MeghanIsMe

We helped a kitty last night! Here's what Danae wrote about it:

OK, so the rescued kitty. Chris was taking Ella out for a last potty break, and I was shutting down my computer. Chris called something out to me that I didn't hear, so I continued my task. Then she called out more loudly, "There's a kitty in the hallway!" Later she said that she knew I hadn't heard her because I would have reacted to that for sure. 🙂

I masked up, and went out to the hallway. Now that I was there, Chris went outside with Ella.
The cat was quite petite but very fluffy, long-haired, and a peachy beige. I put my hand out and she ran right over to me and sniffed and nuzzled me. I felt like she was relieved to see a human showing an interest in her, but perhaps I was projecting.

In any case, she didn't seem scared of me, so after a few pets, I picked her up. She nestled into my arms comfortably as I looked around. We live on a hallway with four apartments including ours. It's two more doorways and a very short staircase to the below-freezing Regina winter, so I definitely wanted to find her home before going to sleep, and odds were good that it was one of the apartments on our floor. So, although people are scary, and it was quite late (around midnight), I knocked on one of the doors. A young woman answered almost right away, and just said "Yes?" I said, "Is this your cat?" She said, "Oh!" and then "Yes." I was so surprised to get it on the first try, I said, "This *is* your cat." Now the cat was struggling, and as soon as she said yes a second time, I let kitty go, and she went into the apartment. Before the woman could close the door, the cat started to head out the door again 😂🤣, but the woman blocked the door with her foot and kitty backed off.

So yeah. I don't know if this is just a very bold kitty, or if she just didn't get lost enough to be particularly afraid -- a carpeted hallway is probably not so strange to an indoor cat. Or maybe she hasn't always been an indoor cat.

She wasn't in danger, but she could have been if she got outside in this weather. So I am very glad Chris noticed her, thought to call me over, and that I then had the opportunity to help.

Sleepy Seregil, stretching in the sun.

That kitty we weren't sure whether we were going to keep? We're going to keep him.

His former person named him Zeke, but Danae has decided that he is Seregil, a character from Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner books, who is also known as "The Rimini Cat" in the guise of his work as a spy and thief in the city of Rimini.

Pictures are forthcoming.

It feels like a lot longer than five days since I updated here.

Just a day or two after Piper was adopted, I got a phone call from her new people at work. I didn't know the number and voicemail got it. I checked after getting out for the day and it was a message saying that there was a misunderstanding about her insulin dose and they hoped to talk to me as soon as possible.

That was the beginning of one of those moments where time seems to slow down. I called them back and got voice mail. I called the shelter to see whether they'd been in touch and talked to N, one of the staff there. N said that they had apparently given Piper 20 units of insulin rather than 2. "Oh my god..." I said. Piper was at the emergency vet where it seemed likely, but not guaranteed, that she'd pull through.

I desperately wanted to go to her and take her home, take care of her, make sure she was ok, tell her how loved she is, and know that she was safe in my arms. Instead I had an hour and a half long ride home on the train feeling scared and helpless. I texted a few people for support, and Lisa was kind enough to meet me on the way home and come with me to Evanston. The three of us and Danae's parents had dinner together and I managed to not be a complete mess. Then, on the way home as just Danae and I walked along a stretch of sidewalk where I often walked with Piper I completely lost my composure. She led me back into the condo, occasionally stopping to hold me as I hugged her against me and sobbed and moaned against her shoulder.

Piper is ok. We got some text updates from her new daddies as time went by, and the last one said that her blood sugar was back where it should be and she'd gone all day with no seizures. Thinking of her having seizures brought that acute pain in my heart back with a vengeance, but after calming down I felt good to know that she seems to have come through alright.

I know that her people really love her. They've gone to great lengths to take care of her through this. I'm sure that the emergency vets went over her care in great detail so I can't imagine this will happen again. It's just been so very hard for me. This was exactly the sort of thing I worried about when I kept irrationally worrying that other people won't be able to take care of her as well as Danae and I have. If it was another dog without her special needs, it wouldn't have been nearly so hard to let her go. But I got past it and saw that she had caring people when I met them and was managing alright. But then Piper almost died and I was just a wreck.

I've been dealing with the mental fallout from that most of this week. I'm feeling anxious about all sorts of things, and to a degree that I don't usually. I don't really want to go out and do things; I just want to be at home, in my safe space, with my safe person.

But Piper is going to be ok, and next week is a new week. And yesterday, Danae and I went to meet a couple of kitties at the shelter I volunteer at and it looks like we'll be bringing one of them home with us. More on that as it happens....

I got to pet a neighbor cat, Gus, today. He's a mooch; he sits at the glass door to the back patio and looks in, in the hope of getting a slice of turkey or something. Which Danae's parents were nice enough to give him today. I sat on the steps and petted and snuggled him for a while. He seems to have a cold; I think he was trying to purr, but it just came out in a sniffly wheeze. Poor little thing. Seemed to be in fine spirits regardless.

I have some nice pictures from my trip today, and I'm debating whether I want to edit them here, or wait until I'm back in the states with my nicer monitor arrangement. (Here, I'm using a 13-year-old one I bought at a thrift store for $5. I'd thought there was an extra one here for some reason; I was wrong.) Maybe I'll wait until I have a few more days worth. I'm going to see more waterfalls tomorrow. There are so many around here!

Our housemate Nathan's cat, King, plays some Katamari Damacy. Cats are pretty much immune to criticism from authority figures, so he just ignores the King of All Cosmos when he gets into a snit.