Again with the "whew"

So Bagheera's more or less fine. A persnickety old beast, as usual, but he's speaking to me again, so that's good. The lump on his leg? Not a tumour, nor an extra testicle, or nest of hatching tropical spiders, or alien life form....but a fat deposit. Which may or may not need to be removed, depending on whether it grows any more. However, he also needs some work done on his teeth - major cleaning, possible extractions, good times; he has very, very dry skin; and he (duh) needs to go on a diet. To add to the indignity, Mr.Q has started calling him "Lumpy."

The diet thing is complicated by the fact that he needs lots of fatty acids to deal with the dry skin. (Also, the vet was concerned about how we would manage to put one cat on Weight Watchers when there are two others in the house. I laughed. Have you seen the size of these beasties? Guess who're all going to Kitty Craig after Christmas!)

So they all get sardines for breakfast, and dry food at night. I tried out the sardines this morning, to see how they'd like 'em. They like 'em. (The smell gives me flashbacks to a high school play, Noises Off, that I did props for in Grade 11, but there's more than enough booze in the house to deal with that.)

We have to take him back in February to get his teeth done, at which point (since he'll already be under anaesthetic) they can also remove the lump. (The receptionist mentioned that she thought Feb was their "dental health" month, which would mean a discount....here's hoping!) In the meantime, the vet gave me some stuff for Bagheera's skin. I didn't really ask questions, I just wanted to get home - I was pretty traumatized by the drive there, and Bagheera was pretty traumatized by the thermometer.

But when I went to apply the stuff last night, I had a look at the package. And I have to say, I think I really like this vet. He was efficient, thorough in his explanations, gentle with the cat and human both....and the goop for Bagheera's skin is all natural essential oils and the like. No icky chemicals or steroids. I like that.

Returning the rental car was about as much fun as picking it up...yay Translink! (NOT.) It's dumping snow again, and we're supposed to go to a friend's for dinner tonight. I hope we can make it there (and home!) or otherwise we're going to be eating a whole banoffee pie between us for supper.

(Note to fambly members who also make this dessert - I'm trying it with raspberries instead of bananas, and I cooked the milk in a saucepan, instead of boiling the cans...a little tedious, but it seems to have worked well - and without the fun of exploding cans!)

I just really, really hope we can make it out to Sis's tomorrow for dinner! You know the roads are bad when you have to give a 2-hour window for arrival at the end of a 1-hour trip. ("We'll be there...I dunno...somewhere between 2:00 and 4:00? I hope?") Good times. Meanwhile...while I wait for the filling in the pie to cool, I'm going to do a wee bit of tidying, and then spend the afternoon in my PJs picking out a sassy sock pattern.

Merry Christmas Eve, all! Stay warm and safe!