Dealings over the past week...
Well, this past week has sure gone by fast! I kept wanting to update, but I didn't really have time, as a lot has been going on. Also, one of my free days became a work day, which destroyed the excess "free time" I'm enjoying. For the moment. More on that in a bit...
First off, I finished putting together prototype/redesigned plushes and even got them in the mail by Saturday morning:
I got word back yesterday that they went over well, which is nice. The Bulette apparently keeps being stolen, which amused me. I guess that means they liked it! As of this moment I have fabric cut out for fifteen Owlbears, so once my super late breakfast is over, I need to get on that. Thus, this is how I'm spending my "free time" on my day off.
On Sunday, I ACTUALLY got to go to church for the first time this year, which was nice. Boyfriend Man passes out the attendance sheets for the teenage kids' classes, so he was showing off their artistic skills:
Apparently one of the kids drew a pirate ship, but it wasn't good enough, so another kid showed them up. They even wrote, "You call that a pirate ship?" on it, which amused me. I love the unicorn figurehead. XD
In not fun news, Ralph had another accident a few days ago, so we decided he needed to go to the vet. I am so glad I have him harness trained! The initial plan was to put on his harness and leash for extra insurance before putting him in his carrier (I can't trust him to remain still), and he was so happy to see his harness come out! He thought he was going to go for a walk...and then my dad pulled out the carrier, and Ralph's tail instantly poofed up and he tried to run away. Thank goodness I had his leash!
It turned out Ralph had outgrown the carrier (it's the ancient one from the cats I had growing up - I never knew they were small cats!), so I wrapped him in a towel and held him in the car. Sort of. He wanted to look out the window in silent panic, so he kept moving around in the one foot of space I allowed him. Once we got to the vet's office, Ralph all but shut down:
This is why I didn't want to rush him to the vet unless there was a good reason, as he is terrified! We were at a new vet's office even, but it didn't matter. He just wanted me to hold him, but I could only abide his wishes for so long since the vet had to handle him to find out what was going on.
The good news is that Ralph does not have a UTI, which is caused by bacteria. Instead, he has struvite crystals, also called FLUTD I guess, due to...well, it could be caused by many things. Considering he didn't start having potty issues until after our house guests left, I can only assume that the stress felt over having strangers constantly moving through his space caused him to not drink enough water, which caused the pH in his insides to go up, which caused crystals to develop in his bladder. So, urinating has been very painful for him.
Once we got Ralph home, he gave us all the cold shoulder. He even hissed at ME three times when I wanted to do things like feed him special wet food to help flush out his insides, and he has to be on steroids as well. To his credit, he came to me for some attention late in the evening, but as soon as my dad moved nearby, Ralph was gone!
He's gradually come to forgive us over the past couple of days at least, which is good, and has gone back to doing normal things like playing with Lincoln and watching birds outside. Lincoln, on the other hand, is suffering. I can only feed Ralph wet food for two weeks, which means no dry food at all for either cat, to make sure Ralph eats the wet. Lincoln is hating the wet diet, and will only lick at his gourmet wet food. Sigh. Lincoln has enough of a fat cush that I'm not overly concerned right now. He's being picky, but I'm not going to cave in to his want for dry food.
First off, I finished putting together prototype/redesigned plushes and even got them in the mail by Saturday morning:
I got word back yesterday that they went over well, which is nice. The Bulette apparently keeps being stolen, which amused me. I guess that means they liked it! As of this moment I have fabric cut out for fifteen Owlbears, so once my super late breakfast is over, I need to get on that. Thus, this is how I'm spending my "free time" on my day off.
On Sunday, I ACTUALLY got to go to church for the first time this year, which was nice. Boyfriend Man passes out the attendance sheets for the teenage kids' classes, so he was showing off their artistic skills:
Apparently one of the kids drew a pirate ship, but it wasn't good enough, so another kid showed them up. They even wrote, "You call that a pirate ship?" on it, which amused me. I love the unicorn figurehead. XD
In not fun news, Ralph had another accident a few days ago, so we decided he needed to go to the vet. I am so glad I have him harness trained! The initial plan was to put on his harness and leash for extra insurance before putting him in his carrier (I can't trust him to remain still), and he was so happy to see his harness come out! He thought he was going to go for a walk...and then my dad pulled out the carrier, and Ralph's tail instantly poofed up and he tried to run away. Thank goodness I had his leash!
It turned out Ralph had outgrown the carrier (it's the ancient one from the cats I had growing up - I never knew they were small cats!), so I wrapped him in a towel and held him in the car. Sort of. He wanted to look out the window in silent panic, so he kept moving around in the one foot of space I allowed him. Once we got to the vet's office, Ralph all but shut down:
This is why I didn't want to rush him to the vet unless there was a good reason, as he is terrified! We were at a new vet's office even, but it didn't matter. He just wanted me to hold him, but I could only abide his wishes for so long since the vet had to handle him to find out what was going on.
The good news is that Ralph does not have a UTI, which is caused by bacteria. Instead, he has struvite crystals, also called FLUTD I guess, due to...well, it could be caused by many things. Considering he didn't start having potty issues until after our house guests left, I can only assume that the stress felt over having strangers constantly moving through his space caused him to not drink enough water, which caused the pH in his insides to go up, which caused crystals to develop in his bladder. So, urinating has been very painful for him.
Once we got Ralph home, he gave us all the cold shoulder. He even hissed at ME three times when I wanted to do things like feed him special wet food to help flush out his insides, and he has to be on steroids as well. To his credit, he came to me for some attention late in the evening, but as soon as my dad moved nearby, Ralph was gone!
He's gradually come to forgive us over the past couple of days at least, which is good, and has gone back to doing normal things like playing with Lincoln and watching birds outside. Lincoln, on the other hand, is suffering. I can only feed Ralph wet food for two weeks, which means no dry food at all for either cat, to make sure Ralph eats the wet. Lincoln is hating the wet diet, and will only lick at his gourmet wet food. Sigh. Lincoln has enough of a fat cush that I'm not overly concerned right now. He's being picky, but I'm not going to cave in to his want for dry food.