After two weeks of home treatments, Tobin visited the vet again yesterday for re-testing. I thought we were doing so well with his feedings — two syringes full of food, twice a day, twice the prescribed serving the doc originally suggested! Lately when I hug him, he feels so much fuller and chunkier on his sides. I was so excited to have him weighed, I thought for sure the vet would be impressed with our progress!…
Well. Turns out Tobin lost weight.
And I got his blood results back today.
No changes. If anything… slightly worse.
I feel absolutely crushed. The vets don’t seem exactly optimistic either. On his visit yesterday, one of his doctors called him “the miracle cat,” and the other commented on how remarkable it was that he was still with us… I know they meant those words in only the most positive way (his doctors are really wonderful), but STILL. It was so disheartening.
It’s just not Tobin’s time to go, it’s just NOT. He’s still so responsive and loving and still has so much life in him. When I call him, he’ll come trotting over, and he leaps on the bed to be near me. He still flails around like a big ol’ freak when I skritch his cheeks and chin. He still wudges against me every night. One of his doctors did tell me not to let the numbers discourage me too much, because the fact that he’s so sociable, and still has energy is a good, good sign. Also, he’s still eating a lot of kibble on his own accord. This is a very good thing!
The other doc says the “fuller” feeling I was getting when I hugged him is most likely because he’s not dehydrated anymore. Which is good, but not as good as him just being FAT, which would be better. (He’s at half of what he should weigh.) So, for now, we’re going to keep doing home treatments, and up his hydration. We have to keep the poisons flushed out of his system.
There’s this internet-thing going around, this “25 Things About You” thing people keep tagging me to do… I’m very boring and don’t have anything to write about myself, so I feel like writing about my sweet boy, Tobin, instead. I know this is long, so it’s okay if no one ever reads it. I just feel like writing it tonight.
* * * * * * * * * * *
1) As I’ve mentioned, Tobin was named after artist/musician Tobin Sprout. The former Guided By Voices member has been very gracious about this honor, and with every interaction, he’s made sure to say, “Give Tobin a treat for me…” Good man!
2) Tobin was born to my ex-boyfriend’s Mom’s cat in Hurst, TX, in March of 1996. It was a pretty big litter; I seem to recall about 6-7 kittens? At first, I was trying to reach out to the shyer kitties in the litter, thinking I had enough love to bring them out of their shells. But the boyfriend immediately noticed Tobin and said, “Hey, this kitty is beating up his brothers and sisters! I think you should adopt him!”
3) Sadly, Tobin’s Mom was hit by a car not long after giving birth. It’s too sad of a story to re-tell.
4) At first, I thought Tobin was a girl, but I named him Tobin anyway. I used to call him my “kitt-ress,” which stood for “kitten princess.” I know. That’s completely barfy.
5) On his first drive to his new home, I held Tobin wrapped in a towel, and he gazed up at me so serenely the entire time. We completely bonded in that 20 minute drive, and he totally stole my heart. Yes, barfy, too.
6) I got two things that night: a kitty and an answering machine. (Hey, it was the 90’s…) When recording my outgoing message, Tobin mewed pitifully in the background… The next day, my parents called, got the machine, and immediately learned I got a cat.
7) My friend Andy was the one who told me Tobin was a boy. Andy lived with his aunt and uncle on a farm with lots of barn cats, so all it took for him was one look. “Uh, see that under his tail. Those are balls, Janice.” Oh. Thanks, Andy.
7) One time, a friend came over to listen to records, but Tobin curled up on top of the lid of the record player, and promptly began to snooze. This “friend” got pissy, “Get him off of there and put on another record!” I retorted angrily, “Hey, it’s his house, too, and he’s SLEEPING.” I never invited that guy over again. Tobin’s a smart cat.
7) Another time, someone I wasn’t very fond of came to visit me. This person was sitting on the couch, sorta turned at an angle, facing me… Tobin slinked behind the couch, leapt up… dug his claws into the sides of this person’s head!!!… landed, and then sped away. As you can tell, I still remember this vividly… and with great pride.
8) The Spring 1996 issue of copacetic zine was dedicated to Tobin, back when it was a paper zine. I call him a girl in the intro, so obviously, before Andy came over.
8) Tobin and I moved to a loft a couple years later. The stairs were carpeted and open. Tobin used to spin, and spin, and spin around the steps, just twisting his body from step to step, clawing into the carpet. It was like a one-story-high cat playground.
9) When I wanted to go upstairs, I had to take off a shoe and throw it across the room. Tobin would chase the shoe, and that was my chance to run up the stairs, leaving my ankles unscratched. If I didn’t do this, Tobin would leap through the opening in the steps and attack me. Hilarious!
10) Tobin didn’t sleep with me very much back then, I guess because I only had a twin-sized bed. But I had my guitar amp right next to the bed, and he would lay out on the top of that every night to stay near me. It was our little ritual.
11) Tobin was toilet-trained back then. It was really easy; the kit cost like $19.95 at a Petco! But no, he never learned to flush.
12) Tobin lost his toilet-training when we moved to Austin. The whole change in environment confused him too much. Oh well.
13) Tobin and his step-sister Ethel do NOT get along. They tolerate each other. But there is the occasional hissing. And the occasional chasing. Nothing too bad though.
14) Tobin totally sleeps with me now, all the time. He does this thing in bed, where he stands close to you, and then just PLUNKS himself against your body, pressing up against you with all his weight. We call this a “WUDGE,” taking its name from an onomatopoeia in a Sof’ Boy comic book.
15) Tobin’s full name is “Tobin J. Kitten,” in a homage to “Homer J. Simpson.” It’s the whole assonance thing, to use another pretentious poetry term.
16) Tobin is also called: Toblerone, Mr. T (followed by “I pity the fool who doesn’t love he,” obviously not striving for grammatical accuracy, but for the rhyme), Purr-fesor Rumble-door (yes, a Harry Potter reference), Mr. Clicky-Claws, and also, Mr. Pink Nose… It’s been very sad that his cancer has left him jaundiced, and his nose is turning more yellow.
17) Sadly, Tobin hides whenever people come over. He used to be a lot more social, but I think the move to Austin, and the introduction to another cat (Ethel) may have traumatized him a bit. But he did come out once when Jeremy was over eating pepperoni pizza. Jeremy maintains that Tobin likes pepperoni.
18) Tobin loves twist-ties. He actually will fetch them if you throw them across the room, and bring them back to you.
19) He also loves the plastic pull-tab part from a gallon of milk, and delights in scooting it across the kitchen floor. Well, I guess I should say he used to love those things, before he got too sick.
20) He used to have this bad habit of eating really, really, really fast and then barfing it up right after. We think it had to do with sharing a food dish with another cat, and worrying he wouldn’t have any food for himself or something. We would always tell him, “You ate it too fast” a’la Lisa Simpson with Stampy.
21) He is the CEO of copacetic. Cute Executive Officer.
22) He’s sadly not a lap kitty, but since he used to weigh about 18-20 pounds, maybe that was for the best. He was never fat, he’s just incredibly long with long legs and a mighty frame. If he were a human, he’d be like, 6-foot-something with broad shoulders. Just like, if Ethel were a human, she’d be like 5-foot-nothing and petite. Sadly, they currently weigh the same amount, despite their very, very different physical builds.
23) Tobin’s favorite band is the Innocence Mission. I kid you not. He purrs like a maniac when I play their CD’s. I think (and maybe I’m just flattering myself), but I think it’s because their lead singer Karen has a very childlike, soprano voice, like I do.
24) Tobin is a big, robust, manly cat, but he meows like a meek, squeaky, tiny kitten. Again, I think he’s mimicking my voice though, and sometimes he’ll even mimic my vocal patterns! Like, I’ll sing-song, “Hi-III-iii Tobin!” and he’ll sorta meow back with the same cadence! It’s the oddest, most sweetest thing! Sometimes we’ll really get going and we’ll stand there and do that back and forth for a while!
25) And I saved the most unusual fact for last: Tobin can say “hello.” He really, really can. He makes a very concerted effort to enunciate it. And then he says it over and over and over! He hasn’t said “hello” in the longest time, ever since he got sick, and I miss it terribly.
Wow. That’s totally a LOT of Tobin trivia. But it felt comforting to write about and reflect on. That’s all, and more than enough, for tonight.
