Lupin Farm ~ Updated photos of the goat pen in progress

[lupinfarm]

Has Accio been checked for struvite crystals in his bladder?

That's what happened to my cat, he peed blood for about a week (I was on vacation) and the day I came to the pet sitters to pick him up he was almost comatose (she had never bothered to call me).... rushed to the vet and on a catheter and IV fluids for a week. He made a full recovery. Now he eats prescription vet food and nothing else, but he's been happy and healthy since then.

We had a urine analysis done and came back crystal free, thats why we did the x-ray to see if there were stones instead, but also came back clear. He was given a shot of an antibiotic (i'd have to check the paperwork to know which) that is effective for 2 weeks plus 5 days of metacam for urinary inflammation (well it was 3 days initially, but today I went in and got 2 more days worth). He had a somewhat normal pee, no pink tint or blood but it wasn't huge... pretty average size, then some smaller pink tinted ones last night and then this morning he laid down some blood on a newspaper. Hence why I went to the vet this morning to talk to her. She gave me extra metacam, and we booked an ultrasound for Monday. She said it is very promising that his attitude has changed for the better, he no longer growls and hisses when you pick him up and he's definitely peppier and more playful like his usual self.

She said to start mixing in some good quality soft food with his hard food to get the extra fluids into him to flush out the system, and hopefully on Monday all it will be is a simple follow up to see his pretty face

I'm so super lucky with this vet, they're amazing vets and what is great is that since its a follow up even with the ultrasound we don't get charged another consult fee (its about $90), just the cost of the ultrasound which is $71.

The first vet visit just about wiped us out, I wasn't expecting him to come up "ill" again, but what can ya do? I now have to start buying this expensive, but really fantastic, cat food called Spots Stew. It's completely grain free, and has things like zukes in it. It even smells wonderful, like real stew...om nom nom.

 

[Dace]

I hope you figure it out!

 

[Beekissed]

I had a cat that started peeing blood and I knew that some cats that live solely on cat food can start having urinary problems. So, I put him outside more and seriously limited his catfood, forcing him to hunt more.

I'd never really heard of an outside cat having renal problems, so I could only conclude that their diet from hunting is a better form of nutrition.

After a few weeks of hunting, he was back to looking great and glossy again. After that we tried to limit his time spent in the house so as to encourage his natural foods diet.

Had adopted another cat that had only been kept in the house and he had to be fed a low ash food also. After being outside all the time, he never had problems with this again. Lived a long and healthy life of eating wild game along with his cheap ol' cat food.

Must be something in wild game that keeps the renal function healthy for cats.

 

[hwillm1977]

My cat is adopted, and has been declawed by someone at some point... he can't ever go outside now so we're stuck feeding him the vets food. Since we see coyotes in the yard at least once a week, there's no way I can leave him out there without defenses.

It's really hard not knowing what's wrong with them. When mine was sick, I had to get a salary advance from work to pay the vet bills... he's almost 10 years old now and I call him the $6 million dollar kitty (that's what it seems like... lol )

Fingers crossed Accio feels better soon... at least it sounds like he's on the mend now if he's feeling less grumpy

 

[lupinfarm]

Yeah I wouldn't dare put Accio outside. While he was a feral kitten, and he has a feral attitude, and he hunts really well... he just wouldn't survive outside. He's been raised in the house since he was a wee one. He does hunt indoors, he is the number one vole and mouse killer here. And he doesn't like to share! (with the doggies).

The problems started *on* a raw food diet, which is why he was switched to a high quality cat food. He was eating a varied raw food diet, fish, meats, veggies (he om nom loves salad), various plant starts (LOL...he ate all my peas last year). He started having pink tinted urine, so I spoke to the vet about it at his vaccine appointment and he suggested switching foods because raw food diets aren't for everyone, and we explored crystals at that time (didn't do an analysis because I was too poor, and the vet couldn't get any urine from him).

I'm now looking at switching foods again, I've found one called Orijen which is available at my tack shop and I've heard nothing but rave reviews about it. Grain-free, local ingredients (well regional), ect ect. Costs about the same a what he's eating now, and he's already been switched to a soft food to be mixed in with his hard food.

 

[lupinfarm]

Well Accio has been doing well the last few days. Still peeing in random places, but the pee is pinkish rather than bright red most of the time.

Also kind of awesome, I got to pat Mylie again today

And... You know, I've been so excited about getting milking goats and I have never had goats milk LOL. So dad was like, I bet we can get some pasturized goats milk at Metro, and I'm like noooo I highly doubt it. He goes in, and comes back out with 4L of goats milk. Go figure. So I took some in a little shot glass, and om nom nom. Obviously our own milk will be creamier and fresh, but all things considered it was pretty good.

I'm one of those people who likes creamy and sweet milk. I find sometimes that cows milk can have a slight aftertaste or be watery. So far the best cows milk we've found from the store is the Gallon jugs from Macs.

 

[lupinfarm]

Recently one of our biggest sources of puppy buyers (Kijiji) put in new regulations like no-posting outside of your own area. I posted in the big cities because that is where most of our buyers come from, Ottawa and Toronto and today I came home to find kijiji had deleted every-single-one-of-my-ads. I am FUMING. Kijiji is the biggest source of buyers for us, which means if I can only post in my tiny city we are going to have a huge problem selling any puppies this year. And we have 7 left to sell.

This is RIDICULOUS. They told me that if people wanted to look outside of their region, they would. Are you KIDDING me? The reason we post on Toronto and Ottawa is because people DON'T look out of their region. When they find us, they're thrilled to come out of region to pick out a puppy. Just today a couple came from OTTAWA and picked out a puppy. Now what are we going to do? No one looks in the newspaper!! No one looks at posters even though we still put them up!

 

[freemotion]

Can you have someone from those cities post an ad in your behalf?

I admit I don't know what kijiji is...is it like craigslist?

 

[lupinfarm]

Its the Canadian craigslist, problem is with the phone number and location. It just won't work, they'll find out and we won't be able to post on there period anymore.

And now I'm having problems getting myself listed on doodle sites, this one site I need/want to get listed on, their mailer isn't working and they have no email listed.. just an auto form.

So much for the world wide web, eh?

 

[hwillm1977]

Recently one of our biggest sources of puppy buyers (Kijiji) put in new regulations like no-posting outside of your own area. I posted in the big cities because that is where most of our buyers come from, Ottawa and Toronto and today I came home to find kijiji had deleted every-single-one-of-my-ads. I am FUMING. Kijiji is the biggest source of buyers for us, which means if I can only post in my tiny city we are going to have a huge problem selling any puppies this year. And we have 7 left to sell.

This is RIDICULOUS. They told me that if people wanted to look outside of their region, they would. Are you KIDDING me? The reason we post on Toronto and Ottawa is because people DON'T look out of their region. When they find us, they're thrilled to come out of region to pick out a puppy. Just today a couple came from OTTAWA and picked out a puppy. Now what are we going to do? No one looks in the newspaper!! No one looks at posters even though we still put them up!

I HATE that rule... I posted my portraits for sale at Christmas time and they took all the ads down but one, even though I only posted them in cities in my province. They told me the same thing... 'if someone wants it, they will look outside their area...' but really, who's going to say, hmm I'm in Bathurst, and want a portrait done... geez, better check the Saint John Kijiji... You also can't post the same ad in more than one category.

We also got in trouble because I posted puppies for the pit bull rescue. The puppies weren't in NB, they were in Ontario... but they are banned there so we posted them near me to try and find them a home... nope, have to post in the area the puppies are... tried to explain that it's illegal to sell,buy, give away a pit bull puppy in Ontario but they didn't care.

Write complaint letters, I try and send one a week... maybe if enough people start writing them they may open up the policy.