I took another trip to the coast clinic. This time I took Fat Oci, Bluebell and Nemo.
I meant to take Calamity, as she has congestion issues but no drainage. A cough. She likely has kitty asthma.
It's more common that you'd think.
Oci wasn't that easy to get into a carrier. She's super fat and in my face aggressive about anything she doesn't want to do. She's old, too, like 12. Old, fat and feral. Like me!
Anyhow, the other two were easy by comparison, but by the time I got them all contained and ready, it was too late to track down Calamity. I felt bad I didn't get her for the trip.
Long drive and it was cold when I started, in the mid 20's.
I arrived just as they opened for surgery patients and shortly saw the vet and then off I went for the day. I was instructed to return at 4:00.
I went to my usual parking lot at the south jetty, because of its amenities. Some privacy but enough cars usually to be safe and a nicely kept outhouse.
I read for a bit, then laid out in the back of my car, atop a thick flannel sleeping bag and pulled a comforter over me. That was a cozy set up and I slept. I woke up thinking the alarm was going off and I needed to wake up to leave for the clinic. Quickly I realized I was already at the coast and the cats were already at the clinic. Relief flooded my sleepy brain.
I went to Costco and wandered. The weather, although sunny, was cold with a freezing wind. For lunch, I got a piece of Costco pizza. Outside of for gas, that was all I spent all day.
I ended up back at the beach and watched the wind tossed waves for awhile. By this time, it was a bit warmer.
There are often eagles soaring near the parking lot or along the jetty. This was the only one I saw yesterday.
I picked up the cats at 4:00. Oci had to have 7 teeth pulled but the other two only had tartar removed. All three had shot updates and worming. Oci also had blood work, which was completely normal, and convenia, an antibiotic. We were on the road home within moments and home by 7:15 p.m.
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| Nemo. He's ten years old now. Hard to believe. |
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| Sweet Bluebell |
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| Fat Oci |
This morning, back at it. Delivered a trap to a grass seed warehouse and also to someone who thinks a stray who showed up might be pregnant. An old woman called who has 20 cats needing caught and her own reservations, so yes, I'll help her. Same old. Back to the grindstone. Snowing again today. Not sticking. Maybe spring will come one day. And maybe not.
The sea photos are nice. There must some food source for the eagles for them to be about. Fat Oci seems to have uneven markings, so perhaps she is difficult because she has been bullied about her looks.
ReplyDeleteThey eat the gulls, Andrew, sometimes in spectacular air chases. Poor Oci, she doesn't seem bullied here. IN fact, she has so many close cat friends. But maybe when I'm not around, some of the better looking in shape cats give her a hard time, lol.
DeleteI'm telling you I am with you about being sick of winter. We have also had sun, but the day started at 6 below zero!
ReplyDeleteMy god, seven teeth pulled at once! Poor kitty.
ReplyDeleteFat and feral--you? Ha.
Lovely photos. Glad you you got home safely. I worry about you, you know, not because of any ineptitude on you part, but simply because I worry about anyone I care about, but especially women because the world is less safe for them. I remember hearing about a study of people who stopped to help other people whose cars had broken down. Interestingly, people are more likely to help old men than they are old ladies.
You are right about the unlikelihood of older women getting any roadside help from anyone else. I recall having a flat tire, when something fell off a truck in front of me and seared off a piece of my tire. I was on the way to the FCCO clinic in Portland with about 17 cats. I couldn't get over from the middle lane for a couple hundred feet. I pulled off, heavy traffic, rain, and had to unload all those cats, carry them down a little slope, put them on a tarp and cover them with a tarp, so the traffic and rain wouldn't scare them to death. This was before the eyes of a zillion people on the freeway. Then jack up the car and put on the donut, which also had a leak, and I barely limped to the clinic on that. I am female and old, a ghost, and on my own. I realize that. It is far less safe for women. When I broke down in my really bad car in the late 90's, if I had to spend the night, I slept in the bushes rather than in the car, fearing for my safety if in the car along the road.
DeleteBeautiful images all. Lovely kitties. Thanks for all you do.
ReplyDeleteDo you need volunteers? I'm a senior, cat lover with some time on my hands;. No car, though.
ReplyDeleteMainly I round up cats, which involves a LOT of driving. Deliver traps to people, show them how to use them, drive cats back and forth to be fixed, and trap cats, which involves mostly setting traps and watching them, or rigging some selective trap, to catch a specific cat. The other part of the equation is upkeeping the business records for the state and irs. Which is tedious and not to my liking but necessary. The thing I'm terrible at is fund raising. Where do you live?
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