Tori Lives!

As some of you know, I went through a trauma with my kitteh, Tori, this week. For those who don't, the story is thus: Tori is an old lady. She's either 18 or 19, the math always screws me up. (I got her in February of 1991, but she was about four months old when I adopted her so....she'll be 19 around November. There. That wasn't so hard!) About three years ago, I was sure she was a goner as she had developed kidney disease, which required a change in diet and injecting her with subcutaneous fluids every other day. Miraculously, all that seemed to help, and she's been going strong ever since.

Around the end of last year, a small lump she's had for many years suddenly started growing. A needle biopsy was done, and the results pretty much proved she has mammary cancer. Because of her age, I decided to just let the lump be, as I didn't want to risk putting her under anesthesia to have it removed, and figured she's only got a few more years left, as long as the tumor wasn't bothering her, just let her be.

Unfortunately, the tumor started to...explode. It just kept growing, and bursting her skin, bleeding, and eventually, despite my cleaning it every day, began to get infected. So the choice then became, letting it grow until it was so big and gross and painful that it became a total bother to her, and putting her down for that, or risking having it removed completely.

So I opted for removal. I didn't really think I had a choice, really. It just wasn't fair to leave something so uncomfortable on her belly like that. Because of her age, anesthesia was a risk, but I thought that losing her on the table trying to make her feel better would be a better thing than having to make the choice to put her down because she was feeling awful. Luckily, the pre-surgery tests--blood work, chest x-ray--showed no issues, and the vet felt she would get through the surgery OK.

And she did!

Of course, she's not totally out of the woods yet. There can still be post-surgery complications, but she seems to be doing well, albeit trying to manage her way around the apartment while wearing a plastic Cone of Tragedy. (What makes it even more tragic is she's losing her sight as well, so there's just no way she can avoid bumping into everything around her.)

For the record, she had her surgery at the Nob Hill Cat Clinic, where I've been taking her for many, many years, and they did a great job. I'd recommend the place highly to anyone with a cat. Especially if you live in the Nob Hill/Polk Street/Tendernob area.

I'm so glad to have my old lady roommate back. I think I'll put on my new, gigantic hat, sit next to my Elizabethan-collared friend, and talk about MUUUUUSIC.

Get It Off Me!....Get It On Me!!!

By now I'm sure you've seen Maru, the cat who likes to jump into boxes and other things. This is probably his most famous video...



But I think this one is even better....



Is there a name for this kind of pathology? And if so, can one request it from a cat breeder? Because I think it's a must have in any future cat adoption I may make.

Twas the Day of the Night Before Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody! I've got a cake in the oven (and I don't mean that in any other sense than I really do have an actual CAKE in an actual OVEN) and I will follow that with the preparation of my 40 dollar crab dip (I find people enjoy it more when they know how bleedin' much it costs to make) and then I will be off to the parents' to eat and make merry with the familia.

Hope everyone has a tremendous Christmas. Here's a thrilling video of my cat discovering her present under the tree. 'Tis my present to you.

Nobody Puts Tori In a Corner

I had to take Tori to the vet yesterday. The night before she was heading to her litter box every five minutes, but wasn't very...productive. She also peed a little on the couch. I suspected a UTI, and took her in. $360 bucks later and I am still waiting for the test results. Fingers crossed that's all it is.

While sitting in the cat clinic, I read Cat Fancy magazine, of course, and they had photos from their "oldest cat" contest. The winner was 36.

Thirty-six! That's a year younger than me! Astounding, and slightly unbelievable. Today I did a little research and found some folks on Catster were also doubting the claims. Then the cat's owner piped in and said it was all true. The cat's name is Baby and he's got a Catster profile. Here's a recent photo the owner took. Scruffy-looking, but not bad for an old man.

I bring this all up because I was having an IM conversation with a coworker who asked how my cat was doing, and how old she is. When I told him she's 17, he wrote back that I should put her to sleep; that's too old for a cat to live.

OMFG!

It's hard to tell over IM when someone is being jokey, but he didn't put the obvious smiley face after it, so I kind of took it seriously. I guess he was thinking she was having all kinds of medical problems and could barely get around or something, which isn't the case. Yes, she does have issues, but aside from those issues, she acts like a normal, somewhat lazy cat. I don't think anyone who meets her would ever guess she is as old as she is. But even if she WAS completely infirmed, I don't want to hear that I should put her to sleep. Even if it is the right thing to do.

She's gonna live to be 40, and that's all I have to say about it.

Tori Update

Things between her and her mother remain frosty.

Oh, I kid! Not THAT Tori. MY Tori, of course.

Well, the news is not that great. She has kidney disease, as happens to many older cats. Not much can be done aside from making sure she gets plenty of fluids, and maintains a low-protein diet. Since I can't force drinks down her throat, I have to give her subcutaneous fluids--and honey, that ain't no picnic! Take a look.

I did it at the vet's and it went OK, but I think that had a lot to do with the fact that she was frozen with terror. We'll see how she responds tomorrow with her next dose.

I think the only bright side for her is she will now be eating only canned food, which she loves. Of course, it's prescription, so hopefully she'll love it as much as Fancy Feast.

Man. Pets. There's just no getting around the fact that one day they will totally break your heart.

Ru-Ro

My TiVo is acting up. Some of its recordings are impossible to watch, with the image and audio freezing in fits and starts. Last night it was happening while I was watching the season finale of "Rescue Me," and I got so frustrated that I pounded on the TiVo box, and shook it a little. And whaddya know, it helped. I'm sure I didn't fix it, and it will probably start happening again, so I need to start looking into getting a new box. The question is, do I get a dual tuner box? Or one that records DVDs? Unfortunately, no matter what kind of box I get, it will have to be a Series 2 machine, and I don't like that. Yes, Series 2 offers a lot improved features, but it can also allow stations to limit how long you get to keep a recording before you watch it.

In other, more important news, it seems my kitty might be sick. She's got a little pee problem, meaning she's peeing a LOT, and sometimes she doesn't seem to make it off of my bed in time to get to the litter box (ugh!). I am hoping it is nothing serious, and just the result of her being 16 years old. But I also have to face the fact that she is 16 YEARS OLD, and odds are, she won't continue to live her later years as illness-free as she has been. (She's been an amazingly healthy cat.)

So, I won't say more about that until after her vet appointment today, but keep those fingers crossed for her, won't you?

Freaky Friday

My cat was acting FREAKY this morning. I mean, more freaky than usual. Most mornings, she sleeps through my alarm and doesn't get up until I've made breakfast and am in the living room. But today she woke up about an hour before the alarm and just started meowing at me. This annoying meowing tends to happen when her food dish is empty, she's puked on the bed, or I've turned the front of her litterbox towards the wall (that only happened once, OK?) But none of that was going on this morning. So I got up and did my usual morning prep, and she continued to act...weird. And very skittish.

I don't know what's going on, but hasn't the weather been kind of...unusual lately?

When I was a kid I was totally terrified of earthquakes (let's face it, I still am) and my friends had a tendency to take advantage of that fear to try and scare me (I had mean friends). One day we were walking to a friend's house after school and they started to talk about how there was going to be an earthquake and they knew this because of the weather and because they saw some animals acting weirdly. Then they told me to take a look at an ant trail on the sidewalk. "See?" one of them said. "Those ants aren't walking in a straight line. They're walking CRAZY."

Of course now I realize that ant trails aren't always orderly, but back then I was convinced the big one was coming. I'm a lot saner now. I wouldn't take my cat's crazy morning antics to mean certain doom.

But I'm stocking up on bottled water, just in case.

Illin'

I'm still sick. I don't feel like I'm dying or anything, mainly, it's just annoying. Having a head full of snot makes the simplest things, like SLEEPING, difficult. I have a bottle of codeine cough syrup left over from the last time I was sick, but it really doesn't seem to do much for me. I was still coughing all night. I think I will have to move on to some decongestants if I want to get through the next couple of days.

Here's some video of my cat illustrating how I feel. But be warned: it's the most boring cat video ever. She does nothing..and that's basically all she does these days. She's old.

Also, YouTube, WTF? Why does it sometimes take hours before a video you upload can actually be watched?

I Was Going to Title This Post "Hot Pussy," But That Would Have Been Gross

In an effort to get my cat a date, I've added her profile to Catster.

I hope it works!