Monday, May 12, 2008

evening

Crap!  Literally.

I was all pleased with myself - the diarrhea, she’s gone.  Yay, me!  Well, it’s now hit one of the previously unafflicted cats.  But, who is it?  I’ve been trying to get some sleep and I keep waking up to that awful smell.  Is it Frank?  Is it Bing?  Or, is it Chelsea, who didn’t want to eat her dinner at 4am?  She seems like the likeliest culprit due to her lack of appetite, although the latest unwanted discoveries were made where Frank was...and where Bing could have just left.  Anyway, even though Chelsea was on my do not medicate list, I changed my mind.  I thought I knew for sure it was her when it happened close to the uneaten meal, so I gave her a dose of Flagyl.  But now, it could be any of them...or it could be Jackson, who has taken to living behind the couch.  I guess I can medicate him when he pokes his head out for meals.  Oh, that’s going to be a joy.  I got Bing & Frank medicated though, so that’s three down.  But dammit, I’m tired and I want to sleep.  I don’t want to follow the poopy trail, trying to figure out who it is, plus cleaning up after them.  The smell is very very unpleasant.  By the way, I also very much dislike the smell of bleach.  I’m sure to some people it smells “clean”, but to me, it smells like, um, I don’t know, pain.  Just something unpleasant and icky.  You know what else is unpleasant?  When you’re really sleepy and your eyeballs hurt.  I hate that feeling.

And, why is this blog entry saying “evening”?  It’s currently 10:21 am.  I don’t think there’s anywhere in the world where that might constitute evening.

the wee hours

Happiness is…

a recent shower and squeaky clean hair.  It’s been a rough (and sweaty) couple of days and it was so nice to wash them away.  The cats are still drooling profusely when they get their meds, but the litter boxes are no longer full of goopy poop.  Three cheers for solid poop!  Hip, hip, hooray!  Also, even though they hate me for the few minutes after their meds, I feed them not long after that and it seems to erase the bad taste memories.  Carlo even came to visit me at my desk, acting all cute and cuddly.  I slept in as long as I could on Mother’s Day, although I was up a whole bunch of times before I got up for good.  A holiday always means a party in the back yard next door, with a bunch of noisy & happy grandchildren.  I don’t begrudge them their parties, as they’re otherwise pretty much silent neighbors.  Silent neighbors who’ve told us that they don’t mind the dogs barking and have, in fact, made faces at Dante through the window to play with him...which makes him bark more.  Nonetheless, the kids were noisy and I would ordinarily just put in ear plugs or put on my iPod ear buds, but I had the big dogs locked inside (some of the cats have been testing out the doggie door in recent months...arrrgggh) and wanted to be able to hear them if the needed to go out.  So, that also meant hearing the kids.  It was kind of funny, they lost a ball in our yard, and when I took the little dogs out, I dropped it over the wall.  One of the kids exclaimed, “The ball came back!” like it was magic or something.

I had a brief scary moment in the midst of the busiest part of my day, feeding everybody, and going up & down the stairs a zillion times.  I had pain going down my left leg again, that felt exactly like the herniated disk pain that I had for months.  It went away fairly quickly, but I’m wondering that if it showed up in the first place, does that mean there’s some herniation going on?  I know that one of my other disks wasn’t in the greatest of shape when I had my MRI, but I don’t know that it would cause the same pain down my leg.  I assume that it should affect different nerves.  I suppose I could satisfy my curiosity and just look it up, huh?

Sunday, May 11, 2008

the wee hours

Happy Mother’s Day

Dear Mom, I’m sorry that I can’t make it to the family gathering for Mother’s Day/Dodger Day.  I hope you know how much I love you and appreciate you, but I’m sooooo tired.  And sore.  And tired.  And sore.  Oh, and I’m repeating myself?  Ugh, I hope this wasn’t what it was like raising us. 

Happy Mother’s Day to the other moms (regular, fur, or feathered) who are reading.  I hope you have a wonderful day with your kids.  I have to admit that even though I’m tired & sore, the kids have all been remarkably good.  Well, except for that grotesque foaming at the mouth most of them do when they get their meds - that’s awful.  However, I don’t think the diarrhea is getting worse and may, in fact, be getting better already.  Also, the first couple of nights, the cats pretty much ignored me and went out of their way to not come into the bedroom, but now they’re visiting and napping in here again.  So, except for hating that I give them meds that makes them look like Bulldogs or Mastiffs, they’re being nice to me.  It’s now 2:45am and I’m going to bed.  I’m soooo happy that I don’t have any more errands to run for a couple of days.  I stocked up on litter today, so all is right in our litter box world.  I feel sorry for the trash guys on Monday.  I guess it would be nice of me to put notes on the bags to let them know, so they don’t unwittingly have a work-related injury.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

early evening

Oh dear, I have dishpan hands

Okay, I’ve returned from feeding everyone, washing out litter boxes in the driveway (it’s a lovely day, no?), and attempting to medicate the cats and I’m vaguely still alive. I admit it, I didn’t get all the cats medicated. Bunny seemed to be feeling under the weather and it took me a long time to coax her downstairs to eat [we have three cat feedings: downstairs bathroom w/ Bunny, Carlo, Dobby (she & Tie seem to have decided to switch places lately, for some reason), TJ, and Missy Mae; upstairs w/ most of the rest of them; and the guest bedroom w/ Pinto & Skyler] and she was due for her heart meds, so I decided the heart meds were more important this go ‘round.

But oh my gawd, the DRAMA. Derek started foaming at the mouth and slobbered everywhere for a good five minutes, Missy Mae drooled all over one of the cat beds, Scampi acted like I put a firecracker in his butt and he ran around for five minutes, TJ acted hurt that I would do such a terrible thing to him, Tie tried to scratch me but took his medicine like a man, and I owe Frank, Bing, Bunny & Jackson. Unless Chelsea (I admit it, I’m afraid of being bitten) or the guest bedroom kids show any sign of being sick, I’m not going to medicate them. And Dobby, if she gets sick, she’s going to have to go to the vet for a visit because there’s just no possible way I could catch her more than once. Oh, and I figured that Carlo had one set of meds at the vet, so I’ll get him next time. I’m hoping that he’s gotten used to them and will be a good boy.

Now, I have 20 minutes until the next round of feedings & meds.  Not really, I have until the wee hours of the morning. Oh, and as nice as it was for people from the vet’s office to offer to come over, it would be more trouble than it was worth for me. I’d have more trouble catching the cats to bring them to someone else to medicate, and I’d rather just roam around the house with a syringe, catching whichever cat I find that happens to get the dose that’s in my hand. I think it’s hilarious that they were so precise with the doses (The doses are .3ml, .35 ml, .45ml, .5ml, and .55 ml) because there’s no way those syringes would ever be that accurate, nor would that exact amount go in the cats...or stay in the cats. I will, however, make sure that they never get more than their dose. Apparently they can have seizures and such. Oh, fun.

It was nice to have Carlo at home. He’s sooo happy to be back. He’s stretching and rolling back & forth on floor like “My floor, mine, mine, mine. I live here!” He’s such a sweet boy and I felt so badly that he was in a strange & scary place.  Everyone there was really nice to him and gave him cuddles, but he didn’t settle down until they put a blanket over his cage.  Only then would he eat.  However, he’s had a really good start on his meds and he has the most sensitive bowels in the house, so I think it ended up being the right thing, keeping him there for two days.  I know that at least three other cats have diarrhea, but they don’t seem to be going too too often, it’s just liquidy when they do go.  I never thought I’d be so excited to see hard poop in the litter box, but I do a little internal cheer every time I see one. 

One thing that I’m getting really tired of and you’d think it would be emptying litter boxes, but no, I’m sick of washing my hands every few minutes.  They’re so dry and peel-y and icky.  Luckily, Helly recommended Corn Huskers Lotion a few months ago and that helps a lot, although it’s annoying to put it on, have my hands feel better, then have to wash my hands again

Woe is me, woe is me.

the wee hours

While Leigh-Ann is Away, One or More Cats Must Need Veterinary Care - That is an established rule

Leigh-Ann left to visit her family in Canada on Tuesday night.  I proceeded to collapse from severe fatigue for about 48 hours, only getting up to feed and clean up after the pets.  Carlo had chewed up a ring from a milk jug, a toy that he and Bunny looooove.  Unfortunately, Carlo can’t seem to stop himself from chewing on them and we thought he swallowed a small piece because he had a bit of diarrhea before Leigh-Ann left.  Naturally, when I’m home alone with him, you just know he’s not going to get better.  That violates “the rule”.  On Thursday afternoon, I took Carlo to the vet so he could get some bland food and to make sure he didn’t sneak anything else.  He’s been known to scavenge in the bird room and the parrots, while normally just totally messy eaters, also seem to occasionally think it’s fun to throw pellets down to the cats.  The cats love it.  However, Carlo has had terrible IBD since he was tiny.  He had constant diarrhea and horrible body rippling stomach cramps until we finally tried a raw diet of Wild Kitty cat food.  Just like that, his diarrhea cleared up and he started to thrive again.  We thought we were going to lose him because he didn’t seem to be able to keep in any nutrition.  Okay, so we’ve established that Carlo has sensitive bowels, right?  Dropping him off at the vet, while making me feel like the world’s worst mom (he was shaking, he was so scared), I knew that he would get better and all would be well in the Wee Paws animal kingdom finally.  Right?  RIGHT?!

WRONG!  After Carlo was gone, I noticed that someone else had diarrhea.  Not all that easy to diagnose when it could be any one of a number of cats.  But, right away, I saw TJ poop a little puddle.  Okay, so TJ wasn’t feeling well.  Hmmm, that’s weird, because Carlo’s diarrhea was caused by eating a piece of plastic, which clearly isn’t contagious.  Ha!  He fooled us all.  Okay, we really don’t know for sure what’s going on with Carlo because they gave him some meds to stop the diarrhea and he’s not really eating because he’s scared, so they haven’t been able to get a stool sample.  Now, back to TJ.  I was walking down the upstairs hallway, going past the litter box in the guest bathroom when I saw Derek in the box, having explosive diarrhea.  Oh man… That’s two more and neither of them eat plastic (TJ has a thing for string - he spent the night at the vet last year after eating a three foot long piece of string), so it’s probably stress because their main mom is gone.  Leigh-Ann takes on the majority of work when it comes to the cats.  I take care of the two little dogs - feeding, pilling, cleaning up after, etc.  She takes care of the two big dogs.  She also does the feedings for the cats.  I guess our deal was that if she wanted to rescue a bunch of cats, she was going to be responsible for their care.  I’m responsible for their playtime.  I’m like the weekend father who takes the kids to amusement parks and buys them video games.  I like to see them play with new toys (or, I take the orange plastic rings off the Gatorade bottles for them, which makes them just as happy as if they got an expensive toy...oh, and the Gatorade rings are safer for Carlo because they’re thicker and the inside has jagged edges that aren’t fun to chew) or cuddle in new beds.  Hmm, where was I?  Oh, maybe it’s stress and the cats will get better in a few hours, right?  RIGHT?

WRONG!  I took a sample of the diarrhea to the vet’s office when I went to go visit Carlo.  The poor little guy is still so scared.  He wouldn’t even eat with me there.  He only wanted to squirm behind my back (they have a room with a couch) and cuddle/hide.  At least he wasn’t shaking.  If we were at home, we would’ve had a lovely nap - Carlo is an excellent cuddler.  I couldn’t stay there for too long because I needed to go to the grocery store for pumpkin (it’s supposed to help firm up their poop and that would be great!) and then get home to feed everyone.  Carlo was so nervous that he was shedding like nobody’s business and it felt like I had half of his coat on me.  So, I was rooting around in the car for the roller to get the hair off me.  One of the techs saw that I was still there and came outside to give me the news.  The cats have some bacteria crud (it’s been a blur, I’ll fill in the technical details later on today - they have Clostridium perfringens) and it’s very very contagious.  The vet said that I needed to empty out all of the litter boxes, wash them with bleach, and fill them up with new litter.  That’s all fine & dandy in most households, not a big deal.  Well, not too big a deal.  However, we have 7 litter boxes, and only one of them is actually a litter box and is kind of small.  The others are big plastic containers you find at Target, so you can store your crap...but not your literal crap, like we use them.  They’re very large and they use up a lot of litter.  We have coupons for a certain kind of litter that we like, so buying the litter wasn’t the problem.  Remember that little back surgery issue I had?  Well, I try to avoid carrying 40lb bags of cat litter around the house.  I think my back surgeon would approve of that.  However, I’m home alone and there’s no one to help.  I don’t think I’ll ever forgive Matt & Amy for moving away, especially when I need Matt to be the man around the house.  I miss them for other reasons, but I admit, I liked having a strong young man living next door.

I tried to save myself a bit of work by buying a new litter box for the epicenter of the infection.  We needed one with higher sides anyway.  I bought two others because I figured I deserved a break.  Plus, I thought that replacing the three most infected boxes would be a good start to cleaning up.  I’m so tired though and I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to move for the next few days, but I still have more boxes to clean.  I hope I’m not dooming myself to a steady stream of cats getting diarrhea because I didn’t immediately zoom around the house and clean up all the boxes.  I have the worst three done (I scrubbed one of them, so I still have a new one to replace one of the others, yay!), so I’m hoping that’s most important.  Oh wait, and there’s even more to this whole episode.  They wanted to know all of the cats’ weights because I’m going to have to give them liquid meds twice a day.  So, I weighed myself (I think I’ve lost five pounds since Leigh-Ann left) and then I went around picking up cats and standing on the scale.  They looked at me like I was nuts.  Some did worse than look, they squirmed and clawed to get away.  I didn’t even attempt to pick up Chelsea (she’s not fond of that sort of behavior) or Dobby.  There’s no way I’ll be able to catch Dobby twice a day to give her meds.  Most days she won’t even let me pet her, much less scoop her up for unpleasantries.  I haven’t witnessed any diarrhea from her and I’m hoping it stays that way.  I have been able to get them all to eat some pumpkin mixed into their food and they don’t seem to mind it.  Hopefully that will help things until I get the meds tomorrow.

I’m grateful that even though this really really REALLY sucks, we have an awesome vet’s office and I have at least two volunteers who said that they would come over to help me medicate the cats.  I’ll try it for a day on my own.  I’m not sure it’ll be any easier to catch the cats to hand them off to someone else to medicate than to just try doing it myself.  I can pretty guarantee that there won’t be 100% compliance amongst the beasts, but maybe if I can keep up with the sick ones, the others won’t need as much medicine.

And what do you have planned for YOUR weekend? I’d better go finish up the other litter boxes.  Also, I taped the Penguins/Rangers game, so I’ll take a peek at that before the score is unavoidable.

By the way, I apologize for how my story bounces around in a babbling sort of way.  I’ve had an extremely long 48 hours and I’m not thinking overly clearly.