Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Well, Tara "killed" Oscar's rat. It was a large black fur toy, but when I came home yesterday, it was just a pile of fur and the chewed up plastic inside. I put out another fur mouse for the cats, thinking Tara wouldn't be able to find one mouse in the 8 by 8 feet bedroom, since she's blind. Well, this morning, I found her sniffing in the bedroom, and heard the mouse rattle sound once, so I hurried into the bedroom to try to take the mouse away from Tara. But she had just kicked it two feet away, and was sniffing around looking for it. Luckily I picked it up before she found it.
So far I've been really good about leaving Sherlock and Watson alone, only feeding them twice a week, no overfeeding. And I turn the bubble on every other day or so. They do seem a little bored to me, bumping into the glass from time to time. I'm thinking about adding more plastic plants or a castle decoration in their tank. We'll see what happens at the next monthly water change and then add the new decorations. I do think they can be trained though, because when I get near their tank, which is not often, they would semi-jump out of the water, like they are expecting food or something. As long as they are food motivated, they are definitely trainable!
Anastasia still chases Oscar about once a day or so, at least that I can observe. I'm pretty sure they are okay when I'm at school, since both just sleep during the day. And now Anastasia listens when I yell at them during the chase, she would stop and slow down and look at me, and then I would tell her, "Be nice". Before she would just continue the high speed chase, despite my yelling.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Anastasia and Oscar have been using their own litter boxes for the past week or so. Not sure why they decided to trade back, but it's like the dry kibble thing, they are pretty good at only using their own.
No vomiting from Oscar in the last 24 hours! Last night, I gave her half of her dry kibbles, with crab apple drops on them. She sniffed them and waited for about five minutes, before she finally broke down and ate them. Then I waited about an hour, then fed her the second half of her dinner, this time with fatty acid oil drizzled on it. She refused to eat them at first, waited about 20 minutes, but finally broke down and ate them. I also put in the urine acidifying tablet in her bowl, she ate that too. This morning, I did the same thing again with crab apple remedy, and she ate it almost immediately, no hesitation. Then about 30 minutes later, I gave her a tiny bit of Anastasia's canned food, Oscar enjoyed that. Then 30 minutes after that, I have her 1/4 of her usual portion of breakfast, no supplements added. But I did put the ping pong ball on top. She refused to eat. After about five minutes, I decided to remove the ball from the bowl for her, and she ate immediately. I think she smelled the fatty acid oil on the ball (from last night), and that's why she didn't want to eat it at first, even though there was no supplement on the food itself.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Not much update on Oscar's clicker training. I haven't done a lot of training with her in the last 48 hours, just trying to supervise her eating habits closely to make sure she doesn't vomit again. I do feel Oscar is more relaxed here though. Before she was skittish, but she's not really anymore. When I got home from school yesterday, Oscar was the one who greeted me at the door. Then later Anastasia and Tara came to the door also. When Tara got close, Oscar still howled at her, but she let Tara let really close to her, almost touching. Whereas before, Oscar would've ran away long before she saw Tara coming toward her direction.
Tara's sit before meals is getting much more reliable now with the two cats. Before two cats living here, I would try to get Tara to sit before I give her food bowl, but she would sit for a brief second and then get up and walk around, wait for a few seconds if I'm still preparing her food (adding supplements), sit for a brief second and walk around. With my previous dogs, I would make them sit still while I prepare their meals, and if they get up, then that just means it'll take longer for them to get their food, and most dogs only took a couple days to learn to sit still. With Tara, after she started losing her vision, I feel bad, so I don't reinforce the rules as much as I did with the other dogs, so I would just let her walk around whining ("Hey, where's my food!" instead of polite sitting, which means, "Thank you for making my meal"), even though she only sat for a brief second or two and got up before I told her to. Sometimes I would prepare Anastasia's food before I do Tara's, but mostly I did Tara's first because of her whining (I know, that's giving into her pushiness, but I have also been training her "Step", "Up", and "Careful"). Anyways, after Oscar moved in with us, sometimes I have to prepare Oscar's food first, because if she gets too empty of stomach, then she would throw up stomach bile, plus she meows to demand her meals (that's why I'm clicker training her, trying to make her work before each meal, and less giving into her manipulation; Tara's pretty good at manipulating people most of her life also, being a cute and smart puppy). So Tara had to wait for being fed second, or something last, if I choose to get both cat's food first. Then, earlier this week, I suddenly realized, Tara would sit, very still and quietly, while I prepare the meals. Sometimes I make her meal first, sometimes last, but she would be polite and sit still until I lead her to her feeder. I think I had inadvertantly reinforced this, because after Oscar came, no matter how demanding Tara was when I prepared meals, she just had to wait when I was making Oscar's food and then target training Oscar before giving her the food. So maybe I just happened to reinforce the right time, that maybe there was one time that I decided to make Tara's food first, when she decided she would be polite that day. Coincidence can be good in dog training! So maybe in her mind, she was being rewarded for being polite, but to me it was just coincidence. Anyways, the result is great! Now Tara's sitting still and quietly when I prepare their meals, no more pacing and whining, and another lesson on why parents of handicapped animals should not give into their manipulation and pushiness, but just try to treat them like normal dogs as much as possible.
Today early morning, Anastasia had been sleeping under the cover with me throughout the night, then around 7 AM, as usual, Oscar started asking for her breakfast. There was one time, I think Monday, when Oscar would aim herself at me, jumping from the table, directly landing on my body, to try to get me up to feed her. She tried that three times, and even though she's only 8 pounds, it hurts! I tried not to get up (because that would mean I am giving into her demands), and just moved closer to Tara. Oscar still moved around and meowed, but did not jump on me anymore, and I got up five minutes later to feed them. Anyways, this morning, Oscar was meowing and walking around, trying to get me up, and she walked on me, straight up near my face. The thing is, that's where Anastasia sleeps when she's under the cover with me, and Oscar was standing right on top of Anastasia! I was worried Anastasia would get mad or hurt, so I lifted the covers, to let Oscar see that it's Anastasia right next to her. Anastasia was still a little sleepy, so it took her a few seconds to recognize Oscar, but the expression on Oscar's face was so funny, when she realized it was Anastasia that she had chosen to get face to face when she walked on me!
I am trying to think up ways to give Oscar her various supplements, without having to force it down her, because I don't want her to vomit again. This morning, I sprinkled a little bit of the liver-flavored glucosamine powder on her kibbles, and told her that I won't give her any more food unless she eats that first. Well, she did not mind the powder at all, she ate it immediately, as though it's plain kibbles. Oscar also has been very good eating her liver-flavored urine acidifying tablets, I just leave it in her food bowl, and tell her she has to finish it first before I give her rest of her meal.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Yesterday early morning, Oscar tried to get under the bed cover with me, but as soon as she stuck her head into the blanket, she saw Anastasia in there, and hissed, and left. Anastasia was not awake enough to react.
Oscar's doing very well with "target" now, even would walk half way across the room to target, and seems to know the verbal cue. So I decided to start teaching her the new trick, "mat". Since it's a new trick, I thought I would use the high value treats, turkey flavored baby food, that I bought from the grocery store a week ago. I dipped the baby spoon into the jar and showed it to Oscar, who smelled it and was very interested. I saw Tara's Frisbee that she had never played with before, so I thought I would use that as the mat. When I put the mat down, Oscar was immediately very interested in it and sniffed, so I clicked immediately. But I waited and waited and just could not get her to sniff or touch it again! And of course after a few minutes, Tara smelled the baby food and was pacing around the livingroom looking for it, that made Oscar nervous and not able to focus on me. So I thought I would try the lure method with the target stick. Whenever Oscar approached the frisbee, she would walk around it, not across it, to the target stick, I tried that several times, so that didn't work either. Then I thought I would put the frisbee between the box on the table and right next to the edge of the table, so she would pretty much have to walk across it to get to the target stick. But no, she jumped across the frisbee and still would not even put one paw on it. Then I thought, maybe she sensed that the center of the frisbee would depress down if she walks on it, and maybe that's why she doesn't walk on it, because it's unstable. Anyways, I gave up on using the frisbee as a mat and will look for something else.
This afternoon, Oscar did a cat-test for a rescued Springer. Anastasia was still sleeping in the bedroom, and I didn't want to disrupt her sleep, so I didn't pick her up for the cat test. However, Oscar was curious and walked around a little bit. Oscar's not as confident as Anastasia is with unfamiliar people and places, but she's pretty dog-savvy too, having grown up with various dogs at the pet orphanage (we adopted her from the place we used to volunteer at in Oklahoma), plus later she's actually the one who cat-trained Penelope. Anyways, Jasper saw Oscar slowly walking around on the table (the crate is right under the table, and Oscar knows not to run in front of unfamiliar dogs), glanced at her for half a second, but just completely ignored her. Near the end of Jasper's a-little-more-than-an-hour visit, Anastasia walked out slowly to take a peek. Jasper glanced at her for a brief second, but again he pretty much ignored her too.
Last night I was looking around at Hobby Lobby, and decided to get a bag of the decorative "river rocks" for Sherlock and Watson, only $1.99 per bag. When I got home, I washed the rocks in hot water four times and soaked it once for about 30 minutes. Then I washed it four times again filtered water (the kind that I fill the tank with), and let it soak again for another 30 minutes. Then I dropped the rocks into the tank. I think the tank looks better with the new rocks, hope Sherlock and Watson like it too.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Right now I'm doing between 1-3 seconds saying "target" before Oscar touches the tip and my click. I'm going 1 to 3 seconds because I don't want to make it only harder and harder, this might discourage Oscar, so I sometimes go back to one second, as well with the distance to which she has to travel, I don't always make it longer, but randomly do longer and shorter, so she wouldn't get discouraged.
Another thing the cat clicker book said is to maybe have a mix of different treats when training, so the cat would have to keep guessing which treat she's getting, and this would motivate her to work harder, hoping that her favorite treat is coming next if she works hard and long enough.
I think Oscar is beginning to realize Tara's blind. Last night, Tara was sleeping closely on my right side. Before Oscar refused to get close to Tara, but last night, Oscar actually came up to me as Tara and I were sleeping, and rubbed on my left side and licked my hand! Also, when Oscar's on the table, she appears to be less nervous when Tara paces under the table.
We are doing well on not feeding Oscar too early each morning as well. This morning around 4:30, Oscar was meowing a little bit and standing on the table, her signal of wanting to be fed. I got up to feed her some tuna flakes (having her to target first of course), then went back to sleep. I did get up to give her a little treat because I don't want her to throw up again (even though I did give her hairball malt yesterday). Anyways, I was able to stay in bed until 8 AM before getting up to feed breakfast.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Yesterday I went home early to take Tara for a campus walk. Before we left the apartment, I checked on both cats as well, Oscar on the cat tree, and Anastasia on the dog bed locked in the bedroom with baby gate. When we got back from the walk, I went to the bedroom to open the baby gate to let Anastasia out, but I couldn't find her, she wasn't in any of the cat beds. So I thought, maybe somehow she ran past me as I was opening the gate, so I went back to the livingroom, anticipating seeing her walking around under the cat tree or something. But no, Anastasia was sleeping on the big chair in the livingroom, I think she must've jumped across the baby gate somehow! So I guess now the baby gate is ineffective way to separate the cats, so this morning I did not close the baby gate when I left for school.
Another reason to use the baby gate was to keep Tara out of the bedroom, so she wouldn't eat Anastasia's food from the feeder on the floor. Tara is fairly food motivated, and it took her only a couple days that there is free food in the bedroom, even though normally she and I don't spend a lot of time in the bedroom. I think Tara spent a little more time in the bedroom when Virginia was here, since Virginia mostly slept in the bedroom. There's another story about Tara when Virginia was here. One afternoon I had to stay at school because I was proctoring for a midterm, so I called and asked Virginia to take Tara out potty for me. Virginia said on the way to the grassy area across the parking lot, she didn't watch Tara carefully enough, that Tara walked straight into the bumper of a car. Who knew the dog couldn't even see something as big as a full-size car?! Anyways, Virginia said she felt bad and reminded herself that she will watch Tara more carefully on the way back, but Tara walked into the car again! Well, yeah it does take a while for the handler to get used to having a blind dog too I guess.
Oscar's doing better with my feeding her crab apple in water via dropper. She still struggles a lot if I do it like what I do with Anastasia (lying her on her back like a baby), so what we do now is have her face me, but sitting up like a person. Usually the first drop I have to scruff her neck, but after that, I just have to cradle her head and then only squirt 1/3 to 1/2 dropperful at a time, and we get most of it in. The capsules are now not a problem either.
Last night I started leaving the clicker and target stick out on the table, hoping Oscar would learn that she only gets a treat sniffing it when I say the word (or at least when I hold the stick). This morning she again tried to wake me up early, pushing stuff on the table around, the clicker and stick included. But I still made her target before giving her breakfast this morning. She was a little less enthusiastic about it this morning, I think she was probably a little confused why she didn't get a treat when she touched it earlier, when it was just lying on the table. Anyways, I waited until she did it before giving her food, so hopefully she'll learn soon.
Monday, April 2, 2007
It's strange, so far Oscar and Anastasia haven't been eating out of each other's food bowls yet. Oscar's on veterinary prescription diet for urinary pH adjustment, and Anastasia's been getting Innova EVO (no grain) for the past month.
The cat clicker book described the part about when to click really well, it uses an analogy, it's like taking a picture with camera, the time you click (on the clicker and on the camera) is exactly the moment what the animal's doing that you want to capture. So like for target training, the handler has to click exactly when the cat's nose touches the tip of the stick. Because if the handler clicks too early or too late, the behavior won't be captures (the animal won't know exactly what she's doing right and being rewarded for). Later, when the animal knows the behavior well and can link it to a cue, then the handler can wait a second or two before clicking.
Another thing I'm going to try with Oscar some time this week, assuming she continues to progress, is to put the reward on variable schedule, which means I will still click every time she sniffs the tip, but I won't give a treat every time, but at a random schedule, so this will keep her guessing if she will get a treat next time (like when people play slot machine), so this will keep her working hard.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Oscar threw up twice last night. Around 11 PM, I gave her crab apple plus fatty acid and glucosamine capsules. She threw up everything about 30 minutes later, and because all the capsule shells have been dissolved, all came out were the powder and fatty acid inside, and a little bit of hairball. Then around 5 AM, I gave her fiber capsule plus water, she threw up five minutes later, with capsule shell mostly still intact, plus bile I think. Why does she keep throwing up?! I do think both cats are licking up a lot of hair since it's spring, but Anastasia has been really good about taking fiber capsules. Oscar has no problem licking the hairball malt once a day from my fingers, but I don't like to give it often since it's petrolatum based. I've also let Anastasia try it once, she liked it too, but since she's okay with the fiber capsule, I probably won't give her too much of the malt.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Oscar threw up again this morning! I did clicker training with tuna flakes this morning, and I was trying out the variable schedule reward methods. That actually is working out really well, Oscar does tend to try again harder if I don't reward her one time, however occasionally she does get confused/discouraged, but overall I think it's helping to phase out the treats. Anyways, after we did the training, usually I wait 30 minutes before I feed her breakfast, well, this morning, I was in a hurry and decided to give her breakfast right after. But since she threw up the crab apple yesterday, I decided this morning I would just put the crab apple drops on her kibbles, however she ate the 1/8 cupful immediately. Not sure if it's because of too much food at once, or because of the crab apple, right before I left for school, I saw Oscar's vomit (with kibbles) on the cat tree! And Oscar was sleeping right next to it. I don't know if I should be angry at or worried about Oscar, but please stop throwing up!
Today as I was reading through the cat clicker training list, there was another newbie who was asking about training the cat to go to mat. So of course I read the replies carefully and one of the experienced trainers said to use a small towel. After I got home, when it was time to do more clicker training with Oscar, I got one of the towels and put it on the livingroom table. We again used the baby food as treat. When Oscar sniffed, I immediately click/treat. Then I waited for Oscar to touch the towel with one of her paws. I waited and waited she did not do it, then as I moved away from her, she tried to follow me (and the treat) and put both of her front paws on the towel. Then I waited and she moved forward (I can't remember if I moved first, don't know if she was watching any of my subtle body language that I wasn't aware of, and thus moved toward me more) and put all four of her paws on the towel, and of course I click/treat again, then a couple seconds later, she sat down on the towel, and I click/treat again. Oh yeah, by the way, I found cold (previously refrigerated) baby food is easier to work with than new jar of baby food (room temperature), because they are not as runny, so I don't have to worry as much about it sliding off the baby spoon as with warm baby food. Anyways, so Oscar just continued to sit on the towel, did not move. I was stumped, so should I continue to reward her or not? I mean that's the ultimate behavior I want, but how do I get her to start over again? I didn't want to just drag the towel from under her body, because I want her to continue liking being around the towel. I thought maybe I could try the dog way, to lure her away from the towel first then try to get her to sit on it again. But when I stood about five feet away, she still sat on the towel (but I really don't think she realized yet that's what she had been rewarded for), so I took out the target stick and said "target", and then she got off the towel and followed the stick. I click/treat when she got to the stick. When I walked back to the towel and she followed me, stood next to it, did not sniff it. I waited and waited, trying to get her to put one of her paws on it, but she would not. Finally after about 30 seconds (I know I should've been more patient and waited longer, but Tara had continued to pace around trying to get food all the while, so it was a little distracting), I lured her with the target stick, then Oscar walked on the towel and put all her four paws on it, I click/treat and then she sat down and I again click/treat. Then, I had to think of ways to get her off the towel again, plus I didn't like it that I had to lure her with the target stick (with lure, the animal isn't really thinking about the action she's doing to get the click, but more about following the stick; whereas capture, which requires a lot of patience, the animal thinks more, and in the long run, learns faster). But by that time, I had enough of training for one day so I just put away the clicker and baby food and target stick. We'll try again tonight.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
We had vet appointment this morning at 8:30. Oscar was pretty vocal in the carrier, even meowed a couple times at the receptionist desk. The receptionist couldn't find Oscar's old records, but I brought her records from the last three years from the yellow envalope. I let Oscar out of the carrier, and she was only a little nervous but overall curious and walked around to check things out. I told the vet the reason why we need the urine test, and that last time Oscar used the litter box, and I took both litter boxes up after that. The vet felt her and said yes there's the bladder (so I guess it's full), and he had a fourth-year vet student come hold Oscar (scruff her neck), and I scrached her head, and the vet drew the urine. Oscar was very good and did not move. He also saw that her belly has no fur, and I told him Oscar over-grooms herself and pointed to the bare right elbow, but I told him she's much better than before though. He brought out a litter box to put under the chair for Oscar, saying some cats get nervous and when they have full bladder, they might go in the carrier on the way home (and also I think he doesn't want her to have an accident when he's drawing blood later).
Then the vet looked over the stuff for vaccination titer (I don't think anybody has asked about it before, at least not for cats), and he said there are only three out of the FVRCV we can do, and of course there are false positives and false negatives associated with every test. I said let's do all three then this time, but he said, each test requires 2ml of blood, three tests means 6 ml, and he doesn't think we can get that many. He said if we only do one test, he would recommend the Calicivirus test, since Oscar's exposed to Anastasia for that, and the other tests aren't so important, since Oscar's indoor and I don't bring other cats into the apartment (I told him about the dogs, but he said the dogs won't give her any of the FVRCV). So we agreed to do the Calici titer and if he could get more blood, then maybe do another test. The vet student held Oscar sitting up, and the vet tried to draw the blood from jugular vein. It was a little hard to draw, and Oscar started meowing and lifted her paw. The vet got scared (doesn't want to get bitten or scratched) and said let's try the leg vein, so again the vet student scruffed Oscar and laid her on her side. And I was stroking Oscar's face to help calm her down. The vet said Oscar has tiny vein; so it took him a long time to get just 2ml. The first 30 seconds, Oscar was very good and lied still, but after that, she started meowing and moving her legs, the vet student warned me about Oscar biting me, but I was not afraid (Oscar and Anastasia are trained, fully domesticated cats, they don't bite that hard when they decide to), I just kept stroking Oscar's face and ears. Finally the vet got barely 2ml of blood. When he came back, he said he called the vet school and the regular blood testing lab, and it's cheaper to do it at the vet school, half the price ($40 versus $80), so we are sending it off to the vet school.
Also he came back with the urine results, he said urine pH 6, the machine indicated leukocyte present in the urine, but when he looked under the microscope, there is no red or white blood cells. Everything else normal. Then he asked about how long Oscar's going to stay with me, and I told him my sister's on a trip, in Malaysia right now, and he said his baby brother is in Indonesia surfing. He listened to her heart and lungs and said they sound good.
He looked over the first few pages of Oscar's medical history that I brought, and then he said Oscar had quite a few blood tests done, and I pointed out to him the high blood glucose and high thyroid test results in August. He said yes he saw that, and he said for a cat who's nervous during blood draw, if glucose level is under 170 he would consider it normal, but if 200 then he would say to retest it. I asked him how often we should have Oscar's blood tested, he said the medical chart from previous vet said every six months, and he would agree every six months also. So that would mean Oscar would need a blood test some time this month, however, we couldn't get anymore blood for today's visit anyways, so we'll have to come back again. He said he read in the medical history where it said Oscar had heart murmur, but at another note it said no heart murmur. He didn't hear any heart murmur that would be associated with hyperthyroidism. So he said just every six months, and he said, besides, we'll probably have to draw blood from leg vein instead of the jugular, and usually we don't get as much blood from the leg vein. He said Oscar isn't as cooperative as Anastasia when drawing blood, with Anastasia, we can do jugular vein. He said Oscar's older but has more spunk, and I said yes (A says, "Spunk? Like Sophia in Golden Girls?!")
I asked him to look at Oscar's teeth, because I haven't been able to brush her teeth. He said there is some tartar in the back, but overall it's okay, maybe teeth cleaning in six months, but not right now. He said actually Oscar's in better shape than a lot of younger cats. I also told him that I am clicker training Oscar, and Oscar is target trained. He said old cats can learn new tricks!
He'll call about blood titer results end of this week or early next week.
When we were waiting for the receptionist to pay, I was petting Sarah, one of the office cats. When Oscar saw Sarah, she hissed. Sarah looked at her for a second but ignored her.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Yesterday afternoon when I came home, Oscar was the one who was sitting next to the window, looking out of the apartment, waiting for me to come home. That was so sweet of her! And I've been giving her fatty acid supplement everyday, so her fur is really soft.
Whenever I prepare meals, Oscar would always be there, watching and waiting. Sometimes she's so focused, that she doesn't see Anastasia coming up to the kitchen countertop also. But Oscar, in addtion to knowing her own name, she also knows Anastasia's name, because whenever I see Anastasia coming up, I would call out Anastasia, and Oscar would immediately look around and run off when she sees Anastasia.
Last night, right before I was going to bed, I was petting Tara, who was sleeping, and Oscar ran up to sniff Tara for a brief second and then ran off. I think she's getting brave enough and is testing to see how close she can go up to Tara.
Another thing I noticed about Oscar is that she prefers high places more than Anastasia does. One reason could be that Tara and Anastasia can't jump as high, but overall I think Oscar's just more comfortable sitting up on the cat tree or even just on the livingroom table, rather than walking on the carpet like Anastasia and Tara.
Tara is old and blind, but she's still smart and can be a bit manipulative too. I usually don't give into things like this, but she's old and blind, so oh well. There are times she wants to be petted, and most of the time I would just pat her head once or twice, and she would go away and go to sleep. But occasionally, she would just be patient and persistent and stand her ground, and just keep in position and whine a little bit; I'm sure this game has worked for her many times before. And once in a while when I do give in because I was just watching TV and not focused on anything in particular, I do give into her cute face.
Oscar hasn't vomited for over a week. I think she's eating slower because I put her supplements onto her kibbles. In the mornings, I put glucosamine and crab apple. Then for dinner, I put fatty acid. Oscar doesn't like supplements on her food as much, so that slows down her eating, thus less vomiting, and I don't even have to put the ping-pong ball in her bowl anymore.
I think Oscar's getting more and more comfortable and bold around Tara. Yesterday, Tara was sleeping in the hallway, and Oscar used the litter box in the bedroom, and they were only about five feet apart. Oscar would only use the litter box when she feels safe, so I think it indicates she's feeling less nervous around Tara. Also, when Oscar wanted to leave the bedroom, but Tara was still sleeping in the hallway. Finally Oscar got up the courage and just jumped right over Tara. But on the other hand, I've also seen Oscar slapping Tara twice in the past week also. Both times I don't think Oscar felt like she was trapped, but more like annoyed, by Tara, because Tara was following me and Oscar was following me too. Anyways, Oscar was on the table one time and on the bathroom counter the second time, when she slapped Tara with her front paw. Both times, Tara did not fight back and just backed away and had this "I got my feeling hurt" look on her face, so I went to pet her.
Thursday, April 13, 2007
Something magically happened during yesterday's clicker training session. When I was training Oscar to target, it took a while, about a week and half. Although it's not a long time, and Oscar is an older cat learning a new way of training, but considering Oscar's intelligence, it was sort of a long time for her. Anyways, when I was training Oscar to go to mat (towel) last night, after I laid down the towel on the table, I was watching her intensely, trying to catch that exact moment that she put her first paw on the blanket. The second time I did it, suddenly, almost magically, I would just see the expression on Oscar's face, like a lightbulb just turned on in her head, that she finally realized that it's the "behavior" she's doing when click (and of course she already knows click means treat is coming). So after that, she just kept that front paw on the mat, even though it's not a very natural position for her to hold for that long period of time. But I think at that moment, she realized, it was her putting her paw on the towel that got the click (and of course during clicker training, she keeps her eyes on the clicker most of the time, sometimes she takes a break and grooms herself, and that's fine from what I heard from the cat clicker list, so I just wait for her to finish grooming; and I hide the spoon with baby food on it behind my back, so she wouldn't get distracted by the food). So she just kept that front paw on the mat, and I figured that I would keep clicking a couple times, to reinforce her new association. Then, I decided to try lure her away, so we can re-start the "going to mat" behavior. This second time, she immediately sat right next to the mat, and then of course I was watching her closely again. She stared at my clicker and I stared at her paw, we just waited patiently for each other, then about five seconds, she decided to try something, and put that same front paw on the mat, and I click! and treat. Then she just kept that paw on the mat, and I clicked and treat a couple more times. I really think she got the rules of the game by that point. So I thought I would increase the challenge, that we would now try two paws on the mat. So again I stared at her paws, and she stared at my clicker back. We waited for about 15 seconds of no action, then she got up to walk and I clicked when two of her paws were on the towel. It was pretty funny, she kept standing (like Anastasia, Oscar's default behavior is sit) and kept those two paws on the towel, and of course I kept click and treat. Then I decided to increase the challenge again, to have three of her paws on the towel. So we did the waiting game again, when there had been no action for about ten seconds from neither of us, she got up and walk, and all four of her paws were on the towel, and of course she got click and treat for that. Then she started to sit on the towel, and of course I clicked and treated several times for that. Then I lured her away from the mat and tried again, this time was a little faster, maybe five seconds each time, I really think she not just realized going to mat was the behavior I wanted, but also during that training session, she also realized the rules of the clicker game, that it's what she's doing (the behavior) at that exact moment that I was clicking for. I think with the target training before, I think maybe she formed some superstition about when and where and why I was clicking, but did not get the full idea of the game, and also maybe I did not have as good timing with clicking when I was teaching her before. This is what the trainers calls the "ah-ha" moment; every time I experience it with one of the animals, it's almost magical.
Friday, April 13, 2007
So far Oscar has been pretty good about eating her own prescription food and leaving Anastasia's high-protein food alone (I kind of leave both bowls with food out all day now, since Anastasia needs to munch throughout the day, and Oscar eats much slower of her own food with the supplements added), but yesterday I caught Oscar eating Anastasia's food twice, while leaving her own food alone. I told this to Virginia, and Virginia said to just separate the cats during the day (close the hallway door when I'm at school), so Oscar won't get to eat Anastasia's food.
Just went to the vet school conference talk by Jim Fowler, the guy from Mutual of Omaha�s Wild Kingdom TV show, pretty interesting. I had heard of him but never watched the show before, but he's funny and has great stage presence. His soapbox today was deregulation of owning wild animals but more public awareness of protecting the environment, kind of strange because I think they are opposite ideas. Also he's originally from Albany, GA, which I didn't know before. Plus he got people from the Raptor Center to bring an owl and a falcon as part of the talk. Overall very interesting.
Then I went to get some free stuff from the various companies. See photo. I got that note pad/mat from Frontline because I thought it would make great training "mat" for Oscar. The other stuff are: dog leash (always useful when transporting dogs), dog poop bag dispenser, catnip mouse, tennis ball (for Millie's foster dog, Jeffrey), horse-shaped keyring (for Angie).
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Yesterday I decided to use the new note mat I got, instead of the towel. Before the training session, I thought maybe I could lay the towel on top of the mat to get Oscar used to it. But then I thought, if she really knows the clicker game now, I can probably just lay down the note mat directly, and she'll be able to figure out that's her new mat quickly. And she did. It took her about ten seconds; she did not sniff the mat (it has a rubber backing and has somewhat strong rubber smell, at least I can smell it, so I'm sure a cat can smell it too), sitting quietly next to the mat, neither of us moved, then she decided to try putting one of her front paws on the mat, so I click/treat. She left her paw on the mat, so I rewarded her every five seconds. After a couple times, I decided to have her put two paws on mat, so we just waited, and she did! And then we did the all four paws on the mat and then sitting on the mat. It was a repeat of what happened on Wednesday night, but I do think she got the rules of the clicker game now (I don't think she would voluntarily sit on a hard, cold mat before), thus it progressed quickly even with the new mat (completely different texture). I think we're going to practice this for a few more days so Oscar would sit on it directly, without me having to do the one paw first, then two paws, etc. with each session, but try to get her to sit on the mat on first try. Then when she's proficient at that, I'll add the verbal/visual cue to it (this one is easier to add visual cue, since I only have to hold two things in my hands, the clicker and the treat, not the target stick). But I still have her do the target stick before getting her meal each time, our way of refreshing her memory and practicing.
Oscar has a somewhat of nasty habit, that she sometimes would wipe her butt (scoot) on the carpet after she has pooped. She did that the first day after Virginia left, I found two streaks near the litter box, then I remembered that Oscar used to do that too when she lived with me for a year five years ago. So I quickly got out the carpet spray and clean it up. However, she has not done it since then, so I am very relieved. Oscar does need to have to anal glands emptied once or twice a year, but I also think there are other reasons why she wipes her butt sometimes. I think sometimes she swallows long human hair, so when she poops, it would create a string and she would try to wipe it off. But I am fairly meticulous about cleaning up my hair from the floor, so maybe that's why Oscar hasn't been scooting on the carpet.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
I went to vet school conference again yesterday afternoon, for an antifungal talk, at the entrance of the hotel, I saw my vet standing there talking to another person. I was a little surprised, but then again Auburn is a small place, plus it's good that he's there for continuing education. We said hi to each other and he said Oscar's test result had not come back yet.
Oscar now is much less nervous with Anastasia and Tara around during training. Before, whenever Anastasia or Tara got near her, she would focus on them and would not even eat the treats. However, yesterday, when I was feeding her baby food, and Tara was pacing in front of the table, and Anastasia decided to come and watch and sat right next to Oscar (about six inches away), Oscar looked at them but still ate the baby food.
Oscar is much bolder with Tara now. Yesterday when Tara and I came home from our campus walk, Tara walked toward Oscar, but instead of walking or running away, Oscar lied down and put her paws up, attempting to slap Tara. Luckily Tara walked right past her.
Yesterday I was in the kitchen getting the baby food from the fridge to get ready for Oscar's clicker training, and Anastasia came up and was curious. I thought I would let her sniff the spoon with the baby food on it, even though I didn't expect her to like it, because she has not been very interested in human food overall. She sniffed for about five seconds, a long time (Oscar would've eaten the whole thing by then), and at first I thought, okay she only wants to sniff but doesn't want it, but then I saw her licking her lips. So I let her sniff it again to see if she would eventually lick, and she did! She took a small bit and liked it and started licking more and more, so I kept dipping the spoon into the jar. When she had three or four spoonsful, I decided maybe I could try clicker train Anastasia too, so I found the clicker and started click/treat. When Oscar and Tara heard the click, they both came near us. Maybe at first Oscar was wondering why she heard the click but she did not get the food herself, but from what I've read about clicker training, it says the animals know which click is for which animal, depending on which animal the trainer is staring at, so the animals know which of them is being trained, so the trainer wouldn't have to worry about them mixing up. Tara was sleeping in the livingroom when I started giving Anastasia the baby food; I thought she's pretty much deaf too, but the easiest way to tell is with food too. I had tried clicker training several months ago when I first received the clicker, when Tara still had some vision, however we only did "charging the clicker" and did not do much else more with it (I tried to re-train her to sit using the clicker; looking back, with what I know now, I should've tried to train her for a completely new behavior, like targeting or going to her bed on cue). Anyways, I haven't used the clicker with Tara in a long time, for several months, and she does get excited and paces around when I clicker train Oscar, and before I just thought she smelled the treats. But when I was clicker training Anastasia in the kitchen, when Tara heard the click, she immediately woke up and got up and walked toward us in the kitchen, so I now do think Tara also knows click means treats. I'm wondering if I should proceed with her clicker training too, since now she appears to be able to hear the click well and knows it means food. But since Tara's blind, I guess I would need to use a different sounding clicker for the cats, so Tara wouldn't get confused as to which animal I am clicking for, and it'll be easier for the cats to learn the new click sound than for Tara to learn. Maybe I'll get the i-click for the cats and use the regular clicker for Tara, since the regular clicker is louder anyways. The regular clicker is sold about 99 cents per clicker at most places, and the i-click is about $2.50 and it has softer click (designed for animals with sensitive hearing and owners with coordination problem). Or, I can try the newest electronic clicker, which has like five animal sounds that one can "click" for, it says to use a different sound for each animal being trained for, so it can be used up to five animals. This new clicker is about $15. We'll see.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Oscar threw up again this morning, she did it on Monday morning too. I think when I don't a lot of supplements on her food, then she tends to eat faster (even with ping pong ball in bowl), and thus causing the vomiting. Although there is some fur in the vomit. Plus, I'm wondering if she throws up because of the probiotics powder I put on it. I guess I'll try again and see.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
This morning Anastasia went for her semi-annual teeth cleaning. I asked the receptionist to tell the vet that I would like a Herpes virus test to be done for Anastasia (since I saw in a scientific article that 80% of stomatitis cats are infected with both Herpes and Calici viruses; 10% are infected with Calici, and about 10% with Herpes, none were negative for both; there is no cure for either virus, but I was curious and wanted to see if Anastasia�s Herpes positive too). After talking to Virginia on the internet at school, I decided to go home for lunch to check on Oscar, and Oscar appeared to be happier and more outgoing without Anastasia there. She actually played with the ribbon toy, which she was too wary to play with Anastasia round.
When I called the vet clinic at 4 PM to ask if Anastasia�s ready to go home, the vet tech said she�s ready but that she is throwing a fit, not liking it in the cage (she was laughing when she said that; it�s typical Anastasia behavior at the vet clinic though, I think she�s just had too many needle poking experience there). Also I asked her if they drew her blood for the Herpes virus test, and the vet took over the phone and said he called the vet school and they said they already faxed Oscar�s test results (but he had not received it yet, so he will call back to ask them to fax again) and that they took the blood for the antibody test. I thought, hmm, I want to test if Anastasia is infected with Herpes virus, so they should test for �antigen�, and I�m not sure why the vet said �antibody� test. I thought maybe he got it confused with a Herpes virus titer test that we discussed for Oscar (titer tests for antibody), but the vet sounded busy so I decided to wait and talk to him about it over the phone. Anastasia was not happy when I picked her up from the vet. Even while we were waiting at the vet clinic, she was grumpy and hissed while I petted the office cat. I think she was just tired and hungry with full-bladder.
The vet came out to talk to me. Regarding Oscar�s titer results, the vet dropped off the sample at the vet school himself, and even though we only got 2 ml of blood, he asked them to test as many (titer antibody) as possible, and they were able to test for Calici, Herpes, and Panleukopenia. Anything above 50 indicates good immunity. Oscar got 40 on Calici, 160 on Herpes, and 50 on Panleukopenia. Vet said no need to revaccinate right now. Might do it next year since Calici level is kind of low.
Then I asked about Anastasia�s Herpes test. I asked if that�s the titer test, because I don't want the titer test (titer tests for antibody), I want to see if she's infected by the disease (antigen test). The vet said he thought I wanted the titer test, because he was still in Oscar mode. I apologized to him that I didn�t talk to him directly about why I want the test. So the vet had to make three phone calls, and it ended up that he has to send it to UCDavis for the test (AU said they don�t do the test, but send the test either to the vet school at UGA-University of Georgia at Athens- or the one at UCD, and they recommended UCD), so he'll schedule a Fedex pick up on Monday morning, after we pull Anastasia's blood for the Herpes test, then send it on dry ice to California. He said we can't do it this afternoon because it'll be the weekend soon and also Anastasia's stressed from being at the clinic all day already.
Also he said there are several vet techs there who pet-sit, so now I have more pet-sitters lined up. And also I asked about how often to do Tara's eye pressure test, he recommends every six months to be on the safe side to make sure no glaucoma developed, so I'll have to schedule that too later this month.
After we got home, Anastasia quickly ate the wet food I put out. I also gave Oscar the last can of Japanese cat food that I brought from Taiwan (real chunks of fish and shrimp!), so hopefully that maybe she would associate good things with Anastasia.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Anastasia did not appear to be overly tired last night. Actually, she chased Oscar twice this morn
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Last night I spent two hours doing the monthly cleaning of the aquarium. I used a new toothbrush and scrubbed the entire aquarium and the glass pebbles. I tried to scrub the artificial plant too, but it fell apart when I did so. I think I'll buy another one when I go shopping tomorrow. The new river rocks did not seem slimy so I did not scrub them. Since I had two hours, I also let the new water set to room temperature before I added them into the aquarium. After I get the new plant/decoration, I'll probably wait two weeks before putting it in, so there won't be too many changes at once for the fishes.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
On Friday, I had to carry the big table in the livingroom to the car for the vet school open house on Saturday. Since there is no other tables in the apartment, I had to put Oscar's feeder (with her food and water bowls on it) on the ledge area right next to the kitchen counter. This means the two cats' bowls are less than a foot apart. The first meal after the move, Oscar was a little hesitant. But I fed both cats canned food (I usually feed Anastasia canned food for three days after her teeth cleaning, thinking maybe her gums are still tender, so I gave about a tablespoon of the food to Oscar too), and Oscar ate it, sitting right next to Anastasia (well, about 10 inches apart). I was too tired to haul the table from my car last night, so this morning they still ate side by side, but overall they've both become comfortable doing that.
This morning around 5 AM, Oscar walked next to me, probably trying to see if I'm up yet (to feed her), I wasn't ready to get up, but I did put Oscar under the cover with me. She purred and stayed for about three minutes, with me rubbing her ears.
Tara was up this morning around 6 AM, I still did not want to get up, so she was pacing around the apartment, and when she came back, she was chewing something and I smelled her breath, yuck, I think she just raided the kitty litter box! She had never done that before, not sure what prompted her. Anyways I quickly checked the boxes to make sure, and sure enough, Oscar had pooped in her box. It didn't look like anything was disturbed, but still I'm pretty sure Tara was chewing on cat poop when she came over to sniff me.
This afternoon I went to Walmart and got a medium plastic plant for the aquarium. I washed it in hot water just like the label on the box recommended, soaked it for 30 minutes in hot water. Then I washed and soaked in filtered water, before putting it in the tank. At first the fishes were a little hesitant with the new decoration and was avoiding that side of the tank, but after a few minutes, Sherlock (the larger one) started swimming through it, and Watson followed.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Oscar threw up again this morning. I did not have any probiotics powder on the food, but I did allow her to eat for too long without stopping. So it's definitely not the probiotics powder. And I'll have to remember to take the treat ball out, because I just don't have time every morning to supervise her meal times.
This morning I took Anastasia to the vet for blood drawn for Herpes test. When I put her into the car (in carrier), I could sense she didn't like it, because more than half of her car trips in the past six months involved going to the vet. Plus she probably still remembers vividly of her Thursday's trip. Anastasia and I have similar personalities, and we understand each other. Sure enough, when we got to the exam room, I took Anastasia out, and she clung to me tightly (usually she's more social and wants to look around). Per our conversation on Thursday, the vet said it would be better to send in the blood, instead of eye swab, sample for testing, since blood sample is more accurate, and it's easier to pull blood from Anastasia than from Oscar. When the vet and the vet tech came, it took three of us to wrestle the little 8-pound cat to keep her still! Even before he started, the vet asked Anastasia if she would be good today for the blood drawn. And I answered that I think she still remembers what happened on Thursday, but the vet said Anastasia was actually pretty good on Thursday. First the vet tried the leg veins. He couldn't find the vein on the right leg, so he tried the left leg. I held Anastasia's head and front legs, and the tech held her back legs and tail. As soon as the needle stuck into her, she started yowling. The blood trickled into the syringe, so the vet had to poke the needle around a little bit, and then Anastasia started moving and hissing and continued to yowl, eventually she bit and scratched my hand. She doesn't have many teeth left, so I didn't feel much from the bite, but she made two small scratches on my hand (I clipped her nails on Saturday). The vet was a little worried and told me not to let Anastasia hurt me, but really there wasn't a lot of injury, plus I don't want Anastasia to think if she bites and scratches then she'll get her way (no I don't use any "dominance" or "leader" methods when training Anastasia, because she and I have mutual understanding of each other since our personalities are similar, plus I don't think most cats would accept humans as "leaders" anyways; Anastasia's actually my first completely positively trained animal; I've never spanked or hit Anastasia before, and Virginia was shocked to learn recently that Anastasia does not know what the word "no" means; she now realizes why Anastasia did not stop when she told her "no" when Anastasia lived with her for two weeks during my trip; however, most people who know me can also tell I'm not permissive type of parent either). Anyways, Anastasia started thrashing around, so the vet had to pull the needle out. I asked him if he got enough, but he said he only got 1 ml and we need 2 ml to send in. So the vet decided to try the jugular vein. At first the vet tried to have Anastasia sit up, like they do with dogs, but he gave up after a couple seconds because Anastasia was moving around so much. So, again I scruffed Anastasia's neck and front paws, and the tech grabbed her back paws and tail. After the vet found the vein (he had to look the second side before finding it), he had the tech tilt Anastasia's head back. The vet also the vet told me maybe it's too soon to try to work on Anastasia again (since Thursday), and he told Anastasia to be good so I wouldn't have to bring her back to try to get the blood again. Actually after that, Anastasia was very good, did not even move when the vet stuck the needle in or when he continued to pull on and move the syringe because blood was coming out really slow. Yes when the vet said there might be a possibility that I would have to make a second trip to try to get the blood, I did tell Anastasia, telepathically, to stay still so this would be over soon, and plus I don't have the time for a second appointment just for this. Plus I started doing calm breathing (I wasn't scared or worried before, just a little stressed trying to keep Anastasia still and watching the syringe and hoping the vet got enough blood), so Anastasia probably smelled/sensed my change in attitude also. Anyways, she stayed still and the vet got a little more than two ml of blood with two tries combined. He'll have to ship the sample in dry ice overnight to UCDavis. Not sure when the result will come back. Thinking back, I still think it's funny it took three of us to wrestle down an 8-pound cat.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
I did about two minutes of "going to mat" with Oscar last night. We hadn't practice at all in more than a week, mainly because I ran out of baby food. I thought I would just start doing two paws on the mat, rather than from sniff to one paw to two paws. So I just waited in front of the mat, and stared at Oscar's paws, and I think she knew what she's supposed to do with the mat, because within 5 seconds, she had both paws on the mat (and I click/treat). Then I thought we would just move forward to all four paws on mat (instead of doing three paws and then four paws), and after I waited another five seconds or so of no movement and not click/treat, Oscar decided to try and had all four paws on the mat. She did not do sit on mat last night, I had to use Bil-Jac treats, and that fills her up faster (they are dog treats, after all), so she decided to turn away from me and walked back to the cat tree after 2 minutes. I saw that as her way of wanting to end the training session, so I didn't push for sit on mat.
I think the hair around Oscar's tail is growing back, as well has the hair on her right elbow. Her belly is still fairly bare. And I found streaks of evidence she had wiped her butt on the carpet last night. I guess she just feels the need to do that every few weeks or something...