Not Much News

Not much knitting news to report. I've gotten very little knitting done in the last few days. Travis got home Friday night, so we didn't get the camper to the campground til Saturday around noon. It took most of the afternoon and three trips to the hardware store to set up. Travis wanted hard pipe for the septic. Got back, and the elbow he bought was a 45 when it should have been a 90. Back to exchange. Then the flex hose didn't fit the pipe (just barely off). Back again for an adapter piece. Then I realized while he was gone for the second time that our water tap was quite far away. The closest one to our site was already being used by the camper in front of us. (I don't know if they were using ours by mistake or if it really was theirs.) I called and tried to catch him before he left the store, but I was too late. Back again for a longer water hose and a shovel to pretty much bury the sewer line (and I needed a shovel anyways - broke mine).

To start off the weekend, I noticed that Pumba seemed to be having trouble using the bathroom. I didn't really notice til Thursday, but I think it had started a little earlier in the week. He gets constipated quite a bit from fur, and he has no tail at all, so that compounds the issue. (Bobtail cats are prone to have bowel problems.) Four or five years ago he had to be put to sleep and have a enema. It actually took two enemas to clear him out, he was that full. I didn't want him to rupture and die, so I called my vet. They were full for the evening - I was not happy at all. I've never had a problem with them, they were always great. I told her I was worried he would rupture and die. She said I could pay for an after-hours call or wait til the morning. I got mad and called the other vet that my parents used to use. They told me he should come down right away. I took him down and dropped him off, went to pick Travis up at the garage, and went back to see what the vet had to say. He totally surprised me when he said it was urinary. My other male has urinary tract disease and almost died when he was 11 months old. (He turned 10 in April.) Anyhoo, the vet said everything I already knew - have to put him to sleep and clear him out or he'll die... He told me he was going to do it that night, but when I called Saturday morning they said they had two emergencies come in after I left, so they did Pumba in the morning. I called back before they closed for the day at noon. She said they got about three handfuls of crystals out of him. He was just starting to come around. They were closed Sunday, so I called Monday morning. He wasn't allowed to leave til he pooped. She ended up calling me around noon and said he could go home. When I got there a different doctor was there. He said it was both urinary and bowel - he had to give Pumba an enema in order for him to poop, and I guess it was a good one! So in the end I was half right. They were really good - didn't charge me the $43 for the exam or for the enema. I came out $383 lighter, but that also included a case of wd canned food (they put the poor dear on a diet!), a 10lb bag of cd, and a tube of Tonic Lax. That stuff alone was probably $90. I can see that he did lose some weight, and I know cats with FUS shouldn't be overweight because it can cause more flare-ups. He's not a tall or long cat, and he kinda looks like he swallowed a beach ball. He's always been big. (He just weighed 17+lbs!)

So my baby is back, very unhappy with being on a diet and having to take Tonic Lax every day for the next week or two (then it's two or three times a week forever, I guess). The other two are treating him like crap - especially Nala, the girl. She's Super Bitch. Maybe Simba remembers what he went through way back when, and his was much worse - catheter, head cone, feet tied together cuz he kicked the catheter, hospitalized eight days... I almost didn't get Pumba back by the sounds of it. They all fell in love with him at the vet's. I paid my bill, took the food to the truck, no cat. Finally the doctor was like, "I guess you need a cat to go with that, huh?" I think he was hoping I wasn't coming back for him - he said he'd "fit in nicely" at his house. I don't think so! No one gets my Poomie Oomie! He was so happy to see me, I know he wanted out of the carrier, but I had to drive home and couldn't let him out. He plopped on my head (as usual) at bedtime! He was a miss, especially at night - he sleeps with me every night, usually on my head and pillow. (Travis was grumbling - "I go away for two weeks at a time. The cat is gone for a couple of nights, and you can't sleep!")

Hope to have a FO this week!

Happy knitting!