Nightingale

He's been throwing up randomly for four days. Last night at 2 am, he projectile vomited all over my bed. I got four hours of sleep total, after cleaning the entire mess up. As I'm cleaning, I find a piece of curling ribbon (the stuff that goes on birthday presents that you run along scissors and it curls up) in the cat barf. I observed him for a little while, and figured he'd eaten it, and barfed it up, and was done, since he didn't puke again. I went hunting for the source of the ribbon. I don't keep stuff like that in my house, since I know how dangerous it is for kitties, and I couldn't figure out where it came from. Then, today, I get home from work and find a semi-circle of cat barf on my living room rug, spread over about a 12" radius. There was no more ribbon in it, but there was a lot of cat barf. I did manage to locate the source of the ribbon. He ate some ribbon that came in my team leader kit for the AIDS Walk. They'd put in these thank-you note cards and some pieces of curling ribbon about 6" long. At least, I think that's where it came from, because I don't buy ribbon, and it matched the cards, even though I didn't even know there was ribbon in the kit. Anakin (the cat) apparently dug the ribbon out of the packet and decided to eat it. I counted five note-cards and only three pieces of ribbon, including the piece puked up last night, so I'm guessing there are two other pieces somewhere, probably inside the cat. At this point, I call the vet, who says "bring him down right away." So, I pack Anakin into the carrier, and he howled the entire 30 minute drive to the vet's. He hates the vet. Yorba Regional has been treating my pets for over 20 years, and they're great and they've always taken wonderful care of my kitties, but to Ani, they're the VET and no amount of comforting, petting, or baby-talking is going to change that. We get there, and the vet examines him and takes x-rays. There's air in his intestine, which apparently is bad. Vet gives me options of 1. observe cat overnight at hospital, give fluids, x-ray again tomorrow night to see if things have cleared up, 2. give the cat an upper GI barium thing that requires force-feeding the kitty barium and x-raying every hour to find the problem, or 3. exploratory surgery. I question the vet some more, and then call my parents for some advice. My dad, not liking the idea of me spending thousands of dollars on my cat, jumps right to "have you thought about euthanasia?" and then realizes that saying that to me about my kitty is a Very Bad Idea and immediately changes the subject to which treatment was appropriate. The vet said that observing him probably wouldn't make things any worse, and might let things get better (small chance), so we're doing that for now, and then if his x-ray tomorrow isn't better, they'll probably end up doing the surgery and skipping the barium, since it's diagnostic only (and they said that if the second x-ray isn't better, that's pretty much a confirmation of an intestinal blockage too), and very traumatic for the kitty, and if the barium finds a problem, they'll be doing surgery anyway, so why put the cat through all that extra trauma? The vet is 90% sure that he's going to need to do the surgery. I'm hoping for that 10%, that the problem will clear on its own, but I signed the consent form for the surgery anyway just in case. I really hope he doesn't need it, though, because I have no idea how I'm going to manage to pay a vet bill that's thousands of dollars. Does anyone know how long it takes to apply for a credit card and get approved? I haven't had one in years except for one with a small limit that I keep for emergencies, and it's not going to cover almost three thousand bucks, and even if he doesn't need the surgery, all the x-rays and observations and fluids and stuff is still going to be really pricey. Could I call the card company and ask them to raise my limit? Does that ever work? When I said goodbye to Ani at the vet's office, I felt so bad! He was in his cage just howling to be let out and allowed to go home. It broke my heart to walk away listening to him. When I got home, Indy, my other cat, searched the entire house for Anakin, followed me around meowing, and then sat at the front door and howled! He's being very clingy right now and sitting on my arm as I type this. At every noise, he looks up, looking for Anakin. I feel so bad for Indy because he doesn't understand what's happened, he just knows Ani isn't here right now and he's upset. Anyone have any ideas how to make him less anxious? And now, after spending four hours at the vet's office, I have to get up for work in five hours, and I'm way too worried about Ani and even though I'm exhausted, I've got way too much adrenaline to relax and go to sleep. I attached a kitty photo. Indy is the black/white/brown one, and Ani is the orange cream color. I have no idea why his eyes are glowing in that photo. They'd climbed into my cabinet and I closed the door and snapped a photo (and then let them right out, of course). Thanks for letting me vent. I feel so helpless right now... my kitty is in the hospital and all I can do right now is wait. If anyone wants to send "get well kitty" vibes to him, the thought will be appreciated.

There are three important things to winning a fight. In order: 1. accuracy. you do have to actually hit the guy. 2. speed. you have to be fast enough to hit they guy before he moves 3. power. you have to actually cause damage, but if you're slow or inaccurate, power won't get you anywhere. It takes all three combined to defeat an opponent.

you have so many quotes in that post that I can't tell what you actually wrote.

That's not abandonment. That's making sure kitty was cared for, even if it meant having someone else do it.

Her question got me curious. And I was bored.

LOL. I called the zoo. Elephants have an ideal weight gain during pregnancy of 500-600 lbs. The average gestation period for an elephant is 659 days (around 22 months, as opposed to a human's 9 month gestation). At 11 weeks gestation, the embryo weighs only 1.5 grams, and at birth, the calf weighs around 300 pounds. We couldn't find any statistics for 7 months, but at around 6 months, the embryo weighs about 19 grams (around half a pound), and the weight gain by the mother is negligable at that point. Does that answer your question?

That makes sense. Thank you.

I'm doing cookie fundraisers, too! (see "this is really strange" thread for my baking cookie saga). Not sure how well it'll work yet; I'm icing the cookies tonight.

You people won't show a receipt why would stand there and listen to some lawyer explain the COMPANIES (not the governments) policies. j I know the companies' policies, and I know the law. And I still won't show a receipt, unless I'm at Guitar Center (where they actually check the items for damage, so letting them makes sense).

When you go looking for trouble, you don't mess around heh? nope Just a side note for Steveorino - You take this all in stride and appear to handle it with a lot of class and dignity and respect and all; very good on you. Ditto. I think Steve has done a good job of answering the hard questions, which is why I keep asking them. I am genuinely interested in the answers, and he seems the most likely to actually try to provide them.

I admit it. He had measuring cups. I just couldn't find them. Of course, that ended up being a good thing, because I discovered the tire issue before I really needed to drive somewhere. And a BIG thank-you to my dad for spending hours at a junk-yard on his day off searching for a wheel that would fit my car, and an equally BIG thank you to Clownburner for helping me put the new wheel on my car.

so it's better to have no defense at all?

EDITED TO ADD: Define "creationist" I believe God is the creator of the universe, however I don't agree with a young earth theory or a literal interpretation of Genesis. Why don't I believe in a literal interpretation of Genesis? To me it is quite simple. I don't believe everything in the Bible was meant to be taken as literal. The writers of the books & letters that made the bible used metaphors, allegories, stories, prose and other parts of literture. It begins with what you believe is the purpose of the bible. I believe it is to point us to JC. To do that Genesis doesn't have to be understood literally any more than Revelation does. So how do you know which parts are meant to be stories/metaphors, and which parts are "true"? If Genesis is a fable, how do you know that the life of Jesus isn't a fable?

If the victim had been able to defend themselves to begin with, I wonder if they'd have been a victim at all.

When I used kenpo to save my life, I sure as hell didn't think it was overrated. I think the most important thing kenpo did for me was teach me that yes, I can fight back against someone bigger and stronger and still have a chance. The second most important thing kenpo did for me was to give me some tools to fight with. I took those tools, I used them, and I got myself out of a situation that would have been very bad. Sure, what I did might not have worked, but kenpo gave me the ability to do something, when without it, I probably would've just been frozen with fear. Kenpo gave me the ability to push the fear aside and fight back hard to save myself. Without all my training, I couldn't have done that. Good quality martial arts instruction for street situations is NOT overrated.

\ Ditto.

I bought the cookie ingredients.

I thought of that... but it was an old tire... I was about ready to replace it.

Those are good! I sometimes use the Nestle Tollhouse cookie recipe and use white chocolate and macadamia instead of chocolate chips. yum!

Cutout sugar cookies in leaf, pumpkin, and acorn shapes.

This morning, I decide to bake cookies. I'm at the boyfriend's house, and I realize that he doesn't have any measuring cups, or if he does, I can't find them. So, off I go to the grocery store. I spend less than five minutes inside, grab the measuring cups, pay and go. As I walk up to my car, I notice something strange. There's a spare tire on my rear passenger wheel. I scratch my head, thinking "I don't remember getting a flat..." So, I drive the two blocks back to the boyfriend's house, all the while thinking "this is weird." I pop the trunk and sure enough, the spare tire is inside. So, somehow last night, someone stole my wheel and tire, AND PUT ON A SPARE! I have no idea why anyone would do this. It's a ten year old Ford Escort with the wheels that came with the car. Nothing fancy. Stupid, ugly, standard wheels. But still, it's MY wheel, and it's gone missing. I call the cops. They show up in a few minutes. The cop and I are both looking at the spare tire on my car, and the spare tire in my trunk, thinking "this is bizarre." So, the cop takes a report, and comments "well, at least they were nice enough to leave you a spare." So, my dad is off at a junkyard looking for a wheel that will fit my car, and I've just finished the cookies, which are cooling on the counter. This has been a really strange morning.

As it pays more, it should improve my ability to make it to boogies, and actually be able to afford to jump at boogies (as soon as I get a new CYPRES, anyway).

I lost a pound, but probably gained it back with the patty melt and fries from Carl's Jr that I had for lunch today (my dad informed me that I had a new job and it was mandatory to celebrate by "not eating any of that bunny food crap").

I'm so glad he's back safe!!! Have you ever considered keeping him indoors? "The average life span of indoor cats is about 14 years – though this is reduced to 4 years in cats that are allowed to roam free, exposing themselves to the hazards of outdoor life." (petplace.com)

As soon as they can get the paperwork through, but it has to be at the start of a new pay period, so, either this tuesday, or in two weeks. I'm really, really, really hoping for this tuesday, but that's probably unlikely.