I don’t usually get a lot of bookish stuff in the mail but this week was an exception.

#bookmail from Catherine in Nova Scotia for the All Hallows’ swap organized by @ac_wise

A photo posted by @dvmheather on

Last year Powder cat got sick. In the course of figuring out what was wrong, we heard a heart murmur for the first time on her. Fast forward to now, she’s losing weight. I know I have to work on her but she is not a good patient. The last time she had something major done I ended up having to buy people apology chocolate.

I took her to work one day last week. I was going to hold her and a tech draw her blood. Should be easy. Yeah. Powder goes from ok to “Die!” in a second and with no warning. She was gnawing on my hand but I told the tech to keep going. Round one ended with me looking like this and no blood collected.

At this point I’m holding a perfectly calm cat in my left arm and asking the tech to remove the piece of claw she embedded into me. Of course the tech said no because she needed to get a good picture and then she wanted me to go show other people in the clinic.

Round two – We decided to have two techs try because sometimes animals are better if Mommy isn’t there. They were over there for about 10 seconds when I hear a lion roar and one tech yell, “Your cat is the devil!” I walk over to see one tech holding her bleeding hand, one tech on the floor, and Powder running out of the room. (Remember we pull blood from cats all day long. This is never an issue.)

Round three – I retrieve Powder. I decide that we either need to really fight her or anesthetize her. Neither is good for a cat with an undiagnosed heart ailment but I figure anesthetizing her will cause the least collateral damage. I put a mask over her face and she goes to sleep quickly. We pull the blood. I turn off the gas. She’s been under about 2 minutes. She decides to stop breathing which causes technician panic. She (the cat) got over it. The technician hasn’t yet. Apology chocolate was brought in again.

Now Powder has an appointment this week with a cardiologist. I want to know exactly what is going on because this isn’t a cat who will tolerate taking lots of meds. She needs the most important one. I will probably be injured repeatedly medicating her. The cardiologist she will go to will come to my clinic if we wanted. I imagined what staff member I would ask to come in early to help with Powder. I decided I couldn’t afford that much chocolate. We’re going to the cardiologist’s office. I’m preparing my warning speech now.  “Yes, she’s 13 years old and sick and very sweet but apparently also the devil…”

 

Do you like books?  Do you like food?  Do you like books about food?  Check out Foodies Read!

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I already have lots of food books on my TBR pile.  I’m aiming for at least one book a month but will probably read more.  I’m going to claim a la carte status instead of a challenge level.  I don’t like the pressure of having to read a set amount of books even if I am running the challenge.  I’m a rebel!

Join me for the fun.  There will be prizes throughout the year!