Happy Bedfellows Again

ELLIE:  Glogirly says it's hard to write our stories when we get along and stuff. She says that it's harder to make our friends laugh when we're, you know...cuddling and stuff. 

WAFFLES:  I'm sleeping, Ellie. That's my story. 

ELLIE:  But Mr. Waffles, don't you want to make a FUN story?

WAFFLES:  Sleeping IS fun, Ellie. Yawning, sleeping. Sleeping, yawning. You should try it sometime.

ELLIE:  But don't you ever get tired of sleeping, Mr. Waffles?

WAFFLES:  Tired of sleeping? Seriously? That doesn't make any sense, Ellie. Katie would have called me an oxymoron for saying that.

ELLIE:  Don't worry, Mr. Waffles. You're not a moron. Not even an oxy one.

Dental Surgery Update

Things are finally getting back to normal between Ellie and Waffles after their dental surgery saga. Both are eating like champs, enjoying treats, seeking out affection, and even playing. It took awhile for them to start napping and sleeping together, but all is well even on that front.

Sweet Ellie has had a mystery reaction to one of the drugs used during her oral surgery. That's what was making her feel icky last week. The reaction has presented itself dermatologically and she's got two fairly large rashes/wounds on each of her sides. She's under our very close watch, as well as our vets, and is doing super well as they begin to heal. The hardest part is putting salve on her patches three times a day. (we call her rashes patches.) She's been such a trooper and always seems to forgive us, even though it's not fun for her.

We'll keep you posted, as her patches will take few months to heal. But please know she is doing wonderfully and has returned to her sweet, energetic, and affectionate little self. We're checking in regularly with our vet as well. It's quite possible Ellie is their new favorite kitty patient. ...but don't tell Waffles!

PEEPS!

 

ELLIE:  So Mr. Waffles? Did the Easter Bunny bring us these Peeps?

WAFFLES:  Yeah, I thought they'd be marshmallow Peeps, but they're just stuffed with a lot of nothing. What a ripoff. 

ELLIE:  Not even catnip??? 

WAFFLES:  Not even catnip. Maybe the Easter Bunny messed up and brought us DOG toys. 

ELLIE:  Well they're still kind of fun, Mr. Waffles. 

WAFFLES:  If you like DOG toys. 

WAFFLES:  Should I not like dog toys?

WAFFLES:  Well...are you a dog???

ELLIE:  Would that be wrong?

Happy Easter!

We hope all of our friends and readers who celebrate Easter had a wonderful holiday weekend! Ellie is still trying to figure out why her stuffed Peeps don't smell like catnip and Waffles is sulking over the lack of marshmallow filling. He's got a CRAZY attraction to Glogirly's marshmallows. Since they're not exactly one of his approved food groups, she has to keep them under lock and key.

Ellie and Waffles go in for their dental re-check at the vet Monday morning. Their recovery from all the extractions has been going well, though Ellie is looking like she doesn't feel well today. We're hoping to get to the bottom of that tomorrow. If you missed our blog post about the tooth fairy last week, you can check it out here.

We heard these Peeps toys came in both dog and cat versions. Despite the cat packaging, we're thinking something got mixed up in the Peep packaging factory. Hopefully Ellie and Waffles will learn to trust the Easter Bunny again. Especially since their trust of the tooth fairy has been tested this past week.

Speaking of the Easter Bunny...

There was an Easter Bunny sighting at the local ski area this past weekend. 

Duo Dentals and the Tooth Fairy

ELLIE:  So Mr, Waffles? What's this I hear about the tooth fairy? How does it work? 

WAFFLES:  The tooth fairy is supposed to leave monies and stuff when you put a tooth under your pillow. Like when you lose a tooth. 

ELLIE:  So do you get more monies for more tooths?

WAFFLES:  Well I don't know if there's a special formula or sliding scale or anything. Why? 

ELLIE:  I'm just trying to figure out how many monies the fairy will leave for OUR teeths. 

WAFFLES:  That would take a lot of math to figure out I think.

ELLIE:  I hope the tooth fairy is better at math than you, Mr. Waffles.

WAFFLES:  What's that supposed to mean?

Duo Dentals

Ellie and Waffles each had dental cleanings last Friday. Waffles is an old pro at these, and because of chronic periodontitis he's had a number of extractions over the years. You might even remember when we discovered he had a condition called supernumerary, which is a fancy name for an unusual condition of double teeth. Where there should be one tooth, there is actually two. Crazy. But that's Waffles. 

Waffles had a tremendous amount of inflammation around his gums and sadly had to lose another 11 teeth.  Nine tiny teeth and two molars.

We're very fortunate to have one of the best, if not THE best, feline vets in the country, Dr. Fern Slack of Uniquely Cats Veterinary Center in Boulder, CO. She performed the cleaning and the surgery in her state of the art kitty hospital.

Dr. Fern discovered that things were far worse for little Ellie. She described her condition as if Ellie's body was allergic to her teeth. Though her initial visual exam indicated only some minor tarter build up, a completely different story was discovered during the cleaning and X-rays. Simply put, her teeth were decayed, dying, with severe areas of resorption and abscesses. It's very likely she's been experiencing pain her whole life. We had no idea. As Dr. Fern put it, "It's an important reminder of how very inaccurate visual evaluation of feline oral health can be."

The best course of action for Ellie was a total tooth extraction. All 30 of her teeth were removed. Some literally popped out on their own.

Both Waffles and Ellie are doing super well, please don't worry. We're giving them lots of TLC and monitoring them closely. Cats are incredibly resilient and do absolutely fine without their teeth. In fact as soon as we got home late Friday, Ellie started to eat and even groom herself. 

Right now the biggest hurdle is Waffles' overcoming a little bit of displacement aggression. After such a major procedure under general anesthetic, both Waffles and Ellie don't smell like themselves. And for Waffles, that's very confusing. It's just temporary though and is already starting to smooth out. But we've been keeping everyone separated at night and maintaining a very close eye on them during the day. We know it won't be long and they'll both be back to their sweet selves. 

Ellie and Waffles will be going in for a dental recheck in about a week, just to make sure everything is healing nicely. Thank you so much for keeping us in your thoughts. We'll keep you posted.

WAFFLES:  Still handsome!

The Cats at Work While Their Girl Skis

ELLIE:  Hey, Mr. Waffles! Is it time to go back to work yet? I don't want to be late. 

WAFFLES:  Yeah, I'm a little busy, Ellie. Too busy for work.

ELLIE:  But how will Gloman get any of his work done without us?! We're his purrsonal office assistants, you know. 

WAFFLES:  I'm sure he'll manage. Besides, what do you actually do all day in the office? Don't you just sleep?

ELLIE:  Well yeah, but still. He needs me. 

About Today's Photos & Glogirly's Latest Skiing Update

Sweet Ellie is THE most devoted office assistant ever. Gloman has been working full time from our home office ever since last year and Ellie has yet to miss a day of work. In fact, even on the weekends, she can be found in the office chair waiting for him. 

Waffles is more of a fair-weather office assistant. He often joins Ellie and Gloman, but is quick to take catnip break in the bedroom sun puddles. 

Today's photos have both Ellie and Waffles hanging out in the bedroom, slacking from their daily duties. haha!

Meanwhile on the Slopes...

While the kitties and Gloman are hard at work, Glogirly continues to abandon everyone while she races off to the local ski area. Eldora Mountain Resort has become her home away from home. 

Last week was the final week of the season for Ignite Adaptive Sports, the organization she volunteers with as an Assistant Alpine Ski Instructor. It's been such a great experience for her, she's already decided to continue with Ignite next season. 

She has skied with stroke survivors, a gentleman battling MS, and disabled veterans. Some have skied before, some are sliding down the snow for the first time. Of all the wonderful people she's had an opportunity to work with, one in particular stood out and will remain in her memories forever. 

Her name is Anita. She's a 65+ year old Navy veteran and a VERY skilled skier. Her happy place is out on the slopes, soaking in the sunshine and flying down the challenging black diamond runs. You'd never even think of her as being disabled. She can do just about anything anyone else can. Yet, she's blind. 

Imagine skiing down the steeps at 25-30 mph, trees on either side of you. Ok, now imagine doing that with your eyes closed. 

Left to Right: Glogirly, Anita, and Inge

Anita was a skilled skier before she lost her sight so she absolutely has the mechanics down. She only skis with guides and has developed an incredible ability to follow the sound of her guide's skis. 

Glogirly skied in the lead with Anita about 1-2 turns directly behind her. Another guide/instructor followed in the rear. The only verbal cue Glogirly would yell out was "stop" when they came up on an obstacle or dramatic change in terrain or pitch. The guide in the rear would yell "hard right" or "hard left" when Glogirly was turning off of a trail onto another run. Other than that, Anita was completely on her own, following the sound of Glogirly's skis and turns. The courage, confidence, and trust it must take is truly remarkable. 

Oh, and Anita likes to ski FAST. Glogirly had to put all of the knowledge and technique she's been working so hard on to work. It's the most challenging and focused she's been on her skis, EVER. Things like consistently sized turns, staying in the middle of the runs, away from other skiers, avoiding signs, trees...all kinds of things she takes for granted as a sighted skier. 

They all stopped at the top of Anita's favorite run and she positively giggled with a huge smile from ear to ear. She said how grateful she was for the day and how this was her perfect happy place. The feeling was absolutely mutual.

Here's a short video of the trio blazing down a black diamond run called Muleshoe -