July 13, 2004 :: 1:44 a.m.
maggots are the new cat scratch
Oy. Today was fairly busy, comparatively. I ran my grandma around in the afternoon, had dinner with Adam, went to see
Spiderman 2, and then went with my mom to take Amelia kitty to the vet. She's been weird today - lethargic, not eating well, etc, and after what happened with Giles we are NOT messing around with vet trips anymore. They will go as soon as is humanly possible. In this case, it was an 11 o' clock trip to the emergency vet clinic that happens to operate out of our actual vet clinic, Willow Mill. But more on that later.
I cannot wait until my grandmother is all moved into her new apartment. I hate being a packing monkey. Do this, carry this, put that here, take this outside, wrap up these things, take this stuff to the Salvation Army, and on and on and on. Actually I mostly can't wait until I am all moved into my new apartment, because then I won't have to be her regular chauffer anymore, either.
The problem with this, of course, is that I do not have an apartment to move into. But I'm working on it. The loan stuff is being sorted out (cross your fingers for me, 'kay?), and I've been instructed to call some placed to set up viewing appointments for next week. So things are moving along. Looks like I'll be spending my birthday money on pots and pans after all. Yay!
Spiderman 2 was good. I liked the first one, and I liked the second one just as much... I'll probably end up buying both of them at some point in the future. Adam was having a crappy day, so I thought taking him out would be a pick-me-up. I think it kind of worked. I hope. I don't know. He had a band meeting tonight as well, which seems to have worked even better. It was weird, going home at 10 while he drove off to his meeting. I was, back in the proverbial day, the one who hung out in diners until 1 am. Now I'm the one who goes home at 10, alone. It kind of sucks. Actually, it sucks a lot. I need more of a social life, stat. Because I love Adam, and Joe and Joe are awesome, but they've got their own stuff, and when they're not around I have no one else to hang out with. Hell, when they are around I usually don't have anyone to hang out with. Everyone's so busy. Everyone but me. Poo.
But dinner and the movie was a good time, no doubt. I just wish we got a bit more time, you know? With him having school and work and family stuff, we don't spend as much time together these days. I don't like it. I'd have to take a stand and say I'm solidly against it, in fact. I mean, I know why he's doing it, but school in the summer? Is NEVER a good idea. But hopefully next week we'll get to have some quality hang time, possibly looking at apartments in Lancaster and/or visiting Meghan, Olivia, and a variety of business establishments (Sanrio, Ikea, Krispy Kreme) in Baltimore.
Anyway, the cat stuff. So I noticed some blood on Amelia's neck yesterday. I thought maybe one of the cats scratched her, because they've all made their feelings about the new arrival perfectly clear. Gizmo especially seems like she wants to take Amelia out into the alley and beat her down. So I was like, "whoa, someone went for the jugular." Except it turns out that someone didn't. I've been talking trash about a completely innocent trio of cats. Whoda thunk? It turns out that Amelia had what the vet referred to as a "warble." It's a maggot-esque parasite thing that's usually only found on rabbits, but... well, yeah. I guess it goes something like, a fly lands on the animal, lays an egg on (under?) the skin, and then when the egg hatches the maggoty badness actually burrows a hole in the skin. So the "cat scratch" turned out to be a "maggot hole." Yum!
Yeah, it was really gross. I still feel kind of itchy all over.
There was other stuff wrong with her, too - a slight fever and ear mites. The fever, lethargy, and general out of sorts-ness is being caused, probably, by an infection of the above-mentioned maggot hole. The vet said that in adult cats warbles aren't really a big deal, but because Amelia is so wee and young it's developed a slight infection. They removed the maggot thing (of course), cleaned her ears, and gave her various and sundry medicines including a strong dose of antibiotics, and then sent us on our way with a bottle of ear stuff and instructions to bring her back in if she's not eating within 12 hours, feeling better within 24-48 hours, or in about two weeks in any case for routine shots. She was not a happy kitty for a while after arriving home, choosing to stay and sleep in the shoebox-bottom that served as a makeshift cat carrier, but last I saw her she was actually eating some kitten chow with Rufus.
Yes, you read that right. She and Rufus were eating from the same bowl of food. As in, they were sharing. With each other. I almost died. Although Rufus has been fairly nice to her so far, so I guess it's not that big a shocker, really. Except that my cats? Are not buddy-buddy, friendly, "let's cuddle up and groom each other" cats. My cats, despite living in the same house for years and years, are barely civil to each other at times. So to see my new baby kitten and what is arguably one of the most ill-tempered cats I have ever run across sharing a bowl of kitten chow was enough to send me running for my camera. Which, conveniently, had absolutely no battery power left. Typical. But try to imagine in - it really was a Kodak moment.
Okay, enough talk. Tired. I'll update tomorrow with news of Amelia and her tiny tracheotomy.
back & forth
Wait, there's more!
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