Friday farewells and felines

This morning I visited the woman I used to tutor to give her a parting gift -- I'm heading to Madison and she and her family will be relocating to Mexico sometime next year -- and to have a cup of coffee. We had a pleasant conversation, joined by her son who is in the fourth grade. I first met him when the Bookmobile went to the HeadStart where he was then enrolled, and it was through that contact that I eventually met his mother and became her tutor.

Then Tom and I managed to get the cats into their carrier and over to the vets. Cassidy whined loudly the whole way, which was unusual. Sundance is normally the chatty one and Cassidy is quiet. At any rate, we got their shots updated and they  have their certificate to show that they are now ready to move to the Madison apartment. 

We also discovered that Sundance is suffering from hyperthyroidism. She has been losing weight for some time and asking for food constantly. We will first try treating it with pills -- so much fun! -- and then move on to other options if that fails to work. She is of an age that the vet agreed surgery would most likely not be the way to go, although it is a common procedure. We are hoping we can get her to ingest the pills by hiding them in her food. I say "hoping" because this trick failed when we tried it in the past.

Despite the constant complaints on the way to the vet, once we arrived the cats were both on their best behavior; and we heard not a mew out of them on the way home. Sundance has been a little leery of us, however, having been shot once and then stuck again to draw blood for the thyroid test. It looks like she is about ready to forgive us. At least she is willing to share a bed.