StrangeRanger

Life in Stir

I think prison life is getting the best of our little gray cat.

<sigh>  they say I'm in the short time club, too.  This will never end!  Woe is me!

Daisy does seem to be doing some better as the week has gone on.  We did have to take her off of one of her pain meds 'cause it was causing her to vomit up undigested food.  Which was a)gross and b)indicative of the med causing problems.  Daisy recovered from that in short order, thank goodness.

We took her off of her other pain med a day or two after, as well.  Daisy seems to be healing up and is dealing, all appearances to the contrary, with her incarceration with surprising resignation.  

We let her out for exercise time in the prison yard a few times a day when we clean her cafeteria table and change her bedding.  She walks around the (closed) sitting room making sure everything smells right.  She has jumped up on the desk several times, the seat of the desk chair a couple, and once up to the top of the back of the desk chair.  I'd say her knee is on the mend.

Several times per day she sets up a loud meowing, begging to be let free.  As long as we stand firm, she eventually subsides and settles down for yet another nap. 

She does love her constitutionals, though.  Most times, I have to pick her up and put her back in the cell, which she does not like at all.  She has learned that there are places she can get to in the room where I can not get to her.  She like to go there and hang out, all the while eyeing me defiantly.  Example:

GET LOST, SCREW!  I'ma stay under here where you can't get me!  Yep.  I'ma stay here, in this low, confined, uncomfortable space instead of letting you put me back in that spacious kennel that is supplied with food and a comfy fleece blankie!  Do you know why I'm staying in this even more confined spot?!?  BECAUSE IT'S MY CHOICE, THAT'S WHY!  You, you.....primate! so dumb you probably can't understand half the words I use...  probably never understand that a cat needs to have SELF-DETERMINATION!!!

I usually lure her back out with treats.

Oh, yeah, Daisy's knee is up to crouching and slinking, which is how she gets under the couch.  I do think she is on the mend.  Hoo-ray for the healing magic of cats!

Things here are odd, but headed, we hope, in the desired direction.  I hope the same can be said for all of you.  Be safe, and have a great week ahead, all!

Daisy, Daisy, oh dear......

For the second time in our cat-owning lives, we have a large kennel in our sitting room, with one occupant.

This is about the parmesan, isn't it?

Yes, ladies and gents, the mewlag (rhymes with Gulag) has made a return to ChezRanger.  

'cause, ya see...I can EXPLAIN THAT!  It was NADINE, from next door!  SHE ate the parmesan cheese!  She's a black cat, like a doggone ninja!  No wonder you didn't see her!!  She was HIDING in the SHADOWS!!  I was only on the table with my nose in the bowl 'cause I was checking out what she'd done!  I was going to WARN YOU!  ANY good cat would do that for their humans!  I couldn't subject you to neighbor-cat drool!  Any good cat would have done the same....  Anyways.... to be honest......

....this is stupid and you're stupid.

Well, as you can guess, this is not about the parmesan (and no, it wasn't Nadine.  nice try though).

As an active young cat, Daisy quite often gets serious cases of the zoomies.  Daisy also, as we've documented before, likes altitude.  She was in the dining room with us one afternoon, being very zoom-tastic.  she decided to take off from the sideboard in an attempt to make it to the top of the dining room/kitchen door.  I don't know if it was just too much of a jump or if her feet slipped on take-off a bit.  She din't make her goal, but hung on for a second or two by her front paws.  She popped off and hit the doorknob on the way down.

I don't know if the impact caused damage, or if it threw her landing off, but she was limping pretty heavily on her right rear leg as she walked away.

Cue a quick trip to the emergency vet.  They couldn't find any breaks, which is good, and figured there was a soft tissue injury.  We got some pain meds for Daisy and all came home.  I could write another whole post about liquid meds and Daisy's combat-level drooling, but I think you'd rather not have your stomach turned.....

Daisy seemed to be improving, but got her foot caught in the sheet as I was making the bed Saturday morning.  She immediately began limping again and even growling.  She could not put weight on her previously injured leg.  

Cue a trip to our regular vet.  Daisy got in to see Dr G.  The diagnosis?  Daisy has probably torn her Medial Collateral Ligament.  Yes, it is one of those important knee parts.  Dr G thinks that if we keep Daisy relatively quiet and immobile in the mewlag for a month, the leg should simply heal.  If there is no improvement, there would have to be some surgery.  We're hoping to avoid that so we're trusting in pain meds (that have a mild sedative effect) and the awesome powers of cat healing.  If you'd like, send a bit of good karma Daisy's way.  Poor girl can use all the good wishes she can get.

She seems to be adapting well enough to the mewlag.  Not happy at being restricted, but I understand that.  A quarantine in the middle of a quarantine must be a colossal pain in the furry gray patoot.  We try to keep her spirits up.  One of us is almost always in here with her.  She gets picked up for snuggles quite a bit.  We feel lucky that we haven't had to make changes to her diet or anything, and she's getting her usual, preferred, food.

Well, at least prison chow isn't as bad as I'd heard......

We hope that you all have a safe and happy week ahead.  Stay healthy and stay out of prison!
 

An Existential Moment

Daisy always seems to be a well adjusted, mentally healthy cat.  She isn't high-strung like Maddie was.  She takes the loud noises that attend upon living hard by a a freeway pretty much in stride.  Motorcycle crews and truck-farts, wrecks and horns, fireworks from the nearby ball-field, all seem to be just part of her daily milieu.  Thunderstorms?  Ivy used to be terribly nervous about those.  Daisy's unease seems to be soothed by walking through whatever room we're in and checking to see if we're okay.

I think that if anything makes Daisy less than totally easy with the world, it's the calm and quiet moments.  Those moments where she's not active, and in the moment both mentally and physically (like the all the times she's biting and clawing at my legs....).  I think I caught her having one of those existential moments whilst atop the china cabinet the other day.

What does it really mean to have other cats living next door?  Are they the same as me?  Do they really still exist when they go in that house or do I only think that they exist?  Is my bowl half full or half empty?  Are there herds of wild kibble?  

Daisy seems to come out of her reveries pretty quick though.

Speaking of kibble, I could really use a sna....WHOA!!  THE WORLD IS UPSIDE DOWN!!

Oh!  Whew....  got it now.......

What?

Daisy doesn't often venture into the realms of the philosopher.  At least that we can tell.  Venturing into the realm of a nice open window on a warm, breezy day seems to keep her happy and in good spirits.

I think, therefore I enjoy the good smells that come in through our window!

And thus, the daily philosophy is brought to a successful close.

As a side note, as I may have mentioned before, we have a long cat.  

We hope you are all well!

Have a safe and healthy great week ahead!

Happy 4th of July, all!

It was a particularly quiet year this year.  No great surprise, I know.  We usually go to see a citizenship ceremony in our local historic district.  It is always moving.  We discovered a few years ago that we have a large and boisterous Malaysian contingent in town!  They cheered for everyone in the ceremony but really went to town when one of their own stepped up.  After a stroll around the area, we'd usually go out and get some fancy ice cream at a fancy ice-cream spot that we only hit on the 4th.  Heavy sugar time! 

In the evening, we usually walk down the street to watch fireworks from the local stadium, but they were shut down, too.  It was a quiet sort of 4th.

We did manage ice cream, though it was store-bought.  We dressed it up, though, and enjoyed it.

We watched "Hamilton"!   I was passingly familiar with the music, and of course familiar with the phenomenon.  Watching it though, was wonderful!  It is one brilliant piece of work!

One tradition kept on, though.  The street fireworks were even more plentiful this year.  Pops, bangs and various ka-booms continued late into the night.  Even though she does not mind the usual ballpark fireworks on a typical Friday eve in normal times, Daisy seemed a bit unsettled by it all.

I'mo just sit here in the corner until this whole thing blows over.

Then there'd be another BANG!

hmmmm.... Maybe under the chair and behind the pictures would be a more workable alternative.......

Daisy did better that other cats of our acquaintance, though.  Maddie HATED fireworks.  HATED.

CHARLIE'S COMIN' THRU THE TUNNELS!!  TAKE OFF AND NUKE IT FROM ORBIT!!!

The poor dear had a rough baseball season.....  Don't worry, we kept her safe and happy the rest of the year...

We hope you're safe and happy yourself!  We hope the past week treated you well and that you have a great week ahead!