HotCat.org

I found a spot of blood on the floor yesterday, and thoughts raced through my mind. The source, I don’t know…But it’s cause for concern. I’m even unsure from which cat it came, but my guess is Eartha, who, on Saturday night yacked up a bunch of times, possibly to eject a hairball. We are still unsure whether Eartha was spayed or not, the record is mixed and our vet couldn’t find the scar but she said that’s not unusual for cats spayed very young.

Eartha’s going to the vet this AM for a checkup and blood test, hopefully it’s something minor like her period or ulcers or something.

The thought of Eartha having something more serious, plus the general thoughts of a visit to the vet makes me recall our ordeal with Lulu.

I have been catching up with the Science Talk podcast (Scientific American’s weekly podcast) and they have an excellent chat with Chip Walter, author of “Thumbs, Toes, and Tears“, much of which discusses crying and what makes us human. Very interesting episode. Article available in Scientific American’s Nov. 2006 issue, and available online via their digital service (to which I am subscribed, very cool…I print off a copy 2-up, double-sided for plane trips.)

From the summary:

But nothing is quite as strange as human crying. It does not seem odd to us, of course. We do it often enough ourselves and witness someone else doing it nearly every day. According to one study of more than 300 men and women conducted in 1980s at the University of Minnesota, women cry five times a month or so and men about once every four weeks. And the first thing a baby does when it enters the world is bawl to let everyone know it has arrived healthy and whole. It is not the howling itself that makes our crying unusual; it is the tears that go along with it. Other animals may whimper, moan and wail, but none sheds tears of emotion–not even our closest primate cousins. Apes do have tear ducts, as do other animals, but their job extends only to ocular housecleaning, to bathe and heal the eyes. But in our case, at some point long ago, one of our ancestors evolved a neuronal connection between the gland that generates tears and the parts of the brain that feel, sense and express deep emotion