Pets – Page 89 – red paper boat

24 Hours Accident Free

October 16, 2008November 30, 2015 Shelly

Last week, Harriet had a bad allergic reaction to God only knows what. She broke out in hives. Because the hives weren’t going away on their own, and because she was starting to develop infections in a few spots, the vet put her on a two week course of cephalexin and prednisone. Prednisone causes the body to retain sodium, so common side effects include increased thirst and more frequent urination. Fun!

When I’m home, Harriet is having to pee about every hour or two. Not a huge problem, as long as I pay attention and don’t get sidetracked. I’m usually a light sleeper, so there’s only been one night so far that I’ve slept through her “gotta go out” restlessness. And I’ve changed my work schedule so that my hours are spread out over six days, instead of four. Even so, Harriet had an accident while I was at work on Monday. Yesterday, she managed to hold it until I got home, which made a full 24 hours accident free. A small but very important milestone!

One more week to go, and then I can hopefully start sleeping again.

(This also partially explains why I’ve been blogging Extra Lite. I just can’t afford to get side-tracked. If I do, I’ll be washing towels until the cows come home.)

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A Cat Story

October 9, 2008November 30, 2015 Shelly

I couldn’t find Pandora when I got home yesterday. I looked everywhere, then looked everywhere again. I finally found her on top of the fridge. Now, back when she was younger, she used to perch on the fridge and every other high surface in the house. She hasn’t done that so much the past few years, as she’s gotten more frail and wobbly. Apparently she’s feeling pretty spry these days, though, because she has claimed Mt. Fridge as her own personal queendom.

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Lazy Sunday

September 28, 2008November 30, 2015 Shelly

Harriet has the right idea. She’s so out of it that the camera flash didn’t even wake her.

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Unstitched

September 23, 2008November 30, 2015 Shelly

This is why you should always take a careful look after the sutures are removed. Which I thought I’d done. But then I took a close-up photo of the incision, and when I opened it in Photoshop, what did I see? A teeny weeny blue stitch that the vet tech had missed. I could have removed most of her stitches myself, because they were looser, but I had to take her back to the vet’s office to have this one taken out. It was pretty well embedded, and I figured they have better tools for that than I do. The last thing I wanted was to clip it, then have the ends disappear into the skin.

Harriet did not want to get off the bed, so she hoisted up The Leg of Defiance. Loosely translated, it means, “I would prefer not to.”

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Happy Damn Equinox!

September 22, 2008November 30, 2015 Shelly

We celebrated by having Harriet’s stitches removed. Dr. Koch said the incision looked great (and it really does). The tumor was exactly what he thought it would be (benign spindle cell). It may grow back in the same location, but it shouldn’t spread. Yay! I can live with that. And, more importantly, so can Harriet.

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Cone-free and Happy

September 20, 2008November 30, 2015 Shelly

When I come home and take off Harriet’s cone, she does the happy dance of coneless freedom. This involves rubbing her face up and down the back of the couch, flopping around on her back like a trout, and much yawning and sneezing, before collapsing into a heap of happy Boxerness. And sometimes, the joy is just too much and requires a second or even third repetition of the happy dance

See how wonderful the contours of the right side of her butt look? Dr. Koch did a very nice job.

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Dead of Cone

September 18, 2008November 29, 2015 Shelly

We are not amused.

When I got home yesterday, the first thing I did was I remove Harriet’s cone. There was much rejoicing. And then, while I was on the phone with my mom, I turned my back on Harriet for two seconds and she started licking her incision. The cone went back on, which was, as you can see, a major buzzkill. (It came off again as soon as I got off the phone and was no longer distracted.)

I sleep with one eye open.

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