Fang

Oh, and Mommy forgot to update you on Tigger's progress. Daddy had to take him to the v-e-t for his next round of shots. He reacted badly to one a few back so he's getting them slower and with steriods. Since Mommy couldn't take him to this visit, Mommy sent Daddy with a list of things to report back:

1. How much does he weigh? 5 pounds (big kitten)

2. Are his ear mites gone because he still scratches at his ears? Yes they are.

3. Did he get his steriod shot with his vaccination? Yes.

4. Why does he have the ginormous fang on the bottom? When he lost all the baby teeth tumbling down the road and had to have the surgery, it made room for his adult fang. So he has a baby fang on one side and an adult fang on the other. But that's good news. It's just a little weird looking.

Mommy laughed and laughed when they picked her up from work and Daddy had Tigger in his PTU with a soft bed, a ton of toys and some kitty treats! Pretty spoiled kitten.

We're coping

So we are all very sad and miss Gandalf like crazy. Mommy cries all the time. Smoke and Tigger even seem to be finally getting along. But we are trying to be as normal as possible. So Mom went on her little trip to walk in the Race for the Cure. She and Auntie Val got a hotel room close to the race shuttle. They spent the evening visiting Auntie Michele, swimming in the hotel pool and just being silly. This morning, they walked the 5k in the Race for the Cure. It had been a goal of mom's all year. It was strangely anticlimatic when you consider that she pretty much walks a 5k or more several times a week but it's still a great event and it made her think alot about life.

While she was walking, Daddy and Mommy's daddy went fishing together (male bonding). So Mommy got the bonus of some alone time when she got home from the race. She put together her goals for this week: one of which is to download all the cute pictures she's taken of all of us including this one of Tigger on the hammock under a work table in her craft room. All together now ... Aaahhh! Isn't he cute?

Gandalf has gone to the Bridge

I hate to report this. In fact, it's just about killing me. But this morning we discovered that Gandalf has gone to the Bridge. He didn't come in when I called him last night. He was hit by a car sometime during the night.

Tigger

Okay, so here's the update. The beins finally decided on a name: Tigger. Mostly because he was bouncing down the road the first time they saw him and his head must be made out of rubber and his tail of springs to have survived that with so little injury.

Today was the big day at the v-e-t. Mommy went into work for an hour and half then came home to pick him up. He complained loudly that she was starving him with this "no food after midnight thing." Despite usually being extremely quiet in the car, he complained loudly all the way to the v-e-t about being hungry.

When Mommy took him in, both the lady and the man v-e-t looked at him and thought that his mouth was healing so well that maybe he didn't need to have surgery. But he still had a bit of a problem with his gums, so they decided it would be best if they did knock him out and check things out better. Turns out, he lost a fang and few other teeth and they sewed up his gums a little. There were some little bone fragments that had chipped off, but other than that, he's in pretty good shape and they were able to get him set that he should continue to grow pretty normally. Time will tell whether his adult teeth come in normally or not.

The beins got to pick him up this afternoon. He seemed a little out of it on the way home but then demanded food. The v-e-t said to call if he hadn't eaten by 5 p.m. Well, no fear of that, unless they meant hasn't eaten you out of house and home by 5 p.m. Tigger is one hungry dude!

Roadie???

So some of you have heard there's a new kitten in the house. Here's the story:

Friday night as the beins were driving home from work, they saw a kitten tumbling in the middle of the highway Well really, they saw a blur that sort of looked like a kitten. Daddy had seen it bouncing around in the road and believes that it fell/dropped from a truck in the road in front them. Daddy pulled over and Mommy ran across the freeway (she's been doing sprints on the treadmill this week for a reason!). It seemed like the longest run of her life. The kitten was jumping the barrier between the two sides of the freeway when she was able to grab a hold of it. It struggled a little, but then calmed down. She waited for traffic to clear and dashed across the freeway back toward the truck. The kitten was bleeding from the mouth but didn't seem to have any other injuries. Another woman had pulled over and she looked the kitten over while Daddy came up to them with the burlap sack that he keeps the cargo net in for the truck. They put the kitten in the sack (not closed - it's just the only container they had) and drove to the nearest vet's office. It was just before closing time. The vet looked the kitten over. He told them that he's (at least they think it's a he) about 8 to 9 weeks old and is likely feral. The kitten seemed okay but he recommended that they take it to the emergency clinic for overnight observation. He would call ahead for us. So the beins trekked across town to the emergency vet. The emergency vet (named Zoe!) looked over the kitten and said that he's got a broken jaw that will probably need surgery, but that she doesn't feel like she's got enough experience to do it and suggested that we go back to our own vet. But she also didn't think he needed to be kept for observation that night because other than the broken jaw, he seemed pretty stable. She told them that she had told the other vet that she didn't think he needed overnight observation too. So she suggested that we bring him home and keep an eye on him over the weekend then take him to our own vet on Monday for further treatment. They are open all weekend so if we have any questions or it seems that something is wrong, he can go back.

So he came home and they put him in his own cage with some food. Mommy went to send an e-mail to the family with a picture. She was just about to hit send when she heard Daddy talking to Smoke about the kitten. She went up to check on him and he'd eaten all his food. He ate more (quite a bit that night).

The next morning the first vet called but even better, our vet called and luckily it was a Saturday they were open. He got to go to our good vet. It's a husband and wife and the husband has experience with the type of surgery the emergency vet said he needed. Well our vet isn't sure that his jaw is broken. It may have been just some teeth issues from being bounced around the road, but tomorrow morning he'll go in to the vet. They'll put him out and while he's sleeping they'll really look at his jaw and do whatever needs to be done.

Meanwhile, he eats a LOT! He's very inquisitive and climbs over everything. He loves to be petted and especially to have his tummy rubbed. He's definitely going to stay unless it turns out to be positive. If he is, they'll find him a good home because he's a good little kitty but they have to protect the furballs and me first.

They haven't settled on a name yet. They think maybe Roadie because they got him off the road. But also like Sam, Mischief, Tumbles, Indy....

P.S. Mommy's officially lost 70 pounds now.

Big accomplishment

Friends have commented to us that we haven't blogged much lately. Well, that's true. Mommy's been pretty busy lately and we think it's a good excuse.

A few months ago, her doctor (the fertility one) told her it would be a good thing if she could lose some weight. It would increase her chances of getting pregnant. Her regular doctor also said it would good for her to lose weight too and asked if she wanted "the surgery." Mommy didn't because "the surgery" means she wouldn't be getting pregnant anytime soon. So Mommy ignored both their advice for a few months, but realized she pays perfectly good green papers to these guys for their expert advice so it's pretty stupid to then ignore it.

She and Daddy bought a Wii and then found the Wii fit board. Mommy started working out for a half-an-hour every day. Then her employer's insurance got smart and started offering to pay for Weight Watchers for employees that needed to lose weight. They'll pay for three months at a time. At the end of three months, the employee has to show that they have actually participated at least 10 weeks. Again, Mommy didn't jump right on the bandwagon. No, she waited a month and a half before she took the plunge. Finally she signed up for Weight Watchers, bought the Jillian Michaels "game" for the Wii, and set an impossible goal for the first three months (50 lbs.).

So for the last three months, she's been working out every day for at least a half-an-hour and counting her points. She started using the elliptical machine and the weight machine upstairs from time to time in addition to Jillian. Well this Saturday, Mommy finished her first three months on Weight Watchers and actually hit her goal. She lost 50lbs and is three or four dress sizes smaller depending on the manufacturer. Today was her official weigh-in and it was 51.6 pounds! So today she starts round 2. Her next goal is be able to wear the black dress in her closet to her cousin's son's wedding on July 11th. By the way, Daddy's doing pretty good too. Although he doesn't work out every day, he's now lost 32 pounds. Mommy says she's going to have to beat them off with stick when he hits his goal weight. :)

So pardon us if we don't blog much, we're busy getting exercise.