There aren’t many things I know for sure, but one is that you should always be ready for surprises because they will come. That is certain!
So it was really not such a surprise to see that the 2 feet or more of snow from the other day has largely vanished.
I thought the World would be white until Spring.
No way so much snow could disappear even though temperatures were expected to climb.
It just goes to show how wrong one can be.
Apparently the deep freeze had not set in deeply enough.
But it’s coming back….to hover up and down and play with us.
Whatever comes will be just fine.
Just as well I learned to be ready for surprises.
From early childhood, I loved every animal I ever met.
Every animal I ever heard about or read about.
The lot.
Cats are the ones I have shared most of my life with.
But they don’t all love me 🙁
Meet Tinkerbell. She hates me 🙁
We don’t know her whole history. She was adopted by one of Grant’s neighbours, years ago. The man then discovered his landlord didn’t allow pets. So he said.
He put his little cat outside to go find herself alternate arrangements. She had a collar with a bell attached, which is how she came to be Tinkerbell.
It was mid-Winter, which even in Seattle is not a good time to be an outdoor cat, and besides, What The Hell?
So in came Tinkerbell.
Perhaps her original owner was a woman who mistreated her and maybe that’s why she doesn’t like me, or maybe my scent reminds her of a person who was cruel to her. I’ve no idea. I promise, I’ve only ever been kind to her!
But she adores Grant. Follows him around all day. Upstairs and downstairs.
………everywhere…..
About the same time Tinkerbell came in, Colin arrived.
Much thinner then, he was.
He didn’t exactly love me either.
Colin and Tinks got to live in a “suite” of their own.
The Grouch Suite.
And they became Mr and Mrs Grouch. They act like an old married couple.
Well, not exactly of course. Oh yes, they had a room to themselves, mostly, because of their inclination to swipe at the other cats and generally cause an uproar.
When Grant arrived each day, doors were flung open, cats were released and chaos ensued, punctuated by loud cries of:
- “STOP IT!”
- “LEAVE HER ALONE!”
- “DON’T POKE HIM!”
- “TINKERBELL!”
- “COLIN!”
…etc and so forth…
When we moved, kits and caboodle, to New York, I wasn’t at all sure how it would work out.
See how Sasha is everywhere?
For the first 11 months, Tom apparently kept order.
But sadly Tom left us 🙁
Leaving no-one in charge, it seems.
Sasha thinks she got the job. She is, after all Grant’s “top cat”.
But mostly they put her in charge of singing for their supper.
The position of Chief has not yet been filled.
The squabbling continues.
At least Colin doesn’t hate me anymore. Sometimes he even sleeps on my bed. He is such a lump. He just arrives and whoever else is around just has to move over, or leave.
He’s always been a bit of a mystery.
There have been periods when he was obviously unwell, but tests revealed nothing, and just as we were preparing for the worst, he bounced back.
We keep him on a diet, seriously, we do…
But now he has been diagnosed with early stage kidney disease, for which there is no cure.
We’ve been down this road before….:(
All we can do is keep him happy, keep him on a renal diet as long as he will eat it. But when he refuses, we’ll give him what he wants. Eating is his favourite thing in life.
He certainly won’t go for sub-cutaneous fluids.
But we aren’t there yet.
Cats are funny and mysterious creatures. Dogs are so much easier to read. My neighbor’s cat has taken a shine to me. Took her four years before I was allowed to touch her. Wouldn’t you love to know a cat’s mind?
Yes, although sometimes what they are thinking might not be very complimentary!
Agreed!
I’m so sorry of the diagnosis of CKD for Colin. Is he still rooming with Tinkerbell? This is such a terrible thing to go through. Furby and I fought it off for almost a year. Fortunately, he was a dear when it came to his fluids. He fought them at first, that is until I learned how best to do them. After that, no issues at all. To him, it was treat time. I dread the day that Minnie would ever develop kidney disease. There will be no sub Qs for her, that’s for sure! I can’t even give her a pill.
Yes, Colin would chew our faces off. Fortunately in the past he has been so food oriented that he scarfes everything down before he realizes we put a crumbled pill in, but he isn’t so keen on the kidney diet so it’s as well he has extra pounds…
Furby didn’t like the kidney diet, so I just gave him whatever he wanted to eat. He had a Gerber’s baby food jar each morning and Fancy Feast and treats the rest of the time. He needed to eat, so I decided it was more important to get any kind of food in him than one that was good for him. After all, he lived to be one month shy of 18 years, a ripe old age for a kitty.