Thank you

I want to thank each and every one of you who have left messages of condolence or have emailed me. You have made a very difficult time a little bit easier for me. (And a special thank you to all Maxx's blogger buddies who posted tributes to him) I miss him terribly already, but I'm relieved that his pain is finally over. Someone said today that he's frolicking with the other kitties in heaven tonight, but when I think about it, I remember how much Mr. Plushy loved humans. I'll bet he's making the rounds of all the angels, seeing what they're up to, sitting in their laps and scamming chin scritches from them.

Dr. Pendant posted this little bit of verse that I think is lovely (from Romeo and Juliet, I believe):

When he shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he shall make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

I believe I will always look at the starry night sky and smile, thinking of my dear little Maxx. I hope you all will too.

R.I.P. Lion Kitty Maxx

Good bye sweet plushy prince. You were the funniest, sweetest and most loving friend I could ever have. Each and every day with you was a gift.

Sunday update

Lion kitty Maxx looks all relaxed and happy in this photo from this summer. He's actually not that happy this evening, since he had to go to the vet this afternoon to get his pain patch replaced. And horrors!! they shaved another spot on the other side of his shoulder. He's turning into patchwork kitty.

Oh well, he'll be niced and stoned in about 12 hours. In the meantime he's got some nice bupronex to keep him company.

Saturday Happy Maxx photo

Celebrate the plush!!

Cassie!!

This is Cassie, the beautiful girl who lives with Ilze. My but she has a delightfully plushy tail! And what in the world was she doing up on the roof? Looking for aliens?

update: edited because I got confused on who the photos were from. Oy.

Tux's tribe

Here are Max (top) and Nicky, Tux's handsome brothers. Nicky is apparently irritated that he can't be in the contest. Silly kitty.

Arthur J. Shouty-Crackers!!

Here is Arthur J., lion kitty Maxx's best friend and confidant. Arthur and Maxx visit through Maxx's wormhole and have had many delightful adventures together (we won't talk about the margaritas, the purloined jeep or the night they almost wrecked Auntie GWPDA's jeep). More recently, Arthur J. has been a great comfort to Maxx through his surgery and his illness.

Arthur is seen here stalking and killing the dreaded alien biscuit monster, lest it sneak into the house and kill his mom while she's sleeping. Good doggie!!

We have another contestant!!

Look at that magnificent tummy!! This in Bandicoot, who lives with faithful reader the Political Cat.

Henriette

This is Henriette, who lives in Canada with Plum P. She can't be in the pageant either, but she is awful pretty.

Ian

Mathew would like to enter Ian in the contest, but since he's not black and white, he doesn't get to play. We'll just have to admire him instead.

What excellent whiskers he has!

Black and White Kitty Wars!!!

Oh dear. I said that Hidey was the most beautiful black and white kitty evah, and poopyman threw down the gauntlet. Here's a couple pictures of Tux, his norvegian forest cat. What a delightful pink nose! Tux was rescued at the age of 2 days from a parking lot and bottle fed to become the magnificent creature he is today.




And of course here's Hidey.



Who's the fairest of them all? I am NOT taking sides. Do I look crazy to you guys?

Magoo!!

We can't forget Magoo, Hidey's sister, who lives with Barry in Alaska.

Photo of the Day

AP/Mike Meadows

I adore lightning, and I adore lightning photography. AP photographer Mike Meadows has captured a spectacular lightning bolt while composing a gorgeous photograph. Simply lovely.

Space Blogging

Not a new image from Hubble, but a lovely one. The Bubble Nebula:

The central star of the Bubble Nebula, or NGC 7635, is 40 times more massive than the sun and is responsible for a stellar wind moving at 4 million m.p.h. (6.4 million kilometers per hour), propelling particles off the surface of the star. The "bubble" surface is the outermost edge of the particle wave.

Credit: NASA

Hidey the Snow Cat!!

For a cat that lives in Alaska, Hidey doesn't appear to like snow so much.

She's still the most beautiful black and white kitty on the planet.

More Friday Kitty Blogging

Since the wankiferous guest hosts at Eschaton won't give you kitties, I shall. A stoned one, no less.

Lawyering Up

The WAPO makes a point I hadn't thought of yesterday (in my fever addled state.) Harriet Miers was pushed, because she's not considered capable of defending chimpy and co. against the coming onslaught of congressional investigations.

Miers, a longtime Bush loyalist whose nomination to the Supreme Court was withdrawn in 2005 as a result of conservative opposition, led an office that will oversee legal clashes that could erupt if Democrats aggressively use their new subpoena power. Bush advisers inside and outside the White House concluded that she is not equipped for such a battle and that the president needs someone who can strongly defend his prerogatives.

snip

...Four other lawyers have been hired as associate counsels in recent weeks to fill vacancies, and White House officials have discussed expanding the office, which -- with a dozen lawyers -- is far smaller than it was under President Bill Clinton, who faced legal battles on multiple fronts.

I'm guessing preznitting isn't going to be nearly as fun without a tame congress. Tant pis.

As for Miers, I guess being a complete suck up only gets you so far. In the end, she was expendable too. Linky here: Miers Steps Down as White House Gears Up for Battle

Friday Happy Maxx picture

Maxx is feeling fine this morning. The fentanyl patch seems to be keeping him nice and comfortable. The pic above is from this summer. What a handsome kitty!!

Pelosi, Bitches!!!

These pictures have got to be driving the wingnuts crazy. Hee hee.

Happy Maxx picture

Celebrate the plush!!

Maxx update

Well, I'll get right to the bottom line. I've spent the last two days consulting with Maxx's current and new oncologists, as well as the two excellent general care veterinarians who have been treating him for the past year and a half.

The consensus of everyone is that the experimental treatment isn't appropriate for Maxx. The treatment is best for small tumors that are localized, and no bigger than 5 centimeters. Maxx's tumor is too big, to spread out, and involves too much tissue. The new oncologist would have taken a more traditional approach, using radiation combined with chemotherapy mainly as a palliative measure. Both oncologists agree that radiation in Maxx's case would probably be either debilitating or fatal.

He was very clear. In the best cases, cats with this cancer, who have the very best chance, only have a 30% survival rate at one year. Maxx's cancer is very advanced. When he was in the hospital last week, the emergency vet did xrays of his skull- it showed that the tumor has gone into his throat, and has done significant damage to his jaw bone.

We could attempt to try these measures, but they would likely destroy what's left of his quality of life. The radiation would probably result in him getting a feeding tube. For cancer in the jaw, vets frequently remove a portion of the jaw, which not only disfigures the cat, but can cause significant other side effects. And the survival rate is only about 40%.

There just aren't any good options left for him at this point. After a lot of soul searching, I've decided not to subject Maxx to a lot of painful treatments that have little chance of helping him.

He deserves to spend the rest of his life in dignity and comfort, eating delicious paté and playing with delightful toys. And that's what he's going to do.

I know the community would like there to be a miracle for him and in some way I feel like I'm letting you down. But I have to do what's right for my beloved boy. Condemning him to spending his last months to a regime of feeding tubes and painful treatments just doesn't seem like the right thing.

For today, we've switched him over to a fentanyl patch so that his pain relief will be constant. It seems to be making him feel rather frisky, which is a nice side effect. In any event, he's been eating fairly well the past couple days, which is a very good thing.

I want to thank everyone again for all of the love and support you've given to Maxx and me over the past several months. Honestly, I don't know what I would have done without you.

Milestones

Plush Life went over 50,000 hits this evening, 6 days before our one-year anniversary. I am amazed and grateful to everyone who tunes in everyday to spend time with me and the lion kitty.

Peace!!

Decider Decides He's Already Decided

AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Via the NYTimes (and oh, aren't they getting a little snarky lately?), chimpy tries to regain initiative by looking ahead... to being exactly like he's been all along.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 — President Bush sought today to regain the initiative on the eve of the Democratic takeover of Congress, pledging to work enthusiastically with the new lineup of lawmakers but holding fast to his own goals.

Offering his congratulations to the incoming 110th Congress, Mr. Bush made it clear that he will resist being painted as a lame-duck president in his last two years — “one-quarter of my presidency, plenty of time to accomplish important things for the American people,” as he put it in an essay in The Wall Street Journal today.

In other words, he's enthusiastic about his idea that democrats should give him the same rubber stamp the republican party gave him.

Mr. Bush struck the same tone this morning in remarks after a Cabinet meeting. He voiced the hope that Democrats and Republicans alike “can find common ground to serve our folks,” and then sounded much as he did last summer and fall while campaigning for Republican candidates and positions. (my emphasis added)

Note to chimpy, when the NYTimes is calling you on your bullshit, the gig is up. Calling yourself a "tiger" doesn't change the fact that you're actually a lame-duck.

Or maybe a chimducken. Eeeeeeewwww.

More happy Maxx

We shall spend the day looking at happy Maxx photos. A boy and his peep menace the Eiffel Tower.

Happy Maxx photo

Because I can't stand looking at photos of him looking so miserable, here's an old photo of him before the cancer distorted his beautiful little face. I have a call into his regular vet to talk about the oncologist and to talk about getting him started on pain patches.

When I left this morning he was good and stoned. Unfortunately, the pain meds seem to wear off too quickly. He ate some last night, but was uninterested in having any breakfast.

Pundits who suck, Version 5.1.6b

The mustache bothers to opine on both Gerry Ford's funeral and Saddam's hanging, and manages to sound silly on both. : A Hanging and a Funeral (subscription required). Unfortunately, this column was not nearly as entertaining as the film "Four Weddings and a Funeral." I'll spare you most of the blather, but this one passage jumped out at me:

Saddam deserved to die 100 deaths. But imagine if Iraq’s Shiite leaders had surprised everyone, declared that there had been enough killing in Iraq and commuted Saddam’s sentence to life in prison — sparing his life in hopes of uniting the country rather than executing him and dividing it further. I don’t know if it would have helped, but I do know Iraqis have rarely surprised us with gestures of reconciliation — only with new ways to kill each other.

Gee. Imagine if we were the kind of country who had outlawed capital punishment? and that we had insisted that the Iraqis spare his life? Imagine if we had simply refused to turn Saddam over until we were certain that the execution wasn't going to turn into a grisly and appalling snuff film? And imagine if we hadn't invaded Iraq on nonsensical grounds and we hadn't ignited this civil war in the first place? And imagine if we hadn't backed a 'government' (a term I use in the loosest sense) that regularly engaged in ethnic cleansing? And how about if Friedman had actually thought about these things and written about them in his miserable column? Now that would have really surprised everyone!

Friedman is the perfect example of what's wrong in mainstream pundit-land. He was one of the main cheerleaders for the invasion, and now that it's all gone tragically wrong, he stands off to the side, tut-tutting and thinking, "My, how did THAT mess happen?"

I guess the moral of the story is that violence only begets violence, and wankers only beget wankerosity. Or something. Feh.

Late Night Lion Kitty

I am very worried about Maxx tonight. I have been unable to get him to do more than nibble on his food. It just seems to be too painful, and his pain meds don't seem to be working any longer. I'm not sure what to do for him.

Poor little guy. It's so unfair.

Daily Plush

Maxx doesn't understand what the fuss is all about. So he's taking a nap.

Commander Pissy-pants prepares to strike again

Commander Pissy-pants holds tight to his last supporter. Larry Downing/Reuters

The BBC is reporting that Bush intends to reveal his new Iraq strategy within days. Oh, goody. Of course the devil is in the details.

US President George W Bush intends to reveal a new Iraq strategy within days, the BBC has learnt.

The speech will reveal a plan to send more US troops to Iraq to focus on ways of bringing greater security, rather than training Iraqi forces.

Let's see. We just had an election here that sent a clear message that the American people want less troops in Iraq, not more. Further, the few military personnel who have said they actually support more boots on the ground, have been clear in saying that more troops should be for training purposes. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Bush intends to do the exact opposite. Next?

The BBC has been told by a senior administration source that the speech setting out changes in Mr Bush's Iraq policy is likely to come in the middle of next week.

Its central theme will be sacrifice.

Sacrifice by whom, exactly? Not the Bush twins. Not any of the young republicans that I know.

The exact mission of the extra troops in Iraq is still under discussion, according to officials, but it is likely to focus on providing security rather than training Iraqi forces.

The proposal, if it comes, will be highly controversial. ( Ya think?)

Already one senior Republican senator has called it Alice in Wonderland.

I dunno, I'd just call it plain old pigheadedness. It's clear that Bush has been hearing a lot of advice of why we need to disengage, which is precisely why he's planning on escalating the war. These are the actions of a stubborn and immature chief executive who is incapable of admitting he was wrong, and who doesn't care how many people die for his mistake.

Allow me to make a prediction of what's going to happen here. We're going to get Bush's pet "surge" whether we want it or not. The troops are going to go in with new, robust rules of engagement. The new order of the day will be "gloves off." It will be Fallujah redux, on a far grander scale. Chimpy is going to order them to shoot anything and everything that appears even vaguely hostile, and hope that the American army is the only one left standing. All to satisfy his need to show that he was right, and we were all wrong.

The American public should be prepared for a spike in casualites, both American and Iraqi, because that's exactly what they're going to get.

Really, Bush is exactly like a spoiled-rotten teenager who asks his elders for advice, precisely so he can do the exact opposite just to spite them. It's time someone grounds him and locks him in his room before he can do any more damage.

I'm looking at you, new congress. It's time for you to stiffen your spines and take this little bastard on. Oh, and the first 'wise man pundit' in Washington who hails this clusterfuck as being "bold and decisive" gets my razor-sharp pitchfork up their ass.

Conservative Freaks

Regarding what Thers says about conservative freaks...

It's funny, but for all the whining about "identity politics," nobody is more tied to it than "movement conservatives." So tied to it, in fact, that they have to invent their own "intellectual tradition" out of old Norton Anthologies and a firm conviction that Edmund Burke would be high-fiving Alexis de Toqueville right now over the passage of the Patriot Act. More relevant to the Right Wankosphere, they're compelled to adopt a tortuous stance of "civil discourse" in order to pinch-hit for the intellectual capital they sense they lack, an attitude that in the end amounts to the contention that their insane enthusiasm for incompetent warmongering is a perfectly reasonable "intellectual position" simply because they don't use the word "fuck."

...anyone who spends five minutes either listening to or reading the blather that comes from these fucktards and doesn't say "fuck" is either braindead, or a winger-in-training.

I mean seriously, Red Dawn?

Extra plush

Maxx looks kind of silly with his new haircut. They shaved off some of his chin whiskers, making his face look funny. But he does have a bright new collar, with a pretty new blue bell.

Your Daily Lion Kitty

He has a funny haircut, but he still loves killing his carrot.

We wishl all of you a very happy and prosperous new year!!

New Year's Space Blogging!!

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. Or more precisely, I wanted to fly off about the universe like the guys in the science fiction books I loved. I dreamed of walking on alien worlds, of flying through nebulas, of exploring distant star systems. Being an optimist at heart, I still hope I'll live long enough to escape our gravity well. In the meantime, I'll keep posting photographs of our astonishingly lovely universe.

I feel only pity for the silly people who are unable to appreciate the wonder and glory of creation, not as their sterile myths conjure, but the physical reality that is. God created the universe in six days? how perfectly boring. *Poof* you have a universe! Where's the fun in that? Why can't they appreciate the grandeur and sweep of time? The complexity and mystery of forces both quantum and large? The sheer elegance of the physical world?

Feh, a pox on all of them.

The image above comes from Space.com's Best Images of 2006. Enjoy.

Zombie Crab Nebula
A dead star lives on in the form of the Crab nebula 952 years after its explosive demise. The Crab nebula sits about 6,000 light-years from Earth towards the constellation Taurus [image]. One light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about six trillion miles (10, trillion kilometers). This view of the nebula is actually the result of several space-based platforms, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope.
X-ray: NASA/CXC/ASU/J.Hester et al.;
Optical: NASA/ESA/ASU/J.Hester & A.Loll; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. Minn./R.Gehrz.

Happy New Year!!!

I think it's appropriate that we start off the new year with as much plushiness as possible.

This is Ira, one of Maxx's fellow plushy buddies. Ira lives with his very own plushy-slave Virgo Tex. He's like a giant, plushy creamsicle!!

New Years Eve Plushy

Poor lion kitty Maxx. They shaved off a good bit of his lovely ruff and managed to clip of some of his whiskers at the same time. Oh, the indignity!!

He's happy to be home though. Last night he didn't just sleep with me, he slept on me. Such a funny little guy.

Thank you!!

You guys have overwhelmed us with your generosity. I've taken down the paypal link for now, because Maxx's bill from Thursday is taken care of. He sees the new oncologist on Thursday and if he thinks Maxx can be helped, I'll consider putting it back up.

But for now, thank you so much. Maxx and I never knew we had so many friends. You have my undying gratitude.

Return of the Plush!!

Maxx and I are overwhelmed by everyone's generosity!! Many purrrrrs to all of you.

Donations

Sigh.

I hoped I'd never get to this day, but Maxx's overnight trip to the Emergency Room has finally prompted me to put up a PayPal link, especially after so many people asked me to.

Please don't feel obligated, but should you want to help defray some of lion kitty Maxx's vet bills, just click the secure link in the button in the side bar. (update, button in post removed because it wasn't working, sorry.)

Anyone who wants a snail mail address, please email me @ fourlegsrgood@yahoo.com. Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive during Maxx's illness. I can never thank you enough.

Woo hooo!!! Maxx is HOME!!!!!!!

I was out putting up flyers on each and every door when I found a woman who said, "Oh! I took him to the emergency clinic last night!"

Fuckers. I called them today and the receptionist said he wasn't there. The woman pre-paid $900.00 to take care of his expenses, which I promptly paid for. (It wasn't $900, but I don't know what the damage is.)

Maxx already wants to go outside. He's never going out AGAIN.

Whew. Thanks again for everyone's good thoughts. I'm just so relieved that he was somewhere safe.

PS. I'd post a pitcher, but it would probably scare everybody. :-)

4:35 Update

Still missing. I've put flyers up and notified as many people as I can to look out for him. I'm going down to the shelter where all strays and lost animals are taken. They couldn't tell me anything over the phone, they said I needed to come down and look for myself.

More later. Thanks for everyone's prayers.

Say a Prayer

Say a prayer that my sweet little Mr. Plushy will come home.

9:45 am Still Missing

The apartment people are putting up flyers and several people have their eye out for him. I'm starting to think something awful happened to him.

Missing

The furbag has gone awol. I haven't seen him since 6:00 pm, and I've searched the neighborhood. I'm so worried, he hasn't had his pain meds since 3:00.

Update: 1:25 am. Still missing. I'm praying that he's in someone's apartment, because I've looked everywhere. But he's hasn't had any of his meds. He needs his pain meds and his piroxicam. I want him to come home.

4:25 am, still not home. I should never have let him out of my sight. Never.

Thursday update

He seems to be feeling a little better today, though he did go our without eating any lunch. And he hasn't come back in yet. Bad kitty!!

We'll see how he does the rest of the day- if he's not eating well he's going back to the vet.

Update: He slipped at at 6:00 pm when I got back from picking up his pain med refill and he hasn't come back. I keep worrying that he's going to go out and not come back. It's so nerve wracking.

Signs of the Apocolypse

Both photos: Jeff Topping, Reuters. The dog's name is Booger, the cat is Kitty and the mice are both "mousie."

Good heavens.

Maxx is eating!!

Small victories.

Himself is snarfing down a nice dinner of Iams Turkey feast, washed down with some cold half and half. I bought him some chicken livers as well.

Update (2:30 am): Had himself a little snacky-snack of beef. I'm really glad he gained that 11 ounces, he can afford a day or two of not eating well.

After Christmas lion kitty

He's getting ready for New Years. I hope you all are off work and enjoying yourselves.

Christmas Eve kitty goodness

There's stuff on my cat!!