The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter, It isn't just one of your holiday games; You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.--The Naming Of Cats by T. S. Eliot

When I was standing in the kitchen yesterday morning, getting ready to feed the cats, I became aware that I was humming.  I do hum sometimes without even realizing it.  I always have, just not usually first thing in the morning.  But, this hummer was “Memories” from the play “CATS”.  Then I remembered why.  We went to see the play “CATS” on Wednesday night.  Pretty cool.

Haven and Kim

Our friends Kim and daughter, Haven invited us to go.  Haven won four tickets by being the best “color-ographer” at “Pat and Oscar’s” restaurant.  Even with the limited number of crayon colors to use, she did her best and won. 

We enjoyed the play and I had forgotten how much I like the music.  The “cat” actors did an awesome job, and they were so cat-like in their movements.  To have been around so long, 30 years, this play has many years to go I think.

Kiki came back to us last Sunday.  She had been in her new home for about a month.  I think she was adjusting to having the full access to the house.  But, apparently she was not treating the resident kitten well.  He was afraid of her.  Something happened between them that made him afraid to go near the litter box.  He started using inappropriate places.  That doesn’t go over too well with anyone.

I wasn’t there and Kiki can’t talk, so with what I’ve heard, Kiki will probably be better in a home that has no other pets.  We know she doesn’t like dogs at all, and we had never exposed her to any of our cats.  She’d had the kittens with her and we knew how protective she was.  We thought that since Chino is about the age of Dash and Cody, Kiki would at least get along with him.

Kiki is back in her old room for now and we will start another campaign to find her a home.  In the meantime, Dash and Cody have been re-introduced to their mother and they are fine.  Kiki was a little indifferent at first, but did not slap at either kitten.  The kittens were happy to see their mom, they rubbed against her, went to see what kind of food mom had and helped themselves.  But they did not want to stay in the room with her.  Are you kidding?  They have the complete run of this house.  That room is small to them now.    

Our adorable "sugarbaby"

Mr. Creme had his first fructosamine test on Tuesday.  One of the vets called this morning.  His numbers are still too high.  We are going to have to increase his insulin.  I was hoping that we wouldn’t have to do that.  The vet wants us to keep giving him the 3 units of insulin in the mornings and then for a week, add 1 unit in the evening.  If he does all right, i.e. he doesn’t go hypo on us, then increase it to 2 units at night.  So that would be a total of 5.  I have read of cats getting much more than that.  I still don’t know enough about diabetes that I feel comfortable giving Mr. Creme insulin. 

Some people actually use a blood test kit at home to check the sugar levels.  We’re not doing that and we’ll talk to the vet first.  The vet who called the other day didn’t seem to be too excited about home testing.  It would be more complicated because it would mean that a drop of blood would have to be taken from Mr. Creme.  From what I’ve read, the blood is taken from the ear. Ouch.  Or from the pad on the paw.  I would think both would be very uncomfortable and Mr. Creme is not the easiest cat to do things to.  He knows when we go out to give him his shot each morning.  It takes both of us because he just won’t be still.

We’ll see.  I hope we can get M.C. regulated and feeling better.  He had lost a little weight when he was at the vet’s the other day.

I’m still doing research on feline diabetes.  This website explained it well:  http://www.felinediabetes.com/diabetes-info.htm

I have joined a feline diabetes group and hoped to meet others with cats like Mr. Creme.  So far, I’m just confused about whether we should be testing at home or not.  It’s only been three weeks of insulin injections, but I feel like it’s been forever and I just remember how hard it was to get Rowdy regulated.  Actually, I don’t think we ever did.

Ellie

Ellie has asthma and was pretty congested when Charlie brought her dinner to her last night.  He came back downstairs and said that she needed her medicine (Terbutaline).  I went up and gave her a dose.  She’s hard to pill so I crush it and dissolve it in water and use a syringe.  It usually takes an hour or so for her congestion to really start breaking up.  When it does, she coughs and sounds like she is going to drown.  I feel so sorry for her.

I went up later to use the computer.  Ellie’s bed is in my computer room.  She was not in it and her food was untouched.  I found her on the floor a few feet away.  She was trembling like she does sometimes.  When she used to stay in Charlie’s computer room, he held her on his lap and “scrubbed” her when she got the shakes.  It seemed to help her.

I got a blanket and wrapped her in it and held her on my lap.  She was still trembling, but she buried her face in the blanket and settled in.  I could hear her wheezing when she breathed.  She’s so small that she fit on my lap comfortably.

I also checked out a feline asthma group site, but then I started getting questions like “Please tell me that Ellie is on an inhaler!”, etc.  Well, no, she’s not.  And she’s not on a steroid either.  The Terbuterine is to open her airways and help her breathe.  The vet has never given us any more meds than that and we have never asked.  This particular group will probably not help me much. 

I haven’t told anyone in the group because they’d probably be horrified, but sometimes to help her nasal congestion, I use a Vicks Vapor Inhaler for just a minute or so.  I’m not imagining that it helps clear her nose.  We use it on Jezibel sometimes too.  I can hear the popping sounds inside the nose when it starts clearing up.  But, it’s not prescription.  I buy them at the drug stores.  I can remember carrying one in my coat pocket in the winter time when I was a kid.  They’ve been around forever. 

With Ellie on my lap, I couldn’t do much on my computer, so I went to iTunes and found some songs to play.  It’s amazing how many songs I’ve forgotten about.  I can’t buy them all, but with Ellie’s help, I downloaded about five.

Ellie started breathing better and was obviously feeling better.  She started getting restless so I put her back in her bed.  She didn’t stay there long.  Her food was waiting and she wanted to get to it.  I watched her as she started eating.  She makes a lot of noise when she eats and it reminds me of the sound that Grady made when he ate.  They both would lick at first and then just dig in and make almost slurping sounds, eating with gusto.  The sound of enjoying your long awaited meal.

Ellie is not one to feel sorry for though.  She is usually in her bed near my desk.  We keep a gate up at the door so she can’t leave the room.  There are times when we forget to close the gate and have to go to the top of the stairs to rescue Jason or Jonesie or some other cat who foolishly thought they could get past Miss Ellie.  She’s no pushover.  She may have ailments, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t still have the fire in her.

The other night I was at my desk and heard a tussle.  I looked over and Ellie had Jonesie down on the floor, beating the tar out of him.  I think it took him by surprise.  I had to get her off of him and he was out of the room and downstairs in two seconds.

I left the closet door open the other day because I was in there looking for something.  One of the cats wandered in and went into the closet.  Ellie spied him and went after him.  She had him trapped in the closet. 

The other cats are all much bigger than Ellie, but I’ve never seen one of them attack her.  It’s always she who attacks.  She’s been feisty like that since she was a tiny kitten.  She isn’t aware of her small size and Jason, Rhody and Jonesie are all afraid of her.

One by one, the cats will learn to not come in this room unless they can slip past the little black widow spidow-like, sleeping Ellie.

My favorite pain reliever, Excedrin, has been recalled.  I went to Costco the other day and all of the bottles were pulled from the shelves.  I checked online, but there is no information on when the product will be restocked.  I still have some, but usually by now I’m buying more.

I went to the grocery store this afternoon to pick up a few things.  As I was going through the aisles, one of the men who I think is a manager, was saying “I’m happy.  This is my last day here.”  I know him because I’ve checked out with him and he usually is not talkative or friendly. I thought maybe he was going to another store.

Anyway, in the medicine aisle, there were some bottles of Excedrin so I picked one up.  I thought maybe these were not in the group of the recalls and even though it was only 24, it would hold me until the recall was over.

When I got to the checkout, the “last day” guy was there.  He was very friendly, asking me if I found everything okay, etc.  Then when he got the Excedrin, he said, “I can’t sell this to you because it’s on the recall list.”  I said there were more on the shelf and he sent someone to pull them.  So, I didn’t get my Excedrin.  But, the guy was very nice and was actually smiling.  I thought, I wonder why they can’t be nice like this even if it’s not their last day at work?

My friend, Kim, says that she challenges people who work with the public and are rude.  In one instance, a lady was very rude to her and she said, “Excuse me, where did you go to charm school?” 

More later................