Happy Belated New Year

Here it is the middle of January and we haven't posted until now. We hope 2014 has gotten off to a good start for everyone.  A lot has been going on at our house.

We were suppose to have new windows installed in the house on January 6, but that was the day the temperature didn't rise above 3F. The installation was moved to January 8, but then postponed again. On that really cold Monday night, water started seeping from the bottom of one of the kitchen walls. The water had to be shut off in the house until a plumber could get there to find the problem and fix it. We couldn't get a plumber at the house until Saturday (January 11).  The plumbing problem wasn't as a bad as it could have been. There was a leak in the bathtub drain/trap. The plumber turned our water back on, but mom couldn't use the shower. The part was replaced on Monday and all is good.

With the water off, mom didn't want to deal with the hassle of workmen in the house installing the windows. She rescheduled a second time. Now the windows are suppose to be installed this coming Monday (January 20). Mom has that day off from work anyway, so that works out well for her.

Our uncle (who shares the house with mom) is having problems with his high blood pressure. Mom had to take him to the emergency room on Tuesday night because he felt very light headed and a little dizzy. Mom said his blood pressure was dangerously high. The doctor finally got his BP down enough for our uncle to come home, but it was still on the high side. Uncle has a follow up appointment with his regular doctor on January 29

And last of all, Johnny and Fiona have both had icky eyes. Johnny is doing much better since he was prescribed an ointment for his conjunctivitis in his right eye. Fiona is a whole other story.

Fiona has only one eye and it has always had some scar tissue on it. It's probably from an eye infection she had as a kitten, long before she joined our family. For some strange reason the blood vessels on her eye are inflamed. Our regular vet prescribed a different type of eye ointment than Johnny's. She also suggested that mom take Fiona to see the ophthalmologist. Mom has been putting the ointment in Fiona's eye since Saturday and there has been no change. The specialist saw Fiona this morning and Fiona's condition even has her stumped! Fiona keeps her eye open while awake, and she does close it when she sleeps. The only time she rubs at it is after the ointment has been applied.

The specialist did not find any scratches or ulcers on the cornea. There was nothing wrong with the inside of Fiona's eye either. She did change Fiona's medicine from the ointment to two different eye drops. Mom will have to put a drop of each medicine in Fiona's eye 3 times each day. Fiona has a follow up appointment in two weeks. Of course if her eye seems worse mom will take her back sooner.

Kitties, this is the strangest thing we've seen. We know Fiona has the feline herpes virus (most of us have it). The vet said it is possible that this is a flair up, although she has not seen it presented this way. Her second thought was it may be something with Fiona's immune system. And her last thought was the possibility of cancer. We aren't exactly sure how old Fiona is, but we think she is around 12.

Would you all please keep Ms. Fiona in your purrs? We want our sisfur to be all better soon!

Thank you all for your kind words

Mom here. I wanted to thank each and everyone for their kind words about Bandit. He was a very gentle cat and was always a bit shy around strangers. The only time he would willingly let me hold him was at the vet's office. Then he would try to stick his head under my arm or into my arm pit to hide. It was his "if I can't see them then they can't see me" routine.

Bandit came to our house in a round about way. A shelter from Frankfort, KY brought some adoptable animals up to Louisville. They set up a booth in the foyer at the K-Mart where my brother was working. My brother struck up a conversation with one of the volunteers and was telling her about our Fiona. Like Fiona, Bandit was missing one eye.

Later in the day my brother found out that the shelter's donation jar had been stolen from their table! My brother felt bad for them and he donated $20. When he was leaving one of the volunteers asked if he would be interested in adopting Bandit. His adoption fee would be waived. After discussing it with me it was decided that Bandit would be coming home to us. The shelter held Bandit for a week as I was leaving town and my brother didn't want to contend with a new kitty plus the 6 we already had.

When we did bring Bandit home he fit right in with our cat family. There was very little hissing and growling. Over the years he and Jazzpurr became buddies and would groom each others ears and faces. Occasionally he would allow Daisy to groom him.

Bandit was not a lap cat, but if he was laying on top of the cat tree he would get all silly and roll around demand to be petted! And almost every morning he would greet me in the bathroom and jump on the side of the tub.

He spent a lot of time sleeping on the floor vents as the temperature got colder this year. I don't remember him doing that so much in the past winters. Maybe it was indication that something wasn't right. Or maybe, like a heat seeking missle, he just wanted to have a warm place to sleep. I'm not going to second guess why he decided it was time to go.

Much to my surprise, and relief, the vet's office called today. Bandit's ashes were back and I could pick them up. My boy is home now where he belongs. He is resting next to Panda's ashes. I want to add a plaque to his box with his name. The top of the box is carved, so it would be difficult to put his picture on it (like Panda's box has).  But I don't need to have his picture there. I will never forget his face.

Thank you all again for your condolences. It means the world to me.

Love,
Malinda and Clarissa & Co.

Bandit is now an angel

It is with heavy hearts that we must tell you that our brofur, Bandit Bigtoes, crossed the Bridge on Friday morning. He seemed to be perfectly fine on Thursday and when mom went to bed that night Bandit was sleeping on the foot of her bed.  This was about 1:00am. Bandit jumped off the bed before mom ever got in it, but that wasn't unusual. Bandit rarely slept with mom, although he loved to sleep on her bed when she wasn't in it.

When mom got up on Friday morning, she found Bandit laying in the hallway, exactly between her bedroom and our uncle's bedroom. Mom knew as soon as she saw him that he was gone. She gently picked him up and wrapped him in a towel. She let us say our goodbyes to him before she contacted our vet's office. Mom took his body there and they will make arrangements for his cremation. Mom should be able to pick up his ashes at the end of next week.

None of us expected this at all. It is a shock for the entire family. Bandit was only 8 years old, which seems young to us. We will never know for sure what took our brofur, but mom suspects that he went into cardiac arrest. Whatever happened, it was very quick.

Fly free, sweet Bandit. You will be in our hearts forever.

Bandit Bigtoes

February 2005 - December 27, 2013

They're Dreaming of a White Wednesday

We have more pics of kitties to share today.  These two white kittens live with one of our mom's co-workers. They are siblings, a brother and sister. Unfortunately we can't tell you which one is Roma (the sister) and which one is Raffa (the brother) in these pictures.  There was one more sibling in the litter. That one was solid black! He went to the granddaughter of their foster mom.

They sure look comfortable.

Their dad decided they needed more room:

We hope they were having sweet dreams!

Tabby Tuesday

Hello everyone! It's Tabby Tuesday and we have a few pictures to share with our friends. Johnny and Cash think these pics should be of them since they are tabbies, but they are going to have to be patient. You see, we have a new cousin in North Carolina!

This little girl is named Sophia Zelda, of Sofie, and she recently got a forever home with our Aunt Torchy. Sofie and her three siblings were pulled from a kill shelter in South Carolina. That's the best news! The second best news is all four of the babies found forever homes!

According to Sofie's vet, she is barely four months old and weighs a whopping 2.8 pounds! Aunt Torchy said Sofie is a little ball of energy and gets into everything (Aunt Torchy had to disconnect her dishwasher on Saturday night to rescue Sofie from behind it!)

So without further ado, here is Miss Sofie!

As you can see, Sofie already as the makings of a model! She can strike a pose!

This is Sofie with her big brother, Wick. Aunt Torchy said they get along just fine. Big sister Gracie Ninja-Vader is still suspicious of the little one.

We think little Sofie is pretty darned cute!

We are back...again!

It has been a whole month since mom wrote about Johnny & Cash joining our family.  For the most part the boys have settled in nicely.  There is still some hissing that goes on, especially between Fiona, Puff, and the boys.  Both Johnny & Cash adore their lap time with our mom and our uncle. A couple of times Johnny has gotten under the blanket and slept against mom's legs.

We've complained about having the hots here in the summer, and now we have the colds.  Although it is very sunny, today's high temperature won't rise above freezing.  There is a little snow on the ground, but the roads are dry so that is good.

Mom and our uncle were in Phoenix, AZ for a few days. Mom goes every December. This was the first time our uncle went with her. She got to visit with her friends who live all over the USA and England. They went to Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding show on Saturday night. Performers, other than Alice Cooper, included Joan Jett, Vince Neil (of Motley Crue), Stephen Pearcy (of Ratt), Tom Keifer (of Cinderella), Kip Winger (of Winger), and KISS (without their make-up).  Comedian Bill Engvall entertained and actor John O'Hurley was the host.

Mom got home late Sunday night. Unfortunately, our uncle was flying home through Philadelphia, PA and was having a problem getting home. His flight was suppose to leave Phoenix at 1:15pm (AZ time) and he was suppose to get home by 10:30pm (KY time).  He didn't get to Philly until 12:30am because of their weather woes. That left him stuck overnight in the airport. It was 2:00pm on Monday before he arrived in Louisville!  He was tired, but otherwise all right.

Mom said she is done traveling until the spring. That means more time home with us!!!

We hope all of our friends are healthy and happy and warm!

Purrs to all,
Clarissa

Meet Johnny and Cash!

Mom Malinda here today. Clarissa said it was okay if I wrote today's post.

We have two new additions to the horde at my house. Their names are Johnny and Cash (they were already named) and they joined us on Wednesday night. These guys are All-American Tabby brothers. I was told that they are six years old.

Here is how they came to me:  My friend needed a ride to her vet's office on Wednesday evening. Her car had broken down and one of her kitty's had a 6pm appointment. I agreed to give her ride in the nasty, pouring rain. While we were waiting, a young couple came in with their little girl. Each adult had a large tabby in their arms. The woman was in tears. They wanted to surrender the cats to the vet's office! From what I overheard they had fallen on some financial hard times and were now staying in a place where they couldn't have their cats. Unfortunately the office did not take surrendered animals. If they were turned over to animal control their chances of survival would be slim to none. I don't know how they would fare with the local humane society either. It was obvious that these boys were well taken care of and loved. So I did the only thing I could do: I brought them home with me.

They had their vet visit on Saturday and came out with a clean bill of health. We discovered that Cash has broken the tip off of his upper left fang. The vet said it appeared to be an old injury. It doesn't appear to bother him but I will keep an eye on his eating habits. They were both vaccinated while at the vet's and they both received claw trims. Also, they were already neutered. Johnny was anxious at the office and he started panting. I've never had a cat that reacted that way before.

Johnny and Cash are out and about with the other cats. Cash is pretty laid back about the arrangement. He has discovered the top of the cat trees and a windowsill that gets a lot of morning sun. He also seems to have a favorite chair in the living room. Johnny is a little more cautious. He isn't growling like he first did and I hope he will relax more as he gets use to his new home. He is more of an explorer and has managed to get on top of the refrigerator and tried to get into one of the kitchen cabinets. I've caught him on top of the stove a couple of times and made him get down. That is one place he is not allowed.

Without further ado, here are Johnny and Cash!

This is handsome Cash! Although you can't tell it in these pictures, Cash has beautiful green eyes. He is longer than Johnny and he weighed in at 12 lbs.

 

Cash has picked out this chair as one of his favorite places to sleep. Look at those big back feet!

This is golden eyed Johnny. He is a little shorter in length and little stockier. He weighed in at 14 lbs.

Another picture of Johnny. I put a collar on him to help tell them apart. I'm wondering if he wore one before. He didn't put up a fuss about and he has not tried to take if off.

They are already stealing my heart.