Laura Goat this time. First little wet handful of goat snot I ever beheld, and first daughter of the lost Grace Goat. Crippled since birth, shoulda died right then and there ... when am I gonna learn not to interfere?

We don't know what's wrong. She can't get up. She's always been spastic, and now she can't be put into a good position easily. She spent the night in the house on a pile of newspapers and hot water bottles packed around her. I sincerely thought she'd be dead by morning.

She's now packed in a pile of hay in a doghouse just outside the kitchen door. I have a final today and can't stay with her. She seems to be in good spirits ... although she was never going to be a rocket scientist anyway and she may not realize she's dying. No pain that we can tell, and she eats everything we put in front of her. If she weren't so slow I'd think she was gold-bricking for attention.

The other deathwatch is for Thomas Cat. He went missing last night. I knew it would be bad, because he's first in the chow line and he wasn't there. I asked his brother where he was, but I don't speak Cat and he didn't say. Maybe he didn't know.

Thomas was down in the bar ditch next to the bus stop this morning. I wrapped him in my coat and brought him in the house. He ate most of the tuna we gave him, and he's next to the woodstove. He's still got my coat. It's not too cold out, so it'll be ok today.

Princess says she can speak Cat. She says Thomas told her both back legs are broken and his back feet are crushed. His exact words, she says. I have to go to my final before taking him to the vet. He doesn't seem to be in too much pain, and he's nice an relaxed in my coat by the fire.

Farm living ... I dunno about this.

-- helen (scooping@poop.in.all.the.wrong.places), December 08, 2003

Answers

bump

-- bump (bump@bump.bump), December 08, 2003.

Oh dear Helen at least they are both warm and have full stomachs. I hope your final went well.

-- Carol (c@oz.com), December 08, 2003.

Poor Helen. Poor us. I don't know how to respond. I have put animals out of their misery and spent near a grand on others to keep them going a little longer. I could speculate on the difference, but I don't want to right now.

I will say that animals have a great capacity, probably born of their stupidity, to just keep going like the Energizer Bunny: "Ow,that hurts. Oh, my leg's dragging. What's that, the dinner bell? Drag, drag, drag. Good stuff. Burp. What's for dessert? I think I'll chase that ball. Ow, that hurts. Oh, my leg's dragging. Hey, there goes a mouse! Drag, drag, etc." It's a great advantage, and they can recover from some things you'd think they can't. Sometimes.

I once hit a big farm dog on the highway, and still remember the anger and pain I felt knowing the dog was still alive as the farmer drug him down the bar ditch by a hind leg, telling me he was dead. His eyes.

The preacher up the road backed right over our little Pekingese once, but he healed up and continued into old age when he had an arthritic hitch in his get-along. He also survived a run-in with a neighbor's vicious German Shepherd years later. The vet plugged the holein his lung and stitched uphis chest, and he came around. But Mother backed over our housecat in the driveway once, and I shot it in the flower bed. There was nothing for it.

With animals, no matter how sad, such scenarios are still not on the same plane with human suffering. Not even close. We are caretakers of animals as stewards of the earth. We can play God with his blessing (even his mandate), with his livestock in his fields. However, playing God with his children in the house is another matter altogether.

-- J (jsnider@hal-pc.org), December 08, 2003.

WHY??

Laura Goat rose from the dead and spent the entire day wandering (tottering) around the yard munching on green stuff.

So I raced to the vet to get some meds for her.

She tottered up to me when I got home and slurped the meds with no problem. Then she had a nibble of feed.

Then she collapsed. She's packed in hay again, but this time I dunno.

Thomas Cat is ruined. I think. He's ... he's bent in the middle. No pain that we can tell. We'll put him down if he starts to show pain.

Laura may be gone by midnight. Or not. I don't understand.

-- helen (why@why.why), December 08, 2003.

Laura Goat is still alive. I got her to sit up and drink water this morning. She isn't eating, but her eyes look better today. The weather will turn cold and nasty, so she's packed into deep hay until I can get back.

Thomas Cat is moving around on his own a bit, but his back end isn't moving much. We'll see.

Sometimes I dream of an apartment in town.

-- helen (what@next.here), December 09, 2003.

I had a Lab hit by a car once. Internal bleeding, etc. I thought the vet ought to fix it somehow (like releiving the pressure on a bovine bloated from eating Johnson grass). But the vet said it was best not to. Apparently internal pressure helped stop the bleeding. The dog recovered fully. If your cat has lower unit problems (to borrow outboard motor terminology), he may develop other troubles as the days go on. My sympathies with the situation.

-- J (jsnider@hal-pc.org), December 09, 2003.

(((((((((((Helen)))))))))))

I've said it before, I just couldn't take it!

The kids are grown and I have no animals (the 4-legged kind anyway). ;-) Life is good!

-- Gayla (move@to.town with me), December 10, 2003.

Helen; Like Gayla said, I don't think I could take it either. How do you do it? I hope things all work out for the best, Dear One.

-- (sonofdust@farm.life), December 11, 2003.

((((Helen)))) We've had a near miss (well, so far a miss) with our cat this week. He developed crystals in his urine and had to have a catheter to clear them, when they blocked off his urinary tract. He's still at the vet's waiting to see if there's kidney damage too.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), December 11, 2003.

Laura Goat passed early this morning. As best we can tell, she had no pain or fear. Before she died she had learned to drink hot honey toddies out of a cup and sip oatmeal out of a bowl. I am not a farmer.

Thomas Cat is alive and learning how to manuver with the front half of his body. We put him in the hay pile vacated by Laura Goat, and the other cats stay with him. He seems happier with them. He can clean himself, pee and poop. He'll never walk on all fours again. The other cats help him with his ears and keep him warm. He doesn't seem to feel any pain in the affected parts. If it starts looking bad for him, I'll sneak him off to the vet and then tell the kids he just died. I won't let him suffer.

Buddy Goat, son of Kritter Goat, grandson of Grace Goat, and nephew of Laura Goat was scheduled to be the guest of honor at my hispanic friend's graduation barbeque. The butcher got lost on his way out here. I'd already given Buddy Goat last rites when they switched the plan to ham. He's deeply relieved...and currently forgiven of his sins. I think I found a home for him where he'll be a family pet.

Tricia, I hope your cat gets better. Would you like a pet goat? A mule perhaps?

-- helen (dispersing@the.herd.no.room.to.bury.them.all), December 13, 2003.

Helen, I was wrong about the cause of the blocked urinary tract - it was a kidney infection. The poor cat has had a catheter in since Thursday morning, though they're hoping to pull it tomorrow. He hadn't eaten anything until my younger daughter (whose cat it is), my husband and I went in yesterday. Then he ate and got up and demanded attention and started chewing at his catheter. We had an excellent effect on his motivation - I think he'd been feeling abandoned. The vet phoned today and said he's becoming quite aggressive - in other words much more like himself. We're hoping to get him home tomorrow, but it may not be until Tuesday. We're not sure what caused his kidney infection nor if there's going to be permanent damage, but things are really still not looking that great.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), December 14, 2003.

Hmmmmmmn.

-- Robert & Jean (Robert&Jean@wondringwhats.up), December 17, 2003.

Hokay ...

The cat is a mess. Hubby and had the talk. Euthanasia this weekend. We were talking in front of the cat in plain English. We should have used Pig Latin, as we have no pigs to translate for the cat.

Anyhow ...

Mr. Thomas Cat leaps up on his two front legs and swings his bottom and useless back legs out in front of him. He looked like someone on crutches. Then he crutched himself to the top of the hill to meet the kids' school bus just like he used to do. When they got home, he greeted them and crutched himself back to his box of hay alongside them.

It was amazing to see. If he's willing to try that hard, we'll help him out. We're building him a small ramp into his box to make it easier to get in. I envision a gently-sloping ramp up into a fancy cathouse off the ground to keep him safer next spring.

He's amazing. He understands spoken English.

-- helen (cat@dancing.after.all), December 17, 2003.

Well, Kaos made it home yesterday. He has several bald spots where they've shaved him, he has a bit of incontinence (lack of bladder control) and he's not quite as kaotic as usual, but he's alive and (sometimes) kicking, which is much better than I thought he would be just a week ago. And he'll have some empathy for Lon - he's been put on a strict diet that has only slight appeal to him and that he gets to stay on for the rest of his life. Shadow was happy to see him, until he started chewing on her again. And she gets to eat the diet food too - although she seems to like it somewhat better than he does. Pierra pretends to ignore the cats completely as much as she can, but I think she's happy to have the cat back too :-)

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@teluspalent.ent), December 17, 2003.

Aw, I remember when Laura goat was born. How sad, Helen. :( Glad to hear Kritter goat is still around and well though, Much like the real article. ;-)

-- kritter (k@a.n), January 03, 2004.

How's the cat doin' with the ramp?

-- Robert & Jean (Robert&Jean@south.whatsnow), January 04, 2004.

Hi Kritter!

Kritter Goat is doing well. Thomas Cat took a sudden turn for the worse and died on Christmas Day. I didn't want to bum anyone out. Thomas didn't appear to suffer any pain at all, for which I'm thankful.

-- helen (gonna@turn.in.my.farmer.boots), January 04, 2004.