Sunday, January 23, 2005
Sick cat
When I moved here to Nashville I brought one dog to join my then-fiancee's (now wife's) seven dogs and nine cats. My dog, Jake, moved into the house with me, but Judy's dogs lived in the yard, except on cold nights when we brought them in and put them in crates. The cats all lived upstairs in the very large bedroom with us, and I soon made friends with some of them.
Some, but not all. Bear and Annie curled up next to me in bed on the first night, and Furlough came inquiring and looking for attention the next morning, but the others took their time. One of them, Yoda, has only recently (after about a year and a half) started letting me pet him.
And for nearly a year, our household had a stable population.
Then one of the guinea pigs fell out of the cage when they were being moved. We found her body a week or so later, freshly dead, probably caught by one of the neighborhood dogs.
Then Bear died, and we buried him in the new back yard. Alley Oop joined him a month or so later. And now Guildenstern is sick.
There are two tortoiseshells, Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern (so called because it was so hard to tell them apart), littermates. Guildenstern was always the friendlier of the two. When I would get up to go to the bathroom she would come in with me for a head scratch. By the time I arrived, though, she was already thinner than Rosenkrantz, with a sensitive stomach that required prescription food. She is even thinner now, and the vet says that she is in full renal failure. She may be dead as I write, and hasn't long to go in any case. Last night we forced some fluids into her (subcutaneous injection), and she drank a little from the floor of the shower (her favorite drinking spot), but as soon as the ground thaws I need to dig another hole.
Some, but not all. Bear and Annie curled up next to me in bed on the first night, and Furlough came inquiring and looking for attention the next morning, but the others took their time. One of them, Yoda, has only recently (after about a year and a half) started letting me pet him.
And for nearly a year, our household had a stable population.
Then one of the guinea pigs fell out of the cage when they were being moved. We found her body a week or so later, freshly dead, probably caught by one of the neighborhood dogs.
Then Bear died, and we buried him in the new back yard. Alley Oop joined him a month or so later. And now Guildenstern is sick.
There are two tortoiseshells, Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern (so called because it was so hard to tell them apart), littermates. Guildenstern was always the friendlier of the two. When I would get up to go to the bathroom she would come in with me for a head scratch. By the time I arrived, though, she was already thinner than Rosenkrantz, with a sensitive stomach that required prescription food. She is even thinner now, and the vet says that she is in full renal failure. She may be dead as I write, and hasn't long to go in any case. Last night we forced some fluids into her (subcutaneous injection), and she drank a little from the floor of the shower (her favorite drinking spot), but as soon as the ground thaws I need to dig another hole.
