My Little Girl is at the vet now, getting a cleaning, and madder than
hell. She beat the snot out of me as I tried to get her into the
carrier, and this I took as the most hopeful of signs for positive
progress. She's as strong as an ox; I have a nice claw-scrape on my left
bezonga as a testimony of my little Amazon's physical culture.

Looks like she'll have 2 extractions. One molar does have a cavity that
I didn't notice until the tech pointed it out; the loose tooth is the
corresponding molar on the other side of the mouth. The vet figures it
wasn't anything we may or may not have done. Roxie was originally
rescued in a raid on a "cat collector" who kept over 40 cats in a tiny,
one-floor bungalow in the city. She was a meek girl then, easily
bullied; I remember the shelter and how some of the bigger and more
dominant cats knocked her away from the food dish. The doctor said she
probably was very poorly nourished before the raid and the shelter
stepped in to treat her before we took her, and so she may have some
bone weakness. But they were pleased overall; her gums looked way better
than expected, they said; Roxie has way less tartar than they would have
figured based on yesterday's phone call. Also, they said she was highly
muscular in the thin and wiry sense, overall very healthy. She's at the
vet's now, getting her teeth done; hopefully we'll have her home
tionight, tomorrow morning at the latest.

Many thanks to all of you who offered support, purring, and
encouragement to a couple of frazzled catparents. Louie, thank God,
feels relieved too!

Blessed be,
Baha