I decided to explore Chewy.com to check out food prices and set up auto delivery for litter. Of course, I was lured in by a Facebook ad (Satan) of a cute feeding and an adorable bed.
Sucker.
So, yeah, I splurged because my cats totally need handcrafted, wool, Nepalese beds.
Worth the cuteness. I love Olivia’s alien antennas broadcasting her adorableness.
She’s making it work on several levels.
When Birdie ruptured her ACL this summer, we had a lot of accommodating to do. I rearranged the litter boxes for easier access, her food bowl was elevated because she couldn’t squat, and I now have more cat stairs than good sense. Shockingly she accepted these changes and actually uses the stairs. When was the last time a cat used a product specifically purchased for them? Miles also uses them and makes sure to give me an over-the-shoulder glance to make sure I’m noting how dainty he’s being.
The accommodations have stuck, but The Bird is feeling much more spry than she did in June. She’s not 100% healed and never really will be, we’re told to anticipate arthritis in that leg, but her sass and activity levels are back to their normal high. One of her personal accommodations that stuck around is her long, leggy supermodel pose. She would hobble around the house, get tired, and flop into a full body stretch which to my worried eye made her look waifishly thin. However she couldn’t comfortably bend her hurt hind leg and, even now, doesn’t or can’t flex the toes on that leg when she does the waking up yawn and toe spread.
Some iterations of the pose made her look like she was “horizontal running”…
or perkily leaping which definitely was not happening at the time.
Airborne!
Always on the outlook for the ridiculous, I felt this picture needed my poor Photoshop skills.
Not quite.
The Bird deserves to majestically leap through things.
Winner!
I don’t buy most of my cat nonsense. People just give it to me because… I am one dimensional and have no other interests? Any who I think they mean well. They like me. They know I like cats.
Students that I take to a summer camp felt the need to spend their pennies on me at the college bookstore and bestowed a cattitude of gifts upon me. One was this cat paw finger puppet.
Boop!
Here’s the thing, these kids know me. We have spent a ton of time together, but they still did not think the implications through. Teenagers. Sigh. Eyeroll.
I immediately put the finger puppet on and excitedly said,”OMAHGAWD, you guys are going to spend the next year with this thing creeping into your peripheral vision! Imagine working in class and the paw taps you on the shoulder to be like ‘How ya doin’, buddy.'”
Their faces said that sadly they had not considered any of this, but they were already down the rabbit hole so they pulled up Amazon and showed me that they could have bought a full cat puppet for all my fingers at the bookstore. While that was nice, the “Handi-Squirrel” listed beside it was even better!
Me: “NOOOO! I NEED THAT!!!” When are these kids gonna learn?
Best $6.95 EVER.
Imagine this as a first day school accessory! Not everyone was on board though. My campers had no comments when I sent them a picture of the squirrel’s arrival. Olivia Wigglebothum was not having it.
Squirrel want to hug kitty!
Bird was trapped by her ruptured ACL. Squirrel luv Bird.
In this sequence it appears that the squirrel took down Miles like a lion on an antelope, but there was less of a struggle.
Miles and I can both attest that the tiny squirrel claws are good for head scritches.
I found this stunning little green velvet and gold sequin number at an antique store. It was being displayed on a creepy baby doll. I regret not taking an in situ picture.
It makes W. Charles Marmota feel sassy as hell!
It makes the cats feel like they don’t bite me enough.
Saturday night I went to sleep to a cat that used all four paws. Sunday morning I woke up to a cat who was like “I ONLY NEED 3!”
“Seriously, Mum, it’s all good.”
I spent my first hour awake watching The Bird sass everyone, chase Miles to bite his hind legs, and then roll around in front of me so I could admire her ability to do all of this while holding her hind leg off the ground. To Med Vet or not Med Vet? She seemed like her normal self and the internet articles were wavering about how dramatic a limping indoor cat’s problem could really be, most suggested waiting.
I opted to wait it out for our regular vet on Monday. Birdie and I have certainly spent our share of hours in waiting rooms outside of regular vet hours. Since adopting her, we’ve dealt with:
This furry girl is a mess sometimes.
By late Sunday afternoon, the limp was still there and she was in the “I feel icky” spot as well as other out of the norm sleeping spots. She couldn’t jump up into the window nappers and squeaked with discomfort when I placed her there. She seemed to be able to get comfortable on firm surfaces like the floor.
Around midnight, I felt her come to bed via the cat ramp, but every spot she tried to settle in resulted in squeaks and growls. In retrospect, I should have read the signs: “hiding,” constant purr, hissing, and realized that she was in pain. At least Med Vet could have hooked us up with drugs.
Monday morning, the limp was prominent and the appetite was more or less gone. Thankfully we got a vet appointment. (I promised her that nobody would stick anything up her butt.)
This is a montage of her reactions:
Diagnosis: ruptured ACL Cause: Running and jumping… being a cat.
Vet squeezing Birdie’s joints and leg: “Ahha, just what I suspected.”
Me: “WHAT?!”
Vet: “Oh, just give me a minute. Is there stuff to jump off of at your house and does she run around like a maniac?”
Brain: “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING? HAVE YOU EVER MET A CAT?” (This was not our normal doctor.)
Me:”Yes, there are four cats. The house is basically theirs.”
Vet: “Do you know what a ruptured ACL is?”
Me: “Yes, it’s what every fucking athlete in my classroom and large dogs get while playing!”
Since we had reached an understanding, he proceeded to tell me that Birdie could not “cat” for 6-8 weeks and that this won’t heal, it will just become tolerable and she’ll probably develop arthritis. I must have had a dissatisfied look on my face as he kept repeating himself, but I was thinking ahead, visualizing our house and all the items to jump from, and the fact that there isn’t really a room where I can isolate Birdie. Plus she would absolutely lose her mind if I locked her in a room by herself.
Yadda yadda yadda, this was not a typical cat injury (Your cat is a freak show) and while HE did knee surgery on dogs all of the time, he’d have to refer me to…wait for it… Med Vet if surgery became a need.
He was much kinder and understanding than I paint him, but I was/am frustrated for my girl who can’t seem to catch a break.
We dosed up on pain meds before leaving and are relying on the anti-inflammatory that Bird is already on for her itchy butt.
How to eat when high.
She’s had a fairly tolerable evening and is asleep behind W. Charles. Usually when she’s high, she spends a lot of time pacing, but tonight there have been extended times of actual relaxing. The drugs do make her a little paranoid though. A stoned Bird will defend my folded laundry from all! Sookie sitting down across the room from her, warranted a hiss and fully arched back. Birdie then wen t behind the tv cabinet to growl at the wall every few minutes.
This laundry is ready to put away! Paws off!
Meanwhile, I’m working on rearranging my house into that M.C. Escher painting where everything leads to stairs. If there are steps to all her favorite spots, she’ll certainly use those instead of jumping. Right??
Queen of all she sees
Embattled dinner time throne
Guarded but stately
#Caturday
#cathaikus
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