Sam's Diet Update #5 (and other issues)...

Yesterday was 15 days since Sam's last weigh-in.  We've settled into a sort of routine with her food now.  I feed her right before bed and she'll wake me around 2 or 3 in the morning begging for more.  I'll get up and feed her again and she's generous enough to let me sleep the rest of the night.  She gets to eat one other time during the day around lunch time and that's it.  She's allowed to have 1/8th of a cup of food each time and I measure it carefully.

She's not looking any thinner though and I was a little hesitant about her most recent weigh-in.  I'm pleased (sort of) to report that she's lost another 0.2 lbs.  Yep, two tenths of one pound in 15 days.  So I'm happy that it was a loss, but at this rate we're going to be battling the bulge for the next 10 months.  Of course, that's about the same amount of time I've given myself to lose around 10 pounds.  Perhaps we can have a contest to see who gets to their goal first!

Sam just started her new prescription diet food a couple of days ago so it'll be interesting to see what the scales say next time.  Either way, we're in it for the long haul.  On a positive note, she loves the taste of her new food.  Unfortunately so does our other cat, Moses.  I have to keep shooing her away.

I mentioned in my last post on Sam's diet that she had developed acne from the stress.  We shaved her chin and began cleaning it with a special gel each night.  It took almost a week before we realized that she was allergic to the cleaner.  Poor girl.  Here's a picture of her chin before we stopped using it.

I hope that didn't gross you out.  The black stuff isn't actually the acne but scabs that formed because her chin was so raw.  She's now on an antibiotic - amoxicillin - for a couple of weeks.  Remember that stuff from when you were a kid?  It's pink and has to be refrigerated.  You should see me trying to squirt it down her throat.  Not fun.  Poor, poor Sam.  However, her chin is now healing nicely and it doesn't seem to be causing her any pain.  As for the acne, it appears to be mostly gone but it's hard to tell for sure.  She's got another week of antibiotic so I pray it will be healed by then.

Doesn't her chin look so much better now?

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

• Starting Weight - 17.9 lbs
• Target Weight - less than 14 lbs
• Last Weigh-in - 17.2 lbs
• Current Weight - 17.0 lbs
• Net loss - 0.2 lbs

Until later...

"If you love me, you will obey what I command."  

John 14:15 (NIV)