Running Chick

Cats!

Another trip to the vet, another $150+ spent. It seems like every time I make a trip to the vet's office, I end up spending anywhere from $150-$200. This time it was Simon, who has been sneezing up a storm the last two weeks. When he blew yellow/green snot all over himself the other day, I figured it was time to call the doc.

The appointment evolved from just a ear, nose, throat check to a T4 (thyroid) and kidney recheck. Those two tests plus the lab handling fee was $100. Add on $32 for the antibiotic injection, $23 for the anti-inflammatory injection and $40 for the exam, and we're sitting close to $200. But wait! I get a $17.50 multi-injection discount! That brings my total for the day to around $177. Monthly, I spend close to $150 between Simon's thyroid medicine and Spencer's special kidney food and his arthritis medicine.

My cats never really cost me all that much during their early years, so I think they're making up for it in their old age!

Shoes!

Last week while we were in Appleton, I got re-fitted for new shoes. I tested out a bunch of different shoes, probably 8 in total - Nike, New Balance, Adidas, Saucony, Brooks - and ended up with the Brooks Ghost 3. So far I'm really liking them. They're comfortable and responsive with some nice cushioining in the heel and forefoot. The only thing that I didn't like was that my high arches didn't feel like they were being supported enough in the stock insoles. No biggie, I slipped in some arch supporting insoles and all is well.

I've been primarily sticking to pavement, but tonight I decided to take the G3's for a spin on the Tech Trails. Let's just say that they're not really that great of a trail shoe (duh). They did the job, but I was doing a lot more slipping and sliding around on the leaf covered, muddy trails than I would have expected. Oh well, it was just what I needed to get my new oh-so-white shoes looking like respectable running shoes.

You've met Spencer before.



He's darn cute, but he's 16 and doesn't get around as well as he used to.

He spends most of his time in this position -



This morning, as I was heading out the door to work, I heard a noise that can only be described as a car with a squeaky belt. My initial thought was that I had to get my dryer looked at because it has been making that same sort of squealing/speaky noise recently. Just as it occurred to me that I wasn't doing any laundry, Spencer came banging through through the basement cat door with the source of the squealing in his mouth. He caught a mole! Holy crap!

Chaos ensued as I dumped my bags and jacket and freaked out because Spencer was in attack mode and the poor thing was still alive and bleeding all over my carpet. But then I got my wits about me and I realized that this would make a great blog post, so I got out my camera and started snapping pictures.

Good Kitty! click!
Show Mommy your mouse! click! click!
Now put your paw on it! Now pick it up in your mouth! click! click! click! click!.......

I was like some insane stage mother or something.

Anyway, this is probably the tamest of the photos -



The rest are pretty icky, if you so desire (and don't have a weak stomach), check them out in the gallery. Let's just say I didn't realize those little critters had so much blood in them (gross).

Anyway, I picked up the poor thing, which was by now dead (I think), and put him outside. I came back inside and found Spencer staring at the blood on the carpet and looking at me all dejected.

I gave him many treats as a reward.

And spend the next 45 minutes cleaning all the blood out of my carpet.

I feel strangely proud of my old man kitty. He's developed this "eh, been there done" that attitude toward bugs, toys, and birds, which I suppose comes with old age, but it's nice to know that he's still got it!



** 9/27/2010 1:30 pm update. There as been discussion about what type of rodent Spencer caught. It's definitely not a mole, as I originally referred. We've narrowed it down to two possibilities: shrew or vole. I'm thinking it was a Northern Short-tailed Shrew. Not that it matters. **