George & Janice: (10/13/12) Penny Lane is no More

Meet Ridley.

Despite the vet checking the cat out, nobody noticed the teeny weenie, umm... weenie... until Ridley was mid-procedure to clean out his abscess on his hip/tail.

The appointment at the vet's went very well. We go to O'possum Pike Vet Clinic near TJ High School. We were thrilled that Ridley could see Dr. Yau, who is our regular vet for our girls.

Ridley was amazingly cool with the whole process. He let the vet hold his paws and check his claws, his eyes, his ears, etc. The only thing he objected to was the thermometer up his bum, but who wouldn't object to that? Dr. Yau discovered one tick on Ridley so he gets a three month treatment of meds for that. He also got a shot of antibiotics that lasts for two weeks in his system. His teeth are in great shape with minimal tartar buildup, which surprised me because of his inconsistent diet for the last few months. Dr. Yau told us that Ridley is between five and six years old, much older than we'd initially believed. He did have an abscess that was probably sustained while fighting with another cat. We had to leave him there overnight so he could be ready bright and early for his procedure.

I got a call the next day at work and was told that Ridley was doing well, was awake and that the spot was cleaned out and didn't look too bad. He also had worms, so we dealt with that, although it was no surprise. I was then told that we would have to change his name because of cat was a boy! I wanted George to name this kitty because I had named Maggie and Rose came with her name, so it was his turn. I did reserve veto power in case he wanted to name the poor cat something ridiculous like "Mr. T." or anything that sounded like an American Gladiator castmember. George picked "Ridley" because of the endangered Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle. It is unusual, but not weird, so now the kitty has a name.

He is a completely sweet lunatic. He has slept next to George or on my chest or lap in bed nearly every night. He has not had a single litter box accident, except for one mis-aim, so we got a box with higher sides. He has not "horked" up his food, but he is a gobbler to the extreme so we feed him pieces at a time and make him eat slowly. He climbs the inside of my screen door and gets stuck at the top and screams until you come get him. He loves Sutter and the two of them spoon each other in our bed and Sutter licks him. He is completely food obsessed and wants whatever I am eating, regardless of what it is. He is adjusting well to the girlies and we are only having a hiss-and-spit-fest maybe once every other day, usually around mealtimes. Enjoy the pics of our new boy!