Day 243 - Sidney the Cat

This is a picture of Sidney.  

Sidney is the only cat of my youth to survive to adulthood.  I believe he made it to the ripe age of 11.  He was a great cat.  

But he was odd.  

I talk about him to clients all the time - especially when they tell me stories of things their cats do.  Because I have never ever heard of another cat doing what Sidney did.

He brought an offering every time he came to eat.  An offering of socks.

Silly cat.  He was an indoor/outdoor cat who had food available to him all the time.  Cats like to be 'grazers' and come and nibble throughout the day.  He was no different.  Except, every time he came to eat he dragged a sock into the kitchen next to his bowl!  

He must have been particularly hungry this day and frequented the food trough quite a few times.  There are even a pair of tights in there!  He did not discriminate.  He brought socks from every family member - clean or dirty.  Never underwear or shirts.  Socks.  Always the socks. 

He meowed a specific meow every morning to request his daily microwave-warmed up milk.  He would not drink it cold.  

He also meowed a specific meow when he had brought us a present of another kind:  vermin.  He had this lovely habit of catching mice, moles, birds, and my favorite: fully grown rabbits!  He would bring them through the doggie door in the basement, eat the head off, then come and get us proudly to share in his plunder.  

He would come upstairs and utter his meow of accomplishment and we would turn to each other and say 'oh, no!'

He was thanking us.  My parents disliked his gratitude greatly when he had to be sedated to clean out his impacted colon of rabbit skull fragments and teeth.  THREE times.  

He loved to lick. He would licks hands, legs, furniture.  My face was the only face he licked, though.  :)  He was friendly, a purr-bucket, and a masterful hunter.  I'll never quite figure out how he caught full sized rabbits and managed to haul them over a 4 foot fence and then through a doggie door.  Quite a cat, he was.

But I will forever remember him as the cat who said thanks for his food by dragging socks to the kitchen.  

Miss you, Sid-ro.  

Day 242 - The Bull and the Muskrat Trap

Last night I was at our clinic's yearly summer picnic.  I spent the day cleaning and then got home late - so, no blogging.

I thought I would share today one of my FEW vet stories that 1) I have a picture of and 2) is ok to tell at the dinner table.  (I often have to remind myself that most of my stories are NOT ok for dinner conversation.)  :)

This picture was taken late summer 2002.  I had been practicing vet med for likely only 3 months at that point.  I thankfully had been taught how to load and shoot our dart gun because on this sunny Sunday afternoon I got this call:  

"I need you to come out and dart my bull."

Um, ok.  "Why, exactly, do you need me to come and dart your bull?"

"Well, I've been having trouble with raccoons in my feed room, so I set out some muskrat traps to catch them.  Today, my bull broke into the feed room and has one of the traps on his jaw.  He's too big to fit in my chute and though he's normally a really nice bull, he's having a bit of a bad day.  The only way I can figure we can get it off is if you come and dart him."  

"Alrighty then, I'll be there after I go to the clinic and get the dart gun."  

I then put my camera in the truck.  :)  

I called Dr. B for a quick refresher on how to use the dart gun and to find out how much sedation I should actually give him.  The bull was in a small paddock, so he was very easy to just pop with the dart in the back leg.  I took a couple of pictures of him as he was getting sleepy - poor guy.  He was drooling and obviously uncomfortable.  

After 10 minutes or so, he laid down.  We were able to go in and remove the trap without trouble and there did not appear to be any damage to his jaw except for some abrasions on his gum tissue.  I talked to the farmer a few days later and other than him being very sleepy for 48 hours, he was fine. 

It's one of those calls that I was very nervous about beforehand. What if I miss when I try to shoot him?  What if I don't give him enough sedation and I have to do it again?  What if I give him too much and I kill him?  What if we can't get the trap off?  What if his jaw is broken?  What if we think he's asleep and then he wakes up and the farmer gets hurt?  What if?  What if?  What if????

At that early stage in my career, everything and every call was something new.  Every beep of the pager brought about some new challenge I was not completely confident I could handle.  I literally vomited every time my pager went off.  

But slowly and surely, I gained confidence.  And calls like this one - that went WELL - helped me to understand that I had all the necessary tools to do this job, and to do it well.  One of the key tools was a mentor like Dr. B who communicated to me daily that he believed I could do it.  :) 

That first year was very memorable.  I so wish I had kept a better record of the things I saw and did.  Oh, well.  At least I have this one.

Day 240 - Lisa

I met Lisa 5 1/2 years ago when she brought her cats into the clinic I work at.  I liked her immediately and invited she and her husband to come over for a cookout and to visit our church.  They did - and have been a part of my life ever since.

She fed me dinner more times than I can count, listened to me as Matt and I struggled with our relationship,  made my wedding cake, and helped me to understand that God really does answer prayer.  She has been a wonderful friend. 

I said good-bye to her today - as she and her family are moving back to FL.  I will miss her immensely.

This picture was taken as we were celebrating her 30th birthday at Baja Bean in Staunton, VA.  That tiara she is wearing was worn by me on my 30th birthday - given to me by my friend, Jenny (I think!)  Our friend, Rachel also wore it. 

Every woman should wear a tiara when they turn 30.  :)

Day 239 - Sean

Today marks the two year anniversary of the death of our little nephew, Sean.  He was just shy of being 6 months old when he left this world....

I did not take this picture - my talented sister-in-law, Meagan did.  It's one of my favorites and it's how I imagine him now:  peaceful.  

Day 238 - New York City!

Last August, Matt had to go to NYC for a business trip.  I had never been, so I went with!  It was a really fun 4 days (though we did not get to see any shows.)  We were staying at the Marriott Marquis right in the middle of Times Square.  Our first night we went out and just walked around and I was amazed at how bright it was outside!  

There were these cool red stairs (that were lit up) to give you a better view.  It was a fun place to people watch for sure.  

I felt like my senses were totally accosted there.  SO much sound, SO much to see, SO many smells.  I would breath this sigh of relief every time we went into the hotel and the revolving doors would close behind me ushering in the blissful quietness.  

I liked visiting the city. But I'm certainly a country girl.  :) 

Day 237 - Pig's Feet

When Tatjana, the vet from Croatia was visiting with us this past summer, one of the things we did with her was have a 'spay/neuter' day.  A local rescue organization brings in stray cats and we do the surgeries at a greatly reduced cost to allow our vet students/interns to get some hands-on surgical experience.  Because most of them are wild-ish cats, we place sutures IN their skin (as opposed to through it) that do not have to be removed (they just dissolve over time.)  They are called intra-dermal or subcuticular sutures. 

Tatjana had never learned such a suture pattern, so I felt it was important for her to practice before actually doing the surgery.  I had her practice the same way I did in vet school:  on pig's feet.

We actually had to visit several grocery stores and specifically ask the butcher for them before we could find them!  But find them we did.  And with some old, expired suture, we practiced suturing pig's feet on my dining room table.  I held a flashlight so she could see what she was doing! 

She did great on the pig's feet and she did ever better on the cats.  :)

Day 236 - Five Fingers

Today is a special day for me and my friend, Chris.  Thought I would mark the occasion by posting a picture of his and my footsies in our Five-Fingers. 

This was taken here in VA this past June when he came for a visit.  What a great weekend.  :) 

What a great friend.

Happy August 8th, sweet brother.