My Christmas Present This Year

[Slal]

Hi everyone

My Christmas gift this year really isn't something money can buy, and puts things in perspective.

My 18 year old cat came home with a ruptured eye from a cat fight.  On a holiday weekend...

Answering service at our family vet after hours:  "We'll page him"

Yeah right.

He did call though, and once I texted a photo of my cat, the good doctor called a veterinary opthomologic surgeon.  Their clinic squeezed my old cat in Friday morning, and removed ruptured eye to prevent infection and minimize his pain.

He's doing much better now and that's my Christmas present-- more valuable than money, phones, or any collectibles.  : )

So Merry Christmas & best wishes to everyone & their families-- pets included!

--Bruce

[Jim Stettler]

Bruce,
This ones for your cat and their humans, Do it, Do it Right, do it bright, It makes the folk happy. and the cat's grin.Hard  to argue from that prospective
.

JMO,
Jim S.

[Slal]

Thanks for kind words.  Happened at end of month and we'd already spent more than we should on gifts.  At surgical clinic, had to move some funds from savings, to checking (debit card) but didn't think twice about it.

Old cat just showed up one day, many years ago, and now he's part of the family.  : )

[AE_Collector]

Good on you for taking care of him Bruce. I think it is time he hangs up the battle weapons and retires to a life on the inside as a lap cat where he will be safe for his remaining years.

Terry

[compubit]

Y'all are good people to that cat. May you have much more time with him!

J

[Slal]

Thanks for replies.  Getting him to be an indoor cat might be a challenge.  "Confined to quarters" he already wants out and he's fast!  Have to make sure doors are closed.

Although 'snipped' I guess he still thinks our yard is his territory and his job is to "keep the riff-raff out."  : )

[AE_Collector]

That all sounds awful familiar. Over the last 6-8 years we have converted our cats to being indoor cats as we have had more coyotes in the neighbourhood than ever before. Virtually all of our cats have been female though. Three years ago we adopted a five year old male cat as he was on his last chance before being dropped off at the SPCA as his parent was an older lady who had to go into a home. He is completely black which is the hardest cat to get adopted as well.

Sebastian had a cat door at his old house and came and went as he pleased. When we brought him home he had to stay inside with only an occasional supervised trip outside. After about two years we decided that while being a nice cat, he is miserable and spends all of his time while indoors trying to get outside. We started letting him out a bit during the day and found that before long, he didn't go far, sometimes just sitting and surveying his territory and was back in 5-10 minutes later. Then 10-15 minutes later he wants out again but we make him wait for awhile and eventually let him out for another 10 minutes.

We worry about letting him out but it seems like a good compromise to let him out 2 or 3 times a day for 5-15 minutes each time. We had below freezing temps during the day lately and while he still wanted out he would nearly run us over to get back in when we opened the door.

Terry

[Slal]

Heh.  We have problems with feral cats so that's why he might be sleeping soundly and suddenly "Meow" at our door wanting out at 4am...  Guess who must get out of bed.  ; )

On the domestic front, already talk and hints about...

"I wonder where we could get a kitten."

"If I got a kitten, do you think they would fight?"

"I've made up my mind.  I am going to get a kitten."

Me:  "Yes Ma'am.  When are we going?" 

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Sorry your cat went through all that misery. At least everything worked out in the end!

We have 3 cats. The oldest, Andie, is about 8 or 9 years old now, but isn't showing any signs of slowing down. We found her (she really found us) about 5 or 6 years ago, when we were in the southwestern area of Wisconsin on a piece of land my grandparents owned. It's all very hilly land there, and about 5 minutes before we left to go home (3 hours away), we heard a chirping sound coming from the hill a few feet away from us. After we decided the sound was a cat instead of a bird, we started calling in the direction we heard it coming from. Sure enough, seconds later, a tiny cat popped out of the grass and started 'chirping' at us! We fed her milk and eggs, and she ate it all in a minute! How a ferral cat instantly knew that humans would help her, living long, hard, and dangerous miles away from any form of civilization, we will never know. We found out later that she wasn't a kitten, but a very frail cat, around 3 years old, who had next to nothing to eat for days or weeks. The vet actually found dirt in her stomach! A few days longer out there, and she would have died of starvation. Today, she's a very healthy cat, and one of the friendliest I know.

Since she was a wild cat by all means, we let her go outside when it's warm. Our first cat, Blackie, was allowed to go outdoors, and would stay outside for a week, walk in, drink, eat, sleep, and go back outside for another week. Andie is very different. She will go outside for an hour or so, but only within 100 feet of the house, and spends a vast amount of time inside. She she was here for the first year or so, she explored a lot of our property, just to get a feel for it. She was actually chased up a tree (with her front claws removed) by a lone coyote years ago. Not long after that...she decided she didn't like the local wildlife neighbors enough to explore their turf again!
Our other two cats have been indoor cats their whole lives, so they stay inside. It's not like they're 'not allowed' to go outside anymore, they're just terrified of the outdoors! They were outside when they were kittens... once... each. I guess they decided the wind and fresh air were too much to handle!

[Slal]

Wisconsin eh?  Have a 'fountain pen' buddy who's in Marinette.  Years ago, made the mistake saying it was 20 degrees here in Texas.  No sympathy.  He shot back, "When it's 20 below zero, then come talk to me!"

I mention that because the elements & critters might make a difference.  Right now Kitty is chomping at the bit to get outside.  He's going to be a handful before sutures are removed on the 5th.

As for 'Andie' glad you found her when you did.  Can't imagine people who would just abandon animals esp. up north like that. 

Anyway, thanks for kind words & story.  People do love their animals!

--Bruce

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Yeah, 20 degrees is 'pretty warm' up here during the winter months!

We don't have any feral cats around here, just raccoons, coyotes, possums, etc. Our old cat once was blasted in the face after getting too close to a skunk: she didn't make that mistake twice!

I don't think Andie was abandoned. I think she was a farm cat, and eventually wandered away from a farm. She came down off a very high hill, so she would have had to trek all the way up at some point. Another theory is; my grandma used to keep a bunch of feral cats in the attic of a garage out there (I have no idea why) and she would even drive out there once a week to feed them. It's possible Andie could have been related to those cats. One problem: those cats were apparently NASTY! She named one 'friendly' because he didn't attack her too often! It seems like Andie had exposure to humans before, she even let us hold her minutes after meeting us!

[AE_Collector]

I guess this is turning into the Cat Stories topic but that is okay.

Back in the early 90's we began to see a black female cat maybe 2-4 years old outside occasionally. It was heading into winter and temperatures were getting down towards freezing and we noticed she was attempting to build a nest in the garden against our house foundation near our front door. Trying to keep warm. It sunk in then that she didn't have a home for whatever reason.

Out went a box on the front porch with blankets and a small electric heating pad in the bottom. She moved right in but any time we went in or out the front door we just saw a black streak as she ran off. After a day or two my wife worked at very slowly approaching her talking to her, sitting near her, eventually close enough to pet her and before long she was inside our house.

We had already had two, then three cats but have had up to four at a time when "they find us". We named her Samantha and she lived for about 10 or 11 years with us before everything began to fail and we had to have her put down. From the time she came through our door she never wanted outside again. She pretty much moved into our bedroom and is the only cat we have had who slept under the blankets with her head on a pillow between us.

We have a cabin less than an hours drive from us and we frequently take the cats there with us. We used to just throw the cats and the kids into the car and head there though now we put our two cats in cages when in the car. Frequently we would go to a McDonalds drive through on the way back and forth from the cabin. Sam loved McDonalds French Fries! At the drive through window she would climb up on me and be hanging out the window waiting for the food to arrive so she could get into the fries!

Terry