Critters!

Aria · May 1, 2022, 2:20 AM

In early March, we took one of our old man cats to the vet for a check up and he came home with a clean bill of health.

Somehow, since then, he's lost over a pound -- which is a lot, considering the fact that he only weighed about 10 pounds to begin with.

Bless our wonderful, wonderful vet, who absolutely 100% listened to me when I called and said that yes, he had just been checked out, but I wanted a CBC on him right away. They squeezed me in between my own medical appointments on my day off and the time from blood draw to results was less than 24 hours. He has hyperthyroidism, which is not great, but treatable with twice a day ear goop rubbing.

Considering the last time we had an old man cat lose weight suddenly, we were told "pancreatic cancer" and he was gone within a month of diagnosis? I may have ugly-snot-cried (and then paid half again the cost of the prescription to get it shipped faster).

Sunny · Apr 30, 2022, 9:10 PM

@aria

I can imagine how you feel and I am so glad for it being ear goop treatable.

TNP · May 1, 2022, 12:46 AM

@aria One of mine had hyperthyroidism and I got him the radioactive iodine treatment. He's fine now. Glad that's all it was as it's very treatable and, with treatment, not really a big deal.

Misadventure · May 1, 2022, 2:20 AM

@aria What's that big … thing in your post?

Also, good on you taking care of your cat, ASAP.

Aria · May 1, 2022, 5:22 AM

@misadventure said in Critters!:

@aria What's that big … thing in your post?

That would be said cat, plunked down on my lap.

Unless you mean the stuff behind him. I had to move the laptop and the laptop desk out of the way because he will literally scream at me like he's being tortured if I do not make my lap available on demand.

Misadventure · May 1, 2022, 7:58 AM

@aria I guess I am seeing the image not available to you graphic then. T_T

Wretched · May 11, 2022, 8:41 AM

So this past week I made a friend.

At first I saw this friend in a parking lot at my local corner store.

I fed them for about 3 days...

Until, not without minor bloodshed, i got them home...

Anyhow, meet Goblin.

Immediately human friendly, currently living in my Mom-in-laws room. We are taking it to the vet this weekend, to check for microchipping, to properly sex and all the other things one does. Hopefully it belongs to no one else because i will fite them.

Macha · May 11, 2022, 6:34 PM

So, I was a bad mom today. I got him chicken nuggets, and then shared my fries.

He is still not quite himself, but he's a little more my boy, today. If still a bit.. logey? It could be the meds.

il-volpe · May 23, 2022, 1:52 AM

Some MU people knew of and were a little invested about this thing. There is a new litter of tiny hairless pathetic little mousies in it as of yesterday.

These Peromyscus leucopus mousies try to move into my house every fall, and so I seasonally set traps. I have some live-traps because they also try to move into my car and I kept sticking my hand in snap-traps when I set them under the seat. Because 2020 was horrible enough, that year I used the live traps exclusively and would drive the cute little bastards a few miles and let them go near this abandoned barn. After giving them a rest and a meal in one of these cages. Then one day I caught four and it was snowing. So I ended up keeping them and buying a couple of boxes of loads of second-hand 'critter trail' cages and parts, and ended up with this. They had some babies over the summer and now there are ten.

It's pretty crazy entertaining at night when they all run about.

Frequentlies:

You know those cages are terrible, right?

Yeah, they're too small for hamsters, but these mice are small. They're also semi-arboreal, so this kind of cage is actually behaviorally appropriate.

Isn't it a huge pain to clean?

Well, yeah, but mostly they poop in the little flying-saucer and loft 'room' parts, so I just dump those out and rinse them. It takes a long time for it to get whiffy.

This is my 4th grade fantasy.

Isn't it though.

Can you hold them?

Not really. They are tame and take food from my hands, but they do not seem to be very capable of holding still.

Misadventure · May 23, 2022, 1:49 AM

@il-volpe
Mice Utilized Shared Habitat.

You are now staff. They have xp spends in the +jobs queue.

Hella · May 23, 2022, 2:02 AM

@il-volpe

Ganymede · May 23, 2022, 1:22 PM

@misadventure said in Critters!:

You are now staff. They have xp spends in the +jobs queue.

It must be real awkward when they offer TS for favors.

il-volpe · May 24, 2022, 1:08 AM

@ganymede They do have tiny sex a lot in springtime.

But they spend all their XP on whatever stats it takes to dive headfirst down that long vertical tube and catch oneself from freefall at the chosen entry.

Ganymede · May 24, 2022, 1:08 AM

@il-volpe said in Critters!:

But they spend all their XP on whatever stats it takes to dive headfirst down that long vertical tube and catch oneself from freefall at the chosen entry.

silverfox · Jun 1, 2022, 9:44 PM

Hansel (black) and Gretel (tortie) are four weeks old and healing from being super sick really nicely, even if I do have to force feed them at times because their anti-biotic can cause icky tummies and loss of appetite.