Old Cats

My cats are old. Old enough that they're pretty set in their ways. I know that Clawdio (15) is the cat that no one sees. Luke (13) is the big, friendly guy who doesn't make eye contact. And Maya (12) will cuddle with just about anyone as long as they sit still.

Lately, when I crawl into bed at night, Clawdio has been curling up on my hips and shoulder diving into me for attention. If anyone else comes near us, he whacks them away with an open paw and a hiss, but no claws.

When I am sitting at my desk downstairs, Maya comes over stares at me. She climbs into my lap a lot and just sits there. I thought she was deciding she would be the "downstairs" cat. But now, I think she's just annoyed that I'm in her favorite chair.

Before my surgery, I got tired of moving of the kitchen table chairs back and forth to the desk, so I broke down and went to Pier One during one of their sales and got this blue flowery chair. It's probably the girliest thing I've every purchased. It was comfortable to sit in and it was 40% off with an extra 10% for getting a Pier One credit card. That's not bad.

And since then, Maya has been sleeping on it. So, if you see me walking around town with a bunch of cat hair on my behind -- it's courtesy of Maya, who would like me to very much go mow the lawn so that she can take a mid-morning snooze, now that X-man is at school on HER chair.

Thief! Thief!

This is our cat Luke. He will be 13 years old in March.

He doesn't look like he'd cause too much trouble, but lately, he's become quite a pain in the butt. You see, he's taking things that don't belong to him. His favorite thing to steal are socks. And usually, this is no big deal. He find one that X-man leaves on the floor, or he swipes one out of the clean laundry basket that I carried upstairs but was too tired to put away... and I find them all over the house the next morning. Sometimes it's just one or two. Sometimes its up to eight. (Woot! Laundry party.)

He meows as he carries them around. It's very distinctive.

So earlier today, after X-man got ready for KTDID to take him to soccer, he and I ate dinner. (We had Morning Star mini corn dogs, where he told me I couldn't eat them because they were meat. He took learning that his beloved corn dogs were actually soy with an air of -- WTF? It was pretty funny. He's never eaten a meat-based corn dog at home -- ever.) He had his uniform on, but not his socks. We heard Luke meowing upstairs, and I made the comment. "Luke's got someone's sock."

Forty minutes later, I went upstairs to get the sock, and X-man was showing me the mini Lego Harbor he built today that he got from Santa for Christmas. (It's pretty cute and he's having a ball playing with it.) But for the life of me, I could not find his other sock. X-man started to get upset, "I left them both right here!"

And then I froze, and I smiled. "What Mommy?"

"Think about it."

"LUKE!"

So we wandered into my room and there in the middle of my bed were three socks. One of them was X-man's, two were mine from my hamper.

Besides the sock stealing, he's also stolen underwear from X-man's bottom drawer and a small, stuffed blue hippo from X-man's room. I found Luke using it as a pillow.

I'm wondering if all this carrying around suddenly has a purpose, or if he's just going crazy in his old age?

Update: He just brought me X-man's two dirty socks that he put on the floor of the laundry room to be washed. Normally, I'd thank him for helping me pick up the house. But since X-man put them somewhere where they'd actually be washed. It just means I have to carry them downstairs again. :-)

Clawdio, Luke and Maya

I just had all three cats at the vet and only two of them got to come home with me.

Clawdio, who will turn 15 in October, got a check up and his vaccinations. He's really in tip top condition.

Luke, who was diagnosed with pancreatitis in the spring and has developed a grain allergy, is doing wonderfully. He's holding his weight at about 12.5 lbs, which is a wonderful weight for him in his senior years. He's 12 years old and living large on the fancy ass cat food we've been buying. (Clawdio also made the change to grain free quite successfully.)

Our hold out is Maya. Maya, age 11, has fatty liver disease and her glucose levels and white blood cells are up. We're also still waiting on blood work to rule out any autoimmune diseases. She's lost weight quite suddenly and appetite stimulant shots/anti-nausea shots haven't helped her regain any of the weight. In fact, our "big fuzzy" is only 8.2 lbs. And she's supposed to be 11.

So, Maya is spending today in the hospital. MacTroll will go back to get her tonight and then tomorrow I'll take her back at 7:30 a.m. They've got her on fluid nutrients right now. They also started force feeding her prescription AD food and giving her her meds to treat the liver issue. We're watching her glucose numbers like a hawk, too.

Tomorrow morning before I take her back, I'll be giving her Denosyl on an empty stomach. Once we know she's stable with the feeding, I'll be able to force feed her at home.

Aqua Running it is

The podiatrist's initial evaluation is in. I've messed up my peroneal tendons on the lateral (outside) part of my foot. So, I'm in a corset ankle brace.

If the extra support doesn't help in the next three weeks, they're going to schedule me for an MRI. Fabulous.

I'm only allowed to walk, do the bike and swim. So I signed up today for the Tuesday morning Aqua Running class with Synergistic Effects and then I plan to get in some water classes at the Y instead of my usual favorites.

Luke's blood test came back that he has pancreatitis. I'm picking up his enzymes and anti-nausea shots today. Poor dude has me messing with him all day. I've got to pill him priolosec, put enzymes in wet food,   shoot him up and clean his yeast ridden ears and put in meds twice a day.

So, you know, it's good school is ending... so I can be Dr. Quinn all summer. :-)

Massive Update

First, this is a cute photo. Luke, our cat who is losing weight like there is no tomorrow, is the one with the white face and white feet. He is 12 years old and blood work will come back today to give us, hopefully, some insight into his condition. In my gut, I think it's IBS or intestinal cancer. He's lost his appetite. The cat behind him is Clawdio, the cat no one ever sees. He's almost 15. He and Luke are usually at odds over the fact that Luke as a 15 lb cat is sometimes too rough with 8.5 lb Clawdio. But now that Luke's weight has come down to 12 lbs. and he's sick. Clawdio has no problems using Luke's butt as a pillow. But I'm feeling pretty helpless about Luke's condition. 

This is me with red hair. I didn't mean to get it this red, but I won a free cut and color and this is how it ended up. Thunder McGavin noticed right away at the pool on Sunday. His Mommy, Libbygirl, has the most awesome red hair. 

This is the view from the track from inside the YMCA. I got there a little early for Body Attack on Saturday morning, so I walked the track. I found the view kind of funny. In other places big windows usually show some kind of water view -- an ocean or a lake. We have a sea of dirt and baby corn. And ironically, it was nice to look off into the distance and not see -- people. It's one of the things I love about not being in a big city. I can do the same thing behind my house right now. I can just look and think -- no people. That's not going to be true by fall, I think (I've seen lots of trucks and curious cars pulling into the back 40). 

It's our last week of school around here. I got several student progress binders done this week. We save the ones for children who are returning to MMO next year so that teachers can add to them. But the ones for students who are leaving get their binders sent home.

I've got to do another 9 binders to get done before Thursday.

Other than that, today is a big day. Work, lunch, podiatry appointment, weigh in, Body Attack (if I'm not casted), T-ball, planting tomatoes, peppers and herbs and binders. I have to remember to call Mrs. Cahill and let her know I won't get to volunteer today because of my doctor's appointment.

MacTroll flew out again at 6 a.m. but we had fun going to dinner at Sun Singer and seeing the Avengers on Saturday night. We also stayed home and watched Morgan Spurlock's film on ComicCon on Friday night as a family. X-man really wants to go -- when he's old enough to wait in line. :-)