Our first loss as a family

It's been FOREVER since I posted, but I wanted this to go up.  I kind of think of this blog as my life diary.  Helps me remember things.  

This weekend, Bella (pronounced "Baya") died.  It was unexpected.  She was our first pet together as a couple.  We got her only a few short months after moving into our first apartment together.  She was our baby kitty and our family. 

Saturday afternoon I noticed Bella was breathing with her mouth open. I had a bad feeling so I called the vet.  They were closing in 10 minutes, so I decided to wait until Sunday to see how she was.  If she was bad we'd go to the emergency vet, if she was okay I'd take her to our regular vet Monday.  Sunday morning she was bad.  She was in respiratory distress. Travis rushed her to the emergency vet and they confirmed she was in critical condition and put her on oxygen.  The doctor had a few hypotheses.  Tumor?  Pneumonia?  We found out it would cost us a small fortune to find out what was wrong with her and even then it might be untreatable.  We opted to euthanize, but she was gone before we could follow through.  She was 11 years old in September.

Poor Travis.  He had to do it all on his own and I feel horrible about that.  I wish I could have been there for him.  I wish I could have been there for Bella.  But I didn't want to bring the kids to that.  I thought it would only stress out Bella more.  Travis was pretty distraught Sunday afternoon.  He tries to act tough, but he has a soft side.  Seeing a guy in distress makes it so much worse, doesn't it?

Even though Bella had her bi-polar moments, she was a good cat to us.  I walked passed her usual roosts last night and felt a pang of sadness.  She will be missed.

Baby-Gear Shopping is Fun

As always, we had a BUSY weekend.  I really should have split up our Easter festivities over two days, but I had too much going on Saturday to fit anything else in.  I had an overdue oil change scheduled, shopping to do and a date night with Travis.  I had a coupon to Babies R Us and a play mat that I needed to exchange, so I took the opportunity to buy a new stroller/car seat combo for Mila.  A friend accidentally broke the handle on Aiden's stroller and his car seat was getting kind of old.  Travis and I agreed that we would feel better getting a new set.

I'm having a hard time flipping over to the girl mind set for baby stuff.  I actually felt guilty buying a stroller with pink on it.  Partially because I know Travis will be pushing it from time to time.  He didn't seem too worried about the pink though.  I settled on a newer version of the one we had for Aiden and honestly I can't wait to pull it out of the box!  I also bought a few other items while at the store (bottle drying rack abd plush elephant).  I couldn't believe my entire spending was under $200 between the coupon and gift exchange.  Very exciting.

After the oil change I went to Target to buy Easter goodies for the family (Aiden, Ariel, Robert and Travis).  I made sure to get a few extras for myself.  My current fave are Peepsters, by the makers of Peeps.  YUMMMM.  I also bought some pants and more muslin blankets for Mila (PERFECT for swaddling).  We seem to have a shortage of bottoms for that girl and I don't want her running around half naked!  And I would reuse Aiden's muslin blankets, except he still sleeps with him.  I don't want to take everything from him to give to the baby.

When I got home, I went through more baby stuff in the garage and then got ready for date night with Travis.  A friend at work gave us a gift card to Willie G's to promote one last date before the baby comes.  Since that restaurant is in Galveston, we left Aiden with Sue and headed off child-free.  It's always so funny going out without a kid.  When we were at dinner before seeing Pauly Shore a few weeks ago we sat down at the table.  We both announced to each other that we needed to wee before we got food and Travis told me I could go first.  I was about to tell him, no you go first, when I realized, "Why do we have to take turns?  There's no kid for us to stay at the table with!  We can pee at the SAME TIME."  Funny how parenting changes your way of life.

So, feeling like I was forgetting something, we made our way to Ariel's.  We left Mr. Lion there by accident on Friday and Aiden ALWAYS sleeps with him.  He woke up three times Friday night before waking up for the day at 6:30 and I wasn't up for another night of that.

Dinner was great.  We sat outside and enjoyed the water and making fun of all the sunburnt tourists.  We both ate seafood and we shared a giant caprese salad.  I even ordered a glass of wine.  That's the very first time I've imbibed alcohol in public while pregnant.  While my doctor assured me that one glass every now and then is fine, strangers tend not to agree.  I didn't really care that night.  The hot weather, combined with seafood, made a glass of cool white wine sound greatly appealing.  Travis had to finish it for me though.  Ha!

We were going to get dessert there, but nothing sounded very good.  Instead, we walked a couple blocks to the Nestle Toll House Cafe for cookies and ice cream.  OMG that place is amazing.  I told a friend we went there and she said she'd never been, but she did gain five pounds when she walked by it once.  I'd probably worry more if I weren't pregnant and still within the proper weight limits.  You really can't top a chocolate chip cookie covered in vanilla ice cream, fudge and nuts.  I'm so glad we live in a time when we can afford chocolate.

We sat with Sue for a little while before we took Aiden home.  I was thankful when he went straight to sleep when we got home. He hasn't been sleeping that well lately, so I really appreciated Sue wearing him out for us.

Seriously though, he FIGHTS going to sleep.  We put him down between 8 and 8:30 every night and he usually gets out of bed constantly until 10 pm when we go to bed.  And then he wakes up between 4:30 and 5 every morning.  That's only 6.5-7 hours per night!  It's not enough for me, so I can't imagine it's enough for a two year old.  What the deuce??  Does anyone have any advice on this situation?  I'm seriously contemplating giving him Benadryl.  Or maybe even melatonin every now and again so I can get ONE good night of sleep periodically.  But drugging him freaks me out a bit.  I should call the pediatrician and see what she thinks. 

Problem is I wouldn't get a GOOD night's sleep even without him waking me up constantly since I get up 1-3 times to pee.  I decided last night we are going to start shutting our cat Phage out at night.  He jumps on and off the bed frequently and it wakes me up each time.  When he jumps up, the jostle wakes me.  When he jumps off, the sound of him hitting the floor makes me wonder if Aiden is up walking around.  And by "walking around" I mean jumping off his dresser like he does from time to time (without my approval, of course). 

I really hope to sleep someday...

Phone Photo Catch Up

We've been busy with my dad here.  Lots to do!  One of the things he surprised us with is a new sidewalk to lead from our driveway to the front door.  When we put in the new wall this past summer, it blocked the view of the front door.  So people who have never been to my house before may have trouble deciding which way to walk.  This sidewalk solves that.  It also created a flower bed for me to add some landscaping.  I can't wait to spruce up the wall.  I've got some plans in my head.  Hopefully they turn out as good in reality.  Some of the plants I'd like to use are not availabe yet.  I'll purchase those when it gets warmer.

The sidewalk is not quite finished.  The project was supposed to be two-day deal, but turned into a week.  We still need more pavers, pea gravel and soil to level the ground around the new raised portion of the sidewalk.  No walking in puddles to get to my house dangit! 

I love how a project starts as laying a few pavers and turns into leveling the land in my front yard.

Stupid sideways photos.  I don't know how to fix them at all now.  This happened on my home computer as well.  AHHHHH.

The first weekend my dad was here, he made us pancakes for breakfast.  He made his infamous Mickey Mouse pancake with raisins for the eyes, nose and mouth.  Aiden got to watch him make the cake.  He LOVED it.  He ate the entire thing.  He refused to let me cut it though, so it was quite a mess. 

We had a mini-Valentine's Day party after my dad got here.  He bought us lots of candy and cards.  Ariel came over with alcohol gear from the bar.  Not the most ideal thing for a child to be wearing, but Aiden really enjoyed the wrist bands from Jagermeister.  They turned into arm bands when he got a hold of them. 

Showing off his muscles.  He had to concentrate to "flex".

Aiden has also found a friend in Phage recently . He's our male cat that has always been really easy going.  I think we're going to have to get male cats from here on out.  The females are all too spastic for me.  Anyway, Aiden loves to give the cats each a treat in the morning when he wakes up.  It's so cute.  I told him they only get one each, so he gives them each one and then the cats beg for more.  Aiden throws his hands up in the air, gets this high-pitched voice and says, "There's no more.  That's all." and he puts the bottle back in the cabinet.  Love him.

He also likes covering Phage up for nap time.  He finds every one of his blankets he can get his hands on and tucks the cat in.  Phage just lays there and takes it.  Even if Aiden accidentally lays on him too hard.  He just yelps and waits for Aiden to get off. 

On Saturday and Sunday mornings Aiden lays in bed with us and watches cartoons.  Phage has started plopping down right in Aiden's lap and basking in the attention.  Such a needy cat.  Thank goodness Aiden is here to help.

PS - We're trying to grow Aiden's hair out (in case you didn't notice the shag).  We haven't quite decided how to cut it since his hair is still baby fine.  His hair IS a little wavy, but I was sort of thinking something like this or this.  It's a work-in-progress, I guess.

Outside

Bad news and good news.  Sagira is back.  She stayed with my friend for about two months I think.  She pooped once in the first day.  Then didn't do it again until two weeks later when she was really stressed out.  Besides that, she didn't go outside her litter box at all.  I thought it was the perfect solution.  My friend has a larger house, less people and animals and more litter boxes. 

Unfortunately, after two months she regressed and started going all over the place.  My friend couldn't handle it any longer (I can't blame her at all), so I took her back.  Travis and I immediately made her an indoor/outdoor cat.  I was always REALLY nervous about doing this because we had outdoor cats when I was little and two of them were involved in bad accidents.

The first was run over by a car on the highway in front of our house.  Oreo survived and ran under the front porch.  Sadly, all the skin was torn from his right, rear leg, which meant it could not be saved.  Instead, my parents paid to have the leg removed.

Some time later, our other cat, Suki, was missing for several days.  He usually came home at least once a day, so we worried about him.  We all went outside and called for him periodically, but he never came, until three days later that is.  He was not using his back left leg and it was grossly swollen.  We took him to the vet to find that his leg was broken almost at his hip.  They were unable to set it and put it in a cast because it was so close to the hip joint.  Instead, he had that leg removed. 

From that point on, all our cats remained indoor cats.  The three-legged cats had to remain inside because they could not get around very well in the beginning.  But it just seemed safer as a whole to keep them at home.

I did get a lot of flack from my friends growing up.  They joked that we were animal torturers.  Fortunately that was not the case.  I just had a mom that was more than willing to put herself out financially for her pets.  Others probably would have just had them put to sleep.

Because of this, and the fact that Sagira is a beautiful Bengal cat (meaning people would be more likely to invite her inside), I never had the guts to put her outside.  But at this point, it's either outside, or pay to leave her at the shelter.  We decided to give the outdoors thing a try first.

She's been indoor/outdoor since I got back from Illinois.  We put her outside during the day while we are gone, but let her inside when we're home.  At this point, she has started complaining to be let out periodically while we are home.  The weird thing, is that she spends most of her time either under the house, or somewhere in the front yard.  I'm not sure where she goes, but she occasionally comes running around the side of the house when I call for her. 

The annoying part is that we have to cover Aiden's sandbox now.  I've wanted to do it since Travis built it, but never got around to it.  I've never found poo in it, but I have seen an occasional stray cat in the neighborhood.  At the moment, we only have a tarp over it, but it's doing the job. 

Sagira has pooped in the house a couple times, but I think I've got it figured out.  Both times she went in the house, it was when I left her inside all day.  Hopefully this arrangement works out for us.

Going well so far

Sagira is still living with my friend. It's been a little over a week and supposedly she's only had two accidents. Once was just like she did before and the second time was a stress-induced diarrhea. She got a bath and blow-dry. I PROMISE that Sagira wasn't a big fan of that. She may have been okay playing around in the bath (she isn't freaked out by water like most cats - it's a Bengal trait), but I'm SURE that blow dryer freaked her out.

Besides that, the new owner is enjoying her. Sagira is slowly warming up to her and her family. The owner's other cat still hisses at Sagira regularly, but hopefully she'll get over that soon. THIS COULD BE AWESOME.

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The wall is coming along smoothly. Well, sort of. I was painting on the stucco primer Sunday and we found two spots that didn't attach to the pressed board. We broke it off and Travis patched the large holes last night. I primed the rest of the wall and Travis caulked most of the trim. He's going to finishing caulking the rest of the wall tonight and he also plans to prime the trim. I will have to wait until next week to finish priming the stucco because the new patches need to cure completely.

Rain is in the forecast for Thursday, so we wanted to get the wall as close to air tight before then. We've done the best we can with fresh stucco on the wall. After the priming and caulking is finished, we will paint! We are painting the stucco grey, to match our house. I'm not sure what color to paint the trim. We were planning to do black to make the trim on our house, but my dad has been trying to convince us to choose a lighter color. He said we don't have to do a stark contrast to match the house exactly. I'm not sure what we'll do yet.

It's coming along!

The Poop Debacle

The Sagira debacle has had further development this weekend. Last week I put out a plea on Facebook, hoping that SOMEONE would be interested in taking on our charity case of a cat. Thankfully, we had two bites. The second bite overlapped the first, so I told her to wait it out and see what happened with the first. Unfortunately the first bite never got back with me, so second bite won out.

We brought Sagira to her new home Sunday morning. Her new house is twice as big as ours, with only ONE other cat. There is a dog, but he spends most of his time in the backyard. There are temporarily two extra people and two extra dogs (also in the backyard), but that is only until they get an apartment (daughter is home from college, with her boyfriend).

When the new owner saw Sagira, she was in love with her and HAD to have her. I hope she still feels the same way after living with the Poop Machine for a week. It took Sagira a week to start pooping at Ariel's house. Hopefully she doesn't even start it up in this new house. She has a cat house to climb in, a clean litter box and wet food everyday. That part was especially alluring to me since Sagira has lost some weight recently. I'm hoping it is just stress and that she will get over it soon.

The new owner knows that we will take Sagira back, should the pooping be overwhelming, or in the event that she does not get along with their other cat. They hissed at each other a little bit, but that is to be expected.

CROSSING MY FINGER THAT THIS ONE STICKS!!

Sagira

Well, Sagira's back. She crapped on every pillow in Ariel and Robert's house on Saturday night, then again Sunday morning. So she came back Sunday afternoon. It was worth a try! I have to admit, I'm bummed she's back. I was enjoying the lack of work in her absence. Cleaned the litter box less often, refilled the food and water less often, never cleaned poop off the beds or anything else for that matter (including the floor around the litter box). But now we're back to needy Sagira.

Pilling her Prozac was horrible. She scratches and freaks out. If anything, that stressed her out even more. I've been reading up on Bengal cats. Apparently they get bored easily. So that's probably what her problem is. I don't feel like turning my entire house into a kitty playground, so we're debating letting her outside. Travis is all for it. I'm terrified. There are big, scary dogs in our neighborhood and Sagira doesn't have any practice running away from dogs. If anything, she has always tried to play with the dogs that have come into our house. That spells disaster for a cat who has lived her life indoors. We also live on a fairly busy street. Again, Sagira does not have much experience with motorized vehicles.

I'm kind of hoping we can let her out in the back yard in the evening and then let her back inside before dark. I don't know how well that will work though. She'll probably leave the yard, or hide under the house.

UGH. I dunno.

Minus One More

I have spent months complaining about having too many animals to my family. As you remember, we sent Callaway home with my dad last month. We were hoping to give a cat to my mom whenever she came to visit, but she was unable to come this summer. A month ago, Ariel offered to take Sagira off our hands. I felt bad sending Sagira to live with her, and honestly I wasn't sure if she was serious. But when she offered it again last weekend, we took her up.

As of right now, it's just a trial period. Sagira is known to be the culprit of eliminating her bowels on our bed EVERY SINGLE DAY and I really didn't want to put that stress on my sister and Robert. So far she hasn't continued that habit at their house. She did pee in their room after a day of staying there, but we both think it's because she was too afraid to leave the bedroom in that first day. She has since made many trips downstairs to the litter box she now shares with their other cat Junipurr.

I'm crossing my fingers that this continues to work. We no longer have a need for the baby gates. We've kept them up for months, only for the animals. Aiden can get through them if he really wants, so they don't work for him any more. A couple days ago we took down the gates and our house seems so HUGE now. It's insane how much space those little white things took up. Aiden ran through the doorway in the morning and paused for a moment when he realized he didn't have to jump over anything. I thought it was funny.

I haven't taken the tarp off the guest bed yet, JUST IN CASE the other cats decide to drop a deuce in remembrance of Sagira. We haven't had to change the duvet cover on our bed a single day since she left. I'm about to put the comforter IN the duvet cover. I haven't done that in months!

I'm sure part of the reason the house feels huge is that we are minus two at the moment. Eek!

No Mess Friday

Friday evening, I left Aiden with Auntie Ariel and Uncle Robert for a couple hours after work so I could meet some co-workers for dinner. Travis and I are currently the poorest we have ever been in our entire lives (including our college years), so I had some serious guilt riding my shoulders. But! One of my friends at work who is a student just successfully defended his dissertation and a celebration was in order!

We went to a new restaurant in town called Brickhouse. This is a complete oxymoron, but it was like a classy Hooters. The decor was very sleek and modern. The menu and the servers are definitely aimed at folks of the male persuasion. The food, however, is fabulous. I shared a sandwich with a friend that was amazing. Both the sandwich and the friend. I will definitely go back.

I left the restaurant in time to get Aiden home for bed. As I pulled up in the driveway, I had a moment of excitement where I realized I would not have any animal messes to clean up. Travis had to work a little past 6:30, which meant he got home before us. I got inside and asked Travis what the damage was when he arrived. Nothing. He said NOTHING! The dog didn't tear anything up, the cats didn't poop or puke anywhere. NOT FAIR! The one day Travis had to do it and there was nothing for him to do!! Gah.

Anyhoo, this photo shows what he did to my plants the day he trampled everything. The aloe plant on the steps survived, no problems. The plan in the red pot were all but destroyed. To the left of that pot, you can see a piece of long white plastic. That was a long planter with flowers. I saved three of the plants from that and those in the red pot. They look horrific, without a single full leaf, but I'm giving them a chance. I have worked so hard on my plants this year that I couldn't bare to just throw them out. Besides, we can't afford to replace them at this point.

Our anxiety must be rolling over to the animals

Our animals have gone insane. I don't know what is up with them lately, but they have ALL gone bonkers. I mentioned already that Callaway has been escaping from the yard. Well, it hasn't stopped. He manages to get out of every obstacle we give him. We tried tying him to a stake all day. It worked for a day or two, but then he somehow figured out how to finagle the carabiner just right so that his collar becomes unattached from the leash.

The first time he got off the tether, it was immediately after I had hooked him up. I assumed I hadn't latched the carabiner properly. I hopped back out of the car and hooked Callaway back up. When I got home that evening, he was unhooked again. Travis switched the latch type, hoping that Pupdini wouldn't be able to figure that one out. He didn't get out of it the first day, wiggle his way out of his collar on Tuesday.

That evening, Aiden was playing on the back step and Callaway went out there with him. He was okay for about 5 minutes, but then he just freaked out. He started acting the way he does when I pull out the vacuum. He was crouched low to the ground, tail between his legs, ears and head down. I never figured out what scared him.

Tuesday we tightened Callaway's collar and Travis removed the lattice-work that hides the underside of our house. The dog started digging to get under in another spot. I don't know why he can't just use his original GAPING hole.

When I got home last night, Callaway had managed to knock all of the potted plants of the back step along one side. One planter was completely destroyed, in a million pieces, strewn for several feet. Two other pots had completely lost their contents and were located, again, several feet from their original location. He also managed to tear apart half of the sago palm that guards our back door. I replanted the roots of the plants, in hopes that they will grow back. I don't have high hopes, since they were severely trampled, with only a few leaves left.

We were unable to buy rebar this past weekend because Travis has been without a paycheck for almost three weeks now. We broke down and did a redneck fix with wooden stakes stuck into the fence. God I hope he doesn't find a way through that. We NEED this to work. If I have to spend 30 minutes cleaning up animal messes when I get home tonight I will just scream.

I was so mad at Callaway last night that I left him outside for an hour after we got home. I finally decided to let him in. First thing he did was chug a bunch of water and regurgitate it in the middle of the kitchen. Since Aiden and I were in the middle of eating our dinner, I ignored it. But then 5 minutes later he did it again under the dining room table. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

We took Callaway to the vet this weekend. His skin allergies have gotten out of control again. I was kind of hoping Callaway's anxiety would calm down if he wasn't so worked up with itchy skin. His sores are still healing, but he barely scratches anymore. Sadly, his need to escape from our yard has not diminished at all. We also talked to the vet about putting him on the Prozac. The doctor said if it was only occasional anxiety, like in the case of a thunderstorm for example, then he would give him a mild sedative. But since Callaway has constant anxiety ALL THE TIME, Prozac is the drug for him. Although, at this point, I'm wondering if the Prozac is having the opposite effect on him.

We have not been giving the cats any Prozac. The pooping all over the place died down for a while. But then we caught our THIRD cat taking a dump on our bed. I don't want to medicate ALL our cats, ALL the time, so we haven't started up giving them Prozac again. But since then, the crapping has gotten out of control. I keep the litter box clean, and now we have two. That means if two of the cats aren't getting along, they can relieve themselves in separate boxes. It hasn't helped at all.

Just this week, the cats have been acting erratically as well. I have caught all of them perched in places they are not allowed to be. They could very well hang out in those spots ALL DAY LONG, but at least in the past they had the decency to jump down before I entered the room. Now they just sit there and stare at me lazily, defying me.

Phage now thinks it's okay to put his butt on the counter where I prepare food. NOT OK. He also thinks an excellent hang out is on top of our fridge, next to the bread. Also NOT OK. Oh and Monday when I was getting ready to wash my hands, he jumped right into the sink. Ugh, the nerve! The other day, Bella was laying on her back on our coffee table, hugging one of Aiden's teddy bears. NOT OK. Sagira has random fits where she runs all over the house with her hair standing up, yowling.

I noticed some flea poo on the sink, which means the cats probably have fleas. We have not been good with applying their flea medicine, due to lack of funding. We bought some at the vet this past weekend and finally applied it last night. Maybe that's why they're freaking out? Please?

I used to enjoy spending time with my pets. Now I'm thinking they're more trouble than they're worth.

We're turning into crazy pet owners

I have mentioned in the past about our cat Bella with her behavioral issues. Sadly, the random peeing and pooing around the house did not go away. Bella has done it for years, but it has been concentrated mostly on Callaway's possessions (in the water dish, on the ground around his food bowl, his beds, etc). A few months ago, one of the cats started pooing on the guest bed. I was appalled the first time I found it. I was irritated the second time I found it. And the third time? I closed the baby gate to that room (since there is no door on that room) and covered the bed with a tarp (just in case).

That's how we found out it was Sagira doing the duty. We had assumed Bella, since she is the one who defies the litter box every few months. We had just assumed she was escalating in her defiance. Sagira is the only cat that can fit between the bars in the baby gate. When poop showed up again the following day, we knew it had to be her. Weeks went by with me coming home from work, heading straight to the guest bedroom to clean the poop off the tarp.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and I covered the gate with a piece of plywood. No cat was getting in that room if I had a say in it! The next day? Poop on our bed. Oh I was irate! When that became I daily occurance, I decided to call the vet for advice. She said the first thing I should do was open up that guest room again. It wasn't stopping the cat from defecating everywhere and it would most likely make it worse. She said cats need a quiet place they can wander off to be by themselves. Since our house is too small for all the humans and animals living within, our cats don't have that leisure. So the best we can do is leave every room available to the cats.

FINE. We gave it a try. It didn't help matters at all. Now, Sagira was pooping on our bed AND the guest bed. We have a tarp on the guest bed, so at least that one is covered. We are not so lucky with our bed. Thankfully we have two duvet covers, so we alternate between the two. One on our bed, one in the wash. I don't even put the duvet covers on the comforter anymore because I know I will be taking it off again the next day. And it's nice to know there are two layers of fabric between that poop and our comforter.

I COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. I broke down, shaking one weekend day because I had to throw away Aiden's Toy Story couch that he loved because it was covered in cat piss and I spent the entire afternoon cleaning cat vomit stains out of the carpet and poop off the beds. I told Travis we HAD to get rid of a cat.

At this point, both Sagira and Bella were NOT using the litter box. We decided that Bella would have to go, since she was the one who started this mess. And she is questionable with guests in our home. I knew she wouldn't get adopted at a shelter because she is psycho and won't let anyone but us touch her. That meant she would get euthanized. I figured we might as well do it ourselves. Then we would get to be there to say goodbye.

I had to stop several times while I was writing an email to our vet about our problem because I was crying so hard. No way could I discuss it over the phone with all the sobbing I was doing. That night, I was lying in bed, thinking about the cats. I love them all! We've had them for years. No matter how much they drive me crazy, they are a part of our family. I didn't think I would be able to bring Bella in for the euthanasia, but I knew I HAD to be there. If I couldn't suck it up, then it didn't seem right.

Then I remembered the cats' doctor saying we could try putting her on Prozac. At the time, that was not even an option. The thought of giving our cat an antidepressant was just absurd. Besides, I didn't want to spent $50 a month to medicate our cat.

As I last resort, I decided to ditch my reservations and give it a try. Turns out, fluoxetine (Prozac) is on the list of $4 medications at Target! AND, each cat only needs a quarter of a pill per day, so that $4 will last me two months between the two cats!

I marched down to that pharmacy, signed the waiver saying I understood suicidal thoughts were a side effect of Prozac, told the pharmacist if my cat had suicidal thoughts I would be sure to notify the proper medical professional, and marched right back out.

The downfall here is that we have to shove a pill down two cats' throats everyday. We tried sticking it in various foods and treats, but they would never eat the pill. I tried pilling the cats freehand, but that resulted in a few puncture wounds on my finger. So, we resorted to a piller. We stick the quartered tablet in the end of the pet piller, Travis scruffs the cat and I stick the pill in the back of the mouth before pressing the plunger to release the pill.

It's horrible. But worth it. We were able to give the medication three days in a row without forgetting and the messes stopped. Unfortunately, we forgot on Day 4. Then again on Day 6. You see the pattern here. The messes started up again. But that's when we realized it was only Sagira now.

The doctor had said that we might only have to do this for a month, to get them out of the habit of inappropriate elimination. Turns out it only took a few days for Bella, but we might have to do it again later if she starts back up. We are going to try 30 consecutive days of medicating Sagira before testing the waters with her again. We are currently in Day 3 of pilling only Sagira.

I really hope this works!!!

Travis takes Sagira for a walk

Stuck

Soooo, I came home Friday to Sagira yowling from our bedroom. She was lost IN our duvet.

Then on Saturday I grabbed this shot of Sagira and Callaway sharing a food dish.

Ignorance is Bliss

We have a Bengal named Sagira. I have mentioned her on here a couple of times.

Bengals are a strange breed. Our Sagira will walk on a leash, she enjoys playing with dogs (preferably small ones), she likes perching in high places and she loves water. While I doubt she would happily go for a swim (although I have not actually offered it), she is very fond of playing on the surface. And oh! the number of places to play with water in the home! The kitchen sink, the bathroom sink (she will actually let me turn the water on and let it run over her body as she lays in the sink), the bath tub, the toilet (hence the constantly closed lid) and my new fave, a glass of water.

For years I have left a glass of water sitting on my nightstand at night. Sometimes I wake up thirsty and if I don't wet the palate I will lay there forever thinking about how thirsty I am and end up getting out of bed for a drink anyway. Sagira has recently discovered this glass of water, this cup of wonderment, the epitome of zeal! I am sure there has been the occasional romp into my water glass in the past. But then, I was unaware of any midnight party on my nightstand and therefore still able to drink the water in the morning. (Gross, I know. Please re-read title of post.)

As of late, it is blatantly obvious that someone has been cavorting with my drink. There are little wet paw prints all over my nightstand and clumps of CLAY at the bottom of my glass. For those of you who may not follow what clumps of clay may represent, let me clarify. Nowadays, most cat owners use what is called "clumping cat litter". The litter itself is just little dry granules of clay. When exposed to moisture, the clay instantly absorbs the fluid and adheres to any neighboring moist granules of clay. Hence, clumping.

Unfortunately, the moisture that was meant to be cat piss has now become my glass of water. I'm thinking I may have to forego the water for a few weeks in order to get Sagira to forget about her nightly visits to my nightstand.

Feline Fervor

I know I've talked about this before, but it's been about a year so I thought it worth another mention. My cats go CRAZY when their food or water is out. Let me rephrase that, when it comes to their food, they get P-O'd when it is almost gone. Generally I'm lucky and this happens during waking hours and it's not that big of a deal. Now that I've looked back, it appears that about once a year it happens at night.

Usually when this happens at night, I will actually GET OUT OF BED to feed the cats. Because I know that if I just get it over with, the animals will leave me alone. But if I resist, as I did last night, those damn cats make sure I don't get more than 30 minutes of consecutive sleep at a time. And here I thought that was Aiden's job.

I was so irritable by the time I got up this morning that immediately after letting out Callaway the first thing I did was fill up the cat food dispenser. On my way back to the hallway, I heard a crash come from the extra bathroom. I immediately run (or at least it felt like running at 5:05am) to find what the cats had trashed and it turned out to be a vase on the back of the toilet. The cats RARELY go in that bathroom and when they do it is usually because one of us are in there. Somehow, Sagira had managed to get into the bathroom (the door is usually closed), climb on the back of the toilet and shatter a vase full of dried eucalyptus. I'm pretty sure that was her way of saying "Hurry up woman. The food has almost run out." No time - I'll clean that up later.

Since pouring the cat food makes a lot of noise, I went back to close the bedroom door. Because the cats like to irritate me in Food Loss Scenarios they followed me into the bedroom when I was going to close said door. I tried to stop them from coming in because I knew they would flip out as soon as I poured the food, but Sagira did some Matrix-style maneuvers to make sure she got INTO the bedroom. Fine, I thought. You can stay in the bedroom.

Sure enough, the second food hit that dish (which was NOT empty by the way), Sagira was yowling away in the bedroom. When I finished what I was doing, I opened the door to find her standing on Travis' nightstand, knocking everything off and doing exactly what I was trying to avoid doing: waking up Travis.

And do you want to know the kicker?! Not one cat went into the closet to eat that damn food. NOT ONE. I guess they just go into survival mode: QUICK, Phage and Bella, you go wake up the people by attacking their feet and laying on their pillow directly next to their face! Our food MIGHT run out in the next three hours!! In the meantime, I can trash the house in search of MORE FOOD. Let's look under that glass vase on the back of the toilet in the bathroom! Let's look under everything on the nightstand! Let's look under the peoples' heads as they SLEEP.

If you don't know my cats, that means Sagira is their leader. When it comes to survival, the wild Bengal takes the lead.

Ugh. It's another coffee-day.

Cats...

I just wanted to do a quick mention here - my cat (Sagira) spent 30 minutes this morning staring into the reflection of our new TV. I mean literally, sat facing the TV, looking "out" like it was a window. I wonder what she was thinking?

"Wow. Look at how much fun all those people and cats are having in this extremely tinted glass window."

???

The salesman did say the picture was like looking through a glass window...

Baby shower, glucose test and a movie

Sagira is doing much better today. The swelling on her nose has gone down a lot and she is definitely back to her normal crazy self. Phew!

I had my glucose tolerance test yesterday afternoon and I didn't even faint. Yay! I didn't eat for three hours, then I had to chug 10 ounces of cold orange-flavored glucose water. An hour later, they drew my blood and I immediately downed half a bag of trail mix. Since I was the last appointment of the day, I didn't get to find out the results. Maybe today? I have a horrid bruise in the crook of my arm today from that blood draw. It's pretty sore too.

This weekend was very random. After the satellite guy left, a small group of friends came over to watch Twilight. Rachel purchased it last weekend and we were anxious to see it. Unfortunately, the whole thing turned into a disaster. I had absolutely no idea how to work the DVD player with the Direct TV remote. What a mess! It wasn't until an hour and a half later that I thought to call Direct TV and they were able to fix the problem in five minutes.

Jenna ended up leaving once we got the DVD player working because she would have had to get the kids halfway through the movie. Rachel, Nadya and Alexey stuck around and watched the whole movie. Unfortunately, time got away with us and we were unable to go through the special features. We are hoping to find time to do that this week.

After the movie, Travis and I went over to Sara and JR's house for a little birthday party they had for Logan. The big guy is 2 years old now! WOW. They had hot dogs, cupcakes and flippin' awesome Rice Krispie treats. Man those hit the spot. I think I had three. YUM. After the food and presents, we hung out in the yard while everyone took turns playing Ladder Golf. It was so cold though! =(

Sunday, Travis and I laid in bed all morning. It was ridiculous. Travis has been attacked by his allergies and he didn't feel like doing anything. Which meant I basically had permission to lay in bed all day! I caught up on some much needed prego-book reading, while Travis messed around with the Direct TV.

That afternoon, I left for a baby shower and Travis stayed home. He spent five hours taking care of the continuing education that is required for his Journeyman electrician's license. The baby shower I went to was really nice. It was large and coed and there was a lot of food. They had it outdoors at the home of the mother-to-be. I didn't think I would need sunscreen, so I ended up with a little rosy color on my chest.

As soon as I got home, I took a shower, threw on some PJ's and jumped back into bed with Travis. It was a nice lazy day without feeling like I had done nothing (since I was outside for three hours). I finished the night off with two bowls of cereal in bed! =D

My poor kitty!

Sagira had an accident on Saturday. =( Travis and I decided to switch to satellite TV (amazingly it will save us money), so the technician was at our house. He was here for five hours! But that's unrelated... Anyway, I leaned a 6-foot ladder against the wall for the technician to use and walked away. A few minutes later, I heard the ladder crash to the ground. I went to make sure it didn't cause any damage and I leaned it back against the wall. Sagira is always knocking stuff down and she is always fine, so I didn't think to go check on her.

Next thing I know, I hear Sagira yowling in the dining room. I immediately went to make sure she was okay, but she didn't really seem to be. She was crouching in a strange position on a chair at the table. When I tried to pull it out to take a look at her, she slowly walked over to the next chair while staying very low to the ground. I tried pulling out that chair, but she went across the table to the other side. I figured she was hurt and didn't want to be messed with, so I tried to sit near her to see if I could get a glimpse of any possible damage.

She finally sat still and I tried to look her over from a distance. She had her eyes squinted almost completely shut and she was shaking. Then she started turn her head back and forth from straight on, to the left and back again. She did that over and over for five minutes, occasionally licking her nose. That's when I noticed blood coming out of her right nostril. I wasn't sure if she had a scrape on her nose or if she had bonked her head so hard that she was bleeding from the nose.

I worried that she might have hurt her back or neck. I didn't find a scrape or lump anywhere else on her body. I immediately called the vet to see what they thought and they recommended bringing her in. I was too afraid to move her, so I waited for a few minutes. After about 10 minutes, she finally started to let me pet her. I got her to turn her head to the right and she ate a treat. I called the vet back to let them know she was doing better and if anything changed for the worse I would be right in.

Thankfully, it never came to that. She sat on the couch, under the blanket I covered her with, for several hours that afternoon. I was so worried about her, but she was definitely back to her normal self by Sunday. Travis and I had to yell at her to get off the counter when she tried to get a taste of the taco leftovers we had sitting out while we ate. Sagira's nose is still really swollen. If you look at her profile, you can see a bump on the bridge of her nose. I'm pretty sure the ladder hit her right on the schnoz when it fell.

It would be absolutely HORRIBLE if anything happened to one of my cats, and I hate to say it, but especially if anything happened to Sagira. She's my sweet pea! (Bella pees everywhere and I'm pretty sure is bi-polar. Phage is an awesome cat, but he thinks he owns our bed and drives me nuts at night.) Plus, I don't think I could handle those emotions while I am pregnant. It was all I could do to not have a nervous breakdown when I realized she was hurt. It was a close one!

Summer must be coming

I spent yesterday afternoon doing what I like to call de-furring. And by de-furring, I mean vacuuming, Swiffering, and wiping down all the furniture with a lint brush to rid my home of hair. I am pretty sure that I collected a full pound of it from my house. It appears that my animals are shedding their winter coats.

Don't get me wrong, I have three cats and a dog. Controlling that hair on a regular week can be time consuming. But this is just down right ridiculous. It is so bad that Travis was complaining about the cat hair on top of the bed and the dog hair all along the edges of the bed. I'm the one usually complaining about that. You know it's bad if Travis is verbalizing it.

We are definitely getting Bella sheared right before this baby comes.

Talking with Sagira

Another lazy Saturday night...

Travis got up between DVR shows and went to say hi to Sagira. I like to call her our TV ornament because she always sits on the back of it to stay warm. Occasionally she'll stand up and all we see is her little head sticking over the top. When she saw Travis, they started having a conversation.

Talking with Sagira from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

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