Tag: cat

New Kitty comes home tomorrow!

Posted on | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment on New Kitty comes home tomorrow!

My new cat comes home tomorrow! This week is my off Friday so I’ll have a three day weekend to hang out with him before leaving him home while I go to work. I went through the cat stuff and threw away the ratty stuff and added a few new things. Replaced the cat wands. His harness is here and his collar with my embroidered phone number has already been ordered. His new cat carrier is set up. It’s inconspicuously open as a possible bed place he might just stumble upon. You know… not a carrier… just a cat bed…

I bleached the litter boxes and the litter closet. They aired out and it’s now spotless and ready for cat poops. I have, like, 100lbs of cat litter. I’ve got food and treats in the cookie jar. I took a long delivery box and cut some holes in it and shoved it behind Sir Bastian if he feels like he needs somewhere to hide away. I have a new cat tree on order that has two hidey holes, but it wont be here in time. I’ve got catnip licks to stick to it when I get it set up. And his cat acne stuff is getting here tomorrow. I just need to move the peace lily somewhere and put food in his dish!

It’s been so long since I got a new pet that I have no idea how he’s going to react. No idea at all. Will he be all affectionate because he’s lonely or will he hide for two weeks? Who knows! We’re going to shut off the upstairs (carpeted) bedrooms until I know he’s got good litterbox manners. But don’t worry, I’ll sleep on the couch so he’s not all alone in a new place.

I still don’t know his name. Should we keep Milo? Is he an Oliver/Ollie? Louie/Lou? Finn? Maxwell/Max? Edison/Ed?

I’m looking at gods of dreams. Bes (Egypt), Morpheus (Greek), Somnia (Roman), Manit (Native American), Oooooo I like this one: “Angus is a god of dreams and love, and the Celtic mythology spun around his life and acts is cherished in both Ireland and Scotland.”

Anyway, I didn’t get a name on the collar.

Can’t wait to see him!

New Cat! Yay!

Posted on | by cursingcats.com | 1 Comment on New Cat! Yay!

In my last post, I told yall I was going to meet Rey at the Cattyshack. Well, today I went to meet Rey at the Cattyshack. So Rey was a very active cat. She was not showing her best today. Unfortunately, she wasn’t in a great mood because she’s been at the cat lounge since Thursday. She was all up for playing! She is VERY active She loved playing with the fuzzy worms on the wand. She liked to grab them and try to take them away. Kinda like the opposite of fetch. She was all for running on the cat wheel too. She was pretty awesome. However, she was not all about the pets. I did get to hold her and pet her, but for the most part, she just wanted to do her own thing. I understand that she just wasn’t in the mood.

However, while I was trying my hardest to get Rey’s attention, I got a lot of Milo’s attention. I sat on the couch to coax Rey over, so Milo came over. I gave him some love and put him aside. Rey isn’t a fan of other cats and she wanted to pick a fight today. Then I was sitting on the floor playing with the wand toy. Milo came over and helped himself to my lap. Put Milo aside. Then we were in the other room with the foster mom playing with Rey. Milo came over so I picked him up and he fell asleep on my lap. It was so cute they took a picture and sent it to his foster mom.

She confirmed that yep, that’s pretty much all he does. Again later, I picked him up again while we were talking and he went right to sleep in my arms.

Dude was straight up passed out. It was like someone ODed him on gabapentin. Is this a stoner cat?

So I felt kinda bad, because I came to meet Rey. This was a meet and greet with Rey. But damn, Milo was stealing the show. Rey’s hair was very thick and coarse whereas Milo is silky smooth. So I asked why we ruled out Milo. He was in my original email because this is his website bio:

“Milo is a very sweet boy that deserves a better life than roaming the streets searching for food. He deserves a forever home with lots of love and attention to give. He has never met a stranger and greets everyone as if they’ve been life long friends. He is very docile and would do great in a home with another cat!”

Then the original reply to my email was this (in reference to Milo):

“Milo is very quiet and keeps to himself at the cat lounge. He doesn’t interact with people or other cats much at all, but if they approach him, he is very friendly and purrs. And he will play with the wand toys if he’s presented with one, but if he sees one being played with in the distance, he doesn’t go join in the fun.”

So they thought he was too mellow and wouldn’t fit my needs? They also wanted him to be with a buddy since he is so mellow. So I had them call his foster mom and see what she thought about him being an only cat. She didn’t see a problem with it.

With Rey being so insanely active, I was kinda worried about leaving her at home while I’m at work. Yeah, I’d get her a cat wheel and stuff, but cat wants to play. I feel like Milo would just sleep all day. He’s like an old man cat. So I asked his age. He’s only 1 year and 1 month old. WTF? He has a little bald spot on his chin and some chin acne, but we can clear that up.

So Rey is a shit ton of fun, but I kinda felt like Milo was choosing me. Rey wanted everyone’s attention and wouldn’t sit still. Milo just kept following me around for pets. So um yeah… I’m adopting Milo!

He’s kinda funny looking. His eyes and ears are super pale pink. And his inner eyelid kept lagging because dude wanted to sleep. He also has a very small head. And there’s the chin acne. But dude has the chill personality. I like him. He’s coming home on Thursday. We might change his name. I’m kinda meh on “Milo.” It’s not a name I would have picked.

So he’s fixed and has all his vaccines and stuff. He’s even microchipped already. I’m thinking when I have a spare off Friday (that’ll be like a month away at least), I should take him to the vet maybe for a check up? Do I want to use Pet Hospital of Madison — they took care of Jack. They were AMAZING. Or do I want to try a cat only vet like Catisfaction? Also is pet insurance a scam?

Anyway, meet my new cat! Welcome to the family!

Oh and yes, I would LOVE to post on Facebook. But… I’m not sure. My sister2 wanted me to take her cats cause she lives with sister1 who wont let her have the cats. She’s lived with sister1 for like YEARS. Not that sister1 wants her there. She moved in for “a few weeks” when mom was alive and she’s never left. Well, her cats had been at dad’s girlfriends house. Shut away in a single room with no attention at all. For YEARS. And before that, they weren’t great. One had litterbox issues and one didn’t like anyone. So dad’s girlfriend just sold her house.

Yeah. Sister2 tried to get me to take her cats a few times. She even lied and said she only had them because mom “made her get them.” Anyway, I don’t know what happened to them. I assume she just moved them into sister1s house kinda like she did her own ass and life. If that’s the case, sister1 is gonna be fucking pissed that I wouldn’t take them. I mean, to be fair sister1 is always pissed. And of course sister2 will be pissed too. So I’m kinda not telling them. Yet.

It’s kinda sad because I feel like I lost my family. I love my bro and his wife and kids. But his wife never answers when I call. Bro always answers but he’s so busy and not talkative so its kinda hard to have a conversation. I’m not sure if I should just go low contact with sisters. I decided I would after the Christmas debacle, but I feel bad about it. It’s sad. At least I have my husband and friends! And my in laws seem to like me a lot. And now I have a cat!

New Cat?

Posted on | by cursingcats.com | 1 Comment on New Cat?

Today I bleached the litterboxes and the cat bathroom. I will also admit that there was totally a poop from my cat that died over 6 months ago in the litterbox. I’m sorry.

So why did I finally get off my ass to stop moping about my dead cat and clean litterboxes? (Seriously, you carry two FULL dirty litterboxes out and dump them and bleach them sometime). Well… I’m thinking about getting a new cat. I mean, obviously I want a new cat, but I’ve been getting extremely anxious when I try to think about it. So it’s been upsetting me. So what changed?

I read an article about a cat that was for adoption and he sounded fucking amazing. Apparently, Pakistan doesn’t have cat rescues. So people rescue street cats and send them to other countries to adopt out. This particular cat loved all the people. I want a cat that loves all the people! Turns out he’s in California and they only adopt locally so bummer. Also someone already adopted him. Oh well. But I did reach out to a local cat place (again ’cause they never responded in January). I’m going with a foster org rather than the shelter because I’m looking for a personality type. I have no requirements on looks or age or sex — only that it be a short hair. Listen, Tabitha was a long hair. When a long hair cat has diarrhea and you’re at work for a few hours — well, your house is now a disaster as is your cat. Also, dingleberries. No thank you.

So I hopped over to their page and read some cat bios. I found a few that sounded good and I emailed them. They actually got back to me this time. So I went full crazy cat lady. I’ve emailed these people back and forth like 10 times. I have thoroughly explained that I want the neediest velcro cat you have. So she sent me like 4 that she thought would be good. Two were out because they wanted friend cats. I kinda want to have a single cat. So I narrowed it down to Rey and Aletha. Rey is young, 7 months, and Aletha is a little over 2 years. I asked if Aletha was going to be cool with me going and picking her up all the time to come sit with me or go to bed. They said Rey’s my girl. Here’s some descriptions of her from her bio and emails:

“Rey is a little firecracker of a girl who is as sassy as she is stubborn. She is the first to greet a new person […]. She’s more than happy to be carried around the house on your forearm for long periods of time, or lounge on your chest while watching TV. Long-haired individuals beware, however: Rey has a tendency to climb your shoulder, wait for you to let your guard down, and then relentlessly attempt to remove your hair from your scalp.”

“Rey is a hilarious little rambunctious girl. She likes to ride shoulders and talks, and is very needy. She would require something like a cat wheel and interactive motion-activated toys to keep her mentally stimulated. She is super duper smart. And she is also extremely social. She WILL seek out wand toys whether she’s invited to play or not, and gets a little possessive about it actually. lol. She also has never met a stranger and wants everyone’s attention that walks through the door. I adore the little squiggle on her nose. When I first saw her I thought it was a piece of lint. LOL!”

“I talked to the foster moms, and Rey would 100% be the affectionate, attention seeking cat you need. Her foster mom has carried her in a baby sling, Rey wants “uppies” which is when she wants to be put on your shoulder…lol, and she said she greets her at the door and loves kisses on the face.”

Here is a picture of Rey at the lounge:

Fuuuuuuck. I’m already in love with Rey. I haven’t even met her yet! So I cleaned everything up really well and bought some food and fresh litter. My Amazon cart already has a new carrier and wand toy in it. I picked out the cat wheel I want to get her (they said she LOVES the cat wheel at her foster home AND at the lounge so they really want her to have a cat wheel. I’m waiting until I see her use a damn cat wheel before I commit to order one. I didn’t think cats actually used those.) I’m going to meet her tomorrow.

I haven’t met her yet. Yall, if this cat doesn’t like me I’m gonna be so sad. I’m all anxious about making a good first impression now! Like I’m all this cat is gonna have. Am I enough? Am I worthy of this cat? I’m so nervous!

Also, all over their website and facebook they make explicitly clear that there are absolutely no same-day adoptions. Then she comes at me with an email telling me to submit my application and I can take her home this weekend if we’re a match! WHAT? You said no same day adoptions! I’m not ready! I haven’t met her! I have to clean! What food does she like? I’m not prepared for this! So I’m going to meet her tomorrow (Sunday). If we’re a match, I’ll get her on Thursday or Friday because it’s my 3 day weekend. That way she can get settled before I go off to work all week.

M, this might be your new god-kitty! Oh I hope she likes me.

I started my sleeve! (Sleeve Session 1)

Posted on | by cursingcats.com | 2 Comments on I started my sleeve! (Sleeve Session 1)

Yesterday, I finally got to start my tattoo sleeve! It’s going to take a good while to finish because I didn’t book any more appointments in advance and we’ll have to break for summer (cause I’m not missing pool time to heal). It’s going to be the adorable bow-tie photo of Jack on a background of Fall leaves with pumpkins in front of him around the bottom. It’ll be a 3/4 sleeve. That way I can roll up my sleeves a bit and still not show if it’s for a job interview. Also, I just love raglan sleeves and the 3/4 length of them so yeah.

Reminder of the photo:

So I chose the absolutely fabulous Devon Greig in Nashville for the job (she did my goomba when we consulted for the sleeve). This is her first photo realism portrait but you’d never know it. She’s amazing. Look at this:

It looks like a painting! I’m blown away. I couldn’t have asked for better! I am in love with it. It’s my Jack!

She chose to just focus on the face in this session since it was so detailed. It took just around 4 hours of tattooing. I scheduled appointments in February and in April to do more work on it. The plan is to get his body and pumpkins in before summer. Then finish it out Next Fall/Winter. I’m so excited! Here’s the progress shots I took while she worked on it. He kinda looks like a terminator Jack with half a face here:

Man, her skill just blows me away. I could paint this, sure — but I can go over spots again and again to get them right. I can’t imagine doing it with a tattoo gun and not being able to revise any mistakes! And her FIRST realism tattoo. Damn, girl! Amazing.

She’s a pleasure to work with too! I told her I wanted to cover up my elbow fat lump because I hate it so much. I feel like if we did the half sleeve above the elbow, it would stand out even more. She was like yeah, we’ll just put a pumpkin there! Excellent. I am psyched.

Also, this didn’t hurt half as much as my ankle tattoo. The ankle felt like having a freshly skinned knee for a few days and a lot of burning as it went in. This felt like scratching sure, but tolerable. I mean, yeah it’s gonna hurt, but I expected worse. The only part that hurt the most was the closer she got to my collar bone — so that ear. The mid face was totally fine. I suspect the REAL pain will be when we get to the elbow and especially my scar. But for now, it doesn’t even feel like anythings there. So awesome.

In between chatting with Devon, I watched Enola Holmes on my phone. It’s got Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, and Helena Bonham Carter. It took a good bit to get going, but once it did it was awesome.

FUCK

I just looked it up to get the spelling of the actors names and I watched the SEQUEL yesterday. No wonder if took a while to get going. Fuck me, I watched them out of order. I guess I’ll be watching the first one today then…

It is scheduled.

Posted on | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment on It is scheduled.

Jack is scheduled for at home euthanasia next Friday, the 14th. I would appreciate your prayers during this tough time for me and for him. Losing him and mom is just… *sigh* too much to bear.

For the cat owners out there, I’d like to point out two medications that have been amazing for him. First, the Porus One for his kidneys. It’s a powder to sprinkle on their wet food daily and it actually has his kidney levels looking better than when he was diagnosed with kidney failure two years ago. And he doesn’t even notice it. So much better than the pill I was giving him before.

The second is the Solensia shot for arthritis. This one is a miracle in a monthly shot. I took him to the vet almost three weeks ago and he was in so much pain he wasn’t eating. They gave him this shot and by the time we got home, he went straight to his food and his old younger self. Amazing game changer.

Unfortunately for Jack, the shot wore off quicker than a month. Yesterday he took a very sudden and unexpected turn. He didn’t touch his breakfast and was in so much pain he didn’t want to leave his heated cat bed. So today we went back for another. He’s already obviously feeling better. He’s eating again and just hopped up on the couch with me. So with hope and prayers, I hope we will have a good pain free last week.

Next Thursday I will take him to the vet one last time for some happy gas and a catheter placement. Then on Friday they will come here and be able to give him the medications through the already-placed catheter. So Thursday night, I’ll blow up an air mattress and we’ll have a slumber party in the living room. I hope he will be pain-free enough to enjoy some treats he’s not been allowed to have in a long time.

Jack

Posted on | by cursingcats.com | 1 Comment on Jack

My precious little soul-shard is approaching the end of his life.  The past two weeks he’s been eating less and less to the point where he was only taking two bites of his food and then never going back for more.  I couldn’t even sway him with cheese!  His food looked like refried beans with cheese – even microwaved to melt the cheese – but no dice.  He wouldn’t eat it.  So I took him to the Vet on Monday.  I wanted an update on his kidneys and to adjust his pain meds anyway.  So away we went. 

It did not go well.  He screamed like a banshee as they tried to draw blood.  I could hear him and I was horrified.  I wanted to run to him and help them.  He’s better with me.  But it continued.  I called Mr C to keep from crying.  Finally, the vet came in and asked if they could sedate him to draw his blood.  Of course, I agreed.  Please dear God let him sleep.  I know that cats hide pain well, but I knew Jack was in pain.  I thought I was just attuned to him.  I had no idea the amount of pain he was really in. 

I knew when I trimmed his nails he was much more sensitive than usual.  And He took a lot longer to get comfortable laying down.  But apparently, I only saw the tip of the iceburg.  His lack of eating might very well have been that he was just miserable and in pain.  He gets gabapentin twice a day for pain.  However, they gave him a brand new arthritis medicine at the vet.  It’s a shot they get monthly.  And while he was out, they took X-Rays to try and understand what was wrong with him while the blood tests processed.   I was much calmer knowing he was asleep and I no longer heard his wails of anguish so I waited to hear what the vet thought. 

Surprisingly, his kidney function is actually better than when he was diagnosed with kidney failure.  The vet commended me on my obvious work to get him healthy.  We had both expected him to have taken a turn for the worse and that was what was happening.   But no.  The X-rays showed a far worse problem.  He has a large mass in his abdomen.  It already almost fills his entire abdominal cavity.  She was surprised he didn’t suffer from shortness of breath.  The only thing I’ve noticed is more pain and the lack of eating.  I’d have never known.  

So this is much more dire than kidney failure.  Without knowing what kind of mass it is, we don’t know how aggressive it is.  It could be weeks, it could be months – but this mass will choke out his lungs and heart.  She talked to me about the options.  She made clear the emphasize that we needed to consider “to what end.”  She could send me to a veterinary oncologist who could do a soft tissue biopsy and find out what kind of cancer or growth it is.  Then we could possibly treat it with radiation or chemo.  But to what end?  He’ll be 17 next month.  He’s already outlived his kidney diagnosis.  And he absolutely HATES the vet.  Jack does not want to leave the house.  It pains me to take him to the vet at all.  He’s an old man cat.  He doesn’t need that stress.  And a surgery at another vet just to diagnose?  And for what?  Another month or two with him?  Weeks of cancer treatments and vet visits?  A life in a cone to keep him from opening his wounds? 

No. 

I just watched my sister take her senior dog to another state for cancer treatment.  Only to have to put her down a week later.  And the dog suffered because she wouldn’t let her go.  I won’t do that to Jack. 

I explained to the vet that money was not the issue.  Jack is my everything.  I cried.  He’s my little familiar.  My fuzzy soul mate.  But what would she do with her own cat?  Would she pursue it to no end?  No.  I will not do anything invasive.  I want him to have the best quality of life with what he has left.  So we decided on hospice – palliative care.  We’ll treat his pain and try to get him eating.  In 3 weeks we’ll check him out again and do a quality of life assessment.  And when the time comes, I will have someone come to the house.  I don’t want his final moments to be terror at the vets office.  We’ll have cake icing and oreo cream and Arbys sandwiches and he’ll fall asleep at home with me. So we decided on ramped up pain medication via the monthly shot.  We’ll do a appetite stimulant that gets rubbed in his cute little ear.  And potassium as his levels were low and it might put a little more pep in his step.  I’m pleased to say that when we got home he went to his food bowl and took a bite.  Not much, but progress!  He didn’t even notice that I gave him his appetite stimulant as I love petting his fuzzy little ears.  I put his potassium gel in a butter cup and he slowly lapped it up.  That cat loves cream.  Throughout the evening he ate more and more.  I felt terrible that it must have been the pain that was causing him not to eat.  As the shot took effect, he was much happier to nom on his leftover breakfast. This morning I can happily say that he cleaned his dinner plate for the first time in weeks!  And I told him what a good boy he was via some ear rubs with a little appetite stimulant snuck in.

Your pet is not your “baby”

Posted on | by cursingcats.com | 2 Comments on Your pet is not your “baby”

OK yall, we gotta stop with this calling your pet your baby shit. I know im gonna get a ton of flack for this because literally everyone I know calls their pets their babies. Hey, my dad calls his dog my sister. He likes the dog better though, and thats why he’s a bastard.

I know, your pet is your family. You might even, like my father, openly admit you like the pet better than your children. It happens. I don’t want a kid. Have yall met my precious J? He’s my soul creature, my witchy familiar, maybe even my soul mate, but he’s not my baby. He’s a piece of me and will ALWAYS be a piece of me. He’s a splinter of my soul in cat form. I get it.

But I just got a paragraph into a Facebook post about a friend of a friends baby dying and was terribly upset for everyone involved, only to realize, like two paragraphs in, that it was a dog. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. I thought you were mourning a human child who had been in an auto accident that another human driver was going to have on his conscious for the rest of his life. I repeat: THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.