In Sickness and in Health

Hi Everyone: wave Just a quick update. Buddy is on the mend I think. Buddy2014 005a copy   I was amazed at the number of people who reached out to me about Buddy. He’s certainly been going through his health challenges. At his annual physical the Vet detected a fairly prominent heart murmur so we ran a series of blood tests to see if the problem could be isolated. The last test was a cardiac series and we wanted to avoid that if possible as it was expensive. The first panels showed an elevated thyroid so we started Bud-man on .3 ML of  methimazole with monthly follow ups. IMG_20150808_122205 It seemed that each month we got closer but not close enough so up went the dosage. By the time I took him in Thursday for his follow up we were at .7 ML but this time the result was different. The heart murmur was gone and his thyroid numbers were in the low normal range. That bought us a reprieve of sorts. Instead of following up in 30 days we could wait for 60! Buddy 004a     That’s when Buddy decided to upset the plan. By Saturday he was throwing up clear fluid every 30 minutes. The poor thing was shaking. I know cats throw up everything from hairballs to half digested food from eating too fast but this was nothing like I’d ever seen. Of course this all took place after my Vet closed at noon. I considered taking him to an emergency vet but then he seemed to get  a bit better. He ate some chicken broth and kept it down and even went to sleep. more cats 001a Sunday morning he ate his breakfast and I thought we’d gotten over the worse but then in the afternoon it all started again. My pet sitter recommended  Pepcid AC but I hated to try to “pill him”. I tried hairball remedy and more broth but he had no interest. I was really getting concerned but Monday morning he was up bright and early and teasing for breakfast. Kats 004 copy   Again things seemed good until Monday evening. Right after dinner Buddy delivered his half digested food right back up. Tuesday morning Buddy seemed fine but he only picked at breakfast. He didn’t gobble it down like he usually did. I had to go to work so I crossed my fingers and left some dry food out for him to nibble on and lots of fresh water. On my way home I stopped at the Vet’s office and picked up some pill pockets. As soon as I came in both Rocky and Buddy met me at the door. I slipped 1/4 tab of pepcid AC into a pill pocket and offered it to Buddy. Gone in 2 seconds flat! Success! And so far it’s worked.

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He ate his dinner with some of his old appetite and so far it has stayed inside , not outside his little cat body. I’m really hoping we’ve turned the corner!

A Whale’s Tail

As fast as the Real Estate rush began it stopped. I went from working every waking moment to suddenly having time on my hands. I keep thinking there’s something I’ve forgotten to do. There was no gradual slowing down…just slammed one minute and then nothing the next! So with a quiet Sunday staring me in the face I thought a whale watching trip might be in order.

I ordered my ticket online and headed to Plymouth at 11:30. I figured I’d get there early, have some lunch and then line up for boarding. It was a beautiful day, close to 90 degrees and sunny.

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A perfect day to be on the water.

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The activity at Plymouth Harbor proved my assumption. Traffic was brutal and parking nonexistent. I was very glad I gave myself extra time. I finally parked in the Citizens Bank lot which had been opened up for a fee of $10.00 for the day.

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But once underway the hassle was all worthwhile.

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We passed Bug light and then Gurnet Point Lighthouse which marks the end of the harbor. We headed  out to Stellwagon Bank which is an underwater plateau. These plateaus cause “upwelling” which stirs up the nutrients and makes for rich feeding grounds. It’s also a protected marine sanctuary.  One corner of the plateau comes quite close to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod.  It was my guess that this was where we were headed.

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The Pilgrim Tower in Provincetown hadn’t quite come into view when I saw something breach and splash. Then others saw it when it happened again. It was so quick none of us knew what we were seeing. Finally the naturalist on board got on the PA and told us we’d just witnessed some tuna jumping! Tuna, I never would have guessed!

A few minutes later we entered the Marine sanctuary and immediate spotted 4 humpback whales . They were an Association not a Pod as Pods are families and these were 4 unrelated whales.

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It was the day of the tails.

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They’d cruise along on the surface for a bit then dive and all of them liked getting their tail flukes out of the water.

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2 of the Whales came right up next to our boat. Of course, I was on the wrong side. Just my luck!

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No breaching or flipper slapping today but we got great looks at the tails. The tails besides being so very photogenic are also like fingerprints. Each whale has a different pattern and the scientists have thousands of tail flukes cataloged.  I’m sure the photographer on board is sending all of her photos out for identification.

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We saw some other whales besides these 4 but they were more distant and these four were happy to stay and play with us so why search for more?

I had a whale of a time!

Soft Kitty

Anyone out there a fan of the Big Bang Theory?

If you are the you know when Sheldon gets sick he has to have someone (usually Penny) sing “Soft Kitty” to him.

Where is this going you ask?
Well the other night the rerun I was watching had Penny turning the tables and asking Sheldon to sing to her. I like the little ditty so I was singing along.

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All of a sudden there was a thud as Rocky jumped down from the top of the wardrobe. He raced around the chair and sat down at my feet and stared. At first I didn’t make the connection. (Stupid Human)

The song ended and Rocky started to walk away. As he turned his back I started singing Soft Kitty again. He turned right back around. He lifted  a paw up and gently tapped my knee. So cute.

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So I sang it again. This time he hopped up on the arm of my chair, stretched out on his side and stared at me the whole time I was singing. If I stopped his tail started whipping around like he was very angry. He was fascinated by that song.

I tried it again last night. Same reaction. He just loves that song! He even looks like he’s smiling.

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Other songs don’t  get his attention like that!  Soft Kitty, warm kitty , little ball of fur….Happy kitty, sleepy kitty , purr, purr , purr.