3 Birthdays

 "Me first, me first, please Lynn."

I'll let folks know what we are celebrating, but you

are the youngest, so your story goes last. Sorry.

November is time for me to celebrate birthdays for my sweet

Seney, and Precious. And my own, not that there is ever any

celebrating on that one anymore.

 

Seney was born almost 40 years to the day after me. I always

enjoyed knowing we were such an even number of years apart.

I was born in 1952, so I am now 69. Don't even know how that

happened. Lets just skip me and get on to the good stuff.

Seney was born 1992, and she lived a little past her 20th

birthday.  I've never had a cat live so long. I still am amazed

by this. She was 11 weeks old when I picked her up. 

She came home with me in the dead of winter and

slept on my pillow that night. She continued that for the rest

of her life.  I fell asleep (or not) to the pull of her toes in my

hair and the sound of her loud purr.

Precious was born in the fall of 2011, and the orphanage

really doesn't know just when, so I figured why not just

make her birth month celebration November!  She is now

10 years old one way or another. Close enough in cat years.

"So, Lynn,  I still have another 10 years to go, right?

But I only sleep at the foot of the bed or anywhere else

in the house I like. Your pillow is not big enough for the 

two of us."

So another year just escapes me and I cannot

figure out where time goes.  Or does it actually

not go anywhere?

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It is much appreciated.

Kitten

 "I never want to go outside. It's not safe for kitties."

Just the other day, going into the big little city to grocery

shop, I spied a poor cat on the road. Of course, it had been

struck by a vehicle very recently. I was not in a good place

to stop and move it off the road from my lane.

A twisty hilly country lane. But on the way back just a

short time later, I was able to park off the road on the other

side and walk about 50 feet to pick the beautiful tabby up.

What really saddened and angered me is this 6 month or

so young kitten was wearing a too tight flea collar. I imagine

the owner must have thought they were doing the right thing 

to keep parasites off a kitten. But then to turn it out when

the kitten must not have yet realized where "home" was

simply meant it would do the natural cat thing and wander off.

It did not have an id tag of any kind. And I doubt it had

been spayed or neutered.

I think it would have had no chance to survive outside,

one way or the other.  We live in the country, not in town

with fenced yards where a cat may not stray far from 

home. Out this way, it must

be too enticing to go farther and farther.

I know Blackie is an outside cat, but he has managed

to stay close to the hand that feeds him and not yet 

get struck. Too many cats lose out against the odds

of living wild.

" I'm glad I'm an

inside girl."

These fellows are on the move now.  I have see at least 7 different

bucks, all distinquished by their different shape antlers.

Same corner of the yard one day later. Our first

snow of the year.

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Dolly

 "Lynn, this thing has no wacky weed smell.  Just what

am I supposed to do with it?"

I know Precious.  I just thought you might like

to help me show her off.

Actually, I'm a bit like Shirley Temple's mother.

I am forcing my girl to work in front of the camera.

I bought the plain white stuffed body back in March at the

volunteer sewing/craft store for just $1.

I had bits and pieces of left over cloth and finally decided 

to make her a Fall girl.  

My craft projects are generally simple and only

one thing going on at a time.

I don't put out a lot of seasonal decorations, even

though I enjoy seeing others. Therefore, just one

doll for this year during the Fall season, my simple

pumpkin wreath on the door inside and a bowl of

gourds.

"I'm just not feeling it, Lynn.  Why don't

you just show off me?  I am a ready to 

play girl, not a Fall girl."

Actually, I'm not ready for this cold weather.

It means staying in the neighborhood and walking

the seriously steep hill here every day for exercise.

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It is much appreciated.

Recovering bit by bit

 "My mouth hurts, I can't talk today but I'll gladly show off."

Thursday about 11 AM, I was thinking on going the 

20 mile round trip to buy some canned food for Precious.

I'd have gone at the drop of a hat, but I opened the cupboard,

and found a packet of salmon, the small individual helping size

of 2.5 oz. I keep a couple on hand for fast food or when the power

is off.  

Precious has never ever asked for it when I eat some, so I was

not sure how she'd act. But as you can see, she dove into about

1 ounce very quickly. Then hid under the bed again. I gave her

another once or so at 2 PM and she devoured it, too. But back

she went to hide.

She came out into the living area at 4 PM on the lure of her 

hair brush.  We had maybe 5 minutes instead of the usual 15 or 20.

But I felt better about her.

She even started eating some of her dry food, so no more salmon.

I really don't need for her to get diarrhea on top of everything else.

Instead of leg time, I simply enjoyed the view in the

evening of Precious in her bed. I actually got to spend a

couple hours reading in my recliner using both hands. Usually

I read one handed and it is a painful trick sometimes.

This photo above, was taken today at noon when I returned

from going into the big little city for my acupuncture and

a couple errands. Precious came out to ask for lunch and

to check out the items I brought home.

I never used the Buprenorphine on my previous cats.

It is true that it's been 15 years or so since Seney had 4 

molars pulled at one time and I wonder if the meds then

were something different. Seney only had antibiotics that

I remember, not pain meds. 

I knew she'd recover OK, I just feel guilty that I put her through

something painful and scary, but for her own good.

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It is much appreciated.

Teeth Cleaning

               Precious had her teeth cleaned on Wednesday Nov. 3.  Things are

                not going well yet today,  Thursday.  She is not eating or drinking.

                And she is hiding under the bed constantly since she came home

               5 PM.   Thankfully, she had good teeth for nearly 10 years old and

               there were no extractions.

                                                                     

               No leg time for us last night.  And no combing.  It really makes

               me anxious, but I know she'll be OK.  

              The doctor sent home liquid pain meds.  She is supposed to have

              2 of the doses today and one tomorrow.  I gave her one last night and

              since she can't be dragged out, and she's not eating, I am not going

              to even try to give her more.

Why do good things for pets end up seemingly so bad?

I guess one good thing was her weight had gone down from

16.6 to 16.1.  And, alright, you've got me on this one.

I did decrease the amount of her dry food by about 20

dry crunchies a day.  I have always rounded up her 1/2 cup

by a slight amount. Now I am strictly keeping the amount

absolutely even steven with the rim of the cup.  I guess

it has helped there. And she has not begged for the missing

food before this.

The other thing about the doctor.  When her blood work

came back,  the thyroid number was 2.6 "in the gray area",

and her urine had a teeny tiny amount of protein in it.

So I asked if this was indicative to a 10 year old.  And the

answer was, the thyroid is just fine at that number and

the protein is probably because they stabbed her bladder with

a gigantic (Precious' description) hypodermic needle and the

protein could just be body material.  

So I can quit worrying about all those numbers and concentrate 

on how to get her back to her normal.

  One thing we do have going for us, her and I have 5 days home

alone.  That should help her be more calm. 

Thank you for stopping by for a visit and a comment.

It is much appreciated.

Blackie for Halloween

 "Lynn, did you see Blackie out there eating my wacky weed?"

I thought I would show you what Blackie normally looks

like when not at the door in the dark.

He lives not far from our house and is mostly outside. 

However, his owners do take good care of him. He gets brushed

regularly and in the summer his very long tummy fur gets 

a cut off. He does always smell of human perfume, which

I find offensive any time on any one, personally.  But he

seems happy enough.

He is quite friendly to humans even if he is not so

with Precious.  I don't like that he lies in the road and 

puts himself where vehicles could squash him flat.

But he's managed to jump and run out of the way for

about 6 years. Hope his luck continues, though I'm

not for letting cats just roam outside.  I am too much

of a nature lover, and I know what happens to all the

nesting and wintering birds with cats loose.

"Well, Lynn, I'll do some of my own brushing and please

do not put stinky perfume on me. I don't want to go outside

and get my furs all dirty. But I'm a girl, and we are more

particular than those boys."

Thank you for stopping by for a visit and a comment. 

It is much appreciated.

Doctor visit

"Lynn, I'm going to leave home."

Precious has been on a long journey with her weight. 

She's going on 10 and she only ever gets 1/2 cup of

food a day from the beginning with us in 2013.  But she

has steadily gained weight until she reached 17.2 lbs (7.8 k)

in Oct. 2019.

She has been on a canned food diet and she does not like

canned food and it does not like her.  We had to wash bloomers

2 times a day for 6 months. And she gained weight.

Then I switched her to 1/4 cup dry and 1 tiny can of wet food.

Better for the tummy but she gained weight.

Then 3 years in a row she had 3 different Prescrption dry

cat foods that she liked, but she gained weight.  

Finally in January 2020 I spent unhappy hours comparing

nutrition values of all kinds of dry food. I finally settled

on Purina One Indoor Maintenance because it was the one

dry food that had meat listed first, fair in protein and only 9%

fat content.  And she likes it.

October 2019   17.2 pounds

October 2020  16.8 pounds

April 2021   16.3 pounds 

However, on her annual vet visit a couple weeks ago,

the result in weight was not so good.

October 2022   16.6 pounds     

The doctor, who is very nice and friendly, suggested I 

CUT BACK her 1/2 cup a day of food!  I simply can not

do that to Precious.  He also suggested I place her  food in

8 to 10 different hiding places upstairs and in the basement

to make her get more exercise.  I'm thinking on that. 

"I am never coming out of here.  They took me back to the torture chamber.

First a vampire grabbed me by the throat and sucked out almost all my

blood through the jugular.  Then they speared my hind leg with a 

Moby Dick size harpoon and said that was for rabies.  I don't want rabies!

And then they humiliated me by laying me on my back and shearing

me like a sheep, jabbing a Frankinstein size hypodermic needle into my

wee bladder.  If they would have told me they wanted my pee, I'd have

peed all over their white frock coats at the start."

I'm whispering now, Precious has to get her teeth cleaned and

claws cut November 3.  Don't tell her though.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit and a comment. 

It is much appreciated.