seticat

Ears from Neurowear

'nuff said...

Squeebs left my arms today to slip gently into the loving Arms of Momma Bast. She's chasing cosmic mice with her sister, Cuffai Bernice [Lady Asia Congolease Bali Princess] and giving Poppa a hard time.

I don't care if it was 19 years worth of time with me. it's never enough.



Squeeble Marie Jamescat - aka: Lady Asia's Nigerian Bali Princess [in better days and times]
May 13, 1992 - July 12, 2011

Maybe more details later if I feel up to it.

Or maybe not.

EDIT - 7/13/11: Details is you want them.

The photo above shows The Girl about 5 years ago when she was 14 years old and about 10 pounds. I wanted to find a good photo to remember her by. Not the way she's been the last year. She had been dropping weight over the last couple of years and her kidney function labs had been getting worse and worse. She was very frail [as Syrwolf mentioned below] these last few months. The decision the vet and I had made was as long as she was eating, drinking and interacting well, we would let her just be an 'Old Lady Cat'. But the last couple of days her litter box issues became much worse [she wasn't too good at getting to the box in time so I used puppy pads around it]. She woke me up yesterday morning by peeing on my and the bed.

That's when we both knew.

I made an appointment to see the vet later in the day - in some ways to make sure there wasn't anything treatable going on, but fairly sure what the outcome would be. I made sure she had all her favorite nibbles to eat and we spent as much time together as a tired little Lady Cat could share.

And then we went in.

On exam, her right kidney wasn't even palpable it had shrunk that much. Her left was very tender to palpation. And she was beginning to get tender spots in her mouth. That pretty well sealed the situation.

We made the decision to set her free.

He gave her a shot of seditive [ketamine and acepromazine] and we gave it time to work fully. She and I said our goodbyes during that time and she dropped off to sleep in my arms.

And then the rest. It wasn't easy - she had horrible veins. Dr. P tried and was so supportive when I said I wanted to lay my hand over his because this was 'both of our choices and I needed to be a part of it'. After a moment I knew that wasn't going to work so I told him to 'just do it IC'. I've never had a vet say 'Thank you' with such understanding and compassion before. I knew it was something he was going to ask me and it's a hard thing to consider. I couldn't watch, but I could tell what he was doing out of the corner of my eyes.

And then her spirit simply slid from my arms into the arms of Bast.

I spent the rest of yesterday looking for her out of the corner of my eye, just waiting for her to sit just outside my office door and bitch for food. Or I'd walk into the bedroom and 'see' her face looking at me from her fleece nest on the bed. This morning I woke up wondering how I'd slept in so late - the Baby Girl hadn't come up to me to remind me to feed her.

Knowing it was the right thing to do doesn't take away the feelings I'm dealing with. I'll bring those to my group meeting at the local VA clinic and try and make illigical sense of them [my 'logical head' understands by the other part - not so well].

And kathrynmice said it so well below. they always seem to be in a hurry to come back in a new fur kitten suit and play kitten games again I can find comfort in that as Squeeble and her sister Cuffai were truely silly little kitten sisters all those years ago.

Recall Alert - Wellness Canned Cat Food

WellPet, makers of Wellness® natural pet food, are voluntarily recalling some lots of their canned cat foods due to potentially insufficient amounts of vitamin B1 (also known as thiamine).

From Wellness:
The lots involved in this voluntary recall are:

· Wellness Canned Cat (all flavors and sizes) with best by dates from 14APR 13 through 30SEP13;

· Wellness Canned Cat Chicken & Herring (all sizes) with best by date of 10NOV13 and 17NOV13.

If you have cat food from these lots, you should stop feeding it to your cats. You may call WellPet at 1-877-227-9587 to arrange for return of the product and reimbursement.

Early signs of thiamine deficiency may include loss of appetite, salivation, vomiting and weight loss. In advanced cases, signs may include ventroflexion (downward curving) of the neck, wobbly gait, falling, circling and seizures. If treated promptly, thiamine deficiency is typically reversible.Please contact your veterinarian immediately if your cat is displaying any of these signs.

You can return any affected product to your local PSP store for a full refund.

Read full letter from Wellness CEO Tim Callahan about this recall below.

Dear Pet Parents,

My name is Tim Callahan and I'm the CEO of WellPet, makers of Wellness® natural pet food. Over the years, we at WellPet have worked hard to earn the reputation of being a company that does everything possible for the pets that depend on us.

WellPet is committed to delivering the very best in pet food nutrition, as nothing is more important than the well-being of our dogs and cats. So when we found through product quality testing that specific product runs of our Wellness canned cat food might contain less than adequate levels of thiamine (also known as Vitamin B1), we decided to voluntarily recall them.

Please know, the vast majority of products tested had the appropriate levels of thiamine; however, with the number of recipes we offer, we did not want to make this more confusing. Therefore to avoid confusion and in an abundance of caution, we have decided to recall all canned cat products with the specific date codes noted below. Cats fed only product with inadequate levels of thiamine for several weeks may be at risk for developing a thiamine deficiency. If treated promptly, thiamine deficiency is typically reversible.

Though the chance of developing this deficiency is remote, withdrawing these products is the right thing to do and we are removing it from retailers' shelves.

The lots involved in this voluntary recall are:

Wellness Canned Cat (all flavors and sizes) with best by dates from 14APR 13 through 30SEP13;

Wellness Canned Cat Chicken & Herring (all sizes) with best by date of 10NOV13 and 17NOV13.

If you have cat food from these lots, you should stop feeding it to your cats. You may call WellPet at 1-877-227-9587 to arrange for return of the product and reimbursement.

No other Wellness products that your pets currently enjoy are impacted, so you can continue to feed your pets Wellness with full confidence. This is an isolated situation, as we have had only one reported issue. We are taking all the necessary steps to ensure it does not happen again.

Speaking on behalf of our entire Company, I apologize for any concerns this may have caused you. As a parent of a yellow lab named Hope, I understand the sense of responsibility we all share for our dogs and cats. Rest assured, product quality and safety will always be our top priority.

Originally posted by kylecassidy at Something You Can Do: Windermere Cats Update

This is the third... no, fourth ... batch of snow this year. Got a big load around the 1st of this month [8-10" over a couple of days]. That had almost melted off when we got another inch or two several days ago. Than another inch a couple of days ago. And now it's doing it again. Great big flakes that are sticking all over the walks and driveway I just shoveled today.

The Weather Channel's website is saying:
Through 10pm: Light rain. The rain will come to an end by 7pm. Cloudy with temperatures steady near 34F. Winds light and variable.
[....... yeah ... right ...........]

I can't believe I used to look forward to this stuff. At least I got the Bali Baby more cat food today so I won't have to pull the 'Drive on really crappy, icy roads because she's down to 5 cans of 'Fancy Feast' thing again. She doesn't eat a lot at one setting, but she gets hungry every couple of hours and her tummy is so touchy that if the food sits out for any amount of time she barfs. And she won't touch it if it's cold. Which makes sense. Shes only got a few teeth left and an 18 year old nose. If it's not warmed up she really can't smell it.

But that ends up meaning I open several little cans a day.

And I can't leave kibble out anymore. Either she doesn't try to chew it at all or there's some ingredient in it, but the end result is chunky kitty puke and other lower GI effects.

So she has me securely wrapped around her little dew claw and the two boys reap the bennies of noshing on the left over canned gooshies - like they need the extra calories. [snort!]

Signal boosted from lupabitch's LJ.

ANYONE IN THE ATLANTA AREA:

50-70 dogs and cats need homes in the next few days or they will be put to sleep--all adoption fees $20 on all pets!

Even if you aren't in the Atlanta area, please pass this on so others can get the word to those who are. Adoptions will be open until May 21st.

Please boost the signal.

That is all.

"


Kittehs *can* fix everything.

Okay - I dare you not to at least smile.

This was completely lifted from amycat1959's LJ. Just because I could and it really, REALLY needs to be shared.

Oh!

OH!

I mean... OH!!!!

{insert words_fail here ]

"Two Lumps" - Snooch discovers Ratatouille

One of the few times words have actually failed me.

It may be a few days before I can open that jar of Rataouille I got from Trader Joes.

This one will haunt me for a bit.

[My brain is like fogged photo film.]

What we hear:



What they're actually saying:



That is all... for now.