Bizarro, since I know you're so concerned here's an update. The Battle of the Viruses is going, but not without casualties. Allow me to explain...Come Here Kitty - Biff Pow Slice
Between work, picking up a new cat carrier courtesy of J&MO and zipping off to my Thursday Night Run, I successfully picked up Nano's second medication from the pharmacy. I'm not sure if I already told you, but they couldn't make it in chicken flavor (Nano's favorite, I'm sure) because the medication is oil based and the chicken flavoring is water based. So the pharmacist (Jean, not Mr. Personality) made the executive decision to substitute cod liver oil. Mmm, mmmmmm bitch! Not knowing exactly what cod liver oil is, I didn't think this would be a problem.
Oh, it is.
Last night I gave Nan-whores his dose of eye goo (second of three daily doses), went to my Thursday Night Run (complete with dinner), then returned home to feed the cats and give Nans his first dose of the new medicine. I shook well as instructed by the label on the bottle and removed the cap. HO-LEE-SHIT, who new cod livers could be so disgusting? I have to give this to my cat twice a day for two weeks? Jesus, mother of Joseph! Based on the smell, I think cod livers are made out of that sludge you find in the bottom of your garbage can that was once filled with maggots but was left in the sun, turning them to maggot goo AKA cod liver oil.
Here kitty, want some maggot goo? I mean "I caught you a delicious bass".Fast Forward to Today
Today, our Friday off, promises to be worse than non days off. First I have to give Nan-whores his first round of eye goo and a syringeful of delicious bass (but not at the same time, of course), then rush off to get my car inspected, then head to work for a few hours, then home for round two of the eye goo. If I can stand to subject the poor guy to more punishment "for his own good", I'd like to trim his nails. But that's more for my own good. He's been tearing me up every time I try to medicate him.
My car passed its inspection.Friday Night Pub Run
Last night Junkie Dan couldn't make the Thursday Night Run because his doctor, another doctor, a nurse, a former dental hygienist, and the ghost of Mother Theresa suggested he not go. It's not because he's been overdoing it (which he has) but because he would have gone directly from major oral surgery to the run. Instead, he's organizing the Friday Night Pub Run on the same route that we ran last night. I love me that route, so I'll probably go. Maybe under the ill advice of Junkie Dan I'll run it twice.
My weather doohickey on my computer says it'll be 44, windy and rainy tonight - just perfect for an easy 12.5 miler.Boo Yeah
I'll have to get a picture for you folks so you can all be jealous, but yesterday I got my LIVESTRONG (Lance Armstrong Foundation) socks. I ordered yellow, but they were out of stock so they changed my order to white, but when I opened the package I found the socks inside to be yellow. Cha-ching. If you aren't a running / cycling junkie you won't understand, but that kind of thing matters.
Over and Out,
Old Coot
Friday, January 11, 2008
Cat Update, For Bizarro Todd
Thursday, January 10, 2008
The Feline Two-Fer
Hey Cooterinos, here's the latest on my eldest cat Nano. You may recall that he has been sneezing, oozing and lethargic, so I called and made an appointment to bring him to the vet.Please Pass the Shoehorn
Surprise surprise, when I called yesterday morning to make an appointment she had a 4:00 opening so I jumped at the chance. That would mean leaving work early, a crying shame.
Now, Nano is a little more amply built than Vinny and although I try to be sensitive to his self-image, it's probably unhealthy and sometimes undesirable. It's really only a problem when A) he's standing on/kneading your bladder or B) you have to put him in a travel carrier. Yesterday would require the latter and I was not excited.
My initial idea was to buy a second (larger) carrier to use whenever I only had one cat to transport, reserving the smaller one for occasions when they'd both need transporting. One mention of this and JO said to hold off, that he had a dog carrier for a dog roughly the size of Vinny that he's trying to get rid of. I accepted his initial price of gratis and prepared myself mentally for the formidable task of placing a large, uncooperative cat in a small, unwelcoming carrier.
When I got home, I set to work herding Nano into the kitchen so I could start the process of trying to wrangle him into the carrier. There are a few techniques I've learned over the years; some work for some cats, none work for all cats. I'll just list them here and let your mind work out the imagery:
1. The Piledriver: Involves standing the carrier up on end with the opening facing up. You pick up the cat and lower him in head first. If you can get his arms and head in, this is a very good technique. The trick is to close the door before the cat turns around and leaps back out.
2. The Reverse Piledriver: Involves lowering the cat feet first into the carrier. For a more accommodating cat this is one of the most agreeable techniques.
3. The Waltz: Basically, the cat just waltzes on in. Good luck with this one.
4. The Sheep Humper: The same as The Waltz, only the cat needs a little (ahem) encouragement. With the carrier resting against a wall or something sturdy, you get his arms and head in and slowly encourage him in with whichever part of your body lines up with his/hers. This can be quite graphic if the alignment isn't ideal.
5. The Suitcase: Basically, this is the technique most commonly used by cat owners. After all attempts to be gentle and civil have failed you basically cram the cat in whatever way works, slamming the door shut on his tail. You should never attempt this with skin exposed or while wearing clothes you like. The cat will resist with amazing tenacity, tearing chunks of flesh off your limbs and torso.
Between the trip to the vet and the trip home, I employed all 5 techniques. I tried #3 in the hopes that it would work; it did not. At the vet he was so freaked out I literally had to pick up and shake the carrier dumping him onto the examination table. Then to make matters worse, they took his temperature.The Prognosis, Doctor
Well, as I expected the poor guy has a nasty combination of two viruses (virii?), that of course will require two different medications. For owner/patient confidentiality reasons I won't get into the names of his infections, but suffice it to say you would not want either one.
The first medication he has to take is what I affectionately call "Eye Goo". Basically, it's this goo that you squirt in his eye three times a day. It's easier to do that you would think, but unpleasant nonetheless.
The second medication was a bit more difficult, at least to procure. The vet only stocks the dog version, which is way too big for a cat, so they have to call it in to a real pharmacy. The good part is that you can get any flavor your cat might want; Nano wanted chicken. The receptionists fought over who wasn't going to be the one to call it in, and when I met Mr. Personality himself (that's what they called him, and it's oh so true) I was less than impressed. At the vet they told me my prescription would be ready by the time I got there, and when I got there Mr. Personality informed me that it takes 24 hours to prepare. Without looking up from the pills he was counting, he added "It'll be $27. Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?"
So that's where we are with that. This morning I got to give Nano his eye goo and Vinny his last (fingers crossed) dose of antibiotics. Let's see if we can get these cats healthy for at least a little while. I think that considering the events of the last month, I should be a real contender for Cat Dad of the Year. Fortunately, Cat Dad of the Year runs October to September so everything I've done has been in CDY 08.
Over and Out,
Old Coot
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Damn It!
Good evening Cooterinos. As you know my cat Vinny had a nasty problem with a bad tooth and associated infection. After a few trips to the vet, a few car payments worth of vet bills, a lot of stress and a few weeks of medication and special food he's pretty much on the mend. Now, my attention turns to Nano...Cover Your Mouth
While I was dealing with Vinny's problems, which took an absurd amount of my time, I paid little attention to my eldest cat Nano. He typically doesn't like a whole lot of attention anyway, but I felt bad nonetheless. The whole time Vinny was sick, they were both sneezing and I figured it was the result of the heat running constantly, blowing dust around and drying out the air. Plus it had been pretty chilly to boot.
Today I came home from work and found Nano asleep on my bed. How he got into the bedroom is another story, but he didn't look like himself. First of all, he wasn't interested in dinner, didn't greet me at the door, and barely awoke when I caught him sleeping. I chalked it up to him trying to enjoy being in the forbidden bedroom until I went downstairs and heard the sneezing fit. I happened to be sitting at my computer at the time so I Googled "Cat Sneezing" and sure enough got plenty of hits.
According to everyone in Google-Land, best case scenario has Nano needing a trip to the vet. Worst case has him needing a trip to the vet, quarantining him in the meantime, and probably a course of antibiotics afterwards. It could be any number of things, but the one common thread was that I should get him in to get checked out ASAP. If I thought it was tough medicating Vinny I can't imagine what Nano will be like. That should be a fun task.And Then There's Me
If you didn't already know that I'm a junkie you haven't been paying attention. With all of the stress of these life-threatening feline ailments, I've been heavily self-medicating with a little too much of the left-foot, right-foot.
On the surface a little exercise can't hurt, but I've really been taking it to another level. After last night's bender I could barely walk today. I was tempted to go out tonight "to keep the legs loose", but the temptation to stay out for "one last round" would be too much so I stayed in. If anything good comes out of these cats and their medical problems it might be that I find myself in a whole new level of running fitness. Or, I'll be crippled and battling a case of pneumonia.Send Some Tender Care Waves Nano's Way
I'll probably get to spend my Friday off dealing with vets, further stressing an already stressed cat so if you have a second put some tender thoughts on the airwaves for sick kitty #2.
File Footage of Nano and Me WhistlingOver and Out,
Old Coot
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Weekend Update
Cooterinos, it's Sunday night and I'm gonna take a few minutes to rap at ya. I'm not going to lie, I had a great weekend. I'm sure there's something I can rant about, but it's gonna take some real thinking to come up with it. Oh, I just thought of something. I'll get to it in a minute...Take it Up a Notch
Allow me to set the stage for you. I was out on Friday night, enjoying the brisk Berkshire air on an easy 10 miler. It was supposed to be a short run, but anything much shorter is hardly worth suiting up forTM.
So anyway, we were splitting up at the end and going our separate ways when we starting trying to plan some things for the weekend. The idea of xc skiing came up and I entertained it, but wasn't really excited. It's one of those things I have to do once to remember that I like it, then I'm all about it.
Saturday afternoon we headed up to Notchview to use their perfectly groomed trails and enjoy the warm early January weather. They were predicting temperatures near 40, which was a real improvement over the 0 we had two days earlier (refer to picture above). Sho nuff when we got there I knew a whole bunch of people up there and the conversations all went like this:Oh wow, hey! I didn't expect to see you here. Are you just getting here or finishing up? Yeah? How's the snow? Oh, great. Yeah it looks perfect out there. Do you skate or ski classical? Yeah, me too. I don't think I'm coordinated enough to skate (a round of chuckling). Alright, good to see you. You gonna be back tomorrow? Yeah, I might too. We'll see how my legs feel after today. It's my first day out this year (another round of chuckling).
Then, you saw someone else you knew and the conversation repeated itself.
The skiing was almost ideal to boot. It was 32 degrees, perfectly groomed, no ice, no rocks/dirt exposed, no wind, the sun was shining. Ahhhhhh. We did about 5 miles before I had to head in for cocoa while the rest of my crew did another quick mile. I was a little tired from the run the night before and was getting the low blood sugar cranks, so I had to quit early.Yes, No, Wait Yes, No
I won't smear their rapidly improving name, but I volunteer at a local theater from time to time. It's a nice way to get to see shows for free and help out at the same time. My only beef with the place is that they typically give me about 12 hours' head's up when I'm scheduled to volunteer. That means I get the call in the morning for an evening show, clutch!
Well Saturday I heard via the grapevine that I was scheduled to be there at 7PM. [sarcasm filter]No problem, my weekend nights are always free.[/sarcasm filter] Not only was I not scheduled to be there according to the calendar they gave me, but there was no show even listed. I was assured I had to be there, so I adjusted my schedule, busted my hump to get ready to go, dug up some old black sneakers because all of my dress shoes are at work and sped off to get there on time. Eeeewrong!
When we pulled into the parking lot it became readily apparent that there was nothing going on. The theater was all black and the lot was empty. So we grabbed some dinner at a local eatery and went home where I looked the damn show up online. They didn't even have it listed on their website. However, the city's website had the show listed, so those fuckers are busted! I would really like to just stop helping out, but I do enjoy free shows.Mountaineering, Runner Style
This morning I met my running crew for a snowshoe run up in Greylock Glen. As it turned out, this was the same route we took the first time I ran with them (sans snowshoes), so it was also a trip down memory lane. If you've never run over a mountain for two hours in snowshoes, you can't understand the feeling. Sure, it's tough as hell and you're literally drenched in sweat at the end but it's also a very peaceful experience.
We ran up and then back down the mountain, over streams, down ravines (and up the other side), pet a dog, had snowball fights (AKA ambushes) all under the guise of exercise. What could be better than that?
Afterwards we had breakfast at a little diner, which I love to do, and I had the Lion's Share of coffee to wash down my pancakes, eggs, bacon and homefries.
Awww, honey dip!Binners on the Mend
My cat Vinny is almost completely on the mend now. He's his usual punk self and is currently curled up inside my bathrobe in his typical burrow-cat style.
The second best part (after the fact that he's healthy again) is that they shaved his arm for an IV or something. I'm sure he doesn't care, but I've been busting his balls about how ridiculous he looks. "Dude, what's up with your arm? You must have no self-respect with a shaved arm like that."
Ahh, it's good to have the old Vinny back again.
Over and Out,
Old Coot
Friday, January 04, 2008
Not Out of the Woods Yet
Once again it's been a few days since I hollered at y'all. I started writing a New Year's post, but that's going to take some real thought and personal reflection to finish. To keep everyone interested, I thought I'd fill you in on my poor, poor kitty.In the Dentist's Chair
Well, technically it's probably more of an operating table, and technically he's not actually on it yet, but I was able to get his dentist visit moved up to today from next Wednesday. It's been tough to keep him eating and drinking and the sooner we get his teeth taken care of, the sooner he'll truly be on the mend.
I dropped him off at the vet this morning and he'll hopefully be done by the end of the day so I can pick him up. They had a number of dental procedures scheduled ahead of him, and if he's not done early enough they'll have to keep him overnight to make sure he comes out of the anesthesia alright and doesn't have any complications.Update
I was able to stop this post en route to the press to add this update. The vet just called at 10:00 to tell me he's out of surgery and they had to extract a pre-molar. He's in recovery and everything went well. I'll be able to pick him up after work today and bring him home for the recovery phase of this ordeal.
Thanks to everyone who has been asking about him. His little cat pea brain can't comprehend the well-wishing of others, but I can and I appreciate it for him.
P.S. The picture above is not an actual x-ray of Vinny's head. It's just a picture I found on the interweb when I wanted to know what a pre-molar is. Answer: It's in front of the molar. I guess that makes sense.
Over and Out,
Old Coot
