Cat Get

For those of you who haven't been following lythandra's LJ, we have acquired a houseguest in the form of a white floofball of a cat, whom we dubbed "Buddha" early on because of the way he sits and contemplates the universe.

Buddha seems to be pretty old and over the month we've lived in the place and seen him come around his health has been in a dramatic decline, so we trapped him last night and will be taking him to a vet sometime today.

This is no feral cat; this is somebody's once-pampered lapcat who's fallen on hard times. But he's been remarkably resilient for all that. Hopefully the worst is over now ... I'm sure the indignity of having to spend the night in the trap sitting on mashed food has been quite a trauma for him. He's still remarkably placid, or possibly just completely submissive, it's hard to tell. He's definitely been skittish up to now, but it may be that at this stage he's just sorta resigned to his fate. So we're going to do what we can to make sure that fate is a pleasant one. At least we're going to get him some badly-needed medical attention.

For more details, see:

http://lythandra.livejournal.com/86396.html

http://lythandra.livejournal.com/86897.html

-The Gneech

The Enlightened One Sulks

Buddha is quite definitely sulking. We cleaned out the trap as best we could (considering it has something like 25 lbs of "Ain't Gonna Move" cat in it) and laid fresh newspaper down for him. To do it, we had to open one end of the cage, pull the funky paper out of it, then open the other end and (with rubber gloves on) shove him bodily to the other end to get the rest of the funky paper and remaining mashed food/bait out. The instructions for the cage recommended turning it up on its end, which would certainly force him to move, but we didn't want to subject him to that. He's had a hard month.

We'd brought him in over night, since the garage was going to be pretty cold, but we put him back out there for today, since plumbers and furniture delivery would be yet more Scary Noisy Big People Things that he doesn't need to deal with.

In my few moments of communing with him, I get the impression that he does know that we're working for his benefit and is trying to be as close to gracious as he can be about it, but it stings his pride to be manhandled this way. When we put the separator bars into the cage to confine him to one end or the other, he gives us these sidelong looks that say, "And just what do you think I'm going to do? Honestly. You're huge, and I'm declawed[1]. Don't add insult to injury!"

I haven't handled him directly, but I can feel my allergies reacting to his presence. It's not bad, it's just the occasional random itch of a particular variety that only comes when I'm around animals, but it's definitely there.

Anyway, he's back in the cage and out in the garage for now, and we've got the windows open to air out the place a bit (he's somewhat whiffy). More bulletins as events warrant.

-The Gneech

[1] Note: We don't actually know that he's declawed; for that matter, we don't actually know that he's a "he". But we haven't seen any claws, and he's definitely cowed by other cats. If the "pampered lapcat" theory is true, being declawed would certainly be in line with that.

The Enlightened One is Pissy

...but at least he's still alive.

We took Buddha to the vet. The official stats are that he is an un-neutered male cat who still has his claws. His skin condition is just an allergic reaction to fleas and ticks. His eye is a simple infection that can be treated with antibiotics, and he also has an upper respiratory infection that gets the same treatment.

Unfortunately, he also tested positive for feline HIV. The vet's advice was to have him put down.

lythandra and I weighed the options and called the various other interested parties; one of them, our realtor, has friends who have a Himalayan Rescue Group (of all the specific things), who specifically asked us not to have him put down because they were convinced Buddha could be housed.

So anyway, he's in the garage with food, bedding, and a litterbox. He's quite vocal now and not happy; he's hissed at us twice today. But considering how he was poked, prodded, and yanked around at the vet, I'm not very surprised.

There are antibiotics in the food and "cat comfort pheremone" spray around the garage ... hopefully he'll calm down and start getting better. I don't think we can keep him -- my allergies wouldn't stand for him to be in the main part of the house -- but we can house him for now until a better solution is found.

-The Gneech

Star Wars Preview #3

Use the Force, Player!

One thing that sorta bugs me about most Star Wars RPG incarnations is that there are too many Force users flying around all over the place ... in a campaign that lasts long enough, everybody will want Force powers sooner or later.

I can't tell from this preview, but I think it may be easier than ever. We'll see.

On the other hand, the "Rebuke" power looks very cool and is a badly-needed addition!

-The Gneech