[Lilybeans]

We'll be thinking and praying for Sammy. Cats are very special creatures.

[renlouis]

Arel -

I'm a cat lover also! It's been interesting to see your adjustment to Brattleboro so far - thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sorry you are having such a rough experience with Sammy. I will send good wishes for both of you.

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Prayers sent for Sammy and his mum and the other cat-people in the home.

God bless, hope this turns out well.

[chaz longue]

Arel - I'll join the chorus and say how much I admire your kindness to your cats, and how much I hope Sammy pulls through. We have two Labradors and 2 calico cats, and so I empathise with your tribulations, having made a few vet visits myself. We seem only to go when it's a weekend and emergency rates, at the emergency vet... (sigh).

I'm enjoying your writing too.

One of our cats has a pronounced fondness for one of our dogs - and vice versa. The cat will approach the sleeping dog on the floor and begin to roll around on the dog's head, as though she wants to massage the dog. At other times, the dog will find the cat and begin to make these little tiny chewing/grooming movements with her mouth, on the cat, who'll roll right over and expose her belly so the dog can schnorffle her belly. It's something I've never seen in all my years of having pets.
The other cat is much more aloof, and not often affectionate - but the other day this other cat started in on the same dog, schnuzzling and schnorffling, and generally acting like the Jamie Lee Curtis character in A Fish Called Wanda acted, whenever the John Cleese character began to speak Russian. Very amusing indeed.

Cheers,
David Beckett

[Asta]

Originally Posted by arel

I left with a heavy heart, but with a much lighter wallet. The cost of his hospitalization (2-4 days) and his diagnostic work-up was over $2000. I am so thankful that I have the money to pay for so big an emergency expense. Some may think I'm nuts - a friend said just put him to sleep - but he is my cat. He is only 11. I've had him since he was a small kitten. They need to find out what is wrong before they can properly treat him. The emergency doctor suspects a chronic, progressive illness, but who knows. In my heart I don't think he's going to live very much longer, but I have to do what is in my power to do. The rest is out of my hands.

I'm sorry about what you are going thru with your cat right now. I went thru a period of time last July when one of my cats was very sick and spent three weeks down at that same clinic. My cat is the same age as yours, and I have had her since she was born. Some people mean well but they just don't understand that it's not so easy to put animals to sleep when they get sick. Many people told me to have my cat put down, but we stuck it out, and in the end, she recovered, but it cost me almost $3,500.

My experience with that particular clinic was that it was relatively new and that all of the vets on staff were younger than me, right out of school and full of "book knowledge" but lacking the practical knowledge and bedside manner than comes with practice. A couple of the doctors and even one of the vet techs were kind of condescending. The second time we brought our cat back we did have a doctor we liked and had faith in.

Originally Posted by arel

On the way home, I stopped at a local deli (Vermont Country Deli) on Route 9. I parked down a side street and saw there was a dead end. Another street was roughly perpedicular. I heard rushing water. I looked over the fence at the dead end. I saw one of those drop-offs. Below was a brook in a short section of white-water. I imagined tiny creatures white-water rafting.

That was the Whetstone Brook. We used to live in a house on the brook further up. It's really beautiful and a great place to fish. The Vermont Country Deli is a great place that's really popular with tourists. The only problem is the lack of parking. A lot of tourists mistake the little street on the side of the deli as a parking area. I have heard of more than one instance of a car being hit there because the people turning off Route 9 onto Williams St. don't see that there is a car parked in the middle of the road until after they have hit them!

[arel]

I spoke to the emergency facility today. The internist saw Sammy. I spoke to a night doctor. She said that the internist is worried that Sammy's intestines are not absorbing his food, which is why he is losing weight and losing muscle. The diagnoses of concern are potential lymphoma and potential inflammatory bowel disease. There does not seem to be concern about FIP. They did an ultrasound and several aspirations. They do not want to risk the surgery for a biopsy because they don't think Sammy is well enough. His blood pressure dropped when they sedated him for the ultrasound.

Whatever, it looks like there is treatment for whatever he has. Even if he has lymphoma, it is usually brought into remission pretty easily. The problem is how long he stays in remission. The doctor said there are many types of lymphoma, with different remission times. She expressed hope that whatever is going on right now can be reversed so that Sammy gains weight.

But the fact remains that he is a very sick cat.

Yes, Asta, you are right. The doctors there seem young. The one I talked to tonight, though, seemed well-related and non-condescending, but one doctor I have to deal with does seem to talk at me rather than to me. But the important thing is that they care about Sammy and want to help him. That is a lot more important than their "bedside manner" with me.

Sammy may be able to come home tomorrow. I have plans for Saturday and I hope they are not derailed because of sick cat care responsibilities. But right now, the cat comes first.

On another note, I picked up my dry cleaning today. Strangely, they only had half of it done. There are "two invoices", I was told. The rest of the dry cleaning should be ready tomorrow. I think I left the stuff there last Tuesday or Wednesday. There was a worker in the store who was ironing and seemed to be in her own world, even when I tried to talk to her. Very strange ambience there.

I also found a great thrift shop where I can donate almost anything I want to get rid of. The profits help the local hospice. I was given a list of things they don't take. Some of the items on the list seemed informative; these are things they just don't take, such as large appliances, downhill skis or boots, large exercise equipment, or "reference books, textbooks or condensed books". Some of the things they will not accept are almost no-brainers, such as clothing which "needs washing, mending or other repairs", or "pots and pans that are discolored or rusty" or "ANY electronic equipment in non-working order". Others are complete no-brainers, which should go without saying, such as "used plastic cups, pitchers, dishes or utensils" and used underwear . There are other things they don't accept, but you get my drift.

I looked at beds and couches in a local furniture store. I finally realized why I dislike most of the furniture I see in stores. I discovered that I dislike that manufactured, mass-produced look. I saw some bed frames that were hand made and they have a different look entirely. A different feel about them. My friend, who loaned me a bed until I get a new one, needs it back in a few weeks for a family visit. She offered to have the bed brought back to me when the relatives leave. I don't want to deal with all that. I can even sleep on my couch if I need to. But I would really like to splurge on a beautiful bed frame and high quality mattress.

Where is my bed from Brooklyn? I still have the metal frame, in storage, and the thrift shop said they would accept it. But I sent the mattress and box spring to the dump! I did that when I moved into my new place and got stuff out of storage.

I also learned today that the Food Co-op serves awesome ginger tea. I tasted a sample and learned how they make it. After I left my friend's house, where I had been invited for dinner, I returned to the Co-op to get some, but they were out of it. I consoled myself with some crystallized ginger. I just finished eating it, and I will follow it with a cup of tea.

Then I went home, took my recyclables back inside (they get collected next week, not this week) and went online. In Brooklyn, there were two garbage collections per week, and one of them included recycling. I think for a while there was recycling only every two weeks, but it soon went back to weekly. Here, there is garbage collection once a week, and recycling every two weeks.

Oh, I finally got my mountain of shredding done today. I had 120 pounds of it. At 25 cents per pound, that came to $30. I stayed for the shredding truck, as I wanted to see the stuff shredded. I got to watch it shredded through a video monitor. It was so cool. The shredding probably took less than two minutes. If I had done it with a shredder from Staples, it would have taken a week or more.

I also saw the job they did with that marble table top. They did a great job, as good a job as could have been done. But, of course, it isn't perfect. The epoxy almost looks like veining, but not quite. But it will have to do for now. I still can't get over all the damage those movers did. Everytime I see my stuff in storage, I discover more. This week I discovered that they gouged the base of the breakfront, probably from the screws from the top section. And this company is supposed to be reputable, a Better Business Bureau member. They didn't even make an inventory list, which, I was told by a local mover, is legally required with an interstate move. They want to take care of me, and compensate me for the damage, but what they really needed to do was to screen and train their workmen. Some of the packing was so careless, it's a miracle that more stuff was not damaged. Or destroyed.

[arel]

Sammy may come home tomorrow from the hospital.

I am told he is doing well.

They did the endoscopy on him yesterday to see if he has lymphoma, inflammatory bowel disease or some kind of infection. Exploratory surgery with a full-thickness biopsy would have been more useful diagnostially, but they didn't want to do it, as Sammy was too weak.

The biopsy results should be ready by the end of the week. If they are inconclusive, they will treat anyway. They have already started treatment.

Unfortunately, Sammy has to go back on insulin, as the glipizide no longer works for him.

The cost, so far, has been astronomical. Over $4000! And we still don't know if he is terminally ill or not, or, if he is, how much more time he has. Thankfully, I have the money this time, and I can give him the specialists' care that he needs.

Also, unfortunately, we may be getting a snowstorm tonight and/or tomorrow. If that is the case, I will have to put off getting him. My tires are not up to a snowstorm. I've been planning to get new tires, and even a new car. I think I want a Subaru Legacy, or maybe a Subaru Impreza. I want the all-wheel drive and I want to get a model with the stability control.

I'm going to start a whole new thread about buying a car for Vermont.

[NYLIER]

I hope all goes well and you can pick him up tomorrow. Thanks for keeping us updated.

[vter]

Arel - I'd suggest getting a set of 4 snow tires. No need to go buy a new car (unless you really need one) and since you live right in town, a front wheel drive car with good snow tires will be just fine. If you are not a very confident winter driver, having an AWD won't make much of a difference IMO. Get yourself to an empty parking lot when it snows and practice, practice, practice!
I hope you can go get your cat tomorrow too. I'm sure he'd much rather be home.

[NYLIER]

VTer....you just reminded me of my younger years when I had my Chevy Cavalier. It was a front wheel drive and the best car I ever had for snow covered roads. I remember one bad snow storm when a couple of cars couldn't make it up a steep road and my little Chevy took it like it was a summer day.