A Little Yarn On The Side

That's right--as of 7:00 AM on December 23, we're on cast number 7. What happened to cast number 6 you might ask? That one was put on yesterday at Theo's checkup and was off by the time I got Theo home. He is a legend at West Vet now. Ah well, the blue wasn't nearly as festive. So at least I had knitting with me. That's the good part: And that Theo has 2 more weeks of a cast and that the vet thinks everything looks good. Since nothing about this can be simple, Theo has a staph infection and it's a fairly resistant bacteria, so we have another 10 days of antibiotics to go and it's a VERY large dose. When they gave me the bottle, they said "At least it's cherry flavored." ???????????????????????? Do you know any cats who each cherries? And to give him medications, I hold his head, pry his little mouth open, and shoot the medication into the back of his mouth with a syringe. Do you really think flavoring of any sort is going to make it bet...

Today is the 4-week anniversary of the Cat-in-a-Cast-Ordeal! We have a vet appointment at 11:30 today, and I'm hoping he'll get a smaller cast, or that we'll hear that we only have two more weeks of this to go! In the meantime, the three of us attended a Christmas party on Saturday night. Since Theo has started removing casts, Andy and I have been taking turns going to parties so one of us could stay home with Houdini. The lovely people hosting Saturday's party are animal lovers themselves, so they invited Theo as well. He actually did pretty well--we had borrowed a dog crate from some friends, and I put his fleece in there, and he basically was pretty quiet during the party. He's getting a little bored, so it might have been a nice change for him. We've given him a bit more freedom over the last couple days, and instead of needing some time without us, Theo has become my shadow. He doesn't have to be on my lap or anything, but he does need to be in th...

Friday night at 7:12, we still have the purple cast: It's about an inch lower on his leg, but the vet promises that this is still okay. Theo has eaten some of it as well, which the vet makes no promises about. This morning I threw all the stocking in the wash, dried them, got them out to iron, and discovered: You don't see a hanger loop, do you? That would be because AS MADE ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN the hanger loop is 2 inches shorter than the stocking cuff. AARRGHHHHHH!!! By this point, even knowing that the stockings would be completely useless, I almost sent them anyway. After a couple cups of coffee and the return of my pride, I cut the loops at the point where the cuff & leg meet, then reattached them BY HAND about an inch down on the cuff. 5 have already been finished and boxed up--totally spacing the picture--but I saved the latest three: There are still 3 more to finish, but they don't have to be mailed so I'll finish them tomorrow. Not that I think an...

A little kitty incarceration apparently works wonders. Theo has been quite good all day, which has left me time to finally finish the Christmas stockings. With 7 days to go--and a little hand sewing still to do tonight--it's unlikely most of them will make it to their destinations by Christmas, but at least they'll be done! Pictures of the finished projects tomorrow!

To bring everyone up to speed on Kitty Convalescence, here's a short recap: * Original blue cast with the festive turkey - lasted 2 whole weeks * Festive red holiday cast - On on Monday, off on Wednesday * Lime green splint - stayed on, but Theo ate much of it. Vet wanted more protection for the joint--and from Theo. Removed on Monday * Festive red holiday cast - put back on Theo on Monday. Off by 6:00 AM on Wednesday * New not-really-keeping with the holidays purple cast: 8 hours and counting. Theo actually spent the day at the vet clinic--which was a huge relief to us. Not that he was feeling bad, but his Feline Houdini tricks have made him a bit of a group project for the folks at West Vet, and they wanted to see if they had outsmarted him yet. We were just thrilled with a few hours of kitty daycare. I took full advantage of the kittyless hours to mail packages, run to the library, do the grocery shopping, do a few miscellaneous errands, and They aren't done, but they...

So Theo hasn't been able to remove the splint, but he ate a great deal of it. We had a soft collar for him from the vet, which only slowed him down a little, and I tried spreading Tabasco sauce on the bandages, which he seems to have actually enjoyed. I finally called the vet & they said they should check that he hadn't damaged anything with his chewing and that they had a solution for me. This is our newest addition to the kitty torture device collection we're accumulating this month. As if that weren't enough, he's back on antibiotics for a possible infection from last week's cast removal trick. Three more weeks...... Last night I ran to the pet store and found this: It's a kitty pheromone spray that is supposed to help cats feel calm and relaxed. I think the new kitty satellite dish is perhaps beyond its powers, but Callisto is positively thrilled. She's purring even when there's no one in the room. Of course, that could just be because...

So on Thursday I really thought we'd have clear sailing for one week--I had 2 days of pain killers to give Theo and 5 days of Valium for him. On Thursday the pain killers knocked him for such a loop that he spent the day laying quietly, but by Friday he was disoriented and angry and flinging himself around wildly. Worried that he might cause himself more harm, I gave him one of the Valium pills, which instead of calming him down made him even wilder and I spent 3 hours trying to keep him from killing himself. Not that the vet told us this when he gave us the valium, but for MANY cats, it will indeed have the opposite effect. Don't you think potentially giving an injured kitty speed might be a key item to mention? Since the new pain medications were making him loopy and angry, Andy made a cross-town trip to the original vet clinic last night to get another 5 doses of the pain medication we were giving Theo when we first brought him home. Mercifully, they make him really sl...