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Friday Cat Blogging: From Aruba With Love

We recently spent a gloriously restful week in Aruba.  We'd never been there before.  Turns out that stray cats are a common sight around the hotels/resorts.  We met three friendly cats around the place where we stayed; two were exceptionally friendly.  One was this cat; we guessed her to be a young female:

We saw her a couple of times and then didn't see her for a few days until the evening before we were to leave.  We were eating at the resort's outdoor restaurant, our table near a hedge.  She came sauntering through the hedge and enjoyed some bits of our meal.  Then she jumped up on my lap and settled in for the duration of the meal.

We brought her back to the room and called Aruba Kitten Rescue (AKR; I had emailed them and another organization earlier in the week when I learned about the stray cat problem and wanted to know what, if anything, tourists could do to make these cats' lives easier).   We discussed this cat and decided that they would call the vet early the next morning to see if they could give her a rabies shot, do an exam and provide travelling papers.  AKR came to us early the next morning, whisked her to the vet, whisked her back, provided an airline approved carrier so she could sit under the seat in front of us; a harness and leash for walking her through the metal detector (she walked on a leash like a champ; thoroughly unflummoxed by all the people pointing and saying, 'There's a cat!') and wished us a safe trip.  You can read AKR's post about her here.

If you go to the website you'll see this post, where they talk about the supplies they need.  Basically, the stuff they need -- small harnesses and leashes; soft carriers; KMR -- is very expensive down there.  And it's expensive to ship stuff to them from outside of Aruba.  So they depend on people travelling to Aruba who are kind enough to bring stuff with them.  So if you're planning to go to Aruba and would like to help, contact them first to find out what their current needs are and how to best get the stuff to them once you're in Aruba.

I had ordered some tapas for dinner while she was sitting on my lap that night and one was called 'pinchitos'.  The waiter said it meant 'little bits' (they were mini skewers with one or two small pieces of meat on them) and, since she's a little bit of a thing, I started calling her Pinchita and the name stuck.

The Aruban vet estimated her to be 5-6 months old and they didn't feel any kittens inside her, but, if she was pregnant, she probably wasn't very far along.  Our vet came to see her a few days ago and left a note (at this point in our relationship with her, she just lets herself in and out) saying that Pinchita is not a kitten and that she might be pregnant.  Turns out she also has worms -- lots of them and quite the variety.  The vet gave her a first dose of dewormer when she was here, but now that she has the results of the fecal exam, she's going to give Pinchita a stronger dewormer next week when she comes by to see Dolly.  We've also seen one flea so far, so she's getting treated for that, too.

She's a tiny little thing: 4.75 lb.  How is she supposed to have kittens?  I hope she's not pregnant, but I guess we'll just deal with that if and when it's confirmed.  I wonder if/how her dewormer and flea medication might affect her kittens/pregnancy.  We've never had brand spanking new kittens in the house before; I don't know that we're prepared for this.  I don't know nothin' 'bout birthing kittens.

Friday Cat Blogging: Stakeout

Miles had a very exciting day recently.  I work one Saturday a month and it was just such a Saturday.  Working also was Rich, who's always suggesting I bring Miles in to work (bc he's the easiest going of the bunch).  Kevin dropped me off for work and he brought Miles in his stroller when he came to pick me up at the end of the day.

Then, after we got home, Kevin put a harness and lead on Miles and secured him to a stake in the backyard.  Right by the post that holds two birdfeeders.

Checking out a different part of the yard:

Going a little further afield:

Close up of the fairly brave outdoorsman!

   

Friday Cat Blogging: A Romantic Evening by the Fire, for One

Edison really enjoys a nice fire.  Here he is soaking in the sounds, smell and warmth of the fire.

Friday Cat Blogging: Window Seat

A rare shot of the girls - Dolly and LIzzie - together.  Here they're enjoying the warmth of the radiator as they keep tabs on the back forty.

Giggle Inducing Video

Here.

Friday Cat Blogging: The Three (Snoozing) Amigos

Recently caught our three youngsters napping ensemble:

That's two year old Miles the orange tabby in the sun on the left; in the middle is his littermate, Lizzie, slowly getting a grip on her consciousness; and three year old Edison on the right.

Fascinating how twins often do the same thing at the same time!

They all look very serious here.

 

 What a life.
 

Friday Cat Blogging: Vet Visit

Our kits have had a tough year.  I mean to write about it, but I feel the need to be in a certain mood and have a good amount of time to go into it wrt their illnesses.  I just haven't been in that mood and/or had the time.  And I'm still not and don't.  So today I give you our handsome 3 year old tuxie, Edison.

Here he is at a follow up visit with his peeps at AERA.  Edison had a urinary blockage of unknown origin earlier this year.  I'll spare you all the details of catheterizations and bladder expressions and so on and get to the end result, which is that Eddie had a perineal urethrostomy.  From the linked website:

Urinary blockage is almost exclusively a problem reserved for males. This is because the female urethra is shorter and broader, in short, far more difficult to obstruct. When urinary blockage becomes recurrent in a male cat, it becomes time to consider surgical reconstruction of the genitalia to create a more female-like opening. This surgery is called the perineal urethrostomy or “PU” for short. Basically, the penis is removed and a new urinary opening is made.

Yay!  Eddie's one of us now!

Before I go any further, let me just get it out there that if your cat is having trouble urinating, it can get very serious very quickly.  What happens is that toxins that are normally eliminated from the body end up accumulating within the body when a cat has a total or even a partial urinary blockage.  Read the linked article for more info, but the take home message is: act immediately! 

When Eddie first started having trouble urinating, he was able to be expressed or catheterized.  At a certain point neither was possible.  By this time he had been referred to AERA.  Obvs, the urine has to come out and, since they couldn't get a catheter in him, they ended up having to do the surgery.

When Eddie first went to AERA, there was some discussion about whether to refer him to internal medicine or neurology bc he wasn't giving off many clues as to what might be causing his problem.  In the end, he went to neurology and, although his problem did not turn out to be neurological in nature (although they don't know what caused it, they know it's not neurological), the neurological team there still oversees his care.  Probably bc he's so handsome they don't want to share him with any other department.  But perhaps I'm biased in my estimation of his attractiveness.

Not the best patient under the best of circumstances (though not nearly the worst patient), Ed was a little unnerved during this visit bc, although he was in his carrier while we were in the waiting room, some unrefined hound was merely tethered to its owner and freaked Ed out by sniffing at him through the carrier with his big hairy snout.

Above he's with his team, Drs. Scarano and Massicotte.   Even though the surgery was a success, Ed seemed to need to sharpen his elimination skills.  He's been on meds to help with that and Kevin very dutifully monitors his medications and his outputs.  Eddie's been making steady progress and is being weaned off the meds with each visit.  Good job, Eddie!
 

Friday Cat Blogging: A World of Difference

Here we have an aerial shot of Nosey and Edison.  Yes, they are two male tuxedo cats, but that's where the similarity ends.  Once upon a time, my brother Greg and his family came to visit.  They met our cats as they (the cats) sauntered by to check out the newcomers.  They met Nosey.  Later, Edison came strolling by and Greg said, 'What's his name again?  Nosey?'  I said, 'Oh no!  That's Edison.'  Then he asked -- I still can't believe this -- 'How can you tell them apart?'

Firstly, well, duh.

Secondly, Greg may not be a Crazy Cat Man, but he grew up in the same house as I did, the same house that always had at least one resident cat and various neighbor cats that passed through.  How he made it this far in life w/o recognizing the subtle yet telling differences between individual cats...I'll never know.

Thirdly, and I can't stress this enough: Well, duh.

Fourthly, even when not seen side by side, there is a world, nay, a universe of difference between the two.  Most striking is the fur.  Nosey is mid- to long-haired and he generally appears slightly disheveled (he cleans, but not fastidiously).  Edison's fur is a very sleek, shiny coat that lies quite close and gorgeously so.

Then there's the VanDyke on Nosey's chin (hence, the shelter christened him VanDyke, which remains his official name for legal purposes) and the noticeable lack thereof on Edison's chin.

Then there's body shape and size.  Nosey's about 16-17 lb.; Edison's about 11-12 lb.  The former is about 1/3 larger than the latter.  Nosey is longer, although Edison's no shorty himself.  Nosey has this funky hump on his back; don't know what that's all about (he also has a funky sternum which is not obvious to the casual observer; I often wonder if his odd skeletal issues have anything to do with his chronic respiratory, uh, thing).  He also has a bit of a paunch, kind of like guys get when they get older, drink more beer (usually while watching football) and spend more time on the couch (usually while watching football).  Edison is very sleek, slender, lean...quite athletic looking.

Don't even get me started on the differences in personality!  Of course, personality isn't generally noticeable upon the first casual meeting.  The bottom line = more than a cursory glance will reveal differences between cats and, once you see these differences, you'll consider them gulfs that cannot be bridged.

And now I'm off to enjoy Nosey's company as he purrs next to me while I surf the internet.

Friday Cat Blogging: Lizzie's Been Sleeping In Nosey's Bin

The sun was shining right onto Nosey's bin...it was just too tempting for Lizzie to resist climbing in and making herself comfortable.

Nosey certainly couldn't complain; he wasn't using it.

 But he complained anyway.

He can be so grumpy sometimes!  Miles ignored the whole scene.  Although just a few feet away, he was in the throes of the 'death scene' yoga pose.

Just another day in the life of housecats. 

Friday Cat Blogging: Snuggle Buddies

Miles and Lizzie.  Buddies.  Snuggling.