Bent out of shape

I haven't posted for a while.  There was the whole Thanksgiving thing (nice), the family thing (very nice).  And the Almost Dead Cat thing (not so nice).

So not only did I not have time, nor feel particularly peppy enough to write a post, but when I did come back to my blog I had what I thought was going to be the last post about Outside Kitty staring at me in the face.  Not because I wasn't going to write about him anymore, but because I wasn't certain he was going to be with us anymore.

So here's the not-short version of my crappy weekend/week.....
Outside Kitty wasn't acting quite normal on Thursday or Friday.  And in hindsight, I do remember him being very, very clingy and wanting to sit & snuggle with me every time I sat down.  Saturday morning he was just sitting on the couch.  When we returned home from an afternoon away, he was still in the same position & he wasn't making eye contact and didn't want to be picked up.  He felt hot so I took his temperature.  It was 104.9.  Normal temp for a cat is between 100.5 and 102.5, so I shit a brick and called every vet in the area to see if anyone could get him in (Thanksgiving weekend & all, it wasn't easy).  I got him into a vet about 20 miles away around 5 pm.

After doing blood work, they determined that he had acute kidney failure, likely caused by some sort of toxin and he needed to be put on an IV immediately for fluids and medications.  We're still unsure what kind of toxin it was that caused his trauma.  It could have been a myriad of things, either man made or natural and it could have been ingested up to a week ago.  The vet didn't give him really good odds, but I figured I had to let her try.  I mentally prepared myself to have to put him down.  And I did a lousy job of preparing.  I was a wreck.  Couldn't eat, couldn't sleep.  How could a stinking feral cat that has only been with us for two years make me feel so completely crappy?

Anyways.  He made it through the night, but the vet still said that things didn't look very good.  They continued the IV through the next day and I went to visit him.  I know it sounds horrible, but it was kind of funny seeing him brought in with the IV hooked up to his paw and the vet tech wheeling the IV rack in just like at a "real" hospital.  I could almost see him in one of those blue/green paper napkin robes they give you in the hospital.

He wasn't as lethargic as he was when I first brought him in the day before, but he didn't look great.  We sat in the room together for about an hour and then I left him with the vet, wondering if I'd see him again.  He made it through another night at the vet and I got a call this morning that they did another round of blood work on him and said that his kidney levels were still too high, but that he needed to be off the fluids for a while.  I went to visit him later this afternoon and he seemed perkier than before.  The vet said that he should go home with me.  I was happily surprised as I had once again prepared (poorly) at letting him go.

So Outside Kitty is home now.  He has to eat some sort of special cat food (i.e. expensive) and I have to keep a close eye on how much he drinks & pees and hopefully notice if he's not feeling well.  There's not much else that can be done, but at least he's at home and surrounded by family.

Outside Kitty, relaxing in his favorite spot.

Ungrateful Human

Today I opened the front door to get another log to toss on the fire.  Staring at me was Outside Kitty, wanting inside.  Which isn't necessarily out of the ordinary.  But luckily I hesitated before opening the storm door because he had a huge freaking chipmunk in his maw.  When I didn't immediately open the door for him, he looked anxious and was kind'a pacing in place (like when a kid has to pee).  I tried to shoo him away from the door so I could go out but he was very insistent that he come inside with his prize (which was still very much alive, btw).  I finally squeezed my rotund self through the door while blocking his entrance inside and sat down on a bench on the porch.

Outside Kitty immediately came up to me, still doing the "pacing" thing.  So I finally grabbed the chipmunk from the tail and held it up, wondering what the hell I was going to do with a live rodent that would probably try to bite my face off if it had the chance.  Before I was able to contemplate any additional solutions to the rodent-in-hand, the chipmunk's tail hair gave way, he fell, bounced once and then zoomed across the deck with the not-so-light footed cat right after him.

Rhiannon came out to see what all the commotion was about and got to see Outside Kitty hunting his prey.  Which is actually pretty remarkable given the weight which he has put on since being neutered and gaining access to the indoors and the neverending bowl of Meow Mix.

After a few minutes, Outside Kitty (a.k.a. Manboob Kitty) cornered his quarry and made the catch. And presented it to me once more.

By the expression on his face I'm sure he was thinking, "You idiot.  I caught it another time for you, now don't lose it again".  Since it wasn't dead (or at least wasn't when I had it), I took it from him and flung it over the porch railing.  I know, it's just a rodent.  But I don't think we have a serious chipmunk problem at our place so I figured I'd set the little bugger free.

I probably should have been more appreciative to Outside Kitty.  He brought me a gift, which I "lost" two times, yet he still continued to fetch it for me.  He was obviously perplexed at my continuing confusion as to what to do with the gift.  I mean, I did think about taking it from him and then hiding it so he didn't see me wantonly discard his present.  Or should I have personally dealt the final death snap to the rodent's neck with my own teeth, placed it on a plate and sat down with Outside Kitty on the porch to eat the thing?

I don't know.  But the chipmunk has not returned.  Either it has wisely high-tailed it's behind to another part of the woods or it has managed to shove itself between the rocks on the side of the house where it slowly died from internal bleeding and we will soon "find" it by the offending smell.