Statement of fact: February has been a shit month.

The ongoing theme for last month was: feces. Scat. Dookie. Shit. I’m not even writing that metaphorically. From beginning to end, there was feculence involved. Also, vomit.

Our poop problems began with a backed up septic system. A pipe out to our drain field had frozen and black water, a fun alternative term for liquid fecal matter, was running out under the cover of the holding tank and into the driveway. We’re presently frozen, but you can bet that once our skating rink of a driveway melts, it’s going to be ripe!

Thankfully, we called in the experts and our problem was resolved. At least with the septic tank.

Then, there was the cat. Our sweet, little, Queen of the Sass had another round of ear problems. Since we adopted her a year ago, she has been plagued with ear issues, and while we think we have a good game plan going forward to end these issues for good, she was prescribed a medication that gave her a little bit of stomach upset.

Okay. A lot of stomach upset. And, by a lot, I mean… both ends. And, because she was feeling nauseous, she didn’t want to eat, because she didn’t really want to eat, that made her more nauseous, and so on and so forth.

Fun fact: if a cat has diarrhea bad enough, it will also make the cat vomit.

So, this already tiny cat had lost 13% body weight within a week’s time. She went to the veterinarian four times in the month, got poked, prodded, swabbed, and flushed. Honestly, it’s a wonder she didn’t resort to biting the hand that feeds her more than she already does.

I’m glad to report that the bodily evacuations seem to have subsided, for now, and she has been eating just about everything put in front of her. The medication that caused the floods was stopped and the other drugs to stop the nausea and diarrhea have been completed this week. Hopefully, we’ll be sending her in soon for a quick procedure to deep clean her ear canals to prevent further infections.

Meanwhile… in the “it’s difficult to be a cat” category, this tiny mess-maker has left skid-marks** across the carpeting because she has some poop stuck in her long hair. There is nothing quite like wrestling with a 6-pound cat who really doesn’t enjoy having you scrub her feet clean and comb out the poop that got caught in her butt hair (she’s long-haired) on a weekday afternoon. I encourage everyone to do this at least once in their lifetime. You can be hissed at, snapped at, and then – when it’s all over and you set down the peeved pussycat only to have her walk up to you and “ask” you for more.

To borrow from another blogger, sometimes, you just have to sit back, laugh, and enjoy the ride*.

*If you haven’t read Lisa’s blog, please do!

**I am incredibly impressed with Nature’s Miracle. Our housemate, who also house and pet sits, had some on hand and NO MORE SKID MARKS!

The Amusing Muse is a writer, Office Ninja, and Cat Butler who lives in Southern Wisconsin. She, gratefully, has a friend who has a carpet shampooer and will be spending the weekend taking care of a much-abused carpet. She looks forward to having TWO healthy cats again.

Blog title image clip art courtesy of Public Domain Files.