After dragging in late at night from a two-day trip, Nefreet was ecstatically happy to see us. She raced around the house like she had a rocket up her butt.

I was denied the night's sleep I so desperately needed when Nefreet had a nightmare or an anxiety attack at 2 am and came crying and scratching at the bedroom door. I had to get up to soothe her and get her settled on the sofa again.

All the other moggies were happy to see me, too, except for the taking pills part. Happily, Querida is done with the anti-biotics and she has bounced back very nicely. She was even playing with a piece of paper yesterday. This is the first time in weeks she's felt that well.

Owl is coming along on using his leg, though I suspect he'll be left with a significant limp. It's taking forever for the hair to grow back and it's growing back in an odd patchwork of dark and light areas. Now that he's getting anti-histamines regularly, he's stopped pulling out the fur on his back. I may have a nice looking Siamese again in a couple of months.

Thanks to the excellent suggestion from a Moggyblog reader, I purchased a dematting tool and am slowly working my way through the thick tangles of Theseus' fur. His hair defies even this gadget, but it works better than anything else I've tried.

I love it. I told N. how much Artemis loves to drink from flowing water, so she has already purchased one of those cat fountains with a running stream of water. I think Artemis is about to be royally spoiled.

My life is about to undergo a major change, as I am moving at the end of February. I'm going from owning a house to renting, which means that moving with the entire Horde is a big, big challenge.

Randy's sister, N., very much wants to have a cat, so she is going to adopt Artemis. As much as I love the Princess of Thumbs and will miss her, I think this will be an excellent move for everyone. N. loves animals and will pamper Artemis. Artemis will get personal attention, have all her needs looked after, will be put on a diet, and will no longer be bullied and harrassed by Blue. And I will have one less cat to move.

N.'s sending me money for a full set of vaccinations ahead of time and the changeover isn't taking place until mid-Feb. We talked for an hour last night going over every little detail of grooming, claw clipping, food, water, cat box, cat litter, how far Artemis can jump (not very) and so on.

I have no doubt Artemis will be a much happier cat once she adjusts to the change, and Bast knows she needs to have help with her weight. Plus, since she's going to a family member, I'll still get to see her from time to time, and will always know how she's doing.

Nefreet is already eating dry food again and is clearly feeling better. Thank Bast! I think I've avoided dental surgery on this one.

Not so sure about improvement in Querida, though. She's still drinking a lot of water. The old girl doesn't do much these days except sleep.

I ran out of Fancy Feast to give to Nefeet, so I had to open a can of the regular 9 Lives food that I give to the rest of the Horde. But noooooo, that's not good enough for the Princess of the Universe. She turned up her nose and walked away. Guess we'll see just how hungry she gets before she lowers her standards.

I decided to put the pot of grass on the floor for Owl. I brought him over, made the introductions and Owl wasted no time. He began to graze like a herd of cattle. Ten minutes later, he threw up a *huge* pile of grass. Happy cat. The natural order is restored. Yeesh.

I was jolted from sleep by the phone. My pettersitter was working at the vet's this morning. Her worried voice said, "What's wrong with Nefreet?" I explained. "We can get her in at 8:40." I looked blearily at the clock. I could just barely make it. I threw on clothes, stuffed a quick breakfast down my gullet, eased Nefreet into the carrier and headed off into a mist-enshrouded morning.

As I came down the mountain pass toward Oakhurst, there was a sight I never see, mainly because I'm rarely on the road at that hour -- a river of fog had flowed into the valley and completely hidden the town from view.

It took the vet and an assistant to hold Nefreet still for a tooth exanination. Nefreet was actually quite good until the vet had to really start probing. Sure enough, she has either a root abscess or maybe a fractured tooth. We're trying a course of strong anti-biotics first. If that doesn't work, we'll have to take out the tooth.

Oh, goody. Querida just threw up a big hairball, which means she probably threw up all the pills I gave her an hour ago.

I had planned for a short visit to town this afternoon because I needed to have Querida checked out. She's been drinking far too much water, plus there were the worrisome results that showed up on the tests the vet in Fresno did two weeks ago.

They were running behind, so I waited a long time. Then they needed 40 minutes to get the results on the blood test. I left the poor girl there (she *hates* being put in a carrier) and did a whole batch of errands, by which time it was late in the afternoon. Then I waited some more and had a wonderful chat with a mirror image of myself -- a woman with 12 cats. We exchanged war stories and vet stories. I told her about the chicken feed cat litter and the Nature's Miracle anti-allergen liquid, both of which were of enormous interest to her. And I got a big, sloppy kiss from a sweet Labrador.

Querida has a bladder infection that may also be affecting her kidneys. Or she could have other kidney trouble (such as a tumor). She has borderline pancreatitis which is affecting her blood sugar. No more canned food for her. She's on heavy-duty anti-biotics in the hope that this will clear up the full range of problems.

We've been worried about Nefreet, trying to figure out what's going on with her. The past couple of days, I noticed she made an odd noise when she went to eat. Tonight, she tried to eat a piece of dry food and made a growling-pain-complaint noise which told me she must have something seriously wrong with her mouth. Maybe a bad tooth. She doesn't seem able to eat the dry food and it's possible her bad temper of late is a combination of being hungry and having pain in her mouth. I gave her some canned food which she inhaled.

And I left a message for the vet's to see if they can get her in tomorrow. They're only open half a day on Sat. and usually booked solid, but I must get her looked at.

One damn thing after another.

I brought a large pot down to the office and planted a crop of wheat grass. It's amazing how quickly that stuff germinates. After only a few days, the grass has sprung up a couple of inches. I figured in another couple of days, it might be tall enough to put the pot on the floor and let Owl chomp on it.

Untl this afternoon, when I looked over and realized that Puck was taking a nap on it. Sigh...

I removed him and I think the grass is recovering from the shock of being a moggy mattress.

I've come to the conclusion that there is absolutely only one thing I can do about Theseus as winter approaches -- shave him. I swear, in no time he'd have a thick growth of fur again, but it might keep it from turning into this solid mass of dreadlocks that is, quite literally, impenetrable. Neither wire brush, nor comb, nor scissors -- *nothing* can unknot this mess. I despair.

Diva has taken to scratching raw spots on her head and neck again. She periodically gets into this skin or allergy problem, whatever it is. I've put her back on the anti-histamines and hope that will do the trick.

Puck has been quite a lover boy lately. He's been spending a lot of time in my lap. After lunch the past couple of days, I've let Puck come inside into the back hallway (pantry/laundry room combo), then Randy comes back there to give Puck a bunch of love and scritchies. Puck has a lot of the qualities that Uni had, so it's helping Randy get over the loss. If it weren't for Nefreet Psycho-Kitty, we'd let Puck become a house cat, but she even tries to attack him through the glass doors.

The ants discovered Nefreet's food the other day. Her bowl was covered with them. They had come in from below the house, up through a window in the living room, through the spider-plants, through the living room, through the dining room and to the kitchen. Determined little buggers. Her bowl now has a moat around it.

Owl is coming along well. The leg remains somewhat wobbly, with the knee and foot at slightly odd angles, but he's walking around fairly well, albeit it with the limp. He's been quite interested in getting outside. I'm afraid his outside days are over. I know he mainly wants to eat grass and throw up, so I've started a big pot of oat grass for the office. That should make him happier.

I'm worried about Querida (who will be 17 next month). She's been drinking a lot of water for the past few days, enough to be a sign of something going on. I also noted that she's walking far back on her hind legs. Both of these things together could indicate diabetes, and when she was checked a couple of weeks ago, the vet did find a rather elevated blood sugar. Since stress can also cause that, he couldn't be sure if meant anything. Then there were the indications of possible kidney problems. I've just finished weaning her off the Prednisone which may or may not be affecting things. I suspect Querida may be in for another trip to the vet very soon.

A mournful way to welcome the New Year, perhaps, but I've added a photo of Uni's grave to his webpage.