Saturday - Pretty darn tired. I was going to work around the yard, but didn't feel up to it.
Riley isn't doing well. I called the vet, but his blood work hasn't yet come back.
As
far as I could tell he hadn't eaten or drank anything in over 24 hours.
I considered the subcutaneous water shot thing, but then realized,
since he was so weak, that I could just force water down him. So, 3cc
of water every hour, on the hour, from noon on. But late evening he was
showing signs of revival. But still not eating.
Friday
8
November2013
Friday
- OTR. Down to Ventura for a day. First a stop at the I&I job, then
a punch list mapping job in Ventura, then some office work and phone
calls, then a visit out to Dave at Saticoy job site in the late
afternoon. The crew there wrapped up early, 4:30pm, as it's the
beginning of a long weekend, so Dave and I had an early dinner at a
local Mexican food place, talked about work and stuff, then split - him
a few miles home to Ventura, myself about a hundred miles home to
Lancaster.
It
was a long day for me (12 hours on the road), but even harder for Dave,
ten hours of inspection and supervision over three crews installing a
sanitary sewer and manholes, without so much as a lunch break.
Fortunately the weather is about perfect.
Riley
was downstairs, sleeping on the couch, but didn't get up to greet me. I
petted him, sat by him in the evening, and made sure that he had a nice
warm heating pad to lay on in the evening. He refused even an
eyedropper of water.
My cat sitter, T, said he didn't eat or
drink anything that she could tell. Tomorrow I'll call about the
blood work results.
Thursday 7 November2013
Thursday
- Took Riley into the vet again. He got a water injection, antibiotic
injection, vitamin injection, and some blood work started. We'll see.
The vet said that it was just a continuation of his kidney failure
issue, and that there wasn't a lot that could be done in the long run.
I'm not going to torture him, like I inadvertently did to Phoebe,
trying to prolong a painful unstoppable thing, but if there's something
I useful I can do, I'll do it.
He did seem a little more energetic in the early evening.
Doing
a bunch of write up on the deliverables today. Everything takes so much
longer than I predict. Still, putting it down in text helps to clarify
things.
Wednesday 6 November2013
Wednesday
- Down to TO. Work seems to proceeding well, the contractor has
finished about 1000' of pipe, and looks to be finished before
Thanksgiving probably. Walked the length of the pipe with the
inspector, and helped CB take lots of photos.
Done
in early afternoon, and had lunch with CB. Then I headed back to
Lancaster, with a brief stop to take a couple of work related photo's
of a site in Simi Valley.
Back
in Lancaster T informed me that Riley hadn't moved, eaten or drank all
day. He was same all evening, so I'll take him into the vet tomorrow.
He's probably dehydrated, but I couldn't get any liquids into him with
an eyedropper. He's old, 15 year now, and suffering from progressive
kidney failure.
Hopefully this isn't the end, but I'm not
going to torture him with extreme measures to keep him with me. He
deserves some respect and quality of life.
Book #45 was American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson,
by Joseph J. Ellis. This was a book-on-tape that I've been listening
to, on and off, for a couple of months. Very interesting. Not really a
biography, in the sense that many things that didn't in the author's
estimation, shed a light on his character, were omitted. But his weird
two-faced personality was pretty well exposed, as well as his
commitment to what was actually a pretty radical political philosophy -
almost raw democracy by the people. Very different from the
Federalists, or even Madison and Monroe of his own party, really.
Tuesday 5 November2013
Tuesday
- Working away on various work related GIS things. Looks like I'll head
down to Thousand Oaks tomorrow for a site visit. The boss wants a bunch
of photo's to document things, so I'll meet CB there..
Suzy
is much better, I didn't need to keep her in the cage. Still maybe 80%,
but strong enough to rough house with Jimmy. Now it's Riley who seems to be lethargic, and he didn't even get a shot!
Monday 4 November 2013
Monday
- Feeling much better.
Suzy
wasn't, in fact she could barely walk. I started her on a regime
of 3cc of water every two hours, oral, and as much smelly tuna-in-oil
as she would eat. I also gave her a dose of feline Amoxycillin. I
mostly kept her in the cat cage, with a heating pad, and she slept
without Jimmy trying to roughhouse with her. By evening she was clearly
feeling better and up playing with Jim when I let her out, though still
a bit unsteady on her pins.
Riley is conflicted about the
kittens. Though they add interest to his life, they are .... energetic.
Today Jim approached him, purring, as he was trying to sleep. Riley
reared up, hissing, put a paw in the middle of Jimmy's head and pressed
it to the ground. Then, still hissing, he proceeded to carefully lick and groom both of Jimmy's ears...
Worked on the documentation for the deliverables. It always takes so much longer than I estimate....
Sunday 3 November2013
Sunday
- The cats and I are still in recovery. At noon I had some yogurt,
chicken soup for dinner.
Suzy, the small kitten, after a feisty morning, is really subdued. Jim
was back to nearly normal by evening.
Picture of
the Week Photo Notes: Channel
Islands Harbor sunrise, October 2013.
