Nearly a CATastrophe...

Meet Lynx (again).



He's a handsome fellow, isn't he? 14 pounds of stripey goodness. Three weeks ago, we nearly lost him. It is thanks to the good efforts of his vet, her techs and his own strong will to live that we didn't.

He got himself an urinary tract obstruction. The problem reached crisis point for several reasons. First, he's mainly an outdoor cat, so I didn't realize he wasn't urinating. Second, he seems to have a very high pain tolerance. On Thursday night he seemed fine, playing with Jaguar as usual. Friday morning he was hissing and growling for no apparent reason (never a good sign, but not always a sign of a life threatening problem). Friday night he was throwing up white foam and (finally) trying to pee (unsuccessfully) in the house. Saturday morning, he was comatose. Luckily, one of the local vets was open and told me I could drop him off (they were booked up, but would look at him between appointments). He was awake by Monday, although not eating. His bladder was so distended that the muscle tone was gone, so they had to express his bladder. I took him home Thursday, with two prescriptions. One of antibiotics and one of something to help repair the muscle. And instructions on how to express his bladder. Fun for all concerned.

He took the pills with a minimum of fuss. At first it was because he still wasn't feeling well, later it was because he's a reasonable cat, plus he got butter to help the pills go down. Cats seem, in my experience, to take pills much more readily if you explain to them why you want them to take the pill. However, even if they don't fight the pill, some cats like to see if they can fool you into thinking they have swallowed the pill and then spit it out once you let go of them (I'm naming no names, but if the stripes fit...). If you smear butter on the upper lip, when their body heat starts to melt it, they can't stand the greasy and lick it off, which forces them to swallow the pill.

Long story short... He's better. At the second follow up visit, the vet was concerned because his bladder is still sensitive to palpation (although empty at the time). She now wants a urine sample to see if it is infection or inflammation. After a week on Baytril (!), she's pretty sure it isn't infection. I don't want to put him on steroids (more pills, hurrah!), but I also don't want the white blood cells to build up and cause another blockage.

Aah. Cats. They lower the blood pressure.

Wicked moment...

I didn't have one. It was him.

He's a cat, you say. Cats are made of wicked moments. Well, yes, just not usually in my ankle.

Word of the day: Prolix adjective using or containing too many words; tediously long-winded. My posts tend to be prolix on a good day (to which you should politely protest that, no, no they are charming).

Whatever... and Roast Beef...

If I could figure out a focus for this thing, I might post more often. I no longer have the excuse of not having a camera, because I got one for Christmas. Just to prove it, here's a picture.






So there. Beautiful isn't it?

Here's another picture. Just because I can. Cats! The black one is Jaguar, the striped one is Lynx. They are probably half brothers (same mother, different litters). They are alternately best friends and bitter rivals. Most of the time, if you see one, the other is not far away. This includes playing with the birds and other small animals that they enjoy bringing into the house. If they would catch the gopher that is playing hob with my front garden, I would be very happy. I wouldn't even complain very hard about the resulting blood stain. Or the next explosion of bird feathers and parts.

Cats lower one's blood pressure. It has been scientifically proven. Although not by me.

Oh. Roast beef. The man invited friends over for Super Bowl Sunday. Only, instead of watching the Super Bowl, they played Gran Tourismo. It was highly amusing. The Friend (hereinafter referred to as Big N) brought his son (Little N) and his (Big N's, not Little N's) girlfriend (S). I was expecting S, but not Little N, not that it was a problem because I like kids in general and Little N in particular. Anyway, all of this has nothing to do with Roast Beef. Other than the fact that having guests gave me an excuse to make it. It's a super simple recipe (not that roast beef should ever be complicated, but that's another post for another time) that I got from Fine Cooking. The main feature of this recipe that was different from the usual was the use of dry white wine in the braising liquid for the beef.

In brief. You sear the beef (rubbed first with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper, although you can skip this step with on ill-effects) in your dutch oven. When it's browned all all sides, set the meat aside and pour a combination of chicken broth and dry white wine (about two cups total) into the dutch oven and bring to a simmer (scrape up any bits of meat that stuck to the pan during this process), return the meat to the pan, add the herbs and vegetables (two carrots, cut in half widthwise; one onion, peeled and quartered; three (or more) garlic cloves, smashed; one bay leaf; three sprigs fresh time; three whole cloves or allspice berries) return to the simmer, cover tightly and cook in a slow (250 degree) oven for about four hours or until the meat is very tender, turn once or twice so the top of the meat doesn't dry out. When the meat is cooked, remove and set aside (tented with foil), strain cooking liquid into a medium saucepan, discard solids (or not if you have something better to do with them, like eat them up yum). Reduce broth to about half, add brandy (2 Tbsp), grainy mustard (1/2 tsp or to taste) and horseradish (1/2 tsp or to taste) and bring to a boil. Stir 1 tsp flour into 2 Tbsp sour cream, whisk into broth mixture and cook 5 minutes (or more) to thicken slightly and combine flavors. Slice the meat, serve with gravy and whatever side dishes you like (in my case, mashed potatoes and a spinach and mushroom "braise"). Yummy.

Cat Tails...

Oh boy! A new post less than a month after the previous post. What is this world coming to? It's coming to me making brioche dough at 10:30 at night. Right now the mixer is incorporating the butter into the dough. It's almost there, then I get to let the dough rise for an hour, turn it out and fold it over a few times and then stick it in the fridge overnight. This bread better be delicious... Of course, it's flour, yeast, eggs, sugar, salt, water and butter, how far wrong can it go? Oh. Don't answer that. You pessimist.

I just tasted the dough. If I were the sort of person to add "gasm" to the end of a word to indicate, you know, pleasure, that would have been a doughgasm. Since I'm not, it still was. ;-)

Sometimes, I think my cats are part lemur. It would explain so much. The tails. The long legs. The jumping. Other times, I'm pretty sure that they are all cat. After all, their mother is feral and where would she meet up with a lemur on the Central Coast of California? These are the questions that keep me awake at night. Or that might be my boyfriend. 0:-)

I should probably go get ready for bed so that all I will have to do when the hour is up is take care of the dough and then go straight to bed. I'll finish this post first. It's rambling nature should indicate my state of mind quite clearly...

I'm working on the most darling little sweater and blanket set for a friend of mine (for her baby to wear). I only hope that I finish the sweater while the baby is still small enough to fit into it. They change from newborns to babies in no time at all. The pattern is an adorable vintage pattern I bought off of ebay (looking at vintage knit and crochet patterns is my newest obsession. I have managed to restrain myself to only buying two items. And one of the patterns was for a specific and definite person, which is always a good start. Yay me!). I'm not sure if babies were smaller then (and I'm not even sure when then was because the person I bought it from updated it and I bought a copy of her update) or if my gauge is wrong or if it will all turn out all right. My gauge is fine because I checked before I started and the yarn and hook I chose match the gauge the pattern says it should be. It's tiny. Itsy bitsy. Hopefully it won't be too small. Of course, if it is, Mom could just save it and the child could use it for a doll when she gets old enough to play with dolls. So, it'll work out one way or another, and the blanket will work for the actual baby, of that, I'm certain. I think that it will be more of a carriage cover size than an wrap around the baby size. Which is a nice size to have anyway. Especially one as cute as this one. The sweater set (sweater, bonnet, booties and mittens) will be in pink and white. The blanket in sage green and white. I'm all excited. It's already adorable, and I'm only about half way through the sweater.

That is taking up most of my knitting and crocheting time. I'm most of the way done with my Lion Suede seed stitch scarves for my friends Christmast presents. I have the fringe on one to do, and about half of the third to do. I still have all the hats to knit, but those shouldn't take too long. Especially since I'm probably not going to knit them in the round. That might be a hasty statement that I will later recant, but as of now, I'm planning to do them in rows and then sew the seam. It's all a big knitting adventure.

Okay. Off to put the dogs in the front room and ready myself for bed. That should take me neatly through the rest of the hour that the dough wants to rise before being deflated and then put in the fridge overnight.

Talk on ya later,

Harley

A Cat For All Seasons...

We have three (3) cats right now. They claim to be wild kitties, but I'm beginning to disbelieve them. Especially when we wake up in the morning and find all of them on the bed.

Let me introduce you to the cats (in order of gender from female to male and then age from youngest to oldest). No pictures other than that created by my words because I don't have a camera or the means to upload the pictures... Well, I guess the camera is more of the problem than the uploading because I clearly have access to a computer. Anyway... On to the cats...

Tropicana's Dainty Portia (Portia, Porch-uh, Little Porshie)- Short-haired tabby. Black and grey stripes on a background of pale gold shading to white on her chest and stomach. The tip of her muzzle is white too. The tips of ears and the tip of her tail are black and there is a black stripe down her back (from whence all stripes originate apparently). She has big, round soft golden eyes that always look innocently startled. Except when she's batting some innocent rodent around, the she just looks delighted with herself and the world. She loves scratches, but isn't entirely sure she wants to be touched. Which makes it an hysterical comedy of errors when one reaches down to touch her, she tries to run away and lean into the scratch at the same time. Sometimes she falls over.

Tropicana's Clouded Jaguar (Jaguar, Jag, Jaggers, Big Guy) - Short-haired black. From the front and back and top he looks like your typical solid black cat. Then you see the side view and you notice that he has dark grey tabby striping on his sides. He has big, round amber gold eyes. He's the king of the world and he knows it. He likes to bring rats, mice and shrews into the house to share with his sister (Portia. Yes, they are littermates). Jag knows he likes scratches and he will demand them when and where he wants them. And bats at one if one stops before he's ready. Yesterday he smacked my butt when I stood up to leave the porch before he had gotten his fill of cuddles. Then he ran away. Tail straight up in the air.

Tropicana's Golden Lynx (Lynx, Lynxie, the Lynxer) - Short-haired tabby. Black and grey stripes on a background of dark gold shading to pale gold on his chest and stomach. The tip of his muzzle is white, although not as white as Portia's. The tips of his ears and tail are black and there is a black stripe down his back. In fact, until one gets to know them very well, and sometimes even then, it is very difficult to tell Lynx and Portia apart. He has big, round bright green-gold eyes that watch everything. Mostly he sits around looking wise even though he's only a year older than his siblings. The stripes on his legs are so symmetrical that when he sits in Egyptian cat pose they line up exactly across the legs, making it hard to tell where one leg ends and the other starts. Until he gets up and moves around again, of course. He also has a line across the base of his neck that looks like a necklace, and the lines around his eyes look like they were drawn on his face in kohl.

Next time: Cat Tails - Did you just say what I think you said?

Talk on ya later,

Harley