the chicken leg and the cat

i had already finished feeding jack. he gets fed first because a) he is the oldest, and b) he is the king. when he was done eating in the cat room (yes, i have an entire room that is owned by cats), he pawed at the door to signal for me to let him back out. of course, because he is king, he gets to go wherever he pleases, unlike the other cats. this is why he is king. so, i let him out and i changed my clothes. i was really excited to go back to snacking on my spinach artichoke dip, but i found that Jack was really going to town on it already. so i did what most other people do; i kicked him out. immediately he wanted back in. jack is very good at letting you know when he wants to come in or go out. but i ignored him and eventually he went away. after finishing my dip and moving on to leftover steak and mac & cheese, i heard a loud thud. it sounded like someone had just thrown something at my door. i opened it and jack came prancing in. i thought, "well, maybe someone threw something at my poor, old cat. those bastards. they're probably the creeps who live down the street." but then i saw what really caused that thud. jack had knocked on the door with a fried chicken leg. jack had it in his mouth perfectly with both nubs of the leg hanging out of the sides of his mouth. i could see why jack was so interested in this particular leg. the person who had it first did not do a very good job getting all the meat off of it. so, after laughing and watching rex chase jack around the house for a bit, i had to take it away from him. i haven't heard jack growl in a while, nor have i seen him chase me for something, but i guess this chicken wing just tasted that good. i only wish alan didn't have the camera up in johnson city.

no more rice on my cats' butts

when alan and i would go play ping pong in the cats' room, mitz would start tinkling in the litterbox multiple times. alan thought he was just showing off. then i decided to take him to the vet. his going to the bathroom a lot reminded me of when i had a uti and i was constantly on the toilet, but nothing would come out. turns out, mitz also had a uti. he had tapeworms, too. one of my other cats had tapeworms, too. so i got medicine for both and now....no rice on their butts! and with a bottle of clavamox, mitz is no longer "showing off" in the shitbox.

i am very thankful that it was only a uti. before i took him to the vet, i looked up uti's in cats. there's some really scary stuff out there. some things i read were that xrays may be needed (possibly even an ultrasound) to look for stones, surgery, and if i didn't take him in immediately, he could die within 24 hours. so i took him in in less than 24 hours. no xray. just a urinalysis.