Pro Cat stinating...

I need to get Biggie into the carrier so he can go get his pain shot. I am not looking forward to it.

We had a lovely evening and night. I coaxed him out from under the sofa and we had some snuggles and then he went under the bed. When I was ready to get in it, he came out easily and spent the night with me on top of the bed. It was lovely.

He's now under it again. Meal delivery service ended yesterday. He knows where his food it. It's there now - on the hearth - waiting for him.

I finally sent a note to the designer who helped me with my shower last year asking him about screen installation. He's going to ask the contractor he works with. I might also go to Home Depot and see if I can determine the complexity of installing one myself. Of course the real complexity is getting the fucker home in a smart car.

I'm grateful for cool weather that enables me to keep the door closed comfortably. I do like it open at night and so far the Bird King has not discovered this. But when he does that's going to end without a screen. The tree is still full of leaves and birds. Sigh.

I may to to the vets office that's got Whole Foods on the way and pop in and grab some orange juice. But that's it for plans. Mainly I just want to get Biggie to the vet and home with minimal trauma. Then we don't have to go again until Monday.

It was exactly 1 week ago today that he took his flying leap.

Ad VEnT enures!!

Once Biggie got wind of the plan, he would have NOTHING to do with the carrier. I mean NOTHING. So then I remembered an emergency carrier someone gave me once and, shockingly, I remembered where it was.

It's really actually pretty clever. Cat Bag.



The neck adjusts with velcro. You can actually pull his front legs out the shoulders (also closed with velcro) but I didn't and then the ass end zips.

I was able to get him into this and so he went to the vent in a cat bag!!



He didn't like going at all but he didn't seem to mind the bag much. Riding in the car was fine cause he could watch. The people in the vets office thought it was pretty funny.

He got his shot and was fine about it. So we stopped at the grocery store. I plopped him into the grocery trolly for the trip from the car to home. Nestled among the chips!



So now we're home. All is fine. I put him in front of his food and he licked it and then moved on. He's now in the hall.

Oh and ding ding ding on those who guessed drugs sending him into the dark! A side effect of the pain medication is that it dilates his eyes. So there ya have it.

He's getting around fine and dandy. We go back on Monday.

I did hear from the retractable screen door guy. He left a voice mail in response to my email. (strike one) but I've pretty much decided against retractable.

Yes, I do know Home Depot delivers - it does not deliver the screen doors I'm looking at and will not install them. BUT I will go to the store and look and ask anyway. There are more than a few services that will pick it up and the store and deliver it to me.

I may go up there this afternoon.

Mike and Christian - solutionators!!

I made 10 breakfast burritos. And cleaned up the kitchen. And checked on Biggie who is under the bed.

I did end up talking to the retractable door guy and he agreed I was right. "It should keep out most pets but if the pet is bound and determined to get outside, it might not be the best solution." How Biggie is that description?!

Then I went to Home Depot. There I met Mike aka, Answer Man!! He showed me the door. And he showed me a pet protection grill and he showed me how to marry the two! And then he said "you could just rent a Home Depot truck for $20 to get them home". WHAT??? Yep. I did not even think of that.

(He also said that while I could not order either of them for home shipping, they actually would deliver but it would be $80+ while the truck rentals are only $20.)

3:15 pm is too late for me to do anything this complicated. So I figured tomorrow would be fine. I looked at their rental vehicles - ugh but I only have to go a mile down the same street to my house. No biggie.

I got home and sent a note to Christian telling him I'd solved the problem and no need for him to pursue. I told him what my solution was and he said he'd go get it for me! So I ordered up the door and the grill and Christian's going to go get them when the order is ready!!

Mike said that installation could not be more simple especially since I didn't even need/want a latch.

That Home Depot truck rental thing tho. Genius and so good to know!

Tonight's Biggie Lesson

Old watery food is not going to cut it. He never finished the food I left out for him this morning. I just left it. It's mostly water anyway.

He was still under the bed so I went in to see if he was pissed at me for the whole carrier/vet situation. But, no, he came right out for snuggles. We snuggled and then I got up and went to pee and then went into the kitchen. I assumed he went back under the bed.

While I was in the kitchen I heard a thump and the next thing I knew he was on the dining room table! I put him down on the floor and he got right back up there. I waited to see why. He made his way over to a stack of books that had his surgery collar on top of them. He knocked the collar off and just looked and then I realized he was looking for food. When he was wearing the collar last week when he first came home, I put the food bowl on top of those very books (on the floor)! He must have remembered. So weird.

So I went back into the kitchen to get him some fresh food and he jumped up from the floor to the kitchen counter!! I mixed the food with water and put it down in the dark hallway. He ate a bit but then meowed loudly and left the rest.

Back to the kitchen and pulled out some el chepo 9 Lives chicken and added NO water and crushed up a bit of his favorite dry food. It does not crush well and there were chunks.

Which, apparently, was exactly what he wanted. The jaw is now, officially, working and back in business. He ate a whole lot more and has now moved on to the litter box. All systems are up an operational! Wild.

His new screen door is going to be a fine recovery gift.

I have not had as many steps this past week since I have only gone to the vet pretty much. BUT I have had a bunch of getting down on the floor and back up again - a bunch. This is not an easy maneuver for me between old age and obesity but I'm getting better and it's actually getting a little easier.

And finally feet. My feet have been behaving lately. My new chair helps keep them up more easily and the cold air helps keep them covered. Two months ago exactly, they were fat sausages. They actually looked way worse than this photo. Now they are the correct size with no more skin lesions. They have not even been bothering much on the treadmill so yeah.