Ashton Archives - Page 70 of 90

What is your Act of Green?

Newton: It’s Earth Day! And just because I’m a cat doesn’t mean I can’t can’t participate in the billion acts of green movement.

Ashton: But Newton, you aren’t green. You’re orange.

Newton: *sigh* Do you see what I live with?

Ashton: I heard that!

Newton: Green means something is good for the environment.

Ashton: That sounds like a good idea. What can we cats do that is good for the environment?

Newton: We can recycle.

Ashton: Is recycling like when Pierre gets sick to his stomach and then afterwards you–

Newton: We agreed not to talk about that, remember?

Newton: Here, let me show you. This is a way that we can recycle. The cans from our food go into the recycling bin instead of the trash.

Newton: Our cat food cans are made of aluminum, which is recyclable. If we throw away our food cans, they are in the landfill forever, but aluminum is a material that can be recycled over and over again. A can can be turned into a new can and be back on the store shelf again within 60 days.

Ashton: That’s fast!

Newton: But surveys have shown that only a little more than half of pet owners recycle their cat food cans. Not only is recycling good for the environment but in some cities, programs like Paws to Recycle use money from donated recyclable items to help rescued animals in need. If your cat food cans can help other cats, why wouldn’t you recycle them?

Ashton: I like this Earth Day thing. But you’re still orange, not green.

Newton: *sigh*

Happy Earth Day, everybody!

Flashback Friday: Ashton’s First Day

A lot of you commented last week that you didn’t know the story of how Ashton had joined our family. We forget that many of you weren’t reading along a few years ago, so we’re sharing the story again for this week’s flashback Friday.

Do you remember the day that the last space shuttle launched? We do. The head peep was driving to work down the highway and noticed some debris blowing in the median. She had passed the debris when it clicked in her head that it wasn’t debris at all but a struggling kitten.

When she reached the kitten, she saw that it was scrambling with its front paws to run, but its back legs weren’t working. That was probably what had saved the kitten from running into highway traffic and being killed. One side of the kitten’s head was swollen, and that eye was obviously blind. She felt sorry for the little kitten and put her in a bin from the trunk of her car for the ride to the vet. The whole way there, she was convinced that the kitten would need to be euthanized.

The vet surprised her, asking to do an x-ray first. “Nothing’s broken. Why don’t you take her home and see how she does?” The head peep was surprised. That hadn’t been what she thought was going to happen at all! So home the shivering little kitten came, bundled in a towel with a heated saline bag as a hot water bottle.

The other cats were very curious about what was wrapped up in the bin.

Newton was immediately fascinated by the little kitten who, at first, just sat there next to her heating pad.

He hoped she would get a little more interactive, though.

Luckily, by evening, she was on her feet, and on the long road to recovery that also made her part of our family.

Don’t Eat That: Onions

Ashton: I love to eat the stuff the peeps eat. Turning on the cute to get some of their food is kind of an art form. Watch me go at the dinner table!

And it works every time. Who can resist that face? SCORE!

But listen up, peeps, this is important: No matter how much I beg, or your cat begs, you shouldn’t feed anything that contains onions. They can cause Heinz body anemia. A Heinz body is damaged hemoglobin inside your kitty’s red blood cells. It’s something that can only be seen with a microscope, but you can see symptoms like:

Fever
Sudden onset of weakness
Loss of appetite (anorexia)
Reddish brown urine (in severe cases)
Pale mucous membranes (mouth area, for example)
Skin discoloration

Heinz bodies can form from cats ingesting raw, cooked, or dehydrated onions or scallions.

Foods you don’t think about having onions or onion powder may have enough to trigger this dangerous condition.

Although baby food is often suggested as a means of getting sick cats to eat, many companies started adding onion powder to baby food recipes in 1995. One study found that as little as 0.3% onion powder in a feline diet resulted in Heinz body formation. This means that “Oh, a little won’t hurt” isn’t true at all. Small quantities of onions aren’t recommended for cats, period.

References:
Heinz Body Anemia In Cats, Jaime Tarigo-Martinie, DVM; Paula Krimer, DVM, DVSc
Anemia Due to Red Blood Cell Damage in Cats
Image “Onion_8174068” by Dubravko Sorić CC-BY-2.0

Flashback Friday: When Ashton had Two Eyes

We have never shared any kitten photos of Ashton where you can see her with two eyes. A lot of her photos from around that time aren’t pleasant to look at, but we found one from when the swelling to the eye had gone down but our vet wanted her to gain a little more weight for surgery.

So now you have proof… Ashton did once have two eyes, though we never knew her with two that could actually see. And to tell the truth, she doesn’t miss that eye these days at all.

What is your Act of Green?

Flashback Friday: Ashton’s First Day

Don’t Eat That: Onions

Flashback Friday: When Ashton had Two Eyes

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