Tickling the tail of the kitty...

Went by the vet's to pick up more cat food; and since The Old Man is now officially over the hill, I thought I'd start him on the "mature" stuff. And I ran into a freebie; apparently this is Geriatric month, and the vet gave me a 24~tin case of the "mature" cat food for free. Woohoo!

{Turns out it quite tickles The Old Man's fancy, too.}

The vet asked after The Old Man {improving, knock wood} and he also apologised for not getting back to me yet with more information about the feline radiology. We got to talking, and he mentioned that in addition to the clinic in Ottawa/Kanata, there are also some feline radiology clinics just over the border in the states.

~ ~ ~

Now I had been aware of that, and I had thought about it... But given the current political climate... well, frankly, I just didn't fancy the idea of trying to cross the border with a radioactive cat...

Border Guard: "Anything to declare?"

Me, holding up cat: "Only Mr. Clicky!!!"

Geiger Counter: "click, click, click, clickclickclick, clicketycklicketyclickety..."

I'd be treated with some suspicion, I'm sure... and I know I'd just compound it by being sarcastic...

"Alright, fine, I'm smuggling minute traces of radioactive isotopes in my cat. {pause} Bwa~ha~ha. I've got a cat without a thyroid gland and I'm not afraid to use it. Now back off, or I'll expose you to enough rads to X~ray your luggage."

Mind you, this would be on the return trip; so in reality I'd probably get a guard who'd say, "So, hey, try not to make any bombs outta that cat, eh?" And I'd get to say, "Actually, for that I'd need two cats; and even then, I'd have to ram them into each other and hope they were the right mass."

~ ~ ~

Before I left the vet's, I picked up the DMV's brand new pamphlet. There was moment of hope when I read that they *do* provide the iodine 131 treatment; but when I called, they told me the same thing my vet had said: they have the equipment, but they are still training someone to use it. They told me to call back in February, because right now they can't even tell me how much they might charge.

So yes, The Old Man seems to be improving; and no clear sign yet of any nasty side effects from the methimazole. Now, vomiting is one possible side effect; and in cases where that happens, the medication is stopped, resumed at a lower dosage and then gradually increased again, but at a slower rate. I did see at one point last night that he was repeatedly swallowing for about half a minute, and I'm wondering if that was him swallowing the desire to vomit... but it has only happened once, and he didn't seem too pertubed by it. So...

So... so far... so good...

Posted by edgar at November 14, 2003 02:10 PM