Archive through December 27, 2003
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TV ClubHouse: archive: Cats (ARCHIVE): Archive through December 27, 2003

Djgirl

Monday, December 22, 2003 - 07:05 am EditMoveDeleteIP
(((Calamity))) I'm sooo sorry to hear about Casper, you were such a great mom though, and together to the end. My heart goes out to you.

Calamity

Monday, December 22, 2003 - 12:10 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I know I’m repeating myself but thank you all again for your many generous and kind messages. They’ve meant a great deal to me. And a special thanks to Rabernet for that lovely piece on the Rainbow Bridge. Brought me to tears again and I thought I’d cried myself out. I am so sorry about you losing your own kitty cat last year, and my most heartfelt sympathies to Srobb22 and Fanny, as well. Four days ago…four years ago…the time doesn’t really matter, it still hurts. Hugs to you all.

My two other kitties and I headed home Friday. It’s still hard to believe Casper isn’t with us - I keep thinking to myself “Oh I need to check on Cass” and then I remember.

I don’t mean to leave everyone with yet another sad, depressing post, especially this time of the year. Casper had a long, happy life - perhaps cosmically-fitting for a cat born on the morning of the Live Aid concert, she loved music and would get seriously drunk on catnip. She’d impatiently tap you with a fuzzy paw if she thought you weren’t paying proper attention to her, loved to play “string”, and her favorite spot to lie down was always a sunny patch where the light shinned through a window.

I have been so grateful for all the kindness and support shown to me these past few months while I’ve been posting about Casper’s health problems. Bless you all!

Janfts

Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - 02:02 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Merry Christmas to all my fellow cat lovers!!!

Srobb22

Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - 04:47 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Merry Xmas to all the beautiful kitties out there and to all their devoted slaves as well!
my picture my picture

Mamie316

Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - 08:53 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Calamity, Casper was very lucky to have you. There are lots of cats that aren't as blessed to have that love. Merry Christmas to all my fellow cat lovers! Hope you and your kitties get everything they want!

P.S. We have actually been able to get our little stray kitty into the house a few times. We are now calling her Scraggletag and even my husband says now , how can we say no to her. So I guess or cat family will now consist of 4 very spoiled cats!

Juju2bigdog

Wednesday, December 24, 2003 - 09:00 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Got this from my friend Habibi who is an adorable imaginary camel over at the Elitestv message board. I know he won't mind if I share it with the cat lovers.

How to wrap holiday presents with the help of your cat:

1. Clear large space on table for wrapping present.

2. Go to closet and collect bag in which present is contained, and shut door.

3. Open door and remove cat from closet.

4. Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.

5. Go back and remove cat from cupboard.

6. Go to drawer, and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels, etc...

7. Lay out presents and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.

8. Go back to drawer to get string, remove cat that has been in the drawer since last visit and collect string.

9. Remove present from bag.

10. Remove cat from bag.

11. Open box to check present, remove cat from box, replace present.

12. Lay out paper to determine size to cut.

13. Try to smooth out paper, realize cat is underneath and remove cat.

14. Cut the paper to size, keeping the cutting line straight.

15. Throw away first sheet as cat chased the scissors, and tore the paper.

16. Cut second sheet of paper to size - by putting cat in the bag the present came in.

17. Place present on paper.

18. Lift up edges of paper to seal in present. Wonder why edges don't reach. Realize cat is between present and paper. Remove cat.

19. Place object on paper, to hold in place while tearing transparent sticky tape.

20. Spend 20 minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from cat with pair of nail scissors.

21. Seal paper with sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.

22. Look for roll of ribbon. Chase cat down hall in order to retrieve ribbon.

23. Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two-directional turn.

24. Re-roll ribbon and remove paper, which is now torn due to cat's enthusiastic ribbon chase.

25. Repeat steps 13-20 until you reach last sheet of paper.

26. Decide to skip steps 13-17 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper. Retrieve old cardboard box that is the right size for sheet of paper.

27. Put present in box, and tie down with string.

28. Remove sting, open box and remove cat.

29. Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for a room with a lock.

30. Once inside locking room, lock door and start to relay out paper and materials.

31. Remove cat from box, unlock door, put cat outside door, close and relock.

32. Repeat previous step as often as is necessary (until you can hear cat from outside door)

33. Lay out last sheet of paper. (This will be difficult in the small area of the toilet, but do your best)

34. Discover cat has already torn paper. Unlock door go out and hunt through various cupboards, looking for sheet of last year's paper. Remember that you haven't got any left because cat helped with this last year as well.

35. Return to lockable room, lock door, and sit on toilet and try to make torn sheet of paper look presentable.

36. Seal box, wrap with paper and repair by very carefully sealing with sticky tape. Tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst areas.

37. Label. Sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulate yourself on completing a difficult job.

38. Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make drink and feed cat.

39. Spend 15 minutes looking for cat until coming to obvious conclusion.

40. Unwrap present, untie box and remove cat.

41. Go to store and buy a gift bag

Dipo

Wednesday, December 24, 2003 - 12:35 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
OMG, that is the funniest thing I have read in a long time!!!!! Still LMAO. Thanks Juju and Habibi!!!!

Jbean

Wednesday, December 24, 2003 - 02:17 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
hahaha! that was good, thanks for sharing it, juju.

calamity, i had meant to get here sooner to give you my condolences on the loss of your dk, cass. you can tell how sweet she was in the picture you posted of her. brought me to tears reading about her passing, and then i really broke down when i re-read the rainbow bridge poem. what really got me though, was when i was reading the poem i looked over at my dk on the back of the couch, and then she came over to me and hopped on my lap and started purring. (that doesn't happen a lot.) it was really sweet. keeping you in my thoughts and prayers during this sad time.

Pamy

Wednesday, December 24, 2003 - 04:32 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
That story sounds just like my wrapping experiences! LOL

Gina8642

Wednesday, December 24, 2003 - 07:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Calamity - My deepest condoloences. I'm so very sorry - Casper looked like a very sweet kitty.

Gina8642

Wednesday, December 24, 2003 - 07:37 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I've been without a cat since July. It's been hard, but ok. Now that Christmas is here, it gets sooo much harder. No kitty to get in the x-mas tree, or to help wrap presents (love the story, read it to my mom!). No kitty to get the bed warm, or to dance through the house at 3 am moaning over his toys. No kitty to help me watch TV, no kitty looking out the front door while I shovel snow. No kitty who purrs all the time, even when I just walk into the same room he's in. Kitties are wonderful, losing them is hard.

I went to the humane society today. They had NO kittens. Kinda said for me, but really a wonderful thing that all had been adopted. The shelter has been so busy this entire fall. And, they only had half the adult kitties they usually do as well. It was nice to see. I'm still hoping to adopt two kittens soon. I think I will wait until after the new year. I will give all my allergic family one cat free x-mas.

Dipo

Wednesday, December 24, 2003 - 11:17 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Gina, the most compasinate thing you could do is to adopt an older kitte, everyone thinks that a kitten will be the best, but if you take anolder kittie and they have a happy home, you wil be suprised by how much they seem like a little one. they are so happy to be loved it is just like a kitten

Janfts

Friday, December 26, 2003 - 06:24 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Juju....love it!!! And so very true!

Gina8642

Friday, December 26, 2003 - 09:49 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Dipo - I know it the 'right thing to do' to adopt an adult cat - but I did that about 10 years ago and it was an incredibly negative experience. The humane society in my area misled to me about the cat's age and health, she came home sick and in heat. I spent hundreds of extra unexpected dollars in vet bills and medications in addition to the normal 'get a new cat' exenses. She was extremely anti-social, was a door rusher and ran away repeatedly (my intention was to have an in-door only cat). I spent many more dollars on 'lost cat' posters trying to retrieve her. She finally didn't come home one time about four years after I adopted her. I did my best for her, but after awhile the only affection she showed me was to growl when I came into the same room as her. So, anyway, I kinda feel like I've done my part and this time I'm gonna get kittens. If I knew an adult cat that needed a home, I might consider doing it again, but I'm unlikely to ever adopt an adult cat blind from my local humane society. Also, unfortunately they do put down kittens in our area, so I still know I'm saving a cat. I know that all adoptions are not horror stories, but this one did it for me.

BTW - a week after I got her, a friend gave me an 8 week old kitten she had rescued. This was the same kitty that grew into my beloved Mr. Kitty that died this past summer. He was my reassuance that I wasn't some horrible person who didn't know how to care for or love a cat.

Rabernet

Friday, December 26, 2003 - 10:50 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Calamity,

I'm glad that you found comfort in the Rainbow Bridge poem. It was so powerful to me the first time I read it. And I went looking for it when Shasta died. He was quite a trooper, 14 years old, had gone through a leg amputation due to cancer five years earlier (we determined that it was vaccine associated sarcoma, although in a very unusual location (front leg)). A week before he got so ill, he had been really itchy and so I took him to a different vet (because ours was out of town on a conference) and they gave him a steroid shot for his itchiness. Turned out that the steroid "woke up" dormant cancer cells and he developed a mass in his stomach and it took him within two weeks. My biggest regret is that I wasn't there to hold him when he died. The morning that he died, he was supposed to get an ultrasound just to make sure we'd done all we could for him, before putting him to sleep. He went into a coma while I was at work and had seizures, and the vet called me and asked permission to put him out of his misery, that he didn't think he would even make it long enough for me to get there. He had spent the night at the clinic, and it haunts me that he was alone in a cold sterile cage his last night here, wondering where I was. Brings me to tears even a year later. I wish I had had the courage to have him put to sleep the day before, instead of clinging to hope that there was something more that we could do for him. I so wanted to hold him when he was put to sleep so my love would be the last thing he felt. Ah well......sure do miss my boy!

Dipo

Friday, December 26, 2003 - 03:37 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
bummer Gina, I am really sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with an adult cat, that was a terrible thing for the shelter to do! good luck in your search.

Calamity

Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 10:10 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Rabernet: Oh, I'm so sorry about Shasta. That was a heartbreaking story. I know how you feel about wishing you were with him at the end. Sadly, I've had to go through that myself.
Last night I was looking at some pictures of Casper, remembering how soft her paws were and how fuzzy her long coat was and just got overwhelmed again. I can't help missing her.


Gina8642: I hope you find a new kitten soon! (Or one finds you - that's how it usually happens to me.)


Mamie316: Say "hi" to Scraggletag for me.


Jbean: Thanks for the kind words.


Juju2bigdog: Thanks for the laugh. I don't think I've ever wrapped a present that didn't have cat or dog fur stuck to the tape somewhere.

Cassie

Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 01:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Calamity, I've just finished reading about your Casper. I'm so sorry you lost her, but glad you were able to share so much of your life with her. I know how hard it is when you lose a beloved pet. I still cry (and it's almost 4 years) since I had to put my 17 yr old cat down. Casper will always be in your heart, but know that the pain lessens as time goes on. I'm glad she had such a good life with you.

Max

Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 06:55 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I lost my cat, Squeak, about a year and a half ago to kidney failure. Sure doesn't see that long, though!

Today, I went to a couple of pet stores and a local shelter and ended up adopting a new kitty. Her name is Eleanor and she's just over a year old. She's so sweet and purrs almost constantly. Here's a pic:
Eleanor
She's already settling in to her new home. It will take a few days for us to get used to each other's habits, but I'm sure it will be fine. So nice to have someone else in the house again!

Max

Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 06:58 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Here's another that shows her face better. :)
Eleanor2

Mamie316

Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 07:02 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Eleanor is beautiful and it sure looks like she has made herself right at home! Congratulations!

Pamy

Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 07:03 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Oh she is beautiful!! I love that you adopted an older cat, I bet that cat will love you more than you'll ever know!!!

Max

Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 07:27 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Thanks! She's just over a year old and has already had a litter of six kittens (all of which were adopted out). She's spayed now, thank goodness!

Of course, I'm already spoiling her with a kitty condo, toys (balls are her favorite), a catnip scratching thingy, a soft bed, and so forth!

Jbean

Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 08:19 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
eleanor is a gorgeous cat, max! isn't it exciting to get a new kitty? congratulations!

Juju2bigdog

Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 08:23 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Wow, what a beautiful and exotic looking cat, Max.