Let’s talk about cats, man

It seems like a long time (or a “lon time”, heh), since I wrote about the cats. Thankfully, no news is mostly good news. Tomorrow we’ll take Frank in for his FIP shot, and we’re also taking Scampi along so he can have a wound on his leg checked out. I hardly know how to describe his wound, except that it’s a long scar (or bald spot) on the back of his right thigh. It’s almost like a racing stripe.

We thought he injured himself about six weeks ago when he took a poorly executed flying leap over a baby gate downstairs (a 3.4 degree of difficulty). At that time, the back of his leg had a long scratch on it, but it scabbed over and wasn’t inflamed. He didn’t seem bothered by it at all, and eventually it was just a flat scar and the hair seemed to be growing over it.

A couple of weeks later it seemed worse again, bigger, but it also was scabbed over and not irritated (we figured he’d hit the gate again—he’s not coordinated when he starts his jump from a smooth surface, like linoleum). A couple of days ago I looked at his leg and he seemed to have injured it again, and this time it had some fairly large scabbed areas on it, with irritation around the edges.

He isn’t picking at it, and it doesn’t seem to hurt, but now I’m wondering if it’s something more than just a scrape. If we didn’t handle him so much we wouldn’t even know he had an injury, because his pale skin just blends in with his fur. I feel a bit stupid taking him in to be checked out for an injury he’s had for over a month, but really, it didn’t seem to be anything more than an abrasion at first.

None of the other cats have any marks like it, there’s been no fighting amongst the cats, and the weirdest part is, we can’t find any rough spots on the gate we think he’s scraped himself on. I’m very interested to find out what’s going on with him.

I was offered a job a few days ago (contingent upon getting my work authorization); I was offered a job as a receptionist at the vet’s office. I don’t want to have to turn down the first job I’ve been offered, but I don’t think I’m capable of handling the reception duties.

Those people work so hard, are constantly on the go, and the phone rings non-stop—I’m afraid it will be too much of a shock to my system after not working in an office setting since 1995, and after dealing with fibromyalgia for the past decade as well. I would definitely love to work at the clinic, but I think I need a backroom “work at your own pace” position (like a kennel attendant), or I need to start part-time so I can ease into simple things like keeping a schedule.

The one thing I don’t want to do is take a job and perform poorly, because I don’t want to affect the good relationship we have with the clinic and the people who already work there. This was one of the reasons I thought a part-time job caring for animals at the animal adoption center near us might be a good idea for me, because there I don’t have to worry about burning bridges, and I don’t have the extra burden of dealing with the public.

I’ve waited so long to be allowed the freedom to work where I want, but a 10 year layoff is a difficult thing to overcome. I’m not sure how much my body or mind can handle, and I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew. I’ll be thinking this one over for a while.