And Then There Were Three….

The strays still come to our door. Spumoni seems to have a litter of kittens every summer. This year it even looked like she got pregnant twice, but the first time never produced kittens. Maybe the swollen belly was the result of illness or something. Poor thing has given birth three or four times now.

She had five kittens this last time. One of which we didn’t see for almost a week or two after the others showed up and according to Mom looked like it had a limp or bad limb. I nicknamed them Chico, Elmo, Fabio, Harpo, and Nemo (guess which one Nemo was :-P ). They were as always adorable. One of the neighborhood kids took a liking to one of them. We think she was the one who put a flea collar on it. At least I think it was a flea collar. Nice thought, but unless you can monitor it to adjust the collar as the kitten grows, it’s a hazard for the animal. They grow so fast. Once it looked snug, Mom had me catch it and cut it off.

We’ve had some issues trying to catch them this year. One, we didn’t always have a car we could use. Mom let the car battery die again and again this summer. Nana bought a second car off of a friend then decided to sell it so had it parked at our place some of that time…. But parking around here sucks so we couldn’t risk moving the car and not having a spot when we returned from the shelter. Two, Mom’s still recovering from the surgery pains…. internal scarring that takes forever to heal as it gets pulled and stretched over time. Not to mention back pains that makes it hard to drive even for short distances. And some mornings she is just too tired, either because pain is exhausting or she had a sleepless night. Finally (and here’s the biggie), Mom keeps overfeeding them so they’re not hungry enough to be lured into the carrier.

I caught four of the kittens, two one week and two the next week. We have to show I.D. at the shelter to prove residence. Well we’re apparently in the system because of it. One of the ladies at the shelter basically said “oh yeah, you’re here a lot” and suggested we get a trapping license. But then we’d need to put up notices to warn the neighbors in case their pets get caught I guess… And then there’s the stronger likelihood of catching other creatures. I do NOT want to find a skunk trapped in a cage. Also we’d have to find the traps.

Sadly, I did not catch Harpo who was always more skittish than the others. Unfortunately, he/she is getting bigger and bigger and more independent. I almost caught him/her. Half way into the carrier and I tried to close the door on it. Harpo squirmed out and jumped back into the screen door. Haven’t been able to lure him/her or Spumoni or Tom into the carrier or even close since.

Hopefully, we can catch them before cooler nights. Hopefully, Harpo isn’t a girl so at least there won’t be twice as many litters next summer. Hopefully, we can catch them before they are beyond saving. Or if we can’t catch them at all, hopefully, they find homes elsewhere or find lasting peace in their sleep. I’m tired of the added expense, even though we get them the cheaper stuff. I’m tired of the extra bugs drawn to the leftovers. I’m tired of the yard that has become the neighborhood litter box. It was never a well kept grass patch as I never watered, but it was safe to walk on before. Mostly, I’m tired of seeing their sad faces looking in as if they want to come in or want love and Mom and I feeling bad for whatever they’re enduring out there. It breaks my heart. Recently, the thought popped into my head. If only Spumoni had let us catch her in the beginning, maybe she would have been the new addition to the family instead of two of her babies. >.< I hope God helps me catch them soon.

Could Have Lost Her....

Pixie has always been my problem child. When she moved in, she brought worms which she of course shared with Oreo. She had an infection here and there. And then there were repeated trips for UTIs. It sounds like she might have trouble breathing but the vets haven’t picked up on it or it isn’t serious. We teased that she was always the problem child. But it was never major….until this year.

Eating and drinking habits changed. Mom said Pixie seemed lethargic. Until we could afford a full work up at the vets, we kept putting it off. It didn’t help that Oreo got a simple infection so the funds went to him, since he’s a senior citizen and at higher risk of issues….. Turns out he was perfectly healthy for a sixteen year old cat and didn’t need the full check up. I mean we’re glad we got it and found out, but Pix needed it more. I wish vets weren’t so expensive.

I don’t remember what prompted the urgency. But we finally took Pixie to the vet mid August on a Saturday appointment. Monday morning they called with the results from the blood work. I remember feeling as if I’d been hit with a blow and as the conversation went on a sense of dread gripped me. She had high blood sugar levels….diabetes. He said if she did well on insulin she could live another five years with no problems. It was the part where he mentioned some cats didn’t do well and didn’t last more than a few months that had me so scared I’d lose my baby. As Dad pointed out, I’m usually more positive about situations. And it’s true. Faith has led me to be more positive in the outcomes of whatever came our way. Maybe because it wasn’t our usual vet who is so reassuring or still getting over hearing she had a major problem that took my mind to worst case scenario mode.

We had to take her in that afternoon so they could regulate her blood sugar levels and figure out what dosage of insulin to prescribe. Since I’m usually awake all night out in the living room, Pixie and I are usually keeping each other company. A.K.A. she spends a lot of the night in my lap off and on all night. But those two nights were the most depressing nights in a long time. Even with the mini distraction of Target Tuesday with Dad, it was sad without Pixie in the house. Our minds went to thoughts of what if…..

Wednesday Dad took me to pick her up. I wish it had been Mom with us. A med tech had to show me how much meds to give her…. Me… Tiny needle measurements… Yeah. I didn’t see a thing. I told Mom the dosage and relayed what he had said as best as I could recall. Something was lost in translation. Not that we discovered that until much later.

That first evening Mom said Pixie looked so much better. She had more life in her eyes. We could breathe again. Faith she would be okay returned. Thank God. We didn’t really enjoy the learning process of injecting insulin every day. And by “we”, I mean all three of us. I had to hold her down. With shaking hands and obvious nervousness, Mom would try and inject her between the shoulder blades the way we were told. Pixie of course squirmed and bucked every time. Some of those times before the insulin made it inside. Sometimes the needles got bent. Sometimes the needles nearly broke. Some of those times meant giving up on dosing her that day because Pix was too freaked or Mom was too shaky to try it again. Or Pixie would hide until we gave up trying and ended up skipping a day here and there. As we would later find out, it was just as well. We were over dosing her. So the fact that we only gave her meds half as often as we were supposed to may have saved her life.

Sunday night a month ago, Mom called me while I was still at Dad’s house. Pixie had a seizure and Mom had to find a pet ER. Dad and I packed up our stuff and the groceries I’d bought and rushed to meet Mom there. Pixie seized again en route. Mom was freaked and they didn’t fully know what had caused the seizure. It might have been blood sugar that was too low. Since they had overnight care, Pixie stayed there to be monitored and get her electrolytes balanced or something. If she was okay by morning, she could and was moved to our vets’ for monitoring during the day. She had another seizure there. We brought her home Monday night, since they don’t have overnight staff. At least she could be comfortable. And I got to experience what Mom went through. It was not fun watching my baby suffer another seizure. It was the same report for Tuesday, day and night. Wednesday she was seizure free. Without seeing a specialist, we didn’t get an official cause. Low blood sugar may have started it, but the other seizures happened at normal to high levels.

It was a very sad and scary week. Because of it, her insulin dose got adjusted. And since Mom was in with me, she was shown how much. Mom now feels like it was all her fault. I don’t think it was and I tell her so. Giving Pixie her injections is much easier now, because it is much less medicine now and vet said we can stick her anywhere. SOOO much easier now. I think we’ve finally stopped watching and expecting another seizure. Pixie is so full of life and activity now and loving. Mom says her coat is shiny and soft compared to the dull and dry look it had been before.

I hope we don’t have any more scares like that in the future with her or the others. That week took us down a dark road too. I mean if she didn’t stop, we didn’t want her to suffer. And we certainly couldn’t afford a specialist. I mean if Dad hadn’t helped we wouldn’t have afforded the ER. We momentarily discussed putting her down to spare her. Thank God the seizures stopped. And the vet said they weren’t doing serious damage to her because they were less than a minute long.

And I realize I’ve just been babbling on and on about my cat, but she’s my baby. I’ve never wanted children. I mean as a kid I thought that desire would come when I became an adult and I even kind of considered it when I was dating Ken. But if I were completely honest with myself, I never really wanted kids. But these cats…. They ARE my kids. The thought of losing them before their time (or even when it’s time) scares me….depresses me. Prayers were answered in Pixie’s case. I hope my prayer for strength when it is time to say goodbye to any of my babies is also answered favorably.

Anywho… I’ve babbled enough. For now, all I can say is that I am so grateful for the blessings these four fur babies are to me and Mom….And to Dad and Nana even though they’re dog people. :-D

Where to Start?

I haven’t written a blog in over a year. I only recently started getting online (as in on the computer and even turning on messengers) for more than just bill paying once a month or checking TV Guide for what I’ll be recording once a week. Even those two activities occasionally get done via iPad. I’m not sure how it started or why. Maybe it was the computer issues. Maybe it was because with the whipping of the hard as result of those issues that the computer didn't feel like mine again. Maybe it was just plain old laziness. But computer inactivity started long before that. Role playing used to eat up sooo much of my time. Once that stopped, there just wasn't much fun to be had on the computer. Even before RP died amongst my friends, people weren't on Y!M anymore. It was almost like we all collectively decided to stop playing without telling each other.

The computer may never feel like mine again. There are programs still yet to be put back on but they require a crack or hack or whatever….so basically a tech savvy friend to walk me through it. I may never feel fully confident using my computer even if it did feel like mine. I am still afraid it may have unresolved issues. I occasionally get the “hardware failure to connect” alert upon start up. Peachy! Surely, I know how to fix that. >.< And that’s persisted even after Geek Squad supposedly fixed another issue. Something get disconnected/loose there or on the way home? I don’t know.

That aside… I MISS getting on the computer. I miss writing. Blogs… Role Plays… Anything… I miss talking to my friends. I don’t even interact that often with them via Facebook, though half the time I get tired of FB. Too much clutter there and no way to really filter it out… Honestly, I could care less that so-and-so added a new friend or watches this show or went for a smoothie. But I could go on and on about FB’s faults. Another day… My hours don’t help with regards to interacting with friends. And by my hours I mean my non-existent schedule which usually tends to be really late. Even still, I want to try to be online more to be available for live chatting when my friends ARE online.

We’ll see. Maybe being online more will lead to writing more. And writing more will lead to role playing? Who knows? Maybe I may even take up Vampires again. I confess I miss that too. I may have completely forgotten how to be any of my old characters, but I still want to try. In the meantime, I will try blogging more. Let’s see if my brain still works... if I can even manage to keep up writing.

I still think it’s kind of funny that a fellow blogger picked up the whole blogging thing about the same time I had started thinking about doing the same thing. :-P I’m pretty sure he knows I wasn't trying to jump on his band wagon though. If I hadn't been so lazy, I may have even posted this before he started up again. Anywho! Here’s to a new beginning.