State of the telophase

[telophase]

House: moved into.

Apartment: not quite finished (mostly trash to throw away, one last small load of stuff to bring that wasn't packed when I ran out of packing materials.)

Internet: still not here. We had AT&T Uverse set up to be installed on Saturday. The tech got here, discovered that the phone line to the house had been cut at some indefinite point in the past and was now balled up in the bushes. No clue if it was disgruntled former tenants, crazy neighbors, or just an overeager gardener accidentally cutting it. AT&T sent a pole-climber out to fix it the same day, and got a tech to install it back out on Tuesday. Whereupon it turns out that whoever converted the house's outlets from 2-prong to 3-prong didn't bother to ground the 3rd prong, and AT&T won't install their equipment on ungrounded outlets. Not that we want our computers, A/V equipment, and washing machine on them, either. So an electrician has to come out to the house and fix that, and will hopefully do so between now and next Tuesday, when the next scheduled Uverse install is.

This is all extremely stressful for myrialux, who telecommutes. He has so far leeched off of my job for a couple of days and mooched various free wireless at restaurants and coffee shops. Then both of us hit our collective heads and went OH DUH yesterday for two reasons - one, we are looking after the apartment of a couple of friends of ours for a few weeks while they're temporarily elsewhere for work, and they have internet (although they need to re-set the password before myrialux can use it), and my old apartment's internet access has not yet been cut off because I have not yet got around to calling the cable company. So until said password gets re-set, myrialux is hauling a folding table and chair to my apartment so he can get some work done.

Cats: getting better, although still slightly nervous. The night after we moved in was hellish. I'd taken them to the vet to get their regular exams and so that they wouldn't be traumatized by large men tramping around in their territory moving their stuff, and picked them up after the move was done and took them to the new place.

During the day, the vet called and said ... well, I don't recall exactly how the conversation went because I was trying to hear over the noise of the movers, but I gathered that they noticed Nefer had a bite mark on her foreleg and wanted permission to treat it - and I said yes, of course (and also told them that she did it to herself - it's been there off and on for a year now, since before Sora came here). Apparently what they were REALLY saying was that Nefer was a hellcat and wouldn't let them treat it (Well, yeah - she hates the vet), so could they please anesthetize her to treat it. At any rate I only found out when I picked them up that she'd been anesthetized.

And she had a hell of a bad trip coming back down. It hadn't fully worn off yet, so her back legs didn't work very well for a few hours, and she was confused and cranky and spent the next 18 hours walking around and around, not settling down for long, yowling a lot, and hissing and growling at Sora whenever he even looked like he was getting near to her. As the cats were confined to the master bedroom - I didn't want to leave them alone all night in an unfamiliar place when Nefer might need my help - it didn't make for a very restful night.

That was also the night we discovered the birds that roosted outside the master bedroom. :) Noisy, but I've gotten used to them by now.

At any rate, the vet also said that Nefer's biting and over-grooming her foreleg was a sign of anxiety, and that he'd discovered a patch on her belly where she'd over-groomed, and he gave me a bottle of Elavil to give her - it's an anti-anxiety med. I haven't given her any yet because I'm not convinced that medication should be the first resort and I want to try behavioral stuff first. Also, I don't want to give her first dose of the meds and then go to work for eight hours - the list of side effects is long enough that I think I should be there with her the first couple of days. I'm keeping an eye on her foreleg and the small patch of belly - and it *is* really small, and the fur is not all groomed off. I think the vet *also* took her hellcat behavior while being examined into consideration for his diagnosis and the meds, because he was actually surprised when myrialux and I both pointed out that while she hates being picked up, confined, and standing or sitting on an unstable surface, she's a really loving cat at home. So ... you can see my reluctance.

Also, Sora seems to have picked up a small cold at the vet, if his increase in sneezing is anything to go by. He's extra-spooked at the moment with the move, and liable to bolt from the room when things like the AC coming on, myrialux standing up, and doors shutting. He and Nefer get into the occasional scrap, but have not yet (to my notice) got back to grooming each other. It may be a while yet before they relax enough to do that.



So now you know why I've been scarce around here and may be for some time to come. :)

Comments

[tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com]

sounds like things are going fairly okay though! eee1 hopefully electric dude comes and fixes the stuff soon. that's a paaain

[telophase.livejournal.com]

That and the cat are the major source of stress right now. :)

[xebra42.livejournal.com]

At Petsmart, there is this stuff called Felaway or something. It's a plug-in thing in the cat medical section. Kara is a neurotic groomer as well, and the plug-in releases happy kitty pheromones. So when she's really edgy, during moves, large house projects, etc., we plug one of those in to calm her down. Also, Kara hates the vet and has large CAUTION written on her chart about 6 times in marker...

[xebra42.livejournal.com]

Of course a plug-in might need a grounded outlet :-D (d'oh!!!) :-D

[telophase.livejournal.com]

We've got one of those in the master bedroom right now. I may get one for the spare bedroom, as she tends to spend the night in there. :)

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I got the kind for dogs and have been very pleased with it. :)

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

I've got a friend who swears by Rescue Remedy (http://www.rescueremedy.com/pets/how-to-use.asp) for calming cats. I've never tried it myself - the cats that would need it are the ones that won't let me put anything on them!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'll keep that in mind - I've just ordered a gel lotion thing (http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754416), which is supposed to soothe irritated areas and taste sort of nasty so they're not likely to lick there much. We'll see if it works!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Yikes, that's a lot of stress.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I have been spending every extra moment of the day when not involved in unpacking, cleaning the other apartment, or at work obsessively playing Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box on Toby's DS, as mine is still packed somewhere. I'm nine hours into it so far, and working on puzzles helps a lot. :)

(PLatDB is a puzzle-solving video game - you follow the prof of the title and his young apprentice around on their investigations as they seek to solve mysteries. And they constantly run into puzzles - word puzzles, logic puzzles, mazes, etc. - that you have to solve.)

[tammylee.livejournal.com]

So much stress!
Good luck settling in and will there be photos? =D

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yes, there will eventually be photos! :)

[estara.livejournal.com]

*crossing fingers and pressing thumbs for good karma and stress reduced future days*

[suileach.livejournal.com]

Huh. Our brown tabby was recently prescribed Elavil too. It definitely helps in our case (at least so far as reducing her hostile behavior towards the other cats), but her overgrooming is severe -- we are forced to call her Bald Butt Kitty at times -- as are her other behavioral problems. But yeah, it was not the first thing we tried, and even then I was the one that brought up the option with the vet.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I remain ambivalent so far. :/

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I hope the kitties settle soon and the electronics work out!