Fall has arrived. There are clumps of gorgeous colors so intense they almost glow. I didn't retouch these pics, if anything the photos are less vibrant. I took these on the way to Lafayette to pick Gracie up from the vet.
Just seemed like a cool shot of the trees and the sky.
Our barn and gorgeous tree. Mike wants to turn it into a painting. I think that would be kinda cool.
Strange pink berries on the way to the creek.
I can't decide if I like the red, orange or yellow leaves better, but this tree is very pretty
Pic from today. It's a rainy, drizzly, windy day out but still gorgeous.
Another pretty yellow tree
So... here's another county living lesson: Ladybug infestations. Yes... it is documented and we are not the first to experience it, but it is a first for us. Don't get me wrong, I like ladybugs, I would just prefer them in my garden and not in my house. And the really sucky part is that wasps apparently love this phenomenon. For the most part, the wasps hover outside the doors (which makes having Bo the small bladdered wonderpuppy somuchfun) but one did manage to find his way inside and had to die.
Gracie.
She was getting worse and not better and the vet bill was climbing. The diagnosis is still mixed and I wasn't ready to just give up and have her put down. The only difference in treatment between theirs and mine was the bag of fluids they were putting into her so I decided to bring her home and take over. My plan is/was to feed her via syringe every 3 hours, which I did yesterday but haven't had to do today because each time I offered her a can of food she took an avid interest in the gravy - and that's progress. I put a full-sized litterbox in the kennel and she actually used it, but I have puppy pee pads under her in case she doesn't; she'll be drier and I can change them out if she does pee. At their office she would pee and sit there and she was developing sores on her legs because of the acid in her urine. They changed the blankets, they bathed her, but it was unusual behavior and not really helpful in the healing process. I also have the heater next to her and it blows warm air because if she is warm she won't use her energy trying to generate body heat. And I take her out and put her in my lap throughout the day when Bo isn't too riled up. I don't know if she enjoys it or not but she tolerates it and it makes me feel better.
That said, she's very weak. I took her into the bathroom with me earlier when I took a bath since it's a space I can contain her in... I wanted to let her walk around for a little while so she's not confined to the cage all day. She didn't walk much, when she did, she wobbled and her back legs gave out once. It's disheartening, but at the same time, she wasn't eating much and between the litterbox and the eating, it seems like there has been some improvement. When they would try to feed her she would drool and start to get sick so she wasn't getting much food. Since she's been home she hasn't done more than gag if I squirt food down her throat by accident (it's hard to force feed a cat). I think overall this is a better environment for her and I get to spend more than an hour a day with her which I think also counts for something (they would let me stay all day if I wanted, I just couldn't stay all day). The vet was great, very caring and compassionate, but I have all day to care for her and they have other obligations and given her propensity to be nervous in new environments I think being at home is far less stressful.
Other people have beaten this. It's mostly about the food, if you can get them to start eating on their own again, there is a good chance to turn it all around and it's like it never happened. So I'm determined to be one of those people. And I love my husband for encouraging me not to give up, for his willingness to give her more time either at the vet's or at home. It's hard not to give up sometimes. It's hard not to look at her and wonder if I'm doing the right thing or if she's suffering. But ultimately I have to try because I think she is.
