COVID19: Friday Night Wrap-Up

PuddyCat is feeling much better now than this time last week. He's still not 100%, but the vet said recovery would take a few weeks, and progress is progress. I talked to Dr. Little today, and he said that as long as Puddy is drinking and peeing, he'll be fine. Both of those things are happening regularly and consistently, and he will have more appetite when he's feeling better. He doesn't love his new prescription food at all, but we have a new plan, and on Monday, we'll stop by the office to pick up a couple of cans of special formula wet food to hopefully encourage Puddy to eat more. 

He's venturing out of the bedroom and spending more time with the rest of us in the great room than has been his normal, and increased socialization a good sign. He uses the regular litter boxes but likes having one handy in the bedroom. Jack and I don't like it so much because we have to constantly sweep the floor, but we'll deal. Maybe this is temporary and Puddy won't need a litterbox in the back part of the house in the long-term. If he does, it's OK. We'll deal.

DeKalb County's COVID19 numbers have increased substantially over the last week, and we're currently sitting at 183 cases. Warren County is now up to 208 or 209, and shit's getting real in these parts. Some folks still contend that this whole thing is a politically-motivated hoax to crash the economy and hurt the president. Others believe it's real but insist that it isn't as serious at is and refuse to wear masks as the CDC and everyone with a lick of public health knowledge recommends. 

WalMart, Kroger, and several other retailers have announced mask mandates beginning next week, and I hope for the best. There have been at least two shootings of store employees in other states involving mask-related disputes. Our governor still refuses to mandate them, and the Georgia governor is suing the mayor of Atlanta to force her to stop the mask mandate there. Critics of mask mandates say it's a loss of freedom, but not wearing a mask shows a lack of compassion and consideration for others. 

My tenth cake of quarantine came out of the oven earlier today. It's a lemon Bundt cake using the same recipe I've used before, but this time I dusted a couple of cups of blueberries (yes, blueberries again) with flour and folded them into the batter. Jack and I haven't tried a slice yet, but when it cools, we're on. It smells delicious and will be fantastic with a scoop of Jack's homemade buttermilk custard ice cream.

Despite all the "good eatin'" we've done since mid-March, Jack and I have both managed to lose some weight. The loss is slow - a pound or less a week - but we both feel a lot better. 

Wakefest is on at the marina this weekend, but the crowd has been way down this year. Normally the Friday of Wakefest is pretty busy all day, but today was quiet.

I hope folks stay home and safe instead of crowding together and possibly carrying COVID home to wherever they live. 

COVID19: Puddy's Hard Week

Puddy had a hard week.

Tuesday night, he kept trying (and failing) to pee. He went to the litter box then Josie's bed then the smallish cushy rug where the pets all take turns napping, and he didn't pee anywhere. He was fretful and cried out a few times, and his breathing was fast and shallow. After squatting to pee directly in front of us and crying out, he hid under one of our den chairs, and we got the message.

He needed help.

By noon the next day, we'd dropped him off at the vet and had a preliminary diagnosis of Feline Interstitial Cystitis, a chronic condition which was, until recently, called Feline Urinary Tract Disorder or FUTD. The problem happens mainly with male cats in multiple-cat homes and is often found in an oddball cat who isn't as social as the other cats in the house, which is the perfect description of our Puddy.

He had a few little globs of sediment blocking his urethra. This is the photo the vet sent Tuesday afternoon:

Those have been sent off for analysis, and we'll know in about a week whether or not Puddy's condition can be alleviated through diet or whether other changes are necessary. Right now, we have him eating a blend of his old food and the Science Diet prescription food he'll need to eat going forward if his condition is related to a type of mineral in most pet foods which can cause blockage.

FIC has some social and psychological factors, and modifying Puddy's routine and interactions with us can make a difference in the kind of impacts it has in his, and our, lives. Encouraging him to drink more water by leaving water available in the bathroom, spending more time playing with and loving on him, and adding a litter box to his preferred spot in the house, our bedroom, are some steps we've already taken. We plan to purchase a pet fountain - Puddy likes drinking moving water, like a small stream from the bathroom faucet - as those have been shown to be helpful to cats with urinary problems.

Puddy needed fluids and rest, so he spent Tuesday night and most of Wednesday at the clinic. He was still woozy from the sedation when we picked him up and retreated to his cubby under the bed as soon as he got home.

He still isn't 100%, but he's doing better. We've caught him snuggled up under the covers of our bed a couple of times, which is a new thing, but if he feels safe and comfortable there, he's more than welcome. Jack is his familiar person, and most nights, Puddy sleeps on or near Jack's hip and lower back. Puddy knows I love him, and he loves me back, but he and Jack are tight like Carlton and Jack were tight. There's a special bond, and last night, Puddy returned to his regular places on Jack's side of the bed.

He will return to normal soon, but how much longer for us humans?

Junkyard Dogs

Tonight I come to you live from the keyboard of my brand new laptop. Thanks to our Premium Protection Plan, when my old Dell developed a recurrent overheating problem, which couldn't be reasonably repaired, Geek Squad made good on the extended warranty. While I can't say that all extended warranties are a good investment, coughing up the extra cash to Geek Squad has proven to be a good decision when it comes to Jack and me and our computers.

Dealing with Geek Squad and getting them to honor the warranty wasn't exactly a walk in the park, but after a number of terse phone conversations with the repair hub in Louisville, the matter was sent back to Best Buy for "in store" resolution, which ended up being enough in-store credit for me to walk out of the joint with a sweet new Asus notebook. I feel like my birthday came a month early this year.

Jack and I got into a bunch of spring cleaning earlier this week and spiffed up around the outside of the shanty, loading up probably ten years' worth of accumulated scrap metal: dead appliances, two burned-up grills, an old cast-iron stove, and whatever else we could gather for a trip to the junkyard.

The night before we were to make our junket (pun intended), Jack discovered a quarter-sized wound on Josie's back, near the base of her tail. We knew she'd done something, because we'd spotted some matted blood on her back a few days earlier. She didn't seem bothered by it, and because Josie is SUCH a drama queen when things are being examined, we weren't bothered by it, either. Josie and Moose both frequently encounter barbed wire in crossing under the fence to the neighbor's field, and it's not unusual to find scabs on their backs. This was bigger and looked more serious, so we decided to integrate a stop at the vet's office into the plan.

Josie was quite excited to load up with us in the truck --

-- but her hopes for fun and adventure were quickly dashed.

We dropped her off and were back on our mission.

We weren't sure how the operation works at AEI recycling, but it was easy. We drove across a big scale. A wiry little man unloaded the truck. We rolled back across the scale for an empty weight. Jack provided a copy of his drivers license to the gal in the office and walked out with a hundred twenty-two dollars! Ka-ching!!

Appropriately enough, we celebrated our new fortune with lunch from a drive-thru, which shall remain nameless.

Later in the day we retrieved Josie from the vet, and luckily enough, the wound is nothing major and mostly just needs to be kept clean and allowed to heal on its own. And antibiotics, because no trip to the vet is complete without dog (or cat) pills.

Minus the vet bill of slightly less than a hundred bucks, our lunch, and gas money for our truck, we probably ended up breaking even for the day, but the dog is fine, the junk is gone, and we really had a good day. 

The effort and outcome of some things are worth far more than the money.