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All my business cards are sitting in my (locked) office. I have six on me. I don't think that's like to be enough. I also don't want to expend 2-3 hours getting into the city and back just for this.
I did indeed get a call (if not quite the expected one), which was Steve, in considerable distress, asking me to please come to the house at once without delay. This of course I did, and after the usual hour-and-a-half of transit on tenterhooks, got home. The vet on call at the animal hospital determined that Mage's current and pressing issue wasn't an abdominal thing, lord knows what that might have been, but at least now he was showing clear signs of final stages of a brain tumor or other neurological disorder. He'd actually gone blind sometime in the last 24 hours, and wasn't able to walk without wobbling, and couldn't hold up his head. Tests could be done to prove this, but the vet said that in truth there was nothing to be done, whatever they found. So they made Mage comfortable, got some liquids (and I think some calming drugs) in him, and when I got to the house we drove up to the hospital to say goodbye.
I will say this for Oradell: they may cost the earth, but they have a really nice facility. They have special small, comfortable rooms where you can sit privately with your pet and make your adieux. So we did that (and the doctor was amazingly kind, even as vets go--I've never met a mean vet), and bawled a lot, and then I held Mr. Mage as the doc put the quietus into his IV. It was as quiet and peaceful and kindly as such a thing can be, and beforehand I didn't think I would be up to any of it, but I can state now that I feel much the better for having been there with my kitty to the end.
Then we cried some more in the car, then drove back to the house and had tea and gave Ranger some salmon and cried some more; and now I am printing out my STUF for the conference, since I sprinted out of work trailing all kinds of loose ends.
Mage is in the Land of Eternal Cheese, where no one takes away your people food and then laughs at you for being Chunky & Aggrieved. He is drooling on everyone there and making little huff-puff noises instead of purring, because everyone is scritching him and no one is paying any attention to any other cats at all.
(All the habitués of chez nous, in its various incarnations, are encouraged to post Favorite Mage Moments in comments here. I'd like it a lot.)
I will say this for Oradell: they may cost the earth, but they have a really nice facility. They have special small, comfortable rooms where you can sit privately with your pet and make your adieux. So we did that (and the doctor was amazingly kind, even as vets go--I've never met a mean vet), and bawled a lot, and then I held Mr. Mage as the doc put the quietus into his IV. It was as quiet and peaceful and kindly as such a thing can be, and beforehand I didn't think I would be up to any of it, but I can state now that I feel much the better for having been there with my kitty to the end.
Then we cried some more in the car, then drove back to the house and had tea and gave Ranger some salmon and cried some more; and now I am printing out my STUF for the conference, since I sprinted out of work trailing all kinds of loose ends.
Mage is in the Land of Eternal Cheese, where no one takes away your people food and then laughs at you for being Chunky & Aggrieved. He is drooling on everyone there and making little huff-puff noises instead of purring, because everyone is scritching him and no one is paying any attention to any other cats at all.
(All the habitués of chez nous, in its various incarnations, are encouraged to post Favorite Mage Moments in comments here. I'd like it a lot.)
None More Black
Oct. 24th, 2008 09:21 amSteve just phoned; he is taking Mage up to the animal hospital emergency room. He fed him some salmon last night (which worked) but he woke up to find it was puked up on the carpet, and Mage was at the bottom of the stairs trying feebly to crawl behind the shoe rack there. (And had his head stuck, and was mewing piteously.) I am fairly clear on what that means in animal-speak. I'm expecting another call in an hour or so.
Did I mention that today would have been our 10th wedding anniversary?
Did I mention that today would have been our 10th wedding anniversary?
Joy cometh in the morning.
Oct. 22nd, 2008 09:14 amAfter previous meltdown, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nedlnthred mixed up a batch of condensed milk & egg yolk, a combination she's had success with before, and put it in the other bottles that Rollo et al. had sort of chewed the tops of the nipples off. This seemed like it might be too big for them to suckle on, but for some reason, it started to work; they did a kind of half-suckle, half-drink Thing which started getting warm food into kitten tummies.
And then! Piewacket, who had been sitting in the hallway watching with mild interest our strange proceedings, came over and started washing the kitten Beth was feeding. We put the kitten to her breast, and lo! she accepted it! And we added the rest, one by one, and she took them all!
Result:
I'm not sure but that we might still have some attrition--there is one squeaker who is always on the outside of the pile, and is noticeably more sluggish than the rest. And I'm still really worried about Mage, and I still rack my brains about who can take the office cats, and I have no clue how we're going to home these kittens; but we won this round.
nedlnthred mixed up a batch of condensed milk & egg yolk, a combination she's had success with before, and put it in the other bottles that Rollo et al. had sort of chewed the tops of the nipples off. This seemed like it might be too big for them to suckle on, but for some reason, it started to work; they did a kind of half-suckle, half-drink Thing which started getting warm food into kitten tummies.And then! Piewacket, who had been sitting in the hallway watching with mild interest our strange proceedings, came over and started washing the kitten Beth was feeding. We put the kitten to her breast, and lo! she accepted it! And we added the rest, one by one, and she took them all!
Result:
I'm not sure but that we might still have some attrition--there is one squeaker who is always on the outside of the pile, and is noticeably more sluggish than the rest. And I'm still really worried about Mage, and I still rack my brains about who can take the office cats, and I have no clue how we're going to home these kittens; but we won this round.
On the Misery of Helplessness
Oct. 21st, 2008 10:07 pmPiewacket has taken against her kittens. She has ignored them for the last ~18 hours, and hisses when they come near her. I tried bottle-feeding them, but although I know they're hungry--they crawl all over me and root against every bit of warm skin they encounter--they don't seem able to grasp the whole bottle concept. Five helpless little tiny bundles of fluff frantically crying and crawling on you, fighting to live, and you can't do anything for them; that's slit-your-wrists territory there.
Never A Dull Moment
Oct. 21st, 2008 01:30 amDomino and Momcat go to the snippy place tomorrow to lose their reproductive bits. I'm to drop them off, and nedlnthred will pick them up. Well and good.
The problem is, segregating them for the 12 hours beforehand so they don't eat or drink.
There being noplace else, I came staggering back from having been plied with wine and food bycaelfinn et iugus to find[1] them shut in my room, and not terribly pleased. They're both companionable beasts, so no destruction occurred, but Momcat escaped twice leading to wacky chases (and a nicely clawed hand). Now they're settled down, and Domino is rolling all over my kybard in his effort to cadge scritchies--this post has taken 2x as long to compose as I remove the catlike typing--and Momcat has managed to turn on my PC in her peregrinations.
[1] I did get a text message with this information, but did not see it 'til after the fact. Sometimes the buzzing in my purse feels like train vibrations.
nedlnthred will pick them up. Well and good.The problem is, segregating them for the 12 hours beforehand so they don't eat or drink.
There being noplace else, I came staggering back from having been plied with wine and food by
caelfinn et iugus to find[1] them shut in my room, and not terribly pleased. They're both companionable beasts, so no destruction occurred, but Momcat escaped twice leading to wacky chases (and a nicely clawed hand). Now they're settled down, and Domino is rolling all over my kybard in his effort to cadge scritchies--this post has taken 2x as long to compose as I remove the catlike typing--and Momcat has managed to turn on my PC in her peregrinations.[1] I did get a text message with this information, but did not see it 'til after the fact. Sometimes the buzzing in my purse feels like train vibrations.
And, the Sheep & Wool Report
Oct. 20th, 2008 09:45 amnedlnthred, briony530, caelfinn, nancaurelia, and I went to the Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend. Since I have an enormous sack of yarn that I haven't done anything with yet, I restrained myself from the shiny pretty things, and made but two purchases: 1) A large skein of undyed soft Falklands wool to make a baby blanket for some friends who have one in the oven, and 2) some seriously loud softness to make fingerless gloves to wear at work, for which I have a direful need. Happily, those shouldn't take long, even at my glacial pace of construction.I intend to do the blanket in a set of mixed cables reminiscent of the Irish fisherman sweater, the happy couple being very much of that persuasion, though
caelfinn tells me that those sweaters actually originate in the '50s. Not so much with the cultural heritage. Oh well, I think it'll still look nifty; briony530 has a full-size blanket in that idea and it's quite handsome.We met
ilaine_dcmrn and her two girls at lunchtime, and trysted for dinner & good conversation with hlinspjalda andalistrina, fiber luminaries of the faraway north. All in all, a good weekend, if ass-freezing cold. (Because why? I DIDN'T WEAR WOOL. I win the moron hat.)and, simultaneously...
Oct. 20th, 2008 09:18 amI suddenly realized I leave for this conference in seven short days. WHAT
On the bright side, I can get all my planning and organization for it done at work, and it's not slacking, because it's for work. Yes. Fear my rationalization powers.
On the bright side, I can get all my planning and organization for it done at work, and it's not slacking, because it's for work. Yes. Fear my rationalization powers.
Mage is not any peppier. He does eat and use the catbox, but he spends the rest of the time curled up under Steve's computer chair--he doesn't even want to come for snuggles in the Big Comfy Chair, which historically sitting down in that meant you'd have him in your lap in 1.2 seconds. Or faster. Sometimes he would show up in between your butt and the seat cushion before you'd finished lowering yourself.
His blood and urine are normal; the ultrasound shows nothing. He just...isn't well. Tests from here start getting increasingly expensive and invasive, and if it's something that esoteric they probably can't fix it anyways, particularly for a 14-year-old cat.
I do not think I am prepared to deal with this possibility at this particular point in time.
His blood and urine are normal; the ultrasound shows nothing. He just...isn't well. Tests from here start getting increasingly expensive and invasive, and if it's something that esoteric they probably can't fix it anyways, particularly for a 14-year-old cat.
I do not think I am prepared to deal with this possibility at this particular point in time.
dariodevil: http://www.rohwrestling.com/News/Article.aspx?id=830 -- Wanna go?syringavulgaris: I can't! I'm going to the opera that night. syringavulgaris: Already bought tickets.dariodevil: That's hysterical.dariodevil: "I can't go to the wrestling show! I have to go to the opera!"dariodevil: C'mon.dariodevil: No one could write that so perfectly.syringavulgaris: It's not my fault I am a Pisces, and therefore going in exactly opposite directions simultaneously.syringavulgaris: But I am going to an opera about the atomic bomb!dariodevil: It's still not the Briscoe Brothers vs. LAX. Philistine.Morning Kitten Report
Oct. 15th, 2008 06:32 amI came downstairs to hear frantic peeping noises. Piewacket decided to move the litter, but forgot one (thus proving cats can only count to five). After several minutes of hunting around, I found her snuggled on top of them behind the TV; that is, in the corner that nedlnthred had painstakingly scrubbed last night to try and get the cat smell out of (thus proving that cats are perverse, as if we needed more proofs on that theorem).
I put the little guy (?) back in with her, and he crawled right back into the pile. I don't know how long he (?) was out of reach & out of warmth, though, which may bode ill for his survival.
nedlnthred had painstakingly scrubbed last night to try and get the cat smell out of (thus proving that cats are perverse, as if we needed more proofs on that theorem). I put the little guy (?) back in with her, and he crawled right back into the pile. I don't know how long he (?) was out of reach & out of warmth, though, which may bode ill for his survival.
Piewacket is delivered of five SIX (so far) tiny tuxedo kittens! (In the box I set up for her, I may add, thus sparing nedlnthred's much-abused furnishings.) I would have pictures for your delectation, only the batteries in the camera chose now to die. They are recharging. Slowly. Be patient.
The last thing this house or, indeed, this neighborhood needs is more kittens; but there wasn't any way to get her to the vet until it was too late. The good news is, she's now considerably more tame--indeed, she's spent the last week tripping me every time I move, wanting scritchies--so as soon as they're weaned we can take her directly over to the Helpful Animal Clinic. (Momcat has an appointment for next week and Spot has disappeared, so if we can just get our hands on Foxy we just might be able to get ahead of the local problem; I don't believe there are any other fertile queens in the area.) And since the kittens are in the house and all, we should be able to get them right people-friendly and thence to good homes.
Anyone want a cat?
nedlnthred's much-abused furnishings.) I would have pictures for your delectation, only the batteries in the camera chose now to die. They are recharging. Slowly. Be patient.The last thing this house or, indeed, this neighborhood needs is more kittens; but there wasn't any way to get her to the vet until it was too late. The good news is, she's now considerably more tame--indeed, she's spent the last week tripping me every time I move, wanting scritchies--so as soon as they're weaned we can take her directly over to the Helpful Animal Clinic. (Momcat has an appointment for next week and Spot has disappeared, so if we can just get our hands on Foxy we just might be able to get ahead of the local problem; I don't believe there are any other fertile queens in the area.) And since the kittens are in the house and all, we should be able to get them right people-friendly and thence to good homes.
Anyone want a cat?
State of the Cat: ?
Oct. 14th, 2008 01:10 pmAfter 2.5 hours kicking around the animal hospital (this, with travel time, killing the notion of me getting into work for the afternoon[1]), we learn...nothing. Or, well, some diagnostic exclusions. The ultrasound does not show anything funky going on. They've taken blood, and a urine sample (which surprised me, as usually Mage waits to pee until he's back in the carrier, but I'm not complaining), and I should call tomorrow afternoon for the results.
They wanted to take an X-ray, too, which would have been another medical half-hour (i.e., 55 minutes), but I figured if I left then I could at least get some correspondence and documentation done, and not make a complete waste of the day. And it didn't seem, by the description, to be anticipated half as useful as biochemical reports are like to be.
Also: When sitting for several hours in a freezing cold waiting room fretting about your cat, the wrong reading material is the story of Shackleton's Antarctic expedition. Seriously.
[1] If I'd the brains God gave a kumquat, I would have gone dressed for work, dropped Mage off at the house, and taken the train in from Fair Lawn, or thus I was reproaching myself during the long cold wait; but it looks like, due to infelicitous scheduling, I would've just missed the last useful train from there anyways.
They wanted to take an X-ray, too, which would have been another medical half-hour (i.e., 55 minutes), but I figured if I left then I could at least get some correspondence and documentation done, and not make a complete waste of the day. And it didn't seem, by the description, to be anticipated half as useful as biochemical reports are like to be.
Also: When sitting for several hours in a freezing cold waiting room fretting about your cat, the wrong reading material is the story of Shackleton's Antarctic expedition. Seriously.
[1] If I'd the brains God gave a kumquat, I would have gone dressed for work, dropped Mage off at the house, and taken the train in from Fair Lawn, or thus I was reproaching myself during the long cold wait; but it looks like, due to infelicitous scheduling, I would've just missed the last useful train from there anyways.
Return of the Solid Gold Cat.
Oct. 13th, 2008 10:19 am...and that's the best case scenario.
Mage has been looking unwell, so we took him in to the vet this morning. The darker brown line around his nose is not of consequence, but the fact that most of him is getting bony except his belly is of concern. I have to take him to the animal hospital for an ultrasound in the morning (which will cost a pretty penny itself) so they can determine what's going on. It may be something spleen related. Or it could be tumors.
Mage has been looking unwell, so we took him in to the vet this morning. The darker brown line around his nose is not of consequence, but the fact that most of him is getting bony except his belly is of concern. I have to take him to the animal hospital for an ultrasound in the morning (which will cost a pretty penny itself) so they can determine what's going on. It may be something spleen related. Or it could be tumors.
We attacked the mall this morning, the goal being to buy sweh's birthday present. (HIS BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW! SEND HIM LOVE!)
However: I had not the least idea that a simple, unadorned, not-large gold watch is now considered passé for men. Even the high-end stores were full of enormous wrist-shields encrusted with disgusting amounts of bling; and I say this, I who am legendary for my magpie tendencies. About the only model on sale which approached the desired specs was by Radu, and therefore the price tag is about equal to one of my paychecks. (Awfully handsome piece, though.) I found an awful lot of watches that I'd like, including some really spiffy bronze-y models from Fossil and a necklace-watch from Coach (!!!) that was a padlock on leather whipcord, but nothing for the birthday boy. Feh.
Although defeated on that front, I cut a swath through the Bisou Bisou section of Penney's, and came away with two jackets, a skirt, and a sheer wraparound blouse; all of which, between leftover gift card and their "doorbuster" 50%-off-before-1pm sales, I got for a grand total of $25. OH YES I DID. You may bask in my aura now.
(In other news, I think the department stores are, ahem, managing expectations on sizes again. Diet and exercise are proceeding well, yes, but there is no fucking way a skirt of size N should be almost too big for me. No.)
sweh's birthday present. (HIS BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW! SEND HIM LOVE!) However: I had not the least idea that a simple, unadorned, not-large gold watch is now considered passé for men. Even the high-end stores were full of enormous wrist-shields encrusted with disgusting amounts of bling; and I say this, I who am legendary for my magpie tendencies. About the only model on sale which approached the desired specs was by Radu, and therefore the price tag is about equal to one of my paychecks. (Awfully handsome piece, though.) I found an awful lot of watches that I'd like, including some really spiffy bronze-y models from Fossil and a necklace-watch from Coach (!!!) that was a padlock on leather whipcord, but nothing for the birthday boy. Feh.
Although defeated on that front, I cut a swath through the Bisou Bisou section of Penney's, and came away with two jackets, a skirt, and a sheer wraparound blouse; all of which, between leftover gift card and their "doorbuster" 50%-off-before-1pm sales, I got for a grand total of $25. OH YES I DID. You may bask in my aura now.
(In other news, I think the department stores are, ahem, managing expectations on sizes again. Diet and exercise are proceeding well, yes, but there is no fucking way a skirt of size N should be almost too big for me. No.)
It is non-gratuitous, for indeed, I have been Domestic.
I came home with simple plan: have dinner, bake cake, bake shortbready thing, relax. Instead I ended up fighting another front on the War Against Bugs. afdjklsfjlskdjflsjk
Finally, now, I have achieved all of those things (damp dark dense chocolate cake, Gateau Breton, turkey enchilada; also emergency cleansings and final post-cooking kitchen cleanup, AND cleaning cat boxes), except the "relax" bit. I'm working on that. (Here is cocktail, though I'm not best pleased with it.) But I don't have much time left in the evening in which to accomplish it, and I still need to shower.
LOOK AT ME LETTING STUFF GO I'm gonna hold off on vacuuming my room until Monday. TAKE THAT, obsessive brain.
I came home with simple plan: have dinner, bake cake, bake shortbready thing, relax. Instead I ended up fighting another front on the War Against Bugs. afdjklsfjlskdjflsjk
Finally, now, I have achieved all of those things (damp dark dense chocolate cake, Gateau Breton, turkey enchilada; also emergency cleansings and final post-cooking kitchen cleanup, AND cleaning cat boxes), except the "relax" bit. I'm working on that. (Here is cocktail, though I'm not best pleased with it.) But I don't have much time left in the evening in which to accomplish it, and I still need to shower.
LOOK AT ME LETTING STUFF GO I'm gonna hold off on vacuuming my room until Monday. TAKE THAT, obsessive brain.
