Death will come. . .

it's just a matter of when.

*WARNING: Animal bodily functions blog*

I'm talking pets today. We have a small menagerie and most of them are geriatric, but I think the first to die will probably be Blinky, our beta fish.

Blinky is relatively new to our house; I think we bought him about six months ago. He'll be the first to die since he's been laying on his side for the past week. I've lost count of how many times I've tapped the glass only to have him swim away. He'd probably thinking, 'just leave me @#$@#$ alone!', but I tap and he moves . . . and lives.

Kato kitty is our oldest pet. He's outlived hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits. Kato is my pre-marriage cat, and almost twenty years old. Todd calls him the cat who would not die. :-) He lives a pretty good life. When we carpeted the house about two years ago, we moved him to the laundry room. 1) it's one of the warmest places in the house, 2) it's large, 3) I can feed him and keep his litter box in the same room--about five feet apart, 4) he sleeps on the dryer. Yeah, kitty heaven when I'm doing laundry--warm vibrations.

Kato pukes A LOT--even for a cat. He pukes when he drinks water, when he eats too much and then drinks water, when he's in bed, when he's using the kitty litter box--he pukes, it's what he does. If a day goes by and he doesn't puke, I'm wondering what's going on. He used to puke in our closest, until we recarpeted. Now he throws up in the tile laundry room--I Fantastic the floor and wash the extra towels and bedding I have to keep him warm.

--Speaking of which, I need to take his stuff out of the washing machine.

Some mornings I don't want to look in his little room. Today, I had to gird my loins with a stout cup of joe before I thought about cleaning up his latest mess. It wasn't totally his fault--the kidlet decided to put a bell around his neck last night and forgot to remove it. Kato decided to eat the bell. I thought he had swallowed the ribbon, but luckily not. So he puked up the bell--and to show his displeasure he decided to poop on a towel I have covering the washing machine.

*sigh* Long live the kitty that wouldn't die!

Katie is our geriatric sheep dog. I think she's turning thirteen this year. For the most part she's a good dog, though she's gotten grumpier with age. She hates having her ears plucked or her coat brushed, but suffers through it. For years she's been on thyroid meds and doing well. Two summers ago we had some issues with anal glands, subsequently removing them.

Well, about four months ago--the puking started. And it isn't hairball puke--it's disgusting!

--Yes, I have two puking geriatric pets. I thought when the kidlet got past the puking and pooping in a diaper stage, life would be smooth sailing. Uh, WRONGO!

Anyhoo, I've started feeding Katie in smaller, more frequent meals, leaving a little in her bowl--PROBLEM: the cat will eat the dog's food and then PUKE it up.

Katie's on vomiting medication and we've just increased it, but she throws up every couple of days--the toughest when we are sound asleep and we hear her starting to ralph. 1) I leap out of bed, trying to figure out where the dog is, 2) grab her by the collar to lead her to tile floor in bathroom, 3) dog uncooperative--she's trying to puke for gosh sakes!--and growly, 4) dog pukes, 5) Sheepdogs have long fur--I try to clean her mouth and try to keep her from stepping in it--dog growls, 6) dog pukes again, 7) I get the joy of cleaning up since I don't have to go to work and my dear hubster does. *sigh* Isn't the life of a stay-at-home mom just glamorous??

And our last pet, Rocky, a guinea pig. If he pukes, I don't know or care. Rocky lives in a nice sawdust-filled home. It's a large glass snake cage with a screen top. Rocky is really cute and he's my buddy. So, of course, I'm highly allergic to guinea pigs, every time I pet him, I have to scrub down.
We were looking at some old pictures the other day--getting them ready for our digital photo frames--and we found pictures of Rocky when he was a whelp, pup, or whatever baby GP's are called. Rocky is now five, almost six. Old for a guinea pig. Harry (Harriette) our last GP was seven when she died. So Rocky is a geriatric GP.

I love all my animals and it will break my heart when they die. Life keeps moving on and until they die, I'll be loving, petting . . . and cleaning up puke.

Write on!