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november 1, 1997 Halloween is over. Brian is outside now taking down the big spider web. The smoke machine gets mixed reviews. The battery for the videocamera died. Georgie got locked in the exercise room. There were not very many kids, which was a big disappointment to me. I thought being a Friday night, that there would be many of them and we had 167 ziplock sandwich bags (at least six pieces per bag) of candy to hand out. So, I sit at the computer eating snickers and milky ways and butterfingers, getting sick to my stomach. I know better. And in about a half an hour, I will vow never to do it again. Yeah, right. 'Til the next time.
I took Boney to TED (The Evil Doctor) yesterday for that lump. He aspirated it, looked at the cells and it's just a fat lump, a lipoma. We have many lipomas in our home. He said it was in a strange spot. He said that Boney is looking good for his age, which is fourteen.
Thursday I cut my mother-in-law's hair with a flowbee and I gave her a permanent. We do this 3-4 times a year. She washed her hair before she comes over and it's usually dry by the time I wrap the hair. So, I get one of the "bad kitty water" bottles and use it to wet her hair as I go along. Well, I had her hair cut and needed to dampen it. I start squirting the bottle. I think to myself, "my, that smells really nice" and look at the bottle. Oh, spit. I grabbed the one of the spray bottles with enzyme cleaner in it. We have those to squirt down the cat accidents (I don't believe they are accidents, those cats look us right in the eyes when they spray, those little buggers do it on purpose). And I was wetting down my mother-in-law's hair with enzyme cleaner. *sigh* Had to rinse that out and start over.
Kids started showing up before the sun had gone down yesterday and I was still putting up decorations. Brian wasn't home yet, he had to go to the bank and get the dry ice. I hadn't yet gotten the cats in. And that was a joy, when we were finally able to try. There were four cats out. Kirby, Maggie, Benny and Lisa. Lisa was easy. When she gets chased to go in, she runs over to the side of the house and takes a dirt bath. Like we won't pick her up if she's filthy. Piece of cake. Then I was able to nab Benny and got him into the house. Maggie took off for the bank. Brian was in the house, handing out candy. I chased Kirby up to the door, hoping I didn't step in any dogbombs. It was dark and I was barefoot as usual. Kirby ran up to the catdoor, did a U turn and went back down by the pool. I was getting very frustrated. Then, little Benny pulled the catdoor towards him. Ben and Gracie have figured out that when they can't push their way out, because it's set to let them in, not out, they can use their little claws to pull the catdoor towards them and then they go out. He was out again. Brian switched places with me. He got Maggie and Kirby in. Then I went out and got Benny. I hate doing that when it's dark. The cats think it's a hoot, I feel.
november 4, 1997 The Noah's Ark trial starts today. Tomorrow I will be taking down the letter forms. So, if you are reading this and haven't sent a letter, now's the time to get it done for free. Thankfully, somebody posted on the AcmePet Cat Window that the Today show had a segment about Noah's Ark. I saw the post early enough that I was able to get it taped. Yay. The last time they had something on about it, it was postponed and was televised when we went to Disneyland.
I think Boney is having urinary problems. He did a lot of squats in front of me yesterday, with nothing to show for it. He is sleeping right now, I woke him earlier to give him ammonil and amoxicillan. He puked big time next to the bed last night. I just went into the kitchen to get papertowels to clean it up with, got sidetracked and got the washer going. Forgot the papertowels. I guess I had better do it now, before I forget and end up stepping in it. Darn it. I just got back and forgot again. I put laundry in the washer this time. I'll try again. There. All cleaned up. Yuk.
The weather is supposed to be cooling down. I wonder which el nino extreme we are going to have? So far, seems like the dry extreme. I can't believe how hot it was this weekend. We had a really long thermometer. From low fifties to high nineties. Bring on winter. I'm ready for some nasty weather. I have to get the exercise room cleaned. We have been using it as a junk room for the past six months. Now, you can't even see any exercise equipment. There's a day's work.
Sandy is still nervous. The place that I thought they were doing heavy equipment work, well, they aren't anymore. Hubby says there is alot of construction going on around here. I gave her a full pill this morning. When I took her to the vet for this, he couldn't find anything wrong, so it must be psychogical. She's find on Sundays.
I sure like the way the Nature's Recipe food works on the dogs.
Four of the cats have started begging for junk food in the morning. They follow me into the shop where I keep it for the cats behind us. Maggie, DeeJay, Benny and Georgie race me to the door every morning. I give them each a little bit. You would think they were starving to death. Sheesh.
I played with Lonee and a toy last night. She is very quick and grabbing those feathers. I think she got a mouthful. That was funny.
november 5, 1997 It's chilly this morning. My fingers are cold. yay. Maybe the hot weather is finally moving on.
Received an update on Noah's Ark. Seems the guys admitted to breaking and beating the cats. Now, they have to put a monetary value on the cats' lives. That's how it's done in some states, where animal abuse is not a felony. If you haven't yet, please sign the Governors' Petition. The link is on the Noah's Ark page.
Last night, Red did the cutest thing. He ran into the living room, then ran right back into the gararage. Seconds later, he ran back into the living room, which is down the hall from where we were sitting. I went into the living room to see what he was doing. He was hightailing it down to the dining room and eating the food that is dished up for Lonee Gail. I called him and he came and gave me some headbutts and purrs, then took off back to the dining room. I guess when he had his fill is when he came running back down the hallway into the garage.
I had a bowl of cereal this morning and was eating it at the computer. I was trying to type and I had to do this with one hand. There were six cats waiting for some cereal outfall. Circling like the buzzards, they were.
november 8, 1997 It's very early yet. Hubby is dragging me off to Disneyland today, possibly the last time I will see the *out* in a while. I have much work to do on my website. The verdict was in yesterday for Noah's Ark. The jury came back with the verdict that those 16 cats lives weren't worth a total of $500.00. The sentencing will be December 12. I was told that there isn't much the judge can do at this point. He can't sentence them to more than the law allows. One of the hoodlums' uncles was heard shouting at reporters after the trial. He asked one "hasn't everybody killed a cat when they were a kid?", the reporter answered no, and he went on to describe in detail what he had done. Hopefully, this will be unfortunate for him, because it was caught on tape from more than one news station. Hey, media, let's get that tape out there. I am going to set up a new area on my site about animal cruelty. So far, I have one page set up, Abuse-misdemeanor or felony?, which right now has a list of all of the states and their charges. My intention is to make each state a link to a page with the law and the places to send letters to their individual state representatives and senators. We have to get the laws changed.
This is what I posted in a newsgroup yesterday, pretty much sums up how I feel:
What we should have learned from this is that we have to get the laws changed. We aren't going to change the *bubba* mentality, it's too ingrained, we have a much better chance at getting the laws changed. Only 15 of the 50 states have felony animal abuse laws on the books at this time. You can find out your state laws at http://lisaviolet.com/cruelty.html.
Animal abuse has always been around but because of the media and now the internet we are being made more aware of what is going on. Before, we wouldn't have heard of Olivia or Noah's Ark type of things unless we either lived there or knew someone who did. I think the internet has opened up a whole new way of receiving information. I sincerely believe that without the internet, the Noah's Ark case wouldn't have gotten as far as it has. We are taking baby steps, but we can't give up. One of the problems with the seeming inaction in animal abuse cases is the laws that are archaic. Remember, once upon a time that women and children had no value, either. (One state's cruelty laws actually lump children and animals together). On the farms and ranches of old, more children were wanted, not to be loved and cherished, but because they needed help with the farm work. If they couldn't help out, they were considered a burden. Heck, people sold their children without a second thought. Women had to fight for the right to vote and even now, look at the spousal abuse cases and how hard it is for women to get any respect in some instances. And let's not even bring up people of a different color or sexual orientation. There is all sorts of people bashing going on. It's a slow process. My neighbor and I go walking every morning and we have been discussing Noah's Ark and how things are progressing. She said in California, these guys would have been hung for what they did. California also considers animal abuse a felony. We have to help those that live in the states that don't have felony animal abuse laws on the books to get them. Write to the congressmen and senators from those states. if you live in one of those state, sign a petition, get petitions going. It seems as if it will have to be a grassroots effort, but it can be done.
Don't get discouraged, get mad. Find a way to make a difference.
lisaviolet
The funniest thing happened the other night. I was walking out of the tv room, hubby was on the couch. In an alarmed voice, he called me. "What does Pepper have?" he asked. He was pressed up against the back of the couch as much as he could be. He said "You should have seen how she was carrying this thing, I think it's a mouse!!". I walk over to where she had dropped her catch and I picked it up. It was a toy mousie. Geez.
Late last night, I started looking for Benny. Couldn't find him inside, and I know I picked him up and put him inside. But, somehow, he sneaked back out. He was sitting at the side of the yard waiting for lizards or whatever. He wasn't too unhappy about coming in, though.
november 9, 1997 Sunday evening. Well, I didn't make it to Disneyland yesterday. After I had written here yesterday, I went into the garage. Kirby was sitting all hunched up in the corner. I had a bad feeling that he was on his way to being blocked again (couldn't pee). So, I took him to emergency, the doctor checked him out, said he wasn't blocked *yet*, so with medications hopefully he wouldn't. I had given him the amoxi and ammonil before I left with him for the vet. I got home and watched him throughout the day. During the afternoon, he seemed more relaxed, but come sundown, there he was all hunched up again and squatting. I called our regular vet and was put through to him by the answering service. He said that the medications usually take 24 hours before any signs of improvement are seen. He asked if Kirby had urinated at all and I said not to my knowledge. He then suggested putting Kirby in a room by himself with a litterbox with a small amount of litter. I did so and he went to the box and squatted. Then he stood up higher as if he were going to defecate and the little muscles in his body were pushing like crazy. But nothing happened. I got back on the phone, was put through again, and I had a feeling that the vet was irritated with me a little when I said, "I just don't want him to die". He said "leave in 20 minutes and meet me at the office". Which I did. Guess what? Kirby was blocked. The vet showed me the mucoid plug at the tip of the penis. He said that he would catheterize him and keep him overnight. I held Kirby while the vet put a little tourniquet around his little leg and he gave him the shot to sedate him. I was ready for the call to come pick him up this morning, when the vet called at about 11 am . It seems that Kirby wasn't a happy camper (would you be? Your mom takes you to the doctor, the doctor puts you in lullaby land, you wake up, there's a tube up your penis, you're in a cage in a strange place and there is nobody to come when you call) and he went nuts. The doctor had to sedate him again. But it looked like Kirby was not blocked any longer and there was some blood in the urine. Since he was sedated again, the vet wanted to keep him there til tomorrow. Needless to say, I have been worried about him all day. All sorts of horrible thoughts chase around in my head. I hate this.
And then I see that Boney also was straining. I put him back on pills. At least he is going. He went in the bathtub and there was blood in it. This all makes total sense in light of what my vet said about the weather. It was pretty warm here less than two weeks ago and they probably didn't get rid of as much liquid as they were drinking. So, the urine sits in the bladder instead of flushing through the system. Becomes stagnant if you will, leading to bacteria and the formation of crystals.
november 13, 1997 Kirby came home Monday afternoon. He is doing much better. When I picked him up, his eyes looked horrible and the vet said he had to put ointment in them to keep them moist because of the sedation. The *wildness* that Kirby exhibited was when the vet opened the cage and Kirby escaped. He goes up when he tries to hide and he was climbing all of the cages and cabinets in the vet's office. Kirby had very few crystals, which is good, and very little blood in his urine. The vet said he thinks that it hurt for Kirby to go, so he held it. And that's when the mucoid plug formed. Kirby was very happy to be home. He slept on the living room couch, curled up in a ball. He would, on occasion, call out to us and we would answer him. I would go pet him sometimes and he would purr. Poor Kirby.
We went to Disneyland yesterday and let the cats out before we went. We knew we would be leaving there early. Drove home with the top down, it was wonderful. Cats came in with very little trouble last night.
november 15, 1997 My neighbors' that had their dogs put to sleep, got a new puppy. They got her for their daughter. It's a sheltie, really cute. Well, shortly after they got Lassie, they found out that an old friend of the family was getting married, so they asked me to dogsit. This weekend. they are keeping Lassie outside, she isn't housebroken. Yesterday, at 8:30am, I got a call from Northern California. Would I please go over to their house and take care of the puppy when the gardners were there? The puppy is terrified of the blower. So, I heard the workers about an hour later and went over to the house. I opened the backdoor and in ran Lassie, she was shivering. She piddled on the floor. While I was looking at the spot on the carpet, she ran down the hallway. I found her in the daughter's bedroom. I called her over to me and she piddled the entire way. I don't know how a dog that small had a bladder that big. I picked her up and held her for at least twenty minutes. I waited to put her down until the gardners had left. Poor thing. I put her outside, played (?) with her a little bit. Went inside and cleaned up the messes the best I could. Petted the cats a little. Came home. Then, last night I went back over. Went outside to see her and she wouldn't come to me. Didn't remember who I was. She was fine this morning. Cats are okay, too. I told Benny last night that Angel was almost as cute as he. The husband says "no way".
The other night, Pepper showed us how smart she is. I was laying on the couch and started petting the tortie in the condo behind me. I said "Gracie is such a neat kitty". Brian said, "Yes, but you're petting Pepper. And she should be down here with me". I said "Pepper, go see your daddy" and she got up, stretched and walked over to him. Nobody called her or anything. Almost as if she understood every word we said. Wow. I was amazed.
november 17, 1997 Red ran down the hallway last night and I was in the office. I heard him calling and I answered back. I went down the hallway and laid down on the floor. He came up to me and smurgled for awhile. He is just so friendly.
Kiby is doing much better. He was sleeping on me last night when I was watching tv. Healthy cats are happy cats.
november 19, 1997 So cool!!! Red goes outside now and sits in a big container with a palm tree, destined to be planted in the ground. I love it. He seems to be taking giant steps now.
Well, yesterday wasn't the best day of my life. In the morning, I noticed that Kirby seemed to be straining to pee again. Ohboy. I decided to keep an eye on him and went about my chores. I dusted and vacuumed, washed some of the area rugs and put the duvet cover on the comforter. I worked on some of my webpage stuff and paid some company bills. I had finished vacuuming, still had to put the vacuum away, and went outside. Kirby was once again straining to pee. He *was* peeing, but it was as if it hurt. So, I call the vet around 4:30. They say, "bring him in. Now". Fine. Brian has been driving my truck because the transmission is shot in his. That leaves me the car. The car is covered. I uncover the car, unlock the doors and get the carrier, now all I need is Kirby. Not knowing how long I will be, I lock the kitty door, so the cats can go in, but not out. I try to catch Kirby, he leads me on a merry chase. Into the shop and under the Bronco, I look for him, no sign. Go outside and look around. Nope. I went into the house and started calling for "kitties in" and he came running. I snagged him, put him in the carrier, left a note for husband and off I went. I waited a while at the vet's office. Which I expected because I didn't have an appointment. A woman had brought in a beautiful dog, with a huge tumor hanging from her it's chest. The vet examined the dog and xrayed her. Bad news. The dog had to be put down. This is always so sad for me. The woman said she had promised her kids that this wouldn't happen. I asked her if she knew about the Rainbow Bridge. She said no and I asked Sherry if she still had any copies. She did and gave one to this woman. Sherry warned her not to read it until she got home. Eventually it was our turn. The doc examined Kirby, said yes he's peeing, he isn't blocked, but that he wanted to express (empty the bladder) him completely. He took him into the back. When he came back, Kirby had that creamed corn smell. Their had been alot of blood in the urine and the doc felt that a DMSO treatment would help with the inflammation. Kirby is also on oral predisone for the inflammation. *sigh* He did tell me about Kirby escaping the cage when he was there for the emergency blockage a week ago. Seems Kirby went high, high, high to get away. I said, well, that's instinctual, fight or flight. And the doc said that Kirby was sure trying to fly somewhere. Since the pH was fine, I no longer have to administer the ammonil. Kirby hates taking pills. I hope this does it.
I pay the bill and come home. The lights are on in the garage. hmmmm, I wonder. I get out of the car, and hubby comes out to help me bring Kirbs back in. I ask him if he has all of the cats in. Its way past sundown and pretty dark. He said all but Lonee, Lisa and Benny. Remember when I mentioned locking the cat door? Well, it seems that I was in such a hurry, I locked it so that the cats couldn't come in. Great. So, when Lonee tried to come in, she couldn't. She ran and hid somewhere. Lisa was in the tall cattree outside and when Brian tried to get her down, the dogs came up to him. Now, Lisa does not like the dogs. She scratched Brian. He even counted them. Ten. And Benny will not come to papa. Nope, no way, he's a mama's boy. I got Lisa and Benny in, no problem. Lonee, I couldn't find. I sporadically looked for her throughout the evening, but ended up closing up the catdoor and going to bed. I think she slept in the shop. (Note to self: SHUT THE DAMN DOOR DURING THE DAY SO THIS WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN!!!) I couldn't leave the catdoor open for in only, because Ben and Gracie are able to get their little claws in the plastic and pull it towards them and get out. Smart little devils. Gotta love 'em.
Brian said this morning, "do you want to go to dinner tonight?" We have a couple of gift certificates for some nice restaurants. I said "yeah". when I was watching tv. Healthy cats are happy cats.
november 23, 1997 We went shopping yesterday for Sekrit Santa stuff for the rpcc kitties. I kept finding things and adding them to the basket. When I went into look in the box last night, I was saying to myself, gee, I didn't remember putting that in, cool. I have a couple more things to get then I can get it wrapped and shipped off. Then fun thing about it, like I told hubby this morning when he complained that *I* spent all of our extra money is "hey, these people will never know who this stuff came from. They won't be able to say "you spent too much" or be disappointed at what they got. (Which I really don't think will happen.) I'm curious to see what our guys get. Some kitty family out there got stuck with us. All eighteen!!!! LOL!! There was mention of needing a forklift for delivery.....
Kirby isn't better yet. Last night he was straining to pee in the garage. He's going, but it hurts him. You can tell just by looking. When Benny had his problem that wouldn't go away, the doc had him on Elavil for awhile. I found the bottle, with a couple of pills in it and it has two refills on it. I put in a call to the answering service last night and was told that they were referring all calls to the emergency clinic. So, I left a message, just in case the doc was home and checking his machine. Then I called emergency, explained the situation and did they see any problem with giving Kirby the Elavil. Well, of course I was told not to give one cat another cat's prescription. I didn't, but within the half hour, our regular vet called and said, "sure, go ahead, it will help keep the bladder from hurting so much and give it a chance to get better." He also mentioned something else about the bladder, I don't remember exactly what, but something that made me think that the bladder walls vibrated. That doesn't make any sense now, but it's what I thought of when he said it. Hmmm. We have to go refill the pills today. And I have to remember to give the Elavil to Kirby before the other two pills and to get it all the way into his throat. He really foams at the mouth when the pill is on his tongue at all. Poor guy. He hasn't been straining so much this morning, but he is pretty tired. He drank some tuna juice (water packed) this morning. And he also had watered down lowfat milk last night. So, he is taking in liquids. When we had our Benny problem earlier this year, the vet suggested clam juice. He said it's very salty and pretty tasty to cats. I guess we will get some today.
Red is doing so much better. He doesn't run at dinner time, he stays on the floor. And he doesn't run from my legs. Pretty soon I should be able to just reach down and pet him. He still darts in and darts out, but he doesn't *always* do this. He is starting to just walk in on occasion. And he is learning that he doesn't have to run when confronted by another cat. All he has to do is hiss and the other cat backs down. He does like to go out back, but he always comes in when he's called. Good boy.
november 25, 1997 Kirby seems to be doing a little better (knock on wood). Maybe the Elavil is doing for him what it didn't do for Benny. Oh, the word I was looking for the other day was spasm. The elavil helps to keep the bladder from spasming. After three doses of the elavil and three instances of foaming at the mouth, I tried coating the pill with soft margarine. It worked. This morning, Kirbs fought the pill, but since it was generously coated in margarine, it slid right down with no foaming. And I wait until the pill mellows him out a bit and I am able to get the other pills down him. I haven't seen him straining like Benny kept doing earlier this year. That's good news.
Buddy and Junior were due for rabies vacs and having their licenses renewed. I have to have the paperwork in by 11-30 or pay a penalty. I called the vet yesterday to make an appointment. He's all booked up this week, closing early tomorrow and not going to be open at all on Friday. "We can take you in on the first." Wrong answer. I explained the situation, she said, oh, well anybody can do that, just bring them in. [to next page]
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