The Coz Returns

So this is Coz. Or Cosmo, or CozKitty, or Cozimoto...(and for my knitting friends, this is a shawl that my mom made for me a few years back so I could sit on my porch in the cool fall evenings. This of course was way before I picked up the needles myself - I so didn't appreciate it at the time!)

So - back to Coz. Well, he had an interesting beginning. A stray had some kittens at a friend's house in 1996, and all (even the Mama) except for Coz found happy homes. And so thus began the Weismann Home For Wayward Animals. We already had two 3-year-old cats (Otis and Milo - more on them later), and I just didn't see how one more would make a difference.

I should have known when I brought him home (sans carrier - shame on me) and he crawled under the seat of my car and didn't want to come out. And then the first night - when he cried all night and I sat up with him in the other bedroom. Literally cried all night. Like "waaah"-three second pause "waaaah" three second pause...you get the idea. He was named for the way he entered a room - much like Mr. Kramer from Seinfeld.

And so it began. This needy little sock-stealer with obvious mother issues came into our clan and made himself a little space. Early on, he scratched his own eye accidentally, then lost his depth perception while it healed - nothing sadly funnier than a cat who keeps dunking his face in the water bowl because he doesn't know how close it is to his face.

Most recently, in his tenth year, he'd shown some shortness of breath when stressed (at the vet in particular). So the vet wanted an x-ray. Then the vet saw the strangest x-ray she'd ever seen - his heart was in the wrong place. Cue the referral to the specialist. Yesterday, after an hour with a cardiologist and another hour with an internist, it was determined that this was no heart issue - that his lungs had been having issues, and the one weak lung was giving the other lung more to do - hence it getting bigger, hence it shoving the heart to a different place. So Coz was kept overnight (because if you've ever taken a cat anywhere you know it's better just to make one trip and get it all over with) to do some more tests this morning. He passed with flying colors, and depending on the culture results, we'll probably end up using an inhaler on him. I kid you not.

And so, while we await the results, he is finally home, sitting in front of the A/C, happily lethargic (as a cat SHOULD be in the summer). I find it amusing that not one but THREE vet techs smiled when I came in - they mentioned Cosmo, as is his practice when he's not happy, is affectionately known as "the talker" around the clinic now. Fortunately, he's not one of those cats who rips a person to shreds - when he gets scared, he just cries. Lots. And not just a lot of crying, but crying - a lot of the time.

That's it for tonight - it's been a long freakin' day, and I'm still just getting used to this bloggy thing. Thanks for listening/reading.