rosie, sorry to hear about your director’s sister.
mbg, good luck with the doctor and getting everything straightened out. I’ve got the trouble sleeping piece of that too right now and I’m headed to the doc tomorrow to try to get that straightened out before it manifests itself as anything worse. Bleh. Why do our bodies and minds betray us like this?? I really really really hate feeling like I’m not in control of my own mind.
Hope your kitty’s ok, Jah. And hope yours is better at taking meds than mine. The vet last night said ear infection, which is very hard to get rid of. So we’re doing drops in both ears (even though it’s only one that’s bothering her) twice a day PLUS pills twice a day. 10 days on the pills and 14 on the drops. She scratched me when I put her in her carrier to go to the vet last night and bit me this morning while attempting to give her the first pill. We have 19 more pills to give her. This is not going to be a fun 2 weeks. Any suggestions on making it easier would be appreciated. I already have (and am using) one of the pill popper things, and I think I’m going to buy some leather gloves before tonight’s ordeal. And we had her wrapped in a towel this morning and KeithT held her down while I pushed the pill down her throat. There’s no way I could manager myself.
So now in addition to the regular stress that was keeping me awake at night, I’m going to be lying awake thinking about torturing my poor kitty. I’m afraid after 2 weeks of this she’s not going to trust us at all and may have long-term psychological issues. She already isn’t a very trusting cat, and holding her down and forcing things down her throat may push her over the edge. I know she needs the drops and pills, but it just kills me to see her flinch every time I come near her.
How do those of you with kids manager when you have to give them medicine or ear or eye drops?? Especially in the first couple years when they can’t understand that it’s to make them better.
I had to give **The Ginger Ball of Spitting Fury ** a course of ear drops when she was just a kitten and the best way to do it was usually the element of surprise. She learned fairly quickly that anyone approaching her when she was snoozing probably had evil intentions in mind.
Pills are a bit easier - I’ve used those pill poppers without much success but my favourite method is to coat a pill in butter or margarine and then shove it down the cat’s gullet. They’re far too busy enjoying the yummy butter to think about the pill. Other alternatives are pills wrapped in cold meat, disguised in tuna or stuck in the middle of a bit of cheese.
I was wanderin’ if the cheese/meat thing worked with cats. I know it works well with dogs. When I nannied JoeDawg week before last, I had to give him half a pill twice a day but that was easy. He lurves peanut butter, so I put a scoop of peanut butter on a finger and stuck the pill down in it. He licked the peanut butter and pill right off my finger every time.
I talked with mom. I told her I was comin’ up and why and said I’d take her to lunch at the Fried Green Tomato buffet place that’s so good. That way she won’t spend the rest of today and tonight cookin’ like usual. She likes to spoil her baby. I talked to sis too and she’s all excitated like that I’m comin’ up.
For crying out loud. I skip one day and MBG comes down with a case of depression. (I can’t leave you people alone for one second, can I? ) You get better right quick, okay? We’re all pulling for you.
VBob, bummer on losing the kitten. That’s never easy. And Jahdra, I hope your kitty turns out okay.
swampthing, good luck on the job.
Today will be the first day of Actual Work. gaspshockhorror Since my Stat Mech assignment was posted yesterday, I figure I ought to get started on it. Nothing else new to report, really. Played video games last night … yeah. Here’s a pun:
I’m going to lunch with Mom and her former co-worker again today. Come on, twelve o’clock. I’m tired of what I’m doing at the moment, which is reconciling bank stuff for people who have a lot more money than I do.
Somehow I like the idea of an unstoppable bartering force.
Looks like another one is on the way out, too. Prego moved her 4, and the other 2 from the orphan litter away from it this morning. I’m burying kitten(s) when I get home tonight.
The good point is that Prego’s accepted the other 2, so they have a fighting chance. VWife has named one of them Hercules, because when she was feeding it with a syringe, s/he sucked so hard on it that s/he actually moved the plunger… :eek:
So, what’s the joke about being able to suck a golf ball through a garden hose?
We’re not emotionally involved in any of these cats, so we’re taking it as an “Oh, well” situation. Losing half of an orphaned litter is to be expected. Prego and all 6 kitties have homes to go to, and it ain’t the VunderLair.
ok - I lied. I didn’t read the thread (y’all are on page 3 already!)
But I did edit the photos and cull them down to this album
My back is giving me tsuris again today, so I am going to take a nap on the heating pad for a few hours. I have to go to the wake tonight, so I want to conserve some energy.
The dog I used to have, Molly, would never be fooled. I used to buy Dog Pill Cheese (which is what my children forevermore will call Velveeta) and secret a pill inside. Molly would take it willingly, and neatly deposit the pill at my feet. It was hell getting medicine in her!
But what’s worse? Darling Cherry Boy, who hates Amoxicillin with every fiber of his 30-pound being. Two grown adults practically sitting on him and shooting it down his throat only result in him spitting it back in our faces. Then he learned to clamp his teeth shut. Then Mommy got bright and went straight to Bribery. Ah, the wonders of the M&M. Or “numma~nee” as he calls them.
This morning, it was easy to pill the cat. Skunk is, shall we say, not the brightest light in the galaxy, and relatively easy to fool. However, after a few days of this, even he will get wise to my methods. Then the fun will really start. In the meantime, Keisha is wondering why I had to bring him back, when he was finally gone, and it was wonderful. She has been hiding under the bed and muttering kitty insults ever since I brought him home. Have you ever tried to sleep when something under the bed is growling? This morning, when Skunk got his wet food, she actually came out of the bedroom, but hid behind the garbage can and glared at me. So Keisha hates me, but Skunk is feeling better.
Home briefly but about to run - dentist, you know. Gotta brush my teeth before I go and, um, get my teeth cleaned. Hush - it does too make sense!!
Back later with shiny choppers. Hugs to everyone, and a special butt-tweak to my favorite Bus Guy, because how can you be down when I tweak your butt! It’s very theraputic.
And then Mom called and proceeded to inform me that they may not be able to come tomorrow after all, because they’re supposed to be taking the train and the railway upriver was covered by the floods, it’s supposed to be lower tomorrow but who knows but of course we’ll be sending you SMSs, we’ll send one when we get on the train if we get on the train and another when we get to Madrid and another when…
I didn’t mention the possibility of gasp driving to the airport, which would be more expensive than the train but not really that much, although the train would usually have the advantage that someone else is driving and they don’t miss their exit. I did request that please pretty please they only send me one SMS: either when they get on the train if it’s on time, or when they’re on the line to get on the plane. Didn’t mention the possibility of missing it altogether, I figure they can figure out on their own that if that happens they should kindly SMS or call me.
Then I managed to insert edgewise some info about my work situation and she tried to calm me down, managing to totally freak me out instead. “Bah, they need you, you’ll be able to do anything you want.” Uh… no? “Oh, but you can just assume they’re going to do what you say.” Uh… no? And wrong assumptions is one of the roots of the problem, here?
And why is Mom telling me how to handle jobs? She hasn’t had one in forty years, not for lack of trying but because she managed to piss off every potential employer before going and asking for a job!
I was ok…
Hit softly against desk. Repeat until unconscious, bored or calmed down.
Nava it just goes to show that employment and unemployment can drive us nuts. Here’s hopin’ things do get better for ya.
Ok this afternoon was [del]acompleteandtotalwasteoftime[/del] interesting. I learned how to create a resume. A resume, exactly. like. the. one. I. have. :rolleyes: The “employment counselor” I was supposed to see got sick and went home early, so they said just forget it. :rolleyes: I should work there. Apparently one needs no skills to do whatever it is they do because they don’t seem to do anything.
Here’s what I have learned today, all on my very own. Peach iced tea with a hefty shot of pineapple flavored rum is gooooooooood! Dang good!
Snapple. That’s the bottled peach tea that I like. It even comes in diet for those of us who don’t like our sweet drinks sticky sweet.
My Target entrance fee was only $47, which is surprisingly good for moi. Of course, I made sure to go when I was tired enough already that I didn’t want to wander around a whole bunch or it would have been a lot more. I made up for it in the bookstore, however.
And speaking of the bookstore, after spending too much there, I got a latte and plunked myself down in one of the comfy chairs in the coffee shop to await Lapin Blanc’s return. Am I the only person in the world who goes to a coffee shop now to drink coffee? Every other person there was on their computer, and not a one of them had anything even resembling a beverage nearby. Color me puzzled.
Tonight is the 4th of 5 of the Snakes playoff games in this series and they have to win it or they are out. I’m as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockin’ chairs. I wish game time would hurry up and get here. You’d think I had money ridin’ on this or something…
VB, sorry to hear about the kitten.
** Jahdra **, butter the pill - it helps a lot with mine.
Swampy, it would be wonderful if you got the job in Warm Springs! You could come down for hockey games and you could meet my librarian friend who you would love and we could all go to dinner at Rose Hill (where I am going to lunch on Thursday)!
I forgot to suggest the towel method, Jahdra – snag your kitty, wrap him up in a towel so only his head is sticking out, and then pop the buttered pill down his throat. I’ve found it greatly helps avoid getting clawed, as well as keeping the cat from suddenly going boneless and escaping.
I talked to sis too and she’s all excitated like that I’m comin’ up.
) You get better right quick, okay? We’re all pulling for you. 
