Lots of stuff about cats

My various trials (conference submissions, journal reviews, COMPS, reports, conference calls) have temporarily ceased. Hurrah! However, instead of using that time to document my life on the internet or (more importantly) read other people document THEIR lives on the internet, I have used it to do CAT STUFF. Namely: take my cat to the vet to finally get an answer for her persistent over-grooming *and* welcome a special Guest Cat into my house for the next month. While Mike and Julia are off getting married, their fat Sabine will be lodging with Addie and me. So far Addie has attempted to start three fights but Sabine just yawns and turns over. Oh, hmmm, I only just realized while composing this post that Sabine's visit may make some of my plans for the next month (namely, inviting extremely cat-allergic friends to come visit me--I am looking at you, Sommer!) less feasible. Damn.

Re: Addie...even though I had convinced myself that her overgrooming was due to some terrible flaw in my cat-parenting (not enough fish toys? Too many fish toys? Allowing her to ever come within ten feet of Charles?), the vet thought it was more likely a FOOD ALLERGY. How mundane. The solution, apparently, is to (a) give her steroids for a week and (b) switch her to an expensive prescription-only cat food. The idea of prescription cat food does seem like a fairly blatant scam. My perception that I'm getting tricked is exacerbated by the two flavor varieties available: DUCK and VENISON. Seriously? In order to cure my cat's problem I have to recreate the menu of a French bistro? This seems unlikely.

That being said, I of course bought Addie the stupid food, and she is currently enjoying her diet of duck and steroids. I am, however, willing to flout the doctor's "prescription" by giving any interested parties, cat or human, a sample.