Simon has it pretty good, no?
by James Brush
Tag: cats
Yes, yes, we know it’s Monday, but when you’re a housecat like Simon, it’s always the weekend even if you are manning (catting?) your battlestation with its view of the birdfeeder.
It’s good work if you can get it.
After eating several bowls of a poisonous batch of Natural Balance’s Venison & Brown Rice, I am happy to report that it looks like all three hounds will pull through. Daphne and Phoebe are at home again tonight. They have to go back for one more day of subcutaneous fluids, but they will be fine. Joey will remain hospitalized on an IV until Friday, but he will also be fine, and he’ll get to go home on Friday afternoon. His vet says he’s doing great and expects a full recovery.
Thanks to all of you who sent good wishes, thoughts, prayers and nice words for our hounds. There are much worse things in the world the past few days than some blogger’s sick pups and so we appreciate it all the more.
As to the food… well, we’re beyond angry, but very relieved that this wasn’t fatal for our dogs. Sadly, not every pet owner can say that as you can see if your read the (very long and often depressing) comments section on this post at Itchmo. There is also another post at Itchmo regarding more suspect foods that are not yet under any recall. In fact, Itchmo seems to be more on top of this mess than anyone else.
For all you pet lovers reading this, please consider making your own dog or cat food, at least for the time being. Ours really liked the kidney friendly food we made for them last night.
Today marks the return on Weekend Cat Blogging here at Coyote Mercury. Don’t worry, my fellow lovers of the pointy-headed hounds, Weekend Hound Blogging will continue, though they’ll have to occasionally sit out a weekend.
Simon is doing great. He likes playing feather toy and he follows us around, but his favorite activity is sitting on my nightstand watching the birds and squirrels in the backyard.
Simon is fitting right in. He never had to go through that I’m-a-new-cat period of hiding under furniture for the first week. In fact, he acts as though he’s always been here and at two weeks, it already feels that way to us.
After adopting him, we realized that we’d gotten him exactly seven months to the day after losing Morrison, and while we still miss the big guy, it’s certainly fun to make a new friend.
Update: Visit Simon’s new friends at the 159th Carnival of the Cats hosted by Bad Kitty Cats.
This is our new cat, Simon. So far, he likes to lounge around with his eyes closed. He’s about 2½ years old and is very friendly. The dogs are fairly ambivalent, and they seem to respect the power of the raised paw.
My wife has more about him on her blog, including how she found him (or did he find her?), but here are the highlights:
- He’s very friendly and mellow. He has rolled over on his back several times to have his belly rubbed, and has been lying in the middle of the floor.
- He can open cabinets and drawers, so we are getting some child locks today.
- He’s very curious and likes to explore.
- He’s young enough that he still plays.
- He likes to be held and purrs a lot.
- He follows us around to see what we’re up to.
And, he doesn’t like to open his eyes for pictures, so most of them look like this…
On Friday morning, we learned that Morrison had cancer. He’d been vomiting for a few days, and when we took him in to see the internist who had been treating his diabetes, she couldn’t hear his heartbeat because of a massive tumor. There was another one in his sinus, and she said that the best treatment would only buy him a few painful weeks if it didn’t kill him outright. She couldn’t believe he could even still breathe without oxygen.
Our little guy deserved better, and we couldn’t bear the thought of him suffering so we decided to say goodbye and euthanize him then. It’s hard to say goodbye to old friends who are such a part of the family. Morrison was my wife’s cat for two years before she met me so he really was there at the beginning. Fortunately for me he liked me as much as I liked him.
I went from being a strict dog person to a dog and cat person over the eleven years that I lived with Morrison. There are many things that I will miss such as his coming to wake us up in the morning, his unique trick of petting his face with his back paw, the way he used to lay there and chew on the dogs’ nylabones that were almost as big as him, his habit of knocking keys off the counter and looking at you like he really wasn’t trying to hit the dogs, and the way he always soldiered on despite arthritis, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and all kinds of other issues.
It was a hard two years for him, but he was never unhappy, never in pain, and always a great friend.
We’ll miss him terribly, but always cherish the time we had with him.
Update: My wife has a beautiful post about him on her blog. And a cute picture as well.
Today we had to have our beloved cat, Morrison, put to sleep. He’s had diabetes and arthritis for the past two years, and today we learned he had cancer and that there was nothing that could be done.
So for today’s old photo we take a look at what’s probably going on in Heaven right now (after Zephyr finished sniffing his butt that is)…
Believe it or not, there’s actually very good news today too, but it will have to wait.
Shortly after posting last week’s installment of Weekend Cat Blogging, Morrison hopped up on my wife’s lap where she noticed to her horror that his chin and lower jaw were so swollen that he looked like Santa Claus.
Now, the old guy is diabetic so whenever anything weird happens we pretty much have to get him to a vet asap, so off we went to animal emergency where they know us pretty well.
It turns out that Morrison was stung or bitten whilst defending us from a gigantic (foot long if it was an inch) scorpion or perhaps some kind of spider (one of Shelob’s children, no doubt) that may have been lurking in some dark corner.
The vet at animal emergency shaved his chin to look for a wound, and then started him on benadryl. He had to stay for a few hours on Sunday night and then he was released back to us with enough lower jaw to build a second cat.
I had to give him benadryl tablets every eight hours. We had some fine times in the nether hours of the night in which I chased him around trying to ‘pill’ him only to watch him spit the pill out. It was a good game that we played every 2am for a few nights this week.
Finally, during a trip to Petsmart I learned that there is such a device that will allow one to shoot a pill down the back of a cat’s throat. With my new weapon in hand, Morrison was no match for me, and I am happy to report that his swelling has subsided.
He now looks like a normal cat. Normal with a shaved chin, that is. Still, he wears his battle scar proudly, a reminder of what a fierce beast he is.
Update: Upon coming back to town (after abandoning Morrison in his hour of need) I learned that his bravery has earned him the Feline Theocracy’s Legion of Feline Merit Medal with Catnip Leaf Cluster. The award was presented at the 123rd Carnival of the Cats hosted at The Scratching Post.
Sometimes to get a good picture one has to get between a fierce beast and his prey food dish.
Morrison remembers when cats were worshiped as gods. Today I spotted him meditating before the enlighted cat.
Someday when cats are returned to their rightful position in human theology, Morrison will be ready.