Thursday, October 11, 2007 , late at night

The guilty mother

If I was to look at today from a “glass half full” perspective, I could tell you that Carlo was neutered, Dobby got the last of her vaccines plus a microchip, and TJ got treatment for a sinus infection.  All those things were done at the new, less expensive vet clinic we’ve begun to visit, and the total bill was a little bit under $265.

Now, if I was to give you my “glass half empty” report, I’d have to tell you that the new vet we saw spoke mumbled, slangy English and pronounced words like ‘escape’ as ‘ekscape’.  That’s such a pet peeve of mine.  The vet didn’t seem to really like cats, or was afraid of them, because instead of just pulling TJ out of his crate, the vet flipped the crate on its end so TJ just came unceremoniously tumbling out onto the table.  The vet seemed annoyed that TJ scratched her (he didn’t scratch in a rough way, he just happened to have long nails).  What kind of vet gets upset about a scratch?

As for Dobby, well, the vet didn’t seem to want to touch Dobby.  To carry Dobby to the back room, the vet scruffed her by the neck and held her up with one hand, using no body support.  I understand a one-handed-scruff in an emergency, but Dobby is getting pretty big and should have been held more securely.  When the vet put Dobby down in the back room, Dobby immediately ran away, despite the fact we’d said over and over again that Dobby was feral and difficult to catch.  Dobby apparently tore up the chief veterinarian’s office, climbed his curtains, stomped all over his computer, hung up on some phone calls, and had to be caught by someone tossing a sheet over her.  Then she was give her vax, and then she was returned to the exam room, even though she hadn’t been microchipped yet.  They were so unorganized.  I tried to help hold Dobby for the microchipping but a tech came in and covered Dobby with a blanket instead, and my overall feeling was that they were just far too rough.  Dobby was scared, not aggressive, and she made no attempts to bite anyone.  The fear the staff exhibited over Dobby showed a real lack of experience with cats.

Finally, the day ended with bringing Carlo home.  I’d taken a quick look at his former-testicles when we first picked him up, and I was surprised his scrotum area looked so inflamed and red.  It was shaved and looked really sore, especially compared to what I saw when TJ was neutered earlier this year.  When TJ was fixed, he wasn’t shaved, and on his scrotum you could barely see two tiny incisions, maybe an eighth of an inch in length, at most.  In comparison, Carlo looked liked he’d been neutered by someone who wasn’t sure where to find the testicles.  After being assured he was fine and ready to go home, we brought Carlo into the house, put his crate down, and he stepped out and immediately started to lick his rear end.  Not good—our other neutered males never bothered their incisions.  I went to get his pain meds to give him a dose, but in a matter of seconds he was dripping bright red streams of blood onto the kitchen floor.  I tried to staunch the bleeding with some towels and he growled at me—in fact, the sweetest cat in the world tried to bite me, so I popped him back into a crate, and off he went back to the vet, where he has to stay overnight.  When we came home, I used a lot of paper towels to wipe up all the blood off the floor, and I wanted to bang my head against the same floor for thinking that I could get excellent service at a bargain price.  TJ, Dobby, and Carlo all suffered because I needed to save money.

Flippy and I calculated that if we’d had today’s vet visit at our usual vet, the bill would have been around $450 or more.  We know our regular vet would have been sweet and gentle with every cat, and we know that Carlo would not have had a problem with his neuter, because it would have been done with more care and finesse.  Sadly, we don’t always have that extra $200 on hand, and that’s why we wanted to find another vet with charges which were “more reasonable”.  I don’t understand why “more reasonable fees” has to also mean “inferior care”, because I can’t imagine a vet not wanting to do the best job possible.  I’ve got the chance to do some work for this new vet’s office and to get some free services in exchange, but now I don’t know if I even want them.  Carlo’s neuter was easy, and it was messed up… I don’t want them cutting Bunny open for a spay, because who knows what could go wrong?  If I take Bunny to our original vet for her spay it will cost about $150 more than at this new place… it’s very difficult to juggle money when you want to give your loved ones the best, but can’t always afford the best.

I’m sure Carlo will be fine, and I’ll post an update tomorrow when we bring him home.  However, seeing the dark reality of the vet’s office means a dark reality for us, too—we’re going to have to cut down on the number of cats we care for because I’m not happy with the cut-rate vet services. 

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/11 at 11:13 PM
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Tuesday, October 09, 2007 , early evening

Our new sewing machine (and why I hated Home Ec)

Flippy and I have been a bit stressed out lately, so two friends sent us a nice donation for Spiderman, plus a little extra that they wanted us to spend on ourselves.  I had thoughts of going to see Celine Dion in concert here, before her show closes in December, but tickets are so costly and it seemed sort of frivolous.  I spent a bit of the money on “special” things, but they were all investments for the pets, for example, I purchased some stuff at SuperZoo.  There was just nothing of substance that I felt good about buying for myself and Flippy, until we set eyes on a sewing machine.  I’ve made teddy bears and stuffed toys by hand since I was very young, but I’ve never been comfortable using a sewing machine.  We’ve been wanting to make our own cats toys (and possibly sell them), and I thought I could just sew them by hand, but the thought was a bit daunting.  I just didn’t know how I could ever work fast enough to make a profit if I had to make each and every little stitch myself, and thus, we set our sights on a sewing machine.  Our “dream machine” was the Brother SE-270D, just because it had good reviews on Amazon, and seemed like it had tons of potential.

Today I got lucky and found a brand new SE-270D for less than half price, so I grabbed it.  Then I felt all nervous, the way you do after you buy something expensive.  I know it will help make a lot of tasks easier if I learn how to use it properly, but I’ve always had a bad relationship with sewing machines.  My mother has been sewing her entire life (and still makes all kinds of cool stuff), and I love to sew by hand, but I had a terrible Home Economics teacher in 7th grade and she’s had a lasting effect.  I believe the class was actually called, “Family Studies”, and it taught sewing and cooking.  I still do love to cook, thank goodness, but the teacher was such a condescending witch that she took all joy out of learning.  I don’t think I even wanted to take that class—I wanted to take the woodworking class the boys were in—because I had no interest in ever being “a homemaker”.  Not that’s there’s anything wrong with that, but at the time, I felt like I was being limited and pigeonholed.

I seem to recall I flunked that class, the only one in my entire life!  I don’t know why, but maybe I didn’t finish a project or something… I know it was sewing-related.  The instructor was a middle-aged woman, not married, and perhaps she hated children or something but she was very prim and proper and wanted girls to behave a certain way.  I remember one day when class finished early, we were given a word-search puzzle to work on, and I was finding the words and circling each letter individually.  The teacher came and looked over my shoulder and said, very disgustedly, that I wasn’t doing it correctly and that I should be circling the entire word.  When I finished the puzzle I showed her that there was a hidden word in the remaining letters, something she’d never known.  She was surprised, but I don’t recall that she apologized to me.

As an adult, I’ve got a garage full of workworking tools, and feel very comfortable pulling out a saw and hacking off gigantic palm tree limbs, or building cat furniture.  I do not feel comfortable putting two inches of stitches in fabric using a sewing machine.  I’m sure I’ll get over that quickly, and look forward to learning, but it’s no thanks to that terrible teacher.  “Miss Cumming” (yes, that was her name, and we were too young to realize how mockable it was), wherever you are… it’s 28 years later, and I sure hope you’re not still terrifying young kids who don’t fit your rigid mold :p

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/09 at 07:45 PM
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Monday, October 08, 2007 , late evening

Carole Bayer Sager likes me!

Well, maybe she’s doesn’t so much like me, as she likes photos of kittens and assorted litterbox talk.  She listed this blog as a “fun pet site” in one of her recent colums for the Huffington Post.  Thanks to Flippy for saying nice things about me behind my back smile

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/08 at 10:37 PM
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Best catnip ever!

I’m going to be your cat’s second-best friend forever because I’m going to tell you about a brand of catnip and catnip toys from a company called ”From the Field”.  We met the two cute farmer guys involved with the business at their SuperZoo booth (one is the catnip farmer, and the other is the company owner), and they sent us home with some free samples of their organic catnip and organic catnip toys.  I didn’t really think it would be that big of a deal, but then I tossed the toys on the floor and our cats went crazy nutso.  A few cats were using the toys as pillows and lying around the hallways like zombies.  The catnip smelled so fresh and potent that it smelled like, well, it smelled like the kind of stuff that would leave humans relaxed enough to kick back on the floor, too.  SuperZoo was two weeks ago, and those toys still get daily use (at least, the ones I can find).  Even Dobby, who is supposedly too young to appreciate the allure of catnip, loves to grab a catnip toy and roll around while bunnykicking it.  There’s nothing more entertaining than a houseful of stoned kitties.

Speaking of Dobby, the guys at From the Field probably helped her to return home from her recent outdoor sojourn.  She started to eat out of the trap we’d set once I’d sprinkled it with FtF catnip essential oil, and she came home two days after I’d drawn a line back to our doggie door with the liquid.  The scent was so powerful that I know it reached her little nostrils-in-hiding.  I wouldn’t have though to use the oil for that purpose, but Jody at Cat’s Eyes suggested it, and it worked like a charm.  I guess it’s a cat trapper’s trick that I’ll put to good use in the future.

If you’re looking for any catnip products for your cat, please give this brand a try.  I wasn’t in any way coerced or reimbursed to write this entry, I just feel the catnip is of such highly quality (and of such low cost), that more people should know about it.  It’s organic, too, so no need to worry about pesticides, and all the stuffed toys are made with hemp.  Unfortunately, you can’t buy the products from the website, but they offer a list of places where they can be purchased.  Try to get your hands on some of this stuff!  Your kitties will be so happy (and a happy kitty isn’t on the counter eating your raisin bread, but that’s a story for another time).

catnip_guys

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/08 at 01:58 AM
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Friday, October 05, 2007 , terribly early in the morning

She’s back!

Dobby came home!  We were ready to try to trap her this evening, as she’s been eating comfortably out of the traps, but last night while we slept she apparently snuck back into the house on her own.  How about that?  You can read all about it on Flippy’s blog, as she’s the one who found Dobby first and she has a very detailed post about it.

Dobby was great with us this morning, but as the day wore on she seemed to become progressively more afraid of us.  It was very odd… this morning she came right up to me and let me pet her, and this evening she was hiding under a table and refused to come out to eat dinner.  She’s obviously backtracked a bit in terms of being tame.  She’s glanced at the doggie door a few times, too, and I do not want her to escape again.  At the very least, I want her spayed, microchipped, and wearing a collar before she escapes again.  I’m glad we didn’t need to trap her to catch her, so we’ll have that option available to us if she gets out again.

I know some people would think it was cruel that we won’t allow her to go in and out as she pleases, but our neighbourhood is just one disaster-in-waiting after another.  We are surrounded by continuous new retail construction and heavy machinery.  Our neighbour fills his yard with old cars that he buys and sells, and Dobby could easily get lost or hurt by hanging out in one of the junked cars.  For example, I’m pretty sure that these five days she’s been missing, she’s been living in the body of a wrecked Mustang.  If you look out our front door, you see a major, very busy, four lane road which leads directly to the freeway on-ramp.  In the midst of all the construction around us, I saw two coyote pups a few weeks ago, wandering around near an Office Max.  It would be fine if she just left the house and hung out in the yard, lying under the palm trees, but if she gets frightened and takes off like a rocket in the wrong direction, she’s going to end up in poured concrete as a permanent part of a storage facility.  Our area is mayhem.

Tonight, Dobby has slept in a closed room with Missy Mae, Carlo, and Bunny.  They have a new piece of cat furniture and a new bed to break in.  I hope that she’ll start to tame up again very quickly, or I might have to isolate her a bit so we can work with her on a more intensive basis.  This thing we’re doing of just giving her free run of the house, and being happy if she shows up to grab a piece of kibble from us, might not be working.

Anyway… thanks to everyone who sent good thoughts our way, and to Jody, for her excellent cat trapping advice.  I hope anyone else in this situation will also have a happy ending, and I hope I never have to go through this again!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/05 at 05:28 AM
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Tuesday, October 02, 2007 , the wee hours

On a happier note…

I’m now going to periodically write articles for the Bark Magazine Blog.  No one’s more excited about this than me!  My first entry, about SuperZoo, is here.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/02 at 12:16 AM
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Monday, October 01, 2007 , evening

Adopt-a-Dog Month

Every October is “Adopt-a-Dog Month”, sponsored by the American Humane Association.  Conveniently, it’s also “Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month”, sponsored by the ASPCA.  No matter who is sponsoring the event, the message is clear:  there are thousands of loving dogs waiting for adoption, so please open your home to one the next time you seek a a furry companion.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/01 at 08:07 PM
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