learning the tricks

Bean still doesn't like the medicine [that's going to be an ongoing battle, I can tell], but I am learning how to make some of her natural tendencies work for me, which will hopefully help us get through this.

She likes to be in the same room as me, so to get her up and moving, I go into different rooms and sit on the floor. She sees me leave, gets curious, and then comes over to wherever I am. Spend some quality time, then get up and repeat.

She loves the cat treats, so I use those as another way to get her up and moving. Shake the can, call her name, and eventually she'll come fishtailing down the hallway to snag a treat. An added bonus: it gets something in her stomach.

Another trick: soaking her dry food in water, and giving her baby food. Both get something in her stomach, even if it's just a little bit, and it gets some liquid into her.

She also has a specific toy she loves, a stick with feather and a bell on it. She will usually come running when she hears the bell; even today, when it's more of an amble/stumble, she comes out to see what's going on. Give her a treat to reward the effort, and voila, you have movement *and* something in her stomach.

I'm also learning to stay away from the bathroom. Since she wants to be in the same room I am, she will follow me to the bathroom. Then she seems to remember that the litter pan is in the bathroom, and she begins the cycle of "climb in, dribble, scrabble in the litter, turn around, try again, climb out, wait 30 seconds, climb in again and repeat". If I stay away from the bathroom, she doesn't visit the litter pan as much [or at least it seems that way], so hopefully that will decrease the constant straining and movement, and give the medication time to work on the infection and inflammation. Right now, we want her to get a bit of exercise to help keep things moving internally and also to keep her hips from stiffening up and increasing her pain, but also want her to take it easy and keep the inflammation down and keep the pain and pressure down as well. It's like a fricking balancing act...