I have not been watching Lip Sync Battle but the clips I've seen make me think maybe I should? I'll google for Snoop when I get a chance...

Jadzia has taken over MK's carrier in the bathroom, so I shifted MK to my bedroom. When I left, Walter was lying down in the hallway up against the bedroom door and Pixie was apparently trying to claim the kitchen as her domain. It's been mostly quiet jockeying for territory, anyway, a little hissing but no yowls and no outright attacks that I've seen.

Steph and Theo, my condolences. I'm so sorry.

So, Google has a doodle up today for Freud's birthday. My subconscious tried really hard to turn Freud's spectacles into Prince's glyph. On reflection, that seems kind of appropriate to the occasion.

Slinky has been acting very un-Slinky-like (but not in a bad way): she normally sleeps in one of the cat beds by the front window most of the day, but for the past few days, she's been curled up on the couch next to me. I don't know if she misses Toke and wants comfort, or if she thinks The Humans miss Toke and she's trying to comfort us by being un-Slinky-like, or what.

I also saw her lying in 2 of Toke's favorite spots yesterday. They were never BFFs, but they generally co-existed peacefully (unless Toke was in a bed that Slinky wanted, at which point tiny Slinky would unleash hellfire on giant Toke until Toke vacated the bed). But I didn't expect Slinky to go lay in Toke's favorite spots or come sit by me on the couch.

On hold with weekly conference call that half the time gets cancelled. Never any notice of cancellation. This is 2 offices, total of 7-8 ppl. My boss is the lead and cannot manage to let us know one way or the other.

Eta: I've been on hold 15 min. Am now told we will have the call when one employee gets back. From where? No idea. How will we all know he is back? Also no idea. Communication geniuses all around. I hung up, they can let me know or I'll miss the call.

Aw, Slinky.

Aw, Slinky.

She had been sleeping in the bathroom for the past 2-3 weeks (we opened the window for her and put a fleece blanket in there so she could recline in comfort, but at night we closed the window and tossed the fleece on the floor...and she just curled up on the fleece instead of going to her bed), and now we think maybe she knew Toke was sick and was avoiding her.

I know we can't know, and we don't feel guilty, because we take the pets to the vet whenever anything is wrong. But it's hard not to look back at certain behaviors and wonder.

And I'm grimly amused that the 19-year-old renal failure kitty who gets SQ fluids a few times a week and liquid meds every night is the last cat standing. For real, when I left for Chicago last week, I told Slinky very seriously not to die while I was gone. If we get up one morning and she's gone peacefully in her sleep, it'll be sad, but not surprising. But Toke was the only resident of Stately Beckmeyer Manor who wasn't taking daily meds for something. She was the one who seemed like she'd be trucking along after we were all using walkers and portable oxygen. Fooled us.

Slinky is eternal. After the heat death of the universe, there will be Twinkies, roaches, and Slinky.

Perhaps Slinky is a lich-cat, just decided to skip the whole dying thing.

Aw, Steph. And yeah, interpreting cat signals is tough. (Way harder than Bat signals.)

When I visited my brother two years ago one of his cats was taking on that sort of frail aspect and I pretty sure he wasn't long for this world. Fast forward to a month or so ago and the other, apparently healthy cat suddenly developed renal failure and died in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile skeletal older cat carries on.

apparently healthy cat suddenly developed renal failure and died in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile skeletal older cat carries on.

When I said I thought Toke would be around for a long time, Tim said, "I didn't, because she was so fat." I said "Hey!" and pointed to my belly, and he said "You exercise! Toke slept 22 hours a day and spent the other 2 eating!" So, fair point.

I feel like the skeletal older cats (Slinky is *barely* 4 pounds, which is an increase from last year) are just too stubborn to die.