My mom and brother's poor kitty did not make it. It is just so sad. The vet is going to run some tests to try to find out what the poison was.

Here were his symptoms:

Mouth Ulcers
Yellow drool
Loss of motor skills
Diarhea
Vomiting
Vacant expression
A lot of hissing.

My mom fed him one of the catfoods brands that had some recalls but immediately switched the food during the recalls. Her vet and the pet store guy told her it was fine though, so she recently switched back. She had not thrown the nearly full bag away so when she switched back, it was to the original bag.

Also, she just got a new air conditioner and it gathers water in a tray under it. Maybe there was some kind of chemical in that water and he drank some.

Another possibility is that he likes to eat plastic and my brother's toys.

Obviously, this is a tragic event for a 10 year old boy to go through. I just feel as bad for him as I do for his kitty. I hope we can pin point the substance to ensure the safety of the other cat in the house. A rescue that my mom brought home just a coule of months ago.

Sad Developments at Home and Abroad

No news on my brother's cat yet. We should find out early today the extent of damage to his kidneys. My brother is pretty upset, obviously. My mom and I took Joe in to see the cat, Max, yesterday and Max was in pretty rough shape. The ulcers in his mouth are obviously causing a lot of pain.

And in other disturbing news, Osama Bin Laudin's 27 yr old son, Omar, just married a senior citizen from Britain. I think I speak for pretty much every one here when I say WTF???

What kind of crazy news is this? Despite Omar's difficulty in getting around via airplanes and pretty much any other travel method, the 51 year old grandmother, who happens to have Multiple Sclerosis, is hoping he will come to Britain...and leave his other wife and child at home, I am sure.

Marvelous.

The Best Reason I Can Think Of Not To Look after Someone's Pet For Them

So the worst thing ever is happening right now. My mom and little brother are on vacation and I have been stopping by every other day to feed their cats and water their plants. I noticed a few days ago that one of her cats was even grumpier than his usual self but I chalked it up to him missing my mom and Joe. Well, yesterday I went over to the house to feed them and he was sick sick sick. He was drooling and his eyes were glazed over. He was lying in the bath tub and he was soaked from the dripping faucet. The cat was totally out of it.

I rushed him to my vet and they put him on an I.V. He has kidney damage but they won't know until tomorrow what the extent of the damage is. He actually might not pull through!

My mom and brother have come home early from their vacation and my brother is pretty upset that he can't see him. Honestly, though, the cat looked so bad yesterday, it would not be a good idea for my brother to see his beloved furry companion like that.

I am really hoping the poor kitty pulls through. My brother will be crushed if he doesn't. Plus my track record isn't looking too good in his eyes. The last time they went on holiday one of his fish died.

Crazy Day in Toronto

The bf and I sure made the most out of yesterday! We woke up at 6:00am and were handing out fabric shopping bags for the condo promotion by about 8am. We handed out about 3600 by noon. We did some produce shopping at the St. Lawrence Market and then headed back to the condo. We changed, gathered up Stella and all of her toys and travel items, then headed to Mark's parents for Mark's grandmother's (or nanna as the family calls her, that is so cute) birthday. She turned 94. We arrived there for 3:30pm.

The company and dinner was excellent, as usual. Mark's parents always go out of their way to accomodate my vegetarian lifestyle. Mark's uncle's partner was the head pastry chef at The Old Mill before he retired and he makes the most amazing cheesecake and berry sauce, which he serevd yesterday. Unfortunately cheesecake does not like me very much so I could only have a forkful. Oh so yummy!!

We left Mark's parents house at 7:45pm. We fed and dropped off Stella at the condo then left for our friend's house. We arrived there at about 8:45pm. My friend and I drank Shandy's on her balcony while Mark fixed a chair for her.

We finally arrived home at about 1:00am. We played with Stella for just a bit before I promptly passed out by 2:00am! What a fun day!

Outsourcing to India and Other Fun Workplace Trends

The Internet blocker is back up at work so until I am given access to the code, I will be miserable and very, very bored. All of my fun duties involve my Internet tasks. I have said this before but it was in a post long, long ago so I don't feel completely redundant in repeating it; I find it very ironic that the Internet blocker is designed to keep us employees focused on our work and not surfing for personal interests, yet the blocker has blocked most of the sites I need to complete my tasks while at the same time left me access to this, my personal blog.

Ah well, I have bigger things to worry about than my workday boredom. For example, my mother lost her job on Friday because her company decided to outsource her position to India. This is happening to a lot of people in a lot of companies but I thought my mother would be safe because she is a technical writer. It simply did not occur to me that positions involving written communications would be well suited to India. Maybe they write the documents in their own language and then have it translated....

Anyway, I am sure my mother will find something soon. She is very good at what she does and pretty resiliant. If not, well, why not just pack up the family and move to India? I hear they are hiring like crazy over there...

My Boyfriend Cut His Finger Doing Laundry.

Way back..waaaaay back I mentioned that my boyfriend cut his lip with a plastic spoon. I also tattled about the time he cut his tongue on a stick of gum. Well, he has officially topped himself. Last night my boyfriend cut his finger doing laundry.

He swears that this is not a pathetic ploy to get laundry on the list of chores better left to me but I am not convinced. See, he is still maintaining his innocence regarding poop patrol. In case you all missed that post, when we first brought home our Boston terrier puppy, Stella, my boyfriend threw up when he had to clean up a particularly potent smelling present Stella had kindly left for us. I immedately jumped to the conclusion that my boyfriend was trying to ensure that this nasty chore became the sole duty of me. Even though that was months ago, we still argue the authenticity of his girly reaction to puppy poop patrol.