Pepper and Lucy's Day. Or, Road Trip with the Old Gals

Pepper, formerly mat cat from the Sweet Home trailer park, waits to see the vet today.

Lucy is not so sure she wants to see the vet.  That look!

Today Lucy, Pepper and I headed off to the north coast to the affordable clinic.  Lucy and Pepper both come from the same Sweet Home trailer park.  Both were in deep trouble when I found them.

I was worried when I first saw Pepper.  I hadn't seen her since she went to Lebanon to get the rest of her mats shaved off.  And she looked even thinner perhaps, had this glazed eye look, and head tilt.  Oh no, I thought.  Plus she felt hot to the touch and her heart was just beating to beat the band.  Hyperthyroid, I wondered.  Would explain a lot.

So they both got blood work to test for kidney function and thyroid.  It's standard old cat stuff.  Pepper also was tested for FIV/Felk--negative on both accounts.  Both got droncit and rabies vaccines.   Lucy needed just one extraction but got metronizadole take home for possible giardia.  Pepper however had six extractions and a convenia injection and came home with tresaderm as the vet believes her head tilt is an ear infection.  Her kidney function is good but her thyroid function is not.  It's off the charts.  Pepper has hyperthyroidism.

So she came home with pills.  She will get one twice a day and be rechecked in a month.  The pills are tiny and easy to get down a cat, especially one that gulps wet food.  The vet hopes this will help her greatly have some quality of life, and gain some weight.

It was a long day.  As usual I had trouble sleeping because I anticipate the alarm going off and don't want to mess up and be late.  I'd had the car tire pressure checked, checked the oil and water all that.  Guess I'm kind of OCD about many things.

But the trip went smoothly.  I conked out an hour or so in the clinic's parking lot after leaving the pair of lovable beloved old gals there, entrusted to the clinic's care now, leaving me free to escape into dreamland.

Then I hit the beach.

So did the surfers.  In Oregon, you surf with a nice thick wet suit or a dry suit.

You have to be dedicated, let's say.

Then it was back to the usual beach the Peter Iredale shipwreck beach.  More sand erosion has really revealed the skeletal remains of the long lost ship.

It is an artistic wonder in its slow decay.

I took my shoes off, tied the shoelaces together and slung them over my shoulder so I could wade.  I got wet and I enjoyed it.  Despite the dead gunk lining the sand at surf's edge and in the water.  What are these dead things?

The overlook again, at south jetty.

Pepper will stay here overnight before she goes home tomorrow.   On the way home, I picked up two girl kittens from an Albany apartment.  The woman called me today, while I was sound asleep.  I thought it was someone else, awakened like that, in my car, snoozing, dreaming something pleasant.  She was reminding me they needed fixed.  I had promised.  Their mom got fixed beginning of May I think it was.   But seems like a long time ago.

They're in the garage now looking none too happy with the change in circumstance.  Tomorrow they get fixed.

Well, the cost was quite a lot more than I'd expected, given Pepper's issues.   Came in at $563.  We raised a bit over $400 in the fundraiser and I was sure that would do it, but I didn't realize Pepper had the problems.  That's ok.  Happy she is taken care of.  She's an old gal.  When we get old, things start falling off and out and malfunctioning.   It's just life.