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Oct. 24th, 2008 12:27 amI decided to change my email address today. The old one had been grating on my nerves for a while now, so you may now find me at crowsofmurder AT gmail DOT com. I've kept the littleflappybat one, so if you really get your panties in an uproar or if it's entirely TOO much work for you to change it in your address book, feel free to continue using it. However, don't be surprised if it takes me longer to respond.
The animals have been making me insane lately. For the past few months, Tinker has taken to wandering the apartment hall in the middle of the night, howling for cash and prizes. It almost seems like he's on a set schedule for when he does it, too. Last week, he woke my brother up, so I made the decision to take him (the cat, not my brother) to the vet to get checked out.
First things first: he's not nearly as overweight as I thought he was. Before, I thought he was pushing 23 pounds. I'm not sure where I came up with this number, but it was always the one I had in my head. In actuality, he is 16.9 pounds. Still fat, but not THAT'S NO MOON, IT'S A SPACE STATION.
Blood tests were run and the vet left a message regarding them today. No on the diabetes front, no on the hyperthyroid front. Yes, on having slightly raised thyroid levels. Cats should be inbetween 1.0 and 4.0 apparently and he sits at 2.5, which is enough to raise an eyebrow at. The vet would like further tests run on his blood, to check for occult hyperthyroidism or somesuch.
All of that being said, since the vet visit, he hasn't been nearly as obnoxious about howling in the middle of the night. And today, he's been so low-key in general that I'm a bit concerned. He's been a sleeping pile of cat all night and didn't freak out over my cereal bowl. Ears and eyes and gums are all the colors they should be (and I've got three scratches on my hand to show for it), but he's still acting bummed.
On top of that, I had SNAKE DRAMA last night. It was time for Aristotle's weekly feeding and I've been gradually increasing his mice size. Last night's mouse was a healthy little bugger and the snake went right for it. However, he could not figure out how to get it in his mouth. He kept trying for the back end, but couldn't work it out because the size is a bit larger than he's used to. He kept just gnawing on the tail and dragging the damn thing all over the tank.
Twice, he dragged it into the wood chips and I had to distract him and get the mouse out of the bedding and pick aspen off it. The third time, it was seeming to be a battle between his throat and the mouse's tail. Like it was stuck. I tried to manuver it out with the tongs, but that just made him mad. And when I got scared and tried to take it from him, he clamped his body around it (and one of his plants) and squoze the shit out of it to the point where I thought it was going to blow. I picked him up at one point, by the plant he was now strangling, and he started whistling like a frigging tea kettle at me. I reckon this means snakes can't hiss when something is lodged in their throat.
Finally, I stuck a pencil inbetween his body and the mouse's tail and got it out that way. And that mouse was seriously trashed. Covered in snake spit, blood from his teeth puncturing, and every bone in its body broken. Trashed. Thank God the wee beast was already dead when all of this started. I do not, for the life of me, understand how people can live feed. I have problems with buying pre-killed mice as it is.
I decided to chance my luck after all of this and toss another mouse in the tank. Lo and behold, the little fool went right for it and (this time) just dragged it under his rock.
Of all the fucking snakes to pick, I wind up with the stupid one. All beauty and no brains. What snake can't figure out how to get the food in its mouth? Oh, yeah. MINE.
The animals have been making me insane lately. For the past few months, Tinker has taken to wandering the apartment hall in the middle of the night, howling for cash and prizes. It almost seems like he's on a set schedule for when he does it, too. Last week, he woke my brother up, so I made the decision to take him (the cat, not my brother) to the vet to get checked out.
First things first: he's not nearly as overweight as I thought he was. Before, I thought he was pushing 23 pounds. I'm not sure where I came up with this number, but it was always the one I had in my head. In actuality, he is 16.9 pounds. Still fat, but not THAT'S NO MOON, IT'S A SPACE STATION.
Blood tests were run and the vet left a message regarding them today. No on the diabetes front, no on the hyperthyroid front. Yes, on having slightly raised thyroid levels. Cats should be inbetween 1.0 and 4.0 apparently and he sits at 2.5, which is enough to raise an eyebrow at. The vet would like further tests run on his blood, to check for occult hyperthyroidism or somesuch.
All of that being said, since the vet visit, he hasn't been nearly as obnoxious about howling in the middle of the night. And today, he's been so low-key in general that I'm a bit concerned. He's been a sleeping pile of cat all night and didn't freak out over my cereal bowl. Ears and eyes and gums are all the colors they should be (and I've got three scratches on my hand to show for it), but he's still acting bummed.
On top of that, I had SNAKE DRAMA last night. It was time for Aristotle's weekly feeding and I've been gradually increasing his mice size. Last night's mouse was a healthy little bugger and the snake went right for it. However, he could not figure out how to get it in his mouth. He kept trying for the back end, but couldn't work it out because the size is a bit larger than he's used to. He kept just gnawing on the tail and dragging the damn thing all over the tank.
Twice, he dragged it into the wood chips and I had to distract him and get the mouse out of the bedding and pick aspen off it. The third time, it was seeming to be a battle between his throat and the mouse's tail. Like it was stuck. I tried to manuver it out with the tongs, but that just made him mad. And when I got scared and tried to take it from him, he clamped his body around it (and one of his plants) and squoze the shit out of it to the point where I thought it was going to blow. I picked him up at one point, by the plant he was now strangling, and he started whistling like a frigging tea kettle at me. I reckon this means snakes can't hiss when something is lodged in their throat.
Finally, I stuck a pencil inbetween his body and the mouse's tail and got it out that way. And that mouse was seriously trashed. Covered in snake spit, blood from his teeth puncturing, and every bone in its body broken. Trashed. Thank God the wee beast was already dead when all of this started. I do not, for the life of me, understand how people can live feed. I have problems with buying pre-killed mice as it is.
I decided to chance my luck after all of this and toss another mouse in the tank. Lo and behold, the little fool went right for it and (this time) just dragged it under his rock.
Of all the fucking snakes to pick, I wind up with the stupid one. All beauty and no brains. What snake can't figure out how to get the food in its mouth? Oh, yeah. MINE.
