Gummy Kitty: Cordelia Cat has a Rough Month

Cords had a rough couple weeks in October, which necessitated two trips to the vet, which, as far is she is concerned, is two trips too many.  Her least favorite thing to do is anything relating to her crate, which means that any vet trip is a nightmare for me too.  And last winter, after she tore up my entire left arm, and Mum's hand, trying to get her in the crate from my parents' for the trip back to Philly, I told her that she was never going anywhere ever again.

Unless it was to the vet.

It was a Saturday evening, and she started gross-drooling.  I don't want to get into details about this, let's just leave it at gross-drooling.  Leaving nasty, uncharacteristic slobbers all over the place, and not grooming as throughly as she usually does.  I do know her teeth are all messed up: she was in a hoard (well over 350 cat roomies) and has all sorts of issues now (very small, FIV, scared of everything real cats enjoy, bad teeth) plus I think she needs glasses and that she's a lefty.  So Monday morning I call the vet and we schedule a check up for the very next day.  

I shove her in the crate and we head out.  She complains the entire trip to the vet, and the entire time we sat in the waiting room.  Last time we went to the vet, Cords attempted to crawl up the wall of the exam room, and ended up suctioning herself to the floor.  The vet was reluctant to pry her up, so she just did the exam and vaccinations on the floor.  So this time the vet opens Cords file and says, "Has her temperament changed since last fall?  No?  Okay, we'd like to give her a tranquilizer so that we can do a proper thorough exam."  Certainly!  Dope that kitty up!

The verdict: Cordie has a number of foul teeth that need to be removed.  Her blood test comes back all well, so we're set to get the offending chompers extracted.  

Everyone at work kept asking, how many teeth?  I didn't ask.  And it didn't really matter.  Like I'd let her keep nasty teeth in her mouth, when they are clearly sore and she's mouth breathing foul stinky breath into my face at night and leaving gross-drool all over my apartment?  

A week after the initial appointment, I shoved a hungry kitty into the crate and dropped her off early at the vet.  I'd be able to pick up my dopey kitty at the end of the work day.  She was dopey, but not like the dogs would be, all knock-kneed and wobbly.  She kept wandering around the apartment wide-eyed like she'd never seen it before.  Like, "Omg!  Is that a red pillow?  A blue blanket?  Madness!"  

How many teeth had to come out?  Seven.  SEVEN!  And since she'd already been lacking teeth when she moved in, she only has one fang left (on the bottom left) and no teeth at all on the top!  Thankfully, this has not affected her eating habits at all.

Gummy

Everyone at work did a simultaneous awwww/lol when I explained how Cordie is now Gummy Kitty. She also inspired the chalk pumpkin up in the staff room.  No idea who the artist is...  there are a couple suspects.

(On a side note, we have such a big number of people sharing the same tiny staff room, purges are a regular event.) 

Cordie: Second Anniversary

Happy Acquisition Day, Cordelia Cat!

All morning I kept telling her, "You know where you were two years ago?  You were sad and skinny and in a crate.  Now look: dumpy and shiny and (mostly) complaint-free."

New Rug

Cordelia, sitting happily on her little rug about a week and a half ago.  Life seemed easy, there was a rug to lay on to get brushed, and to give her some traction when she runs around.  Until she puked all over it one day.  All over it.  So much so that I made a vague attempt to clean up, and then just rolled the sad little rug up and shoved it into the garbage.

I missed the rug just as much as Cordie.  She got kind of unkept: no brushing on the hardwoods, as she just kind of slides around on them.  So I went to Target to get a new rug.  Happy with it, I came home and put it on the floor, all, "Look Cordie!  New rug!"  And she hid from it, terrified.

 Close-up on the kitty.  Close enough to keep an eye on the rug, far enough away from it's deadly talons.

 I picked her up and put her on it multiple times, only to have her scoot off immediately.  She finally accepted it about five hours after it arrived.  Now, over a week later, she loves it.

 So cute.  

Cordelia Cat

Happy One Year Arrival Anniversary, Cordie!

Doppelgänger Rug

For Christmas my grandma got me some crazy things.

1. Do-it-yourself funnel cake kit. With a red plastic oil-can-like funnel cake batter dispenser. Come visit me. Funnel cake will be made.

2. A little rug with Cordelia's doppelgänger on it.

She really likes sitting on it. The doppelgänger rug doesn't have a permanent place in the apartment yet: it kind of floats around near the paper/photo-conservation bookshelf.

Liang and Michael Visit! Part Two!

The Friday night burgers got us started on our campaign of eating like the champs that we aspired to become. Plans were in the works to consume foods from the following categories: bakery, Chinatown, Reading Terminal Market, Korean, French-place-near-work-whose-name-we-are-all-uncertain-of-pronouncing, and the best cupcakes in Philadelphia. Here's Liang's take.

(Liang's blog is way better than mine about the weekend adventures, so I'm just going to post my lame-o photos and link to her stuff).

What has Liang so focused, in the middle of the Reading Terminal Market?

Selecting which ice cream flavors to get. Naturally.

In Chinatown, at a rendezvous with Lena. (There was an exchange of high quality chocolate between Liang and Lena. Fyi, if you ever need some, Liang requires payment for chocolate-trafficking in cash.) I attempt to photograph Michael making some sort of peculiar facial expression, but am too slow.

It wasn't all eating. You've got to work it off, so that you can maintain your caloric intake.

Free Library! Main branch, looking across Logan Circle, I think? Anyway, we went to scope out the cookbook section, and to marvel at the marble interior.

Looking down the Ben Franklin Parkway (he invented the stove, you know).

At the top of the Art Museum steps. Michael was not impressed by Rocky, and refused stand next to the Rocky statue at the bottom of the steps. We didn't go in the museum, which I was glad about: I've been over-exposed to its collection.

Living in Fishtown and coming into Center City for work, I passed the Mutter Museum every day. And I didn't go in, knowing that it would be so much better to go with Liang. The Mutter is one of the most famous collections of medical oddities in the world.

Disturbingly Informative sums the contents up quite nicely. I kept saying variations of, "Oh my god! So gross! What is that?!?" I'm not usually comfortable with the idea of internal organs (so messy), but with Liang's med school knowledge it was a creepily fun visit. I had no idea that syphilis could affect so many organs.

The Mutter Museum has a lovely and informative Medicinal Herb Garden as well as extensive collections of human skulls and conjoined twins in formaldehyde.

There were little signs next to the plants which listed the common name, the scientific name, and the uses. I find it intriguing that spiderwort is good for as a laxative and for treating bites. It must be that the mode of application differs.

Lavender - good for restlessness and anxiety - would have been handy during grad school. Just make the WUDPAC students eat handfulls of it on a regular basis.

Poor Liang and Michael - I also pushed them to watch 1776. Philadelphia! Ben Franklin! Michael starting the paperwork to become naturalized! (I told him to pay attention, he'd need to know this stuff for the citizenship exam or whatever it they make you do...)

Cordelia Says...

"Meep!"

Cordelia Cat also says to check out Liang's blog, because she's super cute on it. (Wonderful Cordie photo by Liang!)

Gratuitous Cat Pictures

Isn't Cordelia cute these days? She's a little fatter now, and her fur is all sleek and shiny.

We're good roommates. She likes orderly routines too.

I'm pretty sure this is the best picture that anyone has even taken of a cat.

In Which I Use the Word "Anxious" Ten Thousand Times

Cordelia Cat is generally adjusting really well. I feel like we're at that stage of roommate-ness, where you're still figuring out each other's schedules and quirky habits.

Since her arrival in Philadelphia a little over a week ago, she has convinced me to purchase another chair (so she won't have to sit on the floor if I sit in a chair) and a lint roller. I go home from work at lunch time every day because 1) I can! and 2) to check on Cordie. I am an anxious cat owner. And she is a special needs cat, health-wise, and my awareness of her delicacy makes me more anxious. She is adapting really well, but she is stressed. She talks to me if I leave the room she is in, and she sounds anxious. She has also pulled out all the hair on one of her little knees. So she has a 0.5 cm or so bald spot on her leg. Mum feels that this is anxiety-related. I gave Cordie a gentle talking-to about it, but I'm not sure it had any effect on her.

I also a just above finished recovering from a massive summertime head cold, which hit me so hard I actually took a sick day off of work last Friday. I spent the day sleeping, then in the later afternoon ventured out for Nyquil and orange juice.

The new chair is Cordie-approved. See why I have a lint roller now?

My cat anxiety-levels are high, but under control at the moment - I am leaving for a week, and Coworker Katie and Emily of Bret&Em will drop by to keep an eye on Cordie for me. Coworker Katie visited this evening, and I think she and Cordie will get along nicely. Which is a huge relief for this anxious person!

Introducing Cordelia

A subset of my plan regarding moving and staying in Philly for another year involved adopting a cat, and I've been talking about it with the cat-owners at work and with Liang, who has adopted two cats. Ideally, this adoption would take place in mid-August.

However, things didn't really go according to plan. Meet Cordelia.

"Great, now I'm gonna be stuck with serious thoughts all day."

Cordie was one of the cats up for adoption at the Elk County Fairgrounds. She's quite the talker. She's itty-bitty too.

She's named after Cordelia Chase, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame - the one in red. She's pretty, but kind of slow on the uptake. Which is a pretty good summary of Cordie the Cat.