We're back from the vet. Mycah didn't complain at all about going, and in fact purred quite a bit, which is rather unusual for her. She's usually best described as "sullen" — maybe she just liked having some time away from Kismet and Packet.

She has more of an appetite than she had yesterday, but she's moving pretty poorly. She usually has a bit of a spring in her step, and "bunny hops" her way up the stairs. Not so, yesterday and today. She's slow and deliberate going up and down the stairs.

The vet didn't see any injury that might be responsible for her slow-down, and she didn't appear to be limping, nor does she have one of her periodic ingrown claws. What we did find is that Mycah's dropped some weight, down to 14 pounds. Still too heavy, but that much weight loss in just a couple of months might be a concern, given her diabetes and hyperthyroidism. And of course we need to be concerned about her kidneys, as well as the possibility of cancer.

The vet took blood to send to the lab, and tried to get urine, but as usual, Mycah was uncooperative in that regard.

The vet did say to let Mycah eat as much as she wants, whenever and whatever she wants — including human food. I'd better not catch her making eyes at my chicken dinner tonight... but if I have to share, so be it.

Mondays. Ugh.

Most people dislike Mondays because that's when they return to their humdrum jobs.

I dislike them because Mondays are the days I do all my chores — take out the trash, vacuum the house, do laundry, and so on. I try to get groceries on Mondays, as well, but it doesn't always work out that way. So, for the rest of the day, I'll be puttering around the house.

On the whole, though, I'm glad to be able to do as much as I can. Not too long ago, of course, I was incapable of all but the easiest household task. They aren't easy for me now, but they're getting to be less difficult. I can't believe how much better I am than I ever expected, and I'm grateful for it.

Tuesday, though, I am going to try to have a little fun — I'm going to do my utmost to make a trip to the rifle range. It's been about two years since I've been able to go, and I have some much-neglected hardware that needs to be given a workout. I'm confident I can schlep my wheeled hard-shell rifle case from the parking lot into the range, and once there I ought to be able to handle the usual walking up- and down-range target placement and marking activities.

My only concerns are the temperature — the range, indoors, has fans but no A/C — and the smoothness/slickness of the concrete floor. Too smooth and/or slick, and my cane will be slipping around. That would be a Bad Thing, indeed.

I may have to postpone, though; Mycah's not being her usual self. She seemed to be a bit off her feed at breakfast time today, she hadn't used the litterbox since last night, she's not been so stand-offish with Kismet and Packet, and she's moving a bit slower than normal. I had to call her repeatedly to come down for breakfast; usually, she's there ahead of me meowing with anticipation. I need to keep an eye on her today and make sure she's just having a bad day, as opposed to actually being unwell.

She had her 13th birthday just a month ago, but that doesn't necessarily make her an elderly cat quite yet. I'm more concerned about the diabetes and, to a lesser degree, her hyperthyroidism. Kidneys are a cat's weak spot, I think, so I really need to keep an eye on her potty behaviour. I hope the old girl has a few more years left in her. Kismet and Packet need to be swatted from time to time, and she's just the girl to do it.

Coincidentally, she has a vet appointment for tomorrow for her 6-month checkup. We'll see what the vet says.

Mycah's Potty Update: She used the litterbox while I was off doing my chores. She didn't just whiz, she whi-i-i-izzed. No poo yet, though. And she refused to come downstairs for her evening feeding. Not good.

More video of the lads.

They wrestle a lot, almost always as an effort by each to groom the other.

Maybe that's why Kismet grooms my head at night when I'm in bed — I don't fight back.

An award — this makes it two Fridays in a row. Clearly, we need to start being nicer to more people more often.

From Skittles the Huntress:

Aww... 't'weren't nuthin'.

Friday. Ark. Be there.

You've got to love the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos, this week at Mind of Mog.

Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this week by Samantha Black & Mr. Tigger.

Yesterday I went to do my grocery shopping. As usual, when leaving the house, I had to go out the front door and open the garage from the outside, because when I go directly out to the garage through the door that opens off the kitchen, Kismet and Packet race each other to go out to the garage, and I'm just not quick enough to get out and close the door before they get out.

When they get out into the garage, it then takes me ten minutes to wrangle them back into the house, before I can then open the garage door, start the truck, and leave. I don't often have that much time to burn.

I ultimately got home and opened the door into the kitchen. As usual, the lads had heard the garage door opener, and were waiting in the kitchen for me to open the door. I did, and they zipped out into the garage, as usual. And as usual, I wondered what the attraction was.

Just a couple of minutes later, while I was putting away the groceries, Kismet came in and showed me what was so interesting in the garage: he'd caught and dispatched a lizard. Fortunately, I'd left my camera downstairs.

At the beginning, you can see he's "on point" — I couldn't see what he was looking at, but I think it was either Mycah or Packet checking out his acquisition.

The ex-lizard had already bought the farm — kicked the bucket, shuffled off this mortal coil, rung down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible — but Kismet wanted to play more with his new toy.

It seems like he doesn't quite know what to do with it.

Me, I just wanted to get the little corpse away from him before he could take it upstairs and deposit it in my bed.

Eventually I distracted him (thank you, keychain laser) and was able to give the late lamented lizard a quick watery funeral.

Mycah is the queen huntress around these parts, but she clearly has some competition.

Kismet excels at catching flying bugs; the ground-dwelling variety, as well, have good reason to fear his attentions.

I don't know that he ate the cricket. I heard no crunching, and I haven't found any remains — but I haven't heard any chirping, either.

Well, whattya know... we've received an award from our dear friend Moki. Be sure to read all the latest news on Moki's medical matters, which are very similar to what I've had to deal with.

And I'd consider it a personal favor if you'd hit the orange "donate" button there and do a little something to help with the vet bills.

"This award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creativity and their talents, also for contributing to the blogging world in whatever medium." *

They say that when you receive this award it is considered a special honor. It sure feels like it.

There are, of course, rules for passing this honor on, which are as follows:

1. Pick five blogs that you would like to award this honor to. [I generally suck at this, so I'll skip this step for the moment. When I make up my mind, I'll pass it along.]
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone. [See previous note.]
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link to "Arte y Pico" blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

I'll work on my list.

If it's Friday (and you know it is!) it's time to board The Modulator's Friday Ark.

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is at Pet’s Garden Blog.

The Carnival of the Cats is at CatSynth with Amar and Luna on Sunday.

I'm convinced Kismet would be an amazingly effective hunter, were he allowed out of the house. His feather-on-a-string chasing skills are the stuff of legend.

Here we see him keeping his eye on one of the few (so far) winged bugs that has made it into the house this summer:

He later caught it mid-air in a flying leap off my recliner. Quite amazing — I wish I'd captured the moment. Then he ate it. Thoroughly disgusting.

At least he didn't leave a mess for me to clean up.

Board the Friday Ark at The Modulator.

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is hosted by Samantha & Mr. Tigger.

On Sunday the Carnival of the Cats will be at Artsy-Catsy.

Someone has been a bad kitty cat. The fireplace was invaded and ash tracked all over the family room carpet.

Was it Packet? He's looking awfully smug about something.

No, I have no evidence that he did anything wrong.

Could it have been Kismet? I detect a bit of a guilty look to him.

His guilt is written all over his face.

In ash.

Board the Friday Ark at The Modulator.

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is at Kashim & Othello’s.

The Carnival of the Cats is going to House Panthers on Sunday.

Happy birthday, Mycah. I know a furry little girl who will be having some tuna on her plate tonight.

I hope she has many more good years.

Mom's cat Bounce has been unwell. She stopped eating, using the litterbox, and grooming herself.

Today is her final trip to the vet. Mom is with her there now.

So long, Bounce. Good girl.

Shortly before going to bed last night (this morning, really) I came down with a fever and aches. Swell. At least it didn't wait until my weekend starts at midnight tonight. I can work through being unwell, but I hate losing my days off to illness. I have too much to do.

I think I need to have my shunt adjusted. When I occasionally cough or sneeze, I feel what might be described as a pressure spike in my head — a momentary pang, like a headache that comes and goes in a split second. I think there's still a bit too much pressure in there.

I keep making progress at physical therapy, and my reward is more weight on my ankles, or newer more difficult exercises.

The birds in my neighborhood are retarded. They start chirping about two hours before sunrise — right outside my bedroom window. The feathered buggers can make it hard to get to sleep.

A thunderstorm in the wee hours of the morning, however shuts them right up... and I have no trouble falling asleep if it's thundering or pouring rain.

The cats get a bit nervous, though. Kismet curls up tightly right against me, and Packet stretches out on the bed as well. Mycah would come up, but she rarely ever voluntarily approaches the lads.

They, on the other hand, continually try to make friendly with her. It's particularly noticeable at feeding time. I call "food!" and the cats know it's time to go downstairs. Packet races down to the bottom of the stairs and flops down. Kismet positions himself on the landing halfway down. Mycah follows behind me as I go down — she gives Packet a brief hiss and heads down past him... and he follows, batting at her tail. She then gets to the bottom of the stairs ahead of me, and has a few words with Packet, who lays there oblivious to her demand that he move out of her way. It's as if he is daring her to approach him... but he eventually gets out of the way.

Food seems to be the great unifier, though. When the hairball treats are being distributed, Mycah has no objection whatever to the lads' immediate presence. Once the treats are gone, though, the hissing starts again... but she's getting better. Eventually she'll tolerate the lads.

Work starts in a couple of minutes. Sundays are usually pretty quiet, but this week so far has been fairly heinous. I can work through the fever and headache... but I'd rather have a nice night where no part of the network breaks. Ya, right. We have 30,000+ routers under management — something will go wrong at some point.

OK, I just logged on and I see that it has been slow so far today. I guess we got most of it out of our system over the past week.

Have a good Sunday, folks.

Update: the Fates laugh at me. I just spent three hours trying to figure out a routing problem on the core backbone, and what to do about it.

Yes, I fixed it. Bloody nuisance.

I've always thought Mycah was a pretty cute girl.

Via my referrer logs, I see there's another Mycah out there... with two M's in "Emmerson," as opposed to the just one in use hereabouts.

There must be something about the name "Mycah."

Mycah has been busy fending off the lads' advances. They want to be as friendly and playful with her as they are with each other. Packet's method is to race ahead and flop down on the floor in her path when she's on the move, while Kismet's favored technique is to follow her and attempt to bat at her tail.

She, of course, will have none of it. Not yet, anyway.

Her proximity alarms usually don't go off until the lads are within swatting range, but when she does get unhappy, she gets vocal, hissing and occasionally growling, with the occasional swat. She's never made so much noise before, except when wanting to be fed.

Usually she'll just give a half-second hiss as she walks by one of the lads, or one walks past her, but I'd swear she barked at Packet the other day when he was blocking her path away from the litter box. She actually made a woof sound at him. He took the hint, and moved out of her way.

(See also.)

She's mellowing, though. When she thinks no one is watching, she'll sniff at the lads, and when daily hairball treats are being distributed, she'll tolerate being shoulder to shoulder with them. Food, of course, would be her priority.

A furry fighter's battle ends.

It's Friday, so don't forget to board the Modulator's Friday Ark.

This week's Carnival of the Cats is at Mind of Mog.

For your daily cat needs, visit the Cat Blogosphere.

Packet and Kismet can — and do — go from placid to playful in the blink of an eye.

Ready....

Wrestle!

It's Friday, so don't forget to board the Modulator's Friday Ark.

This week's Carnival of the Cats is at... the Carnival of the Cats!

And every day, you can visit the Cat Blogosphere. Make it a regular stop for all things feline.

Exciting times here for the new guys.

I acquired — and managed to get up the stairs — a cat tree. The lads are all over it.

That thing is heavy. I hope the boys appreciate just how difficult it was for me to get it upstairs.

Board the Friday Ark at The Modulator.

The Carnival of the Cats this week is at Kashim & Othello's place.

Every day, there is the Cat Blogosphere. Make it a regular stop for all things feline.

Packet has become a TV junkie. Cat Sitter is his favorite DVD so far.

Rodents and birds are not the only things he likes to watch. He seems to enjoy Good Eats as much as I do, and he's a regular Red Eye viewer. He's a big fan of ombudsman Andy Levy.

He's probably hoping to get an autographed picture of Andy's cats, Pixel and Stormy.

Start your weekend at The Modulator's Friday Ark.

The Carnival of the Cats this week is hosted at the M-cats Club.

And as always, for your every day cat needs, a visit to the Cat Blogosphere is recommended.

Kismet says a very quick hello.

I really need to get a longer vid of him at his most talkative, but when the camera comes out, he goes quiet. Uncooperative little cuss.

Check out the neat goodies that are being raffled off at Cat Friends Helping Friends.

Don't miss the Friday Ark at The Modulator.

The Carnival of the Cats this week is hosted by our friends at Artsy Catsy.

And as always, for your every day cat needs, a visit to the Cat Blogosphere is recommended.

... another trip to the vet.

Today is Mycah's turn. She's a good deal harder to wrangle than are the lads, if for no other reason than she's on to me.

She can tell when I'm trying to get her set to go to the vet. She can tell when the Prisoner Transport Unit is intended for actual transportation.

The fact that the Nice Lady Doctor always treats her very well means nothing to her. She simply doesn't want to go.

Her appointment is for 2pm... I'd better start herding her now if I plan on getting her there on time.

"You want me to go where?!?!?

"Certainly you jest."

Don't miss the Friday Ark at The Modulator.

The Carnival of the Cats this week will be hosted by a pack of Bad Kitty Cats.

And as always, for your every day cat needs, a visit to the Cat Blogosphere is recommended.

Kismet had his followup at the vet yesterday. As you may recall, he developed an upper respiratory infection, with what appeared to be a swollen lymph node under his armpit.

Though he's still a tiny bit wheezy, the antibiotics seem to be doing their job. Kismet struggles against being pilled, like every cat I've ever tried it with, but once the pill is in he swallows it right down, accompanied by a round of tummy rubbing and repeated "good boy."

The vet did not, however, like the armpit lump, which appears to have expanded. It looks like it's within the loose skin, and doesn't seem to be causing the lad any discomfort, but it's grown rather a lot in the past week.

We have another followup on Monday next. The vet will perform a biopsy to try to figure out just what we're dealing with here.

I knew that taking on two new cats would inevitably lead to veterinary issues. I just wasn't expecting them quite so soon.

He's such a sweet little cat; always poking his nose into everything, playing with Packet, curious about Mycah (who is still a bit stand-offish), chatting constantly, and very affectionate. I sure hope that whatever it is under his arm isn't too serious.

I expected that last post to generate a bit more by way of discussion. Perhaps I should have held it for a weekday instead of posting it on Saturday.

If there's one thing I've learned recently, it's that if you want a lot of visits and comments, put up a picture of a cat. Fortunately, I now have three of the furballs to photograph, and they are photogenic... but not every day is Cat Day here.

Oddly, however, this week is Cat Week for me, as all three are making trips to the vet, on three separate days. Mycah has followup blood work to be done, Packet has his first checkup with our vet (the amazing Dr. Jennifer Hodge of the Cat Clinic of Cary — if you're in the area, I recommend them highly), and Kismet, who went in for his checkup last week, has a followup for his upper respiratory infection.

Kismet had weepy eyes and was a bit sneezy last week; when he emptied his snotlocker on my shirt one afternoon, I decided to get him checked out a bit earlier than originally scheduled. Along with the respiratory symptoms, what appeared to be a swollen (perhaps infected) lymph node was found in his armpit. As a result, he's been on a twice-daily regimen of a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

Further, blood was taken for lab work, and the results show that he's got antibodies for corona virus, but it doesn't look like an active infection, but rather a past exposure. I informed the folks at the adoption center, just in case.

In any event, he seems pretty well. He's less sneezy, but the lump in his armpit hasn't gone away. We'll be getting that checked out at the followup visit tomorrow.

All that said, here's your daily dose of cat: Mycah taking her turn on the Gizzy quilt.

Having recently won the Cat Friends Helping Friends raffle for a "Gizzy" quilt, I was eager to see how any or all of the cats would like it.

It arrived in the mail on Wednesday; Kismet wasted no time making himself comfortable.

I'll try to find a sunnier spot for it. The upstairs hallway at the top of the stairs may not be quite the best place. Can you say "trip hazard?"

Don't miss the Friday Ark at The Modulator.

The Carnival of the Cats this week is hosted by Grace and Kittens.

And for your every day cat needs, a visit to the Cat Blogosphere is always recommended.

Yes, yes, I know — lots of cat stuff lately. So sue me. If I were having health problems (apart from the usual rounds of physical therapy and such) I'd be posting about that.

The lads had their first night of freedom last night. Naturally, they used it to best effect by playing the Thundering Herd of Elephants game while I was trying to get to sleep. They eventually settled down around dawn.

When I woke up, Kismet was sleeping at my feet. Very cute.

I'm not going to call them inseparable, but they do enjoy hanging out together.

Mycah still doesn't quite know what to make of these interlopers. When I have had human visitors in the past, she was always pretty skittish at first, and would be "off her feed" for a couple of days. Same thing now — I can't believe I actually have to work at it to get her to eat. She'll get back to normal pretty quickly, I expect.

Say hello to Kismet and Packet.

Kismet earned his name. He's an exceptionally curious lad, running around like a dog off its leash, poking his nose everywhere and sniffing everything.

"Kismet," of course, is the name of a wireless network sniffer.

Packet is a big, soft fluffball. He's more laid back than Kismet... but when curiosity strikes, he goes places Kismet hasn't yet ventured.

His frame is thoroughly encapsulated in Layer 2.

Anyone doubt my geek bona fides now?

Don't forget to board the Friday Ark at The Modulator.

The The Carnival of the Cats this week is hosted at House Panthers.

And for your every day cat needs, a visit to the Cat Blogosphere is always recommended.

The lads are definitely relaxed in their new surroundings.

New Kitteh #1 has staked out the army cot as his turf.

New Kitteh #2 is a fan of the bed. When he stretches out, he really stretches out.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has a bit of Maine Coon in him.

I'm about 95% sure on their names... 100% on NK#1, 90% on NK#2.

The lads have been acclimating to the house, and to Mycah's presence... as much as they can, under the door.

They are a pair of serious nose-poker-inners. Here are their first few moments of freedom:

They made a break for it today — when I went in to feed them, they bolted through the open door. Mycah was right behind me, though, and the boys were startled enough to dash across the hall into the bathroom rather than down the hall and to the rest of the house.

In my somewhat debilitated physical condition, I was unable to wrangle them into their bedroom. Fortunately, they are young and as yet not jaded by shiny things, so the laser spot was successfully employed to lure them back into their room.

I think I have names for them. A few have been floating through my head, some relating to my chosen profession, but they aren't all geeky... unless you count my having been a Korean linguist as geeky.

OK, bad example. Linguists are very nearly the biggest geeks in the Army.

A couple more days. In the meantime, they're being referred to as "buddy" and "fluffy boy." They really are quite a pair.

Houston... Tranquility Base here. The kittehs have landed.

Naming has yet to occur.

We have a winnah!

Mycah and the lads will undoubtedly enjoy their new quilt.

Monday update: Here's how the winner was chosen. Nifty.

Mycah has no idea her life is about to get more interesting.

Earlier this week I filled out an application, was interviewed by phone and had my veterinarian references checked, and was ultimately approved to adopt, so today I went to Cat Angels before work to be "interviewed" by the cats.

I had some in mind that I'd seen on the website, but the real question was, would any of them take kindly to me?

I need not have worried.

Cat #1 was amazingly friendly. As I sat down in the room with about ten cats, he walked right over, hopped up on my knee, from my knee onto my shoulder, and parked himself there. I think that means I passed the interview with him. He's a domestic short hair, just three weeks past his first birthday. I've rarely seen such an outgoing cat.

Cat #2, who was raised with the first, also seemed kindly disposed towards me, though he was a bit less outgoing; the staff said that was his usual manner. He's a big fluffy domestic long hair who's three weeks shy of his first birthday. According to the staff, he really enjoys lap time. I expect I'll be FURminating him and vacuuming quite a bit.

The two of them have been raised together at the adoption center; they'll only go out as a pair.

I did spend time in the other rooms full of cats. The younger kittens were adorable, but none showed much interest in me. So, I decided.

Mycah is about to have two younger brothers.

The adoption center has a rule that makes a lot of sense: once you make your decision, you have to have a "cooling off" period — an hour, I think — to consider your decision. Unfortunately, since I had to leave to get to work on time, this meant that the cats did not get to come home with me today. I will be picking them up on Tuesday.

In one way, it's good that I didn't bring them home with me today: I'd have been required to name them "Lexington" and "Concord." I think it's a Federal law of some sort.

I might still do so... but there are other options. The question is, how geeky do I want to get? Being, as I am, a network engineer, I've been thinking of "Ping" and "Trace," though I also think "Packet" would be an excellent name, especially since Ping is already in use.

I did say geek. I meant it.

I wish I could remember who recommended it, but this week while at the Petsmart, I picked up a cat-sized FURminator. Mycah is a bit of a shedder, so....

This thing is great. The results after just one minute of combing her:

^{[Click for larger]}

Hasta la vista, hairballs.

Now... what the heck do I do with all this hair? I suppose I could learn to knit.

It's Friday - board the Friday Ark at The Modulator.

The The Carnival of the Cats this week will be hosted by Aloyisius at Catymology.

And for your every day cat needs, a visit to the Cat Blogosphere is recommended.

It's been a busy week here, and I find that the pace of my recovery, while slow, continues steadily. I'm walking a lot better with the cane, and haven't as much as touched my crutches in about two weeks. I'm not throwing them away quite yet... but I'm almost there. I can even walk very short distances without the cane.

Well, not so much walk as stagger. It's not the finest perambulation I've ever done, but it's better than I've managed in over a year.

Physical therapy continues twice weekly. Every time I get to be good at something, they go and add weights to my legs. I'm up to a whopping eight pounds around each ankle for the leg extension exercises.

Eight whole pounds. Inform the media.

I find that I'm using muscles that haven't been used in quite a while. They hurt, actually... but hey, at least I can feel them.

Part of what I've been doing this week has been preparation for the likely arrival of one or two — probably two — new young cats in the house. I've stocked up on all the essentials, food excepted. Since the shelter provides a bag of food with the cats, I can wait to see what it is they are used to.

On Saturday, before work, I'll be heading to the Cat Angels adoption facility to see if any of their available furballs will have anything to do with me. They have several pairs of young cats, about a year old. All the information I've seen points to the fact that when bringing new felines into a home with an older cat, it's best to get two, so they'll play with each other rather than pester the older cat incessantly. That works for me. I can give a good home to a couple of rescued cats.

How Mycah takes the news remains to be seen. I've been giving her lots of attention; I'm hoping she won't be too resentful of the time I commit to the newcomers over the course of the next couple of weeks as they get used to their new home and new Food Giver And Litter Scooper. I think she'll be very curious, perhaps a bit hostile, then annoyed, and finally indifferent.

And who knows? She might actually like the newbies. Young cats should not be threatening to her in any way We'll see.

The find of the day: An Engineer's Guide to Cats.

"If you have one cat, you're just a guy who has a cat. If you have two cats, well, the cats are friends, so they can keep each other company. When you have three cats, you start to get to be that guy who has all those cats."

There's a good chance that, by this time next week, I'll be "that guy who has all those cats."

It's good to be an engineer.

Mycah's aspect ratio: 1.79.

(Found via Maggie.)

Charging lasers....

^{[Click for larger]}

One would be well advised to stay away from Mycah's mousie and catnip pillow.

The new cat (I might theoretically have one in the coming week) will undoubtedly learn this lesson quickly.

Be sure to see the Friday Ark at The Modulator.

This week's Carnival of the Cats is hosted at the M-Cats Club.

And for your recommended daily allowance of Cat, there's the Cat Blogosphere.

While I was in the midst of my medical problems, I received a lot of support from quite a few people. Mom, of course, came and stayed here in NC — bored out of her skull most of the time, I don't doubt, between rounds of driving me to the doctors and doing those things around the house which I was incapable of doing for myself. My sister, too, made a few stops here to help. The two of them were invaluable; without their help, I'd have had to sell my house and move to some sort of single-story assisted-living facility.

No kidding. I was unable to fend for myself.

Many others provided moral support. I can't count how many emails I received, all full of encouragement. And there was at least one church congregation praying for me regularly.

The medical care I received was top-notch. My regular doc was and is as good a GP as I've ever dealt with. The neurologist I went to is one of the best in the country, and the neurosurgeon who drilled me is arguably the best neurosurgeon in the world. Plus, there were really cute nurses all along the way. Hey, I'm a man... you didn't expect me not to notice, did you?

Further, when I had a fundraiser going here to help offset my massive medical bills (which so far have added up to over a year's pay... egads) more than just a few people made donations to help out. It made a difference.

Now I'm in a situation where my past medical bills are all paid up, where the minor ongoing treatment (physical therapy, mostly) is relatively simple for me to handle... and I have my tax refunds in the bank.

I've always tried to be a charitable guy; I could do a lot better. I want to do better. So, I've recently seen a couple of situations where maybe I could directly make a difference, where I could give someone with insanely high vet bills some of the same sort of support that I was blessed to receive when I was down.

Moki is a tough little fighter with an undiagnosed neurological condition. If you think this reminds me of my own situation, you'd be exactly right.

LillyLu is another cat with enormous vet bills... particularly since her human is getting ready to have twins of her own.

Both those linked sites have orange "Donate" buttons in the sidebars. Go on, hit them. Every little bit helps. Big bits help, too.

For those of you who are charitably inclined, but feel the need to have tax deductability, there is the newly-founded Cat Friends Helping Friends. There are plenty of people-oriented charities, but as far as I know, there's just this one that helps people with big veterinarian bills. Go help them out.

Every day, I bring a beverage and a ziploc baggie full of ice cubes upstairs from the kitchen to my office so that I'll not have to try to climb the stairs with a mug full of ice. (Walking up the stairs is still rather difficult for me to do; trying to carry a full mug up the stairs would be very a bad idea.) I top off my mug with ice, pour a tasty beverage, and set the baggie on the floor. It holds enough ice to last me several hours.

I caught Mycah doing something odd with the baggie this week.

She's done it both before and since her dental adventure earlier this week, so I don't think the state of her teeth had anything to do with it. And she isn't doing it for the condensed moisture on the bag — I'm pretty sure she's drinking regularly from the water bowls I have around the house, since I top them off daily.

I suppose it could be an odd manifestation of her bag fixation.

Speaking of feline dentistry: Mycah had to have two teeth extracted this week; they were the left side upper and lower pre-molars — the ones right behind the canine teeth. She handled it pretty well, and was only a little bit feisty when painkiller dosing times came around. She has been exceptionally friendly since the V-E-T visit... which makes me wonder if she was having any discomfort before the extractions.

Makes me wish I could read her mind... but I suspect that if I could, I'd find her planning my demise.

Board the Friday Ark at The Modulator.

On Sunday the Carnival of the Cats will be hosted by Amar and Luna of CatSynth.

And for your recommended daily allowance of Cat, there's the Cat Blogosphere.

Mycah is at the V-E-T, having not-entirely-random acts of feline dentistry committed upon her. She did not want to get into the PTU this morning, but at least I didn't have to chase her around like last time.

I'll be picking her up later today, after the anaesthesia wears off. What, you think they could do anything to her mouth without knocking her out? Dream on. She emphatically does not like having things put in her mouth. Other than food, of course.

It's time, I think, for there to be another cat in the household. For most of her life, Mycah has has one or two other cats with which to interact. I've had her for four years now, and she's been alone with me for about three years; I think she could use more company.

Mainly because I suck as a playmate.

(I'd have done this a while ago, but my own health issues have prevented it.)

But first, I need to solicit some advice from cat owners, along the lines of "how do I introduce a new cat into the house?" I think there are some factors that need to be taken into account:

1. Mycah is going to be thirteen years old this year. She's not as spry as she used to be.
2. Mycah needs to be the alpha-cat around here — her status can't be threatened.
3. I don't think I can handle a very young kitten, and I'm not sure Mycah would look at a kitten as anything other than a mobile meal. So I'm thinking a juvenile, a "teen" cat - perhaps six to nine months old. Young enough to be the beta-cat, yet big enough to not be completely bullied.
4. Mycah will eat any and all food that she can get to, so a second cat needs a secure food source that Mycah won't be able to get near. How best to accomplish this?

I'm sure other questions will come up, but this is a start.

Thoughts, anyone?

Mycah is a complete and utter hedonist.

But then, not too many cats could be described as altruistic.

Or many people, for that matter.

A visit to the Modulator's Friday Ark is required. Get thee hence.

On Sunday, it's the Carnival of the Cats — this week at Nikita's Place.

And for your recommended daily allowance of Cat, there's the Cat Blogosphere.

Dude... huh? No, wait... dude... what...?

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Du-u-u-ude.

Mycah is on hyperthyroidism medication, which for the record does not mean she's "on drugs." Even if she occasionally looks like it.

If it's Friday — and you know it is — you have to visit the Modulator's Friday Ark.

On Sunday, it's the Carnival of the Cats at Chey's Place.

For your everyday reading, there's also the Cat Blogosphere. Make it a regular stop.

Mycah had a followup visit today, to see how she's responding to the hyperthyroidism medication.

For some reason, she could tell there were evil plans afoot for her. Usually, when it comes time to go to the vet, she's very compliant. Not so today — as soon as she was done with her breakfast, she bolted up the stairs. It took considerable effort to find her, coax her out and back downstairs — a supply of treats can be a good thing. I stuffed her into the Prisoner Transport Unit for the trip to the vet; her meowing was non-stop.

Once at the clinic, she wouldn't come out, and had to be literally dumped out of the PTU, and while we waited in the exam room for the vet to arrive, she occupied herself with trying to get back into the PTU, as if being in there would save her from the poking and prodding.

After the requisite fluids were "acquired" from her, the vet pronounced herself satisfied with how well Mycah's doing on her medication.

Unfortunately, she hasn't been brushing or flossing well, and needs a dental cleaning, which we've set up for two weeks from today. Before then, I need to come up with a better way to herd the cat.

Recently, after going in with family members to get my niece a camera for her birthday, I decided it was time for me to upgrade to a new digital camera. I've had the old one for about eight years, and it was getting to be quite a bit behind the times. I hadn't really done anything for myself in quite a while, and with the amazing prices these days, it was hard to say no.

I shopped around, and decided on a Kodak. It's far more powerful a camera than the old one, at about one third the price I paid in 2000.

What I wasn't really looking for, but was pleased to find, was that the camera has the capability to capture video. Sure, it's limited to the available memory, but I'm not ever going to try to be a Spielberg.

Nevertheless, here's my first shot at making Mycah a star.

I suppose I'm going to have to get some video editing software somewhere.

Since it's Friday, you know you have to go visit the Modulator's Friday Ark.

The Carnival of the Cats is hosted this week at Artsy Catsy.

Like (I suppose) most cats, Mycah siezes every opportunity to perch on anything on the floor that can be lain upon. Paper grocery bags, bubble wrap, flattened cardboard boxes, stray items of clothing... and here, a plastic grocery bag that had fallen to the floor:

She really like the plastic bags, I think because of the crinkly noises they make. Not, of course, that the noise prevents her drifting off to sleep.

I wish I could get to sleep so easily.

Be sure to visit the Modulator's Friday Ark.

A visit to the Carnival of the Cats would also be in order, this week at the House of the (Mostly) Black Cats.

For her cancer screening, Mycah got ultrasounded and x-rayed earlier this week. She did very well — the vet called again Wednesday to say that the images had been examined by an expert, and there is no sign that the cancer removed a year ago had spread from her tail to her body.

For such good news, the shaved tummy and associated loss of dignity is a small price to pay.

Interesting... a rather clever feline Valentine's Day proposal.

The Friday roundup of pet/animal links is at the Modulator's Friday Ark.

And don't miss the Carnival of the Cats, this week at Mind of Mog.

At the unholy hour of 7:30 this morning (I work nights, remember) I took Mycah to the vet for her cancer followup screening. Such a day is bound to be full of indignities for the cat.

The screening consists of x-rays and an ultrasound; the former requires that she be anaesthetized, the latter that her tummy be shaved. As is usual for such procedures, she wasn't allowed to eat after midnight last night, so I had to lie to her ("It's breakfast time!") to get close enough to her to pick her up and stuff her into her carrier. I did, however, make up a meal, complete with her medication, and packed it along in a tupperware container. I didn't feel quite as guilty about the lie.

We got to the vet and she was whisked away, with a promise that once she was finished and awake she'd get her food.

This afternoon, I got the call to come pick her up, so off I went again. Let me tell you, after the better part of a year of having to rely on others for transportation, it's a wonderful thing to be able to just get up and go as needed.

When I picked her up, the vet pointed out that she had not in fact eaten the meal I'd prepared for her. This is extremely uncharacteristic for Mycah, but I suppose that wasn't too surprising — immediately after my recent medical procedures, food was the last thing on my mind.

Mycah was wide awake and meowing unhappily the whole way home. I'd have liked to let her out of the carrier, but I don't think that's a particularly safe thing to do, so I limited myself to sticking my fingers through the carrier door and skritching her to the best of my ability.

We got home, I let her out (I could see her shaved tummy — the indignity!) and fed her. She was ravenous... but that's not terribly unusual for her.

The good news is that the ultrasound and x-rays looked normal. So for once, we've had a vet visit that didn't result in the diagnosis of one malady or another.

The indignities, however, have not ended... because as soon as I can, I'm going to get a picture of her newly-shaven tummy. I'm heartless.

Mycah has surely had her share of problems as she has gotten older.

Two years ago there was the diabetes, for which she is no longer taking insulin; special food has that well under control, and there's no sign of that changing.

A year ago came the cancer, which resulted in the loss of half her tail. She seems to be doing well, but she has a followup screening next week — x-rays and ultrasound — and will continue to have similar exams periodically for the rest of her life.

Last week was her semi-annual checkup. The verdict? Hyperthyroidism.

Superb.

She's lost some weight over the last six months or so. I thought it was because we had her diet (i.e., portion control) well in hand. Indeed, that may have been a contributing factor, as the severity of her new condition is actually pretty mild according to the vet, but the hyperthyroidism might well be part of the reason for her weight loss, too.

Still, though.... In nature, hyperthyroidism is a lethal condition, but it's completely treatable with medication. And it can be cured, with either radiation or surgery.

Mycah started the meds Wednesday, a quarter of a pill per meal. [That makes her medication bill about 50 cents/day. Quite reasonable.] So far she hasn't objected... but the way she snarfs down her meals, she probably never will notice that she's being dosed.

Her appetite remains unaffected.

Be sure to see all the critters at the Friday Ark.

And don't miss the Carnival of the Cats, either. This week, it's hosted at Pet’s Garden Blog.

Mycah now had something she can use as a bed in almost every room in the house.

In the family room, there's a towel she had previously shredded — she likes to hide in the bathroom cabinets from time to time, leading to the demise of whatever towels I used to keep there before I wised up.

Why she lets the stuffed mousie have the lion's share of the "bed," I don't know. Perhaps she is trying to lull it into a fa