Pass the cat please.....

We came home from eating Chinese and found Princess sleeping in the clean platter that I left on the table.   Oh well, looks as if we could have had Chinese right here at home. (It's just a joke folks.....)

Kitty with an Attitude

Princess was a VERY BAD GIRL today!  She didn't hurt anyone, she could never do that, she just refused to let me do her IV today.
She wanted to go outside and enjoy the warmth of the sunshine and while out there she found something that smelled appealing to her, and she rolled around in it.  She doesn't smell bad, but maybe she thought that we might not recognize her (in disguise) later :)

The First Week in October

Every since I got my new smartphone, it seems that I'm constantly checking my calendar to see if I can squeeze any more events and things to do in it.  My life suddenly seems very busy, but I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT!  My time is spent with family and helping Jimmy.  I've spent time with every single one of my grandchildren this week except for Brandon, but I am holding Brandon's PSP hostage and I know that he'll have to come see me to get it back, lol.

Besides going to Buffalo Wild Wings with Megan, Myles and Sharon, I'll be meeting them again next Tuesday for a girls day out....but men are welcomed if they want to join us.

Doug works construction and on one of the days when they had no work to do, Doug came over and helped Jimmy repair one of our storage buildings.  He's a very good worker and was a great help to Jimmy, but unfortunately for us he was called back to his regular job.

The shed got a new roof

Doug working on the back wall

With Doug gone back to his regular job, that left me to help Jimmy out....And,  I'll have to pat myself on the back if I don't say so myself :)  It had been 17 years since I had helped build anything, but it all came back to me once I started in on the job.  Jimmy called me "bossy" at first, but then I showed him that I knew what I was doing.  I had my shortcuts to measuring and marking the boards, which Jimmy didn't understand at first, but he let me do it my way, I'm sure hoping that I would fail, but I think I surprised him instead, because I was allowed to help for a second and third day.

Time to start on the front 

My first piece fit perfectly and so did all of my other cuts

Look how nice the door looks.
The supports are on the inside of the door so it
won't warp.

Now I'm cutting the trim

  
The shed is almost complete.  All it needs now are the new shingles on the roof.  I think I'll just hand them up to Jimmy and let him do that job.  We have one more shed to repair and I'm really looking forward to helping with that job too.

Zac stopped by to visit on Wednesday and we all went to Papaleno's for lunch.  After lunch he came back to the house and called his mom (Sharon) and she came by after she finished her job.

Since they were both on their bikes,
they rode home together which was nice.

The Mon, Wed, Friday visits to the vet are still going on with Princess, so that in itself keeps me running to Richmond all the time.  She's doing great and her kidney function tests are just about back to normal levels.

Princess at the vets office

While working on the shed Jimmy burned out his circular saw and we had to go to Richmond to buy another one and we ran into Sharon and Myles (on purpose).  I knew she was there shopping because she had text me, so I directed Jimmy into that direction so that I could see Myles :)

This is what Myles looked like down in the snugly thing

And of course Sharon was buying baby items for Myles, including that Snugly thing, and if you look in that shopping cart there is a jogging stroller so that Myles can go jogging with Sharon.
To see more pictures CLICK HERE

Princess

Princess is feeling so much better and so am I about her.  She wants to stay outside most of the time and only come in to sleep.  I'm glad that she's feeling better, but today Jimmy had to stop her from going next door to visit Sarge.  Sarge is a nice big pit bull but I don't want to take any chances with my Princess.  Her appointments at the vet's office have now been cut back from everyday to Mon, Wed and Fridays until she's well enough to have an exploratory surgery.  The vet is not sure if the growth near her kidney can be removed so until then her prognosis is guarded.

The end of DAY ONE

We all survived Day One of Princess' treatment.  That is, day one at home.  Princess spent 2 days and a night at the animal hospital and they all thought she was the sweetest kitty that they'd ever met.  Apparently, they injected her with antibiotics and didn't have to try and get a pill passed her long sharp teeth.  We wrapped her in a towel so that we didn't have to deal with her claws, but she definitely knows how to sling her head around to dislodge any pill that was put into her mouth...that was yesterday.  Today I crushed the pill, added a little water, and put it into a syringe and squirted it into her mouth.  Sounds easy huh?  Well Jimmy ended up with most of the liquid on him, but hopefully she swallowed enough of it to help her.

We've also had to force feed her since she hadn't had a bite to eat for 7 days.  That was fun but very messy and I bet in 2 days we probably got a fourth of a teaspoon down her.  Tonight I abandoned the vets kd food for kidney health and tried chicken broth.  She loved it and I know it has too much salt in it, but what's the alternative?  Starvation?  Besides I only let her eat about 2 tablespoons of it.

The cat's IV in hanging in our bedroom

The infusion of Ringers Lactated went better than I expected.  I worried about it all night and didn't get much sleep.  Another reason that I didn't get much sleep is because Princess has been sleeping on my pillow since she's been sick.  She did make a little fuss, but not much, when I inserted the needle into her skin and then she was fine until she felt that cold liquid seep into her body, even though it was room temperature, apparently it felt cold to Princess and she began to squirm.  I couldn't have done it without Jimmy's help.  He rubbed her ears and talked softly to her, which seemed to soothe her until the ordeal was over for her.  It didn't take too long since they told us to run it at a steady stream and not a drip.  I was a little worried because the liquid made such a big lump in her side that I called the vet's office.  They assured me that it was normal and that soon the liquid would settle into her lower abdomen.

Jimmy soothing Princess while I take 3 quick pictures.

Tomorrow I'm going to stick the needle in a little lower,
because I think it made her feel colder with it up so high.
After we finished she wanted to go out and lay in the sun,
and warm up, so we let her.

Princess is a very sweet cat and I'm glad that we were home and not off on a long extended vacation when she got sick.  I know that as she gets better she won't be so willing to lay as still as she does while we infuse her, and I can't wait for that day.  But until then Jimmy and I will infuse her with liquids every single day at 10 a.m., so don't expect me to answer the phone at that time, and we will give her daily doses of antibiotics and try to feed her that special kd food that the vet provided because we want our sweet Princess to feel better.

Oh, and in case I didn't mention it Princess is in kidney failure and has a large granuloma, but the vet gave us hope that if we continue treatment that there is the possibility that she may live for many more years.  Princess has the kidneys of an old cat despite her age of 6 years which was surprising to our family vet, but as long as she continues to walk around, we will continue to fight for her and to keep her alive.  Prayers are also for cats and will be appreciated.

"Don't be scared. I won't let you fall."

as sweet as toilet water

It's a rainy day at our house today just perfect for my regularly scheduled blood tests and mammogram. Wouldn't want to spend a perfectly good day at the clinic doing that stuff.

I say a day at the clinic, because I was there this morning for my blood tests and a Tetanus/Pertussis Booster shot, and then have to return later this afternoon for my mammogram and boy am I looking forward to that. I'm looking so forward to that, that I have already put it off for over a year, so my doctor told me yesterday. I could have sworn that I just had it done last year.

While I was there at the doctor's office this morning I ran into Sharon waiting to see my mean ole doctor. She's really not mean, but she just had a bad day yesterday because two other doctor's called in sick and she was having to cover for them. A little over-worked and over-stressed I guess. Today the clinic called in reinforcements to help her out and she was in a much nicer mood, so I was told. I don't have another appointment to see the doctor for another six months, unless I get sick of course, and hopefully she'll be in a much better frame of mind by then.

Changing the subject here. Jimmy is usually awakened every morning by persistent meowing wanting to be fed. This usually happens somewhere around 5-6 a.m. like little alarm clocks. But this morning Princess Pinky with her long white fur crawled into bed with him and was all wet. Jimmy immediately thought that she must have fallen into the toilet or something, so he jumped out of bed to go dry her off. We try to keep the lids closed on the toilets because when she first came to live with us we caught her drinking out of the toilet instead of her water dish, so Jimmy just thought that one of us had forgotten to close the lid.

Can you imagine having a wet cat waking you up and especially one that has fallen into the toilet? I was laughing hysterically by this time as Jimmy was telling me the story. But the cat was more stupid than that. She didn't fall into the toilet, unless she knows how to put the lids neatly back down and leave no mess. She slept in an open window, on a cat shelf, and remained asleep as it rained in on her and when she got wet enough, she crawled into bed to snuggle up against Jimmy.

So that's been our day so far and it isn't even noon yet.

A Cat-ergency

I was quietly sitting here reading on my computer when I began hearing muffled thrashing sounds coming from another room and just excused it as nothing of importance. Noises around here are the norm with cats batting ping pong balls around the house and playing with their cat toys. The noise continued and I still didn't pay much attention to it until I saw one of the cats go into alert mode and run towards the sound, so I jumped up to go investigate. As soon as I got close, I knew exactly what had happened....that cat, had fallen behind the small narrow space between the washer & dryer and the wall.

I went and got one of Jimmy's quilted flannel shirts and held it behind the dryer hoping that she would climb up the shirt. No, of course she wouldn't do that, that was much too easy. Instead she tried to squeeze herself through the half inch crack between the washer & dryer.
Seeing that the cat wasn't going to climb up the shirt, Jimmy began pulling the dryer out away from the wall and just as he got it pulled out far enough for the cat to come out, the dryer vent pipe tore in two pieces, and the cat climbed up the shirt.

Jimmy is now at the hardware store purchasing new dryer vent piping and the cat is outside on top of the water fountain, paws in the water trying to fish a bug or something out of the water. There's never a dull moment with this new kitty around.
Jimmy told me that she kept bringing him the yeast rolls, one by one this morning that I left out on the kitchen counter last night by mistake. She brought him three...into the bathroom.

Princess Pinky

This sweet little kitty is lost or she was dropped off maybe, because she might be pregnant. Is that what you call it when a cat is going to have kittens? She's not in foal...that's a term for horses I believe. Anyway, she's really a very sweet kitten, about 5-6 months old and she apparently has been someone's house cat. She knows all about being inside and what the litter box is used for.
I'm calling her Princess Pinky because of her beautiful white coat and her pink little nose. And in the picture below you can see her beautiful black tail. She's really a very pretty cat.

Princess Pinky is such a lovable cat and wants to be all over you and requires, or maybe I should say demands lots of attention and petting. She wants to sit on my shoulders and nuzzle my neck and purr loudly in my ear. She's one of those cats that wants to touch her nose to yours and be as close as possible. I think if we were to allow her to stay inside that she would also end up sleeping in my bed beside either Hopalong or Daisy. They don't sleep in our bed together, but you can usually find one of them snuggled at our feet by morning. Pinky seems like a cat who would have to share the pillow with you.

Pinky has stolen my heart and seems quite happy staying here. I'll take good care of her until some one claims her as their lost cat or I see a "Lost Poster" with her picture or description of her on it, then I'll take her to her rightful owner, but until then she's welcomed to stay right here.