Kira, one thing having 12 cats has taught is to prioritize on the worrying.

Yes, Puffy's and Chunky's eyes are watering, but, seriously, it's not life and death. While you would like them all better, my guess is it's the shampoo from the carpet cleaning that is causing the problem. It will go away over time or when summer comes and you open the windows.

As for Maggie, I and Miss Maggie Moo don't want you sitting around mourning. We want you celebrating Puffy and Chunky!!! What will happen with Maggie will happen no matter how much you, or I, or anyone mourns or worries. Today was a good day for her and I'm thrilled we had a good day.

Now, about your job -- I'm there with you. I worry about sending a disruptive kid to the Discipline Office for fear of being labelled as "unable to control a class" and I worry about not sending the kid and having other kids complain. I do my best and that's all I can do. And that's all you can do too.

You've got me worrying about you!

Oh, I'll be fine. I just get overly stressed when I can't control things and take care of people like I feel they should be taken care of. I just want everything to be ok.

LInda - I have a feeling you're right about the carpets. Or, Chunk could have scratched Puffy's eye. One seems worse than the other. Either way, we will get it sorted out. I just want my sweet girl to be happy and she has seemed down since Chunk got here, which makes me feel incredibly guilty. They did play together in the cubes today. But there is still hissing.

I'm doing my best. But I'm a tad tired. Seems like every day it's something. Even if it's me spilling detergent all over the stupid floor. I would just like for ONE day to go off without a hitch. Haven't had one of those in a while.

I know it is stressful but maybe you better take the Puffster to the vet to, just in case you are right about a possible scratch, she will forgive you

((((HUG))))
Kira, if I could I would wave my magic wand and cure Puffy, make her buds with Chunky, and give you a week with no problems. Unfortunately, my magic wand is broken, out of warranty, and the company filed Chapter 11.

If it's any consolation, eveytime I have adopted a cat (and this is true even when I only had 3 or 4), I have felt terribly guilty about the effects the new cat has on the old cats. There's almost always some hissing, an occassional paw bop, but eventually there's peace. It may take a while but eventually Puffy and Chunky will get along even better and Puffy will not seem down. I know it's hard, but it will happen.

I guess Maggie has helped put things in perspective -- I broke a glass last night, one of a set of glasses. Normally I'd be upset, but honestly it doesn't matter. The spilled detergent is a pain to clean up, but does it really matter? Will 5 years from now you even remember it? It's not important. Spending time with Puffy and Chunky -- cutting the hole in the box -- that's important!

Oh, and a couple of beers with a pizza can really make life seem better.

Kira,
cats vomit when they have allergies, so there's definitely something going on with allergens in the carpet. You might want to see if you can get something at the store to put on the carpet to grab up the allergens. There's a powder stuff you can put in the carpet and then vacuum up that may help. Do you have some way of checking to see what the humidity levels are? You may need a dehumidifier rather than a humidifier! It's obvious that something is causes the allergies, so now you have to go through and try to find it and eliminate it if at all possible. There are a number of possibilities, but finding out about humidity levels (you can buy a small inexpensive humidity checker at a cigar store), checking for mold/mildew, and vacuuming the carpet like crazy will help in the meantime. Also, check the heat vents--they might have all sorts of crap build up inside them that needs to be vacuumed out. You will have to be an allergen detective, but it isn't anything to stress about--take it one step at a time and see what you can find.

This is such good information. Thanks so much I will pick up some of that Arm & Hammer carpet stuff, I've used it before. I'm also looking into getting an air purifier for the place.

Kira,

I could be wrong, God knows it has happened once before.... but, I think I have been told or read that all kittys have Herpes, some more apparent than others... not like humans get, but the virus. I think that may be what is going on with PPP's eyes.... and little Chunk. The L-Lysine is great ... and I am going to look into getting the powder that Cherie I believe was talking about.. its hard to get them to take the gel... but it is very good for them.

Also the antibiotic eye ointment is good, I get it from my vet and when I clean faces if I put this around the lower and inner corner of the eye then there is a marked improvement for a couple of days to just regular tearing!!!

Good Luck....

THanks, Aunty J. It can't hurt, right? It will help their immune system anyway. I have to go pick up more wet food pouches today at lunch, so I'll pick up some Lysine there as well. Could somebody please tell me the correct dosage though? You know how paranoid I am at hurting them in any way

Sorry I've been away for awhile! I've been on the road every weekend in Jan and last week my husband had his tonsils taken out, so now I'm home taking care of him! You can get an easy to use powdered L-Lysine that's made by Viralys here:
http://www.vetdepot.com/viralys-l-lysine-powder-100-gm.html
It comes with a little premeasuring spoon. If you suspect Herpes the dosage is 550 mg. Sprinkle it onto of their wet food. You can buy terramycin eye ointment at the same site that carries the l-lysine powder. No need to buy from your vet- this is available without a prescription.

Hi,


I have been quite busy and hectic but checking up here at least once a day and just like to give you my thoughts if I may.


Kira, remember Raven the kitten I have been fostering? He went to his forever home with a adoring Jewish lady last Monday.


But my point is, what I did not realized is that he scratched Pushkin's eye when he was playing! I am so unhappy with myself that I did not realize what happened. His left eye just became weepy and because Pushkin never gave me day's trouble in the eye department I just cleaned it and used some of Nique's Exocin (stupid, I know).


Yesterday the Dr at the Animal eye hospital confirmed he is in the early stages of an ulcer and it was the result of a scratch. Apparently most cats carry herpes virus and the scratch opened up the blood vessels to spread through the cornea. Never knew all this! He is now on aggressive treatment for the next three weeks.

The chances are very good that Puffy only have allergies but it is worth checking out.


Good luck with your girlie girl!