Sam's Diet Update #4 (and other issues)...

It's now been an additional 13 days since Sam's last weigh-in.  Although I must confess that I did weigh her 5 days ago and she had lost nothing.  I tried again this morning and she's down 0.2 lbs.  At least it's something.

Although after dealing with a wicked case of Samsomnia last night, I'm a little disheartened.  As much as she and I are struggling with her weight, you'd think there would be more to show for it.  Or actually less to show for it.  I've talked to her vet about it some more and I'll now be trying her on a prescription weight loss food.  Or I will as soon as it comes in.

As if her weight and joint issues are not enough, she has now come down with another case of acne.  If you didn't know, cats get acne on their chins.  Usually it just looks dirty unless the acne gets really bad.  And in cats, it all shows up as blackheads.  About 6 years ago when we adopted Moses, both Sam and Jack came down with it.  It can be caused by stress and also plastic food dishes.  Sam had a really, really bad case of it with festering sores and all.  It was horrible for her and you could tell it hurt her.

Her case of it right now is very minor compared to that, but we've had to shave her chin again.  We figure this current case is caused by the stress of her diet.  Mr. Quilting Bug and I have to wrestle her every night to wash her face and apply medication.  I'll spare you the pictures because it's not pretty.  But for some reason, Moses has now become her champion.  The first night while Mr. Quilting Bug was holding Sam and I applied the medication, poor Moses was so distraught that she attacked my husband and bit his arm, breaking the skin and causing it to bleed.  Every night since, she shows up as soon as Sam starts crying and circles around the two of us.  Fortunately she hasn't attacked either of us again.

So today, Sam's new stats are...

• Starting Weight - 17.9 lbs
• Target Weight - less than 14 lbs
• Last Weigh-in - 17.4 lbs
• Current Weight - 17.2 lbs
• Net loss - 0.2 lbs

So please pray for her.  She's having a really tough time of it.  It always seems to be her that these things happen to...

• We're practically starving her while the others get to eat a lot more
• She has degenerative arthritis in her joints and can't walk or jump like the others
• She had the horrible case of acne before and now has it again
• She gets a shot every month for her arthritis
• I pry her mouth open and stick a 'happy' pill down her throat every other day or so
• She gets the lower half of her back shaved once or twice a year because she can't reach back there to clean it herself
• She used to have an unfortunate habit of marking things when she would get too excited and had to have her anal glands expressed every few months (luckily this no longer seems to be an issue)

I know, this is probably too much information, but I really feel for her.  She's such a sweet creature.  I pray that her face heals quickly and that she can finally start losing some significant weight and feeling better.

Until later...

"Give me relief from my distress, be merciful to me and hear my prayer."

Psalm 4:1 (NIV)