Kitty Update/Baking

Kitty went to the vet yesterday afternoon to figure out what's going on with her.  She got her blood drawn for testing, but the vet called this morning and said everything they tested for is normal.  So Kitty at least doesn't have diabetes.  What they think could be happening is she is developing early arthritis in her back right hip.  The vet felt each of the joints in Kitty's rear legs, and she had the strongest reaction to moving that joint around.  She didn't really have any reaction to the others, but she started growling and getting pretty angry when her right hip was played with.  I guess even though she is only five, pets are starting to develop arthritis at a younger age.  Since she is so young and isn't having any major movement problems (she can still easily get into her litter box, for example), they suggested putting her on a prescription joint diet to see if that helps.

Scott and I talked about it, and we are not going to try the diet quite yet.  The arthritis diagnosis doesn't seem to explain Kitty's sudden lack of appetite.  She went from begging for food all day, to barely touching what we gave her.  Also, there seemed to be no build-up to her leg problems, it just happened one day.  I think arthritis could explain her desire to just lie around all day and some of her jumping problems.  But she has started eating a little more the past couple days, and is moving around a lot more already (not as much as she does normally, but more than the weekend), so we are waiting to see if maybe she was just a little sore from something else, or just had a little bug that was making her feel a little under the weather.  I am just glad to here her blood work was fine and there is nothing major wrong.

On the baking front, last night I made some oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert, then after Scott went to bed I made some Irish soda bread to have for breakfast today and tomorrow (and probably dessert tonight, too).  I grabbed some raisins after I got off work on Monday, so I was trying to think of things I could make with raisins!  I put a bunch of extra cinnamon in the cookies and they were super delicious.  The dough was pretty darn good as well.  I had never made Irish soda bread before, so I used this recipe from allrecipes.  I halved the recipe to make only one loaf instead of two, and I used extra raisins instead of using raisins and currants.  I also didn't include the caraway seeds, and instead of apple cider vinegar I just used white vinegar, because that's what I had available.  It turned out pretty good!!  Here it is, after I already ate a piece, with some of the cookies:

Yum!!

I recently read Food Rules by Michael Pollan, and am currently working on one of his other books, The Omnivore's Dilemma.  He talks a lot about the dangers of processed or "industrial" foods.  I mean, I already knew processed food in general isn't good for us, but this has been sort of a wake-up call that I need to try harder to make things out of real ingredients.  So here's hoping Scott and I can continue to improve in what we eat.  Hopefully as a side effect I'll be magically ten pounds lighter next month!  Just pretend I didn't eat a bunch of cookies last night.  Hey, at least I made them myself with real butter and oats.  :)