THIS is why cat's have nine lives

It's to cover for their idiot owners! I'm happy to report Maddie is well this morning, despite the ordeal I inflicted on her yesterday. That glow in her eyes is from the flash, not the insuline overdose. Really!

As if the urinary track infection, odd (and still unidentified, though they've ruled out cancer) lump on her side and diabetes aren't enough, she also is stuck with a well-meaning but inept "Mom" who only can remember three of the four steps needed to successfully inject her with insulin:

1. draw insulin (more than you need) into the syringe
2. tap the syringe to remove any air bubbles
3. push the plunger down to the correct dosage amount
4. give the cat the injection

Friday morning, I managed to forget the critically important step #3, and instead gave Maddie about five times the dosage I should have. AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

The car was running. Sydney was screaming. AJ was asking a million inane questions that he already knew the answer to. I was trying to remember all the things I needed to grab at the store and calculate if I had enough time to run all the errands on my list prior to Sydney's doctor's appointment because the builder was bringing a plumber over in the afternoon to look at the basement. Plus, there's that stuff I needed to drop off at work. And oh, shoot, I still needed to give Maddie her insulin... And now you perhaps can understand how I could be so careless.

Suddenly, none of that mattered as I ran for the phone to check with the vet about possible implications. They recommended I bring her in and leave her for observation for the day.

So we scratched off half the things on the to-do list and headed to the vet. As we walked in, Dr. Dougherty, a very kind man who's normally our vet but isn't the one who's been helping with Maddie, waved to me from down the hall.

"And how are things going today?" He asked with a nod to me, the kids and the cat in the carrying case.

AJ cut to the chase. "My mom gave our cat too much medicine."

Thanks, AJ!

We were hustled into an exam room where an assistant filled out paper work. Both kids managed to pull hats and mittens off in that short time, while AJ also couldn't resist opening Maddie's kennel door to "check on her" - no doubt causing further trauma for the poor cat.

As we at last prepared to leave, I said, "Bye sweet girl, we'll see you tonight."

And that's when Sydney lost it. Did she think I was bidding farewell to her? I have no idea.

So we made it to the front reception area, with me instructing AJ to put his mittens on, while trying to get hat and mittens on the still-crying Sydney.

AJ felt compelled at this point to provide additional instructions to the staff member at the check-in desk. "You take care of my cat. You take good care of Maddie. Don't give her any shots."

The lady thought it was delightfully cute. I just smiled. I think they at last understood the distractions that led to my mistake.