Charlie, Cissy & Cagney……and HAIR

I finally decided it was time to let Charlie go.  I took him to my vet on Monday, June 13^th and put him down.  He and I had struggled off and on since May, 2010 with his drastic weight loss.  All of the recriminations were and are there.  It’s tough, but rarely have I lost one of my critters and not questioned myself and what I could have done better.  Losing them brings me face to face with the fact that I do not have all of the answers, I do not have super powers and DEATH is a fact of life.  Death is too powerful an adversary for any of us.  We may win some victories, but we can’t win in the end.  Even though it is inevitable that Death always has the final victory, I will continue to fight for as much time as I can salvage.  I did that with Cissy.  I took her to the vet on Tuesday, June 14^th and again on Thursday, June 16^th, prepared to put her down.  My guilty conscience over not giving her as much attention as I should have while treating Charlie overruled all else.  I tried treating her chronic renal failure and for a few days, she responded, but by Friday,  June 24^th it was obvious she was not going to make it.  I had her put down Friday morning. 

In between this, on Wednesday morning, June 22^nd, Cagney the new kitten, wasn’t able to walk on her left front leg.  She was lethargic and not eating.  She was very hot to the touch, so I knew she had a fever.  I took her to the vet early Wednesday morning and her temp was nearly 105 degrees.  Normal for a cat is between 101 & 102.  Although she had her first vaccine about 2 ½ weeks earlier, I felt certain she had limping kitten syndrome from calicivirus.  Calici is hard to eradicate in a multi-cat household.  It first appeared here in 1999 after bringing kittens home from surgery at animal services.  One kitten, Chaz, presented with symptoms.  He didn’t get sick with it, but Clark, Charlise and Catherine got deathly ill from it.  My vet pulled them through, but the ramifications from this disease caused a plague of plasma cell stomatitis to hit my cats, who included Chase, Carly, Bob, Charlie, Chaz, Colt and Courtney.  All of them had most or all of their teeth removed.  Of those cats only Bob, Colt and Courtney are still with me.  I have also lost Clark and Catherine in the past few years.  Needless to say, I was seriously concerned about little Cagney. 

Limping kitten syndrome was seen several years ago and was attributed to vaccinations.  Most kittens showed symptoms within 48 – 72 hours following their vaccination.  They limped, had inflamed joints and fevers.  In many cases, the symptoms went away within a few days.  Since Cagney’s vaccination was over 2 weeks earlier, my fear was she had contracted calici from a carrier in the house and her recovery wouldn’t take the normal route.  With some fluids, to reduce her fever, and force feeding she started showing improvement within a few days and by yesterday she was more active and walking and eating normally.   I can only hope this incident won’t have long term ramifications for Cagney.  It’s to be expected to lose older cats, but it’s devastating for me to lose a kitten.  So much potential never realized. 

The one bright spot this past week was seeing the road company of HAIR at the Bob Carr.  OMGoddess!  This show has been such a big part of my life since college.  I played and played and played the soundtrack to the Broadway play in my dorm room.  I saw the road show at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in 1970.  Yes, I tend to be “a bit” obsessive and HAIR has been an ongoing obsession.  And, if you aren’t familiar with it or haven’t seen it, please DO NOT see the movie.  It’s a complete bastardization of the original play.  If the road show is coming to a town near you, run – do not walk – and buy a ticket.  You won’t regret it.  Most of the road show company has been a part of this play since its revival on Broadway a few years ago and the London company following its run on Broadway.  Although the play dates back to 1967 and is about the Viet Nam war, it is still relevant today.  Some things stay the same:  calls for peace, freedom & clean air. 

PEACE

My Critter Herd

I’ve gotten a request to post pictures of my cats.  Unfortunately, I am not that proud of the quality of the photos and most of the photos are a couple of years old.  However, I shall proceed despite these shortcomings.

I thought I would do this in short, descriptive narratives on different groups of cats. Most came in together and so I’m going to do their “stories”.

My oldest cat is Cissy. 

I was already running out of “C” names when she and Carly came into my life.  Diane Jones, my mentor in the cat world & battling the Powers That Be (Orange County government in 1990 was when it began), asked me to take 2 kittens from her.  When I first saw Cissy, Diane had flea treated her with Vaseline, so the poor little kitten looked like a punk cat, with spiked hair.  Pitiful looking tiny thing.  

I wasn’t good about keeping records back then and, to the best of my knowledge, it was around 1995 that I brought home both Cissy and Carly.  Here is Carly: 

The two of them became “bedroom cats” because Chloe, one of my older cats, would constantly pick on them.  The kittens took to hiding behind the entertainment center and wouldn’t leave even to use the litter box.  Once moved into the bedroom and away from Chloe, there were no more problems.  Carly unexpectedly became sick one day and by the time we got to the vet, she was in such bad shape that I had no other option but to have her euthanized.  That was in May, 2008.  She was always such a sweet and loving cat.

Cissy is quite talkative and will answer you with a meow when you call her name.  When she wants attention, she won’t take no for an answer.  Pet her or suffer the consequences, trust me.  Her worst trait:  she LOVES to lick my nose and occasionally bite it.  She hasn’t drawn blood yet, probably because I do my best to keep my nose away from her!  She isn’t particularly patient about being brushed or having mats removed.  I found the greatest tool for mat removal at my vet’s office.  One evening, I was thinking that something similar to those compact, fits in your palm, plastic letter openers with an embedded razor blade would be great for removing mats.  Within a week I was at my vet’s office and THERE IT WAS!  It looks like a letter opener with a handle.  Cissy will tolerate longer sessions with this than anything else that I’ve tried and I don’t have to worry about accidentally cutting her or stabbing her with scissors.  It’s called Mat Magician, which it most certainly is!  Here is a link to their website:  http://matmagician.com/

Cissy still resides in the bedroom with many other cats now.  Most of them come rushing out when I go in to scoop litter boxes, vacuum, change the bed and feed them.  Tapping the cans together as I go back with food causes a stampede, with everyone (most of time) answering the “dinner bell” and diving into their canned cat food. 

Stay tuned for further ramblings on the rest of the herd……………….