Kitty Cat Update

Pounce had a check up yesterday at the vet. While waiting for the vet to come into the room, I reminded Pounce that he had already met Dr. Jank and did not need to be nervous. And would you believe that when he came in the room he even said, "Oh, hi Pounce!" which I liked, because in my mind, he cared enough about the cat to greet him.

Anyway, there is much improvement (at least until last night). He's using the litter box (making number 1 and number 2 -- like you all really need to know that) and there is no fever. At home I've also observed he's not meowing when he does relieve himself and he's eating well. There's still a bump on the tail -- what it is we may never know. He's still on antibiotics for another week and of course, he's still blind. Now about last night, Pounce freaked out while I was out doing laundry. He ran into the wall repeatedly -- even cutting himself and drawing blood while he relieved himself almost everywhere. Husband did his best to calm him down but it took about 10 minutes. I don't know what brought this on, but I'll continue to watch him before calling the vet again. He did take his antibiotic without any problem this morning.

Watching him navigate the room can be a little sad sometimes. He relies on voices and his whiskers to tell him who is where or how close to something (like a wall) he might be. He does okay though. I think it's harder on me than him. We've learned not to leave anything on the floor that might be hazardous top him and we are making every effort to speak to him when we (or he) enter a room so he knows we're there.

Much to our surprise we got a call from the Housing Office last week offering us a place in Watertown. It came sooner than we expected, that's for sure. Of course we jumped at it and went to look at it right away. It's very nice. It's bright with lots of windows and even has a garage. It's a zero lot-line townhouse style place. Now, we have to move with a blind cat which should be interesting. I did some internet research and asked the vet too. He should be kept in a room by himself until he gets used to it, and then move him from room to room doing the same thing. He's used stairs before but I'm worried this time since he can't see them. I read where you can use potpourri oil to mark the landings, I might try that.

Moving day is next week. Wish us luck!

Oh Kitty Cat

My poor little Pounce.

Pounce is 14 years old -- I've had him since he was about eight weeks old. There was a lady in New Jersey who rescued abandoned cats and gave them a home until owners could be found. I think she worked in conjunction with something like Friends of Pets. I remember her house clearly -- all the furniture was covered in plastic and there was no odor of animal at all. I remember her too, asking if I wanted the cat's friend he'd made while there and I declined. I thought one cat would be enough and it would be, until I moved to Alaska, but that's another story.

Pounce has travelled cross country twice, helped me through an emotional crisis when a longtime boyfriend-finace broke up with me and has survived the loss of his feline friend, Sorriso who died earlier this year. Through it all he has been rock solid and predictable. It's only been with the introduction of the husband that his behavior has changed.

He's not been too well these last few weeks. He started hiding in cabinets and then staying in his carrier when he couldn't get to the cabinets and then I noticed he wasn't using the litter box. Last weekend, he started meowing as if he was in terrible pain. I called the vet and made an appointment. Since Monday was a holiday, the vet who called me back told me to come in about 8:30 Tuesday or so. So I brought Pounce in but the stupid receptionist told me that without an appointment I wouldn't get to see the doctor but I could wait until 10am. I told her that the doctor told me to come in at this time and she told me he should not have said that to me. Fine, whatever. I'm an emotional wreck by now -- anything is going to set me over the edge if I push, or am pushed too hard. Schedule me an appointment then. Wednesday 8am. Great.

I take Pounce to the vet on Wednesday. The first thing the doctor says to me is that he's blind in both eyes. That was problem number one. Problem number two is that his bladder is full and he won't go to the bathroom. That's what the meowing was--- it was hurting to relieve himself. I have to leave him there for examination with the hopes that he'll be okay but at this point, no one knows.

Flash forward to three pm, the appointed call hour. They want to keep him overnight. He relieved himself but they didn't catch a sample. They also found he was constipated (poor kitty!) so they helped that problem too. He's eating and drinking but we're not out of the woods yet. I have to call back in the morning. The house felt empty that night.

Thursday morning I call, and he's in pain again. They want to X-ray his tail and see if something's going on. He's also running a fever. The bloodwork done the day before is good: no major problems in the liver or kidneys. The x-ray reveals a bump in his tail. It's either an abcess or a tumor. I brought him home Thursday night and he's on medication. He goes back to the doctor next week for a check-up.

The only thing important to me is now is to make sure that if these are his final days, I spend as much time as I possibly can with him, as he has done for me though the years.

State (Fair) Claim To Fame

Husband and I went last night to the New York State Fair. Actually, I think they call it the Great New York State Fair but qualifiers aside, it was huge.

This was the first fair outside of Alaska I'd ever been to. I guess I wasn't sure what to expect but my memories of Alaska's fair are, for the most part, pleasurable. Wait, let me take that back. In Alaska, during the fair, it rains. It's called "fair weather" (God, I love that pun!) and you need to pack a rain jacket because there aren't enough shelters to keep you dry from the downpour. Last night the weather was beautiful with a steady breeze that wasn't too cold. It did become cloudy at one point with what looked like storm clouds but the rain did hold off. Point: New York.

The fair was huge -- there was so much to take in, that my senses were on overload. In fact, the first thing you see when you walk in the gates is a table with loads of green tags. It's for lost kids. You fill out the tag and attach it to your kid. Not having children, we didn't look too closely at this but I have to say, on the surface it doesn't seem like a bad idea.

What also surprised me was the amount of beer and wine being sold -- more than you'd expect at a family type event. We bypassed the alchohol though, tempted I was though to have a beer. The wine exhibit was right next door to the state trooper deomonstration on the wisdom and necessity of wearing seat belts. My husband is a stickler for this so we bypassed this too.

On our list of things to see were the Butter People we'd heard about. Alaska has giant cabbages as its claim to fame. Go to Palmer, Alaska and see 100 pound cabbages! New York State brags about its dairy and to prove the point, create life size figures out of butter. The Butter people are kept in a refrigerated room and it's pretty impressive for sculpture that's made out of butter. However, at least when you grow cabbages you can use the cabbage for some other use, like compost. What in the world are you going to do with all that butter? So yes,it's impressive, but I'd also have to put it in the "Get A Life" category.

It was the rides we were after and we finally found them after walking around, trying to orient ourselves. There were many rides including two types of ferris wheels (I hate those!) and kiddie rides. We went on the Swings (whee!), Cliff Hanger (we pretended we were Superman like everybody else does) and the Round Up. Husband went on Bumper Cars and something called Top Spin which you couldn't pay me to go on and I went on the Pirate Ship thing. Yes, that's kind of tame but I do love roller coasters, I just don't like scary looking rides at state fairs. Go figure.

The real fun came in trying to remember where we had parked. It turns out the Orange Lot is HUGE and you must remember your shuttle stop. Well, and I admit this was my fault, I didn't look closely at any kind of landmark and I didn't notice any sort of identifying notice so we ended up doing a lot more walking than we needed to (but in my mind that was okay, because I had an ice cream cone) but we finally did find the car.