Cat Got Your Tooth?

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File Footage of Vinny

Hey everybody. I've been getting calls from people from far and wide about my poor kitty, Vinny. My sister called me all the way from Japan (thanks Ab) to see how he was doing, and I've been getting texts all the way from Washington state (from someone who doesn't understand the time difference) on the regular. You'd think Vin was a person the way people have been sending tender care waves his way. So here's the scoop...

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Over the Hump

If you didn't already know the story, my cat Vinny was sick while I was away for Christmas. When I got home I found he had thrown up everywhere and when his cat belly was empty he threw up some more. In case someone with a similar problem stumbles upon this post, I'll tell you what I saw and what I had to do.

The scary think I saw was the bright green vomit on the couch. Yeah, sucks to be my couch (white, no less) but I freaked out. The first thing I thought of was antifreeze which is poisonous to animals but, oh so sweet (yeah, I've had some and it's delicious). A little research and I found it was not antifreeze (since there was none he could get into) but rather bile. Better, but not good.

Vin was also not himself. He was lethargic, had no appetite and I thought he felt very skinny. All three are very uncharacteristic of this particular cat.

The next day I picked up some (unflavored) Pedialyte and a baby syringe (no needle) to force feed him the Pedialyte. He was clearly dehydrated so that was my first priority.

A few years back I had to put a cat down (RIP Thor) who lost too much weight too fast, and developed "Fatty Liver Disease" so after getting Vinny hydrated I got to work trying to get him to eat anything. I tried tuna, tuna water, Lactaid (lactose free milk), wet cat food, and what worked best was wet cat food smashed up with a mortar and pestle, with some of the Lactaid mixed in. He would only lick the sauce off the food, so I used the milk to fortify the little bit of sauce he was "eating".

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The Vet Visit

In between feedings and waterings I called the vet. For whatever reason they didn't have any of my cats (or me) on file. I've had three cats go through that vet for all sorts of reasons, but they didn't find me. Because of this, she couldn't squeeze me in. I made an appointment for Monday (today), crossed my fingers and kept a close eye on the little guy.

This morning, I awoke to a half a foot of snow on the ground, so I fed and watered the cats and set to work clearing the snow so I could get Vinny to his appointment on time. With plenty of time to spare I got the driveway cleared, Vinny loaded into his carrier (always a treat) and into the car.

The vet ran through the usual checks which were fine to a friendly cat like Vinny except for the temperature reading. Since cats aren't known to hold still while you take their temperature orally, they have to do it the (ahem) other way. I got to hold him while she did this, and if you've ever walked in on a cat taking a dump you know the face they get; this was the same. He was clearly unhappy with the arrangement.

His temperature was fine.

Next she started in on the teeth and gums. One peek and she saw he had some bad teeth, gingivitis and some sort of spot I equate with that thing you get on your cheek that you keep biting, making it worse. There was blood present and when she went to swab it, he hissed at her. I've never in my life seen him hiss for any reason at all, and the Dr. went to get backup. Since they had no records she couldn't be sure his rabies shots were up to date, and I don't blame her for being cautious.

I had to leave him for an hour or so while they did the full up blood work on him, gave him fluids/vitamins/antacids under his skin and gave him a pre-anesthesia checkout. He has to go back next week to have some dental work done, which she thought might be a tooth extraction or two. The poor guy has to take antibiotics on the daily between now and then (plus for a bit after) which she says taste AWFUL, so that should be a treat for me.

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End Result - For Now

So it seems that the problem this whole time has been a couple of bad teeth. His weight is okay, his blood work is normal all around except for one thing which she thought is due to his slight dehydration. His liver is fine (no fatty liver disease!), he isn't diabetic (or pre diabetic) and his white blood cells are good. After the dental work he should be back to normal!

So all of this for the low, low price of about one week's pay. But, like my mother tells me I should be thankful to have that week's pay to shell out. Word up mom. Plus I got to escort him around town on my new tires that cost me another week's pay. I'm thankful to have the week's pay to shell out for those too.

Eggcelent.

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Happy New Year everyone. Be safe and stay tuned, I think '08 is gwanta be the bomb! I have a feeling about it, so you can pretty much take that to the bank!


Over and Out,
Old Coot

Get the Whole Story Here...

Christmas 2007 (Part II)

As I mentioned in my last post, I had my little notebook with me to jot down some notes and observations while I drove. It's easy to say "Oh, I'm gonna blog about that", but when you finally sit down you can never remember the subtle details that made the moment for you. Yup, the mini notebook is pretty handy to have in the car.

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So Lonely

There's something about sitting in a car for six hours, alone with one's own thoughts to reinforce the fact that one is sitting in one's car for six hours, alone with one's thoughts. Driving during the day helps because you can make eye contact with other drivers, look into and judge their vehicles and belongings and somewhat connect with them, albeit briefly. When you don't leave until the sun has almost set, you're just another stranger on the highway.

Now, combine that loneliness with the idea of millions of good Americans wearing the latter of the Easter and Christmas Best, attending candlelight services at their church of choice, while I'm sitting alone in the Chittenango rest area dining on the remains of that day's deep dish veggie pizza. I overheard one employee explaining to someone that they'd be closing early because nobody's out on the road on Christmas Eve. "Ahem, I'm sitting right here!"

I took that piece of information as a warning that there would be no more rest areas for the rest of my drive. They were out of coffee and the sugar buzz from the dozen or so Christmas cookies I ate for brunch was quickly wearing off. I tried to buy a few Diet Cokes from a vending machine, but it wouldn't take my money. Ruh-roh!

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The Wind was A-Howlin'

Despite the utter lack of snow along my drive, the wind more than made up for it. Several times I found myself behind a semi with a double trailer dog-tracking down the road. Once, the rear wheels of the rear trailer were on the other side of the rumble strip and the whole thing was in this double jack-knife position. I thought for sure the thing was going to wreck. I had my lens cap off just in case.

When the driver straightened it out, I dropped the hammer and whipped by him to avoid being tied up in any future wrecks. Oh Lesbaru, thou art so fleet of feet.

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The Stow Away

Remember that stuffed squirrel that showed up on my desk? Well, apparently he wanted to shuffle off to Buffalo, so he stowed away in one of my bags. His name is Montgomery, quite fitting of a squirrel of his worldly nature.

Here is a picture of him looting my Christmas stocking.



And, as if that wasn't naughty enough, here he is climbing the Christmas Tree. Thank God he didn't knock the Mom's Favorite ornament off!

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My Sick Kitty

When I left, my youngest cat was a little under the weather. He had thrown up several times but he's no stranger to throwing up so it was not a huge deal. When I got home from Buffalo things were a little different.

Vinny had continued throwing up for probably several days until all that was left in his poor tummy was bright green bile, which he deposited on the kitchen floor and the fold-out couch cushions. He wouldn't eat or drink and I started to panic.

I'm going to leave this as a bit of a cliff-hanger for now. I will tell you that he seems to be back to his normal self after several days of constant care from The Cat Master (me). He's been eating solid food a little at a time, and drinking Pedialyte to help get his electrolytes back up after all that vomiting.

It was a close call for sure; many cats won't start eating again once they've stopped for a few days. I think that was the main contributor to Thorey's death a few years back, so you can see why I took it so seriously.


Over and Out,
Old Coot

Get the Whole Story Here...

Christmas 2007 (Part I)

In case there was any confusion on my sister's part, I am clearly The Favorite. Now, my sister will make the claim that her ornament bearing the words "Oldest Child (Mom's Favorite)" proves her place in my mother's heart is at the top, but I can offer conclusive proof to the opposite.

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The Proof

Well, the ornament my sister has bears the words "Oldest Child" and then makes the claim that she's the favorite. Well, the Oldest Child was at one point the Only Child, so she would have been the favorite by default. Along comes the second cuter, more zestful and clearly more charming child into the brood. Since there were no more children to follow, it stands that the loving parents had finally hit the jackpot and did not need to try again to get that child they always wanted. The first was a dud, but the second was the bees knees (Burt's Bees Knees).

At this point it would have been in bad taste to take back the ornament informing the eldest of her "status", so they superseded it with an ornament for the youngest, as shown above.

I'd also like to offer into evidence the fact that my Ornamente de Favoritude (as the French call it), has been placed on the tree covering an ornament bearing my sister's picture. Oh, how embarrassing for her.

The defense rests.

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Better You than Me

I was preparing for my Monday morning, Christmas Eve run when my mother called to inform me that they were experiencing some bad weather. Now, if anyone else told me that it was snowing in Buffalo I would have ignored him but coming from a long-time Buffalo resident I gave her the appropriate attention.

After my run, I checked with the weather sites, the NYS Thruway Authority and so on, and determined that if I left now they'd have the roads cleared. I started getting my stuff together, set the kittens up with enough food and water for two weeks (which is undoubtedly eaten already) and hit the road.

Due to traffic, I couldn't back out of my driveway in the direction I wanted to go, so I went the other way. No sooner had my tires hit the road did I notice there were fire trucks a-plenty at the end of the street. There's a fire station there, so it's pretty common to see them coming from or going to an emergency.

As I rolled up to the corner, it became very apparent that the corner was not only the home of the fire station, but the destination of their rescue effort. There was a car rolled onto its side on a snowbank. Keep in mind that it wasn't snowy or icy where I live, so this was just the result of jackassery. What's a good citizen to do when he comes across a potentially dangerous accident? Yup, I pulled out the camera and fired off pictures as fast as I could.



Unfortunately I didn't upload the picture all that large, but you can see the car well enough. This next picture just seemed kind of neat. The blurred background gives it a feeling of urgency that I'm sure no one was feeling at that moment. In fact, everything seemed under control and they were probably just waiting for the flatbed to come and take the car away.

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But What About the Drive?

As usual, I had my notebook with me to jot down my thoughts and observations of the drive. I won't get into those until my next installment, but I will leave you with this...

There was no snow or ice the entire way! Despite the Doomsday predictions my mother made over the phone, the first snow my tires touched was one block from their house, and it was probably an inch deep. There was grass visible all along the Thruway and the tarmac was at worst damp. It was in fact smooth sailing.

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Over and Out,
Old Coot

Get the Whole Story Here...

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! I was awoken this morning by some off-key Carolers throwing snowballs at my bedroom windows. It took me a few minutes to figure out what the hell was going on and when I looked out the window I saw it was some of my running buddies taunting me for bagging that morning's run. I had my reasons.

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So... Wiped... Out

Before I start my complaint about being so tired I'm going to acknowledge that there are probably people out there who work harder than I do and have more responsibilities than I have, but that doesn't mean I can't be tired too.

Last you probably heard form me I was working OT trying to get our project caught up and at the same time stack that paper. I've been going full steam ahead towards those ends taking only Sundays to get my beauty sleep. That might help explain why I bagged this morning's run. Yesterday as I sat in the dark office by myself I think I was officially burned out. I couldn't get much done, and what I did do wasn't all that good. I did however, manage to clean the coffee makers.

Sprinkle in a 3 or 4 dozen miles of running a week and it's a recipe for burnout if I've even seen one. All work and play makes Old Coot a tired boy, plus a poorly fed boy at that. I've been eating like crap, which I'm sure only exacerbates the problem.

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December is National My Car Maintenance Month

As I'm sure happens with everyone, I wait until way past the last minute to tend to car maintenance. For example, I need new tires. I've known about the tire situation for some time so it's not a surprise. I also know which tires I want and where I want to get them. I even have money earmarked for the job, so you'd think it would be a no-brainer. Wrong-o.

Late this week I finally got up the gumption to call the place and make an appointment. As luck would have it I have to wait a week to have them put on, which pushes my annual inspection closer to the wire.

Did I forget to mention that my inspection is up this month? And if you guessed that my current tires won't pass inspection, you guessed correctly. So there's an obvious order of operations here: tires, then inspection. Having a tire appointment of 12/28 makes it tough to get the inspection done before the 12/31 deadline.

Every 3,000 miles or 3 months, whichever comes first... Well, I finally got my oil changed yesterday; a job I absolutely hate to pay for because it's so easy to do myself. It was only 3,600 miles since my last change so there was no concern there. But it had been 6 months since my last change, and we all know oil breaks down whether you're driving or not.

The good news was that there's a new place not too far from my house that got me in and out in about 10 minutes. They even threw in a "free" car wash, which I'm sure is rolled into the exorbitant cost of the oil change. I seized the opportunity to have my car washed, a task that sometimes only happens every 6,000 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first.

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Shuffling Off to Buffalo

Like the nicknames every kid you meet thinks they invented, every person who asks if I'm "Shuffling Off to Buffalo" gets a kick out of being so creative. But the answer is, yes I am going to Buffalo for Christmas.

Since my family celebrates Christmas in a different manner than the American Media Conglomerate would like you to celebrate it (by spending 2 months' salary on diamonds and other month's salary on other crap) gift giving and receiving are not the highlight of the trip. In fact, we'll probably have a nice low-key day filled with coffee, breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper and perhaps some Scrabble. It'll be perfect. I even have a new Yankee Candle for my mom (does that count as a gift?), to give the house that familiar Christmas smell in the absence of a freshly butchered tree.

The second highlight of the Holiday week is the Annual Bartley Party, which is now a fundraiser for PUSH. What started out as an annual meeting of high school alumni at the Bartley homestead has turned into quite the celebration. I love going because it's filled with about 15 years' worth of alumni from my HS, and other like-minded folks. It's the one place we get to meet up and see what everyone has or has not been doing over the last year. Oh, it'll be sweet.

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Well, my laundry is dry. Time to fold, set another load in motion, and hit the mean streets of P-field to run a few miles. It's 45 degrees today, and you know what that means. SHORTS WEATHER!


Over and Out,
Old Coot

Get the Whole Story Here...

With Snowshoes A-Blazing

I'm not sure if I've said it before, but this recent snowfall has given us an appreciable amount of snow. I'd say we have about a foot in all, even more in drifts. What's a runner to do when the snow falls?

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Thursday Night Run

On Thursday, we got a good amount of snow. They were closing schools left and right, and panic was striking the hearts of people everywhere. At work, parents were worried about their children, manly men were worried about their snowmobiles and everyone was worried about the quantity of beer in the fridge. Hell, I have plenty in my fridge and I don't even drink it.

My main concern was not for the safety of children, readiness of snowmobiles or quantity of beer in the fridge, it was for the attendance of the Thursday Night Run. I sent a reminder out to everyone that nobody in his/her right mind would be out running, so we should wear plenty of reflective gear so drivers would see us. I'm no pansy, I'll run in damn near any weather, especially snowstorms.

Our group consisted of five members, dressed in clothing ranging from fleece-lined snow pants and down jacket to no-show socks, tights and a wind-breaker. I was closer to the latter, but I had my shoes/ankles covered with gaiters. There was a change of venue when the planned restaurant was closed and we moved to the Manhattan Pizza & Brazilian Grill near my house, confirmed that they would be open when we got back, and headed off.

There was no game plan or route picked out, we just ran for a while and meandered through the streets. For those of you who think 8" of snow is the perfect excuse to sit inside I'll tell you that you're really missing something. When you're running down the middle of a snowy road, the flakes are casually drifting to the Earth with only Christmas decorations (and headlamps and streetlights) to guide your way it's truly a Winter Wonderland. You feel like you can go anywhere because there are no roads, lawns or sidewalks, just snow. All in all we ran for about 6.5 miles, then sat down to the best pizza in town. Mmm, mmm, mmmm.

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Friday Night Trail Run

For those of us who had to work on Friday, there would be no getting out before dark. Instead, three brave souls headed into the woods donning snowshoes and head lamps. I have no idea where the trails are, but for the most part we just followed the snowmobile tracks.

After about an hour or so we saw headlamps off in the distance. We were all on the same wavelength when each one of us independently reached up and turned ours off, allowing us to run right up and scare whoever it was. Actually, one woman turned to me in a panic and screamed in a whisper "I can't turn the fucking thing off! Can you find the button?"

Cloaked in darkness we snuck right up on those poor bastards and gave them quite a jump. After a brief "How-do-you-do?" we were on our way. I found that I could manage much better without my light, and navigated from there on out "on instruments" as I called it. The nice thing about running in snowshoes is that the snow is so deep you don't have to watch for rocks or roots or anything, you just run.

All in all we covered about 6.25 miles that night, at a blistering pace of 3 miles per hour. I'll let you do the math. Snowshoe running is tricky because it's easy to overheat, but as soon as you stop the cold sneaks in and chills you right up. You really have to pay attention to not working up a sweat. It's a fine line between being too hot and too cold, and I think I walked it just about right for my first time out.

Tomorrow my new snowshoes should be here. They're designed for running so I should be able to hit the trails with a more natural gait. There's already a plan in the making to get out after work!

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Over and Out,
Old Coot

Get the Whole Story Here...