pretty pets
November 11, 2008
Best Blog Of The Week
I have to tell you, I am TOTALLY becoming “that cat guy”. I can’t even help myself. First, I am taking Claritin daily because I am allergic to cats. Why do I suddenly need medication after 12 years of living with cats? What’s changed? Well, I snuggle with a cat now. Every chance I get. I used to avoid touching them. Also, see my new favorite blog: Moderncat Somebody stop me.
I actually have almost justified buying this little item in my mind. Really. Automated AND stylish. What more could I want??
(See what I mean? I am TOTALLY becoming that guy!)
November 04, 2008
Even My New Cat Is Kinda Gay
Well, she’s just a baby, so we don’t know *that* yet. BUT I do have to tell you she is wearing her first set of fake nails. Heh. Okay not a full set. But still.
You see, in an effort to avoid declawing, I have purchased and attempted to install Soft Claws. They do come in “kitten” sized, and as you parents know… Training a young ‘un starts early! So I figure we start now getting used to the procedure, and later in life when she has bigger claws and is a bigger cat it won’t be an issue! Sadly, she hates them. Of course. I think that they are a bit big even tho I trimmed them. And her little “ring fingers” wouldn’t stick, so she’s not got a full set of shiny plastic nail covers. I also feel like a shitty father for glueing things to my baby. The guilt! Oy! *cries*
But I do not ever want to declaw, so we do what we have to do. This morning, before I had done it, she climbed up my pajama leg, up my back (ouch) and sat on my shoulder. I am over 6 feet tall. And she had her nails clipped just 3 days ago. Yeah. We need to be ready.
Here’s todays picture. Does she look angry at me?
November 02, 2008
CCG?
I should already be in the shower. But as you can see, I am not. Heh. I have to relax a bit this morning. This weekend has been brutal. So I am going to just sit and enjoy one more cup of coffee. *sips* Mmm, perfect.
So I have to admit. I am becoming Crazy Cat Guy. It’s been a sudden transition. I am so consumed by my new little baby! She sleeps in bed with me, she has a super clean box at all times, and I am always talking about her. There are now pictures every day! It makes me laugh, and worry at the same time. No one likes Crazy Cat Guy, do they? But to be fair, this is my first pet that has been *mine*. Sure we had the “family dog”. Richard and I even had a hamster for a bit. Of course there have always been Coco and Chanel, Richard’s cats with us. Not the same. This is *my* baby. I picked her, well I think she picked me, but either way I think you get the idea. She’s my special girl!
Oy. See what I mean? Crazy Cat Guy.
October 26, 2008
I Really Want Siamese
I haven’t blogged in like 3 days.
Dude. There was a time where that’d been unheard of. What the hell?
Well, lately there has been a bit going on. I just recently discovered that I have used up all my weekends off till 2009. It’s a matter of a few weeks until the 6-day work weeks begin. Oy. Kill me now, right?
On another topic, we are recovered enough from Chanel’s passing to begin considering another cat. That decision has been put upon me, which makes sense since our 2 cats were Richard’s and were “in the picture” as it were, before me. Heh. So I have decided that I want, no, I need a Siamese. However I do not want a rescue cat or mixed Siamese domestic. I want the real deal. A modern Siamese purebred. A cat that is intelligent, social, and might just learn to talk. A cat descended from royalty. Not show-quality tho. I am not rich, as much as I wish to be every day. So a traditional Siamese is not out of the question.
Is it wrong? Am I selfish? Why not a shelter cat adoption? Well, because I am not a 12 year old looking for my first pet. I am a grown man and will have this cat, if all goes well, for 20 years. I’ll be over 50 when it passes. Hell, it could outlive me! I’d better be happy with it. To be perfectly frank, I am taking a risk getting a pet at all. It could just bond with Richard and hate me. Why get a cat that is less than what I want and resent it all the more because it hates me? If I found a purebred rescue Siamese I’d grab it, but those just don’t exist so far. Well at least not ones born with eyelids. I can afford a cat, but not repeated surgeries from the start.
I have always been fascinated with Siamese cats. I would love having one around, and if it loves me back? All the better. Either way it’ll give me joy just being Siamese. So I have started looking, rather unsuccessfully, for my new cat. You’d think you could just go online and look for a new cat and buy one later that day. Not so much. There is waiting. There are no kittens. They really cost just too much in today’s economy. Like $350! Imagine! But I am a man on a mission. The cost is justified by the end. My dream pet. So I search. And whine, and moan. I can picture the little guy I want it so bad. How I afford it if I do have to go with the 350 model, I do not know.
In the meantime, I do feel bad about the cats needing homes. I feel worse when folks point out the mixed siamese adopt-a-cat areas on sites. I get that there are needy cats. I have been down that road. However, this is something I have always wanted. This is my chance, since there is “room at the inn”.
October 14, 2008
Passing
It was very early Monday morning. One or so when Richard woke me up. I had gone to bed as I had an early start at work… He was sobbing, and told me he was going to take Chanel to the vet. He said he had to take him, even though he thought it was too late, or something like that. He was difficult to understand as he rushed out of the room. I called work and left a voicemail that I’d probably be late or missing that day and tried to go back to sleep. I woke again at 6:30 and found Richard sleeping on the couch. He was a mess and clearly hadn’t slept at all. I tried to call work again to confirm that I would not be in. There was no answer. Oh well. I had already left a message. I got Richard to come up to bed and stayed there with him as he sobbed for a while. I had no idea at this point whether the cat had made it or not. After a while Richard slept a bit. But not for long. He was up again at 8. He was checking on Chanel, who was very sick but more stable. There were expensive tests to be done to figure out what was wrong. Each one was a major decision. He cried. A lot.
I finally got a hold of a real person at 8:15 to be sure work was not expecting me. I stayed with Richard all day. Sometimes holding him. Sometimes just sitting there with him as he stared at the wall. Chanel has been with Richard longer than me! The little cat was 13 years old and has been through a lot. He has always had health issues but we managed them. He was leading a pretty normal life, and was in great shape before this latest illness set in. In fact he behaved like a big kitten the last few years, since he could run and jump and play when for many years he couldn’t.
Anyway, he was to have an ultrasound in the afternoon. After that we were told we could visit, which we did. The doctor spoke to us first to discuss more tests beyond the ultrasound to find out what was going on. The ultrasound had been pretty inconclusive. After more tears (from both of us now) Richard agreed. After a bit we were able to see him. He was very sleepy from the sedatives but definitely feeling and looking more like himself. He had been severely dehydrated and after some time on the IV he appeared more normal. He recognized us and purred and head-butted Richard as best he could. He even wanted to jump off the table! We were hopeful as we left the hospital.
At about 11 last night Richard’s phone rang. My heart sunk. I heard only half of the conversation, but knew it was time to go. I gathered my wallet and keys. Richard was already waiting at the car. Saying goodbye was the hardest thing. First, I was surprised at how emotional I was. Then to see the man I love in so much pain… He hugged his cat and sobbed as they helped him along. His body was shutting down, and it was best that he be allowed to ‘go to sleep’. Richard’s cries tore my heart out.
When it was done they gave us a few minutes with him. I could plainly see that Chanel was gone. As I held onto my crushed man I reached over and covered Chanel with the blanket they had brought in. Richard cried out louder.
After a bit Richard was ready to go. I had to get him home. I went out to see what if anything they needed from us. They said we were clear to leave. As we passed through the waiting room there was an older couple. I will never forget the sympathetic pained look on the old woman as she watched Richard and clutched her husband. It was like she felt his pain.
Once at home we both cried on and off until we were able to sleep.
September 29, 2008
Worried
Our cat, Chanel, has been pretty sick. I am worried about the poor guy. He just doesn’t seem to be getting better.
It started just over a week ago. He was throwing up. Not entirely unusual, as he has had a lot of problems over the years. We don’t get too alarmed at a little cat barf. It’s par for the course. We assumed he had overeaten or something. But it kept going. He wasn’t keeping down any food at all. He stopped asking for food. So, Richard decided it was time for a trip to the doctor. We couldn’t just have a barfing cat the entire time my folks were here… Tests were done, hydration injections were administered. The bill added up. We were sent home. Diagnosis so far: Feline Pancreatitis. We were to not feed him for a few days, just give him medications. We tried. Most of the time he couldn’t keep those down. We just started giving him the tiniest amount of food. Tuna actually, since it is “easy to digest”. He had trouble with that. Sadly anything that finally stays down causes problems on the other end. Severe diarrhea. Ew, right?
The poor guy has no energy. No motivation. He’s losing weight. He doesn’t even *want* food! Worse, I have only seen him drink water twice in the last 4 days. It’s scary and sad.
Mostly sad.
August 29, 2008
Bad Neighbor Kitty
So if you have ever been to our house you have heard stories of Bad Neighbor Kitty. We aren’t quite sure where he lives. He torments our cats by hanging out outside the windows. He torments us by peeing in our yard and knocking stuff over. He torments the neighborhood by sitting in the road and yowling for no reason. It’s a hoot. In that really annoying way. Anyhoo, the other day he caught a bird. One of the birds that lived in our backyard all spring. He saw me pull up and darted into the bushes. The bird just seemed to have bent feathers. I figured he’d be okay, not realizing that it couldn’t fly well, since it managed to fly into our backyard. Well apparently he has been grounded since. Because Richard was out with our cat Coco, who found the bird in the bushes and tried to bring it in the house. Yes, I said he tried to bring it into the house. Ew. So it turns out that Bad Neighbor Kitty has been toying with the mangled bird for the last 2 days because I have heard him yowling in the backyard in the night, and the little bird was clearly much worse off and bleeding.
What do we do? Clearly it’s nature (kinda) taking course. The little bird is at this point in the neighbor’s yard (Richard tried to move him and he managed to fly that far). I don’t think he’s long for this world, and I can hear Bad Neighbor Kitty close by… Yowling.
May 07, 2008
A Sound Sleep Will Not Be Had
At least I don’t think so… The filter on the fish tank died at 11 o’clock tonight. No way to replace it at this hour. Hundreds of dollars worth of fish with lives in the balance. I have time to go get a filter tomorrow morning assuming there are fish to save, but I don’t have time to set it up. I will have to be very very late. Then there is the cycling of a filter. If I can’t reuse enough of the components with good bacteria living on them the tank good essentially become a deathtrap as the biological filtration chemistry starts over. The last time we got a new filter I think we did 50 percent water changes (40 gallons) every hour for a full day to keep the water livable… It was awful and so many fish died. The water becomes poisonous and they suffocate. They try to jump out before they die.
And I get to deal with potentially any combination of the above possibilities tomorrow before work. Joy.
UPDATE: No one died, the new filter is bought and up and running. I’ll test the water in a bit to see if there is any bad stuff happening.... so far so good!
