Ha, Ha, Ha, Clara, guess what?
By Gina Spadafori
May 22, 2008
Not my absolute favorite “Far Side” of all time, but certainly in the top 10.
Today, Ilario gets “tutored.”
Update, 2:26 p.m. PT: He’s awake and doing just great post-op. They’re keeping him over because he’d so relaxed and because he’s so young (12 weeks). (Also, I suspect, because they think he’s really, really cute and want to fuss on him.)
By the way, he was neutered at this age by my choice because of allergies — mine and my brother’s. When the hormones start kicking in with male cats, the FelD1 allergen levels rise. So I discussed the options with my veterinarians (the GP wouldn’t do it until Ilario was four months, but the surgeon said OK), did research and made an informed choice, including all the available the safety measures — IV, full anesthesia monitoring, etc.
Kinda all goes back to what we’ve been talking about a lot here, that this is SURGERY, and it’s not one-size-fits-all. It needs to be discussed between owner and veterinarian, tailored to the individual animal and family circumstances and the decision made with informed consent.
Forced by law, without regard to circumstances? Bite me.
Too funny.
Comment by Hilary — May 22, 2008 @ 6:11 am
I’ll be keeping Ilario in my thoughts today and wishing him well!
Comment by The OTHER Pat — May 22, 2008 @ 6:31 am
We usually refer to it as getting broken. After all, everything works perfectly fine, and you want to make sure one part of that pet isn’t working any more. So getting fixed doesn’t quite cover it. All of my pets are broken, but I loves them!
Comment by Georg — May 22, 2008 @ 7:08 am
My brother is having a bad day. The winds have been high here the last couple of days, and last night one of his trees blew down and is leaning against his house.
He was pretty upset this morning when he called at about 6 a.m. I told him that at least he wasn’t going to have as bad a day as Ilario, since at the end of the day my brother would still have his testicles. That’s something that surely will not be true of Ilario the kitten.
I honestly don’t think he appreciates my sense of humor. Go figure.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — May 22, 2008 @ 10:28 am
>”I honestly don’t think he appreciates my sense of humor.”
Oh, but you are so right! You are hilarious.
In response to the “tutoring” cartoon, Russ says “today Ilario is going to learn lots!”
Comment by Nadine L. — May 22, 2008 @ 5:14 pm
Pet stories brings about humor and character. My own pets look to form a sense of security around me. Moreover looking for thier masters approval that they are there. I do not say much about my pets to anyone unless it has a connected interest with the reader. The jokes though yes, it is ok to tease a pet and I kinda see that almost similiar about a husband and a wife scenerio. No one though should not take the joke too seriously. Humor is one part of healing the soul. If I had my dog sleep with me every day, others just might see it differently now won’t they? I know when it’s time to kick them out of the house and so does the ids. Some of the jokes people tell aboutt pets can be misunderstood. Timing isn’t made for everyone, but humor should still be there. A pet owner knows their pet and what they want from them. So if I bark at them they just might bark back. Or better BITE BACK. They love us too!!!
Comment by Cathymarie1 — May 22, 2008 @ 8:48 pm
Did you get him some neuticals so that when he wakes up and counts his things, there is still three? It is a guy thing and I do recall when I neutered and spayed my two kitties, both of them when first home came over to me on the floor, both rolled over such that they could SHOW ME what the vet had done. I got down and looked them over and told them that must hurt and it would soon heal and we’re sorry they didn’t feel great. Both left and sulked for a while but got over it… Nope, my male kitty didn’t get neuticals.
http://www.neuticles.com/index1.html
Comment by Dennis — May 22, 2008 @ 9:47 pm
Does anyone know where cats originted from? I am interested in their behavior. Sometimes between the cat, my dogs, fish and also mice. I find my cat the special one so different. She is however getting quite old now a long senior citizen. Her name is Rumtum. She was adopted by me in 1997. She was about already 3 years old by then. What do you suppose her real age be by now?
Comment by Cathymarie1 — May 23, 2008 @ 8:08 pm