Sunday, February 1, 2004 I’ve never seen this many ill cats all at once. It’s horrible! And there’s not a thing I can do for them. Hopefully, they won’t progress to a point where I have to do something for them. This cold is travelling quickly through the population now.
Thursday, I was pretty concerned about Bart. I could tell he had a sore throat from the way he was trying to swallow (you know how that is, swallowing and it hurts). Well, Friday he wasn’t much better, in fact a little worse. Ten years ago last month, when we got Mickey, Bart ended up with pneumonia. So, I gave Bart an amoxi tab Friday morning and went to the vet later that day and got some liquid Clavamox. I really don’t think the antibiotics helped all that much, but Bart was sounding much better yesterday afternoon. I’ve got Katie on the Clavamox now. Poor little thing. But she was eating this chicken this morning, so that’s a good sign.
Now, Mystie is under the weather. She looks pretty bad, but she’s sleeping okay. Georgie sounds and looks awful. He’s sneezing and his eyes are watering. It also looks like he’s having a hard time breathing through his nose because he’s breathing through his mouth. He’s on amoxicillan. It’s looking like there’s about a three-four day bad period then it starts to get better.
Late yesterday afternoon, I saw Jackson walking through the house, salivating badly. Drool was dripping in copious amounts from his mouth. His bib was soaking wet. This really had me concerned, because Jackie is not a cat to be handled. Other than the drooling, he looked fine. I checked out my health book and looked for all the causes of drooling and the last entry for drooling was respiratory infections. That made me feel a whole lot better. Stuff that had been running through my mind was he ate a bee (they’re flying around the flowers by the pool), he’d gotten a hold of a thread or string or something similar and it was wrapped around his tongue. This morning he’s looking better, I just watched him drinking a lot of water. So, his tongue must be working properly. I’ll be glad when this is over with.
It starts in the eyes. The third eyelid is up on both eyes. Potter was the first to get it. I wonder how far through the population it will go.
So, a couple of weeks ago, big cat fight in front of the house. At night. Brian opened a window and hushed the cats, told them to knock it off. I asked who it was (since Repete’s been gone, the only males that I know of are SpotTee and KittyMeeze and KittyMeeze is neutered).
Brian said SpotTee and a cat that was big like Sammy, but colored like Wally. Now, I’ve never seen this cat in all these weeks. Not at night eating in the entryway or cruising the hood. But I did see his fur on the lawn, in the driveway and in the gutter on the street. Mass quantities of cat fur.
So, Friday morning, I get up around 4:30, open the sliding door a little to let cats go out since Pete was crying. I go back to bed. At 5:30, I get up and start my day for real. Start the computer, get the chicken warmed up for the cats morning treat, unblock and unlock the cat door in the garage, shut the sliding door, Brian gets up, we both get dressed and we make sure Potter is in, set the cat door to in only (don’t want Potter falling in the pool) we’re off on our walk.
Get home, unlock door, have breakfast, I make hubby’s lunch, and every once in a while I glance out to see how the cats are doing (I check often because of Potter). Brian’s about ready to leave and I walk out back. I see Wally going under the Sago palm. All the cats are just sitting around, watching him. I say “hey, Wally, how you doing?” Really odd reaction. Wally runs. He runs to the back fence, he runs beside Brian’s workshop, then he starts climbing the fence, trying to get over the fence. Crap, what’s going on with him? I don’t understand, I’m flumoxed. Obviously, something’s wrong with Wally.
And there was.
It was Notwally. Wally was in the house, Notwally was in the yard. *lol* I rounded up all of our kitties, got them inside, locked and blocked the cat door, checked for Notwally’s location (under the pool pump) and went over and opened up one of the side gates.
I went back to the pool pump, tapped the wood over it and Notwally ran. He went beside the shop and when I walked over there, I figured he’d gone out the gate, because that was the gate that was open. Just to make sure, I went to the other side of the house.
Notwally was doing his damndest to get over the barrier, with no luck. I called him and pointed to the other side of the house, told him the gate was open over there. He quickly turned around, ran down the side of the house, around the house and out the gate.
Smart cat, I think he knows some ‘human’. I walked out front and saw him going into the yard of the other house that feeds the ferals (another home that sticks in the Heartless Bastard’s craw).
Went back to the yard, shut the gate and let the cats out. Said ‘hi’ to my Wally.
Stuff like this just reassures me about our fencing, how hard it would be for one of the cats to escape.
I took this yesterday afternoon through our garage door of the cats outfront laying on the car. That’s SpotTee in the front (unneutered, really trap smart), Little Bit behind him (unspayed, really trap smart), KittyMeezer (neutered, wasn’t trap smart) and in the background, Notwally. I sure wouldn’t mind if they all hung around 24/7. I know they’re safe here.
That red VW is the Heartless Bastard’s son’s car. I wish he’d obey the 25 mph speed limit when he drives off. Twenty five is the maximum, not the minimum.
Well, Brian finally said goodbye to his sand car. A old family friend asked a couple of weeks about buying it. He wants to put it on the street (which will take considerable work). And we can use the money to pay off one of the credit cards and this will give Brian more room to work back in his shop. I asked him if he was sad to see it go and he said “no, but I’m sad that I didn’t take it out more”. He might have if I’d liked going to the desert, but I didn’t. It was more work than it was worth for me. When we first were together, we’d borrow his parents motorhome and I’d end up cooking for Brian and his brother and friends. Being new to the family, I’d try to do it up good. I’d cook pot roasts, a turkey breast, full on breakfasts….one night I made macaroni and cheese with weiners cut up in it. I was told by Brian “they can eat like this at home”. Huh? We’re out in the middle of the frigging desert for spit’s sake. I’m in this tiny little motorhome, cooking big meals, doing the cleanup (we got that worked out where Brian would wash the dishes) and he expected gourmet meals? Uh, nope. Not gonna happen.
Then when we’d get back, I’d have to clean the damned motorhome before he took it back. That sand was in everything and I just figured I didn’t have a good enough time when I was out there to balance out all of the work it was for me. I didn’t like three wheeling, scared the crap out of me. I didn’t like the dirt and I didn’t like the noise. So, I quit going. You know, thinking back on it, once I was old enough to think for myself, I really didn’t like camping with my parents. I’d rather have stayed home. Brian could go out if he liked, but he got busy with work and never had the time. The sand car just sat there.
I did something for the first time last week. Something I’ve thought about a lot, but never done. I went to a movie alone. I went to see “Big Fish”. I liked it. I went to the first showing, which was at 11:05. I was there ten minutes before the show started and I was the first one in the theater. Only seven more people showed up. It was great. I’ll do it again. And again. I think back to how many movies I’ve seen on the television that would have been so much better on the big screen. And I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked “Big Fish”. I was expecting a major fantasy type movie, and though that was a huge part of the story, it wasn’t the important part of the story. The important part was the relationship of an adult man and his dying father. It was good, it was sad and it was uplifting. It was a good movie. Someone said they felt it was Tim Burton’s best to date. I think Brian would like it and I told him as much.
Well, the satellite guy finally showed up Friday with a new actuator, programmed in all of the satellites and the frigging thing is still doing the same thing it was doing. Scream! I’m going to call Motorola this week and find out what else might be causing this problem if it keeps up. I fiddled with the wires in the back of the unit last night and this morning, it had retained the settings, but I’m not holding my breath that it keeps them. What a PITA this has been.
We went to Applebee’s for dinner Friday night and Brian had the same thing I had, the southwestern combo. It’s the one with the tequila lime chicken. I really like their tequila lime chicken and I have it every time we go there. It’s only been bad once, it was late and I don’t think the cook was very good. The meat was pretty burnt. But it’s been excellent every other time. The combo is a special they’re running now, with an appetizer, entree and dessert. The appetizer was a quesadilla, the dessert a choice of raspberry cheesecake or a chocolate brownie with ice cream. Brian was so surprised at how much he liked the chicken. He asked “is it always this good?” Ya. It is. He usually goes for the beef dinners, but I figure if I want a good piece of beef, I’d rather go to a steakhouse, like Black Angus or Claim Jumper. But Applebee’s tequila lime chicken is pretty hard to beat.
Well, that’s about it for now. I’ve got laundry left over from Friday to fold and put away.
Enjoy the Super Bowl. Stay safe and don’t drink and drive. Be alive and healthy tomorrow, okay?
later Well, Brian left a few hours ago. His brother had called while Brian was gone off to Home Depot. Said it wasn’t important. I stupidly told Brian about it. Of course, he couldn’t call, he had to go over there. His bro wasn’t home, so he spent an hour with his mom. He called me from the truck, he’s helping his brother put in a door. He asked what I was doing, I said thinking about going to a movie. Well, it’s true, I did think about it, but not for very long. It’s a Sunday and the theaters are probably crowded with women escaping the testosterone at home. So, I’ve had a few beers and took a nice hot bath. I tried to read but it was too dark in the tub and I didn’t have my glasses anyway. *lol* I just soaked for a while, listening to some light jazz.
Georgie is having a tough time breathing through his mouth. I took a picture of him earlier this afternoon. Poor little guy. I try to get him to sneeze to loosen up the junk in his nose. I’ve even massaged next to his nose like I do mine when my sinuses are acting up. That starts him to sneezing. I think that’s a good thing. I hope.
I wanted to share that with you all. That’s it for now.