Bobby isn't feeling good. We were in bed last night and I asked Brian if he'd seen Bobby (who's usually somewhere inside at night). He hadn't since the morning. I put a shirt on, went outside and called him. He came down to me, but he was moving slowly. Hmmm... Still outside this morning, up in one of the cathouses on the bank. I gave him a little tuna, he wasn't really interested in eating. He finally ate a tiny bit, then laid down.
An hour or so later, I saw him walking out of the cathouse and I walked out to observe him. He dug a small hole in the dirt, pooped a tiny bit, then puked the little bit of tuna he'd eaten. Swell, just swell. I ended up bringing him inside and for the past few hours, he's been on the top of the shelves next to my computer, sleeping. At first he wasn't shutting his eyes all the way, but he is now. I'm glad he's inside because we're supposed to be getting rain for the next six days. He's breathing okay and he looks comfortable, so I don't know what's going on with him. Maybe he ate a bad lizard or something. Brian said he'd smelled something bad in his shop, but was unable to trace the carcass down, maybe Bobby left it there.
And we were concerned what we'd do with Missy for the next six days since she's decided outside is where she wants to be. (Brian shared with me that he watched her cleaning her back legs the other day, something she rarely does, she's no longer big on grooming, so this was a good thing.) I let her walk out after her breakfast this morning. Brian moved her blanket to under the tractor, but she still got wet from the rain dripping off of the sides. She walked over to get under the other tractor where it was drier, but when she saw me standing there, she came to me as fast as she could. Her back and head were wet. I brought her inside and put her in the window in the family room, where she likes to sleep. I spent five or ten minutes with her, stroking her and kissing and headbutting her and she stayed there when I left. It's a much better place to be on a rainy day for an old lady kitty cat.
Last night, Charlie Ahole went after poor Mario, who was just minding his own business, in the bedroom window. Lots of growling and hissing and I don't know if they fell or jumped out of that window onto the bed, but Brian was yelling at me to stop Charlie, who was chasing after Mario. I stuck my leg out and Charlie ran into it, so it kind of slowed him down and Mario made it under the sofa. I tried talking to him and petting him, but he was having none of it, he just kept hissing at me. I was concerned there may have been some sort of injury when they left the window, but later Mario was back in the office, on his towel. When I found him, I softly talked to him and ran my hands down his sides and back. He stood up for headbutts, so nothing's broken. He's walking pretty slow, though. And Charlie calmed down right away, I was able to pet him and get him to relax instead of turning on me. And then I smacked one of his ears and told him he was an asshole.
And then the phone rang last night. It was Shannon from our vet's office. We were eating dinner and Brian answered it. Seems someone was evicted from an apartment near the vet's office and left their cat behind. Could we take it in? Brian said we would as a last resort, if they could find no other takers. A grey kitty. Russian Blue, she said. Yeah, right. I bet it's just a grey kitty. Poor thing.
So, no other call last night, more than halfway through this morning, no phone call. Whew, dodged that bullet (not that another kitty is a bullet, but we're really not looking to increase the population here). But then, it rang. Seems the guy who left, also left the cat in the apartment with a bowl of food. All there, by himself. I pass the phone to Brian. There was a little small talk and Brian asked if the kitty has a name. Because if he has a name, we don't want to change it.
We're getting a grey kitty by the name of Smokey this afternoon.
Smokey update. He tested positive for both FeLV and FIV. FIV is not a problem here, but FeLV is very definitely something we can't bring into the house. They ran the test twice with the same result. They're sending out a third to a lab for more involved testing, if that comes back negative he can live here. But we can't chance the other cats' lives.
I has a sad.
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