It's Friday! Know What That Means?

I don't know where the week went, but Friday is here and that only means one thing, time for Special Needs Ryan Gosling.  The Murph is "Hey girling" me already as he sees me writing this post.  I can't tell you what else he's saying!  It's kind of personal.

The Special Needs Ryan Gosling meme was started several months ago by Sunday Stillwell over at Adventures in Extreme Parenthood.  Go on over to her blog to check out more of these.

I did this one because the Boy's been home from college less than a month and I can only say his room is covered in filth!  He seems oblivious and refuses to do anything about it.  We are about to lay down the law, baby!!

And this one because if you haven't already seen this blog post here, thanks to me, all our cats have fleas.

And this one because just in case you didn't see my blog post where I was sulking and being a REALLY sore loser for not getting in the semi finals for the Kona Inspired contest and I blamed it all on the fact that all I have to deal with is autism not cancer or some other ailment and nobody cares about autism as much as those "other" ailments.  And I didn't have very long to PROVE just how "popular" I really am because I didn't get my entry in as soon as some of those "others"... And YES, I'm still a little sore about it, but I've got my big girl panties on now so I'm dealing...

I'm showing my "Southerness" in that last one -"ain't got nothin".  Not that I use double negatives in sentences on purpose or anything like that and we all know "ain't" ain't a word.  Even those of us here in the South.

On another note, The Boy still hasn't found a summer job and is driving me crazy.  Luckily, we are only awake at the same time for approximately one hour in the morning and sometimes for one hour before I go to bed, since he has his days and nights mixed up.

He wants me to go with him to look for jobs.  I told him that it doesn't look good to have your mother tagging along if really want a job.  I went to a local grocery store with him to fill out an application the other day.  They never called him.  They probably flagged him when we left the store for having his mother do most of the filling out.

I told him it just doesn't look good to have your mom calling for you.  I really shouldn't be anywhere in the near vicinity.  He's 20 years old!  It looks better to have almost ANYBODY with you except your mom.  It's just not good!

I couldn't get him to call the grocery store and he kept begging me to call.  He wasn't calling and he needs a job, so I broke down and called them and told them that my son was REALLY interested in a job at their store.  One of first things the store lady said to me was "Well, if he's so interested then why is his MOTHER calling?  He needs to call!".

I started babbling something about Asperger's but he's a great worker, very hard working and punctual, he just needs help with the initial call, blah blah blah.

I felt like I was in first grade again getting in trouble with the teacher.

Guess grocery store work isn't in the Boy's near future!!!

Good thing I didn't tell her his name! Wonder if they have caller id?

For more memes, go here!

Altered or Not Altered? That Is The Question.

Take a look and tell me what you think!

When I spoke with the vet the other day about Phantom's flea issue, I found out that I could go on the vet's website any time and check my pets medical records.  It's a great way to find out when they are due for shots again next time just in case I forget or don't get a notice in the mail.

It really doesn't matter about the shots because the Murph is anti-vet anyway.  He thinks his cats are just fine without them and they don't need yearly checkups and shots.  He says that they are just cats and have already had their shots, been neutered and declawed 12 years ago as kittens and now they are on their own.

If the cats weren't old and healthy, I would have already rounded them up and taken them to the vet for a checkup and shots when the Murph wasn't home.  I've already taken Boo when Cadence scratched or bit him and he got an infection last year.  Ed would probably have a heart attack if he had to go through anything as traumatic as a vet visit.

The Murph was against Boo's vet visit too, but I overruled him on that one.  Boo would have died without antibiotics.

 The Murph's response, "It's a good thing we took him!"

(think Sylvester Stallone voice)

So I got on my vet account where there's a record of Phantom, Cadence and Boo.  Not Ed because he's never been to my vet.

I added pictures of each cat to their individual records because I'm like that, a crazy cat lady, and then I began reading each of the cat's individual records.

That's when I realized that Phantom might not have been "altered".  Neutered.  Clipped.  The other cat's records said they had been altered.  Phantom's said "not altered".  Phantom's been going to that vet since I first got him in 2005 (according to his record) and it says not altered!

I know I left him there overnight when he was a kitten just to have him neutered.  I even paid for it.  I don't really remember when we picked him up if he had stitches down there.  That was a long time ago.  I've lost a lot of brain cells since then.

Obviously, I became concerned.  Is this the reason Phantom is so aggressive to Ed and the other cats??  I tried to look at Phantom's privates, but I'm not an expert on cat balls and sometimes I have a hard time telling if a cat is a boy or a girl unless it looks at me really pissy when I try to pet it.  (that usually means girl).

Besides, Phantom doesn't like having his privates inspected.  I told the Murph to do it, but he won't go anywhere near Phantom's ass.  Looks like I'm going to have to call the vet and get clarification.

Altered or not altered?  We need to know!

We Got Fleas!

A couple of weeks ago I let Phantom come outside with me by the pool.  He gets very aggressive with one of the other cats and always seems to want to dart outside every time we open the door even though he's always been an inside cat so I thought it would be a good idea.

Get some of that aggression out on some bugs and chipmunks.

The Murph and I were a little worried about Phantom getting fleas out there but I reassured the Murph that I would bathe the cat when he got back inside and that would drown any of the fleas that were on him.

I knew how to do it.

Last week all the cats were scratching, but I didn't see any fleas.  Phantom, especially, started acting very odd.  He meowed at me all the time and he looked miserable.

He abandoned his cat pillow that he normally slept on and went to the floor.  Then I noticed him sleeping on the couch down in the Boy's room.  Then he started sleeping on the desk.

One day he disappeared altogether and we finally found him on top of the china cabinet.  How he managed to get his 24 pounds of fat pad up there I have no idea.  Cadence gets up there all the time but he's 9 pounds and can climb up a wall.  Phantom's more like a dog than a cat.

I decided right away that something was wrong with Phantom.  He looked feverish.  He was sleeping too much.  He had some kind of infection and was dying for sure.  Why else would he be going someplace away from us except to die, right?

The Murph said the cat was fine.  He was eating and drinking.  He'd "get over it".  (This from a man who has a cat that hasn't seen a vet in 10 years.)

I decided Phantom had to go to the vet or he wasn't going to make it.  I dropped him off on Saturday expecting the worst.  A few hours later I get the call.  The Murph was nearby listening to everything that I was saying.

The diagnosis - FLEAS!  The vet said he was "infested" with them.  I told her I didn't even see any.  (Maybe because Phantom is black and so are the fleas)

The Murph said "It better NOT be fleas!"

I knew I was in big trouble.

Apparently, Phantom kept changing sleeping spots to get away from the fleas.  Unfortunately, they kept  following him so he kept going higher up to get away from them.  Poor thing!

The next few hours I vacuumed the entire house, washed everything the cats had been sleeping on, which is just about everywhere and picked up a very clean and newly calm Phantom at the vet.

All the cats had to be treated with Advantage Flea control, which I had hoped to avoid.

Hopefully, the flea problem is under control.

Phantom once again is an indoor only cat.

This Cat Doesn't Approve Of Being An "Indoor Only" Cat

Phantom at the back door wanting out...

I made the mistake of letting Phantom outside to explore hoping he would get some of his "stalking" and predator instincts out of his system on bugs instead of the other cats.  He has always been an indoor cat, but has wanted out ever since he's been a kitten.  I let him out yesterday for two hours in the fenced back yard while I read a book and got some sun.

When he came back inside, I immediately gave him a good bath just in case fleas had started setting up housekeeping on his underbelly.  He did not like it one bit, fighting and screaming (yes screaming) at the top of his lungs.

Today he wants back outside and has been sitting by the door (or scratching it), trying to get out all morning. Unfortunately, I don't have flea powder or a flea collar to put on him and another bath is not going to happen this week.  One bath a month is too many.  I got a better workout bathing him yesterday than I ever do in the gym.

Poor guy's been driving us crazy with his plaintive meowing and scratching on doors and roaming around stalking the other cats nonstop.  He should have been an outdoor cat.  He would've been much happier.  The Murph says he's ok with me opening the door and letting Phantom out permanently.  Very funny - NOT!  I don't even let this cat outside by himself.  I watch him like a mom watches her toddlers at the playground.  I'm an overprotective cat mommy.  This does not work well for Phantom.  He's already left the back door and is now begging to get out the front door.  It's so nice out that I can't say I blame him for wanting out, but he's driving us crazy!  

Phantom now at the front door worn out from all the scratching and begging....