We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Blog

We being Apu, Woody, and Oliver. The Three Black Cats of the Apocalypse!!!

We feel that not only has Sweet Pea hijacked this blog with his "supposed" health issues, he has also hijacked our mom's heart and attention for well over a month now. Even worse, Sweet Pea pre-empted our Halloween by posting a scary cat skeleton xray of himself yesterday!

This....Must....Stop!!!

Apu: Dear Mother, have you even noticed that I'm losing my beautiful black furs again because I'm getting all nervous with Sweet Pea sneak attacking me and you don't say anything!! Now, Apu you know that's not true. I do say something when I see it. I can't police you cats every minute that I'm home you know. I keep telling you if you wouldn't act so scared and run away, he would stop chasing you.

Woody: Dear Mommy, every morning when you sits on the couch listening to your classical music to wake up, Sweet Pea jumps in your lap and kneads and sucks on your fluffy robe. You pet him and I hear you talk sweet things to him. I can't count how many times (really, I don't know how to count) when I try to do the same thing, you push me off and say "not now Woody". So, I just lie down next to you hoping you will notice me and give me a pat or two. Oh Woody, I know. I feel bad, but Sweet Pea really has taken up so much of my time worrying that I have neglected you. I promise to do better and to have some private lap time just with you!

Oliver: Dear Lady who feeds me, I really just want to say...keep feeding me. Oh, and....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

I know, I know, this is last year's photo. I've never been able to get another photo of all the three halloween cats together since then. Have a spooktacular Halloween everyone!!!

No Answers

After paying the over $300.00 vet bill yesterday, my vet came out to discuss what he found--basically nothing abnormal. He sent the xrays to a radiologist to look over but from his point of view there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. He even xrayed Sweet Pea's lungs, but everything was clear. The next step will be to get an endoscopic sonogram from another animal hospital as my vet is not equipped to do that.

As soon as I got Sweet Pea home he dashed to the litter box. Poor thing, I've never seen him pee as much as he did then, which made me mad wondering if they left him in a recovery cage with no litter box all day? After that he ate and drank and leapt up to all the open windows for some fresh air. Later last night, he jumped in my lap and we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" together. Knock on wood, no bleeding since Tuesday morning.

Thought you'd like to really "see" Sweet Pea...

My vet sent me home with his xrays on a CD. Look at those cute little "hands"!

Weekend Update

The weekend flew by in a blur. Never did accomplish much. I did do some cleaning and yesterday I made my chocolate chili for the first time this season. Watched some good movies--The Night of the Hunter on Friday night and yesterday while I was making chili, I watched Inherit the Wind with Spencer Tracy. A great old movie about the Scopes monkey trial in 1925 and the illegal (at the time) offense of teaching evolution in the schools. Then, last night I watched the original The Blob with Steve McQueen--what a hoot!

Mostly I fretted over Sweet Pea. He is still bleeding from his mouth but if weren't for that, you would never know anything was wrong. He still runs around with tail in the air, is eating and drinking well. So I called my vet and made the dreaded appointment. I will bring him in on Wednesday morning to be sedated and have an xray taken of his head and throat. The vet will also be able to get a good look down his throat while he is sedated, as well as a much more thorough look at his mouth. If all goes well, I'll be able to pick him up by 6:00 Wednesday evening.

Please keep those purrayers coming. I have so many worries. Worried they will find something seriously wrong, worried they won't find anything wrong, worried about the procedure itself...you name it, I'm worried about it.

One of My Favorite Things...

Just a quick post to give a shout out to one of my favorite things---the cable station, Turner Class*c Movies (TCM). I am a big, big old movie fan and TCM is a lifesaver for me in a world of reality television (yuck!) I know some of my blogger friends are not in the US, and am wondering, do you get TCM, or another station that plays all old movies with no commercials?


Every Friday night in October, is Thriller Night on TCM. They have played some great Hitchcock and other thrillers that I had not heard of before. Tonight (October 23) at 8:00 pm Eastern, they are playing The Night of the Hunter starring that classic bad boy Robert Mitchum



This is the only film directed by the great actor Charles Laughton. The film was shot in 1955 in black and white and I must say that some of his scenes are truly artistic (I'm thinking of the scene with the children trying to hide in the barn while through the barn door you see a silhouette of Mitchum riding his horse.) I highly recommend this film if you like to be spooked!
I know what I'll be doing tonight, hopefully with a few cats on my lap to keep me company.

What about you? Do you like old movies? What are your favorites? Enquiring Possumlady wants to know.

NOOO!!!

It looks like Sweet Pea was a little optimistic last week. While I was posting last night, I looked and saw that he was bleeding again from his mouth. Boy did my heart sink. I'm so frustrated by this. I called and my vet is out this morning but the vet tech said to get him back on antibiotics and she'll let the vet know when he gets in this afternoon.

So, it looks like more puurayers are needed.

Finishing up that Spring Planting

No, that's not a mistake. Yes, I'm finally finishing up planting the perennials that I bought over Memorial Day weekend. If you could see the land that I have to work with you'd understand. Not only is it hard packed clay, it is filled with stones, big and small. My sister brought over a Nandina bush from her yard that I also planted. In order to dig a hole big enough for the Nandina, I had to sit on the ground with a hand held pick ax and pick away. (A while back I bought a shovel that has teeth. It is supposed to be able to dig through the toughest soil. It is NO match for my rocky ground.) With the pick ax, it took me two hours total, in half hour intervals, to dig the hole for that one plant. Here are some of the rocks I dug out. I even dug out a broken piece of brick that was buried about 5 inches down.




Here's the nandina with beautiful black organic soil conditioner helping it survive in the rocky dirt,


The dirt (rocks) that I dug out.


Some of the larger rocks.


Sorry this is dark. It is a different coral bell plant with white blooms in the summer and a purple underleaf.

Got most of it planted before we had a real touch of fall. I know, I know, so many of you are crying "bring back the warm sunny days", but not me! I loved it. It didn't get out of the 40s for three days! I love being in my cosy little house, wearing my warm slippers and baking up pumpkin spice bread during days like this. This truly is my favorite time of the year. I think the cats agree as they have been extra lively these past few days. Oh, and the bestest part of it all, after weeks and weeks of waking up catless, they have starting coming back! Friday night I woke up with one cat in bed, Saturday night--two cats, and last night--three cats keeping me warm!!

I'm Feeling Much Better, Thank You

Sweet Pea here again. Mom told me that lots and lots of you nice people were sending purrayers and good thoughts my way. They WORKED!! I'm feeling in tip top shape. I still have to take the very yucky antibiotics, but this evening will be the last time I have to get that yucky liquid stuff squeezed into my mouth--Yay!!

I don't know why mom laughed when she took this photo. She said she is just happy to see that I've gained back the weight I lost being sick. As you can see, my flooffy fur is still patchy around my neck but mom says she can see it starting to grow back.

Not everyone is happy that I'm feeling better. Mom said she couldn't get over how frisky and friendly Apu was when I was not feeling well. He was running around, meowing and playing like a kitten. Well, I put a stop to THAT! Now that I'm feeling better, I'm back to whapping and stalking him, just enough to make him nervous and jumpy again--hee, hee, hee. When I started back to my usual stalker ways over the weekend, mom was laughing and stating how much better I must be feeling. Now, she gets this stern look when I do it and tells me to stop teasing Apu!! I wish she would make up her mind! I keep telling her, I'm a cat, and a brat, and I just can't help myself.

Oooo, I think I just heard Apu going into the litterbox...gotta go!

A Little Recycled Retail Therapy

Big knock on wood because Sweet Pea continues to improve and no bleeding when I got home last night or this morning!! Now, I honestly don't have any grand illusions that he is making a miraculous recovery. I still think something is very wrong, but as long as he is stable and getting stronger, that's all I can hope for.

Sunday was our little town's Street Festival. My favorite event of the year. Live music with three different bands going in different parts of the downtown, every type of food and drink (the Lime Fizzes are the BEST) and many arts and craft tents. I usually go with my sister but with the fear that Sweet Pea might bleed out, I just didn't feel I could be a very good host. I was planning on bagging it this year when my friend and neighbor, Stephanie, called around noon on Sunday and asked if I wanted to take a quick look. I thought I could be gone for about an hour and agreed to go. I told her though that with all my recent expenses, vet, car repairs, and four new tires, I was not going to be buying anything.

We started walking towards the festival when we came across a moving sale. The woman was moving to Paris(!!) and everything had to go. She had no prices on anything which turned out to be a very good thing.

I bought this plain Ikea serving tray which is a great size for carrying things out to the front porch, for one dollar.


I bought my little kitchen table that you see above (old enamel over metal top and wooden legs) at a used furniture shop a few years ago. It only came with two chairs and I've been looking for two chairs since then. They certainly didn't need to match. She had these two metal chairs that the seats had been recently updated with a pretty oilcloth. The chairs are very sturdy but I'll want to spray paint the metal. Any ideas on colors? Price for the chairs: two dollars each.

I then spotted a microwave. The only microwave I've ever had was the one that came with my house when I bought it. It must have been one of the first microwaves ever built. VERY big, with just a turn dial for the amount of minutes you wanted it to run. It took forever to melt or heat anything.

Cost of used microwave, five dollars! Just look how tiny it is, yet the inside is almost the same size as my old one, and it has a turning plate inside. (I'm really moving up to the 1980s now!) The outside of the old one though took up almost the entire shelf where the new one sits. Looks like I have some much needed space for some cookbooks.

We eventually made it to the festival. My neighbor made a lot of purchases, but I walked around not buying a thing, happy that my ten dollars were spent so wisely.

Making Hard Decisions

Sweet Pea is still here, and there has been no bleeding since Wednesday (or as I now call it, the Wednesday night massacre). I was supposed to bring him to the vet this morning for a procedure to try and find out where the bleeding is taking place. I decided for now to not do the procedure. It was a very uncomfortable situation to be in all weekend. On one hand it seemed to me that when he didn't bleed for a few days, the amount that eventually came out was copious. So, there I was on Friday night, then Saturday morning, actually hoping he would bleed! When he didn't bleed yesterday I vacillated between being really nervous waiting for an eruption and then somewhat optimistic as the hours ticked by.

By last night I was really questioning if I should bring him in at all. Not only was Sweet Pea not bleeding, every day he was getting stronger, eating more and acting more and more like his old self. Could the antibiotics be working? Could the massive bleeding last Wednesday have purged him of whatever was making him bleed in the first place? Who knows? I also started having worries about the procedure itself. I have a friend who had a cat that was in a weakened stage that had to have a basic procedure done, but had to be sedated. Because of her weakened state, she never woke from the sedation and had to be put down. I have no question in my mind that even though Sweet Pea is feeling better, he is not up to his full strength. Could that happen to him? Then I started thinking what if he got through the procedure fine, but when he was in a recovery cage waking from the sedation, starts to bleed and aspirates on the blood while he is still under. I know they don't have people there to watch them every second.

Late last night, I picked up all the water and food bowls (my house is too small to fast just one cat, so unfortunately, both Woody and Apu had to fast too) and decided if I woke up and Sweet Pea had bled during the night, I would bring him in. When I woke up this morning all the cats including Sweet Pea were meowing VERY loudly wondering where the heck their food and water bowls were. After inspecting the house and finding no blood, I made the decision then and there to not bring him in and called the vet's office as soon as it opened to let them know.

Do I have a knot in my stomach now here at work? Yes. I also realize that I could come home tonight from work to a scene like I did last Wednesday. If that happens, I'll feel more confident of bringing him in, realizing the antibiotics were not helpful and let nature take its course.

Whatever happens I know that Sweet Pea had a wonderful purr-filled weekend filled with lots of brushings, head scritches, TONS of cat treats, and most importantly, lots of lap time and loving from his mom.

Are You Going to Leave Me Too?

I whispered these words to Sweet Pea this morning while I was sitting on the floor petting him.

The blood test results came back with the diagnosis of severe anemia. One little bit of good news is that my vet said that the numbers are off the charts as far as Sweet Pea regenerating new red blood cells. So, he is healthy in that respect. But, he continues to bleed from his mouth. I brought Sweet Pea to the vet yesterday for another exam. He had not bled for three days and his energy level improved substantially. Running and eating like normal--although I can tell he has lost weight. Just as a general observation, my vet said he looked 100% better then he did last week. But the bleeding is still a mystery. The vet did a very thorough exam of his mouth and tongue, pressed on his gums to see if they would bleed and came up with nothing. Since Sweet Pea is not gagging or vomiting the blood, he really can't figure out how it just randomly drips out of his mouth.

So, the vet dosed him for worms (with the flea infestation, Sweet Pea could have easily picked up some), gave me a two week dose of antibiotics since his white cell count was a bit high, and told me to buy some liquid vitamins and come back in a month for more blood work.

I dropped Sweet Pea off back home where I quickly gave him some cat treats that he gobbled up, and then left for work. I had to work late and didn't get home until around 7:30. When I walked in the door, it literally looked like I walked into a crime scene. Sweet Pea was on the living room rug hunched over with his face almost touching the floor. Surrounding him were splatters of blood. A trail of blood was in the kitchen and into the bedroom with more blood splatter on my bed and on the window. I quickly checked Sweet Pea and he was no longer bleeding but obviously weak and exhausted. I cleaned things up as best as I could and sat with Sweet Pea for a while and then went to bed. I woke up this morning with Sweet Pea in the same position as when I left him but luckily no more bleeding.

I just got off the phone with the vet. I have two choices. I can continue the conservative treatment or I can bring him in tomorrow where the vet will have to sedate him to take a thorough look down his throat and take some xrays. He said that in itself is risky since the bleeding must be coming from somewhere close to his throat and the process of sticking something down his throat could cause massive bleeding. I've decided to go with the risky procedure. Either way, my vet said the outcome is probably not going to be good. Yet, I just can't sit around watching Sweet Pea slowly bleed to death.

I will say my goodbyes and drop Sweet Pea off in the morning, praying for some kind of miracle.