Bad Medicine

The snow is actually starting to melt here, and for the first time in a while there’s no more accumulation predicted in the forecast. That’s a great thing since the pups and I are much happier  when we have warm weather and sunlight.

Speaking of pups, my normal readers know I am at the vet’s office more often than Lindsay Lohan is in court — which is saying a lot. Yesterday was no exception. Gracie was in a scuffle with the neighbor’s dog and needed some anti-inflammatories, Charlie needed prednisone for his allergies, and Kitten needed her blood tested (follow-up for her thyroid issue).

I returned home with a bag of meds, and then I had to actually administer them.

For Gracie, they gave her a liquid which we had to give with a syringe thing … it was a disaster. Topher stuck it in one side of her mouth and just as he released it she opened her mouth and it squirted out the other side all over my face and shirt. As I’m sitting there with pink goop dripping off my cheeks Topher offered the ever-so-consoling “My bad”, and I know he is trying not to laugh, and meanwhile, Gracie has this smug look on her face saying “better you than me man”.

I was not amused.

After 3 more attempts of this, Gracie has the sticky stuff all over her face, her ears, Topher, and my shirts.  Being a mom, I should be used to this, right?  I guess I’m a little too far removed from force-feeding a reluctant toddler to be OK with my dog (and Topher) dousing me with medicine.

On to Charlie. He had to be given eyedrops and pills.

He has taken pills before and never had a problem, but I think that these either smelled bad or tasted weird because he was having none of it. I tried wrapping them in cheese, he would eat the cheese and spit-out the pill. We moved on to left over pot roast … same thing. So then we broke out the big guns: deli turkey meat.  He never turns that down, but sure enough he was on to our plan by this time, and it just sat there in front of him.

So while I turned back to the fridge to see what else I could tempt him with, kitten leaned over and ate the turkey with the pill in it!

Son of a gun!

We scrambled to try and get it out of the cat’s mouth (which freaked her, out causing her to reach over and bite Charlie for some reason). Charlie shrieked like a little girl, and looked up at me like what the heck was that?

So then I crush up the prednisone and put it in a big chunk of wet cat food, which is the end all be all for my dogs (please no lectures on this … I know).

Finally Charlie picks-up the bait and trots off! We have succeeded. Or at least we thought so until we look under the kitchen table to see that Charlie drug it under there and yes you guessed it, the cat freaking ate it. Holy cow!

Now let’s assess things:  I have an itchy-footed, drippy-eyed, cat-bitten dog who is supposed to take this pill and won’t, I have my hyperthroidistic cat taking a double dose of dog predisone, Gracie is still trotting about with a face covered in pink ectoplasm, Topher is being shamed for missing the dog’s mouth with the syringe, I’m still wearing a medicine-soaked shirt, and I think our daughter may be trying to record everything on her iPhone!

Well that call to the vet was extremely embarrassing. Yes doctor … you heard me right, the ancient cat ate the dogs pill.  Yes, and I said she also took another dose a few minutes after the first dose.  No, I didn’t give it to her on purpose.  It was an accident.  No why would I give it to her on purpose? Yes, it was an accident. Yes the second time too.

I know he was thinking we were lunatics. Luckily, since the cat actually weighs more than the dog does everything was fine, and although he was surely laughing at us the moment he got off the phone … all was well.

Can’t wait to try that whole process again tomorrow.

Speaking of ancient, (well not ancient but old) I got this desk at a yard sale last summer, and I loved the shape, hardware and the worn leather inserts on the top.

When a client was picking up her piece a few months ago, she somehow eyed this through all the hoarded pieces strewn around the garage, and she decided she must have it.

I cleaned it up, spray painted the inside of the drawers, painted the outside with ivory chalkpaint, heavily distressed it to match the inserts on top, glazed it, and coated it in clear wax.

I love how it turned out to have such character. I hope she likes it!

Before:

After: