Playtime with the PetSafe Flitter Toy

Our favorite toys are the ones that move by themselves. That’s what is so great about wand toys, right? The problem is that humans won’t always wave the wand toy as long as you want them to. We heard that there was a toy that would wave a wand for you. SCORE! We had to check it out.

Our friends at PetSafe offered to let us try out the PetSafe Flitter teaser toy and to share one with one of our readers. Score for one of you, too!

The Flitter arrives unassembled.

Pierre: Uh-oh. I don’t have any thumbs.

It’s actually very easy to assemble if you have thumbs. Three pieces make a base that looks a little like a car’s steering wheel, then the base of the Flitter snaps down into the center. Push the two arms with the dragonflies into the slots at the top of the Flitter, add your batteries, and you’re ready to play.

With one button push, the dragonflies on their little strings start to whirl and move erratically, pausing periodically to tempt cats to grab at them before flying again. That pause and resume action is nearly irresistible, even to cats who are hesitant to approach the whirling arms of the toy at first. Pierre, always cautious, sat and watched until the dragonflies stopped whirling and then went after them. Then he was willing to keep swatting them after they started flying again.

At one point, he gave a dragonfly such a yank that it moved the Flitter about six inches across the tile floor, but it stayed securely upright. If you put the Flitter toy on a carpeted surface, it would probably be less likely to be moved around by an enthusiastic cat.

The Flitter makes funny little chirping sounds to get the attention of cats who might be asleep in another room and haven’t gotten the memo that it’s playtime. Since real dragonflies don’t make noises, who knows what those chips are actually supposed to be, but they are real attention-getters. Even Ashton, who is normally timid of moving toys that aren’t on the ground, wanted to join in the fun after hearing the call of the Flitter.

With her lack of depth perception, Ashton sat really far back from the toy at first and waved her paw at it at first, unable to reach the dragonflies that spun around the Flitter. But each time the Flitter paused, she inched closer and closer until she was within swatting distance.

Ashton: I have my eye on you now, dragonfly!

The Flitter has an option to turn back on periodically several times throughout the day to entertain your cat while you aren’t in the house during the day. With the long, flailing, moving parts and string attached to the dragonflies, you should watch how your cat plays with it it and think about how your cat handles things like string before you leave it unattended. We aren’t allowed to have the toy when no one is home because we chew string.

PetSafe Flitter Giveaway

Do you want to play with a PetSafe Flitter, too? It’s your big chance, because we’re giving one away.

No purchase necessary to enter the giveaway. The giveaway is open to residents of the United States, except where prohibited by law. Giveaway will run until May 30, 2016 at 11:59pm ET. A single winner will be randomly selected by Rafflecopter (powered by Random.org) and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize; failure to do so will result in forfeiture of the prize and a new winner will be randomly chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FTC Disclosure: We were compensated to run this review and giveaway. The opinions in this review are our own and not influenced by any outsider. We receive no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

A Very Pierre Update

Several of you responded to last Wednesday’s post about Pierre’s vet appointment with surprise that he had been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, so I wanted to bring you up to date on what was going on.

The Stuff We Didn’t Tell You Back Then

You probably read the story about Pierre’s trip to the vet in mid-March that resulted in en enema, but I didn’t write about his second trip in late March. He stopped eating, so I bundled him back into the carrier and off to the vet we went. This time, the vet ran bloodwork to see what could be the problem. Fluids, appetite stimulants, and anti-nausea medicine got him started eating, though he was still very picky. More picky than his usual eating, which is really picky to begin with.

Pierre’s bloodwork came back from the lab the next week with a creatinine reading of 2.8 mg/dl. Creatinine is a waste product of muscle metabolism which is normally filtered out out the blood by a cat’s kidneys. When the kidneys aren’t working well, they don’t filter out as much creatinine, and the amount of it in the bloodstream rises. That’s why creatinine is an indicator of kidney problems in cats.

The International Renal Interest Society, which establishes guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in small animals, has a staging system to help identify the severity and appropriate treatments for cats and dogs with kidney disease. They have identified any creatinine reading over 1.6 as an indicator of stage 2 chronic renal disease, so I didn’t take a reading of 2.8 lightly.

I asked the vet what kind of proactive things we could to to help Pierre, and her treatment plan was to put him on low-protein prescription food and recheck his bloodwork in a few months.

That’s Not Going to Fly

Pierre was barely eating the nonprescription food I was trying to get him to eat. Even if he was willing to eat a lower-protein food, I couldn’t imagine giving it to him when I know that senior cats need more protein, not less.

There had to be something else we could to to help. I brought the lecture notes from last winter’s NAVC course where I heard a veterinarian with an all-feline practice in San Antonio talk about the things he did for his feline CKD patients. I even offered a consultation fee to discuss those options so that we could work out a treatment plan of some kind to help Pierre, but my vet told me no, put him on the renal prescription diet and come back in three months.

Second Opinion

After several more weeks of Pierre picking at his food as I worried about his health, I decided he needed a second opinion. That led to his visit to the all-cat vet. I liked that the new veterinarian listened to my concerns and didn’t brush off my questions about my research.

She wanted to know whether our regular vet had run any urine tests. He hadn’t, so those were included with a new batch of labwork.

When Pierre’s lab results came in from the lab, the new vet called with the results. I sat at my desk at work with a tissue in one hand and a pen in the other, afraid of the news I was going to get. “These lab results look good,” she told me.

“Wait, what do you mean?” I asked, caught off guard by her unexpected words.

“His urine specific gravity is fine, and his creatinine is 1.6.” She said he was was still pre-renal.

What happened to his high 2.8 creatinine reading? Creatinine readings in labwork are impacted by dehydration, and since the previous blood sample was taken while he wasn’t eating his canned food — the source of most of his moisture — it’s not surprising his creatinine reading was off.

I guess that’s why my old vet hadn’t wanted to do anything but change foods and wait. Knowing he was probably dehydrated made those numbers not look so bad. Why couldn’t someone have explained this to me instead of my spending six weeks worrying every day about Pierre’s advancing kidney disease?

So That’s Good News, Right?

It’s great news! Pierre will continue to live the life of a normal cat without kidney issues for who knows how much longer. Chronic kidney disease is exhausting for cats and their humans both, and it’s such a relief to know we aren’t dealing with that yet for our ornery guy.

We still don’t know why Pierre is so unenthused by his meals right now. There doesn’t seem to be a medical reason for it, so we will just keep feeding him what we can, when we can. He’s like the rock stars who demand only green M&Ms in their dressing rooms. He can ask for a food and he knows he will get it because we humans know he’ll eat it. For now, if his only problem is a green M&M-worthy diet, we’re grateful that’s the biggest problem we have to tackle.

(Don’t worry, Pierre isn’t not eating actual M&Ms!)

Cinco de Meow Meow Outtakes

We’re joining our friends at The Lazy Pit Bull in sharing outtakes today.

Last week was Cinco de Mayo, and the head peep was delighted to find a cat-sized Mexican hat for the occasion. We weren’t as sold on the idea.

Newton objected to wearing a hat and ended up excused.

Pierre is a better sport about things, but even he wasn’t too thrilled with the process.

Ashton has the humans trained not to try things like that because she gets traumatized and hides for days, so there are no outtakes of her in the hat.

We kitties are pleading with the local party store not to stock any tiny Uncle Sam hats for Independence Day. Please!

First Visit to the All-Cat Veterinarian

I wasn’t comfortable with the treatment plan that our regular veterinarian came up with for Pierre, and that meant he had to go out for yet another exam, this time at the all-feline veterinarian.

Pierre: I wasn’t supposed to have to go back for months. What’s going on? Not funny! Can we go home now?

Never having been to an all-cat vet clinic before I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first thing we saw was a welcome sign for Pierre and the other cats who had appointments that day.

We were greeted by the clinic cat, Josie. Isn’t he beautiful?

She was very friendly, but what she really wanted was to get up in the window so she could watch the people and scenery outside. She has her own cat-sized sofa (behind her in the photo) to make sightseeing comfortable.

There were also a pair of cats for adoption in the lobby. Donut here has just as good a view as Josie from her window. I hear they sometimes get squirrel visitors on their cat TV, too.

I was surprised at how tiny the exam room was. I took this photo by backing up into the corner until my back was pressed against the walls.

I thought about it and realized that I was used to vet clinics that were laid out just like the one I had grown up visiting with my pets as a child, all sized to accommodate big dogs. That’s not a consideration in the all-cat vet.

Instead of being sized for big dogs, the cozy exam room was a calming place for cats. There was tranquil music playing that reminded me a little of what you hear during a massage session. There was something else to help cats relax, too. Do you recognize it?

It’s a Feliway diffuser, to help cats feel calmer and more comfortable in the exam room.

And for the humans, the decor in the exam room itself was pretty whimsical.

Pierre: I am so unimpressed by the fake birds on the wall. Can we go home now?

Everyone coming and going from the room opened the door gently and spoke in soft voices, from the techs to the veterinarian. That’s something that certainly didn’t happen at our regular veterinarian!

Dr. Avok gave Pierre an exam while he was on the scale since he seemed to want to stay there after his weigh-in.

While Dr. Avok and I had a talk, Pierre was free to find the most comfortable spot in the room.

The most comfortable spot in the room was apparently behind a little water conditioner unit. I asked if I should get him out from behind there, since I knew my usual vet would have wanted him moved, and Dr. Avok said, “If he’s comfortable back there, you can leave him. He’ll probably come out when we leave the room.” Wow, a vet who thinks like a cat! I wasn’t used to that.

Pierre: No looking! When my head is hidden, you aren’t supposed to be able to find me. Can we go home now?

Pierre needed blood and urine drawn for some additional lab tests. When Darby, the vet tech, said they were going to take Pierre in back, I asked if they would do the draws in the exam room. She didn’t bat an eye. “Of course.” That never would have happened at my regular vet, either.

Darby and Michele drew Pierre’s blood and performed a cystocentesis to get urine right there while using surprisingly little restraint. They even offered to clip his nails while they were at it!

Pierre: I’ve had enough poking and prodding. Can we go home now?

Apparently, they normally do checkout on a laptop in the exam room so that cats don’t have to go back out into the lobby and wait. What a great way to cut down on stress to cats who have already been through an exam. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that for Pierre’s visit due to network issues. So we went back out into the lobby.

Pierre waited on one of the very posh chairs in the waiting room while I took care of the bill.

Pierre: Can we go home now?

Yes, Pierre, we can go home now.

We are waiting for additional lab work to come back so that we can get a treatment plan, but I feel better having talked to a cat-oriented vet who was willing to hear the research I brought her and discuss how it fits into a long-term treatment for chronic kidney disease.

Pierre may have acted unimpressed by going to an all-cat vet where there were so many details intended to make him comfortable, but he was back to his normal self almost immediately when we got home instead of going into the closet to hide for a few hours the way he normally would after a vet visit. So it seems that the experience was better for him, too. I finally understand why people who go to all-cat practices say there’s such a difference. All the details really do add up to better vet trip for everyone.

Playtime with the PetSafe Flitter Toy

PetSafe Flitter Giveaway

A Very Pierre Update

The Stuff We Didn’t Tell You Back Then

That’s Not Going to Fly

Second Opinion

So That’s Good News, Right?

Cinco de Meow Meow Outtakes

First Visit to the All-Cat Veterinarian

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