Now I remember why I don’t buy ice cream by the half gallon. I eat too much. Tonight I got a half gallon of Blue Bell mint chocolate chip and ate almost half of it at one sitting. Too Much!!
Several days ago Teddy brought a cicada in the house, into the living room of course. I didn’t want him to eat it, so I took it away from him and put it outside on the front porch. I don’t know if it was dead, or if they play possum, but it wasn’t moving any that I could see.
I have a rose of sharon bush right next to my porch, and it draws various bees and whatever elses. One bee sort of thing that I noticed flying around-looked like a big thin bumblebee. I didn’t look at it real close, I don’t like those things. I was looking out the front door after I threw out Teddy’s cicada, and I saw that bee thingy putting that cicada headfirst down the crack where my porch is coming apart. It worked and worked for quite a while, before it finally got the cicada where it wanted it. The cicada was in the crack headdown, with its wings sticking up out of the crack. This crack is an inch or so wide, by the way. I looked closer the next time I was outside (and didn’t see the bee thingy), and there were maybe 3 cicadas sticking out! I never saw anything like that before!
When I let the dogs in last night before bed, a cicada (katy-did) flew in with them. The cats in the hallway were immediately on alert-they always are when a bug flies in, but this one was special. It was big and noisy and fast. It flew around the flourescent light fixture for a bit, and finally parked itself on top, appearing to be rather wedged in. At first I thought I’d catch it and put it back out, but then when it stopped on top of the light, it looked like it was done for the night.
So we all went upstairs to go to bed. Except, before I got the hall light out, it found its way upstairs to that light. The shade for that light is bowl-shaped and hangs down from the ceiling on small chains. It flew into that shade and buzzed around in there furiously for a while. When I happened to look down from the light, there were 5 cats and 1 dog (Sophie) absolutely fixated on that light. They looked like they were in a trance. Teddy, however, was absolutely clueless. He wandered around from the top of the stairs into the bedroom past the statues in the hall and didn’t even notice. He apparently didn’t hear the cicada, or see that the others were all staring up-just came into the bedroom and climbed onto the bed.
The cicada would buzz around for a bit, then be still, then buzz some more, and then be still. Again, I thought I would catch it and put it out, but it was in the bottom of the shade, and finally appeared to be quiet for the time being. I didn’t want to wake it up again, so I just went to bed. I turned out the bedroom light before the hall light though; I didn’t want it flying around in the bedroom. The statues in the hall finally came to life and went about their business-Sophie to bed with Teddy and me, and cats on their various pursuits.
This morning it was still up there-I thought maybe it was dead. But, then it started buzzing around it the shade again. Being a bit more ambitious I finally did manage to catch it and put it outside. It flew off into a tree, and Sophie looked like she’d like to run after it and catch it again. I think she may have gotten one a few nights ago and eaten it, but I’m not sure. Yuck!
Hi! Dis is Phil. My mom is ben telin you abowt us. She is letin me esperiment wif dis compooter thing. I see her doin dis efery day, so I is thinkin maybe I can do dis too.
She’s too tyred tonight. She akcshuuly werked in da yard tooday! She reely reely hates yard werek, so she’l let it get perty bad afor shed do any. She has a hih talerance for ugly yard, so it were reely bad.
She got hoem frum werk later dan uchual, an tuk da gogs to daycair, tuk hirslef to breakfist, an dem came hoem. She chaynged her clowes an wint out rite awa. Cept da truble wus, it wuz almos 11 clock, an it wus relly relly hot out dewr. She dint put on a hat or nufin. Sily mom.
She got da weed eeter thing, to werk on da gras/weeds in da fruont. We lives in a. . . um. . .doan’t know da werd-duble howse? Der anoder lady on de oder sied-she gots 2 kittehs. So mom waz werkin on de areeya betwein da porches-was nee high der. Mosly weeds. Ar nayber had som kid doin ar yardz, but he hadn bin heer for weks. I efen thot it wus begining to need som werk.
DAT DUM TEDDY! Herd a noise in da kitcehn-mom wint owt der Teddy had dug a plastec dish out of da sienk, dumpin anoder one in da proces. He brung it into da living rum, to da rug of cowrse. She tuk it away fum him an tuk it bac owt der. If mom hasnt washed ar fud dishs, he gits dem ot to lik an choo on too. Dos is AR dishs- I haet win he dus dat.
Anyway, mom werked in da yard, wit da weed thingy, an raeks. She had to quit befoer she wanted to, afor she wuz dun, caus she jus cudnt keep goin. Too hot, she got too hot, al red in da face. She luked lieke she was gonna drop win she caem in da huwse. She tuk a long shower in coul water, an it stil tuk her a long tiem to coul off. She had red red face for -well it semmed like a long tiem. The tv said it were 94 owtside. No clouds, only da sun, an no wind. Did I mensun sily mom!!
She pidled a while, din wint to bed. Din she brout de gogs home frum day care. Rats! Is hopin dey wud stay der. I lieks havin dem gone. Mom calles it ar dogfree day-we lieks it. We get da run of da howse-mom can leev ar gushyfud owt as long as she wants-da way we gets to eat all we wants. Win Teddys hoem-she has to put it up lots suuner dan we liek. He dusnt lisen win she tels him to stay away frum ar fud. Sofee is tu short to be a problim-we downt mind her.
Wel, mom wants to clos up da comuter an go to bed. Dis been fun- my fuurs post. Il haf to git her to let me do it agin.
I have to go to the store in the morning. I have to buy toilet paper. I have a thing about not running out of toilet paper. I should have enough to last another month. But I don’t. When I walked in the door at home this morning, I found that Teddy and at least one cat had had a party during the night. There was toilet paper shredded from 2 or 3, not sure how many, rolls on the rug in front of the door. One must be comfortable while one chews, you know.
I was able to salvage about a third of a roll from one of them. This happens on a fairly regular basis in our house. It’s either toilet paper, or if I happen to leave a roll or paper towels in Teddy reach, then it’s all over the house.
I suspect that I left the lock off of the cabinet under the bathroom sink on the main floor. Several of the cats can open those doors if I don’t keep a childproof lock on them. In fact, this afternoon I was in there, and had remembered at last to put the lock on though it wasn’t latched, Dulcie came in and was trying to pry the doors open with her claws. I’ve seen Annie just stick her foot in the handle (or whatever it’s called-the word escapes me) and pull and it opens right up. The cabinets in my house all have magnetic closures, which after years of use don’t work very well any more. This is not a problem for the most part, but the cabinets under both bathroom sinks, the 2nd cabinet in the upstairs bathroom, the cabinet under the kitchen sink, and the cabinet where I keep the cat treats, and medications for me and various animals have all been opened and now must be kept shut with a childproof lock.
Things pulled out from unsuspecting cabinets-a bag of potting soil, dumped on the floor. The cats did that one. Any number of bottles and tubes of cosmetics and lotions. The boxes usually get eaten. Teddy does these. The botttles and tubes are in various states of distruction and I may or may not be able to salvage them. The lids are usually chewed off and there are holes that allow the contents to run out. Occasionally a can of Comet has been knocked over, but not eaten. At least I don’t think so.
Food items: a bag of whole wheat dinner rolls. Teddy ate those-Sophie may have helped, hard to say. A loaf of bread. I think I rescued part of that.
And by the way, did I mention that all of this activity must take place on the rug in the living room? I don’t have carpeting, thank God, but I have an area rug in the living room and a rug in front of the front door. All chewing, puking (dog and cat), eating of objects not food must take place on the living room rug. I usually don’t get a real expensive one, and I replace it occasionally. Sophie likes to get a mouthful of food and bring it into the living room, put it on the rug and eat it a piece or 2 at a time.
Let’s see. When we last left Dulcie, it was Thursday July 26th. She wasn’t eating or drinking well, and continued that way all week. I called on Friday to let Dr. A. know what was going on, and he said to bring her in on Saturday morning. He wouldn’t be there, but his partner Dr. Bogue would be. They were all booked up, so I was to bring her in and drop her off, they would take a look at her and treat her if needed, and I would pick her up at noon when they closed. So I did.
Dr. Bogue called me before noon to tell me what the problem was. He had taken her temp and it was up to 106-a significant fever for a cat. Normal runs from 100.5 t0 102.5. When he was taking her temp he said he noticed it looked unusually thick around the base of her tail. (He called it the tail head.) He poked and prodded and discovered a soft area there. He stuck a needle in it and pulled out pure pus. Big abscess!
So, she would need to stay and he would lance and drain it, clean it out and she would need to have a drain tube. So that’s what we did. They knocked her out to do that of course. He called me later in the afternoon to tell me how she was-groggy from being knocked out, but doing ok. He’d put two holes in it to clean it out, and to put the drain tube in. He was to call me if anything changed. Sunday he left me a message, everything was ok. He was giving her pain meds as needed, so she was still a little groggy. That is something they didn’t used to do-give animals pain medication after a surgery or other procedure. It’s about time!
I was able to go visit her Monday morning when I got off work. She was wearing an elizabethan collar-you know, the one that keeps them from chewing on themselves. She was keeping to the back of the cage she was in. It was noisy and busy in the room-it’s their room for procedures-prepping animals for surgery, treating wounds, etc., so there was lots of traffic through there. She recognized me-sniffed my fingers and rubbed against my hand. So I petted her for a while, and when it was obvious that I was in the way, I left.
I went to see her again that afternoon. She was doing well. She’d been eating ok-there was food on the edge of the e-collar. I brought her out, since there was no one else in there at that time of day. I put her on the treatment area, and she sniffed me some more, and rubbed my hand, and even gave me a head bonk on my chin. She wandered around on the counter top and investigated things. I finally had to put her back in her cage, and go pick up the dogs from day care.
Tuesday I stopped by to see her a little after lunch, and they said I could take her home if I wanted to. They’d removed the drain, so she had 2 holes. They said that she would probably drain for several days. I had a liquid antibiotic to give her twice a day, and some pain medication I could give her once a day. Poor thing-when you first bring someone home from the vet after a long stay, she doesn’t smell like herself so every one hisses at her like she’s a brand new kitty. She explored the house for a while, and then slept the rest of the day. It was obvious that she still didn’t feel well. She didn’t eat much yet, and when she tried to jump up, she couldn’t jump up very far. And she didn’t use her right back leg much when she did it.
But now, a week later, she is much much better. The top hole is completely closed and the scab is gone. The bottom hole, which was bigger, is scabbed over, and is getting smaller. She’s running around like she used to, eating well, and the others have mostly stopped hissing at her. She just looks silly with a bare bottom where they shaved her to clean out the abscess. (But don’t tell her I said that.) She spends a little more time with me than she used to, and has slept with me several nights now. It’s so nice to have her back to normal.
The dogs got to go to a Luau party today! They had it at Day Care today-for all the dogs who came. Teddy and Sophie go to day care 1 or 2 times a week, depending on how much money I have. Mondays they go for a full day, and Thursdays for a half day.
The afternoon activities included frisbee, beach ball, jumbo ice games, and bubbles! They got leis-Teddy a blue one to match his leash, and Sophie a pink 
one to match her leash. Sophie especially must have played really hard, she’s been asleep since shortly after we got home.
This is the party favor they sent home with us, a picture of Sophie and Teddy in their beach wear, on a tiny surf board. Very CUTE!
Dulcie still hasn’t been eating very well yet. Yesterday I stopped at PetSmart and got some KMR and some of that greasy brown high calorie stuff to try to get something down her. She took a couple licks of that stuff like YUM but then it was tphbbt tpbhht pleh! So then I’ve smeared it on her fur to get her to eat it.
I left the tube in my purse last night, and my purse on my couch. I went in to the kitchen to get a dish of cereal. When I came back in the living room, Teddy had the tube on the floor. Without putting down my dish of cereal because Teddy would have gotten that, I walked around the coffee table to pick it up. I took a step forward and ran into the coffee table with my leg. I landed on the floor, cereal went everywhere, all over me and the floor and the rug etc. The front of my shin was all bruised and scraped and SORE! So, I let Teddy and Sophie clean up the floor and I got some ice and put it on my leg for 2 hours. Still sore but it’s better today.
Can’t possibly be my fault. Has to be Ted’s. Yep, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Believe it or not, we REALLY do NOT spend all our time at the vets. This is the 2nd of our 3 visits to the emergency vet.
If you recall in the post on Phil’s difficulties, he was on canned food for a while. I went to the vet to get some more one Wednesday. I left them on the kitchen counter in a bag. First mistake. Teddy went into the kitchen, saw them, and pulled the bag off the counter spilling the cans all over. I went in to pick them up. Missed one. Second mistake.
Later that evening, I was on my computer in my computer room, playing a game, concentrating hard. Third mistake. Eventually, I noticed an absence of both dogs and noise. I went into the living room to see what was going on.
I found both dogs on the rug in the living room, an empty can of cat food between them. To my complete and utter astonishment, Teddy had managed to open a cat food can (the one I missed earlier). I was so mad I didn’t keep it, or take a picture of it. (Rats!) I have no idea how he did that. At first I thought he’d eaten the lid, because I couldn’t find it. (It was one of those ones with the tab that you pull off.) The can was empty, with a few tooth holes in it. I did finally see the lid over underneath the coffee table. It wasn’t that I minded them eating the cat food. I was sure that Teddy had eaten bits of metal and would soon be bleeding to death before long. At the time I wasn’t making much money, and I was afraid that I would have to put him to sleep rather than pay the huge amount I thought it would take for surgery, etc.
As time went by, there were no after effects, so I began to relax.
BUT. There’s always a but. Early the next Monday morning-did I mention early?-at that magic 3:30am hour, I got up to go to the bathroom. When I get up to go, I usually take the dogs out also. We all went downstairs to the back door and I let them out. I turned around to go to the bathroom and there was dark stuff on the floor. The light was out, and I didn’t have my glasses on, so I just assumed that Sophie had pooped on the floor. (She would rather potty in the house than outside.) But when I turned on the light, it was puddles of blood. I was just sure that Teddy was bleeding out. So I started cleaning it up, and I was crying and cussing, just sure that I’d have to put him to sleep.
Then it crossed my mind that it could be Sophie! Don’t know why that hadn’t occurred me before. I let Teddy in and then went outside with Sophie, and saw her poop some blood out there.
I went back in to go to bed, becaused I couldn’t decided if she needed to go to the vet right then, or if she could wait. She was shivering, so I put her on the bed and covered her up, thinking she was cold. She jumped off the bed and went into the bathroom and laid down on the floor. I was going to go to bed, but I went in to talk to her, and she looked so so so miserable that I had to take her in then. I was sure that she had a puncture somewhere in her intestine and she was bleeding out inside.
I got dressed and packed her in the car. She was excited go for a ride-didn’t seem all that sick right then. When we got there she pooped on the sidewalk-looked like pure blood.
I explained to the vet what had happened and what I was afraid of. They did xrays, and did blood work. When he came back to talk to me, she was kind enough to poop on the floor and demonstrate what she had been doing.
He said that she did NOT have any metal in her intestines. She did NOT have a hole somewhere and was NOT bleeding to death. Whew! What a relief!
What she did have, he explained to me, was hemorrhagic colitis. Which meant that she had an upset intestine and it was causing her to poop blood and mucus. It wasn’t even the loss of blood that was the problem so much as the dehydration. The shivering was caused by an electrolyte (sodium and potassium) imbalance, which was caused by the dehydration. It would be much much cheaper to treat than I had been afraid of.
They gave her a bunch of fluids, meds for the diarrhea and the nausea, antibiotics, and sent her home with me, to take to Dr. A when my vet opened up at 8. It was 6ish (am) when we got home, so I sat on the couch and dozed a bit till 8 and took her in.
Dr. A was very sympathetic to her. If it hadn’t been so pititful, it would really have been funny: as she was laying on the exam table, her head would nod as she would start to go to sleep and then she’d wake up, then nod again-like a person does. Dr. A smiled at her and said he’d have to put her in the isolation room just so she could sleep-she’d probably been awake most of the night.
They kept her 24 hours-when I picked her up the next morning, she was happy to see me and jumping up and down like she’d never been sick.
Sophie almost always takes the brunt of Teddy’s experiments? indiscretions? He hardly ever bears the consequences you might expect from his behavior.
She ate well last night, but today doesn’t feel well again. I gave her her medicine, so I hope she will feel good enough to eat supper again. She didn’t eat anything earlier.
