Seishi had a real 24 hour bout with nausea. This being (of course) Saturday we had to hale him forthwith into the vet’s before closing (at noon) and get him checked out. They think it’s just hairballs, and just shot him full of kitteh Exlax and fluids and sent him home. We’re going to be keeping an eye on him. He’s 3 years old and has a bad habit of scarfing down anything remotely resembling string, which is a very bad kitteh habit.
I was up half the night with the poor lad. Now he’s not real happy, but the vet says he has no fever, no sign of any blockage, just, we think, a real unhappy gut.
Arrrgh.
We feel for you. Our boy (also 3 years old)spent 4 days as a guest of the vets with pancreatitis. He’s back and recovering well, but not fun.
And
It’s not know what causes it.
No treatment other than supportive.
What else are we going to do with our money…$$$$
Ack! Poor kitty and poor mamas. I’m glad he’s doing better. Hope he gets lots better and doesn’t tackle whatever he got anymore.
I still can’t dissuade Smokey from chew-chew-chewing on cords. No, kitty, that is *not* good.
Are cats subject to “operant conditioning”? Would it work to soak some string in either Tabasco or an emetic and leave it somewhere, to train him?
ThatIS a thought. Poor lad still can’t eat anything scratchy. And somehow I’ve got to get meds down him. Sigh.
Commnts from Analog: “The Reference Library” by Don Sakers
Peacemaker
C. J. Cherryh
DAW, 375 pages, $25.95 (hardcover)
Kindle: $10.99, iBooks, Nook: $12.99
(e-book)
ISBN: 978-0-7564-0883-1
Series: Foreigner 15
Genres: Alien Beings, Psychological/
Sociological SF, SF Thriller
C. J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series isn’t a universe of the sort we’ve been discussing; instead, the books form a sequential narrative following one character’s life and adventures. Still, the fifteen-volume saga is set against a background as complex and delightful as any imagined universe out there.
Centuries ago human castaways from the starship Phoenix settled on the planet of the atevi, an alien race whose language and culture are based on an instinctive understanding of mathematics. After a period of war, the humans were isolated on a single island, and all contact between the races was through a single person, the paidhi or translator. Over the centuries, a succession of paidhiin shared human technology with the atevi, bringing them peacefully into the space age.
Bren Cameron held the post of paidhi when the Phoenix returned, throwing the social structure out of balance and bringing news of the approach of a superior alien race, the Kyo. Cameron goes to parley with the Kyo, returns home to face a coup and ensuing civil war among the atevi.
Now, at the opening of Peacemaker, the troubles seem over. Cameron’s atevi patron Tabini is restored to rule, and Tabini’s heir Cajeiri is coming up on his ninth birthday—an auspicious time of celebration among the atevi. As a treat, Cameron arranges for three human children from the Phoenix to visit Cajeiri, their friend.
Except, of course, there are atevi who aren’t happy with the whole thing—who, in fact, would like to roll back two hundred years of technological advancement and boot the humans off the world entirely. One of them has gained command of the Assassin’s Guild, and is headquartered in the most secure facility on the planet.
It’s too late to cancel the very public ceremony for the heir, yet Cameron’s sources tell him the Assassin’s Guild plans a devastating strike. Cameron’s only chance is a first strike.
If this book was simply a political thriller it would be a fine one, but it’s so much more. Cherryh’s an old hand at depicting alien cultures and motivations, and the atevi are fully realized, totally alien beings as compelling as any in science fiction.
The Foreigner books come in threes; nominally, Peacemaker is the third of its trilogy. Don’t worry if you haven’t read the other books: each title gives enough background to be read independently. Of course, if you fall in love with Bren Cameron and the atevi and wind up reading the other fourteen books, don’t blame me.
We had a similar issue with Tango the first year we had him and his brother. I heard him start barfing in the middle of the night and it continued repeatedly through to us rising in the morning. By then he was dry heaving, straining in the litter box but nothing coming out except stomach acid (you could smell the acid) and his nose was very dry to the touch. The vet said bring him in immediately, gave him subcutaneous liquid and did what I think was an X-Ray or maybe just palpitation (can’t remember now what my spouse said who brought him there) and reported that his stomach was way over to one side of the body cavity and advised that we take him to another vet later that week who did discount ultrasounds one day a week. However, Tango seemed to recover fine by the next day and our vet agreed that, unless he repeated symptoms again, just keep an eye on him. That was over two years ago and he has been right as rain since. I think it might have been dental floss that I had noticed hanging out of the bathroom waste basket the vending before.
Here’s hoping that Seishi becomes right as rain himself very soon. It’s scary and anxiety provoking when things like this happen, especially after having lost beloved cats not too long ago.
My newspaper delivery sometimes has the paper wrapped in a plastic bag. For some reason, Maggie chews on these bags, whether it’s the particular scent of that plastic, or some other reason, I haven’t figured out yet, those are the only ones she chews. The results usually end up on the carpet, or on the kitchen floor in the most inconvenient places. It usually goes on for a day and then she’s fine. Of course, putting the bags in the trash helps, I just sometimes would sit down on the couch and leave the bag beside me and forget it when I got up. Well, now, I put the bag in the trash before I sit down, problem solved.
Hairballs I can handle, but when they start spitting up food, that’s something to concern myself. Most of the time, I believe they’re just eating too quickly and regurgitate because they have too much in their stomachs. But WHY do they have to do it on the carpet or right in the middle of the doorway? Even hairballs end up there…..I think it’s an evil plot…..
We’ve found that if you don’t feed catfood that contains corn, corn gluten, or chicken byproducts (chopped up chicken guts, which contains, yes, corn) you don’t get hairballs. Once or twice a year. Not weekly.
Joe – even worse is using ones bedroom slipper as a target!
What a way to wake up in the morning.
Sympathy and empathy. Idris likes to chew. We get the occasional ‘hairball’ composed of colorful pieces of bedsheet, the corner of the throw pillow, and the guts of Small Green Stuffed Deer.
My cats get “Blue Buffalo” Wilderness Blend right now…..there are other formulas under the “Blue Buffalo” label, all equally expensive, but it seems to be right for my girls. They don’t go through a bag like they did with the Purina ONE, and a 15 lb. bag of “Blue Buffalo” lasts over a full month with three cats. (I just wish the litter would last that long…. 😀 )
I hope he’s alright now!
I’m thinking that if you want to try aversion training with tabasco-flavoured string, it might be better to use edible string instead of real string, to avoid complications. The sweet shops around here sell black liquorice string and red tart-sweet string, and maybe more; dousing those in Tabasco should work just as well as a cotton string and be less dangerous if he did eat it anyway.
I’ve got some questions about Guild Wars 2. If that derails your discussions here too much, I can take them over to Jane’s blog.
I started my puppet but had to delete her and start over about 7 times, as trying to learn how to move and find my way and do things took so much time that she’d run out of energy before getting anywhere. Today, my neighbors’ son took pity om my clumsy attempts and showed me how to do things like use the map, moving the camera if branches get in the way, run, and walk in curves, instead of going step-stumble-adjust direction-step-step-accidental somersault-adjust direction, telling people to “go to the inn” and then being confused by these people running off in opposite directions and no inn-sign being visible anywhere… It felt a bit like trying to learn all the mechanics of how to drive by myself, without an instructor, while out on the road with traffic happening on all sides, instead of learning the basics on an empty parking lot from an instructor (except for no physical danger to myself and any bystanders, of course).
I’d read a lot of the wiki and some of the forum, but the basic keyboard-and-mouse mechanics are so very basic, that they aren’t explained anywhere beyond mentioning WASD keys (but not what to do with them) and a ‘dodge’ key (I still don’t know which that is, it’s not mentioned by that name in the list).
He showed me the list of keys, but I haven’t memorised them all yet, and says that strafing means running sideways – I thought that meant shooting automatically, because a strafing run means shooting while running: that’s what I get for learning meanings by context instead of looking them up.
Anyway, the boy showed me some of the basics needed for navigating, but that took us through the ‘Siege of Shaemoor’ introduction and out into the wider game world. Now I read in the wiki that those centaurs in the introduction are a lot easier than the enemies in the wider world, and as steering my puppet is still nowhere near automatic I’d like to go through the introduction ‘Siege of Shaemoor’ again, this time by myself, just to get some practice in. Is there any way I can return my puppet to that starting point?
I don’t want to delete her again, as by now we have opened my starting mail and gathered the contents, and those mails said that they’d only be sent once and if you delete the figure carrying that chest of stuff you wouldn’t get the stuff back.
Should I try to speak to all the villagers and other NPCs I can see, or just the ones mentioned in the instructions? And if that giant lizard turns up again, should I try to throw fireballs at it, even though I didn’t see anything in the firepower-boxes at the bottom of my screen? The first time I just stood there trying to figure out how to move, and not knowing how to attack if I’d wanted to, and it went on its way without bothering me – but maybe that makes the situation worse for the villagers. Is there some sort of time and/or location limit on this introductory story, or could I explore the whole village first, or avoid getting knocked out at the end and repeat the trial run a few times till I get the hang of this?
It’s all a bit overwhelming for a gameplaying infant, so I haven’t tried to chat yet except when someone seemed to address me to ask if I wanted to join their guild. I didn’t know what to say, so I just told them I didn’t play well enough yet to be an asset to any guild. Am I being impolite by not chatting with maybe real-life strangers (maybe NPCs, I’m not sure about the distinction when the figure has a name) while running around and seeing them run around? Should I have joined this guild?
Strafing is way too complex. You can use Settings to get your person to autofire on weapon 1. Click on a target, and press one, and she will continue to fire. If interrupted, she will stop, and you can re-click and press one again. Her other skills will open up automatically as she gains points in combat.
W is walk, R is run. S(under W) is back up. A is step to the side. And so it D. The keys at the diagonals of that cross-shape are Q, V, Z, etc, which enable a combat ‘dodge’—ie, drop and roll. You can practice this. Your space bar is jump. She can run AND jump. Jumping is useful for climbing high steps, as in rocks. And the F key is for ‘fix it’ or deal with it: if you need to pick something up, open a door, trigger something, or talk to some one, it’s all “F”.
The easiest next task is to go to Shaemor Garrison, down the road, and help fight off centaurs. Don’t try to heal anybody yet (another use of F) because you’re too ‘young’. But you can fight centaurs from inside the fort until you get orders to move out. A guy with an asterisk over his head glowing gold is a character with a mission. A guy with a heart over his head has a mission for you. A blue chevron V on the map means a skill point you need to get: and there is one right at the far end of the garrison bridge into centaur land.
Beyond that, you can go back to Shaemor, help Arlo catch rabbits, or cross the bridge to the cattle farm on your right. Here is a guide: click the GW2 tab to get to guides and helps. http://dulfy.net/category/gw2/
Etiquette doesn’t require an answer to Guild invites: they’re issued to anybody in range. Don’t join until you’re a bit more skilled. If you go down and somebody heals you, type ‘TY’–at least in English—which stands for ‘thank you!’ Senior players will understand: you often find them helping juniors because it’s very easy for them to heal, and enemies at this level can beat away at their thick armor with no damage while they do it.
If you’re alone and die, hit ‘m’ for Map, and choose a ‘waypoint’ (diamond) you can reach to both revive yourself and escape the area. BUT remember to hit the Hero tab to check your equipment. When you die, you usually break a piece of armor. A broken-red-shield means ‘repair here.’ It’s free. Always repair when you’ve been killed. These guys will also buy stuff you collect.
In some scenarios it’s a good idea to stand back at first and watch other players handle a problem.
Your first steps should be doing the ‘heart’ characters chores. And remember to back up when you must—or just go away. If you need to walk slowly, hit the shift key. If you then need regular speed, hit it again.
There is also, in the opening GW screen, a downloadable manual. I’ve never used it, but I think the Dulfy site may give you just as much help.
You can replay any scenario but the first one about the inn. Do the same one any time. Once you get a heart fulfilled, you can’t do the same heart twice, but you can still do the tasks and win points. You can help old Arlo catch the same rabbits a hundred times if you have the patience. The centaurs only come into Shaemoor that one time—you have to go out to the garrison to fight them. You’ll also have a ‘life story’ urging you to go up to the citadel to do things, but you can do any step of that when you’re good and ready. The citadel is interesting to explore. You get between floor by elevators (box with arrow) or by stairs.
buying food from a merchant (and eating it) can give you a little more strength temporarily, but you don’t need it too much at this stage.
And ultimately you can become a craftsman and make things with the stuff you pick up. Right now, if you can’t wear or use it, sell it to a Black Lion merchant (scales symbol) or the red shield guy.
Hope that helps!
Thanks!
But will whatever additive one uses to inspire revulsion get past a kitteh’s nose so it is thought to be a favorable “chew-toy”. I’m not sure what would, Tabasco likely not.
A thing to keep in mind: Sometimes when a cat has a problem with a very large hairball, they can end up with esophageal scarring. This can make it very hard to swallow. I hope this is not the case with Seishi and that he will be fully recovered soon.
OMG!! I suppose I’m not one to talk, but OMG! PDJames does Jane Austen, “Death comes to Pemberly”. How many have wished they could? Probable not the first to have thought about it.
Cats can have canned pumpkin and it acts as a laxative. I was laughing at Pascal. I had a piece of corn on the cob from one of the fast food places and he practically took it from me. He licked any butter residue off the cob. It was a treat for me, too. No problems for the fuzzy butt.
I swear I may give that a try.
Our vet prescribed a salve made from vaseline and malt – the malt apparently made it taste good to cats so they’d lick it from your fingers, and the vaseline lubricates their innards, without giving them diarrhea. Smear a bit on his paw and he’ll lick it off, and it helps the hair slide through instead of collecting in the stomach. If he doesn’t like pumpkin something like this might be worth a try. How is Seishi doing?
Poor lad ate one kibble this morning and up it came. I’m chilling people tuna, watering it down and feeding that to him and he does ok with that. I think it’s a double problem, constipation from furballs and a scratched throat from some freeze-dried chicken treat…silly lad has never learned not to bolt down whole what he likes.
Neither have I, (sometimes).
Laxatone (or some name like that) is a vaseline plus tasty stuff laxative for cats available in the US (don’t know about elsewhere). They make it in various formulae, including one that isn’t petroleum based for those who don’t want oil in their cats (although the vegetable oil one is a lot more runny). We were using it for a while with our cats. Most cats like the taste, although the opinions of ours were mixed. Lots of different companies have made knockoffs of laxatone, which are much cheaper.
Happy birthday!
If it’s the scratchiness of ordinary food, maybe some of the really smooth paté-like tinned foods would be easier for him than kibble? Our vet had some tins of what he called astronaut food for cats, that was so smooth it could be diluted with water to make it into a liquid, so it could be fed to the cat with a plastic syringe by squirting it into the back of his mouth. He still had to swallow it but the smooth liquid makes that easier. It’s concentrated, so cats that can only drink a little will still get everything they need from it.
It’s only a temporary measure, if a cat is too sick to eat but expected to get better if we can keep his strength up. I used it for my first cat Julius when he was so weakened from his heart condition, before the medication took full effect. He’d given up on living, but after tiding him over the worst three days this way the medicines kicked in and he got better, and had another good year before the kidney disease began that killed him.