Though my conversion to crazy cat lady was swift and complete, I did not take Sampson to the vet as soon as I got him, which was September 13, 2014. You would think my general state of anxiety would have imagined an illness for my favorite little buddy before a year had passed, but he was generally a healthy, if neurotic, cat. Vets are expensive. He's an indoor kitty, and a very well-nourished one at that. It never seemed like an urgent problem.
At Christmas, Samps had an embarrassing and ugly little cat...issue...and my sister and I decided he should go to the vet. He also has some smelly breath and needs to get his teeth cleaned. So I made an appointment earlier this month, which I thought would be quick and cost me a couple hundred dollars. During the exam, the vet kept asking questions like "Does Sampson ever run out of breath? Does Sampson ever open-mouth pant? Is Sampson more lethargic than he used to be?" This started to sound like, "Does Sampson seem like he's dying?" It turned out Sampson has a pretty bad heart murmur—on a 6-point scale, with 6 being the worst, he gave it a 4—and since we had no vet records we didn't know what caused it. The vet recommended a trip to a cat cardiologist for an echocardiogram. A couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend and I loaded Samps into a cat carrier—a process that involves a lot of treats, trickery, crying, and scratching—and drove him out to Maryland. They put him under sedation and shaved off little patches of fur and determined he has a genetic heart defect, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which has no cure and lots of cats have but is usually undiagnosed until a cat drops dead one day. For the moment, his heart is actually pretty healthy, but I also don't want him just to drop dead soon. I have to take Samps back in a year.
Meanwhile, I am out $800 and Samps still has not had his teeth cleaned or shots re-upped, but he has had better health care than what is available to what I'm going to take a wild guess and say is the vast majority of humanity.
What I'm Writing:
Lots of stuff! The latest quick hits are about paid sick leave, which the president just addressed in the State of the Union, and how low-income Americans are completely disengaged from politics.
What I'm Reading:
A government lab is killing baby lambs. A good roundup of the Tamir Rice case and how screwed up the Cleveland Police Department is. The affordable childcare system that once existed here. On the birth of a new civil rights movement. The editor of Bloomberg News makes the obvious observation that women—i.e., a little more than half the population—are involved in the kinds of issues that make the news, then takes the unusual step of forcing his reporters to actually talk to them and quote them. Eve Ensler responds to a protest over her play at Mount Holyoke—if you don't know about that fight, I'm not sure you want to. Snuggle up this weekend and read the finalists for this year's National Magazine Awards.
What I'm Watching:
American Sniper is terrible. The move Predestination is about time-travel paradoxes that does not avoid paradox troubles of its own. There is always room in my life for a good British detective series.
What I'm Recommending:
If you do not subscribe to Cook's Illustrated, it is really past time. Also, related to the aforementioned piece about a government lab's experiments on animals, here is a link to a really great farm-to-table food delivery service for those who live in the DC area.
Cute Animal Pic of the Week:
Sampson's bald patches, of course. Snapped during one of our regular belly rub sessions.
Donate!
Fell free to support this newsletter, and Samps's future vet care!, by donating here.