Yesterday Young Potto got to go to the vet for the first time ever. He has a little, er, problem that needed looking at. Potto is going bald. It's only been in the last two weeks that it's been really "noticeable", but he was losing some whisps from the very beginning. We've bandied about thoughts of mange or some other dire condition, but his skin is smooth and healthy, with no signs of scales or redness. Very puzzling, and not a little amusing, though at poor Potto's expense.
Like all animals before him, Potto had deep suspicions of the vet's office. It didn't help that the back rooms were full of frantically yowling cats. The exam table was too smooth, too shiny, and too high up off the ground. Potto stayed in his carrier. That is, until the vet hauled him out and examined him. But thankfully, there were no temperatures taken!
The vet is sure it isn't ring worm, which leaves a couple of possible options. He's been on antibiotics, and that can sometimes cause a cat to lose hair. Or he had a fever and that caused his feline pattern baldness. Whatever it is, it's not contagious, and he does seem to be growing back some fine fuzz in the bald areas. Can't happen a moment too soon.
Noni is planning to keep Potto as a companion for her psycho kitten so she has been watching his transformation with interest. Long years ago our family had a turken named Nutsy, and for some reason, Noni is considering that as a name for Potto. I can't think why....
After leaving the vet, the kittens and I traveled on to Minot to pick Caleb up for his last visit before school starts. I haven't been back since they evacuated the school in June, so it was interesting to see how all the places that had been underwater were doing. People are really working hard to clean up after the flooding; there are trash heaps full of waterlogged insulation, drywall and carpet. There's a strong effort to re-build, but for quite a few people, it's an effort to rebuild so they can sell and move to higher ground!
In June...
In August...
In June...
In August...
On the way home, we got to see an interesting cloud formation, but then, Big Sky country is all about interesting cloud formations. It's also about summer bug swarms, so pardon the smears on the windshield!
Potto needs to work on his combover!
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