No Sign of Metastasis, but…

Mom says we have to do this quick since she needs to get to other things.

I’m home from the vet. The first part of this diary entry is the good news. My x-rays show no sign of any metastasis. In other words, if it is cancer, it hasn’t spread. Phew!

The part that v-lady needed, a blood pressure monitor, didn’t come in, so I didn’t have my surgery today. V-lady’s office will phone us to let us know when it does come in so we can schedule the surgery. In the meantime, she did my x-rays and blood-work.

Now for the other stuff: some more not so good news.

My bloods showed elevated CRE levels. The v-lady says they indicate early onset kidney problems. And the x-rays show I might be developing asthma.

Is there anything out there that I haven’t started getting? Mom says to bite my tongue.

The rat (Mom) didn’t feed me last night—whaddaya mean nothing after 11:30 PM? Not right! And she took away my water.

She said: “sorry kitty” when I showed up in the kitchen this morning and she didn’t give me my meds either. My radar said something was up. I wasn’t taking any chances so I hid behind the sofa. Then the sofa started moving. Uh oh!

I almost got away. Really I did… except that dim-wit, Samsara, had to block my escape route. She got me! She couldn’t possibly take me out of the house if she couldn’t zip my tail into the bag ‘cause it was standing stick-straight, right? Wrong. >^..^<

She giggled and lunged for the camera. My tail, along with my cattitude, wilted. (We’ll put up the photo later.)

I tried it again with the v-lady. What is it with everyone? I put my ears back, I growled, I hissed—they giggled. I’m not all fluff, you know! It felt like Custard’s Last Stand. It didn’t look like custard though. (Colette…I think you mean General Custer. It couldn’t possibly have looked like custard.) Oh.

Can someone help me look for my cattitude? I seem to have lost the Colette touch.


Nyeh!

My Vet Visit - Update

Needless to say, they never told me what an ordeal this was going to be. Geeze—I thought I was getting off easy today.

It all started last night. Mom gave me my last meds and kibble at 11:00 and she took away the water fountain!!!!!! Then she didn’t feed me this morning! I got stuffed into my carry bag first thing and we went to see vet lady!

Did I see her toss Samsara some kibble and water this morning before we left?

Anyway my echocardiogram test is done. I’m okay for the surgery, but they found a slight bacterial infection going on in my lungs.

Sigh. I started sneezing a bit this week and we didn’t pay much attention to it until now. Funny how you don’t realize things are backwards sometimes. I usually start sneezing when they increase my prednisolone. (The pred suppresses my immune system, so if I get too much of it, my rhinotracheitis surfaces.) The sneezing wasn’t as bad as it usually is, so we never stopped to think about the fact that v-lady decreased the pred and upped the tylan. I shouldn’t have been sneezing at all

They gave me antibiotics to take for the next two weeks. This is getting really complicated. Mom is beginning to call my meds a cocktail. My first meds for the day were: a syringe with pred, a syringe with lysine gel, a syringe of antibiotics, my tylan capsule and a syringe with water. And I got all of it at the same time! Sheesh! Do I have the patience of a saint or what! And now my tylan schedule is messed up because we started the meds so late today. I need to take them once every 8 hours, but my last one was at 8:30 tonight. Let’s see, 8:30 PM + 8 hours. ….. it doesn’t look like I’m getting that third pill today.

The surgery is supposed to be on Tuesday, but the v-lady needs to get a part in before she can do it. As of the time we left her office she didn’t know if she had it or not, because the vet tech who would have received it wasn’t working today.

V-lady wants us to keep our appointment for Tuesday anyway since she still wants to do x-rays.

Mom says I was acting really weird after we got home. First I didn’t finish all the kibble in my bowl. Then I kept walking from room to room meowing really loud. I usually don’t meow much at all—only if I want my kibble and Mom isn’t giving it to me. By this evening, I was back to my old self.

We’ll keep you posted as we know more.

Headbonks…

Vet Visit – Oh Nosie. Here We Go Again!

Not good. A few weeks ago, Mom felt what she thought might be an enlarged nipple on my belly, but I had a lot of mats in my coat (which I wasn’t letting her brush) so it was hard to tell. She gave it a little bit of time. The last time she did a poop run to the vet she mentioned it, and the vet told her to bring me in as soon as possible.

Well… sigh. We were hoping it was a pimple. It’s not a pimple. It is an enlarged nipple.

The vet doesn’t want to take any chances with this. She says that when the nipples are involved it usually is cancer—she wants to take it right away. She says that if it’s cancer it can spread very quickly.

I go for an echocardiogram Saturday morning (because of my heart condition) and surgery on Tuesday.

Big Oh Nosie…

>^..^<

Mom is just taking this one day at a time. She already suspected, so it’s not like this came out of ‘left field’. She’s okay (well, not okay, but okay). We just wanted to post earlier this evening. Mom says she has to go back out of the house and she has phone calls she needs to make when she gets home (related to her show coming up in two weeks), so if we’re not online, it doesn’t mean that we’re having a crisis.

Mom is still going to go ahead and try to post Samsara’s photos tonight.

Headbonks…

Home for the Holidays

Wow, it’s been a while since the ol’ secretary let me write something!

This is going to be really quick since she says she’s about to drop from being tired, and she’s taking me to visit vet lady tomorrow. Mom says she wants something checked but we don’t want to talk about it until we know more. Hopefully, it’s nothing.

I’ve been telling Mom all summer long that we took some really nice photos, and she always reaches the point where she doesn’t know what she wants to post, so nothing gets posted. I swear I’m about to read her the riot act over this one. Anyway—it’s been several days already she’s been meaning to put up our holiday pictures—and guess what? We have fewer ones of me than we do of Samsara this time, so Mom decided to post my photos tonight and work on Samsara’s tomorrow.

Cats-honest truth: as long as there’s nothing resembling a costume or a set Samsara will stick around for as many photos as Mom wants to take. If Mom has anything like that in mind, Samsara is the worst. That little girl’s eyes look like Mom is about to torture her.

On the other paw, if there’s nothing resembling a costume or a set, I beat a hasty retreat. Nope. Sorry. Not interested. Later Mom. A holiday is coming in a few months. Get your pictures then. Giggles.

Anyway, Mom got us a house for the holidays and, thank catness, this time it doesn’t look like either one of us will be put in jail.

Mom really likes these photos. We hope you do too.

Headbonks…

Supper Is Late Due to ….

Pumpkin Cookies! How dare she! (I’m not allowed to have any!) The Tabbies o’ Trout Towne sent us their grandma’s cookie recipe.

It looked easy enough, until the batter started creeping up the hand-mixer blades and then wouldn’t cooperate with the plastic spatula either. The show was really interesting—it looked like she got two chicken drumsticks! (Knew that would get you Dude, Boomer, Daisy, Tuna ‘n Sauce!) It was a good show, but it wasn’t fishies or chicken. Do you know how many times a plastic spatula can move the cookie dough from the inside to the outside of the beaters? A lot! Mom says the next time she makes those cookies she’s going to use grandpa’s heavy-duty counter-top mixer and a dough hook!

Thanks guys—supper was LATE!

Seriously though, thank you! Your grandma is a heck of a good baker. Mom says the cookies are luscious! She put walnuts in them this time; she’s going to try dried cranberries next time.

Incidentally, Mom says my halo is slipping. MOL! I’m making “guerrilla feed-me” part of my nightly routine and Samsara is helping. Samsara moves from the ‘puter chair into Mom’s lap and starts trying to climb on the ‘puter table (which is really small). Just about that time, I begin putting my nails in her knee. Giggles. I told her I wanted to free feed. (Moms can be so dumb sometimes. She thinks I want pets on the head!)

My Gotcha Day - Colette

My Bideawee vaccination papers say I’m a Himalayan Seal Point; my adoption and microchip papers say I’m a Balinese Seal Point. Mom and I never learned what I truly am, though it’s safe to say, with my markings, I’m a Seal Tortie-Point.

So what did Mom and I learn in the three years we’ve been together? (We still can’t believe it’s been three years already.)

We learned what it’s taken to turn a skinny, anemic kitty into the floofy, pretty girl I am today.

Patience and tolerance:

It takes two. It takes one to understand that the other might not be feeling quite up to what one has in mind--and to back off. Patience and tolerance is a two-way street. I don’t growl or hiss or seriously try to scratch anymore. I understand Mom is just trying to do what’s best for me, even if it means having to take my meds three times a day, having the mats combed out of my fur, getting a bath, or having my nails clipped. And Mom has learned not to push it if I really can’t take it at the moment. For the meds, Mom knows enough to play it smart and wrap me in a towel. That’s her way of telling me I have to mind my manners.

Care and concern:

That’s another two way street. Almost from the first week, Mom has called me her RKN (registered kitty nurse). Whenever she or Samsara isn’t feeling well, I’m right there doing the comforting. (Towards the end of Keshy’s life, I helped when she got her inhaler treatments.) I cuddle, I wash, and I purr for them. In return, I get a lot of compassion from Mom when I’m not feeling well or she’s doing something I hate. She talks to me in soothing tones, telling me what a good girl I am, and how it will soon be over. Mom knows I gag on my medicine, so she makes sure I get a little kibble afterwards to get rid of the bad taste.

When Samsara’s back was hurting so badly, I was right there making sure she stayed clean. She may have been in pain, but she purred for me! Samsara and I also sleep leaning up against each other every night.

How to be a Good Cat and How to Be a Good Nurse (the nurse part is Mom’s):

Have I ever mentioned that Mom tells her friends that I’m a “great cat”?

When I first moved in, I still needed to learn the rules. I was always so hungry because I couldn’t digest the nutrients in my food. And when I got that hungry I couldn’t wait. It was only once or twice I jumped up on the stove where Mom readies the food for me and Samsara. (Most New York apartment kitchens are very small and every inch of counter space usually houses things like the microwave and the coffee maker--there’s never much space for food preparation. When Mom is cooking, she uses an over-the-sink cutting board as her food prep area.) Anyway, all it took was Mom getting upset once or twice before I stopped jumping on the stove.

I don’t go on the things I’m not supposed to, and that always amazes Mom. (Well, I won the battle for the sofa and the chairs, and I helped the sofa get old before its time, so it makes life a bit easier.) Have you ever heard me talk shamefacedly about anything I’ve broken? No you haven’t, but it’s not because I just don’t talk about it. The last thing I knocked down was the plant (last spring), and Mom says it was her fault—she forgot to put the brick back on the window ledge. We have antiques standing out in the open all over the house. The first time I jumped on something, Mom stood there not daring to breathe, stuttering, “Co, Co, Co…”. I jumped down carefully, making sure I didn’t drag the doily and the crystal vase down with me. (See, I’m not a bull in a china shop!) I never jumped up there again. More importantly, I’ve never broken anything.

And you know what I did tonight? Mom doesn’t usually have roast chicken for dinner or anything that I’m particularly interested in, so I sit on the dining room table to keep her company. She had roast chicken tonight and boy did it smell good. I wanted to join. She told me no, so without being told again, I sat on one of dining room chairs instead.

You also need to make your Mom giggle. I do that. She thinks my begging routine is funny. (I can’t help it if the prednisolone makes me so hungry I empty all the dishes as soon as the food hits the floor—Samsara’s dish too, whenever I get a chance.) She thinks I run funny. Have you ever seen a cat tearing down the hallway looking like a bunny rabbit? That’s me. When I’m running, I propel myself forwards by using my both my hind legs at the same time. Mom says it’s the funniest thing to hear me stampeding down the hallway. I am a big girl, why shouldn’t I have a heavy foot-fall? I also look funny when I get surprised, my legs start flailing out in all directions as I’m trying to run away. And (I shouldn’t tell you this; it’s embarrassing) I groan in my sleep.

Now for the part about being a good nurse: Unfortunately, Mom also learned more than she ever thought possible, or wanted to know about veterinary pharmacopeia and about how to give a kitty her medicines. She also learned the next time she adopts a kitty, she will buy pet insurance even before the first vet visit.

And we learned about love and trust. She doesn’t call me unpredictable anymore—that’s ‘cause I’m not unpredictable anymore. I learned to trust her and she’s learned to trust me.

We both loved each other at first sight, we already knew that. It’s been a rough three years for us both, but we are both so happy to have each other.

Thank you all for stopping by my page; you all made my gotcha day even nicer. It got really late last night so we didn’t have time to post and Mom had one of her infamous migraines today.

Thank you:

Nakita, Muppet, Sampson and Chico for the Diamond
Family of Molly Angel for the Adopt a Pet Ribbon
Family of Big Harry for the Acorn
Teebo, Callie and Rose for the Bat
Tabbies o Trout Towne for the Adopt a Pet Ribbon
Family of Missy Mups, Gunnarr T, and Peekie for the Heart
Family of Kitty Pryde, Indiana, Angel Marley and Harrison aka Inigo Montoya for the Heart
Family of Adam Dylan and Eve Layla for the Black Cat
Family of Maya, Milo, Xena Princess Warrior, and Queen Tallulah Angel for the Pumpkin
Zoe Autumn Sunshine for the Black Cat
Family of Tutti and Junior Fluffkins for the Pumpkin
Family of Pinkie, Biggles, Nonny and more for the Adopt a Pet Ribbon
Family of Calie, Littleboy, Skids Kitty and more for the Pumpkin
Beepers and Family for the Adopt a Pet Ribbon
Anonymous for the Heart
Vanessa for the Adopt a Pet Ribbon
Muppet for the Pumpkin for Halloween
Tate for the Halloween Pumpkin
Monster for the Cuppie Cake (Don’t worry, Monster. Samsara won’t have a chance to get at this! Yummy!)
Family of Milo and Mallee for the Tuna Fishies Sushi Roll (Yum!)
Ishtar for the fun Leaf to chase.

Oh Boy a DDP! And You Know What I Got For it?

A bath! =^..^=

Our v-lady always laughs when that happens. There’s always an extra set of poop samples and pictures on bath days. I get so upset I head straight for the litter box sopping wet. Then Mom has 3 messes to clean up: the extra poop, the wet bathroom floor ‘cause I won’t let Mom finish toweling me off, and the clumping litter stuck all over my paws. Yuck! (At least it’s the one made from corn.)

Mom says I was pretty good today. I didn’t fight her as much as I usually do, so we both didn’t get as wet as we usually do. I let her comb most of ‘it’ out and then wash the rest. (Colette was wearing quite a nice size piece of extra jewelry in her pantaloons when I came home this evening.)

Mom says she’s thanking her lucky stars my poops aren’t like they used to be. Then she was always tempted to give me another bath before I had even dried off. And, and, I let Mom use the hair-dryer on me today. Just in case she thought I was really going to cooperate, I made her knock it off in the middle—I was too hungry.

She hadn’t fed us yet. She had just come home, so I did what I normally do—I went running through the apartment like a crazy loon, stopped at her feet and launched into my starving kitteh routine. Nyeh, nyeh, mrrrreow! Then, as I was racing off to take my post by my empty supper dish she saw ‘it’. Oh drats!

That’s okay; I’ve started perfecting a new tactic. I call it the ‘guerrilla feed me’. It’s working too! Cease and desist only in exchange for a bowl of kibble. Okay, here’s the set up: your Mom is sitting at the computer, typing. Her glassy eyes are focused intently on the computer screen. You hear the keyboard, going “click, click, clickety, clickety, click”. That’s the time to make your first move. You quietly sidle over to where she’s sitting. From floor level, reach up and gently put your front paws on her knees. Extend your claws, and begin to rake downwards. (Make sure your nails aren’t too far out, just enough to graze the skin—don’t puncture it. Also make sure you haven’t hooked your claws too far into the knee. You want to keep the momentum going down the side of the leg.) Now: duck when you hear the first absent-minded “ouch”. Duck because you’re going to be absent-mindedly swatted. Stop for a second and wait for her focus to return to the computer. Begin again. Soon enough you’ll notice she’s petting you with one hand and trying to type with the other. This is the time you get most insistent. She finally stands up in protest and you march her off to the kitchen with your tail in the air. Nyyehhh, nyyehhhh, mreeeow! The kibble appears.

Anyway, thanks to effurybody who stopped by to honor my DDP. I love you guys! And thanks, Diary Gal—you shouldn’t have… in more ways than one!

Thanks to:

The Bush Furs for the roses. They smell heavenly!
Pipo and Minko for the spooky picture of me! Nice job! It looks like I’m having some serious issues with the black kitty in the picture! MOL!
Mallee for the nudges and kisses kitties.
Zach for the black kitty. It might be fun having a black brofur—Keshy used to say so and so does Samsara.
Family of Skylar Dreamboat for the pumpkin. We’re still waiting for some of our pumpkin treats to emerge from the oven.
Timo for the bat. Timo, I only get scared of two things: the apartment door closing when I’m outside and the step ladder when I’m inside. I’m going to have a lot of fun chasing your bat!
Penny, Minnie and Bliss for the heart. I love you girls too!
Ginger for the pumpkin. More yummy treats.

IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ— KEEPING US ALL SAFE- ONLINE--DIARY AND PICTURE COMMENTS

For those of you who know what’s been going on with the comments in the diaries and, especially for our new friends.

Many of you know that several days ago Panda received a comment in her diary by an anonymous non-member that got her dad so upset he was thinking of closing all his pages and leaving.

It’s also no news that we can’t comment in the diaries at all right now. We can comment in the pictures, though.

Last night and the night before, our Marrakech received two comments in her picture “Keshy the Library Cat” that make absolutely no sense. We thought the one from “Doll” was responding to something Samhain said. Samhain just confirmed that she has no idea who Doll is. The post this morning at 5:12 AM (PST) was just hyperlink code left by “hmfsyarpi”. DO NOT CLICK ON IT!

As I'm sure you read in the Blizzard comments, I sent a request to HQ to block the anonymous non-member feature comments in the diaries. I got an e-mail from HQ responding to my request. They're contemplating adding a "block non-account comment" feature. This is not what I asked for, but it’s starting to make a lot of sense.

I'm going to guess that this is just one piece of a much larger problem--and the reason that nobody can comment in the diaries until HQ gets this sorted out.

Why much larger problem? Because it seems, from Keshy's picture, like whoever is doing this is playing a cat and mouse game with HQ--no pun intended.

They can't comment in the diaries so now they're hitting the pictures. Another guess: Whoever responded when Panda’s Dad got so upset in Blizz's diary is going to be hit too. The prankster, not for lack of better, more lewd words, probably went back to Blizz's diary to see who responded--and so is now hitting those family members.

The idea of turning the anonymous feature off would have been valid, if better security were in place to have prevented what we saw in Keshy's picture. That just knocked the “anonymous” argument clear off the map.

I sent HQ a screen print of the comments in the Keshy picture. The reason for this diary entry is we felt it is very important with regard to keeping everyone safe online.

If you see suspicious comments or hyperlink codes do not click on them. You can take a screen print that copies a picture of what you’re seeing in your browser and send it to HQ. To do this hold down your ‘shift’ key and press the “Prt Scr” key at the same time. Open an e-mail in your own e-mail program. In a new e-mail message, paste the image as you would any other message—“Ctrl” + “V” or right click and select paste from the menu. Explain to them what they should be looking for. Send the e-mail to: Catster Support catsters@catster.com

Be careful effuryone and please let HQ know when you see something!

Dear Watch Cat – Have You Implemented a Gag Order?

What happens when we want to comment on a furriend’s diary? You don’t let us! You also don’t let us go directly to the diary entry—the only way we can get there is by going to profile page. At least we can read it.

It’s going to be furry quiet in Catster-land if this continues. I know we’re not alone since our furriends are complaining about it too.

Pfsst…

What Did Mom Do! Is She Losing It!!!!

What’s with the crate? Samsara doesn’t shut up for one second when she’s in it. Why did Samsara need it anyway? She seems just fine to me!

And you know what Mom did? She locked me in! Just ‘cause I found some kibblies in the bowl after she let Samsara out.

The indignity a girl has to suffer! BTW, if she would only keep the cage door open, it looks like a really comfy spot to curl up for a nap. MOL! You don’t even have to travel far to use the litter box. How convenient!

I hope Mom doesn’t lock Samsara in again. I’m getting a headache and that monster is going to take up my sun puddle space!

Hiss…