Never Underestimate the Power of Hope
Well, frack.
Pookie Bear perked up remarkably Friday night, and had a really good day yesterday, complete with several rousing overnight games of attack the sleeping toes. This morning all was normal. Ate part of his lunch, spent the afternoon and the Boys of March Birthday Bash sunning in the window.
Around 530, he started drooling again.
Refused to touch his dinner.
::sigh::
Back on the merry go round again, it seems.
Am putting a temporary post up here, on Newt’s blog, and emailing to my Reiki students. I typically don’t do this, but this is stuck in my heart right now, and I feel compelled to do this.
If you know of anyone looking for a cat, I met a shelter cat this week during an unrelated visit to the Washington Animal Rescue League (www.warl.org) , and can’t stop thinking about him. His name is Petey, and while I know we can’t adopt him, I can’t stop thinking about him. So I’m sending out emails, blog posts, etc. to everyone I know who may know someone who knows someone who is looking for a cool cat.
Saw him again today. He’s an orange tabby, 1 yr old, a few black smoodges, white paws. Looked like copper eyes to me. We had a copper-eyed orange tabby before, so I’m not immediately thinking he’s a shunt baby. He leapt into my arms as I was leaving, demanding to be held and snuggled, and LICKED MY CHIN. Repeatedly. I almost cried – he reminded me so much of the two orange tabbies we’d loved before, and the only cat before him who has ever licked my face is Newt. And then, as someone else was holding him and I walked past the door to leave, his eyes met mine and he yowled. Oh geesh. Cunning little beast, to zing his way into my heart like that LOL.
So anyway, I’m not affiliated with WARL, I know lots of wonderful cats who also need homes, but am sending this out in hopes for the greatest good for Petey. (He was very receptive to Reiki.)
Just a quick request for vibes, prayers, love, anything you can send our way for Newt. He’s been having a bit of a rough week.
New pattern seems to be emerging; rapid cycling of HE symptoms, back to normal, back to symptoms, repeat, repeat, repeat. Ongoing since Sunday night.
He had sub-q fluids and saw two vets yesterday morning; of course he looked and seemed much better at that time, so no one was terribly alarmed – just another round of ride it out and keep on with the meds, etc. I just had hoped and thought that he would pull out of it by now, since he usually is symptomatic for maybe 12 hours, not five days. Not since he was a baby has it gone on this long.
Direct dosing Lact, orally administering water, lots of Reiki, trying to keep myself calm, but you know how it goes :-/
So, any well wishes for him will be gratefully accepted.
UPDATE:
Seems to be doing better this morning (3/6/10), yay! Played attack the toes last night, ate midnite snack and breakfast, gnawed on his One True Love, eyes bright, fur unruffled. Still a bit of the wobbles, but that’s typical after an ep. Hoping this is a full upswing and not back on the merry go round of this past week.
Many thanks to all for the love, prayers, positive energies, Reiki, etc.
Okay, okay, okay! As if I’m not far enough behind on keeping you updated on Newt’s progress, updates to his website, acting as his personal secretary, etc,, I’ve added yet another “Thing To Do” on the ever-growing list.
After debating for months, I finally have set Newt up with another site, to showcase the handmade items that have helped to buy his chicken and Lactulose 
The plan is to provide tutorials to help rescue groups learn how to make simple, inexpensive items either for their own adoptables, or as items to sell at fundraisers.
The site is Knitting for Newt, which is a bit of a misnomer, as it includes a variety of items, including sewn, knitted,crocheted, braided, and other projects, but I liked the way it sounded. Plus,while knitting in public, people ask me what I’m doing, and the standard reply is “Knitting for Newt.” This always led to interesting discussions on how I could be “knitting” without needles, and what in the world does a Newt need with Knitting?
So, once I figure out a name for the blog section of that site (right now, it’s simply called “blog” – how original!), I’ll post links, and upload the site. For now, if you want to be creative and help Name That Blog, that would be awesome, and I bet there will be a token of appreciation to the winner – probably in the form of a cat toy or two. 
Almost finished the third version of the Cat Sweater / Cape. Am hopeful this one will be the right one. Earlier version was a wee bit snug at the arms, and a bit short in the neck. So, I knitted really loosely behind the arms (the belly band) and extended the neck as well as the arm area. My goal is easy on/off, lightweight but warm, and sturdy.
Having too much fun with this. Love a challenge. Am determined to loom knit a perfectly tailored nifty, knifty knitted sweater for a fellow shunt cat. Just need to weave the ends, launder and mail.
Newt was more cooperative with this version. Am taking that as a good sign of a better fit!
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Day 1.5 of being trapped in the house during “Snowmaggedon.”
Cat Daddy says that I go crazy in the snow. Hmmm. He may have a point. I do seem to enjoy staying outside in the still quiet,listening to the solitude of … nothing. Nice change from the bustling noise of the DC suburbs. Of course, grab the camera, grab the yardstick, go measure, make snowmen, have snowball fights with imaginary opponents, play with the dogs, let the Newt go exploring, I guess you can agree with his assessment that I get a little snow crazy::grin:: |
| Got out this morning to let the dogs go potty.. took far less time and effort than in years prior, thanks to Cat Daddy’s engineering brilliance. He had the bright idea of using the empty recycling bin,trash can, and other plastic containers laid in a path to help keep the snow from accumulating. Simply marvelous. Move the crates, and a nice path was left, wide enough for a tall Collie to navigate, and minimal shoveling for the Doggy Latrine. Have I mentioned before how much I adore that man?
So far, the snow is up to the dogs shoulders,and still coming down. The dogs weren’t too keen on hanging out andplaying with mommy in the snow, so I had the bright idea to let Newt gooutside. It’s only been a year since his last (first!) snowadventure. Let’s see if he’s learned his lesson about wanting to sneakout of the house. And NO, I did NOT throw him out in the snow! I simply held open the door to see if he really wanted to sneak out. |
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As you can see by the pictures, he wasn’t too keen on the idea, and quite happily skated across the frozen porch back into the house as soon as I opened the door. He is now nestled snuggly next to his arch-nemesis, Tinky One Fang., who hates him and regularly tries to kick his skinny little arse whenever he even thinks about getting within tenfeet of her.
Cat Daddy says obviously the blizzard is making us ALL a little snow crazy! |
Was thrilled to be speaking at the World of Pets Expo in Timonium, Maryland today. Gave a presentation on Reiki for Animals, and had a quick dash thru the vendor area, and then roamed the edge of the cat show, peeking at the pretty kitties.
Was thrilled to find out one of the people I was speaking to is a shunt cat parent from Florida, and the person next to her also knows a shunt cat parent. WoW.
Spoke with several vets about our shunt cat friends, and we *may* have a lead on a couple of guest speakers, if we ever have our conference – woohoo!
Cat Daddy says that I am weird. I have no idea why. Doesn’t everyone spend a snowy day making a snuggie snowman?
After wrapping up a month-long contract and having Newt be symptomatic for about 12 hours earlier this week, I decided to unwind a bit by unleashing my creative urges and using some of the 21 inches of snow we dug out clearing the driveway to build a snowman.
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We wish you a Snuggie Christmas
We wish you a Snuggie Christmas
We wish you a Snuggie Christmas
and a fat-free New Year
Good snacking we bring, to you and your kin
Good snacking for Christmas and a Happy New Year
Oh bring us a zebra snuggie
Oh bring us a zebra snuggie
Oh bring us a zebra snuggie
And bring it right here
We won’t move until we get one
We won’t move until we get one
We won’t move until we get one
So bring it right here!
We wish you a Snuggie Christmas
We wish you a Snuggie Christmas
We wish you a Snuggie Christmas
and a fat-free New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Had More fun working on this. Absolutely delightful. A puzzle, much fun, lots of comments from random strangers watching me work on the loom. A typical conversation went something like this:
“Whatcha doin’?”
“Knitting a sweater for a hairless cat in Scotland – he’s a friend of my Newt.”
“You aren’t knitting, you don’t have needles. And why would a cat have no hair? And your newt has a cat friend? Why would anyone have a pet newt anyway? I’m so confused.”
Hey, you gets your giggles where you can!
So it was an experiment. No actual pattern, I’ve never seen the cat in person, converting measurements from metric, flying blind. It was great. The first attempt was waaay too small. The second effort more reasonable. More of a cat cape than a cat sweater, but a good starting point. Can’t wait to try the next one and hoping that third time’s the charm!
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| Me: Pookie, when did you get so FAT?!?! Newt: I am soooooooooooooo going to pee in your shoes for this indignity! Cat Daddy: My wife is weird. Really, really weird. |
2nd version a better fit. Prefer the copper colour, though. Newt prefers to be sans sweater, period. | Rib band a bit snug, but worked okay as a pullover style capelet. S’okay, he’s a supercat, so he should have a super hero cape. |
Okay, if you are like us, you probably have an ever-building assortment of empty bottles of Lactulose and antibiotics. Being ever frugal, and always seeking new opportunities for creating craft ideas, am experimenting with ways to upcycle these items. Even after recycling so many of them, using them to store beads, buttons, screws, nails, spare change, etc, they still keep multiplying!
First order has been using my handy knifty knitter to knit over them and turn them into cat toys. Hope to have a video tutorial on it soon. Of course, adding a few grains of dry rice and tossing them across the floor works fine, too! The Amoxy bottles are actually large enough that they don’t disappear five seconds after Newt bats them into the kitchen … and under the cabinets!
