About a couple of months ago, I dropped my cellphone. Oh no, the humanity, I know. I dropped it on cold, hard sidewalk concrete. Now this phone has been dropped a lot, on carpet, hardwood, and/or grass, but concrete was something it just couldn’t deal with at all. I noticed right away a piece of plastic on the joint of the display screen had cracked right off, leaving stuff underneath it exposed (excuse me if I don’t know the proper terminology for cellphone anatomy).

But it still worked. And I went on, grumbling to myself about reasons why I do not have to go out and spend money on a new cellphone… because it still worked. My old phone was a Motorola Razr, a new-ish concept in phone design when it showed up at the mall i was shopping up at the time. So that makes it about three years old, I guess. However, the phone didn’t last for much longer. About a week ago, it stopped working. Rather, the display stopped working. So I could access the phone itself, make calls, receive calls… but I’d be doing it blind.

Wow. I just realized how lame that last paragraph sounded as I’m typing it out. How the heck did people with rotary phones do it? Do you remember rotary phones? I DO! I’M THAT OLD!

In any case, I wanted a new phone. Today, using the Best Buy gift cards I got for my birthday, plus a little extra from me, I got myself a new Red Moto Krzr K1, because I liked them. I’d be inclined to hate them actually just for their shitty Matrix wanna-be ads plastered all over the Toronto subways and everywhere else, but for once I’m going to see past that. I much prefer the wannabe martial artist in goth-rave gear to the incredibly ugly, lame and unfunny beaver mascots Bell had decided to use to pimp their products. I also know some people have had problems with the Razr line in general, but it’s all about the ergonomics of the buttons for me. I’m also a fan of flip phones… I don’t like exposed keys because my daily messenger bag could be a pretty harsh environment.

It’s a bit of retail therapy I badly needed after these shitty first weeks of the New Year.. it’s a toy.. but it’s a necessary toy. I’ve grown to like the convenience of having a cellphone, so for now the expense was worth it.

I’ve been on the internet for a very, very long time, and one thing I must say is that there’s a distinct similarity between the types of posters on various internet forums. I’ve come to expect the stereotype. The flame wars, the “discussions”, the off-topic ramblings, cliques, trolls, the internet thug.. it’s almost systematic, from goth make-up to WoW to even medical advice.

The latter is the most creepiest at all. Imagine the same kind of cliquism, trolling, bickering, when it comes to the health of your kitties. There’s a popular forum for people who are looking for help for their kitties with diabetes. Being a natural internet person myself, I gravitated towards these forums to look for help and advice, questions I can ask my veterinarian, or things and behaviour to look for in kitties. I’ve learned a lot, and to be fair, nothing bad has happened to me personally. But looking through the other posts, I found a dangerous trend of people coming to the boards, giving a brief description of what’s happening to their cat, and in some, immediate responses come in about changing the cat’s insulin dosing, and diagnosing problems based on those few words…

And that’s fine, these people have supposedly had a lot of experience with their cats, helping them and treating them. But I think some people are casually ignoring the big disclaimers at the top of the page where the advice given is not veterinary advice, and should not be taken as such.

It’s frightening to me that people would follow the advice of people on the internet who’s never seen their pet, knows what their history is, never met their vets, would make assumptions on what to do. I think many have become so jaded by bad vet advice that they’ve decided to take matters into their own hands… yet I still don’t see “DVM” by their name.

Mind you, i’m not going to say that the Vet’s word is the Law when it comes to the health of your cats… I myself have opted not to over vaccinate my kitties, because they are indoor cats. But I’m not going to jump to conclusions and say “OMG DOC UR WRONG!” from the few words of a few people on the internet who’ve never met your cat. It’s scary that some people do.

/off the soapbox now.

I've been sick for the past couple of days but have sort of been in denial of it. Figures I choose the coldest week in a long time to conveniently forget to take my vitamins so I'm probably feeling it all now.

I've been on the couch all day wrapped in two throw blankets with Niko sleeping on my feet to keep them warm. My head and my nose hurts. Being sick isn't doing much for my emotional state of being, I'll tell you what!

I’ve been doing a lot of research on feline diabetes and managed to find this site which has helped to calm me down a lot. I was worried about Niko’s quality of life, and also my own, to be honest. But there will be some inconveniences and no more of an hour of extra attention each day from me. None of those should be such a big deal.

It’s been bitterly cold lately, I’ve been fighting some kind of awful cold or infection or whatever too. With this happening to Niko I just feel like complete shit. However, looking over to a sleeping fat kitty who mews softly in his sleep while he’s rolled over on his back does wonders for your state of mind. All this is worth it if Niko could keep helping me smile.

I took Niko to the vet this morning because he wasn’t peeing where he was supposed to be going. I thought, or rather hoped, he was just stressed out because Thaddeus kept giving him grief (boys will be boys, that sort of thing). But I just heard back from the vet, and he told me that my cuddliest kitten was diabetic.

I know this is my fault. Niko loved to eat, and I never really tried to put him on a diet until recently. I feel like shit and I hope my Niko will be ok.