It's been a week now since I got Oafy spayed (and her hernia fixed, about which I shall write a little more later), and I have to tell you, it's been pretty great. Seriously, I'm thinking that was the best $160 I've ever paid for anything, ever. She and ol' Cat Two used to fight way more than they have in this past week, and while I can only imagine that's impacted somewhat by the fact that Oafy has, you know, two horrible slashes in her gut, even in non-rambunctious-mode Oafy has been a lot more tolerant. So fewer fights between cats: good.

She's also had her entire personality change. Or, technically, regress. It's just like old times, actually. It's like somebody pushed the reset button on my cat. She's suddenly way more affectionate towards me again, to the extent that it's almost diametrically opposite her previous behavior in this regard. And because she is soft, and purrs with a volume which, relative to her size, would make a rockstar jealous (I also considered putting Pavarotti there, but then decided not to. His attention might have been drawn, and you just know that a man that size would covet my delicious cat.), I like that a lot. It's good for one's self-esteem.

But most importantly, she is quiet. She used to yowl almost non-stop. My theory was that she was a highly experimental type of cat which entered eleven estrus cycles a week, each lasting three to four days, and with a level of yowling the key descriptor of which could only be "unholy". And since there were five or six of these things overlapping at once, I began thinking of eating my cat well before she was ripe and prime (about four years, I think, is the ideal time). Post-hysterectomy, she stopped that. She can still be a little bit noisy, but mostly only when trading catpunches to the face with Lumbria (That is, Cat Two).

Of course, the noisiness bit is almost certainly related, I realize in retrospect, to the fact that she had a hernia. Having never had one, I can't say for certain, but I would imagine that a hernia can be rather painful - especially for a cat, who puts a lot more torque and strain on her vitals than we humans probably do. So she bounds about in a catlike fashion, triggers the hernia, and begins complaining about it at volumes which put to shame even her purring.

But now she's all fixed up, and I guess everything turned out all right. Dad's out of the hospital, Jimmy got Scarlet back, and as for me... well, let's just say that I got what I wanted, too.

The end.