A Special Thankful Thursday

 TBT:  I think I will use today for a 2023 summary of The Mews.  So it is both thankful and sad.

There were 2 losses and 2 gains.  Ayla and Laz went Over The Bridge.  Both by my decision, not quite theirs.  Loki and Binq joined The Mews, and I suppose not quite by their decision either.  When some doors close, others open.

Ayla succumbed to old age.  She stopped eating and drinking.  Appetite stimulation medication did not help.  The vet could not find anything "fixable".  When she started to stumble a couple days later, I had to say goodbye to my dear sweet Princess.  I adored her from thye day she arrived as a kitten to the moment of her last heartbeat.  I am nothing but thankful for her.

Laz basically succumbed to insanity.  He had a wretched kittenhood with thretening dogs and grabby children.  He calmed down some living with the rescuer for a couple of months.  He calmed down further when I adopted him, but was still very frightened.  A few months of soothing talk and gentle attention helped him.  Then he started attacking Ayla until she learned to just stay up high all day.

When Lori arrived, he calmed down completely.  They napped together played together and ate together for months.  But last Summer he started attacking her.  His demons had returned.  At first, it was once every couple weeks.  Then once a week, once a day, then sometimes twice a day.  And the attacks were more violent.  The vet couldn't find any physical cause, so he went on 2 calming medications.  They had no effect.

I finally had to bring him to the vet for the last time.  I couldn'd find a new home (petless and childless), couldn't find a no-kill cat sanctuary that could take him.  I feared sending him to a regular adoption shelter.  I am thankful for the Laz/Lori BFF days that brought some peace to his mind (and the household).  I am very sad he couldn't stay happy and peaceful.  He adored me.  

I am thankful for Loki and Binq.  I had never adopted cats from a shelter.  The visitation and take-back parts of the contracts always disturbed me.  I understand why they exist, but the lingering threat was too much to accept.

I went to the shelter seeking 1 particular cat, but she did not like me.  But there were 2 others who came right to me.  After they did their best "Take Me" performances, I couldn't decide which one, so I adopted both.  I decided to ignore the visitation and take-back parts.  They are way too busy to bother visiting.

I was unsure about my decision the first week.  Loki had some head infection, wouldn't eat, and was suddenly stand-offish.  Binq just stayed in The Mews Room even after the door was left open.  I brought Loki to the vet.  He had a temperature, infected inner eyelids, and an ulcerated tongue.  The vet gave me some medicated eye ointment and an appetite ear gel stimulant.

I am thankful they both got over their problems.  Loki's infection cleared up, his tongue got better, and he started eating.  He would only eat the stinkiest of Stinky Goodness at first, but now he eats anything.  He follows me around everywhere.  

He had the bad habit of searching for food on the kitchen counters and fought being gently pushed off.  He still does, but less often, and he is learning "Down".  He still wants to steal food from my plate even when I am right there.  He will probably learn "No" in time.

Binq worried me when she kept hiding in The Mews Room all day, but after a week she suddenly started sniffing around the rest of the house.  She still tends to stay in The Mews Room during the daytime, but she is out and about most of the evening.  She isn't a lap cat, but when she is around, she stays "near".  On the arm or back of the TV chair or at my feet while I prepare dinner.

She had a bad habit of clawing at my pants and grabbing at my hands with claws and teeth.  I had a few wounds.  But I started wearing heavy jeans, and I heal quickly...  With some encouragement, she is doing less of the clawy/bitey stuff now.  

Both Loki and Binq play with toys.  Loki found a gray fish and an old Nip Banana he really likes.  But Binq is The Queen of Toys!  She likes cloth mousies, rattley mousies, springs and balls.  I even saw her tip over the bow of toys and rummage around in it looking for different ones!  

And she doesn't just play with them.  She goes crazy with them.  It is like FRAP and toys at the same time.  She also knows how to manage the TurboTrak.  She's the first cat I've ever had who can get the ball over the bridge!  She can also scoop the ball out of the track and bat it around.  Which means I sometimes have a time trying to find it.  

Loki and Binq are now both happy and healthy kitties and I am thankful for that.

Lori is not adjusting to Loki and Binq very well.  I was shocked when she started hissing at them.  But they are new and Lori seems to be a very "status quo" cat.  She forgets that she was new once herself.  I dare say she is adjusting, but only slowly and slightly.  I am giving her the leftover calming pills from Laz.  That may be helping.  She will accept them wrapped in a pill pocket that is rolled around in dried chicken powder (I ground up some pellets of it).  I also use Felliway.

Marley is as calm and tolerant of other cats, as always.  I am thankful for that.  Orange/White male cats always seem calm and peaceful.  I've had 3 now.  Skeeter was like that, Marley is like that, and Loki seems to be like that.

Loki and Binq seem to have been friends in the community room at the shelter and they stay friends here.  Lately Binq has started seeking licks and grooming from Marley and he obliges (of course).  If (when) Lori would just calm down a bit this will be a happy multi-cat household.

This picture is a rare event, but hopefully a good sign of the year to come...

So in summary, this was a sad year losing Ayla and Laz, but a thankful year gaining Loki and Binq.  And I look forward to a better one in 2024 regarding The Mews.

Mancat Monday

LAZ:   Not many werds, just rest...  Eyes shaded, body warmed!

Sunpuddles.

Happiness!

But We Mews need to speak to losses and unhappiness too.  The J-Cats are in difficult times.  Their world is being attacked and we have crossed paws that they are OK and that the meaness will stop soon..

And Stunning Keisha has lost "The Woman" who helped her write her posts and was a Great Friend in her life..  We suppose that leaves her to "The Man".  And we wish him peace in his loss.  We can't do anything about that otherthanb to hope well for both of them...

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TBT:  We have just learned that Brian has gone Over The Bridge.  

I know Terry and Family will miss him very much.  But all of us cats everywhere will too.  Please visit his blog and offer comforts and purrs...

Thankful Thursday

TBT:  An apology and several different subjects today...

First, sorry for not showing new pics lately.  I just haven't begun using the new camera yet, and there seems little point in taking bad-color ones with the old.  Its the same camera model, I guess I just haven't felt like taking any again yet.

Second, I took Marley to the vet again for sub fluid injection.  It is amazing how he knows I plan to.  To my knowledge, I do nothing different in the morning, but somehow he knows.  And he finds places almost impossible to get him out of!

Behind the wine cooler is a favorite spot.   It is cluttered on top and next to a plant stand that is awkward to move.  And I can't lift him one-handed from an angle anyway.  He hid there last Saturday but I "worried" him out of there. Yesterday, he went there too, but got away when I started to move things.  So he ran behind some drapes behind a large cat tree.  I pulled him out slightly, but then he grabbed the base of the tree with all claws.  

It was like trying to pull rope out of a block of ice!  I eventually managed to loosen one paw at a time, but neither of us were happy about.  Marley is a kind and peaceful cat, but I'm sure it was all he could do not to strike out at me.

I was planning to try the injection myself under supervision yesterday, but felt too shaky about it.  Not "mentally" shaky;  physically shaky.   So maybe next time.  It would be good to do it at home.  Then, I could just pick up Marley while he was calm.

Third, it feels like life is just generally falling apart.  Oh, I don't mean I'm dying or anything (I hope).  But hand and arms and ankle muscle cramps are getting routine, and topical rubs are not helping as much as they used to.  Sometimes, it is hard to prepare dinner or type.  I feel fine other than the muscle cramps.   

But obviously I need to see a doctor.  Having lived alone 50 years and being (as one doctor said) "obnoxiously healthy",  I don't actually have much experiences with either illnesses or more general physical problems.  I should probably have some serious screening.  Cancer, heart, blood, nutrition, etc.

But I also mean The Mews (and this is mostly about The Mews).  It is total coincidence, but having multiple cats with serious problems is a struggle.  Ayla dying of starvation and having to be assisted Over The Bridge before things got unbearable was both sudden and hard.  The emergency clinic vet did an exam, took x-rays, and did a blood panel and couldn't actually find anything specifically wrong.  He gave her an electrolyte injection and provided a pill and some oral medication for appetite stimulation.  

He said if that if those didn't help Ayla begin to eat again in 2 days, nothing probably would.  And it didn't.  So I had to bring her back for a last vet visit.  Having to build a memorial box for her will be difficult too.

Marley needing injections 2x a week for life will also be hard.  Stabbing a dear pet routinely will not be easy.  The calming treats the vet gave me for Laz don't seem to have any affect.  Thankfully, the serious medication will arrive later today.  I sure hope those help.  Lori is becoming more and more distressed by Laz's brief attacks.  Marley is upset hearing cat fights.

Let's just say I've had better times...  And sometimes things just don't go the way you expect.  I suppose I just can't adjust to changes and problems the way I did once.  

I think I need to start taking more pictures.  That seems like a positive thing to do.  Cats when they are happy.  Plants in flower.  Ripening tomatoes.  Birds at the feeders.  Etc...

I initially titled this "Thankful Thursday" out of habit.  And there isn't a whole lot to be very thankful about.  Alyla is gone, Marley has to be stabbed 2x a week, Laz needs sedation meds for the foreseeable future, and Lori doesn't understand why her BFF attacks her sometimes.  So I changed it to "Thursday Thoughts" because "Thankful" didn't seem to work.

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But I can end on a positive and thankful note.  The vet gave me 4 cans of Hill's Science Diet canned "Kidney Food" that should provide enough protein for him but ones that make it easier on his kidneys.  And a non-expiring presciption for that and a Royal Canin variety that I can fulfill at several places.

They warned me I might have to very gradually blend it in to his accustomed food because most cats don't accept it at first.  So I had only mild hope.  But I decided to see how he would react to it and put a unmixed spoonful in a bowl while Laz and Lori were outside.  He LOVED it just as it was!  Even turned the bowl upside down to lick for spillage.  And asked for more! 

I gave him more.  Marley now has a new favorite food.  It is "chicken and stew" and there are 2 cans of "beef and stew".  Well I'll see if he likes that one, tomorrow.  And we will try the Royale Canin as well.  Variety is good.  And anything to help his health... 

So it is "Thankful Thursday" again...  You take what you can of the good things and focus on those.  If Marley likes new his healthy food, that is good.  Hoping that the Laz medication will help him calm down is good and that would mean Lori would be happier too.  There are possibilties for bringing peace and happiness to the household, and I will stay focussed on those.

The 3 are my proper focus now...

Mark Monday

TBT:  Yeah, me again. I mentioned Ayla and Marley getting older yesterday, and I didn't want to leave it on such a negative note.  It is hard to speak about our cats dying and I generally avoid it.

But I have had some cats "leave" while "youngish" (10) and as old as 16.5.  I divide my "cat life" into 2 parts.  Those who came before I moved to a house and those after.  I don't know why my apartment cats tended to leave early.  But Ralph, Sport-sport, and Mischief left at around 10.  

Tinkerbelle came with me to the house.  She often stayed out at night and would be napping on the front steps in the morning.  One day, I let her out in the morning and she wouldn't return when I called her when I was going fishing.  I never saw her again.  But she was 15.  She didn't like Skeeter or LC so maybe she just decided to go off on her own.  Maybe she found a new family.  But I will never know.

If I ever stand before a Deity that offers me the answer to one question, I will ask what happened to Tinkerbelle.  She vanished in 1999, and it has bothered me ever since.

In the "house" years, I have gained and lost Skeeter, LC, and Iza.  Those losses were painful, of course, but both Skeeter and LC lived to 16.5 years and there are limits to lifetimes.  The 16+ years were a joy.  But even then, I was away at work almost all their lives.  Skeeter lived his last few years with me around after I retired and maybe that is why he lived longer that the previous ones.  

LC died a year after Skeeter and maybe from missing him.  She was actually Skeeter's cat, as odd as that sounds.  She was devoted to him.  After Skeeter died, she sat around for months.  Ayla was there, but LC didn't want anything to do with here.  LC finally came up on my lap her last few months and she had never done that before.  

I happily gave her all the attention she would accept.  But I think she just died of a broken heart, missing Skeeter.  I found her in the basement comatose one morning and rushed her to the Vet.  She died there after briefly regaining some conciousness.  

So, I accept that my cats will die at some age or another, and that I will be around when they do.  I will cry deeply when they do, but will remember the good times.  It is that I see more partings coming that causes me to write this.  

I mentioned I see Marley getting older fast.  He is only 10 but looking arthritic and slower.  Well, if he lives a long elder years life, great.  I was kind of getting used to cats that lived to 16, but if that is not his longevity, I'll accept it.  Not all people live to average life span either.  

Ayla turns 14 on the 17th.  And purebreeds like Siamese tend to have shorter lives.  If she gets to 16, I will be thrilled.  But there WILL come a day when I hold her mortal remains and decide where to dig a deep hole and build a new memorial box to set above the spot.

Iza's death was a shock.  I knew she was laying around on her beloved heaty mat more often.  And she wasn't eating as much as usual.  So I scheduled a Vet visit for the next day for a "wellness check".  I was up and about, ready for the visit and discovered Iza laying on the heaty mat with blood all over her backside.  

I immediately called the Vet and they said I could bring her right in.  I did.  They had a "no entry" policy due to covid.  But after 5 minutes, they handed me a mask and said "come in".  She was within a couple hours of death.  And they asked me what I wanted them to do.

"To do" when she was obviously suffering something horrible?  OK, yeah, I understand.  I had to make the call.  She was actually slightly awake.  I held her head in my hands and told her she was a Good Girl and a joy of my life and I would never forget her.  I saw her eyes focus on me.  Then the Vet pushed the shot.  I had my ear to her chest, hearing the purrs.  And I heard when they stopped...

So I am in a thoughtful contemplative mood lately.  Ayla is normally aging and Marley seems to be aging too quickly.  I sadly suspect I will be saying my goodbyes to them both in a couple of years.  

Laz is a good cat with me.  He really likes ME!  And I am waiting on a Tonkinese female in August.  Not an Iza clone, of course, but a kitty like her.  Tonkies are naturally attached to people.  That's all I ask.

The individual members of The Mews will change, but there is continuity.  Someday Lapis Lazuli may be the senior member and peacekeeper of the family.  Or not.  One never knows...

I often think of the Roman God Janus, who looked both behind and before.  We can do that, for happiness or sadness.