[alinnell]

Sharon~I wouldn't call it amazing. At one point I was a size 6.

Some sad news. My Dad, who has congestive heart failure is getting worse. He's really stubborn and that isn't helping things. Some of his medications cause hallucinations for which he's supposed to be on oxygen. I don't get why the oxygen helps him not hallucinate, but apparently it works. He's been retaining more and more fluid and the lasix isn't doing it's job. My SIL took him to the doctor yesterday and he's basically leaking. He's had a catheter for years due to some bladder issue and it's not the catheter that's leaking. He is. He has so much fluid that the fluid it finding any place to ooze out of (at this point mostly on his lower legs). The doctor changed his prescription and they changed the home health to probably twice a day rather than every few weeks so they can do pressure bandages on his legs to try and get rid of the fluid. If that doesn't work, they'll probably move him to hospice.

I get all that news because next week is my SIL's birthday and their family is going on vacation--a river rafting trip where they won't have cell service. Basically, I'm on call to fly up there if there should be a turn of events. This makes my life stressful--too much is "up to me" and will be left to others--some of whom I don't trust to do as good a job as me. Therefore I'll be doubling my work on Monday and Tuesday to get a lot of that stuff done early in case I need to fly out at a moment's notice.

Meanwhile, we went out to our monthly Wine Women dinner last night and had a great time. We've met a new couple who are fun!

Oh, and in other news, the wonderful 115 degree heat, coupled with the smoke from the Lake Fire means no outdoor activities and no using the swamp (evaporative) coolers in the house. So we're dealing, once again, with the A/C on the east side of our house (where the kitchen and family room are) conking out from time to time. This has been an issue for at least 4 or 5 years. The repair guys have been here three times this month to no avail. They've replaced a couple things (capacitor and kick-starter) and it still does it's little weird thing (the condenser suddenly decides not to run so we're getting hot air). So, finally, the decision was made to get a new unit. Unfortunately the unit is too old for just the condenser to be changed--we need a new FAU as well. This is going to be expensive!

[HowlinAtTheMoon]

Allison, boo to added stress in your life We are only in the 100's, not the 110's and no fires to deal with, so I can the swamp cooler. This is good, because we do not even HAVE AC. The only thing that screws us up is when the power goes out, which it did twice last week.

For those who read about Happy the cat on the Fluffy thread, I picked him up yesterday because he had started eating again. He has to stay inside for a week (which means in the cat condo or a big dog crate) and get oral antibiotics once a day. Big PIA with DH gone to Virginia until Monday night. I should have left Happy at the vet's until Tues, in retrospect. Not only is it difficult to administer the med by myself, but he's been yowling almost constantly because he wants to go outside. It is nervewracking. I am going to drive the hour to Bakersfield and grocery shop just to get away from the constant irritation of the yowling and meowing.

[alinnell]

I became adept at dosing my cat. Get a pill popper--they're wonderful. Scruff the cat and put the pill popper in his mouth and shoot the pill. Unless they're pre-dosed liquid. Still do the scruff, but it's harder to get them to swallow the liquid. Do a little at a time.

[HowlinAtTheMoon]

Thanks, Allison. This med is liquid measured in a syringe. The plunger won't depress just a little at a time, so I just have to aim and squirt all 1.1 cc in his mouth. Last night I was afraid he would inhale it and I'd give him pneumonia but he seems okay.

[JayEll]

Howlin', sometimes in the side of the mouth is easier. Don't squirt fast, and hold on firmly. If instead you squirt right toward the back of the throat, it will make them choke, and you're right about the danger of pneumonia.

Just from my experience with many cats over the years.

[traveling michele]

Allison... That is sad about your dad. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Alice... Glad your kitty is home but sorry he is making you miserable. I guess it's a good sign that he's feeling better.

I also spent the morning at the vet. Ellie has had her ears wrapped and had the cone of shame for a few weeks. This morning when she got up she was shaking her head and miserable. Her ears were nasty and infected! They smelled awful. We brought her the the vet and now she is on antibiotics and has to have the ears cleaned twice a day. The good news is that she doesn't need the wraps anymore but still needs the cone till she is better. She is thankfully feeling much better already.

I leave in the morning for my cruise with older dd. poor dh is stuck with our two cats, two dogs, and my daughters service dog. He has to deal with the ears too. I feel quite guilty. Hope he can handle everything. He took most of the week off from work to help take care of everything.

[Mudpie]

Michele did you have Ellie's ears cropped? I walk a boxer who had that done and I get constant grief from people about how "cruel" that is. Odd how the fashion changes so quickly.

My pet news can be summed up with 2 out of 3 ain't bad. One dog and one cat at the sit are reasonably happy and the other dog is an anxious mess. Peed all over (and I mean ALL OVER) the hallway last night. I find myself clenching up just being around him. Talked my client into taking him to the vet when she gets back from Spain. Used to be I could do it but now most of the vets assume no clients of theirs know anything about the pets they're bringing in. Never mind the dogwalker. Some of my client's relatives are taking over the last week they are away. Poor dog will probably have a meltdown.

My own pets seem OK. Glad to see me and Trixie is overjoyed to come out with us every morning but they don't seem terribly anxious when I'm not there. Probably because they have stuff to do besides sleeping and eating and waiting.

Trix and I start beginner agility this coming week. The sit was supposed to be over so i'll be pretty useless this first class but we should see an improvement from there.

Dagmar