Passing the 'stupid' human test - A Moe Update

All of you who know me, know that I dote on little Moe. In fact, some have gone so far to tell Jason and I that we need kids of our own since we have obtained a 'dangerous' level of animal-parenthood. (For evidence, please see Moe's webpage). Well, since we have been back in Winnipeg, Moe has created all sorts of new adventures for us (see earlier posts in January on 'Moe the Cat and CSI' and 'Further to Moe the Cat and CSI'). We now add to the adventures...

For all of Moe's life with Jason and I, Moe has only ever eaten dry cat food. Pretty boring stuff if you ask me, but it kept him happy and eating. Over a year ago, we noticed that Moe was eating less and less, and couldn't get him interested in wet or dry food. After a battery of tests (read: spending lots of $$$) Moe was finally diagnosed with Feline IBD. Ever since then, Moe has been given medication to treat his problem. But, with a new move to Winnipeg, Moe decided to stop eating, or to only eat 10-20g of food a day. Being understandably concerned, we finally found a great vet, who did three important things:

1. She too doted on Moe (and earned huge points in my book!)
2. She immediately changed his meds to something more appropriate for cats.
3. She gave him an appetite stimulant.

Moe improved substantially. He started gaining weight and becoming much braver. He will now actually will come out to see folks when they come to visit, and he won't even hide too much from my young nephews.

This past week Moe stopped eating altogether. Worried, we quickly made an appointment with the vet. Yesterday evening, while we were preparing supper, Moe was constantly meowing at us. (For those who know Moe, this is quite a feat). This went on for at least 45 minutes. It was incessant. It was adament. It's meaning was completely lost on us.

Earlier in the day, I gave Moe a double dose of his appetite stimulant medication because I feared that the dose we were giving was no longer effective. Afterall, for two days straight, he barely ate 10g of food. By the time I got home last night, I didn't think the appetite stimulant was working at all.

What we missed, and didn't clue into until late last night, was that the stimulant not only was working, and working well, but that Moe was starving! We figured Moe not eating was a sign that the pill wasn't working. Moe's constant meowing was trying to tell us he just no longer liked his dry boring food options. After opening a can of wet food for him last night, he gobbled up the food. He is now making up for lost time.

I'm sure that everytime Moe walked away last night during his Lassie-efforts to get us to understand what he needed, he was probably thinking 'stupid humans'.