They Put The Thermometer WHERE???

When you go to the vet and there is nowhere to hide, sometimes someone lets you sit in the sink and gives you a blankie to cover yourself.

Poor Cruz, I think he felt violated. 

I cry when I pee.

Yes, I am a chronic over-sharer.  But it's not what you think.  The bathroom was Jake's domain.  Most of the time she would get to the bathroom before I would, stay in there while I was there, or would be demanding to get in if I hadn't left the door cracked.  But I usually did.  And somehow now closing the door feels wrong, feels like I'm shutting Jakie out, even though I know she's gone.

Jake was a drinker, a faucet drinker for as long as I can remember.  And since I couldn't leave the water running all the time, a cup on the bathroom counter would serve as a poor substitute she grudgingly drank from when she needed to.

In the last year she started sleeping in the bathroom or just outside of it, to the point where I put her bed in the hallway outside the bathroom door.  Her diabetes and apparent renal issues stepped up her obsession with running water and she stayed as close as she could all the time.

With her sides shaved so I could
more easily give her injections.

But sometimes when I went into the bathroom to use it for it's intended purpose, ahem, Jakie would come in and instead of jumping up to get water she would stand and look at me until I picked her up.  I would hold her in my lap and pet her, sometimes just wrap my arms around her and hold her close.  She was so tiny in the last couple of years, and she was the one kitty I could actually hug, hold, and carry with her head on my shoulder like a baby.  We had quality time in that bathroom, she and I.  And now every time I walk down that hallway, she isn't jumping up to beat me to the bathroom.  She isn't yelling at me if I pass her by without turning in or stopping to pet her or at least reach in and turn on the water.

She just isn't there.

My head knows that letting Jake go was the right thing to do.  But oh how my heart misses my little girl kitty who was named like a boy.  And it's going to take me a while to get past the weepy stage when I must visit her favorite place several times a day.

My pretty green-eyed girl

Today we had to make the decision to let Jakie go.  She seemed ill last night and since she has diabetes I took her to the vet this morning where we learned she was in end stage renal failure.  There were other things happening as well, and with all of it combined there would have been no quality of life for her if I had tried to bring her home to care for her and prolong her life.

My daughter said you can't pick favorites and I told her - with cats you can.  Jakie was everyone's favorite.  She was the one I could tell anyone - she's the friendly one, you can pet her, no worries.  She would go to anyone and happily accept their affection and settle comfortably in their laps.  She was a sweetheart for sure.

18 years old - she lived a good, long life.

My daughter Dani and son-in-law Dan were with me and we were all a mess of tears and tissues, struggling to say goodbye, knowing it was the right thing to do - yet not wanting to do it.  It was so very difficult for us but for Jakie?   Her passing was quiet and gentle and she went with the dignity she deserved.  There will be no more discomfort for my pretty green-eyed girl.

Rest well my little Jakie, we love you still and will miss you always.

REALLY crazy cat lady.

Seems my days have been a blur of opening cans of cat food, pouches, and sometimes unscrewing baby food jars.  Popping pills in the kitty's mouth, offering water and food and constantly monitoring.  Norah seems to be doing well sometimes, but now she isn't eating much again, to the point I had to force feed her with a syringe yesterday.  She hides when she thinks I am going to give her fluids, and tries to get away while I'm doing it.  She's wearing me down.  But then she comes and climbs into my lap, she's never been a lap cat, and she doesn't seem in pain or on the verge of death.  But her kidneys aren't functioning properly and if the only way to keep her going is with constant IV fluids - well - that's not going to happen.  Last night I was tired and had just finished forcing some food into Norah's mouth while she looked at me with that look only a cat can give as if to say -  "what the f*&k are you doing to me???"

Staying out of reach so she doesn't have to
have her sub-cue fluids.

As tears started to sting my eyes and I sat down to give in to despair I thought "HOLY CRAP!  I'M OFF MY MEDS!!!"

With everything that's been happening lately I have gotten lax about my own medication and must have gone a few days too many without my meds.  Not that the idea of possibly losing a cat shouldn't make one cry, but being properly medicated allows me to cope better.  YIKES.  I can't take care of my cats at the expense of my own health.  No matter how much I love them.

Norah goes back to the vet Thursday morning, we will see what the prognosis is then.
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Norah update

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Norah is taking her compounded tuna flavored liquid meds like a champ, taking it slow but feeling a lot better.  Her legs are holding her up just fine and she can get back up on the couch again by herself.  Not sure she's supposed to be yet, but she didn't really listen when the doc told her to get some serious rest. No idea if this will be a progressive problem but for now .. Norah is doing much better!

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Who is next?

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Jakie with her feeding tube

Usually I write about Riley, my crabby ol' man cat.  He's old, he's crabby, and he has a thyroid condition. But he's not who I wanted to write about today.  Today - it's Jake.  Jake is a girl.  She's the kitty that has always been the favorite because she is so sweet and friendly.  She will climb on anybodies lap, and tends to gravitate to people who don't like cats or do not want contact with cat hair.  She's nice like that.


Back in 2006 Jakie developed hepatic lipidemia.  Lipidosis.  Something like that.  She stopped eating and drinking and we finally had to resort to a feeding tube to get her to eat again.  Not too long after the feeding tube was removed, she went right back to her full figured self again and all was well.  

Yesterday after being
 manhandled by the vet.

Recently my daughter pointed out to me how tiny Jake was looking.  Me - huh?  What are you talking about?  Well when you see them every day .. and when you use rationals like - well she's getting old, she's shrinking - you just don't realize what's happening.  And I knew she was eating - I have made sure of it ever since her episode of anorexia.
  


Took her to the vet yesterday, Jakie weighed 11 lbs last time she was there, now she is only 6 lbs.  I am such a BAD fur-mommy!!!  Got the results of her blood tests today, turns out she too has a thyroid disorder.  Actually pretty common in older cats.  Sheesh.  And actually, that's the good news because I was worried it was diabetes which is much more complicated to treat in a cat.  


The doc is calling in a prescription for Jake, I gave her one of Riley's pills tonight and will pick up her script tomorrow.  Hopefully she will gain some weight and be her old Jakie self again, and just maybe I will start paying closer attention to my kitties.  BAD FUR-MOMMY!!!
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My kitty can be a lolcat too!

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I give you .. Norah!

I shouldn't make fun, she could have a real problem.

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Abigail Grace

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But we call her the evil one.  She started out as my daughter's cat, but now she is mine.  I would love to NOT have 4 cats, and I would love to find a home better suited to Abby.  But it would be very difficult.

We don't know what happened to Abby, only that she was abandoned.  She will bite you as soon as look at you, especially if you come at her with your hand outstretched.  But she will come and sit on my lap and grab some of my shirt or pants with her mouth and do her kneading with her paws, and sometimes she will lay down and go to sleep on my lap.  She wants love, but it has to be on her terms.

Abby would probably be better in a house with no other cats, and the person who adopted her would have to be a cat whisperer.  I wouldn't give her up to anyone less than that because at least here - I know how she is treated.  A lot of people don't take kindly to a cat that bites.  

So I make it my mission to become (at least) the one person she doesn't bite, the one person she isn't afraid of or doesn't get spooked by.  

But I tell you what - it's slo-o-o-w-w going!  We've had her for .. over 5 years now, at least.  Pretty sure she's not going anywhere!

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Too cute!

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You know it's cold when ...

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... Jake takes up residence in the bathroom by the heat vent!



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This is one kitty who knows how to relax.

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Green eyes

I've always wanted to capture Jakes pretty green eyes and this is the closest I've come. They really are a gorgeous shade!





That's all. Just Jakie.

Drama-kitty

He's cute, isn't he? If not a little pathetic.




He was supposed to be done with the eye ointment yesterday but when I came home from work today he looked like this. You think it was a hint? He goes back to the vet tomorrow.




Such a drama queen!

Life of Riley

Must be tough being Riley ....

The only male out of 4 cats.


And he's fixed.


(April Fool's Day every day of the year.)

How many lives does one cat get?

Ran across this picture the other day. This is Jake, our boy-named female cat with the sweetest disposition in the world. Unfortunately she has used up a few of those famous 9 lives she's supposed to have on tap, usually by eating something she shouldn't.


This picture was from the last but not the most serious of her illnesses. She is wearing a small baby onsie with the crotch cut out and the leg hole binding fashioned into a tie to hold the thing on. Underneath it is a feeding tube coming out of her side which, without the "shirt" would have been dragging on the ground and getting caught on things.


But no matter what we did, she managed to get out of it. It wasn't unusual to walk into the kitchen, living room or wherever and see a crumpled and empty "shirt" laying on the floor with no cat in sight.


Poor Jakie. She got sick and lost her appetite which caused her to lose a bunch of weight. It was the weight loss that triggered problems with her liver and the only way to get her better at that point was to force feed her because she wasn't eating on her own. For a while we did try holding her down and forcing food down her throat with a medicine syringe but that was horribly difficult for us - and for Jake. We eventually had to opt for the feeding tube to save her life.


Once she got used to the feeding tube she would settle quietly onto my or my daughter's lap and become quite content while we slowly pushed a measured amount of food into her stomach. We gave her water and medication that way while continuing to tempt her with regular food we thought she might eat. Once we had built her weight up a bit her appetite starting to come back and she started first drinking - and then eating on her own.


I am surprised that I cannot find evidence of the hole in her side where we fed her - the skin has closed up, the fur has grown back and if I don't look at a picture I would not even know what side it was on. She's a wonderful kitty, she's a little simple because of how sick she got with her first trip to the emergency pet hospital, but she loves attention and will let anyone pet her. She is quite plump again which may not be good for her but considering the alternative when we watched her lose a third of her body weight - her being full figured suits us just fine.


She's adorable, not to mention worth a fortune by now - if you judge by all the money the veterinary community has gotten from me. She's got to stay well because she is the cat favored by all and oh my gosh I simply could not afford it if she did it again!!!

I love you, but .....

To my Dearest Pets;

I would like to take my coat off when I walk in the door before you start yelling at me. Do you think you could manage that?

It would be nice to walk across a room without one of you following me. Why are you are absolutely sure that whatever I am doing has something to do with you?

Riley, what does it mean when you sit and stare at me making that annoyed sound in the back of your throat like Marge on the Simpson’s?

Abby, do you think I could walk past the back of the couch without you trying to bite me? Just once? I don’t have to let you live here you know.

Norah do you get points if I trip over you?

Since I am good enough to buy you the expensive food for senior cats with sensitive stomachs, don’t you think you could try a bit harder to not puke it up on the rug?!!

If I let you crawl under the covers with me at night, don’t you think I deserve not to get bit simply because I move my arm?

Just what is it you smell on the carpet that makes you sit with your mouth open that way?

Why is it if I were to purchase the most wonderful cat bed in the world, each and every one of you would still rather sleep on the stack of clothes sitting on my bed?

How come the minute anyone dons black slacks – one of you has to rub up against them? Are you so opposed to black pants that you must decorate them with a thick layer of hair around the ankles?

Is there a reason that if I bring home a plant it will turn out to be poisonous and you Jake will immediately eat some of it?

What’s the deal with an empty box? Does the world look better from inside it?

And Jake, I know you only want to drink out of the faucet in the bathroom. I accept that. But does it really only taste good when I am in the bathroom with you? Sitting on the toilet? With my pants down?? You check before you drink, don’t you?