Random pictures of the kitties in lieu of content.
The cats pretend they hate eachother, but they always like to be in eachother’s general vicinity. Yes, I keep my Kona Paddywagon in the foyer.
Thaddeus being aloof.
Aya likes being the center of attention.
Niko likes eating.
So, today I went over to the vet’s office to pick up a refill of insulin for Niko. The office isn’t even half a kilometer away. I was on my bike, waiting at a red light, when I tried to remove my left foot prematurely from the clips. The foot got stuck in there… and I knew it was misbehaving even as I was riding away from the house… so down I went. I keeled over right in front of a stopped truck and a lineup of other vehicles waiting at the red. I got up, chuckled to myself, fixed the straps, smiled my embarassment at people in their cars having yuks at my expense.
I got to the vet, and as I waited for the vet assistant to get Niko’s insulin, I checked my damage. I had scraped and bloodied up my left knee, though it looked worse than it felt. I asked the vet assistant if she had any “human first aid”… she had a bandage and gave me some paper towels to clean up in the bathroom, but surprisingly no “human” antibacterial stuff. Come to think of it, I may not have any here either. I got home half an hour ago, gave Niko his shot, and tidied up the front porch a bit. The blood is soaking through this cheap plastic band-aid now so I guess I should take care of my flesh wounds.
I love wearing cycling gloves, by the way. Not only do they look hardcore, I’ve been in two falls this week and haven’t fucked up my hands yet.
Ok, maybe I’m not. Today, after staying a little late at work again, I took off on my trusty bike to Petsmart so Thaddeus could eat tonight. Thaddeus is my oldest kitty, though he’s still pretty active and likes to express his dominance around the place. However, he’s stubbornly refusing to join the canned kitty food contingent of Niko and Aya. So, yesterday I ran out of the kibble and attempted to feed him some Whiska’s pouched tuna. He took a few nibbles and decided he wasn’t that into it. No doubt, Niko ate the rest.
Anyway.. i wasn’t able to get to Petsmart yesterday because I was at work until about 10pm. Today, I was determined to get there, because no one likes to see their kitty go hungry, and Petsmart is the only place close to me that has the crap that Thaddeus will eat. It was raining when I got in that morning, so I was wise enough to bring an extra change of clothes and wear my brand new Mark’s Work Warehouse rubber rain boots, which also look stylin’ might I add. The boots were an awesome idea. My pants and jacket were soaked, my socks were not.
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 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.
