cirque du bebe

Yes, I am aware doozy is not spelled that way.  This is the name of one of our remaining cats.  She has hyperthyroidism and is a very tiny black and white cat.  She is also Captain and Tennille’s mother.

I’ve mentioned before that Monkey LOVES Duzee.  And it seems Duzee might like him as well … or at the very least is supremely tolerant.  She lets him carry her around (by the head or midsection) and will let him pet her almost always. 

Apparently, the other night while I was at yoga, DH, Monkey and Duzee were sitting on the couch in our basement watching television.  Every once in a while Monkey would lean over and pet her and she would sometimes nudge his hand for more attention.

We have one other remaining cat named Pia.  Pia is older and a much more shy cat than Duzee.  She spends most of her time hiding or running away from Monkey when he’s in the basement.  And unfortunately, today was no exception.

Monkey kept running around, pointing and saying, “DUZEE!  DUZEE!”  So now it seems that all cats are Duzee, even the  cats in the Friskies commercials.  I thought Pia would be just as easy of a name but I don’t think the problem is the pronounciation because Monkey doesn’t say “cat” at all anymore.  This bothers me a little but hopefully he will learn each of their names and that they are cats … not Duzees.

… love won’t keep us together.

Last Friday, DH and I took 3 of our 4 cats to the vet with the intention of figuring out two things.  One, who was doing all of the peeing (litter box has been loaded lately and someone peed outside of the box).  Two, if any are in such a severe state that euthanasia might quite possibly viable.   Three blood tests and one urine test later (plus, a sizable vet bill), we found out that basically they are all in relatively good health.  The vet, understanding our situation, assured us that even though Captain and Tennille are old since they are in good health there is a good chance they will get adopted if we found the right shelter (if you had read the referenced post, Captain and Tennille’s kidney values are perfectly normal now it seems).  Duzee, while in good health, still requires medication to remain so and is therefore, not a viable adoption.  Per the usual, still a tough decision.

We’re just getting to the point where we can’t keep all four.   The vet determined that Tennille has an UTI caused by her being fat and not being able to clean herself.  Vet said she would probably continue to have them unless she loss weight and is most likely our culprit for the pee outside of the litter box.  We haven’t been able to get her to lose weight because we just don’t have the time to monitor her intake.  Other than that though, Tennille is in good health.  Captain, being the healthiest and youngest was the most viable for adoption according to the vet.

Therefore …

Today I took Captain and Tennille to a shelter we found.  It had openings but is unfortunately not a no-kill shelter.  However, their adoption rate is really high and it seems promising.  The shelter was huge and very clean.  I was impressed by the facility and their staff.

It was a very hard decision and I could barely keep myself from breaking down until I got outside of the facility.  Their “adoption counselor” was very nice though.  She assured me I was doing the right thing by them and had done much more for them than most owners who show up with their pets there.

In the end, I know our two remaining cats will get more attention, our cat expenses will be less and there will be less cat funk to clean.  But still … Captain and Tennille, you will be missed.

The past week in a word  – bleak.

Sunday night, I discovered about a quarter inch of water in our basement bathroom.  Thinking it was from the toilet, I immediately swooped up Monkey (who was right behind me and now splashing in the water), took Monkey upstairs, wiped him down and put new clothes on him as well as myself (the bottom of my pants were wet as well as my socks).

When DH got home, he said “Listen!” and we could hear water running somewhere in the house.  He opened our front door and realized that it was coming from the front of our house near the front spigot.  Then he ran downstairs and turned off the valve for that spigot.  This stopped the water flow but on the way to the valve, which resides in our storage crawl space, he discovered the saturated carpet in the “cat room” and the half inch of water in our crawl space.

This was not good obviously.  And I won’t go into anymore detail other than to say after using the carpet shampooer ten times and buying a dehumidifier, the carpet is mostly dry.

Last night, Monkey awoke at midnight with a stuffy nose.  He’s been battling a cough off and on since November but this was different.  I went into his room and he cried so hard that I just had to pick him up and comfort him.  He just was all out of sorts and is still feeling pretty under the weather tonight but sleeping okay after DH did a thorough suctioning of his nose.

This week has another cloud hanging over it.  Our daycare provider’s stepmother has ovarian cancer and has been moved from hospital to hospice.  Therefore, our daycare provider is traveling to Colorado on Friday to visit with her stepmother.  She was gracious enough to let Monkey come on a day when he’s not really supposed to so I could get more hours in for work.  I never know what to say to people who are in these situations.  I wish I could say the right thing or do the right thing, but I usually just freeze up.  She and her stepmother are in my prayers … maybe that’s enough.

It’s hard to think there could be a silver lining to this week but a tiny one shined this morning.  As I was getting dressed in our bathroom this morning and Monkey was sitting on the bed with DH, I heard this little voice from our bedroom, “luv lu.”

It doesn’t take away the ovarian cancer for our daycare provider’s stepmother, or change the fact that I’m dropping off two cats I’ve had for years at a shelter tomorrow (more about this tomorrow), or that Monkey is sick yet again, or that our basement is still a wreck, but it does make things seem a little less bleak.

In a post about a month ago, I described some of the developments Monkey has made in the language department.  He’s done really well and is learning more and more words/phrases each day.  Somethings though … he’s developed his own language.

Raisins = ZZs

Scissors = sizzies

Milk = mehea (he’s been saying this one a while and while I and DH know what it is, not many others do)

T.T. = pee pee

T. He = t.v.

teets = teeth

Other things he says very clear (like NO, of course).  But things you’d think he’d have trouble with (like Caillou), he says perfectly.

Then there’s the sign language versus verbal language.  Some things he’s started to use verbally that he’d only say via sign language prior, for instance, milk and more.  But some things it seems he refuses to verbalize the word and instead uses sign language.  Bunny, for instance.  He will ALWAYS use the sign for it instead of saying it.  In fact, I don’t think he’s ever said bunny or rabbit (I wonder if there’s some confusion there).

Also there’s the “what the thing IS” versus “what the thing SAYS” confusion.  For the longest time, he was saying “Cat” and “Dog” AND knowing what they each say but recently he just verbalizes what they say and doesn’t say their prospective names.  Same with trains, they’re no longer “tains”, they’re “choo choo”.

These thing tend to bother me but I’ve been trying to tell myself that they’re nothing to worry about, only growing pains and just the little hurdles of the many big ones we’ll face.