Cats of DOOM

[cranefly]

LCF just called.  She's cat-sitting, over taking care of Merlin, a diabetic cat who requires insulin shots.  Merlin is not eating--for several days.  She called to say she's taking him to an emergency vet.  

On xmas day.

Meanwhile, Manti wants me to throw the balls again.

[Drunk Monk]

Major bummer for LCF. That’s gotta be so stressful when watching someone else’s cat.

At least your pussy still wants to play with your balls…







Too soon?

[cranefly]

LCF is home.  While at the emergency vet, she called the owner in Canada, put him on speaker phone with the vet, and let him communicate Merlin's history more fully.  The vet is keeping Merlin overnight.  This might interfere with our plan to get Jake's Pizza at 11 am on the morrow.  We'll see.

[Greg]

Cats come first.

[cranefly]

So I'm fighting with Kaiser, trying to do a check-in online for tomorrow's apptmt, and it's texting my phone with a special code, or at least it claims it is.  My phone stays silent.  So I'm checking my phone settings, making sure wifi is on and airplane mode is off (because I had airplane mode ON through most of early December and missed a lot of important spam calls), and everything looks good.  But my phone remains silent.  I keep telling Kaiser to send another code, but I'm not getting anything.

Meanwhile, I'm keeping a wary eye on Manti.  She's fought her way to the top of my cluttered desk, but now she turns her attention away from the keyboard (her frequent focus) and somehow climbs atop the bookcase to chomp on the Christmas cactus.  Then she moves onward.  She's eyeing another shelf balanced precariously on a filing cabinet and loaded down with all kinds of junk.  That would be a disaster.  So I'm watching her closely but at the same time trying to resolve the phone issue and--

She jumps.

A whole lot of crash and clatter.  An unbelievable bunch of stuff hits the floor and scatters.  Manti zooms out its midst, unscathed, and bolts from the room.

I don't want to clean up the mess until the phone issue is resolved.  I venture into the kitchen, where I smell gas.  One of the knobs on the front of the stove is turned on.  How long ago did that happen?  I look in disbelief at Manti.  She's now in the living room mauling the cord of an external keyboard.  As for the stove, it's one of those modern ones with a special Merc in Retro setting, and that's what it's turned to.  I turn it off, then open the kitchen door, making certain the screen door is tightly closed.  It gets cold fast.

Back in my room, I find Monti up on the bookcase digging at the Christmas cactus.  She looks up at me.  Her nose is covered in dirt.

[Greg]

She's a helper!

[Drunk Monk]

What's the word on Oliver's puss?

[cranefly]

Things don't look good for Oliver's Merlin.  Oliver tried to come home right away. but weather conditions thwarted him.  He is still returning early, intending to head straight to the emergency vet at 3 am (I think tonight).  But then he got word that they want to keep him another night.  He's doing a bit better, and eating, but he's got a host of problems with internal organs.  LCF is feeling a bit guilty, as it happened on her watch.  But I think Merlin was close to having a problem, and Oliver's departure provided just enough stress to for it to exhibit.

[Drunk Monk]

Oof. Lcf should not feel guilty. She did the right thing. Oliver shouldn’t have gone if his cat was that fragile. I know that sounds harsh but I’ve changed plans for dying pets. Perhaps we all have. Leaving it to someone else, especially a cat person, isn’t fair. 

During the pandemic, a professor friend asked me to housesit and take care of their very fragile cat. I thought about it, but it started to sound like too much of a burden. We haven’t been in contact since. 

Hoping for the best for Oliver’s cat. Lcf is totally blameless here.

[Greg]

Every morning after my walk I give the cats some treats on the front porch. Today, I found out there is something in the treat that glows in the dark.

[Drunk Monk]

I suspect you're too much of a lightweight to handle edibles that strong. Dial it back to 5 mg for a while...

[Greg]

Don't tell me what to do.

The Queen can confirm my sighting.

[Drunk Monk]

Pix or it didn't happen. What brand of cat food do you use? Chernobyl chow? 

[Greg]

Temptations treats. Now with more color trails!

[Drunk Monk]

Check to see if their poop glows too.