h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Space cadette that particuler strain of cat torteshell
(darb being tri-tortie/or-calico mother prob tortiseshell )
The tortoseshell are re-known for being bad tempered and grouchy, much the same as gingers being mostly males and soft as butter.

When the owners go home for a while, the RAs or other students help take care of them. I think something simialar happens when students graduate--and I'm sure there are a number of students I know who'd be quite willing to adopt one of the dorm cats if the owner couldn't take it with them.

ltp: "The tortoseshell are re-known for being bad tempered and grouchy, much the same as gingers being mostly males and soft as butter."

Not true! My baby Squeaky was my little sweetie (literally, at the most she weighed 5 lbs. soaking wet) -- although, she *did* seem to be frowning most of the time ...

RDO, I'm glad that the dorm cats are in such good hands! One of my friends moved from here (UCLA) to Chicago when she graduated. She was so appalled at how animals have to fly in cargo, she and her boyfriend rented a car and drove, taking turns, so that there wasn't a risk of her cat getting lost or worse. As it turns out, it also cemented her relationship along the way and they got married six months later.

SC

Interesting article on Tortoiseshells: http://messybeast.com/tricolours.htm

"Because of the way tortoiseshell is inherited, almost all tortoiseshell and calico cats are female. The very few male tortoiseshell cats are caused by genetic aberration or development abnormalities in the foetus. These are discussed in detail in "Mosaicism, Tortie Tomcats, Genetically Impossible Kittens and Gender Anomalies". This article only considers normal tortoiseshell cats."

I have a friend who has a male cat (Calvin, after Calvin and Hobbes -- Hobbes, unfortunately, died) who is the most amazing red colour. It is a solid deep red-orange, almost brown, but a colour I have never seen in another cat.

Calvin sounds gorgeous, Mudhooks. I think I've seen pictures of that color of cat, similar in intensity to the gray of Prussian blues, very plush looking.

One trait that I noted in one of Squeaky's "sisters", Gremlin (for the ears, naturally) who was a calico, is that Calicos rule. She did, by Bob, with the proverbial Iron Paw. Bandit was particularly kept in her place! Squeaky, being my favorite, got spared a little, but not much. Gremlin even tried to keep me in order!

SC

Hi everyone!

Been busy with the mini-meet here, so haven't been posting much the past few days.

RDO, love the photos of Chaucer. He looks like a very comfortable cat indeed.

I think we have to take Sunny in for another check-up, round of tests, etc. He seems to be fine after going off the supplement he took for a couple of months (Maria suggested we wait a month or two after he finished that to see how he was doing) but recently he is meowing quite loudly after visiting the catbox and then sometimes spends some time trying to lick his willy (which he can't actually reach since he's got such a fat belly). Not sure if this is because he is actually experiencing discomfort but I think it prudent to at least have him checked again.

He's going to be 13 in August and seems to be quite healthy in general, but I'm concerned about the meowing - though he might just be being cranky and old. Still, best to get him checked out again, I reckon. Oh boy - another trip to Maria's!


az

Glad everyone liked the Chaucer photos. He does seem to like to make himself comfortable whereever he is--have caught him sleeping in the middle of the hallway at times. He's lucky people here are so careful, otherwise he'd get stepped on.

I hope Sunny's check-up goes well.

Just back from Maria's. She recommended that we start off with a treatment for a possible cystitis rather than run a whole bunch of tests on him, especially as he just had his last blood test done in December and it came out normal. But she did agree that with a cat his age it's a good idea to do the whole vindaloo once a year (blood test, urine test, thorax x-ray). Which we'll wait to do in the autumn if this cystitis treatment works now. And we'll also bring in Azar for a whole vindaloo checkup around the same time, as he is almost 11 now (birthday April 7).

Maria didn't think it was anything too serious, especially as by chance, just before leaving the house, I was in the bathroom when Sunny came in to use the litter box and I could actually hear him peeing (quite a healthy stream). Anyhow, his temperature was normal and after a bit of prodding around Maria said his bladder was quite empty which meant although he *might* have some crystals he was definitely not blocked. But his recent complaining after peeing pointed to a possible infection. So he's on oral antibiotics for a week as well as every-other-day injections of an anti-inflammatory.

Meanwhile, Maria wasn't able to listen to his heart because during all the prodding and having the thermometer inserted Sunny started purring (the weirdo) and wouldn't stop. But she said he looked perfectly healthy and he has also lost some weight. He's now down to 6.3 kilos (used to be closer to 7).

So, that's the update. Now I just have to wait until Sunny takes a nap so I can inject him . . .


az

How funny that Sunny was purring while the thermometer was inserted! My old cat, Nico, used to purr whenever she was really uncomfortable, or when she was really upset, so it was always hard to tell if she was settling in for a cuddle or getting ready to sink her teeth into your jugular.

I hope the infection, if there is one, clears up soon.

I know, Maria thought it was totally weird that Sunny started purring when 'the worst' was being done to him, but I pointed out to Maria that often cats purr when they are in pain or discomfort to comfort themselves - and she had never heard of this! But it's quite true.


az

Then, again... maybe he's a bit kinky?

Well, that had been Maria's first diagnosis.


az

I'd be willing to bet that most "normal" cats have a kink or two in 'em.

I'd feel sorry for any poor vet who tried to get a thermometer into Herman. Whenever he detects anyone getting near his bottom, he wraps his tail between his legs and grasps the tip of it in his mouth. And then the Claws of Doom come out. When he gets his shots, the vet wears those big gloves that hawk trainers wear, and it takes both of us and a nurse or two to help hold him down. You can hear the howling and hissing clear into the lobby.

Well sh*t. And if I'm not allowed to post sh*t anymore, boy is somebody going to get it!

Sunny started vomiting like crazy two nights ago. So I wondered if it might have been a reaction to the antibiotics. Called Maria - stopped antibiotics. Though did the final anti-inflammatory injection.

Yesterday he was only fed very small amounts of steamed chicken breast - a wee bit at a time. Kept it down just fine. So this morning I tried him on a bit of wet catfood - thinking the dry biscuits are probably harder to digest. Two hours later - wet food was thrown up all over the place.

Thing is, I only brought Sunny in for a check up because I was worried about him meowing and complaining, mostly after having visited the cat box.

So I'm really not sure if I hadn't brought him in at all, without the antibiotics, etc, he might not have taken this turn with the vomiting and whatnot.

It's so hard to know. Now Maria is saying she has to take blood tests again and all that.

Well, off we go . . .


az

Oh, dear. The poor little guy. I hope the vomiting clears up and was a reaction to the antibiotic, although that'd be a pretty small consolation. *fingers crossed*

Well, actually, we've decided to try another evening with plain steamed chicken breast and possibly a bit of rice. If it *is* a gastrointeritis problem then we should know that by tomorrow.

If it ends up being a kidney problem then waiting until tomorrow also won't make too much difference, especially since Sunny is still peeing quite fine.

As for the weird meowing (after peeing) we've also noticed him doing this at other bizarre times . . . like sitting in front of the closed door to the cutting room. Sometimes Sunny will sit there for ages and meiow and meiow like a crazy cat.




az

If only the little darlings could actully *tell* us what the problem was...

Noggin

Actually, even . . .

But yeah, instead of just squawking they could say - 'oh, got a bit of a pain over here'.

And what is the vet supposed to do other than treat a supposed symptom or otherwise run an entire battery of tests - blood, urine, xrays, etc . . . to maybe discover the silly beast just had a bit of gastrointeritis.

Gaaaaaaa.


az

The chicken & rice in a blender mix seems to be going down a treat. Let's hope it doesn't come back up again . . .


az

I find myself wondering how things are going in that regard, even though the answer might make me feel a bit queasy...