Just hanging out in the hall, taking a bath.
Gyan was here for an entire weekend before having to leave again for another conference. But, that means he got to help out with a foot bandaging extravaganza. It went so much more smoothly with him here to help. And his foot is looking at least 10% better in the two days it was bandanged. So tomorrow when the bandages get taken off at the vet, it will hopefully be for the last time.
He still isn't putting weight on the foot, but I think it's more of a mental block than a physical one. If you distract him, he'll use that foot just fine.
I've been thinking a lot about our journey together and how nuts and unexpected it's all been. I think I've decided that if I had to go back, I'd do it all over again. It's so easy to say that now that everything is over and done and Chester's well on his way to healthiness, and I'm so thankful that's the case.
I think it's no surprise that I love Chester more than anything in the world, and I doubt I could love another cat as much as I do him. I also doubt that any would love us as much as he does. I'd still have to say that I would pick him over any others. I'm so thankful we got to adopt him for as much his sake and ours.
Pretty much everyone has told me that he is lucky to have come to us, for not everyone would do what we did to make sure he stayed alive. I guess that's true, but it blows my mind in a way. Yes, it's been expensive, and yes, we've both had to sacrifice things like finishing our theses quickly, tuition, and computers that turn on, and fresh vegetables. But we made a commitment to him when we adopted him. We chose him and promised to look after him for the rest of his life. It's not like we adopted him thinking we'd have him for a few months and then reassess. We wanted a cat and we waited, for years in my case, until we could afford a reasonable life for that cat. We had no idea we'd need quite so much money and we tried to the best of our abilities to make sure he was healthy, but that doesn't change the fact that we took him home with the understanding that we would take care of him as best we could.
Sure, it would have been much better for everyone if the SPCA had bothered to look into all his apparent issues, but if they had found what we had, he wouldn't be alive today. I actually can't picture that world. I can picture a world where people responsible for the well being of animals put animals as their first priority, but that's neither here nor there at this point. The fact is, they screwed up, and we had to pay, but we benefited and are continuing to benefit from it. Plus, we got to meet (if virtually so far) all of you amazing people. It has vastly improved my outlook on the human race to know that you 70 or so people care enough for some random stranger's cat to not only help him survive, but to check up and make sure that he continues to flourish.
I've never been able to comprehend the huge difference in species that so many people feel. To me, a life is a life, but especially an animal is an animal. Most of our friends, when hearing our story simply said "Well, adopt another cat." But if this were to happen to our human child, not a single person would think to say "Well, adopt another baby." I can somewhat see their point from a distance, but that's just not how my brain works. What exactly is it that makes a dog, cat, rabbit, turtle, etc less worthy of every effort to make them survive. Especially one you've committed to. Surprisingly, when I sent this website around, only two strangers suggested putting him down (Or feeing him to a snake as it may be). I was expecting much more negative feedback, but all we received was amazingly supportive feedback. So, my only hope is that if this should happen again, that those animals end up with people like you folks who have so much love and compassion for them. It certainly isn't Chester's fault he was hit by a car and he now has to live with this pain and stress, but it would be my fault if I didn't try to fix it.
As long as his quality of life is high and he is fighting, we're going to be fighting with him. I certainly can't help every pet out there, but when I bring one in, it's with the intention of forever.
So, thank you for saying that he's lucky and all that implies, but it just makes me so sad that this is the 'lucky' instead of normal situation.
On that note: Pictures of Chester getting rebandaged while wrapped like a burrito, or swaddled like a baby as the case may be:
He still isn't putting weight on the foot, but I think it's more of a mental block than a physical one. If you distract him, he'll use that foot just fine.
I've been thinking a lot about our journey together and how nuts and unexpected it's all been. I think I've decided that if I had to go back, I'd do it all over again. It's so easy to say that now that everything is over and done and Chester's well on his way to healthiness, and I'm so thankful that's the case.
I think it's no surprise that I love Chester more than anything in the world, and I doubt I could love another cat as much as I do him. I also doubt that any would love us as much as he does. I'd still have to say that I would pick him over any others. I'm so thankful we got to adopt him for as much his sake and ours.
Pretty much everyone has told me that he is lucky to have come to us, for not everyone would do what we did to make sure he stayed alive. I guess that's true, but it blows my mind in a way. Yes, it's been expensive, and yes, we've both had to sacrifice things like finishing our theses quickly, tuition, and computers that turn on, and fresh vegetables. But we made a commitment to him when we adopted him. We chose him and promised to look after him for the rest of his life. It's not like we adopted him thinking we'd have him for a few months and then reassess. We wanted a cat and we waited, for years in my case, until we could afford a reasonable life for that cat. We had no idea we'd need quite so much money and we tried to the best of our abilities to make sure he was healthy, but that doesn't change the fact that we took him home with the understanding that we would take care of him as best we could.
Sure, it would have been much better for everyone if the SPCA had bothered to look into all his apparent issues, but if they had found what we had, he wouldn't be alive today. I actually can't picture that world. I can picture a world where people responsible for the well being of animals put animals as their first priority, but that's neither here nor there at this point. The fact is, they screwed up, and we had to pay, but we benefited and are continuing to benefit from it. Plus, we got to meet (if virtually so far) all of you amazing people. It has vastly improved my outlook on the human race to know that you 70 or so people care enough for some random stranger's cat to not only help him survive, but to check up and make sure that he continues to flourish.
I've never been able to comprehend the huge difference in species that so many people feel. To me, a life is a life, but especially an animal is an animal. Most of our friends, when hearing our story simply said "Well, adopt another cat." But if this were to happen to our human child, not a single person would think to say "Well, adopt another baby." I can somewhat see their point from a distance, but that's just not how my brain works. What exactly is it that makes a dog, cat, rabbit, turtle, etc less worthy of every effort to make them survive. Especially one you've committed to. Surprisingly, when I sent this website around, only two strangers suggested putting him down (Or feeing him to a snake as it may be). I was expecting much more negative feedback, but all we received was amazingly supportive feedback. So, my only hope is that if this should happen again, that those animals end up with people like you folks who have so much love and compassion for them. It certainly isn't Chester's fault he was hit by a car and he now has to live with this pain and stress, but it would be my fault if I didn't try to fix it.
As long as his quality of life is high and he is fighting, we're going to be fighting with him. I certainly can't help every pet out there, but when I bring one in, it's with the intention of forever.
So, thank you for saying that he's lucky and all that implies, but it just makes me so sad that this is the 'lucky' instead of normal situation.
On that note: Pictures of Chester getting rebandaged while wrapped like a burrito, or swaddled like a baby as the case may be:
And his foot. Just trust me that it looks SO much better
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