Nebraska - Days 25 & 26 - in Grand Island and the campground

Grand Island KOA, Grand Island

Tuesday, 25 and Wednesday, 26 October 2022

One of the reasons I wanted to come back to Grand Island was to have the original vet do the 2-week check-up on the kittens, so I called ahead and made an appointment.

On Tuesday morning I was getting ready to go into town and worked with Google on driving directions to various places.  And that's when I suddenly realized I'd made an appointment with the wrong vet.

When I first came to town a couple of weeks ago, I'd made an appointment with a vet to trim Lily's claws and check the place on Dext's back that didn't seem to be healing.  When I found the kittens, I called around to get an emergency appointment for them and this first vet couldn't take me, so I took them to another vet.  It's that 2nd vet I'd intended to make the appointment with on Tuesday, but instead I'd made it with the 1st vet.

In a panic, I called the 2nd vet who agreed to squeeze us in at 9:00, then called the 1st vet to cancel the appointment with them at 9:00, explaining what I'd done.  This is the same grasshopper-brain thing I did with the campground mix-up last week, and I'm just tremendously lucky that other people have been really nice about cutting me a lot of slack over it.

Anyway, we went to the correct vet and they marveled at the improvement.  Bucky went from 1 pound to 2 pounds - I knew he was getting chubby - and Jimmy went from .8 pound to a full pound.  They agreed with me that Jimmy's eye was getting better, and said he did indeed have an eye in there, but with the 3rd eyelid still almost completely covering it, they couldn't tell whether it functioned or not.  It was a different vet today - another of the partners in the practice - and he prescribed different medicines and explained why he thought these new ones would be better.  It basically came down to: he did well on the first round of meds and maybe this second round will help boost that progress.  And he said I should get them checked again in 2 weeks.  So somewhere in Iowa some poor unsuspecting vet clinic doesn't yet know what will be coming their way.

I did ask the vet what if I just did nothing more to Jimmy's eye?  He's functioning well as things are and it no longer seems to hurt him, so can't we just call it good.  But the vet explained that if there still was an infection in there that was causing this 3rd eyelid to pull up, then it could get worse and eventually explode the eyeball.  Well, not exactly explode, but that would be the effect.  Aside from not wanting to have exploding eyeballs in my RV, I was worried about the pain the poor little kitty would have, so I agreed to keep dosing him with 3 kinds of medication 3 times a day.  At least the vet said I didn't have to keep dosing Bucky too.  

And I'm glad to know they're getting healthy.  Plus I got them microchipped, just in case they get out of the RV, which I was afraid might be likely - especially given Bucky's adventurous spirit.  And I bought a lot of expensive Science Diet kitten food.

The vet at the clinic I'd taken Lily and Dext to told me there were 3 brands of pet food on the market that were considered most digestible: Science Diet, Iams, and Purina ProPlan - in that order, I think.  The kitten vet sold Science Diet, so that's what I got for the kittens.

From there, we ran a bunch of errands, mostly to the grocery store, the CVS for my blood pressure meds, and a couple of pet supply stores.  I needed kitty toys and some version of a scratching post and dishes for the kitties so I could stop using paper bowls.  I was also looking for a spray I remembered from many years ago called Sour Apple, I think, that kept critters from chewing on things.  I wanted it to try to stop Dext from eating anything he could find when we were out on walks.  Petco didn't have it but PetsMart did - an updated version that was all kinds of environmentally friendly.  We'll see if it works.

We also stopped at a park that I found by memory (so proud) called Pier Park so Dext could take a walk.  I remembered the park because of these oddities.

plaque is enlarged below right

I don't remember ever being asked to remove "excreta" before.

Back in the campground I did laundry and did other chores around the RV.

It was a red letter day: Jimmy jumped into the shower stall on his own for the first time.  That means not only that he's getting stronger but also that I no longer have to be watching him for signs that he needs to relieve himself so I can put him in the box in time.

On the other hand, Bucky threw up 3 times, which worried me.  He actually refused to eat, apparently because his tummy was upset.  But this is the guy who came by his weight gain honestly - he's willing to eat everybody's food if they'll only just let him do it - so I was worried until things seemed to settle down.  Maybe the microchipping upset his system?  

On Wednesday morning a flock of sparrows besieged the RV and both Bucky and Lily were fascinated.  Jimmy slept through it.

I washed both the cat food bowls I bought at Petco and the metal coating on one came off.  Of course I not only didn't dare use it after that, but I also didn't dare use the other one that was the same kind.  What if the coating on that one came off in the kitties' mouths?  So I'll have to keep using paper until I can find another pet store.

We're comfortable here, and the campground's wifi is really good, but I still haven't seen the state capitol, let alone the capital city, so we'll have to get back on the road.