If I'm exhausted, imagine my poor wretched copilot, Chilmole.
Fourteen years old, his mother the lady in my avatar. Born in my bed, under the sheets while I was asleep one magical Monday morning, April 1999. Yuri Gagarin Day.
Strong as a bull, gentle as a dove yet mindful of his duties as alpha male among his birth sister and two younger males, my beloved knight got an acari infection which I didn't detect at the moment, I didn't detect when he was scratching and scratching the ear, until it was inflated with liquid, like a balloon.
On Monday this week, the vet punctured Chilmole's ear with a syringe needle and the liquid spurted out, the ear deflated, both pain and relief was felt all around. The acari infection was treated and the ear was cleaned. In the evening I tried "milking" the ear through the pinprick but it was painful and nothing came out. By Tuesday morning, the ear was inflated again. Back to the vet.
This time, a catheter was inserted and a bandage applied to the whole head, to keep the catheter in place and draining the liquid. On Wednesday morning, the catheter was blocked and the ear was inflated again. On Wednesday morning, I cried all the way to the vet, I knew what was coming, I'd been warned. Anesthesia for a fourteen year old cat is a risky thing. Minor surgery was going to be done, scalpel and scissors without anesthesia. A tranquilizer was applied, twenty minutes later I tightly held Chilmole so that the vet could cut a strip of ear skin.
Three days later, I am so very grateful that Chilmole never stopped eating and drinking, he's finished with one dose of painkiller a night and ten doses of an enzyme, he'll still be getting big damp swabs of iodine every four hours for a week, except when I'm asleep.
Now my worries are starting to shift from "Oh no! No, no no no no!" to "Aw crap, not again!" By that I mean Chilmole biting his youngest adopted brother Guruji on the neck. "Hey, I'm still in charge around here".
Such a wonderful guy, the youngest brother. I rescued him from the street, he was less than a month old, missing an eye and crying in despair on the sidewalk. Four years later, he's strong, happy and gentle, amazing as a friend to all. His name is Guruji. In Hindu, Guru = master (as in teacher), Ji = little or tiny, as a term of affection.
So the literal translation of Guruji is My Little Master.
Fourteen years old, his mother the lady in my avatar. Born in my bed, under the sheets while I was asleep one magical Monday morning, April 1999. Yuri Gagarin Day.
Strong as a bull, gentle as a dove yet mindful of his duties as alpha male among his birth sister and two younger males, my beloved knight got an acari infection which I didn't detect at the moment, I didn't detect when he was scratching and scratching the ear, until it was inflated with liquid, like a balloon.
On Monday this week, the vet punctured Chilmole's ear with a syringe needle and the liquid spurted out, the ear deflated, both pain and relief was felt all around. The acari infection was treated and the ear was cleaned. In the evening I tried "milking" the ear through the pinprick but it was painful and nothing came out. By Tuesday morning, the ear was inflated again. Back to the vet.
This time, a catheter was inserted and a bandage applied to the whole head, to keep the catheter in place and draining the liquid. On Wednesday morning, the catheter was blocked and the ear was inflated again. On Wednesday morning, I cried all the way to the vet, I knew what was coming, I'd been warned. Anesthesia for a fourteen year old cat is a risky thing. Minor surgery was going to be done, scalpel and scissors without anesthesia. A tranquilizer was applied, twenty minutes later I tightly held Chilmole so that the vet could cut a strip of ear skin.
Three days later, I am so very grateful that Chilmole never stopped eating and drinking, he's finished with one dose of painkiller a night and ten doses of an enzyme, he'll still be getting big damp swabs of iodine every four hours for a week, except when I'm asleep.
Now my worries are starting to shift from "Oh no! No, no no no no!" to "Aw crap, not again!" By that I mean Chilmole biting his youngest adopted brother Guruji on the neck. "Hey, I'm still in charge around here".
Such a wonderful guy, the youngest brother. I rescued him from the street, he was less than a month old, missing an eye and crying in despair on the sidewalk. Four years later, he's strong, happy and gentle, amazing as a friend to all. His name is Guruji. In Hindu, Guru = master (as in teacher), Ji = little or tiny, as a term of affection.
So the literal translation of Guruji is My Little Master.
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