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Well, Petie has escaped again. It rained all day today so the workmen couldn’t come and finish the window/siding job. They left their ladders propped up against the roof of the garage and sure enough, Petie went exploring last night and the little fuzz-ball must have climbed up the ladders…again…

Well, the good news is we know where he is. Out back in the woods hanging out with the squirrels and Janine’s (our neighbor) cats.

No, I am not going to give him back to his former owner. Lola was very worried about that. I assured her that in spite of his imagination-defying escapes and life of international intrigue outside the house, Petie is now officially our cat and we love him. He’ll come home when he’s hungry….which we hope may be tonight…

Poor Scooter slept in the sunroom by the back door all night in case Petie came home. What a good buddy he is!

My arm is still bruised from the blood-taking last week, but the bruise has now diminished to the size of a quarter.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Lola had a new friend spend the night with us last night. Almost from the time this girl walked into the house until she went to bed she was playing on our computer. I tried to encourage her to do things with Lola, and it worked for awhile. They went outside to play, but that didn’t work for long. Once they were back in the house she was planted in the chair playing computer games. Lola was getting frustrated, so I suggested that they go to bed. They decided they wanted to sleep on the futon sofa in the living room so I put some sheets, blankets and pillows on the mattress and they were set for the night.

The next morning I fixed them breakfast and we took her friend home, and once back home I began to strip the bed and found a giant wet spot on the friend’s side of the bed…

Now I don’t ever mean to cause trouble, but with a mixture of worry for the friend’s bladder as well as for my newly ruined futon mattress I called her mother to inform her that we had encountered an issue with bedwetting. Since the mother and I are both raising children on our own, I suggested that we split the cost of a new mattress, since the one that was wet could not, in any way, be salvaged.

All day Sunday was spent taking the old mattress to the trash, going to get a new one, and doing laundry. All day. Not really what I had planned …


Friday, November 21, 2008

Well, Scooter had yet another vet appointment - - this time at a specialist. We had to leave the poor little guy there for two days of testing to see why he is not doing well. It has been determined so far that he has FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus). It is much like HIV in humans where the immune system is compromised due to blood or saliva contact with an infected cat. Apparently Scooter had a run-in with an infected cat back in the first three or so years of his life before I adopted him at age 4. According to the vet, the virus could be dormant for many years and later become apparent, as has happened here. He’s now 14 and has been relatively healthy with the exception of a detached retina in his right eye a few years ago. At this point the doctor thinks Scoo has lymphoma and they have shaved all the fur off his tummy and his right front leg to do tests to confirm or deny their suspicion. When we went to pick him up he was so happy to see us and he had become the little sweetheart of the clinic. All the techs love him and they spoiled him as much as they could during his stay there. Lola was a bit disconcerted by his tummy being shaved, but when I told her to touch him she found it to be quite fuzzy like velvet and now she loves to gently rub his tummy. We should hear about the diagnosis sometime next Tuesday or so. In the meantime they told me to keep doing what we’re doing - - same food, same routine, with the addition of fluids to give him subcutaneously if needed. I told Lola that it is possible that Scooter has a problem the doctors cannot fix and we may need to decide what kind of treatment (or not) he may benefit from the most. She loves Scooter so much! It’s kind of heartbreaking to tell your child her favorite pet is gravely ill, especially when your own heart is breaking…