Here is a description of a typical morning in our home:
6:00am SHARP- Aroe (oldest cat) starts pounding on the basement door, demanding that he be released from the basement and fed.
6:01am – Bentley (our puppy) wakes from his slumber and begins barking in his play pen, demanding that he be let out to pee.
6:02am – Judy nudges Israel in bed, reminding him that Bentley needs to pee. Israel moans…
6:10am – Judy nudges Israel again (as the cats continue to bang on the basement door, and Bentley continues to bark) and reminds Israel that we don’t want Bentley to get a bladder infection and that the cats are tearing up the expensive basement carpet.
6:15am – Judy nudges Israel and Israel responds with an, “I’m up, I’m up!” and abruptly gets out of bed, uses the bathroom and goes downstairs to let Bentley relieve himself.
6:30am – Baby Ramos starts kicking Judy to wake up. Judy uses the bathroom, spends some time with God, and goes downstairs to help feed the animals.
7:00am – Israel is on the couch spending his time with God while Bentley bites at his bone at Israel’s feet.
7:01am – Bentley stays in the leash with Israel while Judy feeds Aroe his food downstairs, and then brings Chance upstairs where Judy feeds him his special food.
7:10am – Bentley by now is going crazy, so Judy puts him in his play pen to eat.
*Special care must be taken that each animal eats their own food so they don’t get sick…although each of them prefer each other’s food more. This makes things tricky…
7:15am – Chance finishes his food first and runs downstairs to see if he can steal the last few pieces of Aroe’s food. Judy is there, of course, to regulate. Chance is sent to the basement until Aroe is done eating. Bentley starts barking because he’s done with his food and thinks he deserves to play now. Aroe is still eating.
7:20am – Bentley is released and plays with his bone again while Judy makes her breakfast and lunch. She has to make sure Bentley doesn’t go to the basement to mess with the cats’ litter box and also that he doesn’t eat the rest of Aroe’s food. Aroe is still eating.
7:25am – Chance starts banging and meowing to be let out from the basement. He already went to the bathroom and wants to salvage the rest of Aroe’s food. Bentley sticks to bone-biting so he doesn’t get sent back into his play pen.
7:30am – Judy is late for school. She grabs her things together. Aroe can’t finish his food so she puts his food back into the pantry to save for dinner and to protect it from the other 2 carnivores in the house.
7:35am – Israel opens the garage and starts Judy’s car to warm it up. He helps put Judy’s things in the car.
7:40am – Judy runs to the car as Israel tells her not to slip on the driveway (like she did a couple weeks ago) and she’s off with breakfast in hand.
7:41am – Israel goes back into the house and plays with Bentley and keeps the peace with the animals until he’s off for work…
And HOW do you think we are to manage our lives when the baby comes???!!! Somebody better be praying for us!
We found out he has a genetic disease where he accumulates crystals and stones in his pee area. He was completely blocked! He kept squatting and trying to pee all around the house and he’d sit there for a minute or so, but nothing would come out. He even started moaning. Israel called the local emergency animal hospital and they told us that if we don’t bring him in soon, he could die. So, (without insurance, mind you), we took Chance into the pet emergency room. We had different options that they gave us after the kitty analysis. We could go with the bare minimum to keep him alive and then take him into our own vet (the cheapest plan), OR, we could go with the platinum treatment, keep him in the ER for 2 days (over-night) with the best possible treatment and pay $2500. We prayed in the animal ER and then by faith, we went with the cheapest plan, hoping God would preserve His precious creation. The vet wasn’t too thrilled, nor did she think we were being responsible pet owners. That was a blow to my pride. Anyway, they went in and stuck a catheter in his area and flushed out all of the stones/crystals and we took him home the same night. Then, the next day, we took him in to see our vet. So after all of that, we had good news and bad news. I’ll share the bad news first. Chance has to be on a special prescription diet for the rest of his life so he doesn’t accumulate crystals/stones again. The good news is that we caught it early on, he’s still alive and with us today, and he gets another “chance”. Praise God!