I thought I'd given up nursing

But apparently, once a nurse always a nurse.

I was looking forward to the weekend. Saturday to clean and organize, and Sunday to take it easy - maybe go to the beach.

I pretty much got through Saturday, although the heat and humidity stopped me from completing all the tasks I had lined up for myself. By evening I was ready to wash the floors, which meant pitching all the animals out on the back terrace so they wouldn't walk all over the wet floors. For some reason, an animal that has been sleeping on the pet sofa for hours will suddenly wake up when I'm washing the floors and decide that it needs to stroll through the house, into the kitchen, and check its food dish...leaving paw imprints on the nice clean floor.

There was a whole ordeal with Loco over being put outside, but it all boils down to what I've already posted - he is scared of the dark. Let's just say by the time I finished mopping the floors and dealing with Loco that I was a) very sweaty, and b) quite ticked off.

About that time the mechanic showed up to give me the bad news that the golf cart needs a new generator - AGAIN! Serves me right for putting in a used one the last time - I played the odds and lost. And so we are once again without a golf cart for who knows how long this time?

Sunday morning I woke up to find Miguel sick with a fever and stomach disorder. I took his temperature and plied him with cold liquids and Motrin. And then I took a good look at Minina, as something about her face didn't seem quite right. Oh my gosh - her left eye was bulging and occasionally it rolled up and away. Geez - I knew this was a medical emergency, but since it was Sunday I could not reach the vet.

Minina could not close her eye so I found a tube of cat eye ointment from a previous eye infection that someone had and decided to use that to lubricate the eye. Minina does not like any sort of medication, and she fought me so hard with the ointment that I ended up shooting most of it all over her face and none in the eye itself. I scooped some off her face and put it on my finger and then into her eye. I tried to massage the lid closed as she was unable do so.

Then I walked to the store and bought some aspirin, cold drinks, and a popsicle for Miguel and told him to get busy drinking to flush out his system. Miguel always bundles himself up when he has a fever, so I ordered him to remove his clothes and stay uncovered. And a little while later, when his temperature went even higher (up to 102 F (39 C)), I told him to get into the swimming pool as the cooler water would be like a sponge bath and would help bring down the fever. He complained that he didn't have any energy, but Nurse Sue was in no mood and he gave in (and almost immediately felt better). After that he laid in bed under the fan and then took a long nap. I spent the afternoon going from pool to hammock and back again, with only one annoyance being Luna, who was whining because she wanted to get up in the hammock with me. I allowed Luna to join me until we both got too hot, and then she settled on the cool tiles under the sink and left me in peace.

All the tactics worked for Miguel - by evening the only lingering issue, other than a slightly elevated temperature, was the stomach problem. I took a taxi into town to pick up some pepto-bismal and more aspirin. Today Miguel is feeling much better.

Smokey was scheduled for spay surgery today, so by 10 pm last night I had to round up all the food dishes and bags and empty the water dish so Smokey's stomach would be empty. Of course that meant that everyone else had empty stomachs too, and this morning they were all sitting by the empty food dishes looking at me as if to say "hey, what gives here?".

I called Delfino at 8:30 am this morning to tell him about Minina, and at 9:30 he arrived at the house. "It's very serious", he said. Yes, I know - the left side of her face seems paralyzed. She cannot close her eye, and her ear doesn't seem to move. Bell's Palsy? Didn't know cats could get it but Delfino is in agreement that this seems to be what Minina has, and the eye ointment was the right thing to do. Delfino will return later today with some medication for Minina - antibiotics, steroids, and vitamins - an injection he has already warned me will hurt. Poor Minina - she has had a tough few weeks.

Miguel had Bell's Palsy last year so he knows what Minina is going through - and stress seems to be part of the cause. I hope she will recover as Miguel did but there are no guarantees. I swear - I have never had so many animals with such problems before in my life. A neurotic dog afraid of the dark, and now a stressed-out cat with facial paralysis.

And Smokey? Well, she went with Delfino this morning and I am hoping she will be just fine with her surgery. But past experience tells me I'll have a few stressful days trying to keep Smokey from pulling out the stitches and from running and jumping. I am supposed to go to Canada on Thursday and it would be a lot easier to go if everyone would just get better!

On a lighter note, while googling 'bell's palsy feline', I came across this 'diet' regime and thought it was worth sharing. Anyone living with a cat will relate:

Cats