Asshole, or arthritic?

Shrapnel is going to be 17 next month, which puts him at holy christ, is he old levels for a cat (or as the vet calls it, "geriatric"). Now, as much as he is the best cat in the whole wide world and my little sweetheart, I have to admit that also at times he can be kind of difficult. Some might even say...an asshole. I don't mind, so much, as I think that little spark has kept him fat and sassy for all this time.

But it makes diagnosing him somewhat difficult. When we'd gotten back from Yellowstone in June, he was super-cranky, much like he always is when we're back from a trip. But then he kept it up and kept it up and finally we realized hmm, maybe it's something else. Turned out he'd either fallen or knocked something over on him and hurt his back. A few days' worth of steroids and he was back to full evil capacity again.

Now, though, we have to monitor his behavior to see if he's feeling bad again. Which, for a cat who has been pissy for the past decade, is somewhat challenging. So we play the game, is he being an asshole or arthritic? Or perhaps some combination thereof? We think we've figured out the right combination of meds, but who knows for sure.

One of the most annoying things about this - well, for me, I'm sure for the cat it's the back pain - is that we had to move his food and water dish to a more accessible spot. Before, we'd had his food on the bathroom counter. Classy, yes, but it was safe from the predations of the dog. Now, though, because he can't jump (or at least shouldn't. Try and tell him that he can't), we had to move it to the floor. So he can reach it, but alas so can the dog. Who has gained ten pounds (seriously) from all the cat food he's been snacking on. Trouble is, we can't catch him eating the cat's food, so we can't train him not to eat it.

*****

And in the tradition of abandoning the pets, we're off again for another road trip. This isn't the fun kind, unfortunately. A few weeks ago, The Texan and I were at a party at a gated community. We got lost on the way to the party and on the way out, discovered another reason to hate gated communities: their damn gates spring out of nowhere. We're fine, but the car has gone on to greener pastures. So we have been looking at new (and new-to-us) cars, but since we're leaving Texas in a few years once The Texan is done with school, we didn't want to spend money on a car we'd just be selling anyways.

After looking at many, many piece of shit cars and getting depressed about having to buy an over-priced car that we wouldn't need in two years, my sister came to the rescue and offered to sell us her '95 Neon for a song. Hence, we're flying out to Vegas (using frequent flyer miles, otherwise this car would be a lot more expensive), spending the night with Dust Bunny and Road Runner, then driving the Neon back to San Antonio. Through the desert, during the heat of summer. Should be fun!