as small as a world and as large as alone, So… Fey has been lying in front of the oxygen...

4:01am September 30, 2014

$So… Fey has been lying in front of the oxygen concentrator a lot lately, because it’s the warmest spot on the house. But even putting down my clothes for her to lie on, it’s obvious that she feels stiff when she gets up. Sometimes she even walks sideways a little bit before she gets her balance. She’s fifteen years old and her joints have to be getting a little creaky, in addition to the painful nerve damage she’s had in her left back leg since she was little. So I bought her this cat bed. It’s heavily padded, which is one plus, I hope it makes her less stiff than the floor. The other thing is that it plugs in. And it has a thermostat. And it always keeps the temperature 15 degrees hotter than whoever is sitting inside it. So it warms up past her body temperature and heats her from below. I am hoping she figures this out soon. This is the first time I have seen her lie in that bed at all. I put a used shirt of mine in it because she likes old clothes of mine to lie on, and I sprinkled some catnip right in the middle because she usually finds that irresistible. But her response to the catnip was to bite me in the leg as hard as she could before running away looking like a massive grumpy stick. I think it was ¼ “You put the catnip where I couldn’t reach it without going where I didn’t want to go,” and ¾ “You’re really fucking condescending to think you ought to persuade me to try this bed, when I’ll do it in my own fucking good time thank you fucking very much <CHOMP> <CHOMP> <CHOMP> <RUN-AWAY>.” And yes I think she’d be about that foul-mouthed if she could talk. She’s certainly sworn at me before by shitting dead center on my pillow. You can’t tell me that’s not swearing. The thing is, I really want her to know that the bed is heated, and the only way for her to know that is to lay in it for long enough for that to take effect, and that takes time. I also want her to know it’s soft and cushy and probably much better on her sore bones than the floor is. But mostly I want her to know it’s heated. And for that, she has to actually use it. She once took three months to even sit on a new cat bed, so I was trying to speed things up a bit by associating it with what she likes. But she (somewhat rightly) perceived that as manipulation and got furious with me. Especially since she’s older than me and by all rights ought to be the one telling me what to do, as far as she’s concerned. (And in some areas, she’s absolutely right.) And she does have age-related wisdom. Age-related wisdom has less to do with the number of years someone has been alive, and more to do with where they are in their species’ developmental lifespan. So a 15-year-old cat is way wiser than a 15-year-old human, and a 60-year-old human with a developmental disability is way wiser than a 20-year-old human without a developmental disability, and people fail to grasp both of these facts on a regular basis. Note that I’m talking about people who actually gain wisdom as they age. There are plenty of people who don’t. I’m only discussing those who do, for ease of discussion. Fey is very wise and sometimes I wish I could learn more from her. I am 34 years old, and she is 15 years old. One website tells me she is the equivalent of about 80 years old. That’s a lot of years she has on me. Cats who gain wisdom from the aging process, gain wisdom faster than humans because they die faster than humans. I suspect that humans with shorter lifespans (especially those who know from a young age that they are going to die younger than normal) sometimes experience an accelerated wisdom-gaining process as well. And I’ve found that proximity to death seems to increase wisdom in a lot of people, regardless of how that proximity is found. As long as they don’t run away from their knowledge as soon as they’ve found it, which also happens because death scares the shit out of people. And if they can put it behind them, many will. Anyway, I hope she likes her cat bed. I got it for her as a fall/winter-in-Vermont present, especially since I don’t normally have heaters on and her other option is to burrow under seven layers of blankets and curl up in my crotch. (The first time she did that, I had a dream that I was giving birth, followed by a dream about sex with a woman in a cat costume. Then I woke up, realized there was a cat in my crotch, and laughed my ass off.) I’d like her to have better options than that. I can’t wait to eventually see her stand up from being curled up in that cat bed, and see if she’s any less stiff – less walking sideways, less wobbly on her feet, etc. Because I’d love if it made her not just warm, but relaxed and comfortable and less painful and stiff overall. I know what it’s like to wake up stiff and immobile and in bad pain, and it’s not fun. I think it may even be why she’s such a grumpy stick lately. Oh and it’s machine-washable. So if she pukes on it (she pukes on her “beds” a lot, even if her “bed” is just a shirt or a piece of paper, she aims for it). So you can just unzip the lining, throw it in the wash, and zip it back on again. If this works, I might buy some heating pads designed for cats and put them in strategic locations around the house, covered in soft blankets and stuff. I know Fey hates the cold, and it’s obvious this year what a toll it’s taking on her body. Oh, and thank you Natalia. I ended up using the money you sent, to buy this bed. This is the bed I bought, for anyone interested, it’s the K&H Thermo-Kitty Deluxe Hooded Cat Bed, 4 Watts and I got a size large to be safe, because 16 inches seemed a bit small for a full-grown old lady cat with weight fluctuations (although lately she’s been losing weight and looking bony around the shoulder blades :-( the padding should do her good). It’s got 4.5 out of 5 stars from 310 ratings, so I thought I could do a lot worse than this. I am incredibly grateful to you for donating enough money that I could do something like this, because this is far more than a luxury for an elderly, arthritic cat who clearly gets stiff when she lays on the floor, even with mild padding. It has excellent reviews, but what matters is Fey’s “review”. And that she’s in it already tells me something’s right, because I got her another amazing cat bed that took her 3 months to warm up to. (It was this giant fluffy squishy thing that she came to know and love, but it took her forever.) I’m just… really excited for her, because if this works… she’ll be a lot happier. And I love the thought of not having to see her stagger sideways and limp painfully every time she gets up. But I swear she’s been an old lady cat every since she was a kitten. She’s just now got the body to go with it. TL;DR: I just bought my 15-year-old elderly cat a heated, heavily padded bed in the hopes that it will keep her more comfortable as it gets colder. I’ve already seen her staggering around sideways trying to get her balance after sleeping a long time on the floor. And someone had donated enough money to make this possible, which makes me grateful beyond belief. Everyone who has donated money or wish list items, for any reason (yes including the one of you who did it in a slightly misguided effort to end a fight with me), is an amazing person, no matter how little the donation. A few packs of gum saves me more grief than you can imagine. A book for my collection means everything. Thank you, so much, for everything, all of you.$

So… Fey has been lying in front of the oxygen concentrator a lot lately, because it’s the warmest spot on the house. But even putting down my clothes for her to lie on, it’s obvious that she feels stiff when she gets up. Sometimes she even walks sideways a little bit before she gets her balance. She’s fifteen years old and her joints have to be getting a little creaky, in addition to the painful nerve damage she’s had in her left back leg since she was little.

So I bought her this cat bed. It’s heavily padded, which is one plus, I hope it makes her less stiff than the floor. The other thing is that it plugs in. And it has a thermostat. And it always keeps the temperature 15 degrees hotter than whoever is sitting inside it. So it warms up past her body temperature and heats her from below.

I am hoping she figures this out soon. This is the first time I have seen her lie in that bed at all. I put a used shirt of mine in it because she likes old clothes of mine to lie on, and I sprinkled some catnip right in the middle because she usually finds that irresistible. But her response to the catnip was to bite me in the leg as hard as she could before running away looking like a massive grumpy stick. I think it was ¼ “You put the catnip where I couldn’t reach it without going where I didn’t want to go,” and ¾ “You’re really fucking condescending to think you ought to persuade me to try this bed, when I’ll do it in my own fucking good time thank you fucking very much <CHOMP> <CHOMP> <CHOMP> <RUN-AWAY>.”

And yes I think she’d be about that foul-mouthed if she could talk. She’s certainly sworn at me before by shitting dead center on my pillow. You can’t tell me that’s not swearing.

The thing is, I really want her to know that the bed is heated, and the only way for her to know that is to lay in it for long enough for that to take effect, and that takes time. I also want her to know it’s soft and cushy and probably much better on her sore bones than the floor is. But mostly I want her to know it’s heated. And for that, she has to actually use it. She once took three months to even sit on a new cat bed, so I was trying to speed things up a bit by associating it with what she likes. But she (somewhat rightly) perceived that as manipulation and got furious with me. Especially since she’s older than me and by all rights ought to be the one telling me what to do, as far as she’s concerned. (And in some areas, she’s absolutely right.)

And she does have age-related wisdom. Age-related wisdom has less to do with the number of years someone has been alive, and more to do with where they are in their species’ developmental lifespan. So a 15-year-old cat is way wiser than a 15-year-old human, and a 60-year-old human with a developmental disability is way wiser than a 20-year-old human without a developmental disability, and people fail to grasp both of these facts on a regular basis. Note that I’m talking about people who actually gain wisdom as they age. There are plenty of people who don’t. I’m only discussing those who do, for ease of discussion.

Fey is very wise and sometimes I wish I could learn more from her. I am 34 years old, and she is 15 years old. One website tells me she is the equivalent of about 80 years old. That’s a lot of years she has on me. Cats who gain wisdom from the aging process, gain wisdom faster than humans because they die faster than humans. I suspect that humans with shorter lifespans (especially those who know from a young age that they are going to die younger than normal) sometimes experience an accelerated wisdom-gaining process as well. And I’ve found that proximity to death seems to increase wisdom in a lot of people, regardless of how that proximity is found. As long as they don’t run away from their knowledge as soon as they’ve found it, which also happens because death scares the shit out of people. And if they can put it behind them, many will.

Anyway, I hope she likes her cat bed. I got it for her as a fall/winter-in-Vermont present, especially since I don’t normally have heaters on and her other option is to burrow under seven layers of blankets and curl up in my crotch. (The first time she did that, I had a dream that I was giving birth, followed by a dream about sex with a woman in a cat costume. Then I woke up, realized there was a cat in my crotch, and laughed my ass off.) I’d like her to have better options than that.

I can’t wait to eventually see her stand up from being curled up in that cat bed, and see if she’s any less stiff – less walking sideways, less wobbly on her feet, etc. Because I’d love if it made her not just warm, but relaxed and comfortable and less painful and stiff overall. I know what it’s like to wake up stiff and immobile and in bad pain, and it’s not fun. I think it may even be why she’s such a grumpy stick lately.

Oh and it’s machine-washable. So if she pukes on it (she pukes on her “beds” a lot, even if her “bed” is just a shirt or a piece of paper, she aims for it). So you can just unzip the lining, throw it in the wash, and zip it back on again.

If this works, I might buy some heating pads designed for cats and put them in strategic locations around the house, covered in soft blankets and stuff. I know Fey hates the cold, and it’s obvious this year what a toll it’s taking on her body.

Oh, and thank you Natalia. I ended up using the money you sent, to buy this bed. This is the bed I bought, for anyone interested, it’s the K&H Thermo-Kitty Deluxe Hooded Cat Bed, 4 Watts and I got a size large to be safe, because 16 inches seemed a bit small for a full-grown old lady cat with weight fluctuations (although lately she’s been losing weight and looking bony around the shoulder blades :-( the padding should do her good). It’s got 4.5 out of 5 stars from 310 ratings, so I thought I could do a lot worse than this.

I am incredibly grateful to you for donating enough money that I could do something like this, because this is far more than a luxury for an elderly, arthritic cat who clearly gets stiff when she lays on the floor, even with mild padding. It has excellent reviews, but what matters is Fey’s “review”. And that she’s in it already tells me something’s right, because I got her another amazing cat bed that took her 3 months to warm up to. (It was this giant fluffy squishy thing that she came to know and love, but it took her forever.) I’m just… really excited for her, because if this works… she’ll be a lot happier. And I love the thought of not having to see her stagger sideways and limp painfully every time she gets up.

But I swear she’s been an old lady cat every since she was a kitten. She’s just now got the body to go with it.

TL;DR: I just bought my 15-year-old elderly cat a heated, heavily padded bed in the hopes that it will keep her more comfortable as it gets colder. I’ve already seen her staggering around sideways trying to get her balance after sleeping a long time on the floor. And someone had donated enough money to make this possible, which makes me grateful beyond belief. Everyone who has donated money or wish list items, for any reason (yes including the one of you who did it in a slightly misguided effort to end a fight with me), is an amazing person, no matter how little the donation. A few packs of gum saves me more grief than you can imagine. A book for my collection means everything. Thank you, so much, for everything, all of you.