Because, why not? I mean, what better way to start the New\nYear than dealing with a cat who not only has a urinary tract infection, but\nalso hyperthyroidism. And for at least the near future will need two different\npills administered with her food. A cat who is already so picky about eating. To\nsay that she looks disdainfully at food she doesn\u2019t like would be an insult to\nthe word \u201cdisdain.\u201d An old cat, set in her ways. Stubbornness is hard-wired\ninto her DNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cat \u2013 Tea Grass \u2013 is up there in years already, and she\nhad started losing weight. Pretty dramatically. Suddenly skin and bones. We\nthought she was just picky. Because she is picky. The kind of picky that says,\n\u201cHey, I\u2019ll sooner starve to death than eat this slop you\u2019re serving.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And she\u2019s not even our cat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only, I need to get past that. She IS our cat. Our adopted\ncat who is probably 15 or 16 years old, and with her fella\u2019, Sunburst, was in\nneed of a home when her owner passed away. We just happened to have a front\nporch perfect for them. And when I said, \u201csure, they can take up residence\nthere,\u201d I pictured going out each morning and pouring some food in a bowl and\ncalling it a day. \u201cPorch cats are fed,\u201d I would proclaim to the world. \u201cNormal\nliving may resume with no impediments to enjoyment, regular routines or mental\nsanity. Hooray!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ah, that would be the life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that isn\u2019t life. Not as we know it. The simple kind,\nwith no extenuating circumstances. No nagging complications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, see, Tea Grass had to start getting real picky about\neating and consuming lots of water and acting lethargic. Time to go to the vet\nkind of stuff. Because, why not finish the year with a big vet bill and who\nknows what kind of prognosis on an old feline who isn\u2019t even technically mine.\nNo \u2026 no \u2026 have to get past that \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, ever take a cat to the vet? It is one of the three\nworst experiences known to man. Right behind being rolled over by a flaming boulder\nand being dropped in boiling acid. (Oh, and a couple of kids TV shows my\ndaughter used to watch.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Know this: If the horrendous kitty wailing doesn\u2019t get you \u2026\nwell \u2026 something else will go wrong. Like when you hear your daughter in the\nback seat say: \u201cSo, I\u2019m not sure why, but it looks like there\u2019s a lot of water\nat the bottom of the cat carrier. Is that normal?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Listen, kids: Nowhere in the galaxy is it \u201cnormal\u201d for there\nto be water at the bottom of an occupied kitty carrier. Cats hate water!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDid she PEE her carrier!?!\u201d I shouted, while trying to see\nin the rear view mirror, and nearly swerving into on-coming traffic. \u201cLook in\nthere and see!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh God!\u201d I heard from the back seat. \u201cIt\u2019s sloshing! It\u2019s\nSLOSHING!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because, why not? We were on a tight schedule. Real tight! We\nwere dropping my wife off at the eye doctor, then dropping the cat off and then\npicking up my nephew at a time-specific time. Like \u201cdon\u2019t be late\u201d time. And\nthere was little room for cat pee or trips home to clean up a critter before a\nvet delivery. (But you can\u2019t show up with a pee-drenched kitty carrier. It\u2019s\nlike saying you\u2019ve given up on life and just don\u2019t care anymore.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jump forward \u2026 kitty cleaned, dried and delivered \u2026 tests\nrun \u2026 verdict: UTI and hyperthyroidism \u2026 two different pills to administer \u2026\ngood luck \u2026 \u2018cus you\u2019re going to need it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is my life now,\u201d I remember thinking as I stood in the\nwaiting room staring at the pills, trying to remember which was which, and how\nI would get a stubborn eater to down either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I took her home, plopped the sad kitty next to her ragged\nboyfriend and thought I was just about at the end of my kitty hair rope. That\u2019s\nwhen the old man started comforting the little, ailing lady. He nuzzled her\nhead and licked her fur, like he sensed something was wrong and she needed a\nlittle TLC. It was sweet and warmed the heart, even if it seemed to annoy Tea\nGrass to no end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Couldn\u2019t everyone use a little bit of that? A little TLC?\nAnd is there no better way to start a New Year than by helping out a little\ncritter. Even if it meant daily pill trickery and jamming meds into clumps of salmon\npate\u2019 to get the picky one to eat. Because, why not? This is my life now. Happy\nNew Year and all. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Because, why not? I mean, what better way to start the New Year than dealing with a cat who not only has a urinary tract infection, but also hyperthyroidism. And for at least the near future will need two different pills administered with her food. A cat who is already so picky about eating. To say that she looks disdainfully at food she doesn\u2019t like would be an insult to the word \u201cdisdain.\u201d An old cat, set in her ways. Stubbornness is hard-wired into her DNA.<\/p>\n
The cat \u2013 Tea Grass \u2013 is up there in years already, and she had started losing weight. Pretty dramatically. Suddenly skin and bones. We thought she was just picky. Because she is picky. The kind of picky that says, \u201cHey, I\u2019ll sooner starve to death than eat this slop you\u2019re serving.\u201d <\/p>\n
And she\u2019s not even our cat.<\/p>\n
Only, I need to get past that. She IS our cat. Our adopted cat who is probably 15 or 16 years old, and with her fella\u2019, Sunburst, was in need of a home when her owner passed away. We just happened to have a front porch perfect for them. And when I said, \u201csure, they can take up residence there,\u201d I pictured going out each morning and pouring some food in a bowl and calling it a day. \u201cPorch cats are fed,\u201d I would proclaim to the world. \u201cNormal living may resume with no impediments to enjoyment, regular routines or mental sanity. Hooray!\u201d <\/p>\n
Ah, that would be the life. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[576,555,556],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2020-nutshells","category-animals","category-holidays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2026,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025\/revisions\/2026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}