silly me

I should give a plug to Cat Rescue of Maryland, which introduced me to Louise.

http://www.catrescueofmd.org/

Louise is home!

Boy, did she yowl at me during the drive home. She doesn't appear to be any the worse for wear from the iodine therapy.

Louise is definitely not a worldly cat. She prefers to be in the house and not leave it if at all possible. She'll take a passing interest in the view from the windows, particularly if there are birds or squirrels in the trees, and she'll peek out into the stairwell when the door is open, but she has no desire to be out in the world. Her world is the house, and she's content with that.

I sometimes wonder what her life was like before she came to live with me. The foster owner said that Louise had been found hanging out with a feral cat colony. Was she dumped or did she get lost? How long was she on her own "out in the wild?" I don't like to think that she had to spend winter outdoors or get drenched in the rain. I've noticed that she's not afraid of thunder or lightening, so she must have been outdoors long enough to get used to it. I once found her sitting on the dining room table staring out the window watching a rather magnificient thunderstorm, and she didn't flinch once.

It's odd that she'd end up with a colony of cats because the foster owner said that she didn't care for other cats. In the foster home, she rarely came down off the shelf, except to eat and use the litter box. She's still a little jumpy and wary of strangers. She seems to get along fine with Hunny now. I've toyed with the idea of getting another cat, though a human, two cats, and a dog in the condo would probably be a bit crowded.

Anyway, she's home, and now all I have to do is flush her litter and keep my distance for two weeks, and then we can go back to a normal routine. RadioCat even gives you a bag of flushable litter and rubber gloves and a plastic scooper. They think of everything.

...it's so hard being a parent...part 2

I took Louise to RadioCat today. Who knew I'd miss her and worry about her so much, and not even an entire day has gone by? I am such a cat owner. They have a good system set up at this place. They obviously know what cat owners are like. The cats have nice, big airy cages. You can bring any toys or blankets or special food dishes that your cat is partial too, for that homey feel. Granted, you won't get any of it back since it's been exposed to radiation, but that's a minor issue, isn't it? They get your cat to eat as often as possible - the good stuff, Fancy Feast and all that. The more they eat, the more they eliminate. The more they eliminate, the faster the iodine gets through their system. The tech looking after your cat calls you everyday to let you know how your cat is doing. Not a bad deal for $1250. And at least this place is somewhat nearby, as opposed to having to drive several hours to another state. I keep telling myself that Louise will only be there for a week, but that seems like an awfully long time.

Her thyroid levels are really high, so they tell me, and that may mean a second treatment, at half the cost, of course. "This treatment will definitely bring the levels down," they say, though it's a matter of will it bring the levels down enough. I now know what savings accounts are really for.

my turn at the dentist

They like my teeth so much better now that the braces fixed everything. I'm just glad to have the damn things off. If I ever have to do it again, I'm going for Invisalign. No railroad tracks and visits to the loo immediately after every meal to dig out food from between brackets.

I've got two odd but lovable dentists. One likes to talk to you while she poking around in your mouth. If she were asking questions that can be responded to with "yes" or "no" nods, that would be fine, but she likes to have full conversations with her clients. Nice bedside manner and everything, but hard for the person in the chair to contribute. She likes my green eyeshadow. She could also tell that I'd had oatmeal for breakfast. The other one wears this magnifying glass headpiece thing whenever he's with a client. He does an oral cancer screening whereby he looks all around your mouth, wraps your tongue in a wet cloth and "promises to give it back" and moves it around too. Where DO I find these people?

it's so hard being a parent...

...of a cat. Louise has her vet appointment today before she goes in for the radioactive iodine therapy next week for her thyroid problem. They want to do a chest X-ray and final blood work. It's all costing me a pretty penny, too, and I'm forking it all over without even blinking. When I tell people that this therapy costs $1250, they give me this look as if to say, "crazy pet owner, just put her down." If it were some kind of major surgery like heart or kidney transplant or something like that, I'd agree with them. But this is merely a shot in the bum, and a week's stay in quarantine until she's not radioactive anymore. No long recovery time, no special round-the-clock care needed or anything like that. Rather neat and clean and unfussy, really.

why I hate going to the doctor's

Right - I had to wait in line for a long time, then they tell me that their computer is showing that I'm supposed to have an appointment with a different doctor than the one I thought I was supposed to see, and therefore, I should be in the other line. Then I wait another half an hour to actually get into an exam room, only to have to walk right back out to get on the weight scale and look at an eye chart. The PA was very sloppy about adjusting the weight scale - I begin to suspect that perhaps all those stats about how fat we are in this country aren't accurate since they don't bother to get an accurate weight reading at the doctor's office. In the 21st century, you'd think they'd get digital scales rather than keeping those old ones with the little bars that you have to move, and while we're at it, why can't I move the little bars? I'm the one on the scale, after all, and I'd certainly be more accurate about it. I happen to know how much I weigh, thank you very much, and it's 10 pounds off (at least) in the medical record the PA was scribbling on. Who knows what he said about my eyesight. Finally, the doctor rushed it, rushed through my exam, and rushed out again. I realize I'm not suffering from any ailment, nor am I old and frail and about to keel over, but come on, at least pretend that I'm a patient.