But, reading in between the lines, we can tell that deep down you care about the Pig, or you wouldn't spend so much time complaining and creating stories about him, even if in your kitty eyes...they are true.

Teri has become very close to your mom and Pig (oh yes, and you) these past weeks and can't wait to chat by phone to her.

She (you and Pig) always makes her laugh and she is glad she's been able to help her with info for Pig's delicate condition.

She said as a vet tech, her job is to help someone take better care of their cat and she is happy when she can help someone do that...very satisfying she said.

Good news about the no throw up thing too...it's a long trail up to good health again, but Pig's off to a good start it sounds like.

Ps: haha, the word verification was immonim...which sounds a lot like imodium, mol!!

Angel Junior, Orion and Sammy said...

Well, it is sometimes very hard for humans to ready what is going on with us. We are masters at hiding after all!

We think it is cute that Piggy would grow some hair. And we hope that his sweater hets washed....but not if Piggy is going to pull at his stitches!

Pinky Ash and Boo said...

That is an important lesson. Kitties try so hard to keep the parents,staff,beans guessing that they have a hard time knowing what's wrong sometimes. We're sorry to hear you "threw up in your mouth a little", but what a funny indication of annoyance.

Purrs

Ikaika said...

(Sorry if this is a duplicate ... we had trouble with the comments)

We are happy to hear that Pig is eating and keeping it down. We are still purring for him big time.

The mom here: We have a few kitties with irritable bowel and vomiting issues, and our TCM practitioner/acupuncturist gave us an herbal supplement made by Evergreen Herbs called GI Care, which has helped considerably. Also, sucralfate should help, too. We've had kitties on that as well. And you might want to check with your vet, but if Pig's main source of food for a while is going to be babyfood, you might think about supplementing (adding to the food) the amino acid taurine, which cats need for heart and eye health. Just a few things we've learned over the years...

We continue sending lots of healing energy to your little Pig.

'Kaika and his mom

Anonymous said...

we think you are beautiful Pig! And have tagged you for an award....come by and pick it up.

ibcmeir said...

My Maus, a Cornish Rex has lost half her hair and just on the blue parts, not the white. Though I still think this weird and so does the vet, it hasn't seemed to damaged her esteem or be symptomatic of anything (thank goodness). Mr. Piggy is still a handsome pig, and not to be under appreciated, Grover, Maus thinks your are gorgeous! Jake on the other hand is indifferent about you both, typical for Jake.

Sparky said...

Hi Piggy,
I know how you feel lately; we both went to the vet today b/c Mom thought Marley had ear mites. Don't know how we would have gotten ear mites living inside, but whatever, that's our mom being crazy. Marley's ears have been really icky and waxy the past week, so in we went to the vet. $70 later we found it it's nothing and that Marley just has an excessive build up of wax and stuff (no yeast or bad bacteria though).

We meowed most of the way there, but were more comfortable b/c we were in the same carrier. We are definitely a bit calmer when we're in the same carrier.

We are now napping but wanted to give a shout out to Piggy and Grover.

Oh, and we think we have fleas in our house too. HELP! This is why mom thought Marley had ear mites b/c she saw two jumping bug things after cleaning Marley's ears, but later found out mites don't jump. DUH!

-Reggie (and Marley too)

The Island Cats said...

Piggy, we think your furs are kinda cute...

Kaz's Cats said...

We love the photo of Piggy's furs. You know Grover, no matter what you say, we think that you might have been doing just a little bit of grooming when you were licking him. It's great news that he's eating foods, and an added bonus that you get some too! It was very insightful of your Mom to realise that the lack of furs and the not jumping so easily were symptons of his illness. We'll keep purring for Piggy to continue to get well,

{{{hugs}}}

Gypsy & Tasha

Ozark Mountain Cats said...

Get well soon Piggy so Grover can REALLY pick on you!

Ollie

Poppy Q said...

Piggy your little patches of fur were very cute.

Sometimes it is hard to get the beans to notice when we are sick.

I have lots of fur, my mum would be happy to donate some to you.

Jake and Bathsheba said...

Just checking on Piggy and hoping he's doing okay.

~Bathsheba

mister jeter harris, hizself said...

how'z mi little frend piggy today did he vomit?
jus wunderin.
da little tuftz uv fur were intrestin to me ... an i thot i commented on dat yesturday ...
well ... i'm purrin fer u pig.
an grover ... u make me laff an laff!
luv--yer frend--jh

Karen Jo said...

I love the picture of Piggy's little fur patches. That's a very good thing you learned this week -- that symptoms don't always appear to be symptoms. I am glad that Piggy is eating more and keeping it down. Keep up the good work, Piggy.