Come Hither, My Little Chickadee

Good Little Traveler

Don't Look

Sylvie likes to sit on the fake snow around the Christmas tree, because it's squooshier than the hardwood flooring. But I can't get her to look at me when I have the camera.

World Snuggling Championship Held Today

Wednesday's Photo

i made u a piktchur, but i forgotted it.



Sylvie snoozes unaware of an intrepid squirrel just inches away, calculating the jump to the bird feeders (unsuccessfully, it turned out).

Another Thrill-A-Minute Friday Night at the Kimmijo Abode

Full Recovery

Sylvie seems back to normal. She still refuses to eat the expensive grain-free cat food that alleviates her allergy symptoms, and instead has been eating Fancy Feast, which is kind of like having donuts for every meal. But she's happy, so I am relieved.

Quick Dinner

Sorry, I know the pix have been crap lately. I'm preoccupied with my furry purry companion. She flat-out stopped eating on Thursday and nothing has enticed her to consume more than a mouthful or two, not the snottiest Fancy Feast nor the organic human-grade fare. She's not drinking much water either and I've hydrated her twice today subcutaneously with lactated Ringer's solution.

There's something about the way she lies there and purrs while I stab an 18-gauge needle into her that has me aware that this might be a final illness.

Though I've been wrong about dying animals before. In two years of volunteer experience at the Ohio Wildlife Center I saw geese I thought for sure were goners fly away from the transport crates, and a male cardinal died in my hand barely two seconds after I marked him down as BAR (bright, alert, responsive) on the intake form.

The vet said Sylvie's blood panel looked mostly fine on Saturday. The office called to tell me to start her back on her insulin today to prevent ketosis. Hopefully I can get her to finish this can of Shredded White Meat Chicken Fare in a Savory Broth with Garden Greens later this evening. Right now, she's tired of me fussing at her. So much so that she nipped at me. Which is a good thing, a bit of her usual brio.

Not How I Planned to Spend Saturday

The patient is now home in her basket, vigorously washing where Those People touched her.

Sylvie in the Sunshine

Thursday Cat Blogging

Pussytoes

Can't wait to see my StatCounter searches on this headline.

Turn Off Hi-Beamz Plz

I am a Horrible Person

This morning I made this poor creature throw up and cry.

Earlier in the week, I had to go to the vet to pick up her insulin. I hoped that they wouldn't remember that she's been licking her fur off, but of course they did, and I left with the insulin and a new prescription for a pill to calm her compulsive hair removal.

When I was growing up, Dad would always give the cats their medicine, so he could be the bad guy and my sister and I could be the good guys. Living alone, I am both good guy and bad guy to Sylvie.

She's a handful. I'd rather give a pill to a great horned owl.

To administer the pill, I wrap her up in a towel like a kitty burrito, with her head poking out one end. I have a pill shooter that supposedly puts the pill on the back of the tongue for immediate swallowfication. As soon as I walked out with the towel, she started drooling and tried to hide under the futon.

I dragged her out. I folded up a kitty burrito. I shot the pill into her mouth. Thick, viscous drool foamed from her lips. The pill dangled from one fibrous strand. I stuck it back into the pill shooter and tried again. The burrito unraveled. The pill fell on the towel. I stuck it back into the pill shooter and tried again. The whole cat spasmed and the burrito completely unfurled and she barfed up a big wad of compacted hair and food onto the towel. She moaned and two huge tears squeezed out of her eyes.

I'm sorry, kitty.

I held her until the drooling stopped. I opened some canned chicken for her as a treat. She lapped it up and wrapped around my ankles, looking up for more. When I got home from work, she was as affectionate as she's ever been.

Of course in this picture she looks pissed. "What u doin' wakin' me up?"

Giving this cat pills simply doesn't work. I am at a loss trying to help her with the fur-pulling compulsion. Anybody out there have any ideas?

Cat Sitting

Couldn't get the brothers to both look up at the same time.

Werd

What Do Kitties Do All Day?

Friday Cat Blogging

So ready to crash this weekend...

Welcome to Tropical Michigan

Already 78° and 60% humidity in my apartment.

So I made the cat a mojito.

She wanted fun twisty straws, but after wandering the aisles of Kroger for 15 minutes listening to the Strangest Song I Have Heard in a Grocery Store (Don McLean's "Vincent," which replaces "Poison Ivy," heard in a Big Bear in Columbus, as Strangest Song I Have Heard in a Grocery Store) I settled for the merely bendy straws.

Playful

Hard to get a good action shot.

Fur is coming back in (mostly - belly still bare).