Counting to 1, 2, 3, 4

Feist on Sesame Street.

 

Stewie counts to the number 12.

 

I love lazy Sundays.

 

Cartoons

Well, after being woken up at 12 am, 2 am and 3 am by intoxicated morons smoking on the west side of our building under my windows, I had the wacky idea to recapture a small token of my youth and watch cartoons. To my dismay, I could not find my Looney Tunes Volume 1 or Tom and Jerry DVDs. On that note, where did my Depeche Mode and Matthew Good DVDs run off too? Thanks to everyone I have ever lent stuff to that never ever gave it back.





Thank goodness for YouTube. For a moment there I wished I had cable. Oh wait, cable networks do not play classic cartoons, only ones to advertise consumer products.

Weird, my Siamese cat Choco is watching Tom and Jerry with me.

Listening to: Zero 7 - Destiny

 

Simpsons

Simpsons Intro Lego Style




Simpsons Video Game by EA



Makes me want to buy a WII.


Listening to: Barenaked Ladies - Lovers In A Dangerous Time

 

She's Gone

I went to go to my car this morning and she was gone. I parked her on Friday at Balsam and 1st Avenue and saw her Saturday when I went for a walk on the beach. I am not sure if she has been gone for 24 hours, so I am unable to report her to the police. I am considering posting her picture on the side of milk cartons. Maybe she's upset with my parenting and has run away from home.

On Friday, I went bowling at Revs. Played two games with my team and it was a lot of fun. Mostly a younger crowd with montages of hip-hop music marathons. On Saturday, I went for a walk along Kits Beach. It was a beautiful fall day. I stopped at Benny Bagel's for a lox museli bagel. I watched part of the first season of Six Feet Under. I really like that dramedy. On Sunday, I met BT & Delilah for brunch at Sunset Grill.

After brunch, I met MoFaux on Main Street and we went to the DTES for the East Side Culture Crawl. We visited galleries and viewed paintings, sculptures, pottery, and photography from DTES to Strathcona to Parker Street Studios. The latter being a converted 4 story warehouse with tons of artists showcasing their work. We finished the evening with drinks and bites at Fets on the Drive, and then warm bevvies at JJ Bean.

Listening to: Feist - Inside and Out

Eco-Friendly and Fabulous

In partnership with Pitt, Kiehl’s just introduced its first Cradle to Cradle Certified product Kiehl's Aloe Vera Biodegradable Body Cleanser. The delicately scented liquid body cleanser, is formulated without parabens, SLS or dyes and is packaged in a 100 percent post consumer recycled bottle. I hope it smells good.



Cargo Cosmetics’s PlantLove Botanical Lipstick is planted inside a box made of paper embedded with real flower seeds, which can be used in your garden or flower pot. Inside the box, you’ll find a tube made entirely out of corn. In the tube is lip-loving lipstick infused with Orchid Complex and meadowfoam seed oil as well as jojoba and shea butter.

Add to that the fact that Cargo will donate $2 from the sale of every $20 tube to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and you’ll want to plant a big, bright kiss on everyone you meet.

 

Kittens and Puppies

This amuses me:



 

As does this Shibu breeder web cam. Thanks to JD for the link.

 

Thank You

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has offered me words of encouragement and their deepest empathy. Your friendship means so much to me.



I am very lucky to have such wonderful people in my life. People I treasure as friends who provide me support, guidance, understanding, and love.

 

Miss You

I miss the way you used to greet me at the door. You came running and mewing. You were so excited to see me.

I miss the way we used to fall asleep beside each other in the evening.

I miss the way we would cuddle on the sofa.

I miss the way you'd roll on your back with one eye open hoping I would pet your belly.

I miss the way you sit patiently for your tiny piece of soya mozzarella.

I miss the way you would growl as you ate a piece of juicy steak or rib.

I miss the way you lay on the rug on the hall.

I miss the way that you groomed so often that your long gray fur was always purrfect.

Listening to: Matthew Good - Strange Days

 

Goodbye Bear

After a strong fight with kidney failure, I had to say goodbye to Bear early this morning. We had a great 14 years together. I will miss him fondly.



Listening to: Dido - Here With Me

 

Bear Is A Fighter

Well, I do not mean to go on and on about my cat Bear, but he's hanging on. I took him to the vet yesterday morning and she says he is doing better but not great. I got no sleep and was exhausted in the morning fully prepared to say goodbye. But she says because he ate a little bit of chicken and managed small squirts of number one, we should continue to IV and medicate.

He did not eat or drink that I know of yesterday. But this morning at 5 am, I awoke to him nudging and purring with me on the bed. I made a little step by the bed, but I do not think he used it. He managed to eat tiny bits of the roast chicken I bought last night.

This morning, after attempting my first time with an IV, some of it squirting on the floor, I managed to IV him with 100 ml of fluids. Now, getting him to take 1/4 antibiotics, and 1/2 urethra medicine is a different matter. The bet makes it look so easy!

I watched Lars and the Real Girl and Little Britain Season 2 last night. The film was fantastic.

Listening to: Morcheeba - World Looking In

 

Bear's Last Night With Me

So, Bear still has kidney stones (they did not pass or dissolve) and he has not eaten much in the last 24 hours. He is spending this evening with me and I believe it to be our last together. I keep listening to Sungha Jung play guitar on YouTube.

I cannot stop crying. I do not know how I will make it through the rest of this week. It is tough to accept this fate after I saw him so animated and eating after the surgery. I try not to dwell on the what-ifs. I try to accept and understand that it is just his time. But it's difficult. He's so weak and is nauseous. He confuses the nauseous with food, not his kidneys.

I have another mid-term tomorrow morning. It will be right after we say our final goodbye.

Listening to: Sting - Fields of Gold

 

Modern Cat House

A cat lover and designer built this two level kitty house with a cardboard porch for scratching.



Listening to: Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia

 

Kitty Update

I am currently watching Bear on web cam at the Vet's office.

I took Bear to the Feline Hospital. Apparently, his bladder was so
full it was rock solid. It was also inflamed with kidney stones. Both of these were shown on his x-ray, yet the Emergency Hospital still discharged him. Because he was with me for 15 hours before going to the vet, and did not drink or eat, or was ABLE to pee. As a result, when I brought him in he was deemed Critical.

I was so angry at the Emergency Hospital. Why would the evening vet discharge him and send him home with me? Apparently, they thought his seizure was cranial, and did not think the kidney issues were severe. I read the the kidney issues relating to age can CAUSE seizures. They gave me some Valium and liquid potassium and some low-protein food. Apparently, this was all I needed to care for him at home.

The vet put him on oxygen, IV drip, and draining his bladder (lots of blood). She injected his bladder with saline to try and dissolve the kidney stones. She canceled her next 5 appointments to help him. Wow. She was amazing and honest. This took one and a half hours. I decided to do these much to see how much he would recover over the next 24 hours.

He rested on IV drip under the Bair Huggy blanket (insulated and heated). His body temperature and blood pressure dropped, but second Vet managed to sustain him. He had a quarter of electrolytes and peed (blood) with the catheter. I sat with him for 7 hours. The primary Vet told me he needed to be IVed and catheter for 4 days to bring his electrolytes up, rehydrate, and heal his bladder. Day 1 of 4. She said I would be living by his cage.

I wish he had been transferred to a vet immediately instead of staying with me overnight for 15 hours in distress and pain. I remember when he crawled from the hallway through the kitchen to lay by my air mattress in the living room.

I think about pet insurance. How a monthly $10 a month for fourteen years can be cheaper than $2500-$3000. But which insurance is the right one without limitations? It is a lot of money to pay monthly. Also, would annual check ups have helped? I think when cats reach old age, around 12 or so, maybe charting drinking, eating, peeing and pooping habits is a good idea.

I go back tomorrow morning.

Bear Cat

Bear was acting weird this morning. I did not know where he was. I called and searched for him. Eventually, he came out in a daze.



When I came home from work, he was very mewey. He was not affectionate as per usual. He did not sit or lay in his usual haunts. I was suppose to go out this evening. I kept checking on him. On the third check, he was having a seizure. I was a little freaked out to say the least.

I took him to the Animal Emergency hospital. I was there back in February with Stimpy. It's a mere $180 to walk in the door. He was breathing rapidly. They placed him on oxygen to get his blood pressure down. The drained his bladder. I tried to recount his behaviour, eating and waste habits over the past few days. It was difficult. Had he been eating? Has he been peeing?

Once his blood pressure was down and bladder was drained, he was a bit more perkier (vet's term). Although, when I was talking to the vet, Bear started to have another seizure. She gave him some valium and wanted to keep him over night. With the cost of keeping him over night, blood work, and an x-ray, it was an estimated $1500. Wow.

I had planned to travel to Seattle for an annual event, but I think I will stay in town instead. I do not know how I will sleep, let alone go to work tomorrow.

Listening to: The Cure - Love Cats