Tag Archives: furbabies

Sunday Night Musings

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It’s been a very wet and rainy day today…and noisy. Thunder had the cats under the bed all day. At dinner time things had settled down a bit so they’re a little happier but it’s still wet outside and Jack keeps whining at me like it’s my fault.

Sammy hasn’t been around in over a week. Last weekend I bought him a (15-25 lb) doghouse so that he has a shelter when it rains. He doesn’t even know he has a place to sleep! I paid $60 for it so he’d better get his butt “home.” I just can’t imagine him getting better food somewhere else, even if he has a home. I feed him well. I’ve put Frontline on him because he was covered with ticks and that stuff is expensive! Now the doghouse. I do hope nothing has happened to him.

The past few nights we’ve had some visitors. One night Jack came running in the cat door as if something was after him. His tail was all puffed up and he hid between Dad’s chair and the end table. He looked scared to death. I knew something was up so I went to investigate. There were 2 beautiful red foxes just outside the catio. Of course, I didn’t bring my phone out with me so I didn’t get a close-up photo. I did eventually get some video and a few photos but I hope to do better soon. Here’s the video; I hope it works. I’ve made my Facebook post public so you could all see it if you’d like.

 

In case you can’t make out the convo, the poor little guy is favoring his upper right leg or paw. I just love the wildlife here. In fact, I love animals more than I like most people, but that’s a post for another day.

Have a great week, peeps!

Aunt Debbie

Ramblings of My Mind

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Well, Happy June! It’s still raining off and on here in SW Missouri. I wish it would stop for a bit. Some parts of the state have had major flooding, not to mention tornadic activity, and that’s never good news! We’ve had some tornado warnings, which is always worrisome, but we’ve been lucky in that regard. The rain is another story, though. A couple years ago it was so bad that one of our major roads suffered damage and the bridge was totally destroyed. It wasn’t repaired for months and months! It was a high bridge, too! It was so unbelievable that a bridge that high above the water was even in danger. I just wish it would stop raining for a bit.

I woke up at 5am this morning and never could go back to sleep. I just couldn’t shut my mind off. I thought about things I hadn’t thought of in years. It was driving me insane so I just got up. I tried watching some tv but being Sunday there’s not much on in the way of entertainment. I’m sure not going to listen to some preacher telling me how to live my life. I saw a few gadgets on infomercials I’d like to have…but I have no room to put them so off went the tv. I’ve been piddling about the house ever since, getting little things done a little at a time. I have a feeling by lunch I’ll be ready to fall asleep.

Last month, I was able to reconnect with an old friend who moved back to the area after being away for a few years. We’ve shared lunch, drinks, and some shopping since she’s been back. It’s been great catching up…and laughing. We’ve done a lot of that!

To the lady at the intersection who ran through the 4-way yesterday without even stopping: Try staying off your Goddam phone before you kill someone! It’s a good thing I was on top of things because you would have been in a heap of swear words and chin deep in a can of whoop ass if you would have hit me! (Too bad I don’t know who she is and that she’ll never see this.)

So sick of people insisting that we shouldn’t be eating this or that. Good grief. Give it a rest. People have minds of their own. If they want to eat bread, let them eat bread! If they want to eat sugar-coated cereal, then leave them to it. If they can’t afford to buy organic, stop telling them they can. How the hell would you know?? Mind your own damn business.

I have a ghostwriting job this week. I hope this leads to more work. I’m not the best writer in the world and never claimed to be, but someone likes my writing style enough to hire me, twice. I’m looking forward to it and I think of it as another way to improve my skills.

Jack is doing well, knock on wood. He hasn’t had any major asthma episodes for a while now. As soon as I hear just one cough out of him, he gets an extra dose of his prednisolone, as per our vet’s instructions. It’s working so far.

Poor Sammy. The stray black cat who has been hanging out here disappeared for about 2 weeks. When he came back he was covered with ticks and had scabs and bare spots where he had scratched himself so much. I felt so bad for him I treated him with Frontline Flea and Tick. He disappeared for another 2 days and then when he came back, I didn’t see any more ticks! The scabs and bare spots will take a while to heal but he’s on his way. Poor thing. He’s a very friendly cat, so I think he belongs to someone. The sad thing is, they must not really care much about him to have let him get in the condition he was in. It’s so sad. Some people don’t deserve to have pets.

So, that’s the ramblings of my mind this beautiful day…

A Rainy Day & A Wet Cat

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It’s been raining a lot here lately. I can always feel it in my bones before it even starts, but once it does I ache so bad I can’t do much of anything. I end up staying in my recliner most of the day. Today I worked on a crochet project that has taken much of my time the last 2 months. I’ll show you photos later, as it’s a gift and I don’t want to risk it being seen by the recipient before the special occasion. I managed to finish said project, thankfully. I was really getting tired of working on it! It turned out beautifully if I do say so myself.

We’ve had a stray cat hanging out here for a few months. In fact, I think he must’ve been the guy Jack fought with just before Christmas. I can’t risk them tangling again because Jack cost me an awful lot of money after that with x-rays and two vet visits, just for the wounds from the fight. Jack wants to fight him so badly, though! The stray cat, Sammy is what I’ve been calling him, looks like Alice but he’s buffed up! He’s short and stocky, and has the thickest neck I’ve ever seen on a cat! Anyway, I’ve been feeding poor Sammy when he comes around, which is only once every couple of weeks. I think he makes his rounds. I always wonder how far he travels.

This morning, I looked outside to see Sammy back so I brought him out some food. The thing is, he likes to hang out on top of the catio. The catio doesn’t have a roof. It’s covered on top and around the sides with chicken wire. It’s needing some reinforcement because it’s beginning to sag. Sammy has been laying out there all day long and in the rain! He’s wet and he doesn’t seem to care…but I care. I feel so bad for him. Sammy is an intact male so I can’t let him in the house. He and Jack will tear each other up AND Sammy will mark his territory in my house, which means then Jack will do the same! Plus, I love my furbabies and I don’t want to traumatize them or put them in close contact with anything Sammy might have. I guess I’ll have to put a shelter out there for him so he has a dry place to sleep instead of laying in the rain, although I don’t know why he doesn’t go out in the old shed! It’s got to be drier than the top of the catio!

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Image Copyright Being Aunt Debbie

 

Wet Noodle, Wild Cat

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It’s been a rough day. Not for me, but for Alice and Jack. I took them in for their routine vaccinations and they were NOT happy. They were upset with me first thing because I wouldn’t give them have any dry food, as I normally do each morning. Every time I walked toward their food area, they dashed ahead of me, thinking I was finally going to give them food. Shame on me.

Alice fought like the devil when it was time to get into the carrier and Jack didn’t like the idea but he’s been back and forth to the vet so many times since the week before Christmas that I think he knew there was no point putting up a fight.

Once in the carrier, Alice cried, scratched, and stuck her little legs out between the bars of the door, reaching…reaching. I felt so bad. I knew she was going to be ok but can you imagine the stress and anxiety a cat must feel when they’re shoved in a ‘cage’ and put into a car for transport? They have no clue what’s going on or what’s going to happen. I often wonder if my surviving kitties remember how Fuzzy, Korn, and Smokie one by one went for a ride and never returned. The others had a view of the burial in the garden from the catio but did they understand? Are they afraid every time they go for a ride? I shudder at the thoughts that must go through their minds. (Of course, I shudder at my own thoughts half the time.)

Alice cried all the way to the vet, which was about 30 miles away. Jack never made a sound. He’s used to this. For the entire drive, I hoped neither one of them would throw up or relieve themselves in the carriers. I brought extra bedding just in case. Thankfully, not feeding them before we left worked as I had hoped. Neither one threw up and unbelievably they didn’t have any other accidents either!

Dr. Missy, our very caring and gentle veterinarian, looked over both Alice and Jack. Jack still has some rattly sounds in his lungs, which is why he’s still on his steroids. Alice passed her ‘once over’ with flying colors. Dr. Missy even complimented her on her shiny and luxurious coat! I brush them all every day so I’m glad it’s showing.

They got their vaccinations and before Dr. Missy left, I asked for advice on how to get an elder cat with a tendency to rip people to shreds into a carrier. Poor Kitty needs her vaccinations, too but thanks to our previous vet, it’s next to impossible to get her into a carrier. Dr. Missy gave me some good suggestions. She said a little gabapentin might help to relieve some stress and anxiety. I happen to be on gabapentin and she told me I could give about 100mg in food an hour or so before getting her into the carrier. I don’t know if it will work, but I can sure give it a shot. The other tip was to set the carrier on its end, grab the cat by the scruff of the neck and back her into the carrier, butt first and quickly. That’s when Dad popped off a funny! He said, “That’ll be like sticking a wet noodle up a wild cat’s ass.” I thought I was going to wet myself!

On the way home, Alice never made a peep. She waited until we pulled up in front of the house and then she started to cry. I don’t know how she knew but she knew. I never saw Jack or Alice for about 3 hours after we got home. They came out to eat their dinner and then Jack went back into hiding. Alice is on my bed, sleeping so hard right now. She’s snoring and even had a nightmare. Poor baby!

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Image Copyright Being Aunt Debbie

I have two more cats needing vaccinations. Kitty and Honey. Honey weighs a whopping 20 lbs. now – she won’t be easy to carry! And Kitty? Well, we’ll see. Hopefully, I can get her in the carrier. You know…. wet noodle, wild cat.

A Weird Dream, An Asthmatic Cat & A Lost Clock

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Tuesday started out with me waking from a weird dream about my purse and car being full of medications and getting a ticket for not having those medications in bottles. Where does shit like that come from?? It left me wondering if there were any laws that restrict a person from carrying medications without proper labeling and if there were limits on how many could be carried without that labeling. It’s not like I take that many prescription medications. THREE. TRES. 3. That’s it. The rest are vitamins, supplements, and over the counter medications like pain rubs and Mucinex. Sometimes my dreams leave me scratching my head.

First thing as I came out of my bedroom this morning, Dad asked me where the wall clock was that we purchased a few weeks ago. He had been complaining about the clock in the living room losing time and that we needed to replace it. So, we bought a new one. Last week, I ran across the clock when I cleaned and organized the shelves in the living room. I took the clock out of the box and I swear, I stuck it somewhere handy. Where? I haven’t the foggiest clue. In my defense, if Dad would have replaced the old one with the new one, I wouldn’t be wracking my brain trying to find that damn clock now!! It is literally driving me insane! I looked for hours this morning, in every nook and cranny I could think of. I’m beginning to think one of the cats hid it. (Not really, but it’s not my fault. Someone else must’ve done something with it.)

Jack had a recheck appointment with the veterinarian this afternoon. He had a serious lung infection, perhaps caused by allergies originally, BUT now the consensus is that Jack may have asthma. I’ve never had a cat with asthma. I never thought a cat could even have asthma! Poor Jack will stay on his steroid pill for a couple more months, just a couple times a week, and we will revisit the issue in March. Perhaps he can eventually get off the medication and we’ll just keep some on hand just in case of an asthmatic episode. Poor Jack was exhausted when we got home. He started out on the desk in front of the computer draped over my arm but now has relocated to the bed.

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Image Copyright Being Aunt Debbie

He was a bit stinky when we got home. Poor little guy pooped and puked all over his carrier on the drive to the vet’s office. Dr. Missy said he just released all of his demons.

We hadn’t been home more than 10 minutes when Dad asked me if I ever figured out what I did with that blasted clock and, up until then I had forgotten all about it. I’ve been wracking my brain ever since. Ugh.