bounce!

[verbicide]

I had such a freaking blast last night. Sarah and Richa came over and we ordered pizza. Richa hadn't seen the LotR movies, so over Thanksgiving we watched Fellowship, tonight we watched Two Towers, and for New Year's eve, we'll watch Return.

Sarah brought over a firelog and Richa brought us some spicy Thai soup and ice cream. That girl can handle her spices, that's for sure.

We had a funny incident with Romio's Pizza. I've been ordering from them quite frequently for about two years now. Last night was the first time my pizza arrived squashed into a corner. So I called them and the woman who answered the phone was appropriately horrified and got me a manager, and we had the nicest chat. He said nice things, I said nice things. It was all very friendly. He said he would immediately send out a replacement. So we waited, which was a mild nuisance. The delivery guy called up and he's one of their least friendly delivery people. I thanked him for bringing it and asked if I could just check the replacement. He surled at me, "You can't expect delivery to be perfect." I think I said something like, "You are stupid and rude, go away." But then I was appalled enough that I called the manager and we had another friendly chat. He's going to have a talk with the guy and I have 25% off my next pizza. So ridiculous.

The movie ended around midnight and I was about to fall over dead. Sarah and Richa left before I actually passed out, and I am really looking forward to NYE fun with them.

What was also nice last night was that I hauled Hobbsie to bed with me. And he stayed! So often he endures my affection and schleps off to sleep in the closet. But he stayed all night! It made me very happy to wake up to his incredibly stinky breath.

About that stinky breath. I am still conflicted on what the best solution is for Hobbsie. His mouth is in bad shape. I honestly didn't think he was going to live this long, and a part of me is still poised for the next seizure and/or death. I can't help it. Also, dental work is about $400-600. And with his heart murmur and other problems, he could just die on the table. He could drop dead from a seizure two days later. But bad teeth are a big quality of life issue. I'm just so unsure of what the right thing to do is here. This isn't something insane like brain surgery. This is a dental cleaning that will make him feel better and give us the chance to fix something that is definitely wrong. I'm trying to see the $600 as a peace-of-mind thing. And Dr. Henkle is going to let me do some sort of a payment-plan. Even if it can't guarantee a prolonged life for him, I'm gambling on making the rest of what life he has better. I'm convinced that he's either going to die on the table or five days later. But the thought of him limping on with an owie mouth giving him low grade infections just kills me.

He's such a good, good cat. I hate that he can't just live for another 50 years with me.

This morning Sarah and I are taking Henry to see Dr. Henkle and then picking up my car from Les Schwab. The rest of the day is open! I am going to see if I can run over and visit my nephew. I'm supposed to start baking today and am hopeful that I'll at least get started today. I can't believe I have a month off. It's going to go by so fast, I just know it! But I'm so grateful for it.

I can't wait for the twelve thousand boxes that are due to arrive from Amazon on Monday. It'll be nice to have everyone's gifts wrapped and labeled. I need to go buy containers to put my holiday cookies in, too. I'm hoping that Monday will be my last day of shopping and spending.

Oh crap, must stop nattering on. Sarah's going to be here in 15 minutes!

Comments

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Poor Hobbes. :( This might be a stupid question, but does he need a full-on cleaning? So far, our vet has said that the cats' teeth only need to be scraped off a bit, which he mostly does with his fingernails or a tiny scraper (thankfully, they do hold still for this, though they cry occasionally), rather than a full anesthesia-and-all cleaning. I'm wondering if that's a compromise for him, or if it'd be not nearly enough. It's gotta be cheaper, too, although that's not the main point.

(You could also ask about having any particularly problematic teeth pulled, I guess; as cats get older that tends to have to happen anyway, and from what I hear they continue to have cheerful, well-fed lives even with NO teeth if it comes to that. As long as they get soft foods. It won't forestall the having to put him under part, but it might keep it from having to happen *again.*)

Also, wow. $400-600 for teeth cleanings? No wonder the pet insurance rider covers that *and* people buy it. If the day ever comes that our vet suggests that expensive a cleaning, I am damned well signing up too!

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

It's not a stupid question at all. And he does need a full-on cleaning. Not only are his teeth in rotten shape, he is incredibly resistant to having anyone look in his mouth, let alone get in there with a scraper.

My guess is he's going to need to have many teeth pulled, poor baby.

And no kidding about the insurance rider. To give you another estimate, Jeff's cat Brutus just had his cleaned, and he's middle-aged only and his teeth are in decent shape, didn't require any extractions, and it still cost over $300.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Poor little guy. Hopefully once the teeth are out, it *will* cut down on both current and future pain/infections. Let me know when it's scheduled and I'll send extra-hard good thoughts for him... that he comes through it just fine and is happy to be fixed up afterward. (I shall remember to kiss ours for being so cooperative about letting people mess about in their mouths - even if Molly and Jenny are more flat-out terrified to move than helpful, I still appreciate it.)

That is a lot of money. Goodness.

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

Definitely kiss your kitties for being mouth-cooperative. And I will let you know, because I'll appreciate all those extra-good thoughts for him!

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

My aunt just had the same sort of decision w/ her dog - he has seizure issues and is older, but his mouth was in such rough shape. She ended up getting it done - they had to pull a bunch of teeth, but he's so much happier now - his appetite is like it was 5 years ago, too!

Obviously each case is diff, but she was worried about sorta the same things as you and it went fine. She also knew her vet wouldn't have rec'd it if it wasn't really necessary - he's been seeing Rocky for like 10 years now so really knows and cares about him.

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

That is really good data to hear. Thanks for sharing that. I need to have one more conversation with Dr. Henkle, but I think it's pretty likely we're going to move forward.

[serenity-valley.livejournal.com]

About Hobbes -- definitely have the work done.

Several years ago (geez, I just realized it's been almost 10 years), we had a cat named Wolfie who had a tooth infection we didn't catch. It spread to his pancreas, which took some time to really exhibit symptoms. (Although interestingly, our other cat Freddie did notice pretty much right away and tried to tell us in his own way by...well, I won't spoil it, just read page 5 of this old newsletter of ours.)

We ended up into major surgery territory by then, including having a feeding tube inserted and feeding Wolfie that way for several months (on super expensive food); he was getting better for awhile and then in the space of about three days, he went completely downhill and we had to put him to sleep.

About two years later, we had a similar thing happen to Freddie, although we caught it in time before having to have a feeding tube inserted. It was still major surgery, though, and again, caused by a tooth infection. We had his teeth cleaned at that time as well as a few removed, but once he recovered from all of that, he did quite well for several more years.

I hope you understand I'm not telling you this to terrify you or anything, and your situation is a little different. But we learned our lesson with Wolfie how a tooth infection can get exponentially worse in no time. We've had to have both Hobbes' and Smaug's teeth done in the last few years and even a few pulled and god, it's freaking expensive. But so worth it. They're noticeably happier afterward and for the peace of mind, we gladly forked over the cash.

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

You're not terrifying me at all. And it's good data to have. My biggest concern for him really is the heart murmur and seizure activities causing him to die on the table. I know it's a risk for anyone being anesthetized, but for him it's a significantly higher risk. But I am really leaning towards just doing it. At this point it's just a matter of scheduling and planning, really.

And that is quite the amazing story about Wolfie and Freddie. I can't believe how he chose to try to inform you!!