Dear Jude Friend,

Jude had a few issues this month. One major contributor to her issues is that they discontinued making one of her anti-seizure medications in the format that works best for her, the tiny balls. It is not possible to get it this way any longer. Our vet team ordered it however we could get it, and it came as a capsule filled with powder.

I was concerned about this because she had such issues when I was putting the tiny balls in an empty capsule, it was not working for her. So I tried emptying the powder into a syringe with some water in it, and giving it to her that way. It quickly became clear that was working for her either, because her seizures increased again, and she was not herself.  So I started giving her the capsule with the powder, hoping it would dissolve better for her, but I was nervous it would not because of our prior issues with the capsules. It did seem to be working much better for her, but still not quite as well as the tiny ball medicine works for her.

One of our cats, who had been adopted, had been on the same medication “balls” as Jude, and when he went to his new home we gave the adopter a lot of the balls. Unfortunately, he passed away recently, which was heartbreaking for us and his momma. She did, however, return the remaining medication that he did not use, so Jude has a few months’ supply of the tiny ball meds again.

Jude had 8 seizures this month, which is quite a lot for her. I am hoping now she has the correct medicine again, things will improve again for our little girl.  Jude has also had some loose stool issues in the last couple of weeks. We started her on medicine to help this resolve, and it is already helping her.

Poor Jude also had a couple of episodes of vomiting recently. We started her on an anti-nausea medication to help her feel better. Poor girl is having a rough time of things at the moment.

Because of the loose stool, Jude had more baths this month than she would like, but we have to keep her clean and happy. She loves it after a bath when she is nice and clean; she just doesn’t like the whole bath part.

Apart from all these issues, Jude had a good month and enjoyed her usual things, like laying in a sunbeam and eating. I can never believe how much such a tiny girl can eat! She still loves her Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys, and her Temptations cat treats. If you give Jude these 2 things she is a very happy girl.

Our fairly new paraplegic, Kaipo, managed to sneak into Jude’s room last week (we have a gate at her door so no one can bother her), and Jude was not happy! Kaipo is young and very energetic, and he really wanted her to play with him. Jude wanted no part of this, and yelled and hissed until I ran over and removed him from her room. Jude likes her room to be all hers and does not welcome the intrusion at all.

That’s all the Jude news for now. As always, thank you so much for everything you do for our little Jude. Jude would like to wish you a wonderful holiday season, and let you know she is hoping for lots of treats in her stocking.

Your correspondent,
Karina