Wishing Everyone a Safe and Warm Holiday!

The tree is decorated, the presents are wrapped, the food is laid in, and the family is on their way. It is Christmas Eve for certain!

Everyone is doing ok, and we'll be enjoying the company of family through the holiday as I hope all of you can do as well.

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to enjoy a "cheese and crackers" dinner, however it is more than just cheese and crackers. We always have sliced sausages, smoked kippers, wonderful fruit and many other finger-foods. It is much easier (to fix and clean up from) than trying to fix a full meal, and gives us time to sit around the tree and reminisce about Christmases gone by.

I will wish you all a very happy holiday, and a safe, prosperous and peaceful new year! Merry Christmas!

A Family Photo
(A first, all the kittehs in one photo!)

If It Isn't One Thing...

Got Treelo to the vet this morning...by myself. ESM apparently caught a bit of a bug and spent half the night last night "driving the porcelain bus," if you catch my drift. Not fun at all. She was in no shape/mood this morning to do anything, let alone take a trip to the vet. So, I got elected.

Unfortunately, I did something to my left foot on Thursday night and have been hobbling around ever since. So, here I am, gimpy, trying to haul the carrier to and from the car and the vet. Must have been a sight, for sure! Luckily, it is my left foot, and my car is an automatic, so I could at least drive. Otherwise, no vet visit...which I'm sure would have made Treelo happy! *grin*

Anyway, after her examination, the vet says it's probably Treelo's asthma acting up along with an allergy of some kind, made worse by the dry air. So, they gave me a prescription for an antihistamine with a bronchial dilator. Hopefully that will help her with her cough. She had two bouts with it today after we got back. Poor thing!

We're still running one humidifier...the other one apparently bit it. It leaked all over the carpet, and ESM had to dry up a pretty big puddle. I am planning on taking the broken one in the shower tomorrow and filling it up to see where the leak is. Maybe I can fix it.

I also need to check my furnace filter. I put a good allergen filter in about a week ago, and I've been meaning to go pull it and see how it's doing. Treelo and I have both been suffering, so my guess is we're both allergic to the same things. Like father, like daughter, eh?

BTW, Hubbard is doing well with his medication and insulin. No more accidental needle pokes into humans to report, so we must be getting better! *grin* His appetite is beginning to return, which is good news as well.

Hopefully, no one ELSE will get sick before Christmas! *knock wood*

--Sundown, Out

Pretty, Pretty Princess

When the cat has more prescriptions than I do...

Well, we had our vet visit for Hubbard today. He now officially takes more drugs than I do.

ESM and I got our training on how to give him his insulin shots, which went very well. We're both pretty confident we can take care of that without any problems. So, we now have a vial of insulin in the fridge, and a needle dispenser/disposal unit on top of the fridge.

We gave Hubbard his first shot tonight and he seems to be tolerating it ok. ESM was a little nervous at first, but she did just fine. We also started him on the steroid for the pancreatitis. We'll see how he does with that as well. The vet tells us it will increase his appetite, so we're going to feed him well for the next 30 days and see if we can put some of the two pounds he lost back on his bones!

Treelo is still having some trouble, but she has NEVER liked taking pills and trying to give her the Benadryl has been no exception. So, the vet suggested today that we start her on Lysine. Since we had a bottle of the powdered Lysine from when we were giving it to Hubbard, we put some in a little dish of tuna for her. We gave Hubbard some tuna as well before we gave him his insulin...and of course the rest of the Horde wanted some too! *grin* I can see our food bill being a bit crazy for a while!

We're basically prepared for the holiday. Almost all the shopping is done (most of it online) and the house is as decorated as it is going to get this year. For some reason we've been a little busy with other things. *grin* We have family coming for Christmas Eve and staying over for Christmas with us. That will be nice to have them here. And I'm looking forward to a few days off from work before my final big push on the one project I need to have done at the end of the year.

I'll post again after Treelo's vet visit on Saturday and give y'all an update on general kitteh health. Give all your loved ones a hug from us!

--Sundown, Out

Our Precious Boy, Hubbard

A Lot Has Happened...

First off, sorry about the delay. Things have been a little crazy, between kitteh health issues, the holidays, my job with two major projects due before the end of the year, ESM's school finals and a smattering of extended family drama thrown in for good measure.

Ok, first thing's first. Kitteh health issues. Everyone is still with us for now, so don't panic. But, we have had a bit of a set-back with Hubbard.

As you may recall, Hubbard is our senior citizen, being somewhere north of 14 years old. After everyone went home from Thanksgiving, the next weekend we had pretty much to ourselves and we sorta let the horde run loose. Well, several of them (including Treelo, who is not normally allowed upstairs) came up and spent time in the master bedroom, which is Hubbard's domain. He apparently didn't like all the attention, and proceeded to make a wet spot on the carpet next to his box...then again later in the bathroom on the rug. This is very out of character for our boy, so it got our attention.

We decided that it must have been him being upset that day, as he has not done it since. But, it did highlight another problem that had apparently been getting steadily worse. We noticed he was drinking a lot more water and using his box more. Not good. So, we quickly scheduled a vet visit.

They decided to run a "geriatric screen" of tests on him. They also recommended looking for pancreatitis as well. We agreed and they ran the tests. We got most of the results back the next day, and it confirmed one of our suspicions. Hubbard is diabetic. That explains the increased box use and increased water consumption. He also has pancreatitis. They are not sure if one causes the other, but they are likely related some way. He had also lost almost two pounds in the two and a half months since he had seen the vet last! That was the scariest thing to hear, for me.

So, he starts insulin shots on Thursday, after we get a little training on how to give them to him safely. I watched my mother and grandmother give her aging cat insulin many times, so the process doesn't worry me much. We'll be fine.

For the pancreatitis, they will start him on a low-dose steroid. This complicates the blood sugar equation a bit, but they tell us between getting the diabetes under control and the steroid, the pancreatitis should clear up just fine. Then all we have to worry about is getting the weight back on him! I'm sure his appetite will come back when he feels better.

Treelo is also having issues. She is either allergic to something in the new house, or her asthma is flaring up. She has been sneezing and coughing quite a bit lately. It's all clear liquid, so we didn't think is was a cold, nasal infection or something like that...and our vet didn't think so either. The vet told us to go buy straight, old Benadryl (with nothing included, just the diphenhydramine 25mg) and give her half a pill once a day. Was that an adventure!

We poked the half a pill down her, but typical of our princess, she wouldn't swallow. And, once she tasted that bitter pill, she began foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog! Holy cow, I didn't know one cat could emit that much foam from any orifice! We had to follow her around the house with a washcloth and a towel, cleaning up after her for 20 minutes! Unbelievable.

The vet suggested that we either coat the pill in butter, or get some empty gel-caps from the pharmacy and put the pill in one of them, then give it to her. We are going to try that this week sometime. We'll see how that goes.

They also suggested it might be aggravated by the dry air around here, so we started our two portable humidifiers on the main floor of the house as well. That did seem to help her, so we're hoping the Benadryl might also help. We're keeping a close eye on her too.

I promise to post more this week on the other dramas that are playing out, but for now just know that things are somewhat more under control and we're all ok. I'll keep you all up to date on Hubbard and Treelo's progress.

"Wait a minute. Huh? What?"

Turkey Day and Other Stuff

As you may recall from my last post, I was wondering aloud where my “Life” board game had went. Well, now I know.

My parents read my post and since they were coming to stay with us during Thanksgiving, they went through their stuff and brought me a whole stack of my games, including my 1979 version of Life! That was very nice of them. Thanks guys! It is nice to know parents do pay attention sometimes!

The holiday was the first time my parents had met the two new members of our horde. My folks were very pleased with our choices, and thought they were both very cute. Always glad to have parental approval on such things!

My mom even took on the arduous job of feeding the horde their wet food in the mornings while they were here. We appreciated it very much. However, I know she did it mostly out of self-defense. She tends to be an early riser, and the kittehs assume that whoever gets up first in the morning is automatically the food person. And they will bug the snot out of you until you feed them! So it was a choice of either learning to feed them, or listen to them howl until ESM woke up. My mom chose the former.

Our Thanksgiving meal was good, as always. ESM and I have this whole turkey-cooking-thing down. We indeed had nine for the meal, with my sister and her husband and some of my dad’s family. We had a great time, and there was much belt-loosening and inside-eyelid-examining afterwards so I can only assume everyone else enjoyed the food as well.

My folks stuck around for a few days afterwards to celebrate their wedding anniversary with us. We took my mom to her favorite Mexican food restaurant to celebrate (Tortilla Marissa’s). The food was awesome, as usual. My mom loves their salsa and their chile rellenos. She has tried rellenos all over the country, even down in the southwest where they live and she says none of them stack up to these. We ate so much that afterwards we decided to go window-shopping to walk off the food. It was then I remembered how much I hate shopping this time of year and why I do as much as I can online!

My folks are headed home and we are just about finished cleaning up from the holiday, so things around our house are returning to normal. Just in time to start thinking about doing it all again for Christmas. *grin*

Hope everyone out there had a good holiday as well!

--Sundown, Out

Game Night a Success, But With a Casualty

We had our first game night in the new house last night, and it was a rousing success. We started small, it was just a couple of friends this time. But I think everyone had a good time. There were plenty of snacks, sugary and adult beverages, and pizza to keep us fueled and functioning.

We played "Life" first...one of my favorites. But the version our friend brought is from the mid-nineties. In the early nineties, MB changed the game significantly, making it more "PC". I'm not a big fan of the new Life, I like the old rule set better. The old one has more "penalty" spaces, the stock market is a little more like gambling, and I am personally a fan of the convertables for cars rather than the more eighties minivans. I have a vintage late seventies copy of the game floating around, but could not find it after the move. I suspect it either ended up with my parents at their house, or is packed in some obscure box somewhere. I will have to find it. My ESM ended up being the Millionaire and winning. Good job sweetie!

After Life, we took a turn away from board games and played "Uno." One of our friends is an old hand at Uno, having played it a ton with his family growing up. Our other friend had only played Uno once, and that had been some time ago. ESM and I have played some. However, playing two player is much different, and much less fun, than playing four player. We decided to follow the rules exactly, since we had someone unfamiliar with the game. The rules in our version say to play until someone ends up with 500 points. That takes a LOOOOONG time if you're not hoarding Wild+4 cards to screw your friends with! We played for several hours and decided to call it after someone reached 350. Our friend who had not played Uno much, ended up winning by a 100 point margin!

After that we took a break and our friends asked about the plans for my home theater. So we began discussing that for a bit, and I went down in the basement with them to show them where we were at. As we were down there looking at the space, I opened a door we normally keep closed to one of the unfinished storage spaces. Of course when I did, I immediately had kittehs wanting to see in that room! So, I let them wander around in there for a bit while we were talking. When we finished, I had my friend help me empty the kittehs from the room and I shut the door.

Our friends then left, as it was getting late, and ESM and I headed up to bed. We got up this morning and headed down to feed "The Horde" their wet food. Normally as ESM is preparing it, she naturally draws quite a crowd of kittehs wanting their food. However, Rocky was mysteriously absent. I was upstairs in my office and I began to hear ESM calling for Rocky and not getting a response. This gets my attention!

So, I hot-footed it downstairs, and ESM says, with a touch of panic in her voice, that she can't find Rocky, but she can hear him! We listen for a second, and I hear him cry, faintly. Y'all can see where this is going, can't ya? I went tearing down the stairs to the basement and found him, locked in the storage space! How he got in there without me seeing him, I have no clue! But the space is a bit dim, and he is perfectly camouflaged in dark spaces. He must have slipped past me when I wasn't looking.

I am now feeling less than an inch tall, apologizing profusely to Rocky and ESM about locking him up accidentally. Luckily, he is none the worse for wear. He immediately came and ate his wet food, ran back downstairs and went to the litter box (shows you his priorities!) and then had a nice long drink. Sorry Rock-star!

We decided we'll open the door and leave it open for now, so that doesn't happen again. The sump for the basement is in that room though, and I really didn't want them getting in there. So, we have some kitteh-proofing to do first. Stay tuned!

--Sundown, Out

The Horde!

It's late and I'm tired, but thought I should give everyone a quick update.

"The Horde" is fine as frog's hair. Leo and Rocky are continuing to settle in, and they have figured out that morning is the time for wet food. The cacophony that comes from the kitchen as ESM is getting the food on the plates is almost more than we can stand at times! ESM and I have learned to feed them as a team, to keep the "feeding frenzy" from getting out of hand!

Treelo is beginning to understand that these two are here to stay. There is still a power-struggle going on, but the two boys are learning that Treelo's "bark is worse than her bite." *groan*

We did have our first "injury" on Monday. Came home from work and found that Treelo had a big scratch across her nose. Not bleeding, but I'm sure it hurt! If it helps her along the path towards peace though...

ESM and I are getting ready for a "Board Game Night" on Saturday with a few friends of ours, then having my family here for Thanksgiving. Looks like we'll have nine for dinner this year. In a weird, masochistic way, I'm looking forward to it! *grin*

Have a good night!

--Sundown, Out