miss_yt | Entries tagged with roo

Three years ago today, I found this little cutie wandering the streets of my neighborhood in South Philadelphia. I took her home and she's been a spoiled brat ever since. Here she is now.

Yes, this is Roo's birthday/adoption anniversary! To celebrate, I got her a can of gourmet tuna cat food, which she seems to have enjoyed heartily.

Here's to many happy returns of the day!

Since I am staying with my family in Maryland, my cat Roo doesn't get out much. I have to keep her in my room because Dad is allergic to cats. Also, Roo tends to jump up on and knock over things, which would not make my mother happy.

Roo, naturally, does not enjoy this. She's an indoor cat, but used to having the run of the whole place I live in, wherever that happens to be. Often, when I open the door to my room, she attempts to escape. She manages it fairly often, too, although she usually doesn't go far and tends to come back, like an exploring toddler running off from and returning to Mom.

Yesterday evening was nice - the weather was good and it was light late - so I decided to take a folding chair out on our back patio and read. I decided to take Roo out there too. At first she wanted to go back inside, but it wasn't long before she started exploring the patio, walking around it, sniffing at the barbecue grill, surveying the yard. She showed great interest in the bushes at the edge of the patio but did not actually leave the concrete for the grass at any time.

Eventually she relaxed and stretched out on the patio, the way she does on my bedroom floor. She came up to me to be pet in between looking at interesting birds in the near distance. All in all, she had a good time, and didn't want to go back in at the end!

I think I might do this more often: it's probably good for Roo. Since she's been an indoor cat for so long, I doubt she'll want to wander far from me. (If she does, she has a tag with my phone number on it). I certainly won't let her out unsupervised or let her bring dead animals into the house.

Current Mood: cheerful

This made me laugh, because I actually want to get a remote-control Dalek and use it to chase and generally freak out Roo.

Good news: Got a big tax refund, done with one of my two papers, found a better yarn store than the one I was going to and also got an Apple mouse, with right-click capability. And it's Bluetooth! No more messing around with a USB plug-in IR receiver.

Bad news: Bitch roommate has been a particular bitch lately. She is looking for a sublet for my room (she wanted to), I e-mailed to ask how it was going and I got a nasty response. So I sent her a reply detailing just how screwed up her behavior is. She responded that she'd stop treating me like a "petulant 12-year-old" when I stopped acting like one. I said her calling me petulant was like the pot calling the kettle black.

Then she accused me of eating her ice cream and said I had to pay her back for it. I said I hadn't touched her ice cream. I also said I would use a marker to write "H" on all the packages/cartons of my food so she would not get confused again (and I have done so).

Damn, I can't wait to move out of here.

Yeah, I know, I haven't posted at all for a while. This post is just to kvetch about my having a cold, although it doesn't seem to be following the usual course for my colds: most of the time I start with a sore throat and then all hell breaks loose. This time I started with a dry-feeling throat and a mild cough. I've been attacking it on every front, with my special Chinese tea, vitamin C supplements, and cough syrup. Since I'm at a point in the semester where I can afford to do so, I have also been getting a lot of sleep. It seems to work, since my cold is not noticeably worse than when it started.

Also, since my roommates are in law school and have a different schedule from mine, they aren't back yet. I'm in the house by myself, taking care of all the cats, who now gravitate toward me since I'm the only human around. This is cute but also kind of annoying, as one of them likes to poke me with his cold nose when I'm asleep in bed. But it means I have lots of fans!

Oh yeah -

tempus_aeterna, can you tell me when your February wedding is taking place, if it's still on? I will actually need to talk to you on the phone to figure out all the details.

One of the cats peed in Roo's water fountain. I don't know which one - it could've been Roo herself. It made the whole downstairs cat room stink. I had to clean it out, and I'll have to get some vinegar to run through the machine to get it disinfected without using something that will harm the cats.

I don't know if I should even put it out again, since once a cat uses some inappropriate object as a potty, they tend to do it again. If it's one of the other cats putting the fountain in my own room might help, but if Roo was the culprit, well, I will end up with a stinky room.

Current Mood: frustrated

My first day on the job was kind of rocky, but my second day has been better. I got more done, although a lot of it was secretary stuff this time around. I also talked to my boss about why I'd been having problems (this was my idea, by the way), and I think she now understands that I'm willing to work hard and I'll be able to catch on quickly.

Also, though it rained some on the way home, I managed to get back from Detroit without any mishap. Yay!

And, I got Roo a couple of new things. I found her a scratch pad that she can pluck at (she likes to pluck with her claws, not scratch) and a little water fountain thing, since she likes drinking from the faucet but not her bowl. She likes the scratch pad but will need to get used to the fountain.

I got Roo a newfangled litterbox. It's actually a self-cleaning Boodabox. See, you put in clumping litter, and the cat does its thing, and a few minutes after the cat gets out, this motorized rake in the box pushes the clumped litter and poop into a hatch that opens as the rake approaches and closes as the rake retreats. This means all the icky stuff is in a lined compartment and it's easy to dispose of.

When I first put this thing together, plugged it in and turned it on, the rake went through its motion. Roo was present at the time and watched this happen very carefully. Then, when I tried to get her to go in the box, she hissed at it, ran away and hid under my bed (this is in my bedroom at my parents' house, remember). I was afraid she wouldn't use it, she'd pee on the carpet or something and Mom would kill both of us.

Fortunately, she does use the litterbox. I heard the motor going once last night and once this morning (I should turn that thing off when I sleep), and there's no pee or poop in places where it shouldn't be. I also saw her use the box later on: she approaches slowly and goes in with trepidation, as if she's afraid it's going to eat her, but she uses it. And then she kicks litter around, quite a lot of it - good thing Mom put a plastic sheet under the box.

I'm really glad that Roo's getting used to it, because I paid a lot of money for that thing and it will make it much easier to clean up after her. It would kind of suck if she were too freaked out to use it.

For my birthday, I would like a save and reload function for my life, thanks very much.

One of the great things about spring is that I can open my windows, and then Roo sits on the sills, her tail twitching and lashing excitedly, while she squeaks at a bird or a squirrel.

I caved and bought an audiobook of Fragile Things on iTunes.

Current Mood: silly

Roo caught another mouse today. Or perhaps it was the same mouse, crawled out of the bathtub drain and running around again. She brought it into the living room shortly after I got home. I caught it in a box and let it go outside. But I gave Roo some tuna just after, so I hope she's not too upset at losing her toy.

Current Mood: impressed

Roo caught a mouse this morning. I saw her come into the front room with some grey something-or-other in her mouth, and when she put it down, it moved a bit before she picked it up again. I went over to her to see what it was, and when she put it down again - yep, it was a small mouse. It was still alive, and it tried to run away when she put it down, but she kept getting it again. Playing with her prey as cats do.

I called my landlord while Roo took the mouse to the bathtub and started playing with it there. This sounds like a good idea, in principle, because then the mouse would not be able to escape, and she could pick it up or bat it around all she liked. Except the drain in there doesn't have a cover, and the mouse was small enough to fall down it. Or at least I think that's what happened, while I was getting on gloves and some paper towels so I could take the mouse outside.

I think we are going to need a plumber. It could be worse, though. Roo could've left a dead mouse in my bed (yes, I know that would mean she loves me, but ick) or bloodily dismembered it all over the place.

And I think it's Roo's first prey ever! I'm very proud of her. Maybe I should be kind of grossed out, but I'm proud.

Current Mood: impressed

Yep, it's really spring. This morning I found that Roo had left an unusually large collection of her hair on the couch, which means she has started her spring shedding. I will be using the lint roller a lot for the next few weeks.

Tomorrow is a very important day for two reasons: first, it's International Pi Day (3/14).

shinyhappygoth says that at Carnegie Mellon University, this is a big deal, and all the math geeks chalk Pi symbols around the campus. Of course, another way to celebrate Pi Day is to eat pie. It's also a big day because that's when God of War II will be officially out for sale. I pre-ordered a copy earlier this month, which is a good thing, considering that there's likely to be a run on copies of that game. I can hardly wait!

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: Work, bleah
Current Music: No Doubt - Happy Now?

Well, the good news is that Roo didn't actually fracture her tail - she apparently got it caught in something and, as far as I can understand, pulled one of the joints too much, causing it to strain and become inflamed. She will only have to wear a splint for two weeks.

The bad news is that they put a cone on her head so she won't chew the splint. When I dropped her off at the apartment and went back to work (since I need to make up the time I spent schlepping her to and from the vet), she started walking backwards and/or sideways, shaking her head in an attempt to dislodge the cone. She also tried to eat from her bowl and couldn't do it. I'm leaving the cone on for now, but when I get home I think I'll take it off and see how she handles the splint. I can put the cone back on, if necessary, but I'm hoping I can discourage her from messing with the splint until she gets used to having it, like she got used to her collar.

I also have to give her painkillers for a while. I hope they don't make her throw up, like the ones I had to give her after she got fixed.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Work, bleah
Current Music: Vienna Teng - Passage

Well, I'm back from Roo's vet appointment. And guess what? She apparently broke her tail. Happy fuckin' holidays.

I don't know how she did it, although considering her penchant for running all over the place and climbing on (and into) things, she could have done it in a number of ways. I had to leave her at the vet's office and I'll have to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 for x-rays, a splint and medicine. Fortunately I can pay that out of my savings, but it's annoying, especially since she just got her last round of shots a few weeks ago and I didn't expect to have to bring her in again for at least a year.

I called my dad on the way back from the vet and told him how much it would cost. He said I should have asked the vet about my options (in other words, whether it was really necessary to treat the fracture). Dad said that if he'd broken his toe, he'd ask the doctor whether it was necessary to treat it. I was kind of surprised to hear this from the man who, when his own pet cat was hit by a car, put on a tallis and tefillin to pray for her recovery. Of course, he was only thirteen or fourteen years old at the time. These days he's also a bit penny-wise and pound-foolish.

I said I wasn't sure about the severity of the fracture, and in my admittedly un-professional opinion, leaving it untreated could put Roo at risk for infection. Also, if she doesn't get the break in a splint, she could aggravate her injury. Since I'll have to leave her by herself for a few days when I go to New York, I really don't want to take that chance.

Well, I guess my Hanukkah money this year will be paying for Roo's treatment. But I don't regret it, if it means she'll stay comfortable and healthy.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: Work, bleah
Current Music: Yoko Kanno - Karen