Adopt a cat from a shelter

I've been volunteering at a no kill cat shelter now for four months. During this time I have met so many wonderful feline souls it's crazy!

A lot of the cats at the shelter have been abandoned. You can tell the ones that came from homes because they greet you when you enter a room and hover around you waiting for a pet. Some of them are pure love and you can hold them while they purr like crazy.

At first I was a bit apprehensive being around so many strange cats. I thought there would be a good chance that I'd get bit or scratched, but I was wrong. They all live in separate rooms based on their condition. There's a room for diabetes, FIV, FeLV, urinary problems etc. I have yet to meet a single aggressive cat at the shelter and have never been hissed at!

It is absolutely heart breaking to see how many wonderful, sweet, friendly, loving, smart and amazing creatures have just been tossed aside like a piece of garbage! People would never do that to other humans in our society, or at least - when we do, we are usually jailed for such behaviour!

When I was a kid we had a lovely white cat that we got as a kitten. He had different colored eyes, one blue and one green. He was a farm cat and did not adapt well when we brought him to the suburbs. He remained an outdoor cat, but he stayed away from home for long periods of time. He was very difficult to catch, and in many ways behaved like a feral cat. He used to howl to go outside.

We decided to move away from that town and on moving day we couldn't find him. We looked everywhere. So we left him there. I was eight years old. There was nothing I could do about it. My family made it seem like what they did was fine, that he would be ok. He'd survive. But sadly, he probably didn't make it. What happened to him when it was winter? Maybe some kind soul took him in. Or maybe he was sent to a shelter and killed. 

This sort of thing happens every day. I just feel so sorry for cats at the shelter. Some of them do really well, and are quite happy and sociable. Others look rather sad. Some just look like they really need to spend a few hours cuddling or falling asleep on your lap.  In all fairness, they probably get more attention and love than they would get at many homes. 

Most people take care of their cats in that they provide food and water, and litter. But most people don't worry about what kind of food their cat eats, whether it gets enough water or wet food, they don't bother to clean the litter very often and aren't home enough to really spend time with their cat.

Most people treat their cats like furry animate furniture. Nice to look at and pet now and again, but don't really take the time to actually get to know them and find out what makes them tick. What makes them happy. A lot of cats just sit in the house doing nothing all day all by themselves. It's really sad.

At the shelter life is at least slightly interesting. They all have their own beds and pillows to rest on, they get fed at the same time each day, their litter is cleaned twice a day, they get fresh water twice a day. Twice a day a team of volunteers arrive who love to spend time talking to them and petting them.

I worry about what happens to some of these guys who get adopted. Do they end up having good lives? People should be really serious and committed when they decide to bring a pet home. And by all means, they should only get cats from shelters!

One of the advantages of getting a cat from a shelter is that many other people have taken the time to get to know these cats so it's a lot easier to match a person to a cat. For instance, a family with kids would probably want a lively sociable cat that is extremely tolerant. Where as an older single person might be better suited to a more quiet and laid back cat that likes to relax on your lap.

Either way, my heart breaks a little bit more each time I go and I get to know them all a little bit more. I realize how completely unappreciated these guys are and much they could totally enrich so many peoples lives (well, they already do - but it would be nicer for them to be in an actual home!).















 

High Maintenence Cat

I am thrilled that my wonderful feline friend Gayden is feeling better these days. He was diagnosed with FeLV in December and my boyfriend and I were devastated. I spent hundreds of hours researching everything I could on the subject. Initially I felt super defeated and negative, thinking that he would be dead in a matter of days or weeks. It's now almost eight months later and he's doing great!

He had two injections of a hormone to generate red blood cells for his anemia. We also started giving him a B vitamin/amino acid supplement with his food every 12 hours. He got better quickly, his appetite returned to normal and he had lot's of energy. 

In May I decided to take him to a different vet to have a check up, urine analysis and another test for FeLV - this time the IFA test which is more expensive and has to be sent to a special lab. I had read so much about false positive results for FeLV and he seemed so healthy I thought I should be sure and have him tested him again. Well, the IFA test came back negative. However, he also still has mild anemia. The vet was totally perplexed! She said that I would have to have the snap test done again to confirm whether or not he has FeLV. If that test came back negative then we could safely assume that he is negative. 

I suppose I will have to do that, but at the moment it's kind of nice thinking that maybe he'll be ok after all! Though realistically, as he has anemia, chances are there is something wrong with him we just don't know what. We aren't rich and it's expensive having all kinds of tests and check ups all the time! At the same time, I don't want to neglect his health and if there is any way I can help him then I want to do so.

Right now I'm just enjoying him being his almost old self again! After he had crystals he changed. He is a cat after all, and there is absolutely no way we can know what that experience did to him emotionally. He almost died! The terror of being in his litter box and feeling like he had to pee but not being able to produce anything must have been so traumatic for him! I am so grateful that I happened to be in the office where his box is and witnessed him enter the box and then just stay there for five minutes and then leave without having done anything. I immediately did research on the internet thinking that it might be constipation. However, after everything I read I decided that it was best to take him to the emergency vet, because if it was crystals then it was a life threatening situation!

He was then hospitalized and hooked up to a catheter and I.V for 10 days. We visited him daily and he was always happy to see us, but wow, what an ordeal for the little guy! When he came home he was a mess. Poor thing had the Victorian collar on his head for a week so he wouldn't lick and damage his private parts. 

Well, I've already written about the whole experience in an earlier entry. Anyway, a year and a half later and he's still anxious and high maintenance. We had him on a natural anti anxiety medication for a month to see if it helped. It was a pill that had milk enzymes in it or something that would calm him down. It didn't seem to help so we stopped it. I hate the idea of giving cats drugs, but his behaviour was seriously out of control. 

First there was the spraying issue. On the main floor he's sprayed bags, tables, chairs, the couch, the curtains, his cat tent and whatever else was at the right height. Upstairs he peed in the laundry basket once and on our bed once. In the basement he peed all over the couch several times. So needless to say, the situation was getting to be intolerable!

There is still a spraying situation, however he seems to only do it in front of us and he gives us major signs that he is anxious and wanting to spray. For one thing, he is still anxious about peeing in the litter box. I have tried different types of litter, tried moving the boxes and actually bought bigger boxes to make it nicer for him as he is a big cat. He was pacing and howling in the evening. If I brought him up to his litter box and told him to go in and pee, sometimes he would! Only in the evening though. I had changed the litter to the newspaper pellet things because when he was severely anemic he started eating his litter! So as it is clumping litter I feared for his life and had to change it to pellets immediately!

Well, I don't think he liked it very much - though I did! So easy to clean, no smell and no tracking all over the house!!! 

We recently went on vacation and brought him and our other cat to our friends house. However, she has five cats and the whole situation was a nightmare for her. Gayden peed all over house including her dining room table which might actually be ruined now. So if we go away we now have to find a cat sitter!

He is still super tense and difficult in the evening but I have found that there are a few things that seem to help. First off, Ed built an outdoor cat enclosure! It is right up against our house and they can access it by the small living room window. They can go in and out as they please. It has three shelves and is covered with screen. They seem to like it. Mainly it was for the evenings when Gayden basically goes crazy.

The other thing is that I have to do something with Gayden every day. Whether it is taking him outside on a leash, or playing with him. One game he likes is what I call the treasure hunt. I place dry food all over the living room in nooks and crannies and him and Calvin have to "hunt" for them. They love this game! Another game is I'll grab a small handful of dried food and throw one pellet at a time and they will run after them. So they get a bit of exercise and some mental stimulation. 

If I don't do anything for Gayden all day, then he will be awful come evening. He will pace and whine and walk up things and lift his tail up like he is about to spray. If I still don't do anything, then he will spray. I watched him spray the curtains one night as I sat there watching his craziness. So now we need new curtains. He still howls a bit at night despite my best efforts, but there's only so much I can do! I can't revolve my whole life around him! 

He pretty much constantly flaps his tail about. A relative said that she had never seen a cat wag his tail so much! Unless he is sleeping or eating, he will flail his tail about. So basically he is still anxious. I will most likely have to medicate him as I have run out of options! I can't and won't let him run free outside! Not only is there a bylaw in our city prohibiting it, but I also happen to think that it is negligent! In addition to that, if he does have FeLV then he can't be let free as it is contagious! But it might be a bit unrealistic long term to try to please his every desire!

He gets restless at noon every day and if I don't let him out he paces. So I have to get him and Calvin into their leashes and take them outside. Then they relax for a while. They get fed three times a day, so around 3:30 they are ready for more food. Then they relax for a while. Then from 7pm until bed time he is actively searching for things to do and if there isn't anything, then he paces and howls. 

I love him with all my heart, and he is really a lovely cat. He is also a lot of hard work though. But I really can't complain. I have already almost lost him to illness twice but he has survived. I try to make his life as pleasant as possible because the way things have gone with his health, I really don't get the feeling that he is destined to live a long life.

The crazy thing is that I kind of feel like he knows this and because of it he tries to live life to the fullest! He is totally ready to DO ANYTHING at the drop of a hat! He could be sleeping, but if I was to initiate some kind of activity he would get up and be ready. He doesn't sleep that much, considering that he's a cat. He probably sleeps about 12 hours a day. So this means that 12 hours a day he is busy looking for things to do!

I have spent hundreds of hours looking for games and ways to keep him happy and stimulated but sadly there is limited info out there. I've tried so many different things and he's not that interested in normal cat games. He likes challenges, like trying to open something that has food in it. He likes it when I put my laundry basket over him so he's in a little prison. He likes getting into the bathtub and have us scratch his back. He likes to play hide and seek. He likes to play fetch with his toy mouse (but only on his terms and when he's in the mood). I still haven't tried clicker training. I have heard that some cats do really well with this. I think he'd be a good candidate because it would be a new activity!

A Survivor's Guide to Driving in Montreal!

I've been driving in Montreal now for 7 years. I have also driven in this city for an additional four years with my learner's permit. So I know these roads pretty well, and am very familiar with the driving style here.

First we will start off with the condition of the roads. Hell. Plain and simple. Possibly due to ongoing corruption in this city, the condition and safety of these roads has gotten significantly worse over the years.

For starters there are bridges that are on the verge of collapsing. There have been many studies on the condition of the bridges and most of them say that they need a complete overhaul in order to meet safety standards. One problem is that some of our major bridges are federally owned. This means that Montreal can sit back and wait to get money from Ottawa before making any repairs. I don't know how the politics work, but from what I understand it takes a while to sort out who pays for what. In the meantime, nothing happens and the bridges continue to deteriorate. There is actually a Wikipedia article on the Jaques Cartier Bridge that mentions how it is deteriorating http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Cartier_Bridge.

As you drive through the city you will see many overpasses and bridges that are in horrible condition. There have been many incidents of pieces falling off and hitting cars. You can read this Maclean's magazine article if you'd like to learn more. http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/08/23/montreal-is-falling-down/ I don't know how many people have been injured or killed from falling debris on our roads, but it is definitely something to be concerned about.

Next you need to be aware of the pothole situation. Now, every city has it's issues and I'm sure nowhere in the world has perfect roads. However, in a first world city it is absolutely abominable how many potholes there are and how big they are, how uneven and rough the streets are, and just the generally terrible condition they are in. This winter a man drove into a pothole that was so deep it flipped his car! http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/03/11/quebec-massive-pothole-car-flips-kirkland.html. Generally what happens is that the city will just patch up potholes rather than resurface the whole street. Then if there is a water main problem the company that deals with it will just dig up a section of the street and then do a cheap patch up job after. Then in the winter the whole mess freezes. Ice penetrates all the cracks and causes it to expand so that in Spring you end up with holes everywhere. Pardon my lack of scientific knowledge, I'm not sure I've explained that properly, but it is true that each Spring the potholes are worse than ever. 

It is very difficult trying to navigate through the city in a normal, or compact car without worrying about damaging the car's suspension. An even greater threat to damaging your car of course, is the possibility of simply losing your car (and maybe your life too) to a sinkhole! http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Sinkhole+swallows+cars+Trudeau+Airport/8171026/story.html. There have been other incidents of cars going down into sinkholes. Beware!

Ok, so you've familiarized yourself with the falling debris from overpasses and are learning how to navigate around potholes. Now you will have to learn how to cope with the year round construction on the roads. There is a bit of a conspiracy here. You see, there are millions of orange pylons - EVERYWHERE - . I believe they are there to pacify the masses and give them a false sense of security in knowing that work is being done on the roads. That the problem is under control. However 99% of the time you will NOT see ANYBODY working! You won't see anyone there at all. Thousands of roads get blocked off, sending people on ridiculous detours and yet there is absolutely no one working on the roads! The construction industry here has been under investigation for corruption. They have unions and short working hours to begin with. There are hardly ever overnight workers.

I once got stuck at Rockland going around in circles because there were detour signs everywhere and when I'd get to the spot I thought I needed to get to, there was another detour sign and each time I ended up at Rockland. I kind of lost it that night. So frustrating!

The worst thing about detours is that you never know where you will end up! If you don't know the city very well, you can expect to get lost! One night last summer I was driving along the highway and noticed that there was a sign saying that one of the major bridges to get off the island was closed! That was it. There was no detour sign or any message telling you how to get off the island. I felt bad for any American who was visiting the city and didn't know the island very well. Unless they had a GPS or map on hand, it would certainly be a challenge to find their way off the island!

The last thing I'll mention about road conditions is the street signs, or lack there of. The signage in this city is terrible! Many streets are simply missing the signs. Others are covered up with overgrown hedges or trees. The highway signs are all in French, as are the messages telling you about accidents. For instance "congestion" means traffic not phlegm. Ouest means West. Est means East. Having a GPS telling you where to go is also challenging (and humorous!) because many computer programs can't pronounce the streets properly! My phone has a GPS and it pronounces the road Gouin (normally pronounced Gwain - but not really saying the "N" at the end) Ouest (West) goo-een-ooo-ist. It pronounces the road Papineau (normally pronounced Pap-ee-know) Papp-in-eee-uh. Some programs are better than others. I have heard some that can pronounce the names adequately. The street signs are often placed in hard to read spots and are often tiny! Even if your vision is perfect, you will likely be driving past the sign and only realize once you are just past the intersection that that was the road you needed to turn on. 

Oh, one more thing, you can't turn right on red here. This is very bothersome for people not from here. At least there is usually a big sign with a turn right arrow with a big red line through it. 

Now on to the driving style here. One word. Psychotic. It is possible to have a nervous breakdown each and every day if you have to spend much time driving here. I highly recommend meditative music or Pink Floyd.

Now, what do I mean by psychotic you might ask? Well, I mean dangerous. I mean angry - you know, like road rage? I mean people overdosing on testosterone (if that's even possible). I mean unpredictable (though the unpredictable nature of drivers here IS predictable and so you have a slight advantage in knowing that!). I mean - MEAN, vicious, vindictive, spiteful and BULLYING behavior. 

Rule number one, in this city most people have a ME FIRST attitude. Therefore, DO NOT expect any courtesy. What this means, is that when you are at an intersection, even if you were there first, unless you put your foot down on the accelerator HARD and DO NOT actually make a full stop at the stop sign, you can expect everyone else to go before you have the chance. Therefore, you are probably safer to just make a full stop, let all the impatient people go who don't like to take turns  (you might find that six or seven people just floor it before you get a chance - many people actually share stop signs so two people will stop at the stop sign and then drive away at the same time). You might need to inch forward across the line to let people know that you do indeed intend to cross the intersection.  

The next thing, especially in the suburbs, is that everyone is in a terrible rush! This means that stop signs are more like suggestions. People will slow down for them, but rarely ever actually stop. Therefore if you hit a stop sign and need to turn left and someone is coming towards you on the opposite side and they also have a stop sign, they won't stop at all. They will worry that you will take too long to turn, so they will do a slight slow down and then dramatically speed up before you have the chance to turn. Even if you are there first. 

Next up is tail gating. There's lot's of it, and it's very aggressive.  If you are in the passing lane on the highway you had better be going really fast. The average speed in the passing lane is 140 km/h. The speed limit is actually 100km/h on most highways, but most people drive 110km. There is extreme bullying behavior in the passing lane on the highway. People will drive right up behind your car - forget that two second distance rule - you could read the writing on their baseball caps they are so close. They will drive ridiculously close to you until you move into the next lane. They'll be flying past you before you are even out of the lane!

At least half of the cars on the road are large pick up trucks, vans and SUV's. Therefore if you are driving a compact vehicle you will feel tiny. So when someone is tail gating you, it's intense! 

People also cut each other off in traffic all the time. If you need to be in the left lane in traffic on the highway to get off at the next exit and the lane isn't moving but the lane beside you is, then people will go into the next lane and then drive to the front of the queue of traffic and cut in! Hundreds of people do this so it takes even longer to get off at the exit. 

They also weave in and out of lanes without warning. People in this city HARDLY EVER use their indicators! I'm not exaggerating or joking in any way. So if you are in rush hour traffic and leave more than an inch of space between your car and the car in front of you, you can expect some weasel to squeeze in. 

Merging onto the highway is another challenge. Much in the same way that people share stop signs, people also try to merge in groups. They don't seem to like the concept of one car at a time. So the result is that if a person lets you in, they will give you only JUST the exact amount of space into which your car will fit. Not an inch more, otherwise the car behind will think it's a free for all and he'll squeeze in too! I'm ashamed to admit, that I am now guilty of this too. Much as I hate driving really close to the person in front of me, I hate having 3 or 4 cars try to merge in front of me at once. I'm happy to let one person in, maybe two. But that's it. So I'll give them a car length worth of space and that's it. Then I accelerate and close the gap immediately so that the front end of my car is almost touching the bumper of the car in front of me!

People will also just suddenly stop their car without warning. Right in the middle of the road. Not on highways or major roads, but on smaller streets. I guess if their phone rings they just instinctively stop the car. They don't turn on their signal either. So you then have to drive around them. It's a lot like walking in the shopping center and people just suddenly stop so that they can text.  

There is also a lot of parallel parking going on, more downtown than anywhere else. It's really annoying as you'll suddenly pull up behind someone who is parallel parked and realize that they aren't moving and then you can't get around them because there's too much traffic in the next lane, and believe me, no one will let you cut in. No, you'll have to wait until everyone else has gone. 

On busy streets like Sherbrooke and Queen Mary it's very tricky to make a left hand turn as there is a lot of on coming traffic. Sometimes you'll be lucky and there will be a flashing left arrow allowing you to turn. Most of the time though you just have to stop and wait for a  gap in the traffic to be able to safely get across. What is really annoying is if you are driving in the left lane and get to a green light and the guy in front of you suddenly stops, without putting on his indicator. You realize that he is wanting to turn left and so you need to go around him if you'd like to make the light. Problem is, before you have even processed this information, ten people behind you who are lightening fast have already switched lanes and are now whizzing past you. Unless you can floor it and manage to squeeze in between all these cars now flying past you will be stuck behind this person, probably until the light turns red.

Driving downtown is very interesting. Especially on St. Catherine's Street. There are a LOT of pedestrians walking along the street at all hours of the day. When you need to turn off of this street, you can't do so easily because pedestrians have the right of way and they don't have a special light to walk. So you have to wait for them. Basically, usually only one car can turn for each light. During rush hour traffic it's even worse. Also, Montrealers are notorious for jay walking. The city has been cracking down on this, but years ago swarms of people would cross on red lights. This must have seriously annoyed drivers, not to mention it's dangerous!

There are also a lot of cyclists. This has gotten worse over the years. There is now a bike program called Bixi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixi_%28company%29. It's a bicycle sharing program. It's nice to see people getting exercise, and it's great for the environment. The island of Montreal also has an extensive amount of bike paths. My favourite is the one that goes from Pointe Claire to Old Montreal.

Lately I've been having to drive into the city more and have been having to drive around the cyclists. They have every right to be out on the streets, and I take my hat off to them. I feel that on regular streets it's just dangerous! They have to bike in heavy traffic and beside parked cars. It's a narrow space, and if someone in a parked car opens their door without looking and a cyclist is there, then that could be a  fatal accident if they are thrown into a moving car! Personally, I don't feel there is enough room for cyclists on the road. But maybe it's just because I'm not used to seeing them, out here in the suburbs the roads are wider and there is more space for them!

The next obstacle you will encounter is taxis!  They zig zag all over the road as they talk on their phones, talk to people out of their window, slow down without warning, never use their indicators, drive between two lanes (which many people do in traffic, as they are too scared to pick a lane in case it turns out to be a slower moving one!!!). Taxis will just stop in the middle of the road and you have to drive around them. Most people agree that taxis are horrible. The scary thing is that a lot of the taxi drivers don't even wear seat belts!

An interesting observation. The driving styles vary from neighbourhood to neighbourhood! On Cote Vertu Boulevard people drive the speed limit. I've heard this is due to a heavy police presence. On Cote St. Luc Boulevard they are maniacs! Downtown traffic moves slower and there are a lot of annoyances to contend with, but I find that as a result there isn't a lot of maniacal behavour to contend with. It's hard to act crazy when you can't move! Outside of Montreal people get cocky because they have a false sense of security over the large roads. I know two people who have gotten into serious accidents in the suburbs. One of them turned on a yellow light and an oncoming car crashed into her. Another friend was turning left at a stop sign, the oncoming car also had a stop sign but didn't see it so crashed into her. I've had several close calls. Especially in parking lots of big box stores on the West Island. Across from Fairview for example, there are many stores that share a giant parking lot. Many cars simply fly through it, not following lanes. This means you have to whip your head around in all directions and drive very cautiously. 

Well, that about sums up what it's like to drive in Montreal. Though from other people I've spoken to, this sort of behaviour happens everywhere. I think it's more of a big city phenonomen. I haven't driven in any other cities, so have nothing to compare this place to. I just go by what my driver instructor taught me to do. Basically, all the driving rules get broken all the time, so you really do need to be extremely careful!

Good luck to everyone brave enough to drive in Montreal!

What is wrong with our society?

I cannot, for the life of me, understand HOW we live in such a wasteful society. It absolutely boggles my mind!

I let my recycling build up for the last two weeks and today I finally brought it out. I live in a neighbourhood where we have many shared recycling bins and often times the bin is too full for me to be able to bring my stuff out. So it builds up.

Well, it was two full garbage bags full of stuff. This makes me wonder, why is there so much packaging for EVERYTHING? Why do we live in such a wasteful society?

There are SO MANY WAYS that packaging could be reduced. For instance, we should all have our own containers for many food items. Juice in supermarkets could be in large keg type containers and we could bring our juice container and fill up. There are many types of food that you find at Bulk Barn that could be sold in a similar fashion in grocery stores. Cereal, flour, cookies, chips, candy, nuts, spices, peanut butter, jam, dried fruit. If we all had our own reusable containers for said items then our packaging waste would be significantly less.

Bottled water should be BANNED. It is an incredibly destructive industry. Companies like Nestle suck bodies of water dry and then sell the water at a huge profit. The plastic water bottles don't get recycled most of the time and end up in the ocean killing wildlife. The bottles also leach out toxic chemicals that make the water less safe to drink than tap water. It's just unnecessary! Plain and simple. When I was growing up there probably was bottled water, but no one I knew ever bought it! Why would we? It has no flavour and tap water is free.

Then there is all the crap you buy at the dollar store. Do so many items need to be in packaging? The packaging is often at least five times bigger than the product itself!!! Think about how much transportation it takes to get all this stuff to stores. All the gas, pollution, road traffic, accidents, and money it costs to transport it all! We pay for this! We pay for the packaging, we pay for the people who design the packaging, pay for the people who assemble the packaging, ship the packaging, insurance claims from accidents. All of these things are reflected in the price. So a small 50 cent item is now costing us $1.25 plus tax. This might be small money to us, but compounded billions of times and the destruction to the environment make this a very costly practice! Not to mention that then we are left with all this excess waste that has to either be sent to landfill, burnt or recycled. Studies are now showing that recycling is actually not very profitable with the exception of metal and maybe glass. It's actually cheaper to just make something new.

Each week in my neighbourhood my street is filled with garbage on garbage day. Many people here still aren't recycling and throw out many things that aren't even supposed to go in to the garbage. There is absolutely no regulation when it comes to what you can or can't throw out. There are "rules". Like, you aren't supposed to throw out paint tins. But as we all dispose of our garbage in black plastic bags, no one knows what's in it. So you could easily throw out paint tins, computer components - anything you want.

In my opinion, nothing should be made that has to be thrown out! Clothes can be recycled or upcycled. Furniture can be donated for free to charities. Food can be composted. Why do we have garbage in the first place?

Disposable diapers are unnecessary. Throughout history people used cloth diapers and got on just fine. I for one, was raised on cloth diapers and have no negative memories of it at all! My mother would wash these cloth diapers daily and then reuse them. In the late seventies people were starting to use disposable diapers more often and my mother was ridiculed for still using cloth. I admire her, she knew it was a disgusting and wasteful industry and she didn't buy into it!

Shampoo and conditioner could easily be something we buy with reusable containers. When the shampoo and other soap bottles are empty, simply go back to the store and re-fill! Companies could have their products in giant containers with spouts that we could then pour ourselves. There are too many bottles and containers for so many things it's insane.

Then there is all the frozen food. I do not know what the answer to this is. These are very convenient (though not always healthy). Perhaps if we had to order our dinners and had to return our containers which would then be washed and reused. I volunteered for Meals on Wheels for a few months and the particular branch that I was with actually had their own metal dishes that they brought and collected to and from each house twice a week. My mother has Meals on Wheels and they deliver everything in Styrofoam and metal pie plates with round paper covers. She throws it all in the garbage when she is done. She seems to think that only newspapers can be recycled! And I'm sure she's not the only one, by far! Many people are too lazy to recycle!

We live in a world where corporations make and produce most things, make all the money, don't give back to the community, and buy out government. We wonder why our governments make decisions that don't seem to be in our best interests. They are simply the ones legally making and passing laws. Corporations can't make laws they can only conceive of them and then give government enough money to pass them. Why else does Canada have dirty oil that doesn't profit Canadians? Gas has NEVER been more expensive and yet we've never had so much oil! As a kid growing up in Canada we were taught that our main exports were trees, nickel, and other things. Not oil. There is an interview with Stephen Harper and Peter Mansbridge that you can watch on youtube. Peter asks Stephen why it is that Canadians are still buying foreign oil at high prices when we could be buying domestic oil cheaper. Stephen basically said that it's more profitable to sell our oil to foreign markets and that it is good for the country. Yeah, ok. Seven years ago gas was about $1.00 a liter. Now it's up to $1.42 a liter. That is significant. In another seven years it will probably be $1.60 or more. How exactly is this good for Canadians? We're destroying our natural resources to produce this oil and are not even reaping ANY benefits from it! Only the oil companies are seeing the profits and gains, not us! They want to build a giant pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia to facilitate the transport of oil to China! There is something like a 90% probability that the pipeline or tankers will leak oil and therefore destroy huge sections of our beautiful country. How are we really gaining by this? The premier of British Columbia has recently said no to the pipeline, but I read that the reason is not because she's concerned for the environment. No, she's more concerned about how much money it will cost to clean up the oil spills. In other words, if the oil companies give enough money to the B.C government then they will happily go along with the plan. Stephen Harper has himself said that if some people had their way, that Canada would just be a giant national park!

Please tell me what would be wrong with our country being a national park? What would be wrong with being a country that has the strictest environmental policy on the planet? One that creates organizations to help and monitor environmental policies instead of withdrawing from ones like Kyoto? One day, there really won't be any natural places left on the planet to visit. How valuable would our national parks be at that point? It would be a billion dollar industry! People from all over the planet would come and visit this beautiful country. In addition to the tourism benefits, keeping our land natural would help the planet! When you cut down all the trees on the planet and cover the land with pesticides and oil and dump toxic waste into the ocean, how exactly do you expect life to thrive on the planet? It's a slow kill process!

We already have technology to have fully electric vehicles and yet these have been so incredibly slow to hit the market. Year after year more and more gas guzzlers are being manufactured despite the fact that it is well known how bad gas is for the environment.

It's so sad. Corporations are just out to make money and only think about NOW, about TODAY. Today I can get filthy rich by destroying the environment and by the time shit hits the fan I'll be dead so it really doesn't matter. What about my grand kids and their grand kids? Why can't we as a society think ahead?

By reducing our carbon footprint TODAY maybe we will secure a better future for this planet. But as a whole, the people on this planet are doing very little far to slowly to really make enough of a difference to prevent a global environmental catastrophe in the future.

As one person, I can do the best I can. But it's not enough. I drive a car, I buy disposable items, I take planes, I paint my house, I use a dishwasher and use many other electrical devices. And so do most of the other 30 odd million people living in Canada. What about the two billion people living in China and India? What about the 300 million in the States? There are too many people on this planet living wasteful lives and I am really concerned that the environment just can't cope with it all. Something is going to give, and it will mostly likely be devastation of all life on this planet.   















 

Canadian weather

It's the beginning of February and it's cold. Like, really cold. For the last three weeks it's been between -5 and -30 every day. There was one day where it was 8ºC and a couple of others that were 0ºC or maybe up to 3ºC. But there was also one week straight of below -20ºC. That was harsh. Like, really harsh.

It got me thinking about how nice it would be to live in Australia or some other warm country that is English. I've been to Australia and absolutely loved it. In fact, I've been to many places on the planet like England, Scotland, Spain, Greece, Holland, Poland, Whales, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, New Zealand, Raratonga, and a few major cities in the U.S. I liked Australia the best! I actually drove across Canada from Vancouver to Montreal and not one stranger actually said hi to me. When I was in Australia I rented a camper van with my boyfriend for three weeks and we drove from Brisbane to Cairns. We were greeted by strangers on a daily basis. It was kind of surreal.

I started thinking about what the differences are between Canada and Australia. I know what some of the differences are in a more superficial way. I know that Australia (or at least Queensland) has amazing beaches, wonderful forests, friendly people, amazing wildlife (I couldn't believe the beautiful songs I heard from birds) wide open spaces, a vast land that felt really natural without being overcrowded by people. Canada has many of those qualities as well, beautiful coastlines (though with water mostly too cold to swim in) wonderful forests and an abundance of wildlife (though not as visible as in Australia - no kangaroos or wallabys wandering around in campgrounds!).

I would love to just live in Australia to find out what the more subtle differences are. I know for sure that the weather is better there. I have Perth listed as one of the cities on my igoogle weather widget. Though right now they are having summer so perhaps it's not a fair comparison, I researched it a bit and the coldest it seems to get is 5ºC as an overnight low in winter. But daytime highs in winter are 18ºC! Wow, I would love to be able to walk outside in winter and it's a sunny 18ºC!

One thing about Canada, is that as far as weather goes, it doesn't change much where ever you live. Most of the population lives within 100 km of U.S border, so we are all pretty much on the same latitude.  Therefore, it's just different kinds of cold. Vancouver is considered the mildest climate in Canada, but when it's 5ºC and raining it doesn't really feel much different from -5º and sunny. Basically, it's cold. There's cold and there's freezing. Montreal is freezing in winter. It's often quite sunny which is nice, but when it's -20ºC it's still rather unpleasant. It doesn't inspire you to want to go out for a nice walk, that's for sure. At least in the States you can choose your climate. You can live in New England where you can have four seasons, including snowy winters. Or you can live in Arizona where it's like a hot desert landscape. Or anywhere in the south where it's hot year round. In Canada it's just cold, colder and coldest. Many parts of this country are pretty much uninhabitable.  There are parts of the great white north that are largely barren unpopulated tundra. There are areas where there are small villages, but winters up there are horrendous! Six months of the year you don't see sun! Can you imagine six months of darkness? Yes, that also means you get six months of sun and no night, but it's still cold. In some parts a hot day in July means it's 10ºC. I couldn't live there. I have always lived in a cold climate and I've never gotten used to it.

I find it sad that every year I dread winter. I don't particularly enjoy winter sports. They all seem to involve risk of getting injured. Except maybe snowshoeing. I prefer summer activities. I love biking, walking, swimming, kayaking, snorkeling and camping. Every Fall I feel the dread kick in. First off because when I was younger Fall meant going back to school. It meant the end of summer which always felt like it was a bright, full of flowers and friends, fun, free, outdoors time. Fall meant going back to the boring prison. Soon after it would be winter, which as a kid I must admit I didn't mind. I liked playing in the snow, making snow angels, sliding down hills, skating, making snow forts and snowmen. But as a teenager it was hell. I had to be cool, so felt I couldn't wear a hat. I just remember always being cold. I used to have to go outside and walk my dog and hated it. I would just walk him outside my apartment building and then bring him in when he was done his business. I hated walking outside and did not do any outdoor activities at all. The only time I spent outside was walking and waiting at bus stops or standing outside to smoke a cigarette. Or walking to the store because I didn't drive.

As an adult, my time outside is even less. Now it's just from my front door to my car! I have tried to learn how to snowboard, but it's been very difficult and I have not had much success at all. Being outside means getting cold and wet.

Basically the weather here sucks. January - March is freezing. March and April are unpredictable. One year it might be mild with temperatures from 5ºC to 17ºC. Another year it might be snowy until mid April with temperatures between -5ºC to 10ºC. May and June are also unpredictable. One year it might be 20ºC to 30ºC almost every day for two months. Another year it might be 15ºC to 25ºC. July and August are usually the two months where you can almost guarantee hot temperatures ranging from 25ºC to 32ºC. Though August can be a bit of a wild card and temperatures can go down to low twenties. September tends to stay warm until the middle of the month, usually around 20ºC. Then late September goes down to the mid to high teens. October to December are also unpredictable, though you know for sure that every week it will probably get a little bit colder on average. Temperatures are usually between 10ºC and 0ºC. You can expect to get some snow anytime after Halloween. Though it can snow in October, it just won't normally stay for any length of time.

It's during these very cold months that I dream of living in a warm climate. I wish the planet wasn't so rigid about who can live where. If you are born somewhere, it's often difficult to just go and live and work somewhere else.

For now I'd settle for a warm vacation somewhere. It's been cold with lot's of snow on the ground for eight weeks now, and I feel like I've had enough!

My cat has the Feline Leukemia Virus

We found out in the beginning of December that our beloved cat, Gayden, has the Feline Leukemia Virus. He wasn't himself for a few days and I knew something was wrong. He will often greet me in the morning when I wake up, he will often greet me when I get out of the shower so that he can lick my toes, he always greets me when I get home - even if I've only been gone for a few minutes! Most importantly, he showed absolutely no enthusiasm for his food. I came to a horrifying realization that he probably hadn't been finishing his meals for weeks if not longer. We have never had to watch him eat as he has always inhaled his food in record time and then moves on to finish his brothers food. His brother Calvin can be a bit of a push over and will just walk away from his food as soon as Gayden comes. Well, I realized that the tables had turned and now it was Gayden that was leaving food that Calvin was finishing.

Back in March of last year poor Gayden went through the awful experience of having crystals and once he got better the vet suggested he go on a prescription diet. So we put him on W/D which is a low fat food to help with weight loss. Gayden was a bit chubby at 13 pounds. Well, he got a little too skinny in my opinion so I increased how much food he was eating. We were going through over 3 cans a day (at over $2 a can!). I did find it a bit weird that Gayden kept losing weight and Calvin kept gaining weight but I think I was more focused on his emotional health.

Gayden had been a real mess since his ordeal with crystals. He was incredibly anxious, would pace back and forth from one side of the house to the other. Just look out the windows, flap his tail about aggressively and then walk back. He had stopped lying on me, and would only stay for a bit and then jump down and pace again. His tail was constantly flailing around and worse than that, his poor tail hardly ever went straight up. A straight up tail is the equivalent to a cat smile, in my opinion. At night we had an evening ritual where he would jump into the bathtub and we would pet him. Then after March, he stopped doing this.

He wasn't very interested in playing anything, at least not for long. Sometimes I would take him out for a walk and he seemed to really enjoy that, but then when we'd come back in he would be restless again. At night when we'd go to bed he developed a new disturbing ritual. He'd howl at the top of his lungs! So we'd call out to him and then he'd come upstairs to see us, let us pet him for a second and then he'd run back downstairs and the whole process would be repeated at least five or ten times.

He also started spraying things! The first thing I noticed was the couch in the basement. I slept down there one night and kept thinking I smelled urine. Well, in the morning I sniffed around and sure enough, many of the pillows stank. I went through an extensive process to get it all clean and would not leave him downstairs unsupervised after that. It became an obsession actually, I would feel bad locking him upstairs while we went downstairs to watch t.v. So I'd let him down and he'd go over to the couch and spray. So then I'd have to clean it all over again. Eventually when I let him down I'd just stalk him and wouldn't even sit down so he never got the opportunity to spray again. He also sprayed numerous other things, not regularly - thank goodness! But often enough that I was worried that he'd developed a serious anxiety problem!

He also started trying to hump me all the time. Every time I'd talk to him and pet him he'd get excited and then start trying to hump me. It was slightly flattering, in a sick kind of way, to know that my little buddy loved me so much that he wanted to get it on with me. But it really wasn't a behaviour I was willing to allow, so sadly I had to pick him up and put him on the floor each time he did it, which was at least five times a day. He still does this, in fact, and it doesn't look like it's going to stop.

He also continued to eat his food at a pathetically slow pace. I realize now that he actually needs variety and hates to eat the same flavours day after day.

But in early December I knew something was up when he spent 3 days just sleeping and hardly getting up to do anything! My boyfriend said that he thought he was probably just under the weather, but I wasn't convinced. So I took him to the vet without consulting him first. They took some blood tests and then we had to wait. When I got home, my boyfriend was not at all thrilled at the $300 vet bill! I got the vet to also do a urine analysis on Gayden, just in case.

It turned out that he had non-regenerative anemia. This means that his body was not producing any red blood cells, so there wasn't enough oxygen going through his body which left him with no energy and no appetite. They told us that normally it's a symptom of a much more serious condition. They recommended that we test him for FeLV (Feline Leukemia Virus) and FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus). We weren't sure what we wanted to do, we were so taken aback and also felt like we had no idea what any of it meant. They gave him an injection that somehow gets red blood cells in the body. Then we took him home. I spent the next day or two researching everything I could about anemia and it's causes.

I know that the internet can be a bad place when you start researching symptoms and you can end up thinking the worst. Well, in this case that did prove to be the case. However, I was desperate to find some hope! I was so hopeful that maybe he'd have something different that could cause it that was treatable or curable. But hour after hour I just kept seeing the same basic message. It's usually a sign of kidney trouble (which he didn't have), hypo (or hyper) thyroidism - one of those two (which the vet said was unlikely for a four year old), trauma based (nope), parasite based (nope), nutrition deficiency (highly unlikely as he was on W/D) but we didn't rule that out as we were worried about how long Calvin had been eating his food. Or the Feline Leukemia Virus. No matter how hard I tried to be positive and hopeful, it really didn't seem at all likely that it was just nothing and he'd be fine.

So we decided to go ahead and have him tested for the virus as well as for FIV. As you can imagine I was absolutely devastated to find out he tested positive for the Leukemia Virus. Our cats are indoor cats, the only time they go outside is supervised and usually on leashes! We got him when he was a kitten, about four months old. As he was just left in a box on a neighbours porch we never found out about his background. I didn't even know that there was such a thing as FeLV. If I had, I would have had him vaccinated against it regardless of the fact that he's an indoor cat. We leave our cats at a friends house when we go away and she has five cats that haven't been vaccinated against it either and one of them was a stray. So there is a possibility that he got it from one of her cats, who might be a carrier but hasn't yet shown any symptoms. Or he might have been born with it. Or he might have picked it up from our back patio area as there are cats that come and spray our patio furniture in warmer months and we take our cats our there and they sniff the wet spots. There isn't any scientific proof of exactly how long the virus can survive outside yet, so it can't be ruled out completely.

In any case, it's rather irrelevant as I can't change the fact that he has the virus. I can't change the fact it's a terminal illness, and that at some point I'm going to lose him.

He's had two hormone injections called Darbopoetin which create red blood cells and we've been so blessed, because he has responded amazingly well to it! There were a few scenarios I was hoping for initially. One, that he didn't have the virus and that what he had was minor. Two, that if he was going to die soon that it be as painless as possible for my little beauty. Lastly, that I could have more time with him.

I've been handed the third option. More time with my beauty. And what a time it's been! We were so incredibly lucky to have him with us for Christmas! He gained back his appetite, he gained weight, and he had lot's of energy! We changed his diet, I don't care about weight loss at this point! I don't mind having a slightly chubby but happy and active cat! He really hates all prescription diets we've tried, except for A/D - anorexic diet - which is an incredibly palatable food for cats without an appetite. However, it's also a really rich food and a cat could end up quite fat if kept on it long term. I don't want Gayden to end up obese as that would just be an extra burden on his system. But at the same time, I can't be putting him on any more weight loss diets. Not at this point in his life. So he's on Wellness, which has loads of flavours and he seems to enjoy them all! We had him on EVO, which is cheaper but still very good quality and he enjoyed it at first, but seemed to grow a bit tired it and it only has one or two flavours. So he now eats the most expensive food in the store! We also give him either Taste of the Wild dry or T/D.  He also gets an amino acid supplement every 12 hours.

I was adamantly opposed to him eating any dry food at all after the crystals. I read everything I could find on the subject and it seemed that most people believed that dry food was bad for the condition. However, after all my research I'm not so sure anymore. The dry foods often have sodium in them which causes the cat to drink more water. I do believe that a cat should eat a species appropriate diet, but as an animal in captivity this does end up being very difficult. No one wants to feed their indoor cats live mice! Raw diets can be great, but they are still new to the main stream so therefore it's hard to get concrete facts and recipes. There is a wealth of information out there on it, but it worries me that most vets are not on board with it. Anyway, for now I'm staying away from raw but am not opposed to the idea.

I feed him about 80% wet and 20% or less dry. So I believe that at that ratio he's getting more than enough moisture in his diet. He enjoys crunching on the food and at this point, it's his quality of life I'm looking at.

Gayden is back to being his old self, the little guy we had before he had crystals. He is really perky, he walks around with his tail up if I talk to him. He enjoys attention and affection. I let him outside in the snow for some fresh air, but he comes back in quickly as it's currently -20 ºC outside. I bought him a bunch of new toys and he seems to enjoy all of them! Especially a wand toy with a little insect thing attached. He went crazy for it, chased it around with such force it was like he was a kitten again! I didn't let it go on too long, as he has a heart murmur! But we play a lot of hide and seek with it, and I throw his favourite mice around for him which he loves. He doesn't sleep all day, and is active at the usual times. He greets me all the time, follows me around the house, gets involved with anything going on in the house, however small. He doesn't like to miss out on anything.

He's a really special cat, and I love him so much. Right now I'm really just trying to enjoy him day by day. Every day I know that this could be the last day that I get to enjoy him before he gets sick. From what I've read, it's not the Leukemia Virus that will kill him, it's the fact that it destroys his immune system so he becomes vulnerable to other things. So we're kind of in for a hard time ahead and I'm not looking forward to that. Which is why it is so important to just enjoy today. Today he's in in a good mood, energetic, perky, friendly and healthy. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, so I'm not going to live there, I need to live now - right where he is - and enjoy him as much as I can! As I write this he is lying at the end of my chair against my legs. One of his favourite spots.