Lockdown
 

Actually, it SOUNDS like great fun. It's cute...the first time. Thanks for the advice on the different locks. I'm thinking that the reason the Allen (Allan?) key didn't work was because the key went to an entirely different doorknob (the bathroom upstairs). I had a key for the upstairs bathroom doorknob because I had just replaced it with a new one when I moved in. But I didn't replace the nob on the downstairs bathroom (the scene of the crime) because I stopped buying "prettier" doorknobs when I saw how much money they cost. I assumed the Allen key would work the same.

Oh well. What sucks is I just KNOW it will be another 6 months before I get around to buying a new doorknob and another 6 months to actually put it on.

Vietmom

Buying Drugs Online
 

So sorry for being a serial poster.

I'm looking to get some drugs for my cat who is now living with the gal who adopted him (and peeing all over her place). The drugs are supposed to help that. I can't go to a vet b/c they say I'd have to bring the cat into the appointment to get the prescription and the cat doesn't live with me. And I can't tell the gal to bring him for a number of reasons. Is there any way I can just get these drugs and give them to her to try out with the cat. They are called Buspar and Amitriptoline (sp?). I see all the spam about getting meds online....do I have to pretend I'm sick and get some online doctor to prescribe or something? Any ideas?

Buying Drugs Online
 

Buspar & Amytriptylline are fairly commonly prescribed for UTIs and/or psycho-induced peeing problems amongst the feline population. I know cats who have taken those medicines. One went through many meds over some years before the vet hit on one that worked -- which showed the problem was, at its core, not what had been suspected.

Problems:

(a) No reputable vet will prescribe drugs without an examination (as you've found)

(b) Even assuming that the veterinary version of the drugs are identical to the ones used in humans, the dosages for a 150 pound person and a 10 pound cat will differ significantly. The course/length of administration may also differ. How much will you give the cat and for how long?

(c) When you buy from some online pharmacy, without consulting anyone you know to be a doctor or pharmacist, it seems to me that you increase the chances that the drugs bought might be counterfeit, say weakened versions of the same pills or merely compressed talc, sawdust, sugar, etc. How will you know, and what recourse would you have?

I would not suggest trying to fake out some Internet doc to get human pills from some warehouse in Simi Valley, and then trying to figure out what dosages to administer by looking on the Net. There is a reason that veterinary school is at least as hard as, and harder to get into than, medical school.

If the chick who has the cat doesn't want him to pee all over her house, she needs to take him to the vet. Nice of you to want to pay for it, to minimize her suffering and that of your cat. That's the way it goes.

S_A_M

Lockdown
 

Why not just reinstall the old one in the interim-- asuming that the knob was not flushed? (Or, is that the plan?)

It isn't that tough to do.

S_A_M

Cat Pee
 

I doubt the pills will work by themselves - the cat has a learned behavior and needs to unlearn it, though maybe the pills will help while he learns the new behavior. Did we have this discussion before? It sounds familiar. 1-800-Pet-Meds will call the vet to verify the Rx, so that sort of site is out too. I would just have her send you the bill after she goes to the vet. Plus it is possible he does have a UTI or other problem of that nature.

I own a psycho-pooping cat. I have done lots of research on the matter and have plenty of ideas, if you are interested, but none of them worked consistently for my cat. He is banished to the outside. (I am against putting cats outside for the most part, but in this case, it was the cat or the hubby and my sanity).

The vet told me that the occasional cat cannot be box-trained and from what we have gone through, I am inclined to believe it. I have had 5 others that are/were prefectly well box-trained.

-TL

Cat Pee
 

We just may have. This has been happening since the very beginning of 2003. It started when kitty noticed the smell of baby pee on the twin bed in baby's room (where I changed her) but he didn't "spray" or mark this "territory" . Rather, he FULLY EMPTIED HIS BLADDER on the bed fully several times and it was awful. I simply kept the door to the nursery shut. Problem solved.

But then he smelled the pee pee on the upholstered furniture downstairs (I guess from when the baby climbed on the furniture) and started peeing on those pieces. And so began a long stinky journey which included (1) endless Internet purchases of Odormute; (2) living in a house that smelled worse than a phone booth in the bad part of town; (3) curling up with my kid to watch cartoons on the couch and then realizing she was sitting in a pool of cat piss; and (4) crazy episodes of me, outside in my pajamas in the winter at 2 am, with the baby monitor strapped to me, trying to slowly drag various pieces of now-urine-drenched antiques (from my long gone Grandmother) out onto the street in the cover of darkness, hoping someone would take them or the town remove them, but needing to get them out so when Vietbabe woke up she didn't come down and climb on them and I had no more clean towels to throw over the hideous things.

When we finally had NO SEATING AT ALL in the home, I got rid of the cat and that was just recently. So, yes, we've probably talked about this. Now that he is still doing it at the new owner's home, and he doesn't have a UTI (checked with vet 3 times) and is on special food already for urinary tract, and all behavior stuff has failed, he is either going to have to be "made an outdoor cat" or put to sleep. But he's declawed and spayed and scared of the outdoors. If the meds don't work I'm going to have to put him to sleep. If I take him to a cat shelter, the whole cycle will begin at a new home and another move would really agonize him. Does it seem cruel to put a cat down under these circumstances?

Cat Pee
 

My cat always seemed interested in the outdoors and the weather is mild here. I don't know. I would be inclined to try that first, assuming you have a garage or shed to put a bed and food into and aren't on a major road. Poor kitty. Is he older? Maybe he won't go far if he is - mine lays on the driveway most of the time and hunts mice at night.

Does school quality matter?
 

I've joined the discussion late, but I'm with CT. Your kindergartener who can read and do math will, in fact, do just fine academically in any school. The real question in my mind is where that kind of child will learn the attitude about learning that will help them succeed whenever they get to the level that is actually a challenge for them- whether that be middle school, high school, or graduate school. If the child is in an elementary school where (i) the teachers are equipped to deal with challenging kids at different levels; and (ii) the families involved in that school value education and reward intellectual achievement, they are most likely to develop the tools that they need.

The turtles were both reading at 4, and the youngest (in kindergarten) is already doing simple multiplication in his head. None of this has anything to do with the school, but my comfort level that they will be given the opportunity to push themselves, and will not develop the attitude that they don't ever need to try, has everything to do with the school.

That doesn't mean it has to be private school. Mine are in a very good public school system, and unless they start losing interest, I have no intention of sending them to private school, at least until high school. I already know they are smart- what they also need is to learn how to get along in the world, which doesn't only contain private school kids.

Practical advice: I wouldn't be wedded to test results, though I would not send my children to a school that continually came up short. Also don't be blinded by class size. An experienced (and good) teacher can do more with 25-30 kids than a lousy teacher can do with 10. Look to how the parents interact with the teachers and the school, and look for elementary classrooms that are structured in such a way to allow different learning at different paces. You can tell a great deal by walking into a classroom and looking around, even if there are no students present. In my opinion, all elementary school classes should avoid the lined-up desk routine, and should have a part of every day in which students do roughly the same thing (i.e., reading or writing), but independently, so that a child who doesn't need to practice phonics could be looking things up in an encyclopedia (you can see daily schedules usually on a board for the kids to read). Last but not least, look critically at the in-class library- is there one, are there books of different levels, are there reference books, and are there areas that are clearly designed for sitting and reading.

Just my two cents- apologies for the long silence, and equally long post.

Yertle

Flu shots for infants (yea or Nea)
 

Newbie dad here.

What are your thoughts on flu shots? I never had them as a kid (old school), but it appears to be fairly mainstream practice for infants.

Flandababe is 9 months old now; a brief search on the net seems to be filled with several pros and cons, etc.

The Ped has the vaccine available; take him in for one, thoughts?

Flu shots for infants (yea or Nea)
 

If the Flandababe is in daycare, I'd definitely get the vaccine. If not, it's a bit harder to weigh the pros and cons. My Ped has always been pro shots, so we've leaned toward yes, but I know the question is not a slam dunk. I think the cons tend to be overemphasized, but that's hard to argue to someone whose baby is one of the unlucky few to have a bad reaction.

Flu shots for infants (yea or Nea)
 

Context - a pack of kids, youngest now 8.

We never got a flu shot for any of them. Never had any problems that arose because of that lack. They were all, at various times, in daycare, and so had lots of exposure to illness. Amongst my friends, people had a few problems stemming from the shots themselves, but never from flu.

(To clarify - everybody gets the flu. If you're of normal health and strength, it just comes and goes. No problem. If you're elderly, or frail for some reason, I might consider the shot.)

Oh, and, congratulations!

(Still looking for a "stitches and broken bones" shot.)

The Lexling is 10mos old. (Hey - if you were here, we could have a playdate!) He is not in daycare and other than runs to the store, he doesn't really get out...and even then, if he is in his stroller, he doesn't come into contact with too many bugs. I would still consider getting him a flu shot, but as it is, our ped is reserving them for the older and sicker. If he were in daycare, I would take him in asap - the flu (not a cold, the real flu) will have you and/or spouse-Flanders home for at least a week with a miserable inconsolable baby and then you will both get it too and be home for at least another week and be miserable and inconsolable.

BTW, anyone considering getting pregnant might want to get one too - you can't get them in your 1st tri and high, prolonged, fever in the 1st tri is strongly correlated with schizophrenia in the baby (well, later). I read an article on this recently and is scared the bejeezus out of me. Here's a LINK to a similar story.

-TL

I suppose I should note that this is one of the reasons our Ped has been such an advocate of shots and we have been receptive: a sick baltspawn means two sick baltspawn. One sick infant is bad; two is grueling. We do everything in our power to keep the kids from getting sick (not that other parents don't, but it's something we tend to be really aware of - we're backing off a bit now that the baltspawn are a little easier to handle). You haven't really lived until you've had two 14 month olds simultaneously vomit on you.

Blech. The 9mo old twins down the street are sick. I saw the mom and dad yesterday; they looked positively haggard. Then again, having 9mo old twins, they don't normally look too refreshed.

Flu shots for infants (yea or Nea)
 

Thanks!
Flandababe is no longer in daycare. The Ped wants to administer the flu shot at the upcoming 9 month vaccine appt? My concern, in the rare event there was a reaction, how could we ever tell what the reaction was to? Also, not exactly jumping on the bandwagon to introduce a smorgus borgus of chemicals into the poor little guy.