the "no harley" zone

harley has free range of the apartment, including the book cases where he will sometimes jump almost straight up to roost on a shelf, pushing all else to the side while he's up there, to make room for himself. he has a down feather pillow in a gold thread case on his favorite spot on the linen dresser where he can sleep or observe and see into the bedroom and the all the rest of the apartment except the bathroom, and also look out the slider door.

the one place harley isn't allowed is on the new kitchen table. it's actually the only table he's known here as i didn't have one when i moved in.

the glass top lets me see when he's sizing up the distance from the floor to either the cushioned seat of the chair or the glass top itself. this gives me the advantage of time as i grab the water bottle and give him a surprise squirt while saying, this is a no harley zone!

whether or not he is on the table and chairs while i'm gone i don't know. somehow i don't doubt that he is.

proud mama moment

harley and i ventured to the vet's office again yesterday afternoon. his third time in the carrier going to the vets and he is officially no longer happy about it.

the last visit they mentioned possibly stitching up one of his openings where the incisor had been removed during his recent surgery. i didn't want him to go through that so i'd been hoping he was healing well and they'd say he wouldn't need stitches afterall. additionally, he'd been scratching one of his ears lately and it seemed to be more than usual, and then there was that piddling incident to address.

after a little bit of a wait that had both harley and i napping on the cool metal exam table, him with his nose buried in my elbow as my arms encircled him, and me resting on his soft fur, the vet came in. harley's gums, she said, have healed nicely and stitches aren't needed (yea)! she checked his ears and said he has almost no wax in them, and that the little extra scratching could be environmental allergies. i vowed to run the air purifier i have more regularly for both of us. with the humidity more stuff may have been hanging in the air than usual which would explain why both of us hadn't been well last week during that hideaous heat wave.

next was the piddling. she asked some questions about when the incident happened, has it happened again, does he make pain sounds when in the box or otherwise. his bladder was empty so she couldn't get a sample for a UTI test, but when she examined him she said his kidneys and bladder felt like they were in good shape and the fact that his bladder was empty, and i could attest to his box being used regularly, she said she didn't think it was more than behaviorial when it occured. trust we will be addressing that at home. since it happened last week when the weather was awful and i was sick from it, i think i didn't pay him as much attention and he was letting me know. i hope thats all that comes of it.

harley now weighs 12 pounds, having lost a pound or two since i first weighed him in may. the vet said its a healthy weight, his shape is just right, his fur is shiny though even i know i need to comb him more often if he would let me. we'll work on that together. and finally, the vet said he had a clean bill of health, see you next year for his check up, and she wished all of her cats were in as good shape as harley is.

yea, that was a proud mama moment, knowing he's doing so well, and that we make a great team.

post op harley

it's been several weeks since my last post as harley and i have been both working with his post op, less teeth than before, care and making the most of the summer before this heat wave hit the area.

to re cap, harley went in to have a few infected teeth pulled. when they called me with the update, he was 12 teeth lighter than when he went in. the vet said there were impacted teeth and in the end it was a lot for a 6 yr old cat but we don't know what his life was like before the shelter, like what he was eating, and it could well be genetic. he came home, happily, i might add, and after reluctantly taking a yucky liquid antibiotic for several days, he seemed to have turned a corner.

the result is he bites a heck of a lot less, and when he does, it hurts a heck of a lot less! he lost an incisor which is part of that transformation. he is more snuggly and purrs a lot more than he did before. he even encourages me to pet him as he purrs, and that can go on for up to 15 minutes before he moves on to something else. the vet will see him again on monday. hopefully he won't need stitches for the incisor gap. they wanted to have it heal up on its own first.

good thing he sees the vet soon anyway. i don't think he has a urinary tract infection; no i'm pretty sure he was just delivering a clear message to me at 330am this morning. i was online checking something and without any fear, he peed on a beanbag foot rest i have in the living room. this was done right in front of me. i was amazed at his brazeness, but i had to say he wasn't happy with his food selection the last few meals - he expresses his dissatisfaction by scratching the cloth placemat so its covering his still full food dish - and i wasn't feeling well so i hadn't yet cleaned his litter box.

so i got the footrest and his litter box into a garbage bag and cleaned everything up. this morning he got a new placemat, a new bowl, and new food with new water. he ate then .... you guessed it ... proceeded to very cleanly pee in his litter box, followed by a ton of chasing his milk ring toy. when i made myself a sandwich for breakfast, he proceeded to annoy me for some of the turkey then moved on to a catnip toy.

i'm thinking he's just fine but i'll ask the vet to be sure.

what a character.