Last night, Tuesday the 14th, I went online to pay my bill. It wasn’t due until Friday the 17th, and their web site says it takes up to two business days to process a payment. Should be fine, right? But at the top of their payment page, there was a notice about payments on or after the 14th being assessed an “expedited processing fee” of $14.95—essentially a late fee, even though my payment was not going to be late. I called, got the usual call center in Pakistan or wherever (the company administering the cards is Chase), told them about this, and asked them to reverse the charge. They refused. So, I said I wanted to cancel my card. And the guy asks me what my reason for cancelling is (!), and offers me a lower interest rate. I told him that all I wanted was the $14.95, and he refused again. So, I’m done with Circuit City Rewards, and maybe even Chase itself (I have another Chase card, and am going to call and see if they’re going to put this insane policy on it too.)

There are plenty of credit card companies out there (Discover and Citibank are two examples) that give you credit for your online payment right when you make it; as long as it’s in by a certain time on the due date, you’re in good shape. These companies that act like they can’t manage to credit your account for several days are just trying to improve their bottom line with late fees, and that has been a long-standing pet peeve of mine. But this “expedited processing fee” on a payment that according to their own “payment processing” statement would be on time — unbelievable.

A long overdue Taz update.

Sometime last fall, when we took him in for glucose testing, his reading was too low for comfort (although he appeared to feel fine). At that point the vet cut his insulin in half, down to two units twice a day. This turned out to be a bad move, since Taz’s sugar went back up with a vengeance, and his diabetic neuropathy, which had been fairly mild, got a lot worse. He was walking flat on his heels in back, slipping on smooth surfaces, and even was showing signs of a little hock-walking on his front legs too. So we took his insulin back up, but had quite a time getting his sugar down again. It was pretty frustrating, especially since the vet had no suggestions whatsoever for improving the neuropathy—“It might get better, or it might not”, he said.

So I decided to do some research. It has been my experience with medical personnel of all kinds that they do not necessarily know about everything that might be helpful in a particular situation. Googling on “feline diabetic neuropathy” brought up Jasper’s story.  Jasper was a diabetic cat who had neuropathy so severe that he couldn’t walk, and he was greatly helped by supplemental methylcobalamin (a form of Vitamin B-12). The site references a study that was done on humans with diabetic neuropathy, but there were also a number of anecdotal reports about it being good for diabetic cats too. Since this site wasn’t selling anything, and the risk of toxicity seemed to be low, I decided to find some of this inexpensive supplement and give it a try.

B-12 is normally given by injection for better absorption, I think, but I got methylcobalamin in tablets, cherry-flavored tablets to be exact. I grind them up and mix them in with his food, and fortunately Taz doesn’t seem to mind the taste. Of course, this is the kitty boy who eats brandy-soaked fruitcake. I mean, “used to”. (Probably not on the “good list” for diabetics.)

I started giving him methylcobalamin right around New Year’s. At first there wasn’t much change except perhaps more energy, but in the past week especially I have been blown away by the improvement. Taz is pussyfooting around, back up on his toes in fine cat style! It is so wonderful to see. He keeps his footing on the linoleum just fine, and he has even stood up tall on his hind legs to paw at me while I was preparing his dinner.

So today, we went in for his first glucose check since the holidays, and it’s 98! Maybe we can actually get this boy regulated after all!

Whole Lee CATS!

The gray and white cat traveled some 70 miles on the turnpike December 23. “I’m just amazed that the cat didn’t fall off or get blown off,“ said Karen Dixon-Aquino, director of the Animal Welfare Association in Voorhees. The association is caring for Miracle and plans to put him up for adoption. The SUV’s driver didn’t know about the stowaway until another motorist saw the cat through a wheel well and flagged down the driver.

» AP: Cat hitches a wild turnpike ride

So I walked into the bedroom, and as has been their habit now that it’s cold in the morning all three of the cats were in there on the bed. And although Suzie Q prefers to curl up next to Chris’ pillow Taz and Mickie were fairly close together—also in accordance with their habit though the weather has nothing to do with it.

I put my hand down next to both Taz and Mickie, and Taz sniffed it for a second or two and then started licking. Hearing this, Mickie—who had initially ignored my hand—looked at Taz, watched him for a moment, and then started licking my hand as well.

In the past I’ve found these two in a yin-and-yang pose, each with face toward the other’s belly fur. Last night Chris watched them move into a spooning position.

Occasionally if Mickie catches Suzie curled up in that spot by the pillow, she’s able to get in some licking on Suzie’s head—but if she tries to move the washing down toward Suzie’s chest the older cat will raise a paw in warning and Mickie backs off. And sometimes goes back to washing Suzie’s head.

Lucy can be scary sometimes.

Just now sitting here at my computer I heard her do something uncharacteristic—bark like an ordinary stupid dog for no good reason. Normally if she’s just excited about seeing somebody in the next yard she will stand on the deck and wag her tail. If she gets overexcited she may give out with a bark or two and then shut up. But this was a veritable State of the Union speech by her standards.

So I went to the nearest window from which I could see her, and I opened the window so I could speak to her. In a matter-of-fact tone that an ordinary stupid dog would have interpreted as merely attention and therefore a reward, I informed Miss Lucy what I would do if she got into the habit of barking like that—the idea involves going to PetsMart and buying something to put on her.

An ordinary stupid dog would have stood there wagging and hung on every word.

Lucy put her head down and looked penitent. She either not only understands English but can parse compound sentences, or she’s psychic and picked up the mental image of what I was predicting as her fate.

Cat Squawk Investigator.

Lately I’ve been noticing that whenever either Taz or Suzie Q makes a sound, usually in response to being petted, Mickie comes running to see what’s going on.

I think because she’s figured out that whenever Chris or I do something that warrants a squawk from either cat, there is either food or attention being handed out. And she wants her share, by golly.

She turned a year old last month, and is about the same size now as Suzie. But she’s barrel-chested and broad shouldered, and if she grows into those attributes she may turn out to be half mountain lion.

We’ve noticed over the years that cats have this habit of trying to bury things they find distasteful. If it’s not a real [ahem] in an actual litterbox, they’ll scratch around on the rug trying to bury, say, a wad of kleenex that didn’t quite make it into the wastebasket.

Just now Mickie started scratching around the bowl containing Taz’s special kibble.

Then she knocked a piece out of the bowl, sniffed it, and ate it.

And preceded to settle in and eat directly out of the bowl.

This establishment is still in business—just not doing much of it lately.

Taz is doing nicely. He still gets insulin twice a day, but it’s just two units.

Mickie is still growing, and lately she has even managed to get Suzie Q willing to engage in some wrestle-play (as opposed to swat-hiss-run-away, which has been her default, and is still her most common, response). Even this morning I saw Suzie try to entice Mickie into a play session, but this time the younger cat was not interested and just went on by.

Lastly, a link—to a striking example of why our cats are exclusively indoor cats.

UPDATE: (see below the fold)

I’ve been calling Taz “Sweet Boy” since day one of our acquaintance. Hope that’s not bad diabetes karma.

The vet is pleased with Taz’s progress. At his appointment last week, his blood sugar was down to 300, one of its lowest readings so far. The vet says we can have him checked again in two weeks (a milestone, since it’s been at least weekly up till now), and maybe at that time we can declare him regulated.

I still worry every time I see him drinking water, but he’s certainly not in feline camel mode like before. He’s still having some trouble with his hind legs (diabetic neuropathy and arthritis), but I’ve read that the neuropathy can clear up after some weeks of good blood sugar regulation. I’d love to see him walking normally again, but I sure hope he wouldn’t try to jump up on the fridge like he used to; right now that’s the only safe place to leave non-DM kibble out for Suzie and Mickie.