Category: Fur Babies

At The End of The Day

Feeling tired and sad tonight, as I sit and think about what’s coming on Monday. This will be the third kitty I have had to put down.

Smokie has kidney disease, just as the first two did. Kidney disease does awful things to kitties. They start losing weight and then have ferocious appetites. It’s the body’s way of maintaining the rapidly decreasing body weight. They urinate often and in very large quantities. They drink a LOT of water.

Since cats have their own distinct personalities, this disease causes their behavior to change in different ways. Fuzzy used to splash water out of the water dishes all the time and was very vocal (extremely loud) about being hungry. Korn stopped grooming himself and was a big matted mess that I couldn’t keep up with. He also stepped in his own pee clumps and got litter on his feet, which hardened later. He was a mess. About a year ago, Smokie decided she wasn’t going to pee in the litter box anymore. She would go outside the box; I mean right outside the box! She pooped in the box just fine. She also started using various places in the house to pee. We have had to put puppy pads in those places and around the litter box.

She is 15 1/2 years old. She’s not had the best life, but she was loved. I called her my “Franken Kitty” for a long time because of her accident. She was just a couple years old when it happened, but she either got hit by a car or kicked by a cow (or horse) but her jaw had been broken and had to be wired for a short time. The trauma to her head messed up her eyesight. She hasn’t been able to see much except shadows ever since. I guess I should have just put her down then… I couldn’t bear it then any more than I can now, but it has to be done. She’s not going to get better and I won’t watch her suffer.

She was the favorite of the litter when she was born. Her coloring was unique (I thought at the time but have seen many cats with that coloring since) and she was a sweetheart. She would catch mice and throw them around in the snow, which was a hilarious sight! She loved the snow. Even after her accident, she wanted to go outside, but she could only go out with supervision and sometimes she’d follow me on my walks. I remember one time, her momma brought her a mouse. I think momma knew there was something wrong with her.

A couple of years ago, we were able to build an enclosure for the cats. I call it the “catio.” The cats, including Smokie, can come and go as they please through the cat door. She loves that freedom. They all do. They spend more time out there than they do in the house. I love that they can go out and be safe.

Smokie will be missed, just as Fuzz and Korn are. I will be left with 4 kitties; Alice, Jack, Honey, & Kitty. Kitty is 12 this year and I hope she has at least 3 or 4 good years left. My heart needs time to heal. I will be taking a few days off from blogging, Facebooking, etc., to grieve. I hope to be back mid-week.

Thank you for reading and thank you for your support and understanding.

Throwback Thursday

I was going through some old posts last night and nearly burst into tears when I saw this post. It was when poor ol’ Korn was a much younger cat and the life of the party, so to speak. I miss him and his buddy Fuzz, too. Furbabies aren’t just pets; they’re family.

Mr. Potato Head’s Cat

Good Laughs & A Tough Decision

 

I have 2 kitties with allergies. This I discovered after two $100+ vet bills where antibiotics did not do the trick. Ugh. Figures, right? I found a homeopathic medication for felines with allergies and it cleared Alice up after just a few days. Jack, started getting the “snotsies” as we have come to call it, and so I started giving it to him as well. He’s still snottin’ a little but he’s much better than he was. The others have not had any problems, thankfully.

On the subject of kitties, I have come to the painful decision of having my 15-year-old nearly blind cat euthanized. I don’t want to do this but she has started showing signs of Kidney disease and after having watched 2 other furbabies suffer from the same thing, I have decided not to prolong it. She must be miserable; as I’m sure my other 2 were. She has been having troubles with her bladder for quite some time and quite frankly, I can’t go on forever putting puppy pads around the litter boxes and in various “favorite spots” all over the house. Poor Smokie has had a rough life. I’m not too sure when I’ll make the call, but probably in July sometime.

On a brighter note, my two 9-year-old grandkids had lunch with us on Thursday. They haven’t seen each other for a very long time! Heck, I haven’t seen them in around 6 months! We had a great lunch and it was fun catching up! We wanted DM to have lunch with us again today, but he had other plans and couldn’t make it. Maybe next time! DM has a cell phone now so we traded numbers and we have connected in a new way! I am sending him puns and jokes and he has tried to trip me up with riddles! The granddaughter stayed until today after lunch and a little shopping.

Granddaughter is quite the prankster, as I mentioned in the latest Friday’s Funnies. She really pulled a good one on her (gr)Grampa, which was supposed to be on both of us but I was too slow getting in there. Dad really thought that lizard was real! That lizard made his way to the kitchen, with the prankster’s help but I saw it and knew it was her toy again. We did get a really big laugh when poor Jack was sitting there minding his own business and I moved that lizard up behind him. When Jack turned and saw it he jumped 5 feet backward and at least a foot off the ground! The prankster and I laughed our butts off! Poor Jack! I’m sure he called us a few dirty names.

The prankster has been very helpful. I wish she could come live with us. She made many of my chores much easier by helping. I despise being disabled and not being able to do things like I used to. She’s so helpful and looks after us quite nicely. In fact, after I paid the bill at the restaurant with my debit card, the prankster made sure I had my receipt and my card back in my wallet before we left. Yep. Growing up.

Why, oh why must they grow up so quickly? I thought I was “getting old” when my own kids were growing up. Now the grandkids are making me ancient. Lol.

A Caturday In Hiding

Poor Honey had to go to the vet yesterday. She went from 16 lbs. in January, to 17 lbs. in March, to a whopping 19 lbs. at the end of May! She has been on a diet since January! That didn’t work, obviously.

To the vet she went. She was not happy. In fact, she looks pissed.

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                                                                Image Copyright Being Aunt Debbie

She was a good girl though. She hissed at me when I put her in the carrier, but no hisses at our new vet. Everyone commented on how gorgeous she was… I think this may go to her head and cause her to expect more food.

The vet checked Honey’s thyroid, which was normal. She took a ‘picture’ of her belly to check for excessive liquids or masses. Nothing abnormal. Diabetes was ruled out as she shows no signs of that. She does have big bones so she may have some Maine Coon in her, but her belly shouldn’t look like she swallowed a bowling ball.

So, first step… Change her diet to a special weight management metabolic cat food, to try to trick her metabolism into high gear…or least a higher gear than it’s stuck in right now.  EXPENSIVE cat food, I might add. Ok. I’ll try anything at this point, but after a couple of months if she doesn’t lose weight then I’m trying a different kind.

As soon as we got her home yesterday, she hid under my bed. Of course, she hadn’t eaten anything all day so I fed her and she came out for that…naturally.

I didn’t see her much until just a few minutes ago. She spent her entire Caturday hiding under my bed. I think she thought it would be safe to hide in case I wanted to put her in the cage and go for another ride!

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                                                                  Image Copyright Being Aunt Debbie

She decided to give Alice a bath and Alice loves that! I gave Honey a good brushing while she was occupied with Alice. When I stopped brushing, Honey stopped and looked at Alice like, “What was I thinking?”

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                                                       Image Copyright Being Aunt Debbie

So, Honey, aka Fatty McCatty, aka Porkahontas, among other funny names….is unhappy and hungry. I just want her to be at a healthy enough weight to be able to run and play with the others. I want her to be able to jump on my bed with grace. I want her to be playful and energetic once again.

Sammy

I got to thinking the other day about all the pets I have had in my lifetime. I’ve had several, as have most people I suppose. Having pets teaches kids so many things, like responsibility and empathy. Since I was a kid I’ve been a softy for animals and I’ve always cried like a baby (even now) when a beloved pet dies.

My first pet was a male German Shepherd. His name was Blitz, which was short for something in German, but I just don’t recall what that was. He was very protective of me and our backyard. We had to rehome him because he tried to bite many people who got too close to the fence, including a man who worked for the city electric company. My parents thought it was best to avoid getting sued.

We eventually got another dog when my baby sister was just barely able to talk. The dachshund-beagle mix was named MiMi because all my bratty little baby sister could say was, “Me! Me! Me!” She lived to be a ripe old age but had to be put down when she started to develop tumors. (The dog, not my baby sister.)

I was in the 5th grade (I think) when the class guinea pig had babies and the teacher decided to draw names for who would get to take a baby home as a pet. I just happened to win one! I named my little guy Snorky, after one of The Banana Splits. If you don’t know who they were you can Google it. Snorky always squealed his guinea pig squeal when he heard the refrigerator door open. He knew we kept his veggies in there.

We had a hamster when we were growing up, too. I don’t recall its name but I do remember one night we heard a squeaking-squealing noise and we thought it was Dad making his weird noises. Turns out the little hamster got out of its cage and our cat Fluffy had it cornered. Mom saved its life.

We had a cat named Fluffy, as mentioned above. I don’t know what happened to her but I remember when she had babies. There were 5 or 6 of them. I think that’s when I developed my eternal love and admiration for cats.

We had a tomcat named Tom when I was a baby/toddler. I have a photo of me holding Tom but I don’t remember him. I remember Mom telling me years ago that Tom would be gone for days and when he returned, he was always covered with ants! (Maybe this is when my love of cats developed and not with Fluffy!)

I think we had pet mice at one time, too! I recall having 2 mice in an old aquarium made into a mouse house. Then, insanely, we had about 3,024 babies and had to give them to a pet store! No more mice!

One of my most unusual pets growing up was a tortoise named Sammy. He lived in our backyard. I don’t recall where we got him. He lived in and under an old dog house. I fed and watered him every day. He was something! Sometimes, he would leave our backyard and would be missing for days, even weeks at a time. The neighbors would find him in their gardens and bring him back to our house. He was really hard to see, so we painted yellow spots on his shell so we could find him more easily. We eventually donated him to the local zoo so he could be with other tortoises. We visited on occasion but since his yellow spots wore off, we couldn’t tell which one was Sammy anymore!

Since I grew up (hahaha) I can’t even remember how many pets I’ve had. But I CAN tell you, they’ve mostly been cats! How many pets did you have as a child? What was the most unusual pet you had?