...and I'm thankful for Woolly Bear....
Bax called me Wednesday morning to tell me that he was taking Ocras - my cranky 11-year-old cat (as seen in user icon) - to the vet. He was being unusually yowly and was having trouble in the litter box. Ocras had an intestinal blockage when we lived in Alaska that ended up ok and the symptoms were much the same, so I was concerned but not overly so.
Bax called back later in the morning to tell me that the vets suspected he was in kidney failure. *gulp* And also that he had bit one of the vet techs and now has a note in his permanent record. (I'm oddly proud of this. My poor, sick, bad-ass cat.)
They gave him a subcutaneous injection to get some fluids in his system, some antibiotics and prescription cat food and sent everybody home until the follow-up appointment on Saturday. I took a tense train ride back to Grass Valley and came home to a cat resting comfortably who seemed happy to see me. Ocras started on his antibiotics and seemed to do ok. By Saturday he was a lot more perky and well-behaved for the trip to the vet office.
We got him there and found out he had gained 6 ounces since Wednesday, his temperature was down and he was much better behaved for everybody. The vet looked over his chart and declared him not well exactly, but not a cat with two feet in the grave. We made an appointment for this Saturday to take another look, but in the meantime, the antibiotics are still on, the usual food is no more and Ocras needs a certain amount of fluid injected into him over the week.
She gave him another subcutaneous injection and gave Bax a crash course in giving them too so we can do them at home instead of taking a car trip. (Bax is rather famously nervous around needles, so the fact that he's giving Ocras injections at all is pretty awesome. Thank you, sweetie!)
Ocras is old and he's been across the country and to Alaska and back with me, but I'm not ready to let him go - and I probably never will be. I'm very thankful that day has been postponed a little further out. And seeing how fast he perked up is amazing. He went from scruffy bum cat to genteelly shabby elder statescat in the course of 24 hours. Go modern medicine!
With all of that, Bax and I spent Thanksgiving day very quietly. I roasted a chicken and made some crab cakes. We watched Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, so now Bax is caught up to the mid-80's culturally. On Friday there was further laying around and I got stuff together for the family dinner on Saturday - specifically a really big ham. We crashed on the couch and watched The Aristocrats - which was alternately really gross and fall-off-the-couch hilarious.
Saturday Bax's parents came and brought some stuff from the house in Maine. I now have a rug made from an unidentified animal hide in the living room and a really giant dictionary that came with its own stand.
Sunday we officially kicked off the holiday season by getting run over by a Panzer division wrapped in tinsel. Aka: The annual Trans-Siberian Orchestra Show. And that pretty much brings us up to date.
Bax called back later in the morning to tell me that the vets suspected he was in kidney failure. *gulp* And also that he had bit one of the vet techs and now has a note in his permanent record. (I'm oddly proud of this. My poor, sick, bad-ass cat.)
They gave him a subcutaneous injection to get some fluids in his system, some antibiotics and prescription cat food and sent everybody home until the follow-up appointment on Saturday. I took a tense train ride back to Grass Valley and came home to a cat resting comfortably who seemed happy to see me. Ocras started on his antibiotics and seemed to do ok. By Saturday he was a lot more perky and well-behaved for the trip to the vet office.
We got him there and found out he had gained 6 ounces since Wednesday, his temperature was down and he was much better behaved for everybody. The vet looked over his chart and declared him not well exactly, but not a cat with two feet in the grave. We made an appointment for this Saturday to take another look, but in the meantime, the antibiotics are still on, the usual food is no more and Ocras needs a certain amount of fluid injected into him over the week.
She gave him another subcutaneous injection and gave Bax a crash course in giving them too so we can do them at home instead of taking a car trip. (Bax is rather famously nervous around needles, so the fact that he's giving Ocras injections at all is pretty awesome. Thank you, sweetie!)
Ocras is old and he's been across the country and to Alaska and back with me, but I'm not ready to let him go - and I probably never will be. I'm very thankful that day has been postponed a little further out. And seeing how fast he perked up is amazing. He went from scruffy bum cat to genteelly shabby elder statescat in the course of 24 hours. Go modern medicine!
With all of that, Bax and I spent Thanksgiving day very quietly. I roasted a chicken and made some crab cakes. We watched Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, so now Bax is caught up to the mid-80's culturally. On Friday there was further laying around and I got stuff together for the family dinner on Saturday - specifically a really big ham. We crashed on the couch and watched The Aristocrats - which was alternately really gross and fall-off-the-couch hilarious.
Saturday Bax's parents came and brought some stuff from the house in Maine. I now have a rug made from an unidentified animal hide in the living room and a really giant dictionary that came with its own stand.
Sunday we officially kicked off the holiday season by getting run over by a Panzer division wrapped in tinsel. Aka: The annual Trans-Siberian Orchestra Show. And that pretty much brings us up to date.