Me: Ok, thank you, Vet.
Vet: And Mabel needs to have a 2.5 pill with her breakfast and a 5.0 pill with her supper.
Me: Ohhh kaaay... thank you, Vet. (Thinks: The vet couldn't have made it harder if she'd tried.)
My girls both have overactive thyroids. It was diagnosed at their yearly check up in February and now they'll have to have medication for the duration. I didn't even know that cats could get overactive thyroids. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence that they both have it, or if it's because they're sisters, but it makes no difference to my new headache which is that they don't like taking pills. I have to crush them in their food but then comes the even bigger headache. My girls have always been in the habit of grazing on each others food. Not any more! I'm hovering over them, lifting their dishes up, putting them down, small bits until they're medicated. I can only put food down freely when they've both had their pill. If only I could explain it to them.
Until they get the dosage right they'll have to go in to the vets once a month for blood tests. Poor girls find that very traumatic. So do I, especially during yesterday's vet visit when Charlie's carry case broke as I was putting her in the car. They have to be nil by mouth from the evening before which is disturbing enough without all the shaved necks and needles business.
One kind of good outcome about all this is that we finally get to benefit from the cat health insurance that we've been paying into for years. Insurance is a funny concept. Somebody said to me the other day that as they had never claimed off their house insurance, would they be able to ask for a rebate. I explained that insurance doesn't work like that but I can see their point. If we had all the insurance money that we'd paid out over the years then we would all be rich...I think.
Masters Update: My final assignment for this year (I'm doing a part-time MA in Creative Writing at Leicester University over two years) has to be handed in on 3rd May so I've only popped by to have a bit of a breather and share my cat concens with whoever reads this. For my assignment I'm creating a small poetry pamphlet and writing about the methods which would be required to get the collection published. I might even share some poems with you when it's completed and marked and returned to me....but first I have to write the thing!
Have a good Pesach (Passover), Easter or maybe you observe a different Spring festival. Whichever it is, have a good one. The sun is shining and it's looking lovely in the garden.....but now I really will get back to work.
