And a big achoo.

Lorax, who is doing a great gremlin/furby imitation these days, has the sniffles.

I really do look a lot like Gizmo, don't I?

The nice lady whose daughter's Persians were his parents wanted to see him.  So we arranged, even with my broken cell phone, to figure out how to get together at the shelter.  While there, Little Girl and i could do our usual shift feeding and watering and sweeping, and we could get him something for his sniffles, which are caused by the fact that half of his formula ends up going up his nose.  It's that short Persian snout.

So we arrived at the shelter to find out that 16 of the cats are on meds, almost all for sniffles!  It seems there is something going around.  While Little Girl fed and watered, and the nice lady who now owns Lorax's parents petted and played with him, i set about getting medications down a whole bunch of cats, most of whom were not at all grateful.

In order to make sure i didn't mess up and medicate the wrong one (after all, when they say medicate the tabby in room 6 and there are 3 tabbies in there, it can get a bit crazy), i checked microchip numbers before administering each dose.

Then i came to poor Barney.  He is one of the few who has more than just sniffles, he has a urinary tract infection, too.  He was on Clavamox, which is a liquid (some got pills, some got liquid).  He was lying listlessly in a basket, and i reached in but he paid me no mind.  As i scruffed him and squirted the liquid in his mouth, he not only didn't struggle, but the skin on the back of his neck where i scruffed him didn't smoothly go back down to its usual place.

If you've ever seen a person who is severely dehydrated, when you pinch up the skin on the back of the hand, it stays up.   It doesn't smooth back down right away.  With a cat, if the skin on the back of the neck does that, it means the same thing.

My immediate reaction was to go tell Miss W or Cathy.  His listlessness and the fact that he was that dehydrated could only mean he wasn't drinking at all, and who could blame him when it hurts to use the litter box?  That's what a urinary tract infection does.  As i told them, i dug around for the set up they should have for giving fluids through a needle under the skin.  It's something i keep around my house, and i know they used to have a set up.

They no longer have the tubing, though i found the fluids and needles.  Poor guy had to be carted off to the vet's office to be rehydrated.

Meanwhile, i'm just hoping i don't end up with the other kittens sniffling.  Lorax's sniffles are now being treated, and as i said it was caused by the way he eats.  Perhaps the little ones will be spared that.  Having to medicate that many cats at the shelter once a week is fine, but having everyone in my house sneezing and needing meds gets overwhelming.


Today is:

1848 Revolution Day -- Hungary

Ag Day, Celebrating Our Bountiful Food Supply -- according to a foodie website

Birkebeinerrennet -- Rena to Lillehammer, Norway (54km ski marathon commemorating the 1205 rescue of infant prince Hakon Hakonsson by ski over this route)

Brutus Day -- for obvious reasons; watch for backstabbers today, because they are as numerous now as they were in ancient Rome

Commemoration of the Birth of Lao-Tzu -- Taoist (15th day of 2nd lunar month)

Constitution Day -- Belarus

Dumbstruck Day -- Fairy Calendar

Everything You Think is Wrong Day -- begun by someone who wants you to keep an open mind, apparently

Fallas de Valencia -- Valencia, Spain (a five day carnival/fiesta of partying that ends with turning off all the city lights and setting fire to hundreds of massive papier-mache statues stuffed with fireworks to celebrate St. Joseph's Day; sometimes called Fallas de San Jose)

Girl Scout Sabbath -- US (encouraging Girl Scouts to wear their uniforms to synagogue services and represent their troop to their congregations; the final day of Girl Scout Week in the US)

Honen Matsuri -- Tagata-jinja Shrine, Inuyama, Japan (festival for a good harvest and fertility)

Ides of March -- Ancient Roman Calendar; other observances
     Day Sacred to Anna Parenna and River Nymphs -- goddess of the returning year
     Day You Don't Want to Go Out if Your Name is Julius Caesar
     Festival of Attis and Cybele
     Guild Festival -- for guilds practicing the arts of Minerva, with weapons purified at her temple on this day

International Day Against Police Brutality

Joseph Jenkins Roberts' Birthday -- Liberia

Kashiram Jayanti -- UP, India (birth anniversary of politician Kashi Ram)

National Pears Helene with Chocolate Sauce and Brandy Day

National Quilting Day -- US, sponsored by the National Quilting Associationhttp://www.nqaquilts.org/

Offerings to Ra, Osiris, Horus, Ptah, Sokar, and Atum -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Purim -- Judaism (begins at sundown)

Save the Florida Panther Day -- FL, US

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer's Day (Patron of Vienna, Austria)

St. Louise de Marillac's Day (Patron of disappointing children, loss of parents, people rejected by religious orders, sick people, social workers, widows; Vincentian Service Corps)

Saint Patrick's Day Parades -- various cities around the English speaking world hold their celebrations on the Saturday nearest the Saint's day

Tagata Honen-Sai/Honen Matsuri -- Inuyama, Japan (fertility festival)

True Confessions Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, because confession is good for the soul; if you are afraid to confess to the world, there's always your mirror

Turkey Buzzards Day -- Hinckley, OH, US (Two theories about why the turkey buzzards return on this date each year have to do with either witchcraft of a hunting story; festival in honor of them will be held this coming Sunday)

Wild Azalea Festival -- White Springs, FL, US

World Consumer Rights Day -- International

Youth Day -- Palau


Anniversaries Today:

Richard Burton marries Elizabeth Taylor, 1964
The University of Toronto is chartered, 1827
Maine becomes the 23rd US state, 1820


Birthdays Today:

Kellan Lutz, 1985
Sean Biggerstaff, 1983
Eva Longoria, 1975
Kim Raver, 1969
Mark McGrath, 1968
Bret Michaels, 1963
Fabio, 1961
Mary Carillo, 1957
Park Overall, 1957
Dee Snyder, 1955
Craig Wilson, 1954
Sly Stone, 1944
Mike Love, 1941
Phil Lesh, 1940
Judd Hirsch, 1935
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 1933
Alan Bean, 1932
Norm Van Brocklin, 1926
Harry James, 1916
Joe E. Ross, 1914
Macdonald Carey, 1913
Samuel "Lightnin" Hopkins, 1912
Andrew Jackson, 1767


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Wonder Years"(TV), 1988
"Eight is Enough"(TV), 1977
"Three's Company"(TV), 1977
"The Godfather"(Film), 1972
"Purlie"(Musical), 1970
"Lady Madonna"(Music single), 1968
"My Fair Lady"(Musical), 1956
"Rapsodie Espagnole"(Ravel's Orchestral rapsody), 1908
"Caesar and Cleopatra,"(Play), 1899
"She Stoops to Conquer"(Comedy), 1773


Today in History:

Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March, BC44
Liu Bei, a Chinese warlord and member of the Han royal house, declares himself emperor of Shu-Han and claims his legitimate succession to the Han Dynasty, 221
A Jew hating Monk in Seville, Spain stirs up people in that city to attack Jews, 1391
Christopher Columbus arrives back in Spain after his first trip to the New World, 1493
The first meeting of the Council of Trent, 1545
South Carolina becomes the first American colony to declare its independence from Great Britain and set up its own government, 1776
In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy; the plea is successful and the threatened coup d'état never takes place, 1783
A revolution breaks out in Hungary, and the Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the Reform party, 1848
Jesse W. Reno patents an "inclined elevator" (escalator), 1892*
Rolls-Royce Limited is incorporated, 1906
Czar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the Russian throne and his brother the Grand Duke becomes Tsar, 1917
Symbolics.com registers the very first Internet domain name, 1985
Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first President of the Soviet Union, 1990
French President Jacques Chirac signs the law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools, commonly known as the "headscarf ban", 2004
Lazarus Project scientists reveal that they successfully recovered frozen tissue from the 1970's and rejuvenated the cells of Rheobatrachus silus, a species of frog that has been extinct since 1983, 2013

*The first actual working model, at Coney Island, was built four years later.