Howdy all...tonight is so hard for me! My eldest "child" Oscar is having his teeth cleaned in the morning, and in order to do this properly, the vet has to put him under anesthesia. Well, as with we humans, this means nothing to eat or drink after 10 pm. WTF! I have five other cats who are used to eating anytime, anywhere and apparently constantly! I have had to take up all food and water, which has triggered some feline form of Pavlov's dog response...you know what I mean - when someone takes away the food, the first instinct is to want the food. So, these cats are hovering, pawing, scratching and totally grovelling for food. You would think that they are starving to death, which is not true - not even close. It actually proves how pathetically spoiled rotten they are...they don't know what it is to go without. They would never survive on the street. Stinker used to be able to, but he's gone all soft...literally. Squishy and, well, fat.
So I have about 25 minutes to go before I am finished at work and can go to bed. I think that will be my only escape, except for Mabel, who will vocalize her displeasure with the situation until I feed her. And she has some serious lung capabilities for such a little cat with one eye and a crooked tail. Well, the lungs aren't really affected by those little whimsical traits of hers, but it often sounds like she swallowed a megaphone. I can't take Oscar to the vet until 7:30 a.m.! The morning hours will be super tough. He usually wakes me up about 5:45 every morning for his first feeding of the day. I was planning on leaving at 5:46 to have him at the vet's office but we'd be there by 6 a.m. and I don't think anybody will be there yet. This really bites! I guess it's one thing to have one cat go without food and drink for 8 hours or so, but when there are five others who aggravate the situation, it just perpetuates into stress for me. I want to go to bed! I want to curl up in a fetal position with my head under a couple of pillows and pretend like I'm not there so they won't clamor up around me and try to kill me because they are starving. Oh and Oscar was just up on the counter scratching at something trying to get at his food but now he is "sharing" my office chair with me. I have raised Oscar from a baby that in times of trial and tribulation, we can just take a nap and things may or may not be okay when we wake up, but at least we escaped for a little while. In this case I am hoping for about 6 hours of sleep.
I'm a little worried about his anesthesia because I have deep-seated fears that he won't wake up. And then I will be so devastated. But the vet's assistant assured me when I made the appt that they do these quite a lot, and that they monitor very closely to make sure nothing goes wrong. Still...I know the risks of anesthesia. I also tell myself though that with his teeth nice and clean heading into his golden years, it may help prevent him from getting other diseases - abscesses of the teeth which lead to infection, then kidney failure, liver failure, and other organ damage...so I am huge on preventitive ways to stay healthy, for me and my pets!
So this is turning into a PSA for keeping your cat's teeth cleaned, when really I am dreading the inevitable. That siren that comes from Mabel's throat is going to be turned on when I try to pretend like everybody just ate like normal and that it's time for bed, like normal.
So for now I think I've dodged a little bullet, but it's just going to get harder. I will put food and water back down the second I have Oscar in the carrier so that my poor other kitties who will be wasting away to nothing by then can survive. Then I can feel sorry for the techs when I turn Oscar over to them. He is not a very good patient...think John McCain without his laxatives. The last time Oscar had an asthma attack he spent the weekend in an isolation bin at the emergency clinic, and when I came to pick him up the lady brought him out while she was wearing those falcon-proof gloves and some type of body armor. I was armed with a tiny blanket from the Humane Society with the picture of a sleeping puppy and kitty on it. She didn't care - she plopped him into my arms and took off. I just talked to Oscar and the sweet boy just melted in my arms. He is a momma's boy!
Tomorrow should be interesting but first I have to make it through the night...thanks for listening - it's time for bed!!!
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