Elayne Riggs' Journal (for Leah)

Friday, May 13, 2005

Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

Well, Datsa had another tooth or teeth fall out yesterday. He's had bad teeth his whole life, has had dental work three times, and still has some major periodontal problems, but at his age (either 13 or 14, I've lost count) I'm reluctant to put him under anesthesia again unless he's really in pain. For the last six months at least he's had his tongue sticking out more often than not, which in his case indicates oral discomfort. When Cat was here, he seemed to lose a bit of a tooth leaping onto a windowsill and missing, and by yesterday morning he appeared to be suffering a lot, difficulty eating and cleaning himself and so forth, so we made tentative plans to take him to the vet and somehow swallow the doubtless hefty cost again. Then mid-morning the rest of the stuff came out, and ever since then he's been the liveliest and most pain-free we've seen him in, I'd say, at least three years.

If this picture seems a bit blurry it's because he can hardly keep still for the last day or so. He and Amy have been wildly chasing each other around the house this morning. It's nice to have the old/young Datsa back again! Cats really are remarkable creatures, their bodies do tend to know how to purge pain if they're able to.

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