Animal House

When we were leaving my in-law's house this past weekend we stopped to say goodbye to Granny on our way out.  Only she wasn't home.  It's a good thing we at least saw her the day before at the festival. 

But next door lives one of Hubby's uncles, Sam, who was outside tending to his animals. 

When I first met this family I only recall Sam having several dogs, majority were rottweilers I believe.  And he might have had a horse or two at the time(?).  But over the years he's become more and more involved with collecting a variety of animals.  He still has several dogs although some have come and some have gone.  He has one horse right now although it's not much of a rider.  And in recent years he's collected some goats!  He's got nine as of right now.  And most recently he came across a baby deer that he took in to care for.  {He named him Bambi!}

So we stopped by for a few minutes to chat with Uncle Sam while little Lucas was asleep in the car.  And I brought out the camera to take some photos of the goats.  Sam spent several minutes trying to coax Bambi out of his hiding place in a nearby trailer where it was cooler.  Finally Bambi appeared and I was able to get some photos of the two-year-old as well.

I've always wanted to go inside the fence and play with the goats but they have gotten BIG - and they have quite some HORNS now too.  Let's not and say I did...

We didn't stay out there too long because the mosquitos were TERRIBLE.  Another reason we let Lucas sleep instead of bringing him out to see Uncle Sam and the animals.  And it's a good thing I was wearing long jeans instead of shorts, but I was wearing my flip-flops so my feet are now sporting lovely red {and itchy} bites.

Alphabet Scramble: O

O

Oliver - This is our other kitty, a gray tabby.

Here kitty kitty.

Orajel - We haven't had to use much of this at all.  Lucas still hasn't cut any teeth but he is still "teething" which we currently attribute only to drooling crazy.  There have been a few times where he's been really fussy and we tried everything - he's dry and clean, he's fed, he's had a nap.  So just in case it was his gums I put a dab of Orajel on his pacifier and he would be all better.  I can't wait till we really need it!  {sarcasm of course}  :)  But, we've also got the Orajel brand toothpaste...for when those teeth finally show up.

Onesies - I don't even know if he wears all of the ones we have for him.  There are soooo many.  I try to rotate as best I can.  But now that he's in the 6-9 month size we've started putting him more in the non-onesie outfits, meaning the actual t-shirts and shorts/pants.  So the onesies just might be phasing out for the most part.

Oatmeal Cereal - He's not a fan.  I think it's too plain for him.  Although that doesn't explain why he enjoys the taste of formula so much {bleh!}.  Once I finish this one box I'm going to get the flavored kind that Gerber makes.  Maybe he'll want it more often.

Itchy and Scratchy

I brought the kitties back to the Vet yesterday on my day off.  One of many appointments. 

First, both of their ears were still dirty but not as bad.  And I have to clarify because previously I think I said they had ear mites.  But that was negative.  They do however have both a bacterial and yeast infections.  Double ouchy. 

Both of their right ears are the worst, but this time Oliver's was worse than Elijah's.  They are both super itchy.  It is extremely difficult to clean their ears mostly because they won't stay still.  Oliver is the worst; he is way difficult to handle and wriggles out of the hold.  Hubby has to help.  And I can't get deep down enough into the ear canal.  Did you know that a cat's ear is L-shaped? 

They also need to get their medicine ear drops twice a day, morning and night.  It's even more difficult in the mornings because I have to find them and they just know why I'm looking for them.  They avoid me like the plague.  And I don't have much time in the mornings to track them down.  So this morning I couldn't get them, like most mornings.

I can't get their ears clean and cleared up if I can't administer their medicine regularly!  It's frustrating.  And if their ears don't get better I have to keep taking them into the Vet.  So I have another follow up appointment in two weeks.  I am pretty tired of spending 1-1.5 hours a visit there having them both looked at.  So the Vet gave us a more powerful cleaner that should fight the infection rather than just clean the ears normally.

In addition, Elijah's bloodwork came back negative for Hyperthyroidism.  But we had to do some additional bloodwork and part of the last test was still pending.  But if he doesn't have a thyroid problem then the Vet is at a loss about his coarse fur. 

The next step would be further testing for his heart murmur.  We could either do nothing since Eli hasn't had any problems, the murmur hasn't had any affect on him.  Otherwise we can spend the big money for chest x-rays and an ultrasound for his lungs to further investigate it.  Sad to say I just don't have the money right now.  Especially since he was terribly ill last Fall and we spent the big money on radiology tests then.  His eating and potty habits don't appear affected so we will wait it out.

My poor kitties.

Elijah's Heart

I recently took my two kitties, Eli and Oli, back to the vet for a follow up visit due to their ear mites (and Oliver was due for another vaccine).  It was Eli that was worse off.  And I have to admit that shortly after the initial visit we went off to our Easter weekend trip and Eli didn't get his ear treatment.  I cleaned them up real good the first few days but since we've been back home I've forgotten about it.  He's not exactly an enthusiastic patient either!

So needless to say Eli failed his follow up ear swab and still has very dirty ears.  Bad Mama.  

But this particular Vet, actually took more time with my kitties looking them over.  She took an awfully long time listening to Eli's heart and lungs.  She then asked me, "Did you know Elijah had a heart murmur?"  Uh, no.  And then she went on to tell me that she thinks he may have Hyperthyroidism and went on to explain that to me.  Now I have Hypothyroidism so I know what both are.  But she basically opened my eyes that that could be the reason why Eli's coat is so coarse.  It would be one of the symptoms.

You see, I adopted both my kitties when they were about six months old.  Eli, as long as I've had him, has had coarse hair rather than nice fluffy fur.  So he's not the cutest guy, but he was drawn to Hubby and I when we went shopping around.  I always just assumed he was some sort of special breed of cat.

After saying that, I've had my kitties for over three years now and been diligent about taking them for their check-ups.  Not one of those other vets ever took the time to look Eli over enough to notice this heart murmur (assuming he didn't recently acquire it).  And as I've said, he's always had a coarse coat of hair.  So all these other vets must have been ignorant or apathetic, because none of them ever explored why his hair was the way it was.

So I asked the Vet, "So if we get it treated successfully, you mean he could have nice fluffy fur like Oliver?"  And by that I meant, "be beautiful?"  Harsh, I know.  But I really want my kitties to be healthy.  That's what is most important.

So the Vet is doing some blood work on Eli to confirm her suspicions of Hyperthyroidism and his heart murmur.  Once this initial set of tests comes back hopefully we can work on treatments.  I already know that part of the treatment will require a special diet.  Do you know how difficult it will be to have to feed both kitties separately?  And to make sure they eat up all their food, then put it away so that Oliver doesn't eat Elijah's and Elijah doesn't eat Oliver's?  It's already difficult enough keeping Miley away from their food.  But I'll figure that out when it comes to it.

Oliver and Elijah

Alphabet Scramble: E is for...

This week's Alphabet Scramble should be obvious. The letter is E!

Easter - We had a great Easter trip. See my previous post for all the details and pictures.

Baby Einstein - We have a ton of these infant products in Lucas' toybox. I have to say that at my baby showers I received THREE of the Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes. They are popular! And we have the Shapes & Numbers Discovery Cards which he really likes to chew on. :) The Catepillar is big at our house. And I know we have more toys stashed away for when he gets older.   [ images ]

Elijah - This is one of my kitties!

Engineer - Hubby is one of these. And I've worked with many of these. They think they are so smart but some times they can be a big pain. :) But there is another definition for this word. And this photo is of Lucas' engineer outfit; I love the hat!  It's too big for him right now so I couldn't snap a picture of him in it.  But I'm sure you'll see pictures of him in it in the upcoming months.  An "engineer" just like Daddy, well, almost!