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

I am so glad to hear that Rocket isn't seriously ill!!

"I am so glad to hear that Rocket isn't seriously ill!! "

PC, believe me, so am I!! I feel a little foolish for being so panic-y, but you have to understand how irrepressible Rocket usually is. Granted, when I tossed him his plastic dinosaur last night, he went for it -- he loves those darn things so much it'd bring him back from the grave, I think. But he still was very slowed down from his usual self. And the standing in front of his water dish was just weird.

Lady, don't you know that it's not allowed to refuse furry help? humans can't be trusted to do anything important without supervision, you know! And, yes, my cats *are* worth it, the ungrateful, endearing little rascals.

SC

I heard this story on the news this evening. Thought I was hearing things a couple of nights ago when I heard it the first time on the radio.

http://www.theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060821&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=608210327&SectionCat=&Template=printart

There aren't a lot of stray cats in my neighborhood, but I've been hearing cat fights in the last couple of weeks, and my neighborhood *does* have raccoons. Even though I live in downtown Glendale, and 6 miles due north of downtown Los Angeles, I'm very glad I don't let my cats go out *at all*. And the next time I hear a "cat" fight, I'm going to make sure it's nothing but cats.

SC

I don't think it was foolish of you to be panicky. A few months ago, Herman was "sick"- he was vomiting over and over again, for hours. We'd done nothing differently than ever but I was convinced that I had poisoned him.

The vet's diagnosis was that he'd eaten too much of the yummy new dry food we'd switched him to, and it had puffed up in his tummy when he drank some water.

I think it's the nature of a pet owner (probably new parents of wee ones, too) to assume the worst when the poor little guy can't verbalize for you what the problem is.

One of my co-workers sent me that article. I'm glad we don't let Herman out, either, though I've never seen raccoons in our part of town as of yet. Be careful, if you do hear a "cat" fight and go out to check- one lady mentioned in that article was bitten trying to help her cat.

Herman sends Rocket a get well sniff and head butt.

I've just phoned the RSPCA.

I had to report the abandonment of a very old cat 4 doors along from me. An old lady called Betty lives there with her cat. Betty used to have two cats - one of which used to come in to our house nearly 10 years ago before we had our own moggies. That was Ben who has since died. The other cat was very quiet and kept indoors mostly.

2 nights ago we heard an awful miaowing outside our house. I went out to investigate and found this old cat trying to get into the house 3 doors along - they too had heard the noise and had opened their front door. The couple that live there, Emma and Andy, said that the cat had been out for at least 3 days and nights. Emma said that Betty often went away. We fianlly figured (after worrying that she was lying dead inside - and then ruling that out) that she had gone away again and left the care of the cat to someone else. That someone has not cared for the cat at all.

Tonight I went to see it. Poor thing is in a right state. It is so scrawny and mucky. It ate the dry cat food I bought it but began choking, salivating and rubbing at its mouth with a paw.

Panicking, I tried to get into it's mouth thinking it was choking, but the smell coming from it's mouth was vile. It only had one incisor and not many other teeth. The poor thing is definitely suffering.

I called the RSPCA and they said they'd send someone out tonight or tomorrow morning. I just hope thats not too late. I have left a cardboard box with a towel in it for it to sleep in.

It has all been quite distressing. I hate to see any animal suffer.

What a sad story, Lady. Sounds like the poor thing is pretty far gone and probably the RSPCA will end up putting it down, but you couldn't just leave it suffering like that. Obviously it had been mistreated for a very long time as a cat doesn't get so scrawny and lose its teeth in just a few days.

Heard a similar story from dragonqueen recently but hers had a happy ending, at least for one of the mistreated cats (scroll down to Tiny Cat).
http://dragonqueen.wordpress.com/

az

That raccoon story was totally .

As for panicking ... yes, a very natural response since, as PC pointed out, our cats can't tell us how they feel.

Anyhow, how's our young lad doing today?

az

Good news! (sorry - bit long winded)

The RSPCA came out last night. We went along to the house where the cat was snuggled up in the box that I left for it. The inspector coaxed the cat out and had a look. He scruffed it and lifted it up, then looked in his mouth (brave!) He confirmed that the cat was quite old and only had a couple of teeth left

He asked lots of questions, I couldn't answer many of them though. We knocked on a few neighbours doors and confirmed that Betty was away on holiday. The inspector then wrote a notice - stuck it through the letterbox. He also placed a folded card in the crack of the door so that if anybody came in they'd know.

He climbed over the back fence and found that there was a catflap which was open but we think the cat couldn't get through to the back garden. He put another notice in the letterbox saying that the cat needed some urgent medical attention for his "manky mouth!!"

We left it at that last night - he said someone would be back today to check on it.

When my husband went to check the cat this morning a woman approched him and said she was Betty's hairdresser who had been coming twice a day to feed the cat!! She said that the cat had not been eating and seemed to be missing Betty more than normal. She was very grateful for the concern and wasn't angry that we had called the RSPCA. She contacted them herself this morning because of the notice. Apparently Betty is back today so we shall see if she approaches us herself - see if she's upset. I hope not.

So, all in all a relatively happy ending.

The cat's name is Jasper by the way!

That is (relatively) good news, Lady. I thought that calling the RSPCA meant that they would just take the cat away ... what they did was much more sensible.

Though if this Betty has let her poor Jasper's mouth get to such a state it's unlikely she is going to do anything for him now. And if she's upset, well too bad for her.

I've sometimes been accused of caring more about animals than I do about people, which isn't actually true. But you know, when people take in pets I think they have a moral obligation to take care of them. Presumably if Betty can afford to go away on holiday she can afford proper vet care. Perhaps knowing her neighbours got up in arms about the poor state of Jasper will shame her into doing something for him?

Anyhow, I think it's great that you stepped in the way you did.

az

<< Anyhow, how's our young lad doing today? >>

He's doing much better! His scratch isn't red anymore; it does look a little raised, though. He lets me put the salve on it with a swab, so I think it's not hurting much. I *hate* trying to minister to a squirmy cat -- little twit acted like I was killing him. Missy on the other hand, gave me a dirty look for messing with her boy.

I've been talking to some of my friends about raccoons living around them, and if they let their cats out. The general response is that they see raccoons, but only one at a time.

Lady, I'm so sorry that poor Jasper was treated so poorly. I would have thought RSPCA would have kept him, rather than give him back. I hope he'll get help for his teeth. Is there any way to tell how old he is?

SC

Well hello people. It's been a while hasn't it.

I have just been having a good tidy up of all my files on my PC and came across some pics I forgot to show you all.

Remember I had that memorial cat carved for me? I posted a link to the work in progress pic. I have now posted the finished thing into Fotki.

http://public.fotki.com/catcollection/lady_in_a_tree/

Underneath there is a carved space where ther is a small watertight container with some of Charlie's ashes and some of Jake's.

I hope you are all well - and all our furry friends are too. I'm going to add more Tasha pics to the album soon too - I'll post a link.

That turned out lovely, Lady! Very nice indeed.

Weird, but I *know* I wrote a post here about a week or so ago asking what happened to Jasper but I must have forgot to click on 'post message'.

So, what happened?

az

Yeah, what's going on with Jasper? Has he regained some weight; hopefully his owner is treating him better, with winter coming.

A little OT, but...

Is peanut butter okay for cats? Due to an exercise of the effects of gravity on peanut-buttered bread, Rocket is running around with some pb on his back!

Little rascal was dashing past me as I was going into the dinette with my lunch, and he jostled me so that I dropped one slice of pb'd bread on his back -- you guessed it, pb side *down*!!!! I want to know if I should try to catch him to wipe it off. Right now, he's holed up under the sofa...

SC

Wont kill him, unless he has nut allergy, be high in protean most cat food is, chance are it scraped of as he went under.

Thanks, ltp!

I ended up crawling under the sofa, anyway -- because I realized just what you said -- pb all under the bottom of my sofa!

Little brat looked so pleased with himself, licking the pb off!

To be honest I have no idea what has happened to Jasper

The woman came back from holiday and didn't even approach me regarding the situation. Perhaps she was embarrassed? I haven't actually seen the cat since - it may be that he doesn't go out anymore or it may be that he has died.

I'll endeavour to find out and let you all know.

Hmmm...I've never found my cats like peanut butter, but Azar adores yoghurt (especially strawberry) and last night we discovered he also loves flan (Spanish flan - an eggy-custard dish). I only ever give him the smallest dollop off the end of my finger, which he laps off with delight and then goes off to contentedly groom his face. Not giving him his small dollop results in a pesky pestering cat sniffing around the whole time we're eating, but I only ever give him a little because it has sugar in it.

And as I think I've mentioned before, Azar is also crazy for asparagus. When he smells fresh asparagus steaming in the kitchen he goes totally nuts - meowing and meowing until he gets some. Weirdo.

Ah, poor old Jasper. I almost hope he has passed on so that he isn't suffering anymore from his painful teeth and other problems, including serious neglect on the part of his keeper.

az

Hi, Az: I've been away a long time, but this seems like a good place to finally write about my cat Tabitha's death on Oct. 4 at age 13. She'd been diagnosed with diabetes nearly a year before and we were giving her twice-daily injections for that when my husband found a lump on her side this August, which turned out to be a sarcoma.

We spent most of September considering whether to try surgery or not and decided to go for it after checking out her blood, her heart, the tumor itself, etc. We decided to splurge on a cancer specialist for the surgery.

The morning I took her in for the operation, I was so worried that I teared up as I dropped her off. A few hours later, shortly after I'd arrived at work, I had a message on my phone from the vet, saying just "Call me as soon as you can."

Of course it was bad news. Tabitha had collapsed before they could even prep her for surgery. They think it was a stroke. They had revived her, but the vet wanted to know if I wanted them to resuscitate her again if she collapsed again. I said no. The vet also said I could come to the hospital and visit her if I wanted to. Of course I did. My very understanding boss gave me the rest of the day off, and I headed out to sit with Tabitha.

The emergency room vet told me that she might move and she might "vocalize" but that she wasn't necessarily doing that in response to anything; it was just because of the damage from the stroke. Well, she began to meow and move when I walked up to her, spoke to her and stroked her, and the heart monitor they'd attached to her shot up from about 80 to 150! You can't tell me that wasn't in response to anything.

The ER vet and I decided to put her to sleep (the vet spent about 30 minutes working up to proposing that to me) and I took her body home to bury. I was in shock and denial. And I felt incredibly guilty, really regretting the decision to operate. She'd had three vet appointments over the last nine days (one to check her heart, one with the surgeon who would operate and now this) and I felt that the stress was just more than she could handle.

This, coupled with still grieving for my father -- who'd died very suddenly, also of a stroke, three months before (interesting that I'm writing about Tabitha and not him, right?) -- made her death terribly traumatic for me. It was two weeks before I could talk about it without dissolving into tears.

And Wednesdays can be hard for me now (she died on a Wednesday). My husband and I were celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary in California on Nov. 11, and as we left the terrific restaurant where we'd enjoyed dinner, we passed a sign for a veterinary clinic. I started to cry and couldn't stop for at least an hour (all the way back to the hotel, in the subway car, with people staring).

Thanks for listening, Az and anyone else who is. I haven't talked about this with too many people, because I know they won't understand and will just tell me I shouldn't feel guilty. (If only we could dispatch emotions by telling ourselves we shouldn't feel that way!)

I'm doing much, much better now, but I guess I still need to talk about it.

Hi there honey!

Wow - it's been sooooo long! I just saw you on the 'weirdest cat' thread and posted something on your PS on an old conversation thread we had going - I've only just seen this post now.

What sad news about Tabitha. But as for regretting and feeling guilty about your decision to operate ... just don't go there. I also went through guilt feelings about deciding *not* to operate on Lua. But you see, there is never any 'right' decision because we can never predict what is going to happen or know what might have happened if we'd chosen otherwise. So just try to accept that you made the best choice for the best reasons and don't ever blame yourself for what happened. She might have had the stroke anyhow, at home alone that day. You might not have had those last few moments with her while she was still alive and could respond to your touch.

And while all these 'what might have beens' don't change the fact that she is gone, they also don't change the fact that you made a very difficult decision based on love and caring and so no matter what happened your decision was the right one at the time. Please stop making yourself feel bad over that, okay?

Have you got any photos of Tabitha?

Oh, and sorry about being one of those people telling you not to feel guilty, but that doesn't mean I don't understand. I'm telling you that because I've been there and I *do* understand. Tabitha had 13 wonderful years with you. Remember and rejoice in that. And that she knew you were there at the end.

az

Thanks for the comment on my blog, Big Red. I see you've gone offline now so I hope you've seen this - we seemed to be going around in circles there for awhile. And I hope you'll stick around.



az