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Muffin allowed me to sleep an extra hour this morning which discombobulated me, proving how quickly we adjust our habits!
She normally begins crying for food at first light and today did get off to a very dim start, though it is possible her demand did not penetrate.
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It is unlikely, as the smallest noise awakens me even from a sound sleep.
A few days ago, Muffin seemed to have lost the strength to cry out. Waking and not hearing her call, I was afraid she might have departed in the night.
When she saw me she barely croaked, yet she purred and ate her food hungrily enough.
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Muffin is medicated twice daily for a thyroid condition and somewhere I had read comments from another cat owner whose pet had been similarly treated, only to lose weight constantly, becoming very frail.
That day I decided not to administer Muffin’s afternoon medication. She seemed to be hanging on by a thread, so I couldn’t see that it would matter.
Next morning, her voice was back.
I am not second-guessing our veterinarian whose advice I always follow. It’s just that I think Muffin has reached a point where we can only be guided by instinct. We feed her and pet her when she asks to be and cherish each additional day.
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Yesterday’s journey to Albany went well until we were within a mile of destination which two months ago we reached without difficulty.
So to find ourselves driving in circles was a little surprising.
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We’d come off i 90 and along i 85 onto Campus Access Road where you have to cut across two lanes and make a “slight left” which we’d managed before, but this time a truck got in the way blocking our view, resulting in us turning too soon and when we came back around, not wanting to make the same mistake, we over-compensated which took several circuits to correct.
Me trying to help, but afraid to make matters worse and the driver getting annoyed!
We’re out of touch with highway driving. But we always have plenty of time for such problems.
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Back in Washington State, I travelled frequently on i 90. It continues on to Boston on the East Coast.
Why am I so impressed by this? I wish I had had time to drive it when we moved.
Presumably it’s the route the cats took.
They’ve never spoken of their journey. I think they were happy to forget it!
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Muffin and Willow flew with us. I was never going to let Willow out of my sight and randomly chose Muffin which was just as well since we discovered she suffers motion sickness. Overland would have been torture for her.
As it was, she threw up voluminously on take-off. Luckily there was a strong tailwind that night which saved us an hour of travel.
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Shipping the other 11 cats by air was an option, but not one I even considered and not for reasons of cost.
For one thing, it must be terrifying to an animal to be enclosed in the noisy hold of an aircraft, and sedating cats is not a good idea.
And I’ve seen what can happen to animals being shipped by air. Too many things can go wrong.
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Many years ago, in my JFK days, a cat came in one day on a British West Indian flight. It had flown from London and been denied entry because of a discrepancy in the paperwork. Quite how it ended up in New York, I don’t know. We babysat it overnight and the next day it flew back to Port of Spain where the owner had presumably fixed the documents.
It was a pretty little fluffy black cat.
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In Seattle we had a similar episode with a large, enthusiastic dog called Zeus, though he had not actually flown anywhere, his problem merely an overnight delay.
He seemed happy enough to entertain us in the office and we were all animal-lovers so that was fine, but you can’t count on there always being people around who will look out for your unaccompanied pet and things can go wrong even if you travel on the same flight, with your pet in the hold.
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Transporting 13 cats was the hardest part of my coast-to-coast move and if I’d thought about it too much, I would probably have changed my mind about the whole thing, but one day in June 2018 I suddenly knew it was what I must do and set about to make it happen.
By the end of September at latest, in order to avoid problems with snow and ice.
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Our route yesterday took us through Troy where for the first time we came to a stop by this sign.
So of course I had to find out about it.
“Uncle Sam” was one of those things I had never even wondered about!
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Here’s who he was:http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Wilson
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Rain isn’t much help when attempting to navigate complicated traffic interchanges and the dim light wasn’t very conducive to photography either.
However, thanks to Grant’s ability to lock on to all animal life, I did make one capture…
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A bobcat darted across the road in front of us and we think she must have had cubs which is why she stood looking back instead of running off.
We paused just long enough for the photo and moved out of their way.
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It has been many months since we caught sight of a bobcat although occasionally we see tracks.
The meadows are full of wildflowers.
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At the clinic, the doctor greeted me:
“You’re back!”
I’d been afraid he would be annoyed that my insufficiently unconscious self had fought, previously, but he grinned:
“You’re the strongest 77-year old I’ve ever met!”
Good to know I’m tops at something!
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Thank you, Carolyn, for the interesting lesson from American history about Samuel Wilson. I like the wildlife photo, and the good news that you are top in strength at your young age, according to your doctor! You are right, doing what you feel is right for your cats!
Joanna
You could go around in circles for hours on that interchange!
Good news about your strength, and great to get an unexpected Bobcat photo! Fingers crossed for poorly Muffin.
Best wishes, Pete.