Little Chickens

I've been bored with our regular food lately, which means I am diving right back into the meat world.

I do feel a little guilty, but not guilty enough to not eat it, so here we go! Tonight I roasted Cornish game hens with honey glaze, some Parmesan-crusted asparagus, and artichoke hearts with lemon and basil. It was all great! Perhaps not the most appropriate for a 93 degree day but, you know. Who cares. 

Banana had had an itchy weekend but today was better than yesterday. Just trying to hang in there for the next few weeks until we can get him off phenobarbital completely. The tapering is really really frustrating. But I know it has to be done. 

I'm thinking of making a calendar called Cats Who Usually Don't Care About Each Other Cuddling On The Stove. 

Fajitas!

Remember when this was a fun blog about food? The Mexican place by our house has had these tropical fajitas as the special all summer and I'm pretty obsessed with them. They mix up carnitas, chorizo, and chicken with peppers and onions and serve it in half a pineapple. So fancy!

It's a huge amount of food, too. When we went there on Wednesday there was enough left over for Ben and I to share for dinner the next night. 

As far as the cat goes, I'm pretty sure we are on the right track. Banana is much, much more like himself even after only a few days on Keppra. 

He's clumsier than ever, but at least he WANTS to jump on stuff now. Yesterday he didn't fall off the kitchen counter even once, so I think it might be starting to get a little better. The combo of a full dose of Keppra with the phenobarbital still in his system has got to be pretty potent. We still have 3 weeks or so before we get him off the phenobarb so I'm hoping that by early August we'll have a good idea of what he'll really be like on the Keppra. Whoever invented compounding medication into seafood flavored treats deserves some kind of award. Here's what they look like. 

It has made our (and his) life so much better, and I can't wait until we are done with the phenobarb so we don't have to give him any pills at all. 

Oh, and that whole plan of an early morning dose and then lunchtime and evening worked for exactly 2 days. I can't tell you much about them, though, because I was so exhausted I didn't retain any information. We have switched to before and after work and right before bed. It's not exactly 8 hours between dosages, but it's the best we can do and I think it will be good enough. Compared to what I am reading on my forum, his condition seems to be relatively easy to control, at least for now. There are a lot of cats who still have regular seizures even on meds, so thank goodness we don't have to deal with that. Knock on wood. 

Phase Two

Since last week Banana has been more or less fine. Not normal, mind you, but not self-destructive and insane. He last had a crazy itching/grooming session last Tuesday night, three days after we started decreasing the phenobarbital. And three days after switching to the soy-free food. So convenient that both of those things occurred precisely at the same time, so we can't be sure what is having the positive effect. He's still on 15mg of phenobarb twice a day, which is the dose he was taking when he clawed his ear bloody - so either his body has gotten used to it to an extent, or that food did not agree with him. I (jokingly!) suggested doing an experiment wherein we give him the old food again to see what happens, but Ben nixed that idea. He should be eating the lower calorie food anyway.

Regardless, we press on. He is very wobbly and uncoordinated on the phenobarbital and it's hard on the liver so it's the right decision to get him off it. One happy surprise is that the compounded version of Keppra is only $59 a month - half the cost of the pills I got from the Target pharmacy. The 4th of July holiday pushed us back a couple of days - the compounded Keppra has to be Fed Exed from Arizona - but it has arrived so we're going to start that tonight.  Keppra only takes a couple of days to reach therapeutic dosage, so I'm going to decrease the phenobarb again starting on Friday. I really really want to get him off that crap.

He still has glimpses of wanting to be bad - attempting to jump onto the top closet shelf is a classic Banana maneuver - which makes it all the harder when he, for example, falls off the kitchen counter because he turns around too fast.

He is still pretty affectionate a lot of the time.

Possibly we keep the air conditioning turned down too low. They have been all over the warm stovetop lately.

So we'll see what happens with this Keppra. The worst part of this medication, which is (supposedly) free of side effects, is that it has to be given three times a day. I can't see a way around getting up at 6am every day given that we both have to be at work all day long. And one of us is going to have to come home every single day at lunch for the midday dose. SIGH. And let's not even get into whether or not we will ever be able to spend a night away from home again. 

I'm also finding myself forgetting about the seizure aspect entirely, writing it off as unlikely to ever happen again, which I know is dangerous thinking. It's been two months since this all started but lots of cats go months with no seizure activity and then it crops up again. We're just going to have to take it slowly and see how it goes. Most vets want to try weaning cats off medication if they haven't had a seizure in a year, and I'm having trouble not flashing forward to next summer, imagining how great it will be if I can just have my regular healthy cat back. Is it likely? I have no idea. But I hope so.