i contain unquietudes

[the_siobhan]

The Bad: His Lordship, Lord Brock of the Brockton Brocks, has been feeling poorly. He stopped eating for a few days, which is apparently really bad for cats - their organs can just shut down. A visit to the vet found him underweight and dehydrated. They gave him an anti-nausea shot and an appetite stimulant and I have been monitoring his intake (and his outgo) like a hawk watching a rabbit warren for the past week.

He had another exam today and he appears to be mostly out of the woods, but I did go home with some more meds to give him over the weekend if anything goes south.

(I will not tell you the stuff I learned at the vet today about anal glands because what the hell, nature?)

Anyway. This meant cancelling on the nephew I was going to help move today, because there is no way I'm leaving town for a whole day until I'm sure he's stable.

***

The Good: There were two contractors involved in the building of my kitchen, the guy who built the frame and the guy who did the interior. I got to watch them have a full-on meltdown at each other over who's fault the frozen pipes are. Wednesday the interior guy came by and moved the pipes and insulated them so in theory this problem should now be solved. Fingers crossed. I haven't had a problem since, but also it hasn't gotten below -5 C yet this week.

Basement guy is now saying he'll be done on Tuesday. ! Could it be true!?

I expect I'll have to do some additional trim and repairs down there. (And painting) But the idea that this could actually be fucking over soon? Be still my tremulous heart!

Next house goal: get a new boiler. Right now I can a) take a shower b) run the dishwasher OR c) do laundry, but I cannot do two of the above on the same day. I might spring for one of those tankless ones, I have to do some research first.

***

The Ugly: I have almost no teeth left in the back lower jaw. If I could speak to my 12 year-old self, one of the things I would stress is to stay on top of the teeth during those few years I would have insurance and DO NOT go to the very nice lady that your dad recommends, because being a completely painless dentist was apparently not as good a thing as everybody thought at the time. My current dentist is a semi-retired Egyptian woman who makes me cry on the regular, but she was able to extend the life of most of my teeth far past the point where I thought I was going to lose them all.

Aside: Teeth not being covered by provincial health insurance is a crime against humanity.

Anyway., So now I have this bridge thing that I'm supposed to wear every day, at the absolute minimum whenever I eat. I hate it. It's uncomfortable and I don't like having things in my mouth. The thing is, I could same the same about my bite guard (I clench my jaw really hard in my sleep) and that I wear every night. But this thing - I can never remember. It's like a mental block, every single day I eat dinner and as soon as I'm standing up to get rid of my plate I think Oh I forgot that bridge thing, I need to remember to put it in tomorrow. Every day. Every. Day. For the past three months.

What the fuck, brain?

***

All Of The Above: I got my election bribe money today. I immediately donated it to one of the other parties.

Comments

[armiphlage]

We've been using our heat-pump water heater for 18 months, and it's been working well. You can get a rebate of $500 from the province.

https://news.ontario.ca/en/backgrounder/1005539/ontarios-new-and-expanded-energy-efficiency-programs

[the_siobhan]

I will add that to my list of things to research.

[armiphlage]

Note, it works by cooling and dehumidifying the surrounding air. Free air conditioning in summer, free dehumidification year-round, but it does add slightly to your heating demand when using it in winter.

We have it in our laundry room, which drops to about 15 C when it's on, but we don't really notice. If you had the heater in your kitchen, it might be annoying.

[sabotabby]

I hope they can do something for sweet Brock.

[cornerofmadness]

I hope his Lordship continues to improve

ugh to the teeth. I feel you. I can't tolerate my bite guard

[the_siobhan]

It took me a loooong time to get used to. I'm feeling like the bridge is the well, bridge too far, but I'm hoping I can get past that.

[cornerofmadness]

I get it. Good luck

[dissectionist]

I’m glad His Brockness’s state his on the upswing.

My pug used to get impacted anal glands. After the first two times we paid the vet to express them, I had the vet teach me how to do it myself. That is an unforgettably vile smell, and having to finger my pug’s butt every couple months was not fun for either of us.

Seriously though, I’ve smelled a lot of death during my dissection and taxidermy work, and impacted anal glands smell at least ten times worse than any death I’ve ever smelled. I can’t overstate the foulness.

[the_siobhan]

I had heard of this issue with dogs, I didn't know before today that cats also have them. And apparently they are even more sensitive than dogs.

Hopefully this is a one-off incident because of not eating for a few days, because yikes.

[greylock]

I asked if the vet could teach me how to express anal glands.
They talked me out of it.

But I can’t overstate the foulness. is totally true.

I believe dogs can squirt more that cats.

[dissectionist]

One time my pug (who was then a juvenile dog, maybe eight lbs) was napping on my chest while I read, and I felt a sudden gush of warmth over my ribs and then the smell of just-released butt juice hit me. I feel like I broke land-speed records dumping him off me and running for the shower, but much like skunk smell, it feels like the stink of oily anal gland secretions clings to you no matter how hard you scrub with soap. Or maybe it’s just in your nose by then; you can’t tell if you’re still stinking despite fifteen minutes of skin-scraping or not. The smell also lingered in the air in the living room, hallway, and bathroom for a long time too, which didn’t help.

I’ve been through many biologically foul moments (I was a midwife, so being hit with other people’s blood, amniotic fluid, feces, vomit, and meconium was everyday work life), but that one still stands out 25 years later.

[greylock]

I've smelt it twice, the first was a stressed cat at the vets in '02.
Likewise.

[evening_tsar]

I sympathize with the dentist business: my new dentist has gone full "Marathon Man" on me to get at the tartar. I do not remember my previous dentist inflicting such misery. Either he missed it, or it's only recently become a problem (thankyou mortality!), or this new one's seen "Little Shop of Horrors" one too many times.

Good luck with the pipes!

[the_siobhan]

So far so good!

[doggiesushi]

I'm sorry about Brockton, and ugh - we've been there too. Years ago, our oldest got fatty liver, which is one of the things that cane happen if they stop eating for a couple of days. The fatty liver makes it so that they don't want to eat, and they just wither away. I didn't know that appetite stimulants were a thing for cats (or maybe they didn't exist back then), so we had to deal with it by injecting really runny, high-calorie wet food into a tube that ran directly through his side and into his stomach. We were doing that for about two months before the tube could come out and he was back to normal. I'm so glad that you didn't have to do that. It was a pain.

[the_siobhan]

That sounds utterly horrifying.

I had to give my snake enemas at one point, I thought that was the ultimate pet grossness.

[greylock]

Sorry kitty.
Did they say what it was?

[the_siobhan]

Not really. My own theory is that the antibiotics he was on after his dental work were making him nauseous.

[greylock]

13 is getting a dental next week. I'll be sure to keep an eye on him.

[disastrid]

Aw Brock! I hope he's feeling better.

What's the election bribe money? Sounds like a ham-handed Ford move but I have no context.

[the_siobhan]

Ford is sending everybody in the province a $200 cheque. Coincidentally right before calling an election.

It's so obvious, but it worked for the Harris government.