for Smaug the Desolate's One Year Memorial...

in honour of our kind, sweet, strong and sensitive guy...

Smaug the Desolate - Februaryish 1993 to 12 October 2009

he is so dearly missed, and we think of him often.

we love you, smaug!!!!

cats

...not eels.

i know you've seen this but i lagged posting it first...even before my brother Kaze sent me a link.

via ADWEEK.

i wish Smaug could see this...

a co-worker sent me the following email today:

Jennifer and Luke were getting very high water bills and could not figure out why. Despite all their attempts to conserve water, the bills continued to be very high. They figured they must have a leak somewhere in their house so they hired a plumbing specialist to investigate their entire system. He could find no problem whatsoever. One day, Luke was home sick and while in bed on the second floor, he heard water running continuously below him. He decided to find out the source of the running water and soon discovered the cause of their problems. He decided to videotape this for posterity… Please watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIVsZRPx_Dw

news: good and bad about cats

first off, MANY MANY THANKS to each and every friend and family member who has expressed concern for smaug and for us! the three of us love you very much.

well, smaug is returning home after his exploratory surgery today (after much human fear and anxiety)! dr. took biopsies of intestinal wall and the masses, which have spread to other organs, but there's not much else a surgeon can do for him. an oncologist may be an option, but we'll have to wait and see for results... it seems chemotherapy isn't the best option for senior cats to undertake, and in this case radiation has a lot of side effects which could hurt smaug even more in the long run.

as of this morning, dr. said smaug is "really doing very well" recovering from the surgery. he did receive a blood plasma transfusion, because he was having trouble clotting yesterday...but otherwise he is eating and up and alert. :))

and in case you didn't see this video from the HuffPo today:

smaug isn't diagnosed yet...

last week: normal glucose meant no diabetes. hooray! went home with Reglan for vomiting and bacteria supplements to help digestion.

although bloodwork showed normal liver and kidney function, and (i think) normal free T4 level so no hyperthyroidism...there was high WBC count, so now he's on antibiotics.

xray today showed 'a mass' in his intestine. going for an ultrasound tomorrow morning.
now hoping it isn't intestinal small cell lymphoma.

cat massage

Thanks to DanOf!

you think i spoil Smaug??!

yeah, these cost $200. and i bet these guys are all kittens and therefore kitten-sized? i fear i will have to wait for the IKEA version.

thanks to Kaze for this! More info on AKEMI TANAKA's design at Supermarket.

cute cat alert

if you know me, you know that i have several close friends, and just for information's sake most of them are male, who adore those 'cute cat' websites. well, now here is your chance to have your OWN cute cat in your possession. (erm, that sounds kind of bad...) i mean, in your own home:

my brother has rescued some kittens and two of the three siblings, approximately eight weeks old, are in need of a loving home. so, whether you are a male or female, if you think it's time to take care of a little bundle of joy, please consider adopting one, or hopefully both, of these adorable guys/gals (don't know yet)! THANK YOU!