Well, I just returned from the Emergency Pet Hospital.

After a day and a half of feeling fine and being far too active Versace was feeling the effects of her spaying this morning. She didn’t want to get out of bed, and when she did she was moving slow. I noticed right away that she was shivering. I figured she was cold so I popped on the heat and went about my morning routine. I started by putting down cat food. Coco of course came running. Versace did not. Odd, but I had figured she was finally feeling all the jumping around she had been doing. I felt bad so made her food a special treat by mixing in some cottage cheese (loves it, and good for her coat… they say). I even brought it up to her. She didn’t want it. She wasn’t even interested. Worried, I went and got the other treats she really *REALLY* likes. She sniffed at it a bit but only ate it after I tore it up small. Scared, but still thinking she was hurting I gave her the pain medication. She slept for a bit, but was clearly feeling and looking worse when she woke up. That’s when we went to the Emergency Room.

I hadn’t been there since Chanel died, and panic really hit when I dove into the driveway. By the time I walked in the door I was feeling waves of emotion combined with my worry over Versace. They took her to the back right away. I had to fill out forms. Then I was sent to the waiting area. After what felt like forever a young man came out with my Portable Pet Home that we use as a carrier. It was empty. I think my heart stopped, but he quickly explained that Versace was with the doctor, and someone would take me back shortly. They really shouldn’t come out with empty pet carriers. It’s just cruel. After another eternity I was finally led to the exam room. No it wasn’t exam room 3, luckily. Still, as soon as I got inside it was all too much. It looked the same. Smelled the same. In my mind I could see Richard bent over the exam table with Chanel. I lost it. I cried. I cried for Richard’s loss, for Chanel, and out of fear for my new little Versace. I hadn’t pulled it together by the time the doctor came in. I think I startled her. She had to think I was crazy. So I explained my last visit to that particular hospital. Which got me teary again. She assured me that Versace was fine, and not going to die. Once I had relaxed a bit she explained what she thought was going on and we talked about how it happened.

She thinks my cat is in extreme pain from the surgery, and her activity since. She doesn’t think Versacec was shivering from cold, but fear and pain. After talking we established that I was administering the medicine incorrectly and she wasn’t getting enough. It wore off. Once in so much pain she stopped eating and drinking, and got dehydrated too. I feel awful about that, but I am relieved that my kitten is okay. If the doctor was right my baby should be feeling better and continue healing just fine. She thought that the incision looked clean and good. Nothing was torn open, the swelling there was normal. All of that looked fine. They helped administer the medicine correctly and we went home.

Since then Versace looks better, still sleepy and not moving, but responsive. She also ate a kibble. Yay!

tagged: cat versace kitten emergency surgery spay

daniel · early afternoon · 2 comments · ping it

*Read no further if you are sick of Cat Blogging*

So as it turns out, my kitten has an amazing threshold for pain. Or she’s insane. Or both. I went to pick her up at the vet at 4. She had been out of surgery for about 4 hours from what I was told, and she was just waking up from the drugs. Groggy. And all dolled up in one of those e-collars. Poor thing. The tech told me she had chosen a soft collar for comfort. Comfort. In an e-collar? Right. So I pay my 3 billion dollars and off we go. She was in her Portable Pet Home in the seat next to me. As soon as I got the car out into traffic she started thrashing about and screaming in there. By thrashing, I do mean just that. Throwing herself about in there like an insane cat. I am lucky I didn’t get into an accident on the way to the house with all that going on.

After what seemed like an eternity we finally get home. I let her out of the carrier, expecting her to settle down a bit. She was clearly still drugged after all, and was quite wobbly on her feet. She didn’t care. She was all over the living room. Circling. Then she went down the stairs. Then she came up. Then down. Then up. Stairs are to be avoided! The instructions upon discharge made that very clear! She was not “settling down” so I tried the recommended “isolating her in one room” method. I even brought up her box! She could be in there, avoid stairs, and recover in peace. She didn’t want no peace. She was up and down on the bed, circling around, NOT holding still. I was panicking at this point. She’s just stitched and glued shut from the operation. All this activity and she’s gonna pop her seam!

So I call the vet. They say to put her in her carrier to limit her movement, and that at 7 when we give her the pain medicine it’ll make her sleepy. Okaaay. So I pop her back into the Portable Pet Home.

That’s when she really went wild. She thrashed and rolled and body slammed herself in that thing. It was like one of those cartoon cat fights in there! She also worked her way out of her e-collar. (I really don’t think those work for cats…) after about a half an hour we decided that was no good either. We let her out, put the collar back on her and just let her be. She still jumped, and climbed, and took off the damn collar again, but was at least calm. That had to be better for her recovery than the confinement. So we just watched her close, ready to take her to the Emergency Clinic if she tore her incision. She didn’t.

Now it’s 10AM the next day. We are all up and about. She lasted the night without tearing or picking. I think I might survive this.

tagged: cat versace kitten emergency surgery vet recovery

daniel · at some point · say it · ping it

Okay, so it was Sunday morning. I had been out a bit to late, but was up early and feeling pretty good. I was opening at work and was due in by 6. I got myself showered, fed, dressed, and smelling good all with a minimal of fuss. I even made a lunch! Richard was ready earlier and headed out the door, even tho we were both due at our respective jobs at the same time. It wasn’t a carpool day, so I was lagging about 5 minutes behind him. I finally made it down stairs and was at the door balancing my man-bag, waters, lunch, and phone all at once. I opened the door to the garage to put on my shoes that are always sitting just outside that door. As I slipped on the second shoe I lost my balance.

Time stopped.

It was in slow motion that I caught myself and heard the door click shut.

Shut.

And locked.

“This can’t be happening” I thought. I blinked. I tried the door. Locked. I shook my head and tried it again. Harder. Locked.

I was in my garage with my man-bag, waters, lunch, and my phone. I had no keys. My car was locked. I was locked out out of the house. My keys were just inside. I panicked.

You see, even tho this had happened before (to RICHARD, not ME!!) we had no spare key tucked away. I tried everything I could think of to “break-in”... Not being a pro at that I had no luck. There was no way any of my credit cards were gonna pop the lock. I tried 2 of them, so I know! I was also trying to call Richard. He was not far and could’ve turned around. Well at first. But with each passing moment that he didn’t answer he was further and further away. So I went to plan.. erm… C. Yes, plan C at tis point. I have everyone’s number from my job! Who could I call at 5:20 in the morning? Who could save me?

As I went down the list it slowly occurred to me. I had only one option that could get to my store and let the staff in on time. My boss. So after dreading it and trying with renewed desperation to credit card the door open for 10 minutes I called him. Yes he was up. Yes he would open and wait for me. And he laughed at me the whole time. I was so embarrassed. Ugh. I explained that I had to get ahold of Richard to get him to come back home. He was fine with waiting. He was still laughing. I died a little on the inside.

So after Richard got all the way to work he had to turn around and let me in to get my keys so I could go to work. I was only a half an hour late in all, but humiliated. We now have emergency procedures in place should such an event occur again.

tagged: richard work morning emergency event embarrassed locked out

daniel · early evening · 2 comments · ping it

Big drama here kids. Drama with the fish tank. None of it is anyone’s fault.

Richard decided to do a big water change. Great! Except that he also decided that the filter had to be done immediately as well. Now normally we space those two chores out. Not because they both suck, which they do. We space then out for the safety of the fish. A big water change can stir up a lot of dormant pollutants. The filter has bacteria in it to deal with said pollutants. If you clean the filter you weaken the bacteria inside, so doing both on the same day can potentially harm your fish if the tank is dirty. Ours apparently was, and worse than we thought. We are on schedule with the chores, as both get done once per month. However, a fair amount of plants died while we were on vacation. Since we weren’t home picking out the leaves and such the filter was filthy and a bit clogged. This made the tank extra filthy. We hadn’t noticed. You see, the water chemistry had balanced out to the dirty conditions, and sustained life (although we have lost two fish since we’ve been back). We just destroyed that balance and now the water chemistry is out of control. Sort of like a brand new tank that you aren’t supposed to put live fish in. Richard has now done two consecutive 25% water changes. That amounts to roughly 50 gallons emptied and then replaced 5 gallons at a time. Yikes! That’s a workout! But the hope is to dilute the bad bacteria while the good bacteria re-establishes itself.

To make it all worse, there are two chemical products on the market to save you in just such an emergency that will rapidly eliminate the bad stuff in your water. We always have these on hand. Always. Except for right now. We have neither. I really wish we hadn’t put off that trip to the pet store. There really should be a 24 hour pet supply. I am surprised that there isn’t actually.

Anyway, even if this all makes no sense to you, please cross your fingers that the fish are alive when we wake up in the morning.

tagged: fish pets aquarium emergency ph water chemistry ammonia spike

daniel · the wee hours · 3 comments · ping it

iPhone Emergency via minor9th.

tagged: links funny iphone apple emergency comic

daniel · lunch time · 1 comment · ping it

It all started on Thursday night. I had gotten home late from a long day at work. Richard had our friend Amy over. I visited a bit, checked email, and settled in to blog about my day. Pretty normal, except when I got back to the computer my site was down! I didn’t panic though. My host is like really awesome and saves my electronic ass all the time… So I sent him an ‘FYI, Site Down’ email and watched some TV. He reported back that not to worry, all should be back up in a bit. Erm. Okay. But before I went to bed he sent this:

hey daniel, you know that power outage in eastern missouri? that’s why you’re still down.

kmov_localnews

I think i have a super old backup on a different server on the server in texas, but it’s about a month old. :/

My server is in St. Louis?? That’s where dp.com lives?? Weird. Wait! Gah! Bad news… and it kept getting worse:

ST. LOUIS Dec 4, 2006 (AP)

tagged: blog weather emergency backups st.louis   happy

daniel · at some point · 1 comment · ping it