An egg-citin day tomorrow!

Sumpin' furry great iz happenin' oevfur here tomorrow... & da Auntie Stinkie iz in-folved. Hmmmmmmm. What's could it mean???

Here is a report from Maximillian

This is Maximillian reporting. I wanted to tell all of my brother’s friends that I am recovering nicely. I have even started some glucosamine gel to help my spondylosis. Of course, it is wretchedly abhorrent to lick this goo from Daddy’s finger, but I will swallow it.

I have gained some weight back, and now it seems I am ready to take up my patrols once more. General Ah-Choo of the Burmese Security Council has given me extra time off with pay, and this summer the Nip Freighter should once again take to the “high” seas.

I could not have done it without you all pulling for me.

If Mommy will get her camera out and the computer will cooperate, I am donating some of Mommy’s beautiful and interesting cultural sterling jewelry to ML and KC’s cat auctions.

I want to donate the proceeds to kitties that have large vet bills like mine.

No one should go without the care they need because their Mommy or Daddy is without a job, or is struggling to pay the mortgage.

We are happy happy happy!!!!

Delilah: "It's true!!! Uncle Maxi's appetite stimulant is working! At 3a.m. Daddy got up to check on Maxi... he had refused warm food, even the special rich foods Dr Glaze wanted him to eat before we went to sleep. But then, all of a sudden, he wanted his kibbles. And he crunched and he munched!

Hooray I say!!! Hooray!!! My Uncle Maxi is back in town, and we have every one in the kitty bloggosphere to thank!

We will be seeing you over the weekend and into next week.

I could not have a better belated birthday, than to have Uncle Maxi really recovering. And we never would have thought about the appetite stimulant if it had not been for you.

After all, refusing to eat? That's not something I worry about! And especially my Uncle Dr Tweety.

We love you all."

Update on Maxi: 10:50 a.m.

Thank you for all your suggestions on getting Maxi to eat. I called Dr Glaze and I will stop by the vet’s office tonight after work. They will have an appetite stimulant and special foods to feed by syringe. We are determined to get this boy eating. (Nothing as stubborn as a meezer, eh?)

See below for updates from last night and special “post post.” We have been unable to celebrate anyone’s birthday this week. Delilah is four years young! I think Dr Tweety suggested a delayed party once we have Maxi on the mend. So take note, hairballs & spit wads will be encouraged.

Fun on Tax Day

*Note: This blog featuring Maxi and Delilah was prepared last weekend before Maxi became ill. We wanted you to see our King at his best, and perhaps this will cheer our family and you up.



Delilah: Oh I am so excited!!! Today is wonderful day
and Daddy loves me. He built me a greenhouse!! I have to go check it out."

"It's even better than the picture in the catalog! Maxi, come and see!!!"

Maximillian: "Um, I fail to what all the shouting is about Delilah.
Although, I do think I see some possibilities with this little glass hut."

Maximillian: "For instance, what's in those tiny cups???"

Delilah: "It's something of Mommy's. I wouldn't get too excited bro, it's not exactly nip."

Maximillian: "No, not there.. look up.. on the shelf."

Maximillian: "Go ahead poppet... I dare you to jump up there and see what it is!"

Delilah: "Okay!!! Are you happy now? It's not nip... I think it's Daddy's tomatoes."

Maximillian: "Well Sigh-oh-snora! If it's not nip, I'm outta here.

Besides, here comes Mommy, and when she catches you up there you're gonna be in deep doo-doo little sister!"

Delilah: "Oh (huff, puff) Mommy??? I wasn't in the greenhouse, I promise you."

Mommy: "Hmmmm, then whose paw prints are these in the micro greens???? The Easter Bunny???"

Narrator: "And so it came to pass, that delightful Delilah, the gardening cat, was locked out of her personal greenhouse, built by her personal Daddy.

Such a sad, sad, state of affairs. But at least she did not have to mail a very large check to her Uncle Sam. There are many things a kitty can be grateful for."

Delilah: (fume, fume)"We'll just see about that Narrator!"

A brief update on Maxi

Maxi is still not himself. He still will not eat. He has lost a lot of weight.We bought baby food, turkey and chicken, and some tuna that he usually loves. He refuses all food and growls. The one difference between the weekend and now, is that he actually will sit up and stare out the window. He wants out and to be patrolling his territory.


He is very depressed and I just can't help but be worried.

We may try and force feed him.

I want you all to know that I will try and bring Dr Tweety around to see you this weekend, and over the next several days after. It may take us awhile, but if you stopped here to purr, we will stop there to show our gratitude.

We are not going to forget ANY one of you dear friends.

Tomorrow, I am still going to let the blog we prepared last weekend, before Maxi got sick, go ahead and post. Maybe it will lift all of our spirits.

Maxi & moi

I justee has to tellz all of you how grate-full dat I yam dat da Maxi haz come home. I willz ree-vealz sumpin' to you all... since it iz my birf-day & I yam 9 to-day, it iz Okeedokee to be honest.

Da Maxi iz da Alpha Bet Cat. He iz da boss of moi. But I haz great ree-spect fur him. Mebbe I waz tinkin' dat life wouldz be eezier if I waz da Alpha Bet Cat... but three nightsez witout him haz shed a new light on da stitchy-nation.

Dere were some howlin' & some night noizez frum some masked bandits out dere lastee night & I waz not in da mood to go see what waz uppee. If da Maxi had been here, he wouldz haz dis-patched dem up!

Maxi in hiz hunky dayz

Da Maxi iz still purrty sickie. He haz not eatsen since Sun-day. Dat iz a furry long time. But hiz fevfur iz down, & he is so egg-sauced dat he iz sleepin' in his favorite chair.

He iz on some meddy-sin & da nice Dr Glaze iz goin' to call us in da mornin' to makes sure dat evfurry ting iz okeedokee wit him.

We may not postee until later tomorrow, since da dadee will beez home wit him & da momee will beez at her workee.

I tink we are gonna post a blog on Fry-day dats da momee helped me to write last Sun-day mornin' beefore we knew how sick da Maxi waz. I tink you might enjoy seein' him when he iz well & furry hunky.

He haz lost a bunch of weight... so I tink he iz skinned-knee now. When da momee tried to feedz him some wet food tonight, he justee growled at da bowl.

Tanks you all, my dearest frendz. We will be in contact wit you. We iz all purrin' fur him to eats sumpin' so he can go poop-pee.

Da momee iz egg-sauced too... I tink she needz to sleepy pie.

When dis iz all oevfur... we has to haz a partee.. don't you tink?

Update: Good news for Maxi just received!!!

April 15th, 10:00 a.m.

Dr Glaze just phoned. Maxi’s fever has broken and is down to 102.98!!! If he stays like that through the day, he gets to come home tonight. He is still depressed in the cage, but he actually gave Dr Glaze head-butts this morning… and he has not done that since he got sick.

I want to celebrate, but Dr Glaze is cautious too, and does not want to “jinx” anything. I am sure there will be a recovery period where he’ll be on his antibiotics, and possibly later, his new spondylosis meds.

I cannot think of a better birthday present for Dr Tweety and the rest of us.

May all of you know that we were in your capable paws. Does purring work??? You better believe it does!!! And you all have done your work. Some of you even got up from your own post-surgery and sick beds to wish Maxi well.

Don’t worry about auctions for us just yet. We’re taking this one step at a time. But I tell you what, we can certainly give back to the CB community the kind of energy you have shown us.

I will be donating, in Maxi’s name, some vintage jewelry items to help in future raffles. I’ll coordinate this with ML & KC. So maybe we can all have a little cushion when it comes to helping our fellow feline friends. Hopefully, none of us will need it..

After all, we couldn’t have done it without you.

Love,
Madeline, Tom, Dr Tweety, Iris, Delilah, Auntie Stinkie, and of course, Maximillian the Bad Mad Burr-man!

Update - later Tuesday night

Maxi last year

Dear friends, I stopped and visited with my boy tonight. His head was low and he did not want to move at all. I held his face in my hands and gently rubbed his cheeks and scritched underneath his chin. I felt (not heard) a purr in his throat, despite it all. He has two formulas in his IV line. The repeat x-rays of the abdomen were inconclusive... Dr Glaze may send them to a radiologist for confirmation tomorrow.

I used my hands to move blocked energy from his energy field. His ears when I rubbed them, were cool. After I finished with his little Healing Touch session, he looked at me with his lovely "Baby Siamezie" eyes.

Yup. I have all kinds of names for him that I whispered softly.. calling on his spirit to to find strength, and to fight the fever. "Senor, como esta?" "Ahhh, you are my big husky dog." "Maxi-puss." "Breezy Siameezey" "Maxer."

Everyone at the clinic feels bad that they cannot figure out what is wrong. But in spite of my fear of losing this guy, I have to know that there is the positive motion of positive thought and prayer.

He has to feel this enormous amount of energy flowing his way. I will fight my own weaknesses and continue to find a way to believe he'll be coming home, and once again, rule our lives.

I am sending a thousand kisses and thanks your way... every one of you.

Update 3:30 p.m. Not good news.

The vet called. Maxi’s temperature is now back up to 106. He is extremely lethargic. They are now x-raying the abdomen for the third time. Our bill, totaled with the ER vet, is around $1,000 and we are no closer to discovering why we have such a sick kitty.

We’re at a dangerously precarious crossroads, and I feel like I’m in sort of limbo. I know all of you love your furry friends. You know how helpless you feel to help them. I’m sorry that I can’t report more positive news. It is not looking very good for our beloved King.

Latest on Maxi

Update, April 14, 9:10 a.m.

I just heard from the vet’s office. Maxi’s temp is slowly coming down! It was 104 this morning, and apparently he was feeling strong enough to pull out his catheter. His breathing is less labored, but he is still not eating.

We will know around 4:45 p.m. if he is well enough to come home tonight.

All of your beautiful purrs are working!

Small update

Updated April 14, 8:20 a.m.

I saw Maxi last night around 6:30 p.m. He is very depressed and very low. His temp was still 106... and they had ice packs around his body to cool him down. He will not eat yet. I tried Therapeutic Touch (a little like Reiki) on him, and his ears went from burning hot to cooler by the time I was done. But we are very worried, and have not heard from the staff yet this morning.

With all of your purrs, I know he can fight to get better. Thank you. Da Dadee and I are feeling a little fragile as you might surmise.

Latest on Maxi

Updated: 4:15 p.m. Monday, April 13, 2009
Maxi’s temperature is still very high. 106.2 Our vet has started the IV line back up, and will be giving Maxi fluids overnight. They have cleaned and dressed the wound from where the toenail was dug in. They have started him on a broad spectrum antibiotic. Unfortunately, he is going to have to spend another night away from home, and the vet says he is very “down.”

I am going to try and make it to their office before they close tonight (it’s 30 miles from where I work) to see him and give him a pep talk. As the vet told me, “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

I won’t post until tomorrow when I have more news. I think both “da dadee” and I, and the rest of the kitties who miss their “King” will try and get some rest. Thank you all for kindnesses and purrs.

Update

Update: 1:00 p.m. Monday, April 13, 2009
Maximillian’s vet called. A blockage to the intestines has been ruled out. However, Maxi’s temperature shot up to 106.3, and our good Dr Glaise says that something else was afoot. And foot I believe, is the issue.

Maxi is polydactyl, and has large toes and even smaller ones, and many, MANY toes on his left foot. One toe, hidden beneath his furry goodness, had an ingrown toenail that the Emergency Vet missed last night. This toenail was dug into Maxi’s foot about 3/4”, and had swollen tissue surrounding it.

So, he has been started on antibiotics, given more pain meds (the vet thinks that his spondylosis found last night was a coincidental factor in the entire event, and will be treated once we have Maxi back to health) and the IV catheter pulled from his leg in case it is an infection from the IV site. He may be staying overnight again if his fever does not come down by 4:00 p.m.

I promise to let you know how things go. Thank you again for all of your beautiful supportive comments. It is truly sweet, and goes straight into our hearts and spirits. Bless you all.

A note from Tweet's "mommee"

We did not want to post this yesterday, but Maximillian, Dr Tweety’s “brudder” became very ill over the last 36 hours. I just did not want to put more bad news out there, especially if he was going to be better. As he grew more and more lethargic yesterday evening, we made the decision to not wait until this morning, and we took him to the emergency vet clinic.

It was very apparent that he was in a lot of pain. After hours of waiting tensely in the exam room, x-rays, blood tests, catheterizing, and even the vet telling us that he might have a heart attack under anesthesia, we finally got the news. Our guy had such severe arthritis inflammation in his spine, that he simply gave up, and did not want to move, eat or drink. As a result, he became severely dehydrated and short of breath.

And to plague the guilt within me, the vet said he has been in pain for months. This explains his grumpiness, hissing at times, and maybe even some of his attitude towards Tweet.

We attributed his moodiness to his curled toenails on his extra toes, which sometimes can become ingrown. We were reluctant to try and cut them ourselves (he really is quite the fighter!), and were going to schedule him for an appointment.

Okay. So at midnight, after surviving the anesthesia, and braving all of the tests, we got to see our boy, and give him a kiss goodnight. They are keeping him hydrated and making sure he gets nutrition and pain meds. Tweet’s Daddy will pick Maxi up this morning and transfer him to our regular vet’s office, where they will either keep him for observation or let him come home. He will need pain meds and glucosamine for the rest of his life, which the emergency vet said should be of good quality if we manage his arthritis.

If we have not stopped by to personally wish you all a Happy Easter, something that Dr Tweety was working on when this happened, I apologize. Dr Tweety also deployed a blog for this coming Wednesday, in which our dear Maximillian stars.

I think we could have lost him very easily. And I owe this cat so much. I feel like a bad mommy for not knowing just how bad his problems with his spine were. Thank you all for being such good friends.

Hoppy EEeeester & a ketch-up

Dr Tweety: "Well I don'ts knowz abouts you all, but I yam egg-scapin' fur a minuet frum da Eeester tay-bull, & da 1,435 poundz of roastied chix-henz I cooked.

I justee hadz to ketch-up evfurry one on what da Fab Five haz been up to!

Iris: "I am doing the bitey on Mommy's prety silk pillow... and I plan to rip every last tassle off the thing!!!"

Dr Tweety: "Well now Iris, dis soundz likes a good plan fur dis nice Sun-day. Do you needz any help wit dat???"

Maximillian: "Shhhhhh! Can't you cats keep mum in there??? My hench man and I are trying to get my freighter of nip unloaded at the dock... but with all the racket going on, I can't think straight!

Hey Vinnie, watch these new laser eyes... they're better than flashlights!!!

No, no, no!!!! Don't drop that bale in the water you fool!"

Delilah: "I am going to be a good girl, and sit here and study the collapse of civilization. After all, Daddy needs some help with his conspiracy theories!"

Auntie Stinkie: "Since I got sick, I have been sitting on the couch and listening to my favorite TV shows.

The re-runs of "What Not to Wear" have me intrigued.

Should I wear my striped outfit or my tortoiseshell? Can I wear mittens with that?"

Dr Tweety: "I haz been instructin my frend Delilah to stayz off da kitsch-hen tay-bull.

'Lilah, deze left-overz iz fur da restee of my frendz dats mights stoppee by today."

Delilah: "I had no intention of getting onto the table Uncle Tweety. I was just seeing if it would collapse if both of us were up there."

Dr Tweety: "Az you can see, I haz my handz full oevfur here!"

HoppY Eeeaster to All!!!!

Comin' soon

Oh I yam bee-sidez my selfee!
See how hard I yam purrin' dats we are gonna be bloggin' soon?
Da comp-hooter iz hidin' da pix & crashin' on da internment-net.
Da dadee sez its haz bugz.
BUGZ?????
How didz da bugz gets in da comp-hooter???
I tinks dey waz onlee on da momeez itty-bitty greenz.
To-day, we iz droppin' oevfur at your housee fur a short vizit.
& I say, keeps doze meezer eyez, & tuxie pawz, & stripey tailz, & cally-co spots crossed...
& if yer one solid color, den keep your earz crossed... cuz I yam gonna bites da butt of my typist.

PS: Auntie Stinkie wants me to tell you dat she iz feelin' better.
She still has to restee & not go on da porch too much,
but she waz so tankfull for your vizits.

Letter from Auntie Stinkie

Thanks to all of my friends, old and new, who have stopped by to purr for me.

I am still recovering: doing some sneezing, but my cough is gone, and I am sleeping with Mommy and Daddy every night. I am eating my pill pockets and taking my blood pressure meds like the good girl I am.

My mommy has been very touched by the outpouring of purrs. As some of you know, Dr Tweety has been on hiatus for awhile. We had some family illnesses, computer virus problems, and much broo-hah at Mommy’s work. Many people are being laid off, but thankfully, Mommy just found out she is not on the cut list.

We will make the rounds to visit every one this weekend, and hopefully, publish lots of new pictures. Mommy and Daddy took lots of pictures over the last 6 weeks, planning for the blog, and when we could get back to it.

But again dear friends, I could not be the old girl I am, without all of your help. I am so looking forward to summer, when I will be able to sit in my favorite sunny spot on the porch. But for now, Mommy says I am banned from sunbathing in 45-degree weather.
I think I will have Tweet deposit a hairball on Mommy’s pillow.

What do you think?