"Never get a cat."

[sab]

Here's some observations.

1. To LA-area folks. Have you heard this radio commercial for Mike Diamond Plumbing? Where they promise the plumber will show up on time and smell good? And/or the commercial riffs on smelling various plumbers to make sure they're not stinky? Is this a thing, now? Are angry homeowners calling to complain about the way their visiting plumbers smell? I can't imagine ever, in any circumstance, calling anywhere to complain about the smell of another human being. Much less the smell of a human being who's snaking my septic tank. I am FLUMMOXED.

2. And Edith is losing her hair. She's patchy, a little, she has one patch near her tail, on her back, and one patch on her chest, and two little ones on the top of her head. The Internet seems to think it's stress-related compulsive grooming, and she DOES smack her head a lot with her feet. Should I be worried? Note: I cannot afford a vet at the moment, especially since the Water and Power people came and harangued me this morning for the THREE HUNDRED THIRTY DOLLARS I owe him, so the answer to the Edith question must be either a) "I'm sure she's fine," or b) "I'm a vet, here's what you should do for under ten bucks."

3. To Do: DS9 ficathon, Mary Sue novel (done, because I rock), Jed/Leo, Paris/Kim, wish there were Voyager seasons beyond S2 torrented somewhere. Meanwhile, selenak comes home in two days. Be STILL MY NARN HEART!

Comments

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

If Edith is not only losing her hair but also getting big rough bloody scabs over the bald spots, and especially if the bald scabby areas are concentrated around her face, that would suggest a food allergy, and there are special cat foods you can buy that will not set off food allergies.

However, if she is only losing her hair and doesn't have scabs in the bald spots, that would not suggest a food allergy. In that case, I would go with the "stress-related compulsive grooming" idea and unless you can figure out what's stressing her and remove it, I doubt there's much you can do that she'd be likely to appreciate.

And I'm not a vet, but I do have lots of experience owning cats with food allergies and bizarre personality disorders.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Whew! No scabs, just sort of soft patches where she licks or smacks herself. And she seems happy, it's so hard to tell with her, she's such a bird-eating drama queen. She just flounces around talking to the walls and having patches and eating birds. But she's no weirder than she's ever been, so I trust she's just her normal drama queeny self.

And, no bald areas near her mouth or face. WHEW. Thank you!

[simplystars.livejournal.com]

*comes out of lurkdom with a self-conscious wave*

Hi! My brown tabby Jack (apparently; I've never actually caught him in the act) licks his fur off too... my vet didn't say it was stress-related at all, just that some cats get into the habit of licking, even if they are clean and flea-free and perfectly healthy.

Jack just started out of the blue---I noticed he had some tiny bare spots on his hocks, and then it spread up his back legs (when I took him to the vet). He stopped over the winter (too cold?) but now that the warm weather is here he looks like he's wearing non-furry pants. All the fur on the inside of his back legs, and half of his underbelly, has been licked away.

And yet he's the happiest cat. He snoozes and plays with the other kitties and gets plenty of love and attention. He hasn't progressed to lesions, so I mostly just shrug and tell him he's weird.

Putting something icky-tasting on the lesions is a good idea, to discourage her from licking them further...I use Neosporin ointment for abcesses and things, but I don't know if she'd lick that off too?

Hope everything works out for you and Edith. :)

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Turns out she did/does have fleas. We took a bath I don't care to repeat. *g* Now she has a flea collar but she's still licked off most of her elbows and the back of her tail -- putting Neosporin on the raw areas is a good idea and I'll try that.

Thanks!

[hobsonphile.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, selenak comes home in two days. Be STILL MY NARN HEART!

Whee!

By the way, in case you haven't noticed, we've effectively crashed the auction and Vir is now in the Med Lab (and broke). Your turn. ;)

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

I did indeed. Poor Vir!

I need to coordinate with Na'Toth but we'll get Londo's ass back here just exactly in time for Selena's return. Which is to say, Wednesday the 16th, Pacific Time, at some point.

Now, do you have those caps for me? I'll totally spruce up your ghetto icons. *g*

[hobsonphile.livejournal.com]

Now, do you have those caps for me? I'll totally spruce up your ghetto icons. *g*

Er, tonight. *g* After I finish writing the wake-up post so it will be up for Se when she gets back.

Sorry, I was a little occupied with getting Vir knocked around. *g* Which reminds me: Say, do you think you guys could get the rumor spread around that Vir successfully KO'ed a technomage who was much bigger than him? Because Vir's not going to remember that part and I think it would be cute to confuse him. *g*

Oh, and also: Scolding Vir for going off on his own is a definite must. *g*

OOC about coordinate...

[natoth.livejournal.com]

Sab, if you have any precise plans concerning rescue damned Londo's ass, e-mail me, please... Because citizen Na'Toth will get involved in serious fight soon .... if to put it mildly...

Re: OOC about coordinate...

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Turns out I do have at least one plan, I will e-mail you right now.

[hobsonphile.livejournal.com]

Kayness- the caps you requested are here.

And if you're on tonight, give me a buzz on IM.

[ropo.livejournal.com]

You've written a Mary Sue novel? Cool! Fandom or non?

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, no, sadly, no. Man, I wish. *g*

I'm freelance editing a novel for publication, written by a chick in Orange County. It is a knock-down-drag-out Mary Sue, but once I make her fix that (and we concoct a "plot" of some sort) we'll be in business. I just sent her notes on the first fifty pages, is what.

Trust me, you woulda heard a LOT more noise from this corner if I were writing/had written my OWN damned novel. I'm having a big day when I add one sentence and delete two on the current fic.

I'm thinking of making an LJ community for LEGITIMATE slackers only. No one with a day job is allowed to join, nor anyone with any sense of self-motivation or any sort of ability to finish projects. Then once we've rounded up the true complete fuckwits among us, we can smack each other around and, like, make one another finish our projects and, like, get jobs. Or just complain a lot about our inability to get anything done (because FRIENDS is on, DAMN IT). What do you say? *g*

[ropo.livejournal.com]

See, I'd join, of course. But the problem is, that once people got their asses kicked and did something with their lives, they'd have to leave the community. *g*

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Well, no worries, I'm too much of a slacker to actually get off my ass and create the community, so, moot point. *g*

Moo point, as Joey Tribbiani would say. "It's, like, a cow's opinion. It's moo."

[sorlklewis.livejournal.com]

If one was a semi-legitimate slacker, say, they had a job, but could NEVER finish anything... would that count for anything?

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Nope. *g* Well, wait. If you've been at your current job for less than six months, and plan on leaving (or being "asked" to "leave") within a year, I suppose you can join the fuckwit brigade. But for the most part it's TOTAL FUCKUPS ONLY! No one with even moderate success may apply! Those with their shit together will be shunned! SHUNNED, I say!

[hobsonphile.livejournal.com]

What if you're totally underachieving based on your school record? Because I have two jobs, but they're low wage jobs in office work and retail. And I'm a fucking member of Phi Beta Kappa, god damn it! Oh, and have I mentioned that my credit rating is in the toilet?

[thedorkygirl.livejournal.com]

Poor Edith! It does just sound like she's a little stressed out. Is she able to find small birds, reptiles, and rodents to eat, or has there been a shortage? She could stressin' over that. :-D

I'm sure she's fine, though!

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

She just had a bird yesterday, her first bird in several days. And it was a pretty small one, besides. Maybe it's bird deficiency!

[thedorkygirl.livejournal.com]

Last night, Alice kept trailing after me and mewling. Generally, I ignore her when she does that, because it just means that she wants to stand upon my shoulders.

Later, I was walking, and I saw something on the floor. I gasped -- I thought it was my retainer! and (gross factor, but, honestly, I was going to get that thing in somanycleaners) considered picking it up with my toes. However, I decided against it, and kicked it aside instead, getting ready to pick it up.

It was furry.

Alice, you see, loves to play with mice. When they die and no longer play, she gets bored. And so leaves them. Where ever.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Edith hasn't left a corpse yet, except for the tailless lizards. She's rightly part Cherokee, she eats every part of the buffalo. Beak to feet.

The feathers, of course, are another matter, and are EVERYWHERE.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Hee, what radio station have you been listening to? That's just unbelievably bizarre, although no weirder than the commercial I just saw for some sort of money management company with two cats in English Gilesishy glasses talking on a picnic blanket!

And, is it possible that Edith has fleas? There are evil fleas out here, and she may be allergic to them! There's a decent, and not terribly expensive vet on Sunset up by East Wind (Sunset Animal Hospital). I've called them before to ask what's wrong with my cats, and they like you to bring them in, but they'll generally tell you what they think is wrong:)

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Dude, I get this stinky plumber commercial all the time, right in between Robin's Brothers engagement rings and, you know, Sit'n'sleep will beat anyone's advertised price or your mattress is FREEEEEE!

I am listening to, without fail, KZLA, LA's Country Music Radio Station, 93.9. *g*

And I don't see a single flea. And I usually SEE when she has fleas. She's just LICKING like a madwomancat. It's deeply bizarre. Now she has a bald spot on her elbow, and a RAW bald spot on her side where it's easy to reach. Poor tiny ridiculous bird-eating cat.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Poor little bird eater:( Sounds like stress. Maybe the birds are getting smarter:)

Oy, hate, hate the Robin's Bros. commercials. And honestly, who knew that so many people in Southern California were in need of both mattresses and carpet? When I found out there really was a place called Carpenteria, and that Carpeteria wasn't just a play on cafeteria I almost fell off my chair:)

That little sitnn'Sleep man is insidious. I can hear the tone of his freeeee in my head right now!!

[kaethe.livejournal.com]

My dog literally licked a lesion on her paw due to stress-related grooming/licking. The vet's prescription (aside from an antibiotic-type medicine to put on the lesion) was to pay her more attention. Apparently, some animals do this when they're bored, and playing with them/petting them/giving them something to occupy them helps.

Take this with a grain of salt, since he was talking about an over-active Lab who wants to be a lap-dog, but perhaps it will give you something to try.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Lesion! Edith has a lesion now too, on her side, where it's easy for her tongue to reach. All the other patches are harder to reach so they're just soft bald spots. I feel so bad for her, I keep hugging her and kissing her on her little bald head but she's having none of it. Just screaming and licking, screaming and licking.

Edith wants to be a lapdog too, you see. It's pure chance she's a cat, and she's not thrilled about that at all, except for the bird-eating part.

[pene.livejournal.com]

we had Muffy at our place with stress related I miss my mother scratching and licking. the vet gave her antibiotic things and iodine to put on the lesions - looks ugly but stops them getting infected. but she didn't really get better until the stress was gone.

trying to think like Edith... does she have enough socks to disguise the food bowls? is Furb trying to eat before she gets to? has Furb stopped loving her? does she get enough throwing about?

[wearemany.livejournal.com]

G is trying to think like Ed! i find this way too amusing.

anyway, the cat of my last house was totally a self-destructive teenage girl with the being left alone and how by her momma and how it correlated to her licking holes in her side. first she'd lick off the fur, and then she'd keep licking until it was bloody and awful. she was acting out in a serious way. if she could have slammed something, she would have.