My cat is well and I feel very adult.
Mar. 12th, 2004 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gementYesterday I was going to do job applications in the morning and then caulk and paint the bathroom in the afternoon. Instead I napped until 12:20 (avoidance much?) and then took my cat to the vet in the afternoon.
We noticed at breakfast that Mia* was sitting in her favorite roost on the couch, looking glazed. Upon inspection, we found a big saliva-sticky patch of fur on her neck, which she was making no effort to clean. Four hours later when I got up from my nap, she was in the same spot.
She let me pick her up and inspect her: the bite on her neck was obviously uncomfortable, but not causing yow-pain, and I saw no broken skin. She was putting up with being held in a very not-Mia way, even allowing me to put her back in her spot on the couch without walking away in a huff. Still, I thought, I'll give it a little time, as I watched her attempt to look menacing at Beany, our older and less aggressive cat. If she can threaten Beany, she's fine, right?
Then I saw her try to get down from the couch in a series of small muddled jumps instead of one graceful bound, and I called the vet. Halfway through the call she tried to jump up to her food dish and bonked her head. The vet's office said the bite was probably infected and I should bring her in to get antibiotics. I called Mom at work and let her know this.
In the time it took to call Mom, Mia, sensing trouble, had gone upstairs and hidden under Mom's giant waterbed. I lured her out with tuna juice and carried her downstairs and into my car on a towel; I couldn't find the carrier. Fortunately, she was very lethargic and when she's drinking tuna juice she doesn't pay much attention.
Talked to cat while we waited for examination. Talked to vet. Talked to cat while cat got shot with antibiotics and painkillers. Paid vet. Got cat out before she could pick a half-assed fight with one of the office cats -- she heard them talking and was getting really riled. Thanked my lucky stars I'd saved a little tuna as a reward in the car.
I spent the rest of the afternoon reading an excellent book, eating grapes, and watching the cat glare balefully at me with tail twitching. She really didn't like shots.
Twenty minutes ago I was upstairs showering and walked out to find a small black cat goddess sitting on the roof outside my sister's bedroom window. My sister has not been home for months, and house policy is to NEVER let Mia use that window as a cat-flap. But she's sick, damn it. And she knew she could get away with it, the manipulative little ...
Anyway, I'm not letting her outside again. Yeesh. Scary cat. At least this means she's feeling better.
* Mia is our tiny black goddess cat, whom I sometimes call Mina after the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen character who shares her temperament. She is also known as Prrrrrouwt (on a musical upward lilt), which she answers to somewhat better.
We found her under our porch in July '02, a teenage mother with a litter of starving ringwormy kittens. She obviously remembers who saved their furry black butts, because she's very loyal. Bloodthirsty, but loyal. She's stunted from the early pregnancy, and looks like she might be part Abyssinian which gives her an alien Egyptian elegance. This makes it very odd to see her scrapping with toms twice her size.
She has never fought medical treatments. Stares at us with alternating sorrow and fury, but doesn't fight. This was a saving grace when we had to give her ringworm baths. It also helped out a lot yesterday.
We noticed at breakfast that Mia* was sitting in her favorite roost on the couch, looking glazed. Upon inspection, we found a big saliva-sticky patch of fur on her neck, which she was making no effort to clean. Four hours later when I got up from my nap, she was in the same spot.
She let me pick her up and inspect her: the bite on her neck was obviously uncomfortable, but not causing yow-pain, and I saw no broken skin. She was putting up with being held in a very not-Mia way, even allowing me to put her back in her spot on the couch without walking away in a huff. Still, I thought, I'll give it a little time, as I watched her attempt to look menacing at Beany, our older and less aggressive cat. If she can threaten Beany, she's fine, right?
Then I saw her try to get down from the couch in a series of small muddled jumps instead of one graceful bound, and I called the vet. Halfway through the call she tried to jump up to her food dish and bonked her head. The vet's office said the bite was probably infected and I should bring her in to get antibiotics. I called Mom at work and let her know this.
In the time it took to call Mom, Mia, sensing trouble, had gone upstairs and hidden under Mom's giant waterbed. I lured her out with tuna juice and carried her downstairs and into my car on a towel; I couldn't find the carrier. Fortunately, she was very lethargic and when she's drinking tuna juice she doesn't pay much attention.
Talked to cat while we waited for examination. Talked to vet. Talked to cat while cat got shot with antibiotics and painkillers. Paid vet. Got cat out before she could pick a half-assed fight with one of the office cats -- she heard them talking and was getting really riled. Thanked my lucky stars I'd saved a little tuna as a reward in the car.
I spent the rest of the afternoon reading an excellent book, eating grapes, and watching the cat glare balefully at me with tail twitching. She really didn't like shots.
Twenty minutes ago I was upstairs showering and walked out to find a small black cat goddess sitting on the roof outside my sister's bedroom window. My sister has not been home for months, and house policy is to NEVER let Mia use that window as a cat-flap. But she's sick, damn it. And she knew she could get away with it, the manipulative little ...
Anyway, I'm not letting her outside again. Yeesh. Scary cat. At least this means she's feeling better.
* Mia is our tiny black goddess cat, whom I sometimes call Mina after the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen character who shares her temperament. She is also known as Prrrrrouwt (on a musical upward lilt), which she answers to somewhat better.
We found her under our porch in July '02, a teenage mother with a litter of starving ringwormy kittens. She obviously remembers who saved their furry black butts, because she's very loyal. Bloodthirsty, but loyal. She's stunted from the early pregnancy, and looks like she might be part Abyssinian which gives her an alien Egyptian elegance. This makes it very odd to see her scrapping with toms twice her size.
She has never fought medical treatments. Stares at us with alternating sorrow and fury, but doesn't fight. This was a saving grace when we had to give her ringworm baths. It also helped out a lot yesterday.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
avalon, on my mind
Date: 2004-03-12 03:19 pm (UTC)I bet you DO know someone that I know. I am from "the valley" also, but I am not proud of that. I will never go back.
It's funny, we have alot in common, I wonder how we did not meet... or maybe we did...
Anyway, my eyes are killing me from reading too much, I have to go rest. I am intrigued!
silent all these years
Date: 2004-03-16 09:59 am (UTC)