Showing posts with label pets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pets. Show all posts

Wednesday, 29 September 2010

Took The Cat To The Vet Today

moss cat pet happy senior tortoiseshell-white
Just got back from the vet with the cat. She promptly lay down on the driveway and demanded food (more or less in that order!). She's been on my mind a bit these last couple of days, hence the amount of writing about her I am doing. She's my dependent :D And I vastly prefer her over both a kitten and a child (the first is crunchy, the second gets you in legal trouble if you cook it).

This is the third time in her life that she's ever been to the vets - once as a kitten for the uterine-excavation-operation-of-doom, once a few years back for flea allergies and then again to the same vet today. She's thirteen (minus an estimated month). So it was a rare and special occasion for both of us.

Ah, and here she comes. Mewing and chirruping. Because, obviously, she ran out of food. And my bag is in her spot on the bed, so she's standing there and calling me over to pay attention to her, and fix it damn it, these bones need a comfy spot!

She's got some kind of intestinal bleeding, which leads to extremely smelly stools, black with digested blood. Which led to panic in the flat on their discovery in the litterbox, and I got to research various gross things on the internet (and poor Arkillian was driven away from the couch by the smell). So now I have to sneak antibiotics and stomach-lining stuff down her throat everyday for the next week... and to try and persuade her that outdoors is so much nicer than the litterbox. Really. Even when it's wet and cold and has stray cats nearly as big as her.

Got some supplements (Seaflex) for her arthritic joints, so she can stop limping and being miserable everytime it rains. And growling at me when I pick her up, that's important too... as it can lead to biting. Luckily she thinks they're cat treats.

Otherwise she's very healthy, weighs 4.44 kg (she lost nearly a whole kilogram when she was sick!) and happily shed all over me. The cat brush was buried under the pile of computers from the LAN Diablo 2 character creating event in the sitting room... I had to dig it out and drag another handful out of her fur when we got back.

She's funny - I don't know if all cats do this, but when she's in the carrier in the car she meows very pitifully - these long, moaning, wails, sort of 'whyyyyyy?'. She's very well behaved - and we actually let her out on the way back (it was Mum's idea. I'm not quite sure what she was thinking, but I was greatly entertained, so I don't regret it. The cat was loose in the car on the ride up from Hamilton ten years ago, so there was precedent...)

The cat promptly ran and stood up on the side door, looking out the window, then came through the seats into the front, and I diverted her onto the passenger side. She sat on my lap awhile, and wanted to climb onto the dashboard and shed profusely in vengeance at being denied. Then she went in the back and stood against the door, watching dreary Auckland roads go by, then climbed up and lay on the back dashboard area. At which point we decided that she should probably go back in the box.

Then she climbed down and lay on the seat, looking between the front seats at the view, and then she realised there was another side door that she hadn't looked out of, so she went to do that, and managed to stand on the automatic window button. Which led to great panic, and probably great interest on her part, as the window went down... and we promptly pulled over and poured her back into her carrier, and she "MAOOOOOOOW"ed her way home. Where she commenced to be quite happy and most demanding as soon as she was let out.


Edit: Hey, cool - vet follow-up. Just got a phonecall from the vet, with more care tips (bland diet and so on) for the next week, in case she did poison or injure herself. Cat spent the entire phonecall headbutting me in the knees and mewing for attention.

Breaking News: Three Kittens Created From Cat Fur

....well, no. Not really. But only because I didn't have the patience to create them. Summer arrived over the weekend here in New Zealand and my cat took that as a sign to shed her entire undercoat in a day. I come innocently home from visiting my parents over the weekend, pick up the cat brush (the really awesome FURminator) to bond and get rid of any stray loose fur. Sweep it through, watch in surprise at the large clumps of puffing fur at the end of the first stroke...


And an entire kitten emerges.

cat fur carpet furminator shedding undercoat soft

I swear, I got three kittens worth of fur out of her. I made balls out of them, and even squashed down, they each filled my hand. I threw the first one away (after showing it off), took pictures of the second lot (she was a very obliging model), then discovered still more later. Then the cat got grumpy :D
moss old cat senior brush groom fur pile furminator

Now I have to decide. What shall I do with all this fur? I could make a kitten, but they tend to be a nuisance. I could make fake beards and wigs to sell. But a lot of people are allergic to cat fur (and I don't know how to make a fake beard). On the other hand, it's the skin and dander that people are actually allergic too - maybe I can microwave it, rub my face in it and see if it makes me sneeze.

I could stuff a pillow, or sell it to birds to make their nests. Or line my increasingly holey shoes!

Sunday, 19 September 2010

Catty Blessings and the FURminator

Cat-related Squidoo lenses that I've blessed in my September flight as a Squidoo Angel.

*newer*

This list of FatBat's Demands, from Kylyssa is a perfect example of the idiosyncratic, rightfully Centrex-of-the-world cat and fun to read.

----
Egyptian Mau - Cats of the World by Vladi (a lensmaster slightly more catty than me!) is a lovely lens about the very lovely Egyptian Mau. My mother has one of these - she's undersized and very nervous and very friendly. We adopted her from the SPCA and spent months arguing over whether she's a Silver Spotted Tabby or an Egyptian Mau - turns out they're often the same thing. It seems to depend which side of the ocean you're standing on - different cat breeds and histories...

[Subtly segues into talking about 'OUR' cat!]
There's two versions: the original Egyptian one and the ones that are actually/probably Silver Spotted Tabbies in the UK (varies hugely by cat book, breediing club, country.... ). One version bred from Siamese cats to mimic the old Egyptian cats - and you can tell from their affection (*coughneedinesscough*), build, piercing yowl, the fact that they often wag their tail when happy and come when you whistle. (It's the high pitch - Megan goes crazy for bad singing!)

Also typical - very wary of loud noises and strange people. She's a very jittery cat!

Vladi is also responsible for The Cats of Rome which talks about the many strays in Rome, along with a lot of photographs.


Top 10 Cat Toys - Voted by Cats is a very helpful and accurate lens! GroovyFinds mixes freebies with recommendations for shop-bought toys - and this is where (I think) I originally read about the FURminator. (And I can confirm that my cat also comes running for it). The only things missing are my cat's favourites - passing feet and toilet rolls!

And this :D

Oh, and some self-promotion: my cat got to show off (which she did, happily) for a video, which I then built a lens around, about the FURminator brush/comb. Which is awesome. I just got another handful (full handful, unless squashed, as it's very soft and fluffy) of fur off her, so I was reminded to post this...


Sunday, 22 August 2010

The (Real) Cat Returns


The real, furry, purring cat, that is.

I brought my cat back to my flat again this evening - she seems to remember it, which is good, and is following me around and lying on the floor everywhere. She just climbed up on the chest of drawers, until blocked by the large box of paints, and wriggled her head under the curtain so she could sit and look out into the dark...

She's a good cat, and a very good natured one - she's nearly thirteen now! Unfortunately, she's very, very, very furry and sheds a lot.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to having a cat on my bed again, to keep me warm, and to come and say hello when I get home. I'll have to pick up some nice catfood for her though. Before she decides to do more than just nibble my fingers...

Friday, 20 August 2010

Cats on the Trampoline

When I was younger, we had a huge trampoline and it was great fun. I also had a cat (which I still have). Appparently the site of my feet flying up and down was irrestible, she'd leap up, and throw herself at my legs, in an attempt to either capture them or love me to death, depending on her mood. I inevitably would be in midair, and come back down to send her three feet in the air.

Apparently that was fun, because it usually inspired an attempt to eat me. I had to slow down, stroke her, and persuade her that I was not a toy, and she can get off now!

In light of that memory, have some trampoling cat videos :D (happy cats only, I don't approve of the ones where the cat's only been put there to be bounced for the camera)