Hey all. Life has been totally nutzoid in the past couple weeks; I've moved to Washington and my kids have FINALLY come home! Grover is currently being treated like he had helicobacter. He's had 2 doses of flagyl so far, and (big surprise here) he hates it. Please, please tell me, what do YOU mix the ground-up flagyl with? The vet gave me pills and said I had to grind it up and divide into 1/10 of a pill dosages, it's been a royal pain in the youknowwhere. I've been struggling to get it into the syringe and then adding a little bit of a ferretone-like oil in hopes of making it more palatable (but no luck.) So far I've gotten by by picking him up when he's asleep and glorping him before he knows what hit him, but I feel so guilty! He retches and paws at his mouth afterwards and acts like I might as well have killed him and gotten it over with. BTW, yes, I am being careful not to make him aspirate the stuff, I am shooting it somewhat sideways into his mouth and not down his throat. Of course, this gives him a lot more opportunity to try to spit it out, but he's getting most of it anyways :/ He doesn't seem to mind the amoxi too much but does NOT like the Peptobismol at all! (I've got little pink spots on my carpet now that I'm going to rent a steam-genie. Ugh.) The GOOD news is that Grover is doing much, much better. I'm not sure whether to attribute it to the flagyl or not, as he's had only 2 doses... my instinct says it is the food. He is starting to put on weight and his coat is starting to fill out a bit. I had him weighed at the post office today (that was hilarious lemme tell ya!!!) and I couldn't see the scale but the postlady said he was just about exactly 2 lbs. If that is actually accurate then he's around 900 grams which is easily 70 more than he was last week!! At any rate, though, he is looking a lot less skinny, and, even better, he is starting to play rougher and to get into more trouble. Last night and today, he and Onyx even got into some dancing and tussles! It's been SO good to see Grover wearing a play face, and to see him and Onyx taking turns pouncing each other. It's not a constant, yet, but it's happening more and more often. This morning I woke to hear dooking (from whom, I dunno) ... the new sleep sack I just sewed for them last night was bounding all around and there was, to all intents and purposes, a good ol' row going in inside. They are still very much good friends, and I think Onyx is trying to weezil him into more play. Grover is regularly stealing socks now. He's starting to notice treats, though more slowly than Onyx does. And he's become a real lover for laying in my lap while I watch rented movies. He DEFINITELY knows what the soup syringe and towel is all about, and is all ready to go when they come out. He really loves the recipie that I finally settled onto, and I think that is part of what is putting the weight onto him. Onyx is also doing extremely well. She has turned into an extremely fiesty little minx (okay, she was one before!!!) and is very prompt at stealing just about anything she can. She still nips but not as hard, and is much more likely to kiss than nip. She has scared me a few times by flashing in with /lightning/ speed and actually grabbing my eyelids or the skin near my eyes, but she has never hurt me. She is learning to stay on my shoulder (better than Grover) though her curiosity still often gets the better of her. She is very healthy and muscular as usual, and playtime is not complete without her going whacko and bouncing about, cha-cha-cha'ing (sort of like asthma but happy sounds) and zooming away backwards with flips and bounces. She still steals backwards; it's so endearing. (WA) Megan, plus Grover (Ma, I'll trade ya meds for soup, really!!) Onyx (Grover's weird. It's 2am, do you know where your socks are????) Cinnebar (Why, mom, why?!?!?!) plus... little nameless cat -- Megan O'Shaughnessy, D.C. [Posted in FML issue 2492]