I’m still unhappy about the pressure I felt when I took Max to the vet the other day. I decided to try going to a different vet and pretend that it was Max’s first visit since I got him from the breeder. I wanted to see how another vet would treat me. I took Max to the vet suggested by my co-worker, Debbie. I will mention this place by name because I LOVED my visit. It is called Northwind Animal Hospital.
First of all, when I went in, they ooo-ed and ahhh-ed over Max. It was great!
Secondly, I felt much more relaxed at this place because I wasn’t the only man there. At the other place, I was always halfway preparing for them to sacrifice me in some womany druidic ritual. I never saw a single other man in all the times I visited there with Ned.
Thirdly, when the tech was talking with me about vaccinations, she automatically started crossing several of them off the list because Max is an indoor cat. That’s what I’m talking about!
Fourthly, when the doctor looked at Max, she did not frighten me with words about heart murmurs or ear polyps. She told me I had a healthy kitten. Excellent.
I was so glad to get Max in the above pose. While I was cleaning my basement, I stumbled across all the framed pieces I had taken down when I re-arranged the living room. One of the things was a watercolor print of a sphynx cat that Brent had given me for Christmas.
It’s totally Max! Brent must be psychic or something. Weird.
And since this is another post about Max, here’s another movie. This time it’s Max eating part of his dinner. Twice a day he gets a third of a can of moist food, and a chunk of raw stew beef.
Isn’t it cute how he drags blood all over the kitchen floor? Awww…
After spending more time cleaning the basement yesterday, I went on some quick errands. As I walked toward my front steps, I saw something silvery glinting in the sun.
As I neared, I saw it… a tall can of Steel Reserve malt liquor. It’s 22 ounces of high alcohol, low price beer. Brent threw a can into the beverage pond on the Fourth of July, but no one was brave enough to drink it. I did a few searches for information on this beverage, and by far the most hilarious entry was on a site I won’t link directly to, because it’s full of bad language, but I’ll record this passage in my memory archive:
Steel Reserve is a low-quality, low-prestige, low-dignity malt beverage. Purchasing Steel Reserve is often an act of desperation by would-be drinkers in times of economic hardship. Aside from drinking cleaning solvents, Steel Reserve is perhaps the cheapest possible way to exit this reality. Its combination of astonishingly low price and extraordinarily high alcohol content has made it popular among both bums and young people.
After almost a week of sitting around on my butt I finally did something to make my house look better. I have all kinds of Projects that I keep talking about, but I never do them. Yesterday I started cleaning the basement.
My basement is a storage room for me and is easily the most cluttered, messiest, bomb-went-off place in my house. All spring I kept saying to myself: “I’ll clean it out this summer… I’ll clean it out this summer.” Then I went to Nebraska, then I got a kitten. Always excuses.
It went slower than I thought it would because I had to keep deciding things:
“Where should this go?”
“Should I keep this or throw it out?”
“Does this need to be cleaned before I put it away?”
“Should I keep this or throw it out?”
“Where in the world did I get this?”
“Should I keep this or throw it out?”
In the end, I didn’t get very far, but now that I’ve started, I think I’ll be inspired to keep going. We’ll see tomorrow…
I took Max to the vet yesterday to establish him as a patient. I went to the same place I used to take Ned to. It was just like I remembered it: high pressure. I felt like I was being bullied the whole time. Instead of asking me what I wanted to do, they told me what I’d be doing. And if I declined a particular crazy-expensive test or unnecessary inoculation, they made me feel like I was abusing my cat. Grrrr!
The one good thing that came out of the visit was some ear drops for Max. He’s been having trouble with his left ear. The vet said he had either a yeast infection, or a bacterial infection. She gave me some drops that would cure both.
But I don’t think I’ll go back. I called the breeder and related the story. She had a very low opinion of such a place. She said one of the treatments they suggested could even be fatal for a Sphynx cat. Criminy! She suggested that I use her vet. It would be a 35 minute drive instead of a 15 minute drive, but if they wouldn’t bully me while I was there, I think it would be worth it. I also got leads on some good places from the girls and Debbie’s girl party today.
And because people have been asking for more pictures, here is a bonus picture of Max dreaming of being Superman:
And a movie of him settling in to sleep, since Michele said she enjoyed watching that so much:
At the girl party Kim took as many pictures of Max in two hours as I have taken since I got him. She uploaded them to her Snapfish account. You have to register to see them, but it’s free. Don’t forget to “un-check” the second box if you want to opt out of Snapfish emails. LINK
I part of my Bradaptation Day celebrations included a trip to the dentist. I love any kind of attention, so this was an awesome way to celebrate.
I was just there for a routine cleaning. It was nice, except I saw a different dentist. Instead of being praised for flossing daily, I was scolded for how much my gums bled. It was little wonder that they did, because this lady poked them pretty hard with a pointy metal thing. Anyway, after a scary speech about how bleeding gums means inflammation, and inflammation means bacteria, and bacteria could mean an infection that enters my bloodstream and damages my major organs and leads to death, she suggested I get some product called Omni Gel. It’s an antibacterial gel I’m supposed to brush onto my gums before going to bed. I bought it to get this new lady off my back. I have no intention of using it.
As I checked out, I saw some sugarless candies and “teeth whiteners” in a bowl. I took a whitener, thinking it might interest Lauren. All it was was a mint sweetened with sorbitol.
