Sit. Stay. Good cat.

It's been a while since I posted a cute cat picture. Rusty demonstrates where cats are not supposed to be in the quilting room.

Such a short time with us

I'm not really sure how to say this, and wish so much that I didn't have to. But Buzz died yesterday. He contracted pneumonia, and after four days in the animal hospital, on oxygen and all sorts of drugs, he was still just getting worse, struggling so much to breathe. We had to let him go.

We are heartbroken.

Buzz

A friend of ours has become a foster parent for a litter of kittens from a local rescue organization. She started working on Mike a couple months ago, sending pictures, telling him how good Buzz was with her other cats, etc. They are now old enough for adoption, and apparently we were ready for another cat, so we picked him up last weekend.

Rusty and Detour were not thrilled with the little interloper, but things have gotten gradually better this week. Less hissing and growling, and even signs of wanting to play together. Our theory is that Buzz will keep the other cats young, just like Detour did.

Are cats smarter than humans?

We bought timed feeding dishes several years ago to use on vacation. Unfortunately, though, they usually looked like this....certainly not cat-proof. Rusty even managed to knock the battery out before we learned to tape it in.


We got them back out again a few weeks ago, and it only took Detour an hour and a half to break into it. And there wasn't even any food in it.

So Mike made a few modifications, and we finally have a version that seems to thwart the hungry beasties. At least so far. No place to wedge a paw in under the lid now. We're all set for a vacation!

(Blogger refuses to let me rotate my pictures correctly!)

Goodbye Alex

Yesterday we said a sad farewell to Alex. We miss you, our little one-eyed yak.

Feed the cats, feed the cats, feed the cats...

The winter of sick cats has reached steady state, but left us in a position of syringe feeding Alex four times a day, and giving Rusty at least that many meals. Mike's work schedule has kept him out of his home "office" for almost two weeks, so I've been shuttling back and forth on lunch hours, and working half days from home to keep up with the feeding schedule. I've finally started to develop a bit of a process and routine, but it still seems like all I've done lately (besides work) is feed cats and clean up after feedings. I hope nobody sees how many cat food cans we have when we go to the recycling center next time.

We love these little guys, and don't regret our decisions to be their nursemaids, but having never been parents, maybe now we're getting a tiny glimpse of the continual care that children demand. At least we can still leave the cats home alone for a half day. But any vacations will probably require a kennel instead of a cat sitter.

Next week, Mike's schedule is back to normal, so we'll be able to reduce this week's stress by going back to the gym and devoting a bit more time to our respective hobbies.

The winter of sick cats, part 2

The trips to the vet continued this week. Last Saturday, Rusty's dinner came back up, and he was unable to eat anything on Sunday. We knew this was serious, because Rusty has been continuously hungry since the day he showed up at our door, a starving stray. The poor guy was all hunched up, obviously under the weather. At the vet on Monday, the outlook was grim. With his ongoing diarrhea, we knew cancer was a possibility, and an xray showed a soft mass in his intestine. The vet suggested some overnight IV fluids, on the chance that the blockage would move on through his digestive system with a little help. If there was no improvement the next morning, we authorized surgery to see what was really going on, and euthanasia if she found inoperable cancer. We said a teary goodbye and stood in the parking lot sobbing after we left.

That night was restless. Even Detour was distressed, because she couldn't find Rusty. She thought he'd gotten into the garage, and kept meowing for us to let him back inside. Tuesday morning, we waited impatiently for a call from the vet. And boy were we in for a surprise. She said Rusty was lively and hungry and begging for attention! Another xray confirmed that the mass in his intestine had moved and changed consistency. They gave him food throughout the day and he kept it all down. Everybody was surprised at his recovery.

We brought him home that night, and he is back to his old self, constantly begging for food and attention. It could have been a hairball, but we don't know for sure. We're just happy to have him back.

The winter of sick cats

Living with two geriatric cats is starting to get challenging.

Alex (15 years old), blind in one eye since kittenhood, developed chronic nasal congestion. Nothing seemed to help for very long...we tried a variety antibiotics, saline nose drops, nasal flushes, and nothing seemed to work for very long. He went on steriods to try to reduce inflamation, but he remained stuffed up and sometimes unable to breathe through his nose. He got his own humidifier (Minnesota winters mean dry indoor air). He was losing weight and clearly feeling miserable.

Then last Friday morning, we woke up to find that his cornea had ruptured overnight. A visit to the emergency vet, followed by emergency surgery at his regular vet, and he is now sporting a bald (shaved) patch where the bad eye used to be. I'll spare you the picture of the eyelid stitched closed until he grows his hair and whiskers back. He's home, but we are feeding him with a syringe, and giving him three different drugs every day. We are still waiting for a biopsy, but there is a chance that the deteriation of the bad eye was an underlying cause of the congestion. Removing the eye won't cure it, because, as a Persian, he apparently has had sub-optimum nasal passages from day one, and now they have some permanent damage. But we're hopeful there will be some relief. He looks pretty pitiful, but is improving every day.

Then there's Rusty (16 years old). The big robust orange cat. He got his teeth cleaned about month ago, and had to have a couple pulled. So he went on antibiotics. And then developed diarrhea. We weren't too concerned, as he has had this reaction to antibiotics once before. But this time it didn't clear up. So he got more tests and more drugs and special food and food additivies, and none of it has helped. Now the vet is talking about possible dire-sounding causes and radical sounding diagnostic options like exploratory surgery. We're not sure we've exhausted all the non-invasive options yet, but he's got us worried. He's been losing some weight, but otherwise not showing any signs of distress. More treatment and more decisions await us.

Mike's wondering when the vet will put our name on a new addition to the clinic, since it feels like we're now a major funder.

Detour is not allowed to get sick.

Getting ready for Christmas

This was our big preparation weekend for Christmas. Since Detour is a climber, we haven't had a Christmas tree since we brought her home, but this year, I haven't even put up the stockings for the mantle. I was going to, but then decided I didn't want to move that many other boxes to get to them. We did manage to accomplish a lot this week and weekend, however:

- address and mail the Christmas cards
- finish up the Christmas shopping
- make all the Christmas cookies and candy
- go to the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas concert

...plus take Alex to the vet and pick up a prescription for Rusty (we're unfortunately getting pretty good at giving pills to our geriatric cats)
...plus take one of the cars in for some warranty work
...plus take the truck in to get new tires
...plus get some training to take over as the bookkeeper for the library Friend's bookstore (maybe I have trouble saying no?)

I'm looking forward to that mandatory vacation next week. And happy to report that the restrictions are lifted for next year, and I can take my vacation whenever I want.

Catching Up

Work has been crazy recently, with busy days and evening calls, and no mental energy left over for anything else. But I think things will start to settle down soon, so maybe I'll be able to come up with some blog-worthy topics. (Because I don't want to blog about work.)

How about cats? The other morning, Detour apparently got hungry well before the alarm went off. So she walked on me, and nudged my hand with her nose. I tucked my hand under the covers. What did she come up with next? She actually licked my closed eyelids, and then stuck her nose in my nostril! Not wanting to encourage this behavior, I continued to pretend to be asleep, and she eventually gave up and left. But I have to give her points for creativity.

Quilting: Last weekend was another HeartStrings day in Wisconsin. It was nice to get away and to nothing but quilt and hang out with quilters for a day. But I haven't had time to do much sewing otherwise.

Running: It was 46 degrees this morning when I started my run. It's been a cool summer, but I'm surprised I had to wear a long sleeve shirt in August. My foot is still doing pretty well, and I'm slowly increasing my distance and time. I'm a long way from where I was last year, but still hope to run a 5K this fall.

Home Improvement: Time to re-gravel the driveway. We also extended the culvert and had some fill dirt brought in to level out the slope in a couple places where cars tend to slide off in the winter. No excuses now!

Grand Prix food: Tomorrow is the Belgium Grand Prix. All I could think of for the race party was chocolate. Mike suggested waffles, which sounded perfect, and easy: we'll just take our waffle-maker to Tim's house and make them on the spot.

A gift from the cats

The cats were apparently busy last night--there was a rodent carcass next to the bed this morning. The new furnace installation required some new/enlarged holes in the wall between the garage and storeroom, and Mike hasn't sealed it up with that expanding foam stuff yet (hoping maybe the radon guys can use the same spot). That's the likeliest entrance point for the mouse or vole, since we haven't seen any in the house for years. It's not what you want to see first thing in the morning, but we're pretty impressed that they actually caught and killed it.

Rude Awakening

I was sound asleep last night when I was woken by a big BOOM! Mike's still out of town, of course, so I had to get up and see what happened. I found one of the big (4 ft tall or so, but just a few inches thick) stereo speakers laying down on the wood floor. Detour is the prime suspect. She loves to walk on anything tall, including the railing next to the speaker, and the speaker itself. The speakers have some swiveling feet on the bottom to provide stability, but they get bumped and then the speakers get a little tippy.

The second surprise was when I went downstairs this morning, and found the glass globe from the overhead light shattered on the floor. It's right below where the speaker fell, and it must have landed hard enough to knock the globe off.

Aren't cats great?

Plans are made to be broken

With Mike still out of town, my plan for Saturday morning: 1) run, 2) go to the farmer's market, 3) go to a demonstration at a local quilt shop

Well, I got my run in (wearing my blaze orange vest in honor of the opening day of the deer fire-arms hunting season), but then had to take Alex to the vet instead. We were both pretty unhappy last night about his bout of digestive distress and the need for an immediate back-end bath. No parasites this time, though, and the vet couldn't identify a specific cause. Perhaps his occasional sneezing and runny nose were signs of a bacterial sinus infection, and this was a side effect? Compounded with the stress of Mike's absence? We've got some prescription food for a few days, and an antibiotic shot, so hopefully his gurgly gut will calm down soon.

Our 6.5 pounds of furball fury has made quite an impression at the vets, after biting the technician during some sort of procedure on his last visit. They treated him with kid gloves today, wrapping him in a towel, keeping his head away from everyone's hands, and trying to keep him as calm as possible. It's kind of funny, but for such a tiny creature, he's quite strong willed, and obviously not a very good patient.

The Decoy Quilt

It seems to be fairly universal that cats want to sit on fabric. So when I was unhappy with the quilting on this little quilt, I set it by the sewing machine and gave it to the cats. If they insist on being nearby when I'm sewing, I insist that they sit on the decoy quilt instead of whatever I'm working on. Surprisingly, it works. Detour, who is part burrowing mole, sometimes prefers being under the quilt instead of on top of it, however.

If you see a pile of fabric...

Just making sure the fabric doesn't try to get away.

Life with cats

Alex had an unscheduled trip to the vet this week, with a diagnosis of an intestinal parasite. And since all three cats share the litter boxes, we have had five fun-filled days of giving medicine to uncooperative cats. It's definitely a two person job around here, and resulted in a change of clothes for me each day. Alex & Detour got a syringe full of gloopy yellow stuff, which usually took two or more turns to get it all into their mouths. Rusty got a pill which apparently has quite a bitter taste - even with the handy pill-pusher, it was a struggle. Now that the medicine has all been dispensed, tonight's chore was cleaning and disinfecting and refilling all the litter boxes. Hopefully that will be the end of the parasites.

Alex also has some additional health worries following his blood test. He's been losing weight, and has a problem with his thyroid. We have more to learn about treatment options, but at age fourteen, everyone's quality of life will suffer if he requires daily medication.

Alex goes for a stroll

Alex had an exciting day yesterday afternoon, according to Mike. The UPS guy arrived with some car parts, so Mike went outside to help unload them in the barn. When he came back into the house, he noticed that the door wasn't closed all the way, and worried that Rusty (who's always trying to sneak out) had gotten out. But no, Rusty was soundly sleeping (Detour, too), and hadn't even noticed the open door. So Mike settled back down to work.

And then a little later, he looked up, and saw Alex walking by outside on the deck!

Yes, sweet, innocent, little Alex had taken the opportunity of an open door and gone for a little stroll. And thankfully, he didn't go very far.

Quiet Days

Mike's been on a business trip for a few days, so life has been quiet here. Here's my routine:

Get Up.
FEED THE CATS!
Go to the gym.
Go to work.
Come home.
FEED THE CATS!
Eat dinner.
Quilt.
Go to bed.

Feeding the cats is obviously the most important part of the day. Certainly the loudest, as Rusty has very healthy lungs and vocal cords, and believes it is his job to makes sure that feeding time is never forgotten. And Alex is always starving in the evening since Mike hasn't been around to give him snacks throughout the day. They've really got a rough life.

It's nice having a little time to myself, and more time to quilt without feeling anti-social. But it will be nice to have Mike back home, too.

Snap! Clomp, Clomp, Clomp

Snap! Clomp, Clomp, Clomp.

That's how Mike described the sound of Rusty in the garage this week, getting his foot caught in a mouse trap again.

He is fascinated by the garage, always begging to go out there, and trying to sneak out any time we open the door. We live in the country, so sure, we have mice out there on occasion. We've had surprisingly good luck with plastic snap traps (without bait), and have several set along the garage walls. I guess our mice like the taste of plastic.

Super-cat Rusty, the only one of the cats to ever live outside and actually catch vermin for a living, is ever-vigilant about the garage...at least to the extent possible, since we don't let him go out into the garage very often. [When he was still an outside cat, he once brought me a live pocket gopher. I declined to let them in the house.] In the garage, we've seen Rusty carrying around traps with dead mice still in them a few times, quite proud of his catch. He's got the right instincts, but he just can't seem to remember that the traps will catch him, too.

Shedding Season

Alex is a tiny cat, only about 6.5 pounds. Under all that hair, he's skin and bones; he's always been that way, even though we try to let him eat as much as he will. What he lacks in fat, though, he makes up in hair.

His previous owner used to have the groomer shave him, because he hates being brushed. He looks pretty silly when he's shaved, but we kept it up for a little while after he came to live with us (at age 8). Soon, though, the groomer recommended we discontinue the shaving because of his vigorous struggles and their concern about his aging heart. So we had to go back to brushing. He accepts a gentle combing around his head and neck, which is good, because he drools when he sleeps. For the rest of his body, though, it's a trial.

Since he's so small, I can overcome his resistance, but he's a good fighter. To keep the trauma at a minimum, I only brush his two or three times a week. But at this time of year, the fur factory goes into overdrive. The pile of hair next to him in the picture is from just one brushing, after only two days. And the pile from the previous brushing was twice as big. An equal amount of hair ends up on my clothes. He's a hairy beast.

The howling and yowling bring Rusty and Detour running to share in the rewards. Everybody gets hairball medicine (which we've convinced them is a treat) and some genuine cat treats, whenever Alex gets brushed. Alex pays the price, but everybody benefits. And he looks so nice afterwards.