Hannah attempting to retrieve her ball from inside a large paper bag.
Hannah, annoyed that I put the ball into the bag yet again.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The Great Turtle Race
This is way cool: http://www.greatturtlerace.com/
"Biologists will switch on satellite trackers strapped to the backs of 11 female leatherback turtles on Monday, starting what conservationists have dubbed the "Great Turtle Race" to raise awareness of a species threatened with extinction." - Discovery Channel News, Animals (April 16, 2007) [click here for full story]
"Biologists will switch on satellite trackers strapped to the backs of 11 female leatherback turtles on Monday, starting what conservationists have dubbed the "Great Turtle Race" to raise awareness of a species threatened with extinction." - Discovery Channel News, Animals (April 16, 2007) [click here for full story]
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Cat, vets, stress and pet food equals relief
About two months ago, my cat Hannah developed an awful, scary looking bald patch between her shoulder blades. It was sore and she had scratched it to the point that it was bleeding a bit. She'd had some smaller bald patches that we'd been keeping an eye on, but over the course of a day this one had developed to be quite large. We got home and she just wasn't herself - she didn't talk, she didn't play, and when I picked her up she just lay in my arms. So at about 9:30pm on a Friday night, we packed her up and drove 20 minutes to the emergency vet clinic in Cambridge.
We managed to be home again before midnight, the cat pumped full of steroids for what the vet said looked like an allergic reaction, probably to food given the symptoms and the time of year. Food allergies can take a while to develop fully, and we'd had her about 7 months. The next morning Hannah, clearly feeling more energetic, was unceremoniously packed up again for a visit to her regular vet. Long story short, she was on steroids and antibiotics for over a month, with a special hypoallergenic diet that she's still on. It was, and still is because we haven't yet been able to confirm that it's a food allergy, a stressful time. The cat spent one night throwing up, presumably due to an upset tummy from the food change, because her bloodwork the next day showed normal liver function so it wasn't liver damage from the steroids. I didn't sleep well waiting for the results. Every time Hannah scratches, I tense until she stops, afraid that the special diet isn't helping.
Then came the news of the pet food recall, and the contaminated wheat gluten. Of course I was on edge. But despite the stress I have been through, the many vet appointments, the vet bills draining my savings, as pain in the butt as this available-only-from-the-vet diet has been, never has anyone been so relieved and happy that their cat has gone through this.
Because the hypoallergenic cat food contains rice gluten.
We managed to be home again before midnight, the cat pumped full of steroids for what the vet said looked like an allergic reaction, probably to food given the symptoms and the time of year. Food allergies can take a while to develop fully, and we'd had her about 7 months. The next morning Hannah, clearly feeling more energetic, was unceremoniously packed up again for a visit to her regular vet. Long story short, she was on steroids and antibiotics for over a month, with a special hypoallergenic diet that she's still on. It was, and still is because we haven't yet been able to confirm that it's a food allergy, a stressful time. The cat spent one night throwing up, presumably due to an upset tummy from the food change, because her bloodwork the next day showed normal liver function so it wasn't liver damage from the steroids. I didn't sleep well waiting for the results. Every time Hannah scratches, I tense until she stops, afraid that the special diet isn't helping.
Then came the news of the pet food recall, and the contaminated wheat gluten. Of course I was on edge. But despite the stress I have been through, the many vet appointments, the vet bills draining my savings, as pain in the butt as this available-only-from-the-vet diet has been, never has anyone been so relieved and happy that their cat has gone through this.
Because the hypoallergenic cat food contains rice gluten.
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