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Happy Birthday Tattoo!

Our kitty Tattoo turned 19 this month.

This is a picture of her birthday kitty pate. Of course, we blew out the candle for her and sang a little ditty.

Tattoo had a lot of upheaval this month.

Mid-way through the month we put her in a cage and made her endure two, five-hour long car rides with an overnight stay in a strange hotel. She did great.

Then we holed up at a VRBO in a bungalow until our apartment was ready for occupancy. She lived there for two weeks. I think she thought that was her new home but it’s not very sunny inside and she’s an Abyssinian. She loves to sleep in the sun more than any other cat I’ve lived with.

Next, we put her back in her cage and dragged her up four flights of stairs to our new apartment. The building is so new the elevator was not working yet. She got jostled a lot. We did our best.

Good news is she is living in a brightly lit apartment up at tree height. She can see the birds flying by and get all the sun Chattanooga has to offer — and that’s been a lot.

Bad news is this month came with another birthday “gift” that is not so fun.

She’s been diagnosed with kidney disease. It’s a fairly common occurrence among older kitties but it’s still not fun. Her new vet is a really smart woman. I am really impressed. There’s not much you can do for a kitty with kidney disease from a conventional veterinary medicine approach. Her doctor has now recommended a couple of supplements that she’s taking twice a day to calm down the kidney numbers and stabilize her. She had been asking to drink water like a mad woman and I thought she might be getting diabetes but turns out it was her kidneys.

The natural supplement does not taste good, so we’ve been experimenting with hiding it in various liquid-based drinks and food. We’ve been successful with goat milk. Just a little. A couple of tablespoons. Stir it in and serve. Goat milk has more protein and easier for her to digest. She dug right in the first day but has been on and off on the idea since. We’ve also tried a new broth-based cat morsel packet that she has been devouring. I’ll do anything to get the medicine in her so she can get better.

Tattoo has been with us a long time. She was originally a birthday gift to my husband. He turns 69 today. I’m taking him out to dinner. Thankfully I don’t have to try to hide meds in his food. He’s super healthy.

For your recipe today I am diverting from pate. The idea was to give you a pate recipe but I save that work for the pros. It’s not that it’s difficult to make but I hear it stinks up your kitchen while you cook the livers…and I’m the only person in the family who eats it!

Instead, strawberry season is starting so I’m offering up a yummy cool, dessert idea.

Cheers!

Strawberry Milkshake

A beautiful, refreshing dessert…Yum!