RADIOACTIVE CAT, the aftermath

[mountain_laurel]

i picked Daddy-O up from the vet today. he'd been charming everyone as usual -- everyone was calling him "big guy" and telling me how great he was. the receptionist cooed over his big feet, and even the guy covered with blood said he was handsome. (i was afraid to ask whose blood.)

Dr. Tyson said he's doing great, and that they've "never had such a good eater." heh heh heh. if they only knew. anyway, he apparently started purring like mad the moment he saw me, and he purred all the way home, trying to sit in my lap and look out the window at the same time. he knew when we pulled into the parking lot and got all excited, and once inside the house, he did exactly what i expected him to: made a beeline for the bathroom sink and demanded that i run the tap for him.

ah, cats.

anyway, he seems, if anything, better than before. he's very happy to be home. right now he's reclining in the bathtub for reasons unknown to me. perhaps it will serve as a good radiation dispersal device?

according to the paper they gave me, he received 4.48 mCuries of radioactive iodine. i have a variety of aftercare instructions, the most inconvenient of which is that i'm to wash my hands immediately after touching him. which means i'm not going to have any skin left on my hands. i'm also told that for two weeks my apartment must be off limits to children and nursing or pregnant mothers (not a difficult challenge). for some reason, though, they don't consider there to be any real danger to Iceberg. go figure.

i wish i had a geiger counter.

anyway, my beautiful boy is home, and now i just hope i'm able to maintain a little contact with him as they decreed while the radiation dissipates. not that i'm even clear on what the results might be if i'm exposed to too much radiation. i mean, it'd be handy if i could just let him sit in my lap and have him sterilize me, but i'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way... i really don't know anything about radiation, so it's all a mystery to me.

fortunately, i found this incredibly helpful website about how to handle a radioactive cat (see, you really can find anything on the internet), so i'm doing my best to take the necessary precautions. this means, among other things, that i will need to assemble a group of hapless scientists, adventurers, and/or drunks, thrown together by random chance, in case of the unlikely event that Daddy-O mutates, grows to gigantic size, and runs rampant through downtown Tokyo.

um... margaritas tonight at Chuy's, anyone?

i also found this charming song about Mamba, the Radioactive Cat.

in other news, it's raining like a sonofabitch, and the ultra-friendly little gray stray who hangs around the complex has been sitting right outside my door, wailing piteously, for half an hour now. it's breaking my heart. i went outside and tried to explain to her that there are other dry places she could go, like someone's patio or back under the trees, but evidently she wants into my apartment. which makes me wonder if she wasn't abandoned here by the previous tenant or something.

she's a sweetie and all, but she's still not coming in, goddammit. although if i get really desperate i may end up wrapping a box in plastic and putting it out in the parking lot for her.

sigh. i'm such a cat lady.

a radioactive cat lady!

Comments

[eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com]

Given your pleasure at Daddy-O's return, methinks that should be a glowing, radioactive cat lady.

Good to hear that he's doing well. Best of luck with the grey.

On the feline front, my friends in Cambridge have inherited a local cat in the last year or so. Technically, it was owned by a neighbour, but it didn't like their kid, and did like them, so it decided to live at my friends' house. The neighbours were thankfully pragmatic about this and just handed over the assorted paperwork, travel basket and so forth. Just turned 8, almost entirely black, long-haired (not persian long, but long enough), female. A very shy beastie, but I did the move slowly and speak softly thing, and she was demanding attention from me by Sunday. This was allegedly unprecedented.

[merde.livejournal.com]

cats are funny that way. some of them are just very particular about who they like; my allergist had apparently inherited her neighbors' cat, who didn't like their house and took to sneaking into my allergist's, where she would crawl into bed with her at night, much to the dismay of her husband.

some people also just have the magical cat touch. Dennis, a friend of bquinlan and valkyrie_kitten, has an uncanny ability to charm any cat, anywhere, anytime. it's really quite impressive.

Daddy-O is being more vocal than usual and begging quite forcefully for water (even though he has plenty of fresh, he seems to specifically want it directly from the sink, although he was placated for a few minutes when i put ice in his water dish). i suspect he may have a sore throat, the thyroid glands being, after all, right there, and that the cold water makes it feel better. i called the vet's cell phone (she's not on duty but she gave me the number to call if daddy-o seemed sick or anything), and left a message with the theory; we'll see if she gets back to me and what she says. in the meantime, i'm seriously considering going out and buying some ice cream for him. it'll give him stinky poop -- most adult cats are lactose intolerant, despite the strangely pervasive belief that it's a good idea to give them cream -- but if it makes his throat feel better, it's worth it.

god, i am SUCH a cat lady.

[n5red.livejournal.com]

Giant Radioactive Hairballs!!!!!

[westwardho]

She fights crime!

[matrushkaka.livejournal.com]

RADIOACTIVE KITTY!

[2wanda.livejournal.com]

I'm very glad Daddy-O is home again, and doing so well. Give him scritches for me, then go wash your hands again. ;)

[scothen-krau.livejournal.com]

If he bit you, maybe you would gain his powers. Such as they are.

Problem of course, he would never do that.

Seriously, the absorption of radioactive particles would be pretty much confined to Daddy-O himself. I can't imagine how you would get any radiation.