So here's the thing

When Caddy's leg started bothering him a while ago, and I took him to the vet, Dr. Mitchell told me that his teeth were bad.  But he also told me that he had a slight heart murmur, and because of that and his age, they didn't really want to address the tooth issue if they could help it.

Cut to last week.  Caddy suddenly goes off his dry food.  Not in itself unusual.  He gets bored and refuses to eat things from time to time, and then I have to try new stuff and see how it sits with him.  So I started giving him more of his canned food which seemed fine by him.  Though as the week wore on, I noted that it wasn't getting as much play as it should have.  He was still drinking (and peeing and pooping) and in general seemed fine.  

You know what's coming don't you?

Yeah well so he stopped eating very much by Saturday morning despite the fact that he seemed to want to eat.  He'd try a bite or two, but it seemed to bother him.  On Saturday evening I pureed his food and he ate a few tablespoons.  Then he stopped everything.  Food, water, poop.  He still peed, which meant that he'd gotten some liquids in the food I made him.  And as soon as I could, I phoned the doc and asked if I could bring him in, saying I thought he had a bad tooth.

So he went to the doc yesterday morning after a frantic scramble to find a good way to get there.  And yeah he had a bad tooth, which came out.  All his others got cleaned because, eu.  Just eu.  And they handed him back to me yesterday evening with the news that the blood tests had come back great, the x-rays showed nothing out of the ordinary, and oh by the way give him a quarter tablet (pre-cut) of this med every day, and 0.5 ml of this liquid every day.

Now Caddy is my darling, my angel, the love of my life, but he is a difficult little bugger, and I knew that pilling him would be a misery.  And how right I was.  He's angry and in pain from his mouth, and doesn't want me doing anything but petting him a little,   I can't get the bandage off his leg, and while I did manage to get the pill into him, it made him gag, so I am NOT his favorite person today.  In fact I'm probably just barely above the doc on his list right now.  On the upside, he has eaten a little and it looks like he drank some.  This is A Good Thing.

But y'know, I just hate feeling like I'm hurting him in any way.  I know i have to do this and that's fine.  But it's just about killing me whenever he makes the I-hate-you-that-hurts-leave-me-alone noises.  See, the thing is, if the doc had told me "Okay now what you need to do is hit yourself with a hammer twice a day." I'd say "Weird.  But okay, fair enough.  Where's the hammer?  Let me get started."

ETA: He was just out here meowing a little.  That cat can sound more aggrieved than anyone else I've ever met.  But at least he got up and started moving around.  What a funny little guy.  

ETA2: I just put down the 4th bowl of food (the others were rather small, not more than about 1/4 of a cup) and the 3rd one contained some of his liquid meds.  Every time he finishes a bowl of food I go on and on for about 10 minutes about what a wonderful, brave, smart, perfect cat he is.  I think he's sick of me.  He comes out occasionally and complains, but he's been scent-marking things including me, which means rubbing his face on stuff.  The tooth area must not feel quite so bad.

Review: Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health, by The Moosewood Collective

One of the most beloved cookbooks in my collection is the Moosewood Cookbook. I've had it since God was a boy, and it looks it with stains and scuffs and pages that are all bendy or wrinkled from getting damp, a broken spine and the occasional note. I love that book because it's free-spirited and whimsical, and the recipes are darn good.

So today I've been reading through "Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health" and while I'm appreciating the nutritional information, and the thoughtful way of approaching the subject of vegetarian/vegan cooking, for me it's missing something. Certainly it's not information of any sort. In addition to nutritional info for each recipe, there are sections on organics -- with info on pesticide levels in common fruits and veggies -- phytonutrients, food allergies, fish, the ingredients used, cooking methods, resources, and so on. And I can't possibly fault the recipes since they're classic Moosewood, both new and riffs on old favorites.

But along with all the emphasis on nutrition, sustainability, and organics, comes a new kind of seriousness which I really do get and appreciate. Gone are the goofy little drawings and asides on most pages, replaced by lovely, sedate drawings at the heads of chapters, and the aforementioned nutritional info. I doubt there's a spontaneous "YUM!" on any page. And I miss it.

So while the Moosewood cookbooks remain go-to references for any basic vegetarian/vegan kitchen, don't expect a lot of the old Moosewood spirit in this volume. It's all grown-up now and it takes food much more seriously than it used to.