Dear Jude Friend,

Our poor Jude had a rough month! She had 7 seizures this month! All of these seizures were full grand-mal seizures and required rescue medication to be given. Also, every one of these seizures happened in the middle of the night, between 2 am and 4 am. It is most common for Jude to have seizures in the middle of the night; she barely ever has one during the day, although it has happened.

I’m so used to her sounds that I bolt out of bed as soon as she starts a seizure, and rush over to her. First I grab hold of her, so she can’t throw herself around and hurt herself, and then I grab her rescue medicine and give her a shot of it to stop the seizure. I always keep one dose of her rescue medicine already drawn up in a syringe, and in the pocket on her playpen (where she sleeps at night), so as soon as I grab her I can reach down to grab the syringe and give it to her quickly. I then hold onto her until the seizure stops, which is usually only a few seconds after the rescue medicine is given. I sit with her until she growls at me, and then I know she is ok again.  Hopefully, the seizures slow down and she has less this month, as it’s a lot for her little body to go through.

Because she had a lot of seizures (and a few poop incidents) she had to have quite a few baths this month, too. During a grand-mal seizure, her bladder always lets go, and while I try to help her not get pee on herself, she does usually get some on her. Jude really likes to be clean, and she’s not great at doing it herself, so even though she hates the actual bath, it’s obvious she feels much better after her bath.

Jude is still sharing her room with our new paraplegic, Kaipo.  Although he isn’t around Jude unsupervised, even when he is with her it is only for a few minutes. Kaipo is young and full of energy, and he is too annoying for Jude. Kaipo is usually out in the rest of the house most of the time, but he does still have a playpen in Jude’s room for when he wants a rest and some food. Kaipo is even too much for Castiel and Tanzy because he keeps trying to play with them. He is quite pushy, but his feelings get hurt when they hiss at him and yell for him to go away. You can see it on his face—that he is sad they don’t want to play. He even tried to play with the dogs out of desperation for a friend, but the dogs looked at him like he’d lost his mind. Poor Kaipo, I hope someone will be his friend soon.

When Jude eats she makes such a mess! I have never seen a cat make as much mess as Jude does. I have to feed her on a pee-pad because she gets it everywhere. In her playpen, there will be food from one end to the other, so I am trying to control the mess a little. I get a very low cardboard box (the kind that a case of wet cat food comes in), I cut away the front, so she can access the food easily, and lined it with a pee-pad. I put her food and water in this, and it is making things a little less messy. She still manages to get some food scattered around, but most of it falls into the box.

For such a tiny cat, Jude can eat! She loves to eat, and she especially loves Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys, but not the fish flavors, as she prefers poultry (so that’s what she gets, of course!). She also loves Temptations cat treats, which she gets every night at bedtime. When the wet food and treats are all gone, she will start eating the dry food, but not until everything else is already gone.

When I pet Jude and rub her chin and face, and she leans into my pet, I get so happy. It doesn’t happen often, but on occasion, if she is in the mood, she will actually lean in and enjoy the pets for a while. I always make the most of these times and enjoy them while I can.

I love this cat so much, and I tell her every day how loved she is, and how important she is. Mostly she just growls in response, but I tell her anyway.

That’s all the Jude news for now. As always, thank you for all your support of our little Jude, as we couldn’t do this without you.

Your correspondent,
Karina