Minerva

You might have noticed that I haven't put up a new post since last Monday's celebration of Magic the Cat and her brother Mystic's birthday, even though I have a novella coming out Tuesday 19th and a novel February 2nd. Normally I would have been doing all sorts of promo and giveaways, as anyone who is here on a regular basis knows.

Instead, my week pretty much got swallowed up by an unexpected cat crisis.

Last Sunday, Magic and Mystic's mom, Minerva, stopped eating. If you have cats, you know this is a Bad Sign. She nibbled on breakfast, threw up a couple of times, and refused dinner altogether. At around 15 (we don't know her exact age because her previous owners dumped her at the shelter when she got pregnant, but since the kittens just turned 14, we can guess she is either 14 or 15 herself, depending on how old she was when she got knocked up), she is the oldest of my cats, and while 15 isn't elderly for an indoor cat, it ain't young either.

Minerva curled up with her kittens in happier times. She's on the right.

So Monday we went to the vet's and hung around until her vet, the lovely Doctor Baker, could see her. Blood tests and temp were fine, but an X-ray showed a severe constipation blockage. They gave her fluids and some stool softener and we went home. But the next day she still wasn't eating, so we went back and she had to have a kitty enema, fluids, and other fun stuff. (Ugh. Sorry. TMI) Plus more tests, of course. I picked her up after work and we went home again. But by Wednesday morning, she still wasn't eating or drinking, so we had to go back, and this time she was hospitalized so they could put her on an IV and give her appetite stimulants and run MORE tests. Older kitties just don't bounce back from things as well as young ones do, and her system was shutting down. It was pretty scary.

I don't feel well. Lemme alone.

 I stopped by after work on Thursday and they unhooked her from the IV so we could visit. She'd eaten a little in the morning, and then ate more for me. She also purred a lot (I'm pretty sure she was happy to see me).

By Friday afternoon, she was finally well enough to come home, with even more medicine (and a bill the size of the national debt). She spent most of the rest of the day following me around and sitting on my lap. Definitely happy to be home. Thankfully, she's been eating well ever since. Whew.

So that's what happened to MY week. I'm just happy she's home and doing okay, and I promise I'll be back to yelling about the new books as of tomorrow. (And I'm already doing it on Facebook and Twitter, at least a little bit.) I've got all sorts of fun stuff planned, so be sure to pop in and see. There are going to be giveaways here and on other blogs, and all sorts of good stuff.

In the meanwhile I'm going to do a quickie cat calendar themed giveaway to celebrate starting a new year, and throw in a copy of the new Llewellyn's Witches' Datebook (which I have some fun contributions in) just for the heck of it. Hopefully the rest of the year will be a LOT better than the last week was. Nothing but good times ahead.

To be entered, leave a comment here and I will pick a random winner Monday at midnight.

And a big thanks to all who sent their good wishes and healing energy on Facebook during this difficult time. It meant a lot to me.