Decorations blather, Bujold, and cat question.

[jedishampoo]

We have a tree, yay! And finally I have the lights up in the front of the house. You can definitely tell that a GURL did it. It looks like crap, and nothing is fastened. One stiff breeze will bring them all down for people to trip over. But since our main front-door visitors appear to be those people who stick ads into our door and hang ads from our doorknob, I don't feel too badly about this.

What's cool though is that sharpeslass's parents went to England, and we now have chocolate Star Wars figurine ornaments for the tree (foil on the outside, fattening on the inside) and a Star Wars chocolate advent calendar. And Hallmark ornaments a-plenty.

Bujold: Thought I should finally read Hallowed Hunt, so to re-acquaint myself with the world I re-read the entire Vorkosign series. See the inherent problem? Two totally different universes. But hey, Sharpeslass was watching BAD BAD Adam Baldwin movies. I had to read something. Having some trouble getting into Hallowed Hunt, though. I'll need to sit down and try again.

Cat question: sharpeslass's holiday trip and my holiday trip overlap. Think a cat would be all right alone for five days? The cat is 15 and high-stress anyway, so boarding would probably just send her over the edge.

I need to write. Anybody want anything written?

Comments

[bquinlan.livejournal.com]

My first suggestion would be to call your vet and ask them what they think about leaving your cat alone for that long.

Is your cat used to eating everything in the bowl when fed? Or does she browse when hungry? If the former I wouldn't chance five days unattended. If the later you might be able to get away with it.

If you do decide to leave your cat alone for that long you should check with your vet about the minimum amount of water your dispenser needs to hold. And get a self-cleaning litter box if you don't already have one.

Do you have anyone who could look in to see how she's doing once or twice?

[slyvermont.livejournal.com]

Five days seems too long. We've gone 3, but for anything longer we get someone to come in and give her food and water, and clean the litter box.

[rosiewook.livejournal.com]

I will let the experienced cat people give you advice.

As for Bujold? I had a little trouble getting going on Hallowed Hunt, too. But once you get in, you'll love it. Keep plugging away.

[beellegee.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with everyone else concerning the cat. Five days completely alone, especially for an elderly citizen like you have there, is too long. You're best option is to have someone come in once or twice a day just to check on kitty and take care of basic needs.

I need to write. Anybody want anything written?

You know when you fling an offer like that out in the open, you're going to get all kinds of riff raff sniffing around. I would love to see a new Obi/Ani fic. Something where they're out in the field, working on a mission together. Slash optional. *winks*

[knitress.livejournal.com]

You have Star Wars Chocolate. I must kill you.

[dm-lunsford.livejournal.com]

Okay, I am totally envious about the SW chocolate, but I will not allow that to persuade me to withhold feline advice.

Five days is a long time, especially if you've never left the cat alone for long periods before. Of course, the main concern is food and water. They do have all kinds of nifty feeding/watering devices that can be used over extended periods of time, if you don't have someone who can come in and replenish the cat's supplies. Check with a pet store/supplier. Since the cat is older, I'm guessing it's not overly active. Meaning, she probably wouldn't go as berserk as a kitten would being left without "interaction" for that long. At the same time, I know from experience with our older cats, even though they are quite independent, they do miss that human contact when they are used to having it around.

Have you ever had to leave this cat alone for periods of time before? How did it fare? I'd say if the cat has handled it well, and if you have the food/water thing well in hand, it should be okay. My only other concern, with it being an older cat, is health issues. If the cat is on the up-and-up it shouldn't be a problem, but otherwise that's something to consider.

And if you don't have someone who can come and check on the cat, you might consider checking into pet "hotel" type businesses, as opposed to taking the cat with you. A vet or pet store can probably give you recommendations.

[bquinlan.livejournal.com]

If you don't have anyone you can ask to check in on her, look into hiring someone to do it. Having someone come to the house probably would be less stressful for her than sending her away for boarding.

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

She's a browser, thank heavens, so food and water will last. We just need to leave the toilet lid open; I give this cat fresh filtered water and yet she MUST drink from the toilet. Ew.

She's just such a freak about strangers. We have a couple people who are not quite strangers to her who we could ask to stop by, but I wonder if she'd even come out from under the bed.

Thanks for your input... :)

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, three is the most we've left her alone, and she's OK but pretty ticked when we return (mrowr! MROWR! at us for at least a half an hour). We'll probably try and get someone to stop by and at least say hello to her... I just wish she was more social...

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all your advice!

Yeah, we've left her alone for three days and she gets ticked off, but health-wise she's OK. We can't give her to anyone to keep because she's destructive and a stress case. She loses half her fur when Melinda takes her to the vet. And she's not social except with us-- like when Melinda is gone for a couple of days, she's TOTALLY needy and follows me everywhere. But if you all think having someone stop by just to be a human presence will help, then we'll do that. Poor thing; it's just that working at the same place, Melinda and I have the same seminar "downtime" and it's best to get vacations out of the way right around Christmas and New Years.

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Bwah hah hah! And it's British chocolate, so it tastes better than that American stuff. ;)

[bquinlan.livejournal.com]

Even if she won't come out to see them, I would strongly recommend that you have them check the house. Evidence of illness or other problems may be visible even if they can't see the cat.

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Well, that's good to hear about the book! One would hope that Bujold could pull it out... I remember liking Curse of Chalion and really liking the second (the Ista book) but so far this one was a little too fey... but I'd only gotten as far as the accident on the river.

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Oooh, and I had one in mind almost exactly like that... hmmmm... well, it'll have to wait until after this weekend, but then, I'll have lots of time at home alone since my roommate is abandoning me first. :)

Hope your holidays are good, dear! hang in there. :) Oooh-- e-mail me your new address. (jedishampoo at aol.com)