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Monday, January 28, 2013

A Sad Day

We are so sad to let you know that our Sammy-Joe went to the Rainbow Bridge today.
He died at home, with the help of a wonderful Laps Of Love vet. Mama says she will write more about it but now she is so sad and has to lay down. We are all going to snuggle on the couch for a while.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Mama Consults A Psychic

It's me, Sammy-Joe again! Thanks everyone for your kind words and thoughts on our posts! I wanted to give you another update on how I'm doing.

Mama did something kinda funny! I don't know if she ever told you this, but a long time ago when our big sister Chopper was still here with us, Mama talked to a pet psychic. She said it was eerie because the pet psychic (who was over the phone and had never met Mama or Chopper) was able to tell her a bunch of small little details Mama would have never thought to tell her about... like the fact that Mama had just recently bought Chopper a new bed. Chopper had never had her own bed before, because she usually slept with the humans, but as she got older Mama wanted to get her a bed to make her comfy when she was lying around on the floor. The psychic said that Chopper showed her a red, rectangle shaped dog bed, and said that she really liked it and that it was very comfortable! (We still have that bed... Trixie and Lily sleep on it sometimes now!) The psychic also said that Chopper showed herself being fed some skinny orange little sticks and that she really liked him... that day Mama had been eating carrots and ranch and had shared several of her baby carrots with Chopper! Much later, when Mama got Trixie, she talked to the same psychic, who was able to describe Trixie's weird habit of jumping around in circles, chasing her tail and shaking her head.

So. I think it is a little silly because, as you can see, Mama talks to us all the time, such as when she helps us write this blog. But when it comes to really important things, Mama wants to make sure she really gets it right. So she called a pet psychic (a different one before... this one has her own online radio show and Mama actually got to be in ths show so the call was free!)

Mama wanted to know if I was in any pain and how I was feeling lately, and if there was anything she could do for me to make me happier. The psychic told Mama that I wasn't feeling like I was in pain, but that I had kind of a tight feeling in my stomach. She told Mama that I enjoy eating cut-up people food. (That is definitely true... Mama cuts up a little bit of her meat for me every time she has it, and I wolf it down. Isn't it funny how both me and Chopper wanted to talk about our favorite people food?) She said that I feel like I don't want to go to the Rainbow Bridge yet because I want to stay here and take care of my Mama. (That is very true. I don't want Mama to be sad. I know how sad she got when  Chopper went to the bridge, and I know she will be just as sad if I go, because I am her very special kitty boy.)

The psychic also told Mama to look for a better quality of food for me. I've been eating Meow Mix all my life, because when Mama was younger she liked the Meow Mix commercial and I liked the food and whenever she tried to change it on me I got mad. But as of late I got to switch to Meow Mix wet food, which was even better than the dry food! And the psychic said to look for a food that does not have as much wheat in it. Mama says the wet Meow Mix doesn't have as much wheat as the dry food, but she still decided to look for something new. Last week she started giving me Nutro wet food, and today she brought home some wet food called... you'll never believe this... Chicken Soup For The Kitten Lover's Soul! (She gets me kitten food because she thinks it will have more protein and be gentler on my stomach.)

Last night I didn't feel much like eating. Even when Mama gave me some cut-up porkchop, I didn't really want to eat it. (Don't tell Mama, but the real reason I didn't want to eat it was because it was really, really dry!) But Mama was a little worried about me, and she came in and had a long talk with me. She told me that she loves me so much, but if I want to go to the Bridge I should go whenever I want to. She said she'll be really sad, but that she'll kind of feel not as sad because she knows that Chopper is there waiting for me. (Chopper and me were best friends... not like these newer dogs who get on my nerves!) Then she hugged me and petted me and kissed my ears. I felt bad because I knew she was trying hard not to cry. So I stood up and gobbled down the dry porkchop pieces, just to make her feel better!

Mama wants me to let you know I am definitely not miserable or anything like that. I am happy and walking around, and I stand on top of Grampa's work bench and wait for her every morning when she gets out of bed, and I still love catnip and Mama just bought me a new mouse with catnip inside! So I am a happy kitty. And all your kind thoughts make me even happier!

Love,
Sammy-Joe

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Sammy-Joe's Vet Visit

Hi everyone! Sammy-Joe here! I read all of your comments, and thanks, everyone, for caring about me! I don't even feel like I am sick, but I know Mama has been very worried. 
Mama has been telling me that she was going to take me to a special doctor just for kitties. I was a little nervous about that! And it turns out, there was a good reason to be nervous!
First we had to stay there for ninety million years two hours because even though Mama asked the other vet to fax over my records, their fax machine was broken or something and the faxes weren't coming. We kept waiting and waiting. I heard other cats meowing all around me, and it was freaking me out! I used to live with other kitties when I was a kitten, but I haven't seen another cat in person for about 12 years! I know that's a little weird, but I just don't do kitty playdates. 
Then the nurse came in to take my temperature. At my usual vet, they use an ear thermometer, which isn't too bad. I usually just hide my head in Mama's armpit while they do it. But at this vet, they use a different kind of thermometer. 
THEY STUCK IT IN MY BUTT!!!!!!!!!
I got really angry then! It took two nurses to hold me down while they finished taking my temperature. I was trying to bite them. Mama got really nervous then, because they said, if I bit someone, I'd have to stay at the vet for rabies observation! Luckily I didn't manage to bite anyone. 
Then the evil meanies nurses went away for a while, and I had some time to explore the room. I walked around growling, the whole time. Mama really tried to help me calm down. She even put her coat on the floor for me to lay on! But I would have none of it. 
The real horror started when the veterinarian came in. My Mama picked me up so the doctor could look at me, but I just kept hissing and flapping my paws around, and when the doctor tried to hold me I jumped away. Then the mean nurses came back in. 
One of the nurses opened a cabinet to get something. I saw my chance! I jumped into the cabinet and tried to hide! The nurses were reaching in and trying to get me, and I was yowling and spitting and hissing and trying to bite them! When they managed to pick me up by trapping me under my carrier (I have a carrier that is more like a gym bag with screens for me to see and breathe out of) I was acting even crazier! I was so scared. I would have done anything just to get out of there. 
Then the worst thing happened. THEY PUT A MUZZLE ON ME! It went over my eyes and mouth and I couldn't even see. The two nurses were holding me down while the doctor looked at me. I was screaming through the muzzle, "Let me go! Let me go!" 
Mama was embarassed because I had never acted like that before at the other vet's office. Also she was upset that I was so afraid. Mama wanted to call it quits and take me home. But something even worster had happened. Somehow in all my freaking out, I cut my paw! The doctor couldn't get it to stop bleeding right away. It was only a little blood, but the doctor said he didn't want it to get infected. So he put medicine on it, and then he put a bandage on it! 
Finally they put me back in my carrier and took the muzzle off. I was so happy, I calmed down right away. But I didn't like the bandage. I kept shaking my paw and trying to flick it off. 
Now I am at home. I am llayiing in my kitty bed and hiding my bandaged paw from everyone. Mama wanted to take a picture of it, but I said no. (Maybe later, unless I figure out a way to get it off!) 
Next time Mama says she wants to take me to the vet, I am going to bite her nose!
Me in bed, hiding my paw from the camera
Note from Mama: Yep, all this is true. Sammy-Joe was acting like Satan's Spawn at the vet. He was even spitting at them! I really expected his head to spin around at any minute. I kept telling the vet and nurses, "He has never acted like this before!" I don't think they believed me. 
As for the outcome... because they never managed to get his medical records from the usual vet, they couldn't decipher his blood test results for me. But they did do a physical exam, and they found a mass in his belly. The vet thought it might be in his spleen. The good news is, if it is only in his spleen, he could get an operation and get the tumor (and possibly his spleen, which is rather useless anyways) removed. 
I really have to think about it, because besides it being expensive (I would pay every drop of money I have for him to get better, but I can't spend more than I actually earn, and I don't have a credit card) I'm worried about him being put under anesthesia for an operation. They also said he might have a heart murmur. I would be afraid that the anesthesia itself could kill him. Plus, the way he acted today for just a thermometer in his butt, I would hate to have to torture him with a full operation! 
If anyone has any input, I would really love to hear it. 
Thanks, as always, for all your comments! I have a job now that really isn't going so well, and sometimes when I come home I just can't force myself to do anything but sleep. (I'm on winter break now, so that's why I've been a little more energetic.) But I will definitely keep everyone posted on Sammy-Joe and the others. 
Love, 
Nicki

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