February 21, 2007

  • Town and Cat Stuff

    Yesterday was a long strenuous day for me, so this might be a long tedious read for you.  Before dawn, Doug and I were preparing my car for the trip to the vet.  Tabby, whose spay surgery was scheduled, and her sister Fancy, who was due to have her sutures removed, were waiting together in the cute plush-covered, mesh-sided carrier Greyfox had salvaged and I had repaired.

    First, Doug took the kennel out to the car, with a litter box taking up about a third of its floor space and a folded blanket covering the rest.  After I started the car and warmed it up some (the temp was near zero F), Doug carried Fancy (still wearing her plastic cone Elizabethan collar) out and put her in the kennel where she would spend the day riding around with me until her 4 PM appointment.

    Tabby, who would be getting dropped off at 8 AM for her surgery, was going to ride in the carrier, up front with me.  However, when Doug came out the door with her, she was riding in a pillowcase, not in the mesh-sided carrier.  While he had been outside putting Fancy in the kennel, Tabby had torn a hole in the mesh of her carrier.

    We have another carrier, a Kitty Cabby®, lightweight foldaway corrugated plastic thing that was already in the car ready for Fancy’s use later in the afternoon.  Doug got it unfolded and into the front seat with Tabby in it, and after the doors were closed in case of an escape attempt, I opened the Cabby and let Tabby out of the pillowcase.  That’s when I noticed that the case Doug had grabbed was a dirty one that had been kicked around on the floor of the car throughout several weeks and at least one water run since a previous trip to the vet.

    The ride to town was uneventful.  About the only notable part of it was that the sky was already beginning to lighten in the east when I left home, and it was nearly sunrise by the time I got to Wasilla.  The previous five trips to the vet in the past couple of months, getting Hilary and Fancy examined, immunized and spayed, had all started in pre-dawn darkness and had ended in darkness as well.  This time of year, days are lengthening fast, and we can even feel some warmth from the sun when it is up.

    As I pulled into the strip at Felony Flats, I noticed a pair of bright signs on a cabin.  One said “private property, no trespassing,” with another below saying, “beware of the dog.”  Hmmmm, I thought, someone’s kinda paranoid.  Then I noticed identical pairs of signs on every cabin.  Maybe Mike, the owner, got a deal on a wholesale lot of signs.  They do sorta lose their impact in the aggregate like that, though. 

    After coffee at Greyfox’s cabin, I made a quick trip up the hill to a big box store for cat food, kitty litter and a few other items while he did some chores at his place, then we went out for breakfast.  The choice of cafe was determined by my diet because it is the only one we know of that has some more healthful alternatives to the usual hash browns and toast staples. 

    We will probably find someplace else to try next time because the Windbreak currently has a lousy unskilled cook who keeps the grill too hot.  Greyfox’s bacon and sausage were charred, and the eggs were brown and rubbery outside, runny inside.  He sent his back and asked for scrambled eggs that time because scrambled is harder to ruin.  I’d ordered scrambled eggs to begin with because that same cook had messed up my over-easy order on a previous visit, so I didn’t have to send mine back.

    Greyfox had a computer reserved for 1 PM at the library, which gave us enough time after breakfast for a trip to the Salvation Army store.  I was looking for a clean and sturdy pillowcase in which to take Fancy in for her appointment.  The other one was truly filthy and I would have been ashamed to use it.  No pillowcases at Sally Ann yesterday, but I found two cheap paperbacks (The Vicar of Wakefield, which I’ve never read, and a mystery novel).  I hesitated for a while over a hardbound copy of Ron Strickland’s book, Alaskans.  It cost a whole dollar, but after thumbing through it and finding a few essays about people I know and some other interesting or inspiring stories that are new to me, I decided to splurge on it. 

    At the checkout, the clerk read the title aloud, “Alaskans, life on the last frontier,” and Greyfox looked askance at me, muttering, “as if you need that.”  Feeling a little defensive, I said, “Well, I thumbed through it and there are some people in there I know, so….”  Greyfox just shook his head and grinned, but the guy behind the counter looked impressed and said, “Really?!?”  Maybe he’s new here and doesn’t yet know that this is just a huge spread-out small town and you can’t live here very long without getting to know a few people.

    I took Greyfox to Blockbuster to return some videos, then did my grocery shopping before dropping him at the library.  While he was using the public computer to do his moderating at totse, I went on in search of a clean pillowcase.  I found several, including a big long one for my body pillow, plus a pair of longjohns and couple of pillows for this ergonomic office chair, so that now it’s easier to focus on the monitor through my bifocals without getting a crick in my neck.  The new cushion for the kneeler is designed to look like a huge sneaker, but I can live with that.

    Picked up Greyfox at the library, checked out a new supply of books to get me through the two weeks until the next town trip, dropped Greyfox and his purchases at his cabin, zipped back up to the big box store for last minute frozen foods, then out to the vet after a short side trip into the Flats to give Greyfox back the handicapped parking placard he’d forgotten to take with him.  After pulling Fancy out of the kennel and stuffing her and her cone-collar into her spiffy new beige and purple pillowcase (no easy trick), I was about two minutes early for the appointment.

    Straight home after paying the vet’s bill and putting a drowsy Tabby in the kennel, I fought strong headwinds and crosswinds all the way.  By the time I got here I was ready to collapse.  That was not to be, however.  Doug had been up all night Monday and had slept on the couch by the woodstove while I was in town, so he could awaken easily to keep the fire going.  He was only partially successful.  The house was warm when I got here, but the fire was almost out.  It took both of us and a couple of firestarters (trioxane bars, made for heating MREs) to get it going, and by then the house wasn’t warm any more.

    While Fancy had been in the convalescent kennel in Doug’s room, segregated from the other cats for two weeks, I had forgotten what a chow hound she is.  She was all over me as I ate dinner.  My tortilla dripped a little melted cheese, and she caught it before it hit the plate – good predatory instincts for a house cat.

    Now it’s Fancy’s sister Tabby’s turn to be shut in.  She had been in heat, the vet discovered yesterday, uterus enlarged and ovaries active, so the surgery came in the nick of time.  I’d suspected it, even though she hadn’t exhibited any receptive behavior.  The tomcats were trailing her fairly consistently. 

    Now, the only threat of kittens looming on the horizon here comes from semi-feral Alice, one of the original ABC kittens (Alice, Bobo, and Cecil) from Hilary’s first litter.  She had moved out as she was reaching maturity, apparently unable to get along with her mother and the two old queens, Granny Mousebreath and Muffin. 

    Occasionally last summer, I saw her perched on the edge of our roof, but she never came in.  We assumed she had joined the feral colony in an abandoned house nearby.  After being gone for months, one night she was back.  Hearing a cat scrabbling at the door, Doug opened it and in she bustled.  She’d stay long enough to eat, get a drink of water, and hiss and growl at her mother and siblings. 

    She earned herself a new name, Malice, which eventually became Malice O’Fourfoot.  We keep food and water out for the feral cats, but sometimes Malice comes in.  She is sweet and affectionate towards us, and positively cuddly with Koji the dog, but still hostile to all the other cats.  When she visits us she keeps to herself in a private little spot on a fairly inaccessible shelf in an out-of-the-way corner of the bathroom.  She is obviously pregnant now, and we don’t want her kittens born in here, but since she is able to open the front door herself the reality is that it just might happen here.

    I have some dog stuff to write about, too, but I’ll save it.  I far exceeded my fatigue limits the last two days.  Monday, I used up every available erg at my command just to change my sheets and get a shower, so I started that town trip with an energy deficit.  I was irritable and uncoordinated all day. Muscles burn today and don’t obey me.  I need to rest up a bit.

Comments (5)

  • beautiful cats….. boy you had a busy day…glad you made it back and now you can rest up…hugs…

  • Hang in there, darlin’–and take your meds!

    Love ya!

  • Very interesting blog. I have 2 cats and a trip to the vet is a busy and tiring time for me, but nothing like what you have to go thru. Bless you for caring for the feral cats. We have several here where I am too.

    I hope you get your rest and the fire stays burning. Happy Trails.

  • The joys of having a collection of felines, thanks for the input.

  • Amazing what pets put us through to keep care of them.  Sounds like your hands are more than full fixing everyone.  Good looking kitty.  I like the calico colors.

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