Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Poor Lil Cat

So Lil Cat, whose name incidentally happens to be Lily, started sneezing yesterday. And then last night we noticed she had runny eyes. Either she had allergies/a cold or some mysterious cat disease. So I look up her kitty symptoms and find out that she most likely has an Upper Respiratory Infection (URI). Here's what I found:

Signs of URI

All of the following are signs of URI. Any cat showing any one of these signs should be suspected of having URI, and should at minimum be isolated from the general population. These symptoms can also indicate a vaccine reaction; however any cat showing these signs, whether due to a vaccine or genuine disease, is potentially infective to other cats:

* Clear or colored nasal discharge
* Sneezing
* Red/inflamed conjunctiva
* Ulcers/sores on the nose, lips, tongue or gums
* Fever/lethargy/loss of appetite (these may be signs of many other diseases as well)

Poor Lil Cat. She got her ovaries and uterus taken out last Wednesday and now she caught a virus. I keep reading . . . and find out that this can be a potentially DEADLY infection and is highly contagious. It's spread in a multitude of different ways (including airborne), and now I could have 3 sick cats (thank goodness I've been keeping Lily relatively sequestered so she can heal following her spaying).

So I make an appointment at my wonderful vet at 8:00 am this morning. I take the furry ones to the Red Bank Veterinary Hospital. It's really a great place, and what makes it even nicer is that it's open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, which provides peace of mind. In fact, I called for the appointment at 1 a.m.

7:30 rolls around and I sneak the carrier out of the closet. No luck, Lily catches a glimpse of it and does one of her disappearing acts. It's really hard to find her too, cause she's so small! I hunt her down without trying to disturb a still-trying-to-sleep Jake too much (and failing), and cram her into the carrier, since she was not going in willingly. She immediately starts trying to stick her paws out through the front gate as I try to latch it. I can't say I really blame her though; the last time she was in this thing she had several vital female parts removed.

We go to the vet, Lily meowing the whole way, me trying to find some music that will soothe her (Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" seemed to do the trick pretty well, surprisingly enough). Let me say, it's sad when your animal's doctor's office is nicer than yours. Not just nicer, but in a different league nicer. It's a spiffy place with a huge aquarium and all the most up-to-date dodads.

Lily and I got seen almost immediately, which was nice. The tech weighed her, and she's exactly 4.9 pounds. I put her age at roughly 8 months. I've had her for probably about 7 months of her life. If you've missed the saga of Lil Lily's rough and tumble toddlerhood, let me know and I'll post a blog for ya if you'd like. Here's a picture of her the week she arrived. Notice the red cube in the background . . . it comes into play later on in this post.


The vet came in and commented on how beautiful she is (she really is a looker), and gave her a quick exam. Turns out we caught it early, she's only Stage 1:

Category one

Signs are limited to one or more of the following: Clear (not yellow, green or bloody) discharge from the nose or eye, sneezing, oral ulcerations.

Assessment: Most likely mild viral infection or vaccine reaction or without significant bacterial component.

Treatment:

* Isolate
* Offer wet cat food BID
* Assess daily for appetite, fecal quality , hydration, progression of signs

So the vet says that since she is so contagious, she has to stay away from my other two cats for two weeks. She also gave me 10 day's worth of antibiotics to give her (in liquid form, thank god. Giving pills to cats is NOT FUN).

So Lil's on lockdown. She's still really lethargic and has been spending a lot of time in the cubby cube that Jake got for her when she first arrived (and never used until now, despite attempts to coax her to use it, may I add). At least she's started drinking again. I'm gonna feed her good canned food (like tuna) cause she's been through so much lately.

I do, however, draw the line at inspecting her shit.

Here's some Lil pics





Confessions/Rant

Okay, so I've been eating the Atkins way for almost 8 months (since July 1st). I've lost serious weight, dropped major inches, and am now wearing sizes that were once just a fantasy that I'd have that I was thin and in shape. By all means, I love the results. I'm down 30 pounds and I've gone from a size 14/16 to a 6/8. Amazing.

But my god, I miss carbs and sugar. I don't talk about it cause I want to show that I do indeed have "stick-to-it-evness." It's not that I approach life half-assed, it's just that the paranoid schizo person who lives in the remote reaches of my mind is convinced there are some people that would love nothing more than to see me fail. Because me as a chubby, cranky, crabby BITCH fits into the little hole they've got pegged for me. I've also never even attempted a diet before because I am so deathly afraid of failure and being less than who I can be. I was and still am, scared.

It took me longer than the regular Induction period (2 weeks) for me to enter ketosis and start losing weight. I gotta admit, when I wasn't seeing any results at all I was discouraged and ready to quit. The paranoid schizo person and Jake (who, incidentally, is not that paranoid schizo person, believe it or not) kept me keepin' on. Turns out I'm even more carb resistant than your average Jane (a nice kick in the ass from the powers that be), so eating 20 carbs a day was getting me nowhere fast. I decided to try dropping it to 15 net carbs a day, and suddenly things started working and clothes got baggier.

I mean the results are undeniable. I am thinner now than I was in high school. Yet I still look in the mirror and see myself at 180 pounds, flabby, doughy, and unattractive. People tell me all the time that I look so good and I seriously don't see it. Yet I do get satisfaction from wearing jeans that are sized 6. I've gotten used to eating the Atkins way, and its pretty easy for the most part.
And yet every time I drive by a McDonald's I fantasize for a moment about hitting the drive thru and getting a 2 cheeseburger meal with fries. I eat McD's double cheese burgers all the time, minus the buns. But I do miss those buns. The biting into the pillowy bread. The crispy saltiness of McD's fries fresh out of the fryer and almost too hot to eat.

I used to think that sugar was my major weakness, Jake said I was probably more of a carb addict than a sugar junkie. And as much as I hate to admit it, he was right. I fantasize about pizza and pasta, hamburger buns and Cinnabons, rice and Chinese food in general. Fried foods with breading. I have never been a big sliced bread person so I don't miss that so much. But it's just about everything else. Mashed potatoes with tons of beef gravy. Hell, I'm not even Jewish, and I'd kill for a latke with applesauce.

At the root of Atkins is a choice to eat foods that are lower in carbs because those foods are healthier overall. It's about losing weight easily and developing a lifelong strategy about eating. Most of us have twisted relationships with food. We cook things because it reminds us of people we used to know. We eat to comfort ourselves. How many childhood memories are like mine, sweetened with chocolate chip cookies (my mom used to buy the best ones from Shoprite), cake, ice cream, candy, Ring Dings and Yodles and Reese's peanut butter cups? Why do we do this to ourselves? Just because we don't have to leave camp to hunt for our food and harvest the crops, why do we choose to eat CRAP?

It's funny that Atkins works so well because you eat what the medical community has been pounding into our heads for generations; fat bad, carbs ok. My mom is starting the Induction phase of Atkins soon, and she can't wrap her mind around the idea that you can eat bacon and butter and cream and burgers and still lose weight. At least she gets that she needs to still eat veggies, preferrably green ones. That's another thing that slays me. People go on Atkins and have to stop because their numbers go through the roof. I mean it's not rocket science that eating 5 pounds of bacon with no salad or anything is NOT good for you.

So that's a sampling of what's on my mind today. I'd appreciate any feedback.

I'm becoming accustomed to the fact that
I will probably always crave carbs.

Especially when I think of those McDonald's french fries.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Wow, The cat hates me.

Ok, so I picked up Lily today from the SPCA in Eatontown this morning. She did well and got fixed, her final round of shots, and a microchip (so I can take her to the store and scan her, according to Jake). All that for $165. Which isn't bad at all.
What is bad is that the cat is apparently hatching a death plan against me and giving me the silent treatment. She tried to break out of the carrier once we got home, and glared at me when I attempted to stop her from fussing at her stitches (which I was instructed to do by the vet tech). She won't come when I call her, and she's not interested in food or water. All she wants to do is sleep against the radiator. Poor thing. She is currently in the bedroom apart from the other two cats because she has to take it easy. Jake will want to lock her out of the bedroom tonight because she's notorious for waking him up in the middle of the night for petting. But she may not do that tonight since she's in hiding. We'll see.
Had dinner with my mom today. It was nice. We went to Outback (the Atkins place to go) and then went shopping. I got a nice dress for Zoey's baptism. :o)
On the scale today, I was 152 on the nose, down 3 pounds from last week, and 3 pounds higher than my lowest since starting Atkins. Yes, my goal is 140, but those last 10 pounds have been so elusive. No more bagels. I made a whole bunch of vanilla caramel carbquik pancakes and stashed them in the freezer. They're good with butter and 1 carb "maple syrup."
My mom is thinking about eating Atkins, and I think she'll like it. Bacon. Butter. How much better can you get??
There was some other stuff I was going to ramble about, but I forget what it is for right now, so I'll sign off.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Okay

So I'll give this a shot. Let's see . . . Jake says he blogs regularly (or at least posts on his message board) and he usually just bitches, more or less. Let's see how it goes for me.
Things are pretty good here. I just dropped Lily, the kitten, off at the spay/neuter clinic. I feel like a bad mommy because she cried the entire time, even though I did everything I could to make her feel better. At least she won't go into heat again; she doesn't really bother me but apparently she meows nonstop and seeks affection like a broke crack-addicted whore. I will pick her up tomorrow morning. My only complaint is that the clinic is pick-up/drop-off only between 7:30 and 8:45 in the MORNING. You all know mornings aren't my strong suit.
I'm still on the Atkins, though I've regained 5 of the 30 pounds I'd lost. Well, I think so . . . I haven't weighed myself in a few days. I've cut out the low-carb bagels though . . . but boy do I want one right now. :o) It's nice that we're eating the same stuff, which makes it easier. I gotta increase the salads though.
How is everyone?