Saying Goodbye

Chances are if you are reading this blog that you are also a cat lover, and maybe even a closet crazy cat person as well.  Most if not all of us have experienced the decline and ultimate death of a much loved cat and even though we know when we open our homes and hearts to these wonderful creatures that they have a shorter life expectancy than we do, the reality of their deaths is hard to accept. Michael and I have watched our nearly 20 year old cat BooBoo rapidly decline the past several weeks. Last night I felt the need to have the dreaded and avoided conversation with Michael who when it comes to these sad times, doesn’t want to talk about it let alone actually do it.  Fortunately, our sweet old gal is a bit better today so despite the rock in the pit of my stomach, I accept that we probably have at least a few more days to cherish her physical presence in our home.  I say physical presence because she will, like her brothers Snuggles and Sprout, and sister Skates, always hold a place in our hearts and certainly be remembered for all of the joy she brought into our lives through good times and bad.

I have to confess that perhaps it would be easier if she would just slip away in her sleep saving us the heart breaking drive to our Vets office, but like Snuggles, I suspect she will hang on as long as she can because she knows just how hard it is going to be for us.  Yes, THEY KNOW! I once asked our Vet in Virginia how to tell if it was time to help them pass on to which he replied that we would in fact just know.  He was so right in that statement because in both cases, I could tell that they wanted the peace that death would provide and so we, as a last act of love and devotion, gave them that peace. Boo Boo’s current condition has brought back to me the heart breaking feeling of losing Sprout in 2005, Snuggles in 2001, and Skates in 1999.  But it has also brought back all the wonderful memories of how much we enjoyed their silly cat antics, how much we loved them, and how much they loved us in return. We can’t stop time, we can’t prevent their passing, but we can cherish them every day, and I think that is all they ever wanted.

 

 

It Clings like Saran Wrap

I have never understood it when people say that cats are aloof.  I guess maybe they have never actually owned a cat or only ever shared their home with a cat who was an independent spirit. Since we have quite a few cats, I can accurately state that no two of them actually have the same personality. Not all cats are lap cats, but those who are often sometimes become almost overwhelming. I say this as I am actually typing this with a cat (Zeus) laying half in my lap and half on the laptop.  I adore Zeus and by all accounts he feels the same way about me, but sometimes he actually becomes oppressive in his affection.  No matter what I am trying to do, if I am sitting or reclining Zeus is all over me, often doing the cat dance many refer to as making muffins. No matter how many times I detach him and put him on the floor he immediately reappears. 

As much as I am overwhelmed by Zeus, Michael “enjoys” the lion’s share of attention from the cats.  Ghost, Sunny, Aphrodite, Jack, Hades, and sometimes even Athena covet Michael’s lap. Lately our little black female feral Hades has been driving him crazy.  She has only recently become trusting enough to venture onto his lap and it is as if she is making up for lost time. She wants to be in his lap all the time and actually gets angry when she is not allowed.   Michael is a writer so he simply can’t work with her sitting on the keyboard of his laptop. She actually sits on the end table and slashes at his hand when he tries to use the mouse to show her displeasure at his lap being occupied by his laptop or, heaven forbid, one of the other cats. Once she is on his lap if he so much as moves a leg or scratches she gets off in a huff glaring at him and growling. My stance on this is that he has created a monster and that some boundary setting is in order. But then like I said before Zeus is in my lap right now. 

Food Fetishes

Anyone who has ever shared their home with a cat has experienced finicky-ness.  Cats just like humans have their favorite dishes and in our house that usually means something expensive that comes in a small can.  Keeping in mind that we are feeding ten cats, we try to not indulge this more than once a day.  Hermes prefers Fancy Feast dry food to any canned varieties, and all but a couple of our cats hate Nine Lives Super Supper which Michael refers to as consisting of “anuses and bone ash.” 

Boo Boo who at 19 ½ is alarmingly skinny, begs for food anytime she isn’t sleeping making us wonder where it all goes. The other food peculiarity is that none of our cats like any canned food that is shredded or has morsals.   They will only lick the gravy off and leave all of the solid pieces behind.  While I try to never buy any of these, my old tired eyes sometimes misread the label or we get them in a case that has other types of food as well.  One solution that often works is pureeing them in my bullet blender into a uniform cat soup.  Reading over this I once again see why I truly am a Crazy Cat Person.

Yesterday, we made our quarterly expedition to the Commissary (I am a retired Army Officer) and we were pleased to find Nine Lives Tuna on the shelf.  Those who have cats that ravenously devour this food know how hard it is to find.  I immediately and greedily added every can on the shelf into my cart!

I also, on a whim, picked up a container of fresh chicken livers and added it to the cart.  After returning home and putting away the perishables, I decided to cut some up for Boo Boo.  She immediately dove in, loudly smacking the whole time and ate every bit.  SCORE!  These disgusting things were only $1.49 a pint and she alone loves them. Hey, they are 100% natural and cheap, how can this be happening? 

Who Needs An Exterminator?

Texas is the land of many, many pests.  Since moving here in 2009, I have grown accustomed to seeing six and eight legged vermin in my house, especially during the warmer months which admittedly can be most of the year.  Fortunately, here in Texas Hill Country we do not get Cockroaches which I would never get used to.  Anyone who owns a cat knows how much fun they have on a good ole bug-hunt. What I never realized is how they also appear to feel responsible for protecting their human companions from the more dangerous intruders.

Back in 2009 while I was busy unpacking from a cross-country move, I noticed that Hermes had positioned himself in one of the guestrooms and refused to leave. Every time I went in to grab another box, he would be sitting there staring at the ceiling at what appeared to be absolutely nothing. After a couple of days of this I noticed movement in the ceiling air conditioning duct and sure enough a centipede was hanging out of the duct wiggling like crazy.  I was stunned at how big this sucker was (at least 8 inches long) and how hideous.  I managed to eventually saturate it with the only spray item available, which was salon quality hairspray, and it crawled off to never be seen again.  Hermes couldn’t get to it, but he certainly maintained a vigil to make sure that if it came down from the ceiling, it was his to battle. Even our elderly cat Boo Boo engaged in a fierce battle with a centipede last year.  Michael noticed her flying across the room beating something savagely and stepped in to finish the job with a fireplace poker lest she get stung.

Interestingly, our female cats appear to be far more aggressive hunters and we have often seen one of the males simply watch a scorpion meander by without even appearing interested. Scorpions are fairly fragile and while their sting is painful, they are easily killed by cats.  Yes, we have had a couple of cats who have been stung, before they realized what they were dealing with.  As predators, they respect their foes and learn quickly that one or two quick baps with a furry paw is all it takes to disable a scorpion.

We are fortunate that we seldom actually see live scorpions and usually find only dismembered remnants of the foul creatures.  We appreciate the efforts of our feline defenders and both praise and treats always follow in thanks for their contribution.

Cats vs. Christmas Decorations

I was just commenting the other day on how in years past our cats had always vandalized the Christmas tree in one way or another.  We have had several who have climbed or attempted to climb any real tree we have ever brought into the house and of course those sparkly ornaments are just too tempting to resist.  

This year, for some inexplicable reason, they haven’t knocked any ornaments off the tree or torn up any packages under it.  They have, however knocked off and broken two candleholders, one red, one green, and today one of them (not sure which one since they were long gone by the time we responded to the loud crash) my cherished German Christmas Pyramid.  Very few things that hit our ceramic flooring survive unscathed and the pyramid which I brought back from Germany in 1990 was no exception.  Probably a little bit of Elmer’s will make it salvageable, but it won’t be the same.

Probably the most abhorrent cat crime would have to be the attack on the baby Jesus from a small ceramic Nativity set that our oldest cat Boo Boo actually tried to eat one year after batting it around the house for awhile.  And of course not a year goes by without one of them yakking on the tree skirt.  Honestly it is not like we neglect the furry criminals at Christmas.  Not only do we get them gifts, they actually have their own Christmas stockings and some of our family members always send gifts for them as well. Perhaps this is just revenge for the ridiculous festive cat collars or the red and green claw covers we have subjected them to. 

The Domestication of Hades

For decades we had a four cat ceiling in effect and never had more than that.  Occasionally the number would decline with the death of a beloved cat, but soon after we would discover a kitten or full grown cat desperately in need of a home and people who would love them.  The glass ceiling was shattered in 2007 with the addition of Athena and after that…..all bets were off.  Little Miss Hades appeared on our front steps in Virginia sometime during warmer weather in 2008.  We immediately started setting out bowls of food and water and the occasional bowl of milk for her. 

Hades is a small cat, probably around 5-6 pounds, has the tip of her left ear clipped, and initially had slightly bowed legs. The clipped ear we now know is what they do to cats that have been captured and neutered and returned to their environment. We used to laugh when she ran because she sort of resembled a crocodile running. With a constant supply of food and water, and eventually a cardboard box with a rug in it, Hades spent an increasing amount of time on our porch.  I was the first one who managed to be able to touch and pet her and was thrilled to first hear her purring in response. 

In late fall, the weather started to cool and the number of rainy days increased.  Coaxing her into the house had so far failed and we wanted to provide her better shelter for the nastier days.  Initially, we propped an umbrella over the box to keep her dry.  We added a microwaveable cushion to her box which Michael would repeatedly warm during the night while he was up late writing. Hades would signal him that it was time for a reheat by dancing a jig and peering through the storm door window. Eventually, we added a well padded covered liter box bed behind the bushes for her which she immediately claimed.

In 2009 shortly after I retired, we started planning for a move to Texas.  Leaving Hades behind was not an option so we started grabbing her and keeping her in the house for increasingly longer periods of time.  In the end, she made the cross country trip to Texas with Michael and the five other cats. That expedition begs a blog entry of its own. Since then she has settled in as an indoor house cat and as of this week she has started sitting in Michael’s lap purring away, not looking back.

A Tail of Two Towers

A little over a month ago, I ordered a cat tower for the gang from my favorite online shopping spot Amazon.com.  As usual, it arrived promptly and I immediately assembled it.  Aphrodite, who is probably our most gregarious feline, immediately claimed it as hers.  I shot a photo of her antics and posted it on Facebook for my friends to enjoy.  Shortly after it posted, a FB friend Regan Smith asked if I wanted another cat tower, to which I enthusiastically replied yes.  She and her husband Rodney brought it over the following Sunday and we put it right next to the much smaller one (it’s pretty big) I had purchased.  It immediately became Aphrodite’s favorite. 

For the next few weeks, it was completely monopolized by Aphrodite who amazed us with gymnastic feats keeping us both amused and entertained.  December brought with it the necessity to put up our Christmas tree which always means a bit of furniture relocation. That entailed moving the smaller tower to the other side of the room, thus separating the two towers.  Interestingly, Athena immediately took an interest in the large tower and has been doing her best to outdo Aphrodite with her acrobatics.  I guess when we watch the two of them in hyper-drive, I have to ponder whether we are Crazy Cat People or simply people who enjoy crazy cats.