Cats, etc.

(Once again, Blogger is placing random hyperlinks in my posts...what IS THAT?! Why do we need to hyperlink words like "back," "open," and "close?")

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the day we lost Louie, after his long ordeal that started as a blocked urethra, and ended with kidney failure.

As if that weren't difficult enough, it was also the first appointment we could get with a new vet to have a lump on Jack's back looked at.

Yep. He has some kind of tumor (I was hoping it was a cyst), and his surgery is scheduled for Friday.

I decided that I couldn't take my cats back to the vet we were using.  I mean, come on.  Jack was there for a tooth extraction and came home with fleas.  I saw them on him!!

We took him in and said "this cat has fleas that he got here when you had him for his tooth."  We were told he didn't have fleas, he has some kind of rash, here let's put him on antibiotic medication and give him a shot of prednisone.

2 weeks later, he still has the fleas.  I pulled one out of his fur and it jumped off of my finger.  There was no doubt that it was a flea!  Just like there had been no doubt that it was fleas when we took him in the first time.

SO, back he went...the vet says "Well, that didn't work because, hey, look at this, he has fleas."

YA THINK?

I know I blogged about this back when it all happened.    This was the same vet that kept Louie catheterized for 2 weeks last February, causing him to get profoundly dehydrated, etc, etc....

Anyway, so we tried to find another vet near home that was open on Saturday, and could not.  So, we ended up booking an appointment with a vet that specializes in cats...she sees cats only.  She's the vet my guy back home recommended before I moved here.

We just never went to her before because it's 45 minutes away on the far north side of town.  In fact, when I gave the info to Dave when Jack and I first arrived here, he basically said, "No, we're not going all the way up there.  We'll find someone close to home."

But ...there we are, and Jack is her newest patient as of yesterday.

Unfortunately, the carrier we took Jack in still has some stank from the wild cat that was trapped in it last month.  He got that smell all over him, and Annabel went OFF on him when we got home.  It lasted through the night....much growling hissing and hostility.  It. Was. Awful.

Before surgery day, Dave is going to take that carrier apart, and scrub it completely and hose it out, because when Jack comes back from surgery, we can't have her hurting him.

Ugh.

Thankfully, just like last year, Dave has vacation days that he has to use or lose, so he will be off to care for this year's sick cat.

Not that Jack seems at all sick.  He seems perfectly healthy, and his bump doesn't seem to cause him any discomfort at all.  Even when the doc was squeezing it and smooshing it all around, he didn't show any sign of distress.  But, he's almost 14 years old, and the anesthesia will be hard on him.

They'll test the tissue as well, of course, and hopefully it will be benign.

Please??

Anyway, Dave's first trip up to Kansas as a "One Gas" guy went really well this past week.  His new job will require him to travel a little more than he used to.  It's a good thing I've gotten used to it now.

He got back into town on Friday, Valentine's day.  He sent me roses at work, and when he got home, we went out for Ethiopian food, one of our very favorites.

I got a new kitchen gadget that I adore so far.  It is an electric pressure cooker/slow cooker/rice cooker/steamer/saute pot.  One of the girls at the dance studio was talking about hers, and I looked into it and just said wow...I need one of those!!

They're pretty expensive, but if you think about the other gadgets it replaces, it's worth it.  I'd been thinking I need to replace my slow cooker anyway, since it's developed a hot spot where food has been burning.  I already got rid of my rice cooker when we moved into this house with the tiny kitchen.

So it's a win.  We put it on a credit card and called it my birthday present!

I've only used it a few times since it arrived (we got free shipping from Amazon), but so far, it's amazing.

The "competition team" from the dance studio went to California to compete in the "Bellydancer of the universe" contest. Can you hear me rolling my eyes?!  LOL....

In watching the fuzzy phone video that one of their friends posted on Facebook, I can see why they didn't even place.

They are a group of soloist divas trying to be a troupe, and they were off on their timing in almost every phrase of the song, each girl doing her own version of the dance routine.

It was kind of sad, actually.    They were not cohesive at all.

They're so full of themselves, though, that it makes me laugh some time.

I'm a mediocre dancer at best, but I've been doing it long enough (18 years, can you believe it?!) to know what's good and what's not.

I can see what's pure technique and what has heart....especially that.

Oh well....I'm kind of glad they lost because they would have been much more full of themselves when they come back to class next week if they'd placed or won.

I hope they had a fun trip to California, and I hope maybe they'll be a little more humble for a while.  That will make my being in the same class as them a little more comfortable.


Dave's mom is doing fine these days.  She's on a kick saying (again) that she wants to learn how to cook again so they'll eat better.  We've been through this with them before.  It usually doesn't last.

At least for now, she's feeling better and they're eating a little better. Til she gets tired or bored of it again.