flea: (Default)
flea ([personal profile] flea) wrote2009-06-24 08:03 pm

on the limits of childhood empathy

My mother called in distress - her cat Henry has swallowed a plastic object. He's had a laxative, but the odds of that working are slim. If it doesn't work, she faces the choice of $3,000 surgery, or putting him to sleep. Thing is, she has exactly this happen maybe 20 months ago, and chose the $3,000 surgery then. The plastic object then was a little piece of some thick bag, like a ziplock, which presumably he chewed into.

I told the story to the family at dinner, with a little eliding of exactly how Henry might die, but I said he might die. And Casper said, "That would be GREAT! Henry always growls at me." Well, he does, but still. She's a hard-hearted little thing.

Dillo is very shy about his birthday party, which we have begun to mention. We delivered invitations today, by hand to our neighbors. I hope he is not overwhelmed by the actual party; his level of shyness just talking about it is pretty high.

He's gotten more into creative play by himself - arranging little houses and setups. Casper was doing this at 15 months, but Dillo has always been a very different player from Casper. He has a couple of small cars, from Cars, that were originally Casper's - "little Lightning" whom Casper painted with sparkly pink paint, and a Sally car.

Am having the stress and social anxiety of trying to arrange to see peole when we are technically another's guests (i.e. next week). Can I invite my friend and her kids to my mother's house for dinner? Guess I need to ask at a time when she is not in cat-induced distress.

[identity profile] veejane.livejournal.com 2009-06-25 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
She called me in distress too, and I went over this evening and helped excavate the crawlspace in which the cat had relieved himself. Not in a way that indicates his health will improve, just in a nasty, stinky and wet way. (Seriously, she was moving things around to reach me, and handed me a box, and I was like, "Um, this box is moist. And stinky. Um.")

FWIW, I don't like Henry either, and wouldn't mind terribly if he shuffled off to Buffalo. I mean, I know she'd mind it, and I think that's a crappy reason to die, but wow I hate that cat. So Casper comes by her hard-heartedness honestly.

[identity profile] casperflea.livejournal.com 2009-06-25 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
She was very grateful for your support.

He's terrible with the kids. Deliberately lies on the stairs so they can't go up or down, and is aggressive with them.

[identity profile] serrana.livejournal.com 2009-06-25 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
FWIW, I don't like Henry either, and wouldn't mind terribly if he shuffled off to Buffalo.

*is laughing so hard right now* Is this the east coast equivalent of "he went to live on a farm"?

Herself was really proud of eating the chicken we butchered last year. I think a certain bloodthirstiness is normal in a young person.