The "what's On Your Mind?" Thread -2018

[Mother Dragon]

 

[arouetta]

First pain pill, I shoved it in a Sheba stick and Montressor gobbled it up and it worked so well for him. He used to lay on his back and writhe around to get belly rubs, he's pretty much stopped that but he did it after the pill, so maybe arthritis is involved. And he was so much calmer and relaxed around Midway after the pill.

Second pill, I shoved it in a Sheba stick and he took two sniffs of my hand and ignored the treats for the first time in his life and started petting himself on my hand. I could not get him to eat any treat. I tried pilling him (only more than a decade out of practice) and failed and gave up.

Third pill was last night as I noticed he was walking like his hips were hurting a bit. He pet himself on my hand, ignoring the treats, this time some Purina soft treat. He walked over to that treat toy that he's half figured out and I put the treats there. Checked a little later, he had managed to eat everything but the pill. So I guess Tramadol smells to high heaven. I did pill him last night successfully, but since he figured out the hidden treat so quickly I'm sure he'll figure out how to avoid being pilled.

I left the Pill Pockets at the vet accidentally and I don't get the car that much so I don't want to go back on my bike in the cold to get them. Besides, would they mitigate the smell or whatever else that has Montressor realizing a pill is hidden?

But my pill trials over the last couple days reminded me of a funny story on the National Institute of Health's website.
THE FUNNY FILE

tallyollyopia To address your comment about treating mental illness in children would lead to more commitments, consider two things.

First, ignoring mental illness in children leads to a far more severe case in adulthood. The longer one is having a mental health crisis the worse it gets long term, and waiting until adulthood means the mental health crisis will have been going on for years. On top of that a person's personality is still forming during the pre-teen and teen years, so the mental health crisis will warp the personality in ways beyond the illness itself, and those personality changes can worsen the illness as well. So ignoring it to avoid the stigma or to avoid needed hospitalization is definitely medical neglect and possibly even medical child abuse as in the end things will be far, far worse for that child.

Second, it is very, very hard to get an involuntary commitment. Stupid hard. One time I think I needed hospitalization for a mental health crisis. I could barely contain the desire to hurt myself and headed to the hospital instead of grabbing the razor blades. I had good insurance at the time. I walked into the ER at a hospital that had a mental health ward and told the nurse I wanted to hurt myself and I had a plan. After talking to a doctor I was told to leave. I freaked and he finally gave me 5 days of Ativan to dope me up long enough to see my doctor but still told me to leave. If a person with good insurance and a plan to hurt herself cannot get a voluntary hospitalization, then it's unlikely they will be throwing kids into involuntary commitment over mild to moderate symptoms of mood disorders. It will simply force parents to get the kids treated before those mild to moderate symptoms turn into severe treatment-resistant symptoms. Just like with an adult, if a kid is hospitalized then it is needed and therefore trying to avoid it is neglect/abuse.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Sprite is one step closer to being at a vet, then in a home. The lady who wants her for her mother dropped off a cat carrier with kitten food and a Lix-it bottle today, along with her phone number. She says to call at ANY HOUR OF THE DAY OR NIGHT when I have Sprite, and she will here in less than an hour. Now I just have to get my paws on the little thing.

 

[artiemom]

Mamanyt1953

dancing, happy kitty!!

 

[segelkatt]

Now we are touching on something very near and dear to my heart. Mentally ill people are NOT second class citizens. We did nothing that should prevent us from having all rights given to the non mentally ill. We also are statistically less likely to commit violent crimes and statistically more likely to be victims of violent crimes, so the mentally ill nutcase going postal is an untrue stereotype.

Yeah, I have no tolerance for the mentally ill who refuse treatment and I rail on them big time. But I also have no tolerance for anyone with a chronic disease that chooses not to treat it and in doing so puts their loved ones through hell. But it is every person's right to be a (bleep) and not fix their problems. If we aren't forcing medicines into someone with a heart condition then we sure as heck shouldn't be forcing medicines on someone with a mental illness.

As far as the laws concerning the mentally ill and gun ownership, NewYork1303 is right. It has to be an involuntary commitment ordered by a judge.

And up front I believe in the 2nd amendment and I support gun ownership. But if you go back to the personal letters of the Founding Fathers and the laws on the books right after the states were defined, many of which are still legally applicable, you will find that the 2nd amendment was not written to support hunting rights. It was written so that if the government got too big for its britches and became a tyranny or dictatorship the common citizenry would have the equipment necessary to overthrow the government. Virginia has a law on the books listing the different levels of militia to be called up and the lowest tier was every able bodied man, and there was no outfitting tied to that tier because it was expected all those able bodied men would bring their own weapons. So a well armed militia referred to in the Constitution is literally every person who is capable of holding a gun. And frankly with all the political turmoil we've had these past 10-15 years, I certainly don't want for some government bigwig to think they could get away with martial law. We're probably more at risk now than in earlier centuries for someone holding some amount of political power in either the legislative or executive branch to simply say "Screw the Constitution, I'm taking over." So that is why ownership of weapons such as AR-15s should be both legal and encouraged.

Are we just a little paranoid here? When is the last time you have seen or heard of the government or any person of high rank in the government trying or thinking of what you propose they MIGHT do? I feel that he people in the US are regressing to barbarism instead of progressing like other civilized countries do. The fewer guns are in the hands of the general public the less violence there is, read your statistics.
Would you also consider that tanks, bazookas, flame throwers etc should be kept in the shed of every US citizen?

 

[arouetta]

Sprite is one step closer to being at a vet, then in a home. The lady who wants her for her mother dropped off a cat carrier with kitten food and a Lix-it bottle today, along with her phone number. She says to call at ANY HOUR OF THE DAY OR NIGHT when I have Sprite, and she will here in less than an hour. Now I just have to get my paws on the little thing.

Is it a hard carrier? If so it may be easy. Angle the carrier outside your back door in a way that when you open the door it blocks the opening of the carrier. Put food inside. Watch for Sprite to walk in to eat. Open your back door quickly so she is trapped long enough for you to come outside and close and fasten the carrier door.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

UPDATE!!!! HUGE HAPPENINGS IN THE LAST FEW HOURS! This is a cut and paste job from two PMs I did over the late afternoon/evening, but there's just so much, this way I know I got it all!

AT 5:30 PM:
OH GUYS! Sometimes there comes a moment of such perfect synchronicity that you beleive that there is Something beyond us in this universe! You can't help but believe it! I went out to feed just after 4:30, and THERE WAS SPRITE! I plopped her in the carrier, added a rice bag and her supper, left it by the back door (Hekitty...could not risk bringing her in!) and called Mrs Miller. She was here within 20 minutes and SPRITE IS AT THE VET'S OFFICE! YES, on a Saturday evening at 6 PM, Sprite is being seen by Mrs. Miller's brother, who is one of the vets at the clinic I take Hekitty to! Mrs. Miller has promised to give me a call and let me know what is going on, but it may be a little while yet. CROSSED FINGERS...GOOD THOUGHTS INTO THE UNIVERSE! Prayers, if you do that! I'll hop back online and let you know when I know something!

48 MINUTES AGO:
I HAVE NEWS! There is bad news and there is good news (more than I hoped for).

I'll start with the bad. Sprite is a very sick little kitten. She has a fierce URI with fever, and maybe a UTI on top of that. She has a belly full of worms and a hide full of fleas (well, those, at least are dead now), with mild to moderate anemia, but NOT dangerously so! She also has a very MILD heart murmur. She is moderately dehydrated. She has an IV going, and is currently in an oxygenated cage at the vet, where she will remain for a few days.

The good news. The vet says that he is "cautiously hopeful" that Sprite will make a return to full health. They did a IDEXX (I think it's called "snap") test for FIV and FelV. That was negative, but bloodwork is being sent to the lab to confirm and will take about a week to find out for sure. Even with the IV, they put some stinky canned food down and she gobbled most of it up. I had tucked a catnip mouse that Hekitty never played with in with her when she left, and that is with her now. She was fairly calm about everything, meowing at everyone, and lifting her little head up for pats. She is NOT pregnant!

The vet agrees with me, that she is a very tiny, tiny girl, about 8 months old. Since she is so small, when she is stronger, she will go for an MRI to determine if there are internal abnormalities that would prevent her from having a decent quality of life. If there are, the Hard Decision will be made at that time. Mrs. Miller has promised to have her cremated if it comes to that, and to give me a bit of her ashes to put in a locket. HOWEVER, the Doctor thinks that she is salvagable and "will make a damn sweet cat for Mama." After she is stronger, of course. So...

There you have it. No final answers for awhile yet, but SO much more hopeful that I dared to dream! OH...there are several critical patients at the clinic right now, and a tech is staying overnight to keep an eye on them, with an on-call vet for emergencies. I feel MUCH better knowing that! And of course, I'll let you know any news as I know it. Mrs. Miller promised to keep me posted, at least until Sprite is in her potential new home.


SO, there you have it. We won't know for a bit what the final outcome is, but there is real hope for her now. I was just thinking as I came here to post, even if the worst happens and they can't save her, it will be easier knowing that she got a REAL chance! I'm going to soak in the tub now. Tomorrow is Sunday, so I will see you all on Monday!

 

[Alicia88]

That's great! It sounds like she's going to be just fine.
I think Marcy is a smaller than normal cat. She hasn't had any of the tests you mentioned, but she's happy and energetic and playful. I think Sprite will be fine, too.

 

[Willowy]

Yay, I'm so glad Sprite got taken care of! I worried about her, she just didn't sound like she was going to survive long in "the wild." I think she'll be OK now. Those nasty worms can prevent a kitty from growing properly so that's probably why she's small. Now that those have been taken care of, she can have all her food instead of "sharing" with those vicious parasites. She'll be one spoiled little girl now!

 

[Graceful-Lily]

Many blessing for little Sprite! I hope she has 18+ years of laugher, love, and happiness. Such good news today, made me smile. Big!

 

[Alicia88]

We are losing baby socks at a ridiculous rate - and not just in the laundry. Yesterday I took his socks off and got him changed and then one was gone. I searched everywhere and we hadn't even moved! Are there baby sock stealing gremlins? Cuz I think we have an infestation.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

That's so strange. I bet you'll find them all in about 5 years tops. Usually what happens with me.

 

[Alicia88]

Well, in the meantime, we're gonna have to buy more. They're probably in the land of lost pens and hair ties, wherever that may be. *shakes head*

 

[Graceful-Lily]

Oh yes! Can' forget the hairties and pens. I use to lose hair ties to the point where now, I bundle them together and put them back as soon as I take them off. It's the only way. But even that fails sometimes. How is the little man doing?

 

[Alicia88]

He's great. He had his 1 month checkup Monday and was up to 9 lbs, 13 oz. He's growing like a weed. He can't wear newborn clothes anymore. I'm glad I mostly bought 0-3 months. But we're gonna need to start stocking up on 3-6 months soon.

 

[arouetta]

The dryer might be to blame. I kept losing trouser socks, couldn't figure out what was going on. We had to replace something in the dryer that involved removing the drum and we found 13 of my trouser socks in the innards of the dryer.

 

[NewYork1303]

We are losing baby socks at a ridiculous rate - and not just in the laundry. Yesterday I took his socks off and got him changed and then one was gone. I searched everywhere and we hadn't even moved! Are there baby sock stealing gremlins? Cuz I think we have an infestation.

When I worked at a daycare for children, we had to keep the socks and shoes on the babies (Its a WAC code or was at the time). Well, its impossible. Even with the youngest babies you turn around and they somehow get them off and a lot of the time they are nowhere to be found. I literally could have spent all day putting socks and shoes back on the babies. We had the parents give us a few changes of clothes for their babies and lots of socks in addition to having our own daycare socks in case we ran out.

 

[kashmir64]

We are losing baby socks at a ridiculous rate - and not just in the laundry. Yesterday I took his socks off and got him changed and then one was gone. I searched everywhere and we hadn't even moved! Are there baby sock stealing gremlins? Cuz I think we have an infestation.

It's called kittens and dogs. Mine will go into the laundry basket to drag them out and through the house.

 

[tallyollyopia]

I get to work 15 hours tomorrow. Guess everyone has to board their dogs over the holiday weekend.

First pain pill, I shoved it in a Sheba stick and Montressor gobbled it up and it worked so well for him. He used to lay on his back and writhe around to get belly rubs, he's pretty much stopped that but he did it after the pill, so maybe arthritis is involved. And he was so much calmer and relaxed around Midway after the pill.

Second pill, I shoved it in a Sheba stick and he took two sniffs of my hand and ignored the treats for the first time in his life and started petting himself on my hand. I could not get him to eat any treat. I tried pilling him (only more than a decade out of practice) and failed and gave up.

Third pill was last night as I noticed he was walking like his hips were hurting a bit. He pet himself on my hand, ignoring the treats, this time some Purina soft treat. He walked over to that treat toy that he's half figured out and I put the treats there. Checked a little later, he had managed to eat everything but the pill. So I guess Tramadol smells to high heaven. I did pill him last night successfully, but since he figured out the hidden treat so quickly I'm sure he'll figure out how to avoid being pilled.

I left the Pill Pockets at the vet accidentally and I don't get the car that much so I don't want to go back on my bike in the cold to get them. Besides, would they mitigate the smell or whatever else that has Montressor realizing a pill is hidden?

But my pill trials over the last couple days reminded me of a funny story on the National Institute of Health's website.
THE FUNNY FILE

tallyollyopia To address your comment about treating mental illness in children would lead to more commitments, consider two things.

First, ignoring mental illness in children leads to a far more severe case in adulthood. The longer one is having a mental health crisis the worse it gets long term, and waiting until adulthood means the mental health crisis will have been going on for years. On top of that a person's personality is still forming during the pre-teen and teen years, so the mental health crisis will warp the personality in ways beyond the illness itself, and those personality changes can worsen the illness as well. So ignoring it to avoid the stigma or to avoid needed hospitalization is definitely medical neglect and possibly even medical child abuse as in the end things will be far, far worse for that child.

Second, it is very, very hard to get an involuntary commitment. Stupid hard. One time I think I needed hospitalization for a mental health crisis. I could barely contain the desire to hurt myself and headed to the hospital instead of grabbing the razor blades. I had good insurance at the time. I walked into the ER at a hospital that had a mental health ward and told the nurse I wanted to hurt myself and I had a plan. After talking to a doctor I was told to leave. I freaked and he finally gave me 5 days of Ativan to dope me up long enough to see my doctor but still told me to leave. If a person with good insurance and a plan to hurt herself cannot get a voluntary hospitalization, then it's unlikely they will be throwing kids into involuntary commitment over mild to moderate symptoms of mood disorders. It will simply force parents to get the kids treated before those mild to moderate symptoms turn into severe treatment-resistant symptoms. Just like with an adult, if a kid is hospitalized then it is needed and therefore trying to avoid it is neglect/abuse.

I completely agree that the earlier a mental health issue is addressed and treated the better. I really do. However, I've also seen children removed from their homes for absolutely stupid reasons. I spent a short (very short--I'm not strong enough for that job) time working with children who were removed from their homes, and it's imperative that the caregivers understand the reasons (so as to deal with behavior problems better). Most of the children were rightfully removed from home (the stories would break your heart), but some of them weren't. One child (being careful to say nothing of age or gender) was there not because of a bad home life, not because of abuse of any kind--but because of a driving violation. The mother ran a red (accident or not, not important), was a single mother with no blood relatives in town and instead of offering her community service (she hadn't been able to get to court on time because her job wouldn't let her off), she was jailed and the child was put into the protective service removal program. I can just see a judge throwing weight around deciding that parents were "neglecting" mental health because a psych eval said the child had a mental problem that needed addressed, even if the parents were the one to take the child in the first place. I would like to note, that the child was a rare case. Like I said, most of them were deserved. Well deserved. I had to quit after two hours because I was contemplating murder. Yeah--not the career for me.

Sprite is one step closer to being at a vet, then in a home. The lady who wants her for her mother dropped off a cat carrier with kitten food and a Lix-it bottle today, along with her phone number. She says to call at ANY HOUR OF THE DAY OR NIGHT when I have Sprite, and she will here in less than an hour. Now I just have to get my paws on the little thing.

UPDATE!!!! HUGE HAPPENINGS IN THE LAST FEW HOURS! This is a cut and paste job from two PMs I did over the late afternoon/evening, but there's just so much, this way I know I got it all!

AT 5:30 PM:
OH GUYS! Sometimes there comes a moment of such perfect synchronicity that you beleive that there is Something beyond us in this universe! You can't help but believe it! I went out to feed just after 4:30, and THERE WAS SPRITE! I plopped her in the carrier, added a rice bag and her supper, left it by the back door (Hekitty...could not risk bringing her in!) and called Mrs Miller. She was here within 20 minutes and SPRITE IS AT THE VET'S OFFICE! YES, on a Saturday evening at 6 PM, Sprite is being seen by Mrs. Miller's brother, who is one of the vets at the clinic I take Hekitty to! Mrs. Miller has promised to give me a call and let me know what is going on, but it may be a little while yet. CROSSED FINGERS...GOOD THOUGHTS INTO THE UNIVERSE! Prayers, if you do that! I'll hop back online and let you know when I know something!

48 MINUTES AGO:
I HAVE NEWS! There is bad news and there is good news (more than I hoped for).

I'll start with the bad. Sprite is a very sick little kitten. She has a fierce URI with fever, and maybe a UTI on top of that. She has a belly full of worms and a hide full of fleas (well, those, at least are dead now), with mild to moderate anemia, but NOT dangerously so! She also has a very MILD heart murmur. She is moderately dehydrated. She has an IV going, and is currently in an oxygenated cage at the vet, where she will remain for a few days.

The good news. The vet says that he is "cautiously hopeful" that Sprite will make a return to full health. They did a IDEXX (I think it's called "snap") test for FIV and FelV. That was negative, but bloodwork is being sent to the lab to confirm and will take about a week to find out for sure. Even with the IV, they put some stinky canned food down and she gobbled most of it up. I had tucked a catnip mouse that Hekitty never played with in with her when she left, and that is with her now. She was fairly calm about everything, meowing at everyone, and lifting her little head up for pats. She is NOT pregnant!

The vet agrees with me, that she is a very tiny, tiny girl, about 8 months old. Since she is so small, when she is stronger, she will go for an MRI to determine if there are internal abnormalities that would prevent her from having a decent quality of life. If there are, the Hard Decision will be made at that time. Mrs. Miller has promised to have her cremated if it comes to that, and to give me a bit of her ashes to put in a locket. HOWEVER, the Doctor thinks that she is salvagable and "will make a damn sweet cat for Mama." After she is stronger, of course. So...

There you have it. No final answers for awhile yet, but SO much more hopeful that I dared to dream! OH...there are several critical patients at the clinic right now, and a tech is staying overnight to keep an eye on them, with an on-call vet for emergencies. I feel MUCH better knowing that! And of course, I'll let you know any news as I know it. Mrs. Miller promised to keep me posted, at least until Sprite is in her potential new home.


SO, there you have it. We won't know for a bit what the final outcome is, but there is real hope for her now. I was just thinking as I came here to post, even if the worst happens and they can't save her, it will be easier knowing that she got a REAL chance! I'm going to soak in the tub now. Tomorrow is Sunday, so I will see you all on Monday!

Good for her!

Rough time at work and don't want to type it up yet. Maybe later.

 

[NewYork1303]

My 15 hour day yesterday turned into a 16 hour one. I just hope my 10 hour day tomorrow stays that way.