A Name, An Invitation and a Declination

Xeno. There. It's settled and done finally. Although it has "no" in it, the emphasis is on the first syllable and he doesn't seem to have a clue anyway. I realized when I had to take him to the vet yesterday that they still have him listed under Xeno because that's where I was in the name game at the time. I had almost forgotten it. I still like it best. It suits him and it's unique. So there it is - 10 months of indecision abolished in one go all because of a vet visit.

And why was he at the vet you ask? Well it seems my handsome boy is plagued by problems with his boy parts. Several months ago, he got a tiny grass seed up his poor little wiener which caused a cyst so I took him in then but the vet said it would resolve itself as it did in fact, do. Then I took him back a month later because of a lot of rusty discoloration around his tummy by his boy parts and it turned out he had a yeast infection so I had to go buy Vagisil to put on it. (Are you glad I am sharing all this with you??? Think of how much fun it's been to have to describe all these problems on the phone to the vet and then go buy the cure!)

Several days ago he started driving me nuts licking his doinky, as my friend Burien likes to call it, at night and keeping me up. Suspecting further man troubles, I did a cursory visual inspection and found green pus oozing from you know where. Oh for the love, said I. And back to the vet we went.

She diagnosed it using the same proper technical terms as I have been using here: "Boy juice gone wild". Somehow he got a bacterial infection in his "boy juice" which now requires me to flush it out every day and apply ointment not on the outside, no that would be too easy. On the inside of the prepuce and around his ding-a-ling (My mom's personal favorite).

Why oh why can't I have a dog that got a tape worm like poor Jakester did last weekend which required nothing but giving him 5 pills orally all at once and presto, wormless. Problem solved. No, not for me that kind of easy treatment. Seven days of flushing and ointment applying. As soon as he saw me coming with the water and the ointment, he took off like a shot, somehow intuiting what was heading this way. I had to lasso him and bribe him with salmon treats just to get him to lie still. Oh the life of a dog.

Speaking of which, it only took me months to figure out that a good way to encourage toy play with him would be to merge the puzzle toys which he loves with normal toys. He will play with his busy buddy cube, which dispenses kibble if he kicks it around enough, for easily half an hour. Nothing else gets his attention and he won't play with any other toys despite my best attempts and a large portion of my paycheck. So I bought him a puzzle toy on a rope yesterday to see if I could get him interested in rope toys. I crammed a bunch of tiny salmon training treats inside and he went berserk. Took it outside, flung it around, immediately figured out how to move the rope around and make the pieces come out etc. So I am hoping this will encourage further exploration of toys. Here's a photo of him mastering his new toy:

I am so smart. Too bad I didn't figure out how to water the lawn.

So that's the name part, plus some. The invitation: Xeno the Polar Bear would like to cordially invite his friends Daisy, Darwin and Zyra to play with him in his favorite field this fall when it opens again. Because his chauffeur is on sick leave, we are very flexible and amenable to everyone's time frame. If the above party goers are interested, please RSVP and let us know. He would love to see his old friends again and stretch his legs although I think you will find him slightly porkier than when you last saw him and not in nearly as good shape but there you have it. Presence is everything.

And the declination. Against all odds, my mom and I travelled to Wenatchee....well that wasn't the part that was against all odds. Actually, odds were that we would. But anyway, we went to the Humane Society, visited all the dogs and by the grace of god or whoever, all the ones we would have been tempted by were already adopted so we were free to leave that section in good conscience. On to the kittens. And oh did they have a lot. I played with my litter, a squirmy, writhing mass of kitteness that was utterly adorable, put two on hold and left.

After great thought on the way home, and after lounging in lovely Leavenworth for lunch, I decided that I am not quite ready to add to the menagerie of one. I am struggling with my desire to go overseas and get a new job and adding to additional animals is not conducive to that. Until I am certain I will be here and can keep a kitten for the length of their life, I do not want to commit and then have to give it or them up, especially if Xeno has grown attached to them. So I did the unthinkable and declined to adopt them. I know, I know miracles do happen. They are beyond adorable and I know they will find good homes.

Several days after, Marcia sent me this photo to try my will power even more:

It's a sign. You were meant to adopt us.

Evidently mama kitty abandoned her three children in Marcia's sister-in-law's back yard where they took them in, took them to the vet and are caring for them. This almost did me in and it still might. So far I am holding strong though!

Finally, in my profession people often say we stick together, instead of the thin blue line, in the press we hear about the wall of silence and that by taking care of each other, the implicit suggestion is that we cover up misdeeds and unethical practices for each other. What it really means is that more than most professions, we are very cognizant of each other's well being. We have to be because unlike fire fighters, the public is not cognizant of our well being. One of our officers was nearly beaten to death several years ago at rush hour on a very busy street in broad day light and only one person stopped to help and that was when Joe was completely incapacitated and at the end of the fight. I digress but you see my point. So today I came home and found this beautiful bouquet of flowers on my front porch from our Benevolent Association to let me know that while I am gone, I am not forgotten. At least not yet :)

Don't worry. We were meant to die at some point.

I always prefer flowers because then I don't feel guilty when they die as opposed to my killing off another plant! So thank you to BPBA and my thoughtful colleagues who would rather die than be labeled as such!

And now, my new profession as a vet tech calls. Yech.