Where the punks be!
For the past several days we’ve been having a bit of a heatwave here in San Diego. For whatever reason, Moo doesn’t mind it one bit. But it wipes out Tulip. She gets cranky and lethargic. Here she is sacked out under the ceiling fat, too hot to have her feet up on the bed. Phew!
Last night I had my bike set up on a trainer in the garage. I left the door between the garage and the house open so the cats could come down and explore while I rode. Moo was immediately interested. She came down and sat at the bottom of the stairs meowing at Eve and “watching” me ride. Tulip was a little more apprehensive (as usual) but finally ventured down. She came down about 4 steps and proceeded to fall off a step face-first into one of my shoes that was on the step below. Her face went right inside the shoe! Ooops! When she heard me laughing she ran back upstairs like she was embarrassed. Why can’t I catch these things on camera!?!
Thank goodness Miss Moo finished up the last of her antibiotics this morning. She was getting less and less enthusiastic about taking them. And she was getting more and more constipated. A few days ago she didn’t feel like eating, but still managed to barf up a bunch of unchewed food. Yum. It’s been a tough couple of days.
She went back to the dentist today for a follow-up. Dr. Côté said that her gums hadn’t healed up as much as she expected, but they looked OK. She gave Moo some fluids because she was a little dehydrated. She also suggested cleaning out Moo’s eye boogers with some saline solution like you’d use with contact lenses. Brilliant! I wish I had thought of that. It seems so obvious now. Dr. Côté wants to see Moo again next Monday, just to check her gums one more time. I’m hoping that will be it. I’m sure Moo has had enough after 4 trips to the vet in 4 weeks.
As soon as Moo got back home, she ate and then pooped. Finally! Now she’s resting much more comfortably on the back of the couch. I can hardly wait to curl up in bed and relax with her tonight. I expect to hear a big, Mooie sigh of relief.
After Moo’s tooth extractions, she started on liquid painkillers and antibiotics. We only gave her the painkillers for the first 2+ days, but she’s still taking the antibiotics. She definitely doesn’t like it, but she’s been a total trooper about it. Until last night.
We were about to head out for dinner and wanted to give Moo her medicine before leaving. I drew up a syringe-ful and Eve went to get Moo. Moo is on to us now. She was in the kitchen. When she heard Eve coming for her, she hunched down and tried to make herself heavy so Eve wouldn’t pick her up. I was already laughing. When Eve picked her up, she let out a defiant meow. She’s been pretty squirmy, so we’ve found that the best technique for us is to have Eve hold Moo up on her shoulder like a baby while I squirt the medicine down her throat. Well this time she decided she wasn’t having any. When I held her head she gritted her little teeth. Now I was really laughing. When I stick the syringe in the corner of her mouth to pop her mouth open, I shot some medicine in there. But Moo immediately shook her head around and clamped her teeth back together, flinging medicine all over herself. I didn’t quite empty the syringe, so I had to make a second attempt. She clenched her teeth again. This time the medicine when all over her face instead of in her mouth. Since I hardly managed to get any in her, I drew out a little bit more. Same problem. She was having none of it. Moo 3, Renee 0.
After these ridiculous attempts at getting some medicine in her, Moo stayed slung over Eve’s shoulder. She still had her mouth clenched shut and little bubbles of saliva pouring out of her lips because she refused to even lick her mouth or swallow. Little punky! I got a wet washcloth and wiped her up. It was time for the kitties to eat, so we thought her wet food would cheer her up. Nope. She was so mad at us, she wouldn’t even eat. She ended up holding off until we came home at 10:00pm.
I can hardly wait to try again this morning…
Miracle went back to Côté Animal Hospital today for her dental appointment. Eve dropped her off first thing this morning, and we both went back to pick her up around 1:00.
The poor baby had 2 horrible molars that needed to be extracted. Dr. Côté actually gave us the 2 rotten teeth she took out. Poor Moo must have been in a lot of pain. The rest of Moo’s teeth got cleaned. I haven’t seen them yet, but Dr. Côté says they look beautiful now. I’m just glad she’s rid of those rotten teeth. She’s going to feel SO much better.
While we waited for them to check us out, we let Moo out of the carrier. She was very happy to see us and rubbed her little head all over us. What a little trooper. That’s my Moo! When we were done I had to go back to work, but Eve took her home and was with her all day. When I came home, Moo was curled up in a soft blanket on the couch. She put her chin up and let me rub her head. As soon as I walked away to put my things down, she followed along. I even heard her Mooing while she played with her chicken toy earlier. I guess she’s feeling well so far.
Moo hadn’t eaten since 8:00 last night, so around 5:00 I prepared some watered down canned food for her. She ate much more slowly, but she finished every drop. Now she’s resting on the chair next to me. She doesn’t act like she needs it, but I might give her a dose of pain medicine this evening just to be sure. I can’t wait to finish up some homework and curl up in the blankets with her. I’m hoping she’ll feel better than ever in a few days.
Last night I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Tulip was sleeping in her little kitty bed next to our bed. Apparently she didn’t hear me stirring around. When I got up and took a step, she shot up out of the bed like I had startled the daylights out of her. I reached down to give her a pet, then walked down the hall to the bathroom.
When I came back, it was quite dark. I didn’t bother to turn the light on since it’s a straight shot. As I was almost to the bed, I heard a blood-curdling screech. I never even felt it, but I had stepped on Tulip’s tail! I flipped the light on to see where she went. She flopped herself down on the hallway rug in her “no pet” position. I thought she’d try to bite me, but I scooped her up anyway. She was pitiful. She was all curled up in a ball with her tail tucked, and the tip of it was hugely puffy (like all the fur was standing on end). I could see that it looked OK. She was just really upset. I put her down on the bed in a heap of blankets and consoled her.
Of course, Miss Miracle was all concerned about what was happening. She ran to the edge of the bed to “see” what happened. Even after Tulip was in bed, Moo was still peering over the edge of the bed. I wonder if she thought a monster was down there. After a while, I got everyone to settle down and go to sleep. It was quite a lot of activity for the middle of the night though. You gotta watch where you leave your tail around our house!
This could probably go without saying, but Tulip is not a big fan of fireworks. We live a few miles from the fairgrounds where they have a decent fireworks display ever year. This year we were too lazy to drive over there and watch them, so we hung out at home and watched TV with kitty. All of our windows and the sliding door were open. The wind must have been blowing in our direction because when the fireworks started, they sounded like they were right here. For the first few minutes kitty just turned her head towards the door and listened. We kept talking to her, trying to reassure her that things were OK. She was pretty calm, but after a couple of pretty big booms, she decided she’d had enough. She came over and lied by our feet, well within petting distance. I got up and closed the door so it was a little quieter. She stuck close by until the noise was over. She did well through the whole thing, but it was very obvious she could have done without.
Poor Tulip. She hates getting her claws trimmed. But after yesterdays scratch across the face episode, it was pretty clear it was time. She tolerates it pretty well, but she could obviously do without the whole experience. She curls herself up into a ball like an armadillo. She ducks her head under my hand to hide. It’s not like she can see what’s going on, but she does it anyway.
Anyway, Eve got through trimming her claws really quickly. Kitty sat still for it, but she was definitely happy to be finished. That is until Eve got out the kitty toothpaste to brush her teeth as well. Good times! We have this seafood flavored cat toothpaste (which tastes horrible by the way. I tasted it once). Tulip doesn’t seem to be very impressed by the flavor either. And she certainly doesn’t appreciate having our fingers in her mouth. Lucky for us she’s a good kitty. We still have all our fingers.
Kitty got through her grooming procedures, but I think it’s safe to say she’s not a big fan of kitty spa days. She’s lucky she doesn’t need a bath.
Last night when I came home from the gym I was hungry. I had already eaten dinner, so I didn’t want much. I decided to split a banana with Eve. As we were standing in the kitchen eating, Tulip kitty was very interested in joining the party. She kept circling around us and walking over to her bowl. Every once in a while she’d let out a little chirp. I held my banana out for her to investigate. Of course, she couldn’t see it, so she stuck her nose right in it. I thought she might steal a bite, but she was completely offended by the very offer. She turned her little nose up and left the kitchen. I guess kitty doesn’t care for bananas. It can’t be sushi every time, kitty!
Last night, Eve decided it was time to clip kitty’s toenails again. It gets a little old listening to her clip-clop around on the hardwood floors. It sounds like she’s wearing heels.
I decided that instead of pinning Tulip down like a rattlesnake, it would be good to give her the opportunity to behave nicely. I sat her down on my lap with her 4 feet sticking straight out so Eve could clip her nails. Much to my delight, she sat still like a perfect angel. Eve clipped the back nails first, then went for the front paws. When it got down to the last paw, kitty was a little impatient. I told her to sit still like a good girl. Her response was to tuck her head into the crook of my arm, as if she just couldn’t bear it another second. She sat that way while Eve finished up the last paw. After she was done, Tulip continued to sit there in the same position. I decided to hold her and wait to see what she would do. She eventually realized she was done and got down off my lap. It took long enough for us to get a few adorable pictures though.
Kitty no wanna clip toenails!
