Etienne's asthma

Some of you have heard me mention that Etienne was diagnosed with asthma at the beginning of May. How that eventually happened is a whole other long story that I don't have time to tell here, but feel free to ask me about it sometime. For now, you just need to know that the prognosis is good and that the Vet thinks he should be able to live a normal, healthy life if given proper treatment. He was on an oral antibiotic and steroid for a couple of weeks, and then we had to wean him over to an inhaled steroid, which has to be administered twice a day for the rest of his life.

Expensive? Yes.

Time-consuming? Not as much as we had expected. Each treatment only takes about thirty seconds.

Dangerous?
To me? Yes, but only at the beginning (chaps would have been handy). Etienne has now gotten used to this twice-daily annoyance, and I have gotten very good at it and also have trained B on how to do it.
To Etienne? Yes in terms of increased risk for steroid-related side effects such as diabetes and other ailments, but less dangerous than leaving him untreated and risking a "sudden traumatic event" as the Vet not-so-euphemistically called a deadly asthma attack.

The inhaler itself is the same as what humans use, but then it plugs into the end of a cylindrical chamber that has a funnel-like thing on the other end, which goes over Etienne's face.

For the benefit of those of you who are curious about how me manage to force our cat to use this inhaler, and especially for the benefit of kind, brave souls Sarah and Doug, who will be learning how to do this because they'll be looking after the boys while B and I go to Kansas and Defcon, I had B take a video of me administering the inhaler. My kitty-nurse skills in this video are a bit less suave than they usually are when I'm not being videotaped, take my word for it. Usually, I can surprise him, but he knew something was up, so he tried to hide.

(Sorry about the moments when I am mumbling unintelligibly).


And hey, if you find this impressive, I should tell you:
We brush their teeth every night. With chicken-flavored toothpaste and a cute little toothbrush made for cats and small dogs. It's way harder to do than the inhaler. Maybe I'll post a video of that sometime!

sidewalk scavenge

I'm in a mad dash right now to finish all the shopping and packing that I have to do before leaving to work in Montana for a month, but apparently I'm not so busy that I wasn't able to see this piece of furniture(?) marked "free" and decide to walk it all the way home to our tiny apartment from 5th and Bainbridge, over very bumpy sidewalks and mostly uphill (okay, it's only a slight incline, but there is a reason that the neighborhood north of there is called Society Hill). For those of you not from Philly: this was almost a one-mile haul... a short walk for us who are used to walking everywhere in Philly, but pushing and pulling this behemoth (it's almost as tall as me) that far took over an hour, and I was huffing and puffing and drenched in sweat for most of the way.

The story of the journey is rather humourous, but I don't have time to tell it here. Sufficeth to say that I received glances and stares ranging from curiosity to bemusement to annoyed disgust. Perhaps because it was REALLY LOUD. Like, brainwave-altering, nails-on-a-chalkboard, worse-than-bad-heavy-metal, makes-your-head-want-to-explode loud. I might have given up, were it not for the fact that I always keep a pair of disposable earplugs in my purse. You probably think I'm joking, but I'm not. I really do keep a pair of disposable earplugs in my purse. And I even replaced them with a new pair when I got home. I like to be ready for anything. I'm a safety girl.

The cart/shelving unit/? was pretty filthy and needs to be sanded and re-stained, but otherwise is in pretty good condition. I found that it actually has a pretty nice aged patina once I had wiped away most of the dust, grime, and dead bugs (something else I really don't have time for, but it was either that, or let the boys eat the dead bugs (Etienne tried) and dust the thing with their fur). I have no idea what we'll do with it, and I can't find a space for it to fit comfortably in the apartment. So while I'm away, it has taken over a portion of the living room. Any suggestions as to what purpose it might once have served?

Another plant for Etienne (to eat)

Little Chomper was at it again. I had to bring two plants home from work for the summer. After doing my responsible kitty-mama research before taking the plants with me on the bus, I found that one was potentially toxic, which meant that it went straight from our front door into a closed closet until someone on the freecycle listserve volunteered to adopt it. The other went straight to the windowsill. Good thing I made sure it was not poisonous, because this was about seven minutes after I got home:

I seriously think that he believed I brought it home just for him. Melts my heart, he does. And he still hasn't touched the geranium or African violet, the only flowering plants I was able to keep when we adopted the boys, bless his little heart.

I think there's a garden in my beverage.

Actually, it was B's beverage - the bloody mary he ordered with brunch on Sunday.

Short hair?

I had to take photos of myself wearing a number of wigs today, so that I can show them to the director of a play for which I'm designing costumes. This one surprised me because I actually think it looks rather cute. Just curious, what do y'all think of me with such short hair?

the straddle

I got up from my desk a couple of days ago to find the boys in an amusing position. Marcello was grooming Etienne (not unusual), but the way he was straddling him was something I had not seen before, and it simply cracked me up. They're just so darned cute. Whatever gets the job done, I guess.