[magkelly]

Unfortunately he's a little under the weather this morning. We had just started to see some real signs of improvement with the loose bowels thing and he starts sneezing constantly. So far there's no ocular involvement, his eyes are clear and there no mouth sores. He's not dehydrated, is eating and drinking just fine, is very active and vocal otherwise so I'm thinking it's just a mild upper resp thing but we're going to the vet at 3:45 to grab some meds if necessary just in case. Typical new kitten BS, sigh. But hey at least he didn't come with the full gamut like my girl did. She had two different kinds of worms, ear mites and a full blown URI when I got her. Poor baby. First he gets the runs and now he's sneezing his little head off. That on top of 5 shots, getting fixed, flea treated, and de-wormed. He's definitely had a rough couple of weeks....:P

[grhazelton]

Okay, Cat Folks, check this out. Cats Rule on Japan?s Tashirojima Island - The Daily Beast I wonder who cleans the litter boxes....

[magkelly]

Cute, but I have to say it worries me all those people being a lot older. When they die off who will take care of all the cats? What will they do? Airlift them all off the island when the last one leaves? They can't survive with that many alone, I am sure. It's an island. There cannot be enough natural sources of food to feed them all. Me, I think they really should start neutering them all. That way by the time all the people leave there won't be so many and they could survive until they are all gone too.

As for my boy he's on Clavamox and doing fine so far, but it seems to be pretty mild. I'm a little pissed at the vet though. It would seem that my 7 year old girl is indeed still capable of passing her nasty little URS viri around, sigh. Same shiz, different cat. She's like the Typhoid Mary of cats, I swear. Bring any cat into the house with her and a week later it's sneezing. I made sure I had the all clear and here I am back at the vet's, getting antibiotics and stuff. Last cat, this boy, definitely. I should have listened to my instincts and not adopted him but he got me and I don't regret going there.

I just wish I could have spared him the freaking cat flu. But that's it. I will not do this to another cat in my lifetime. He's the LAST CAT for me. Honestly I don't think I'll have another anyhow. By the time he likely passes, with any luck and may the squirt live a LONG, healthy life, I'll be sixty something and if I am even alive by then I probably won't want to adopt again. I've raised 7 cats of my own now, and fostered many, many more, and as much as I love him I'm getting kind of old for kitten duty. Having cats it's like having perpetual 2 year olds around and with the autoimmune thing they admittedly wear me out too much sometimes.

It's definitely only the very great love I have for all things feline that keeps me going some days. I get a lot of joy from having them but there has been a lot of sorrow and way too much expense too. I honestly should not have adopted Loki. I really did not need the $60 vet bill I had to pay today. That and his adoption fee took a huge chunk out of my K5II money it did, but he was just very special and it was clearly meant to be, this cat, at this time. I know when I'm supposed to go there, and that was MY cat sitting there, and I just knew it. As many cats as I've seen since Feb and I wasn't even tempted, and yet with this one I just couldn't walk away? Yup, MINE.

As it is I'm going to have to watch that his little kitty butt doesn't get stolen. He definitely cannot wander this one. Everybody that sees him wants him, and I am so not kidding. I'm not just saying that because I totally love his furry butt. I don't know what it is with this cat, but everybody that comes into contact with him just wants to pick him up and carry him off. I'm nervous when he's out of my sight. Today in the pet store vet everybody was gathering around him as we were waiting for our turn. 4 other kittens and cats in carriers in the waiting area and it's MY cat that's drawing people like flies on rotten meat. The vet and the vet tech just cannot stop saying how gorgeous he is and the vet she just has to take him around in the back and show him off to the whole place after she treats him. It's like he's a little Bowie rockstar kitten. EVERYBODY wants to cuddle him, love him, and take him home. He's so going to have a puffed up head at the rate things are going. There isn't one person who hasn't seen him who hasn't complimented him profusely. They're practically worshiping and adoring his furry little butt.

Today in my park I stopped very briefly to use the wifi in the clubhouse and to eat a burger in peace before I go home with him and everybody there has to come over and try to pet him too even though I have a towel over his carrier and I'm telling them he's a bit under the weather so please don't. I should have just taken him straight home but I wanted to install some stuff on the Blackberry and I can't get our router to work now. Also, I can't hardly sit in peace and eat a meal if my Dad is over here, and he was. He's been spending most of his time here lately. He's here more than he's at his own house. He's always got me doing stuff for him and he's always interrupting me eating. I can't even hardly remember the last time I had a meal where I didn't have to jump up about 3X to do something for someone and I wanted to enjoy my FF hot, for once. My SIL and the kids, and the roommate and her GF, all them too. If they're not trying to get me to do something here then they're calling me about this and that. The only way I can eat a meal and properly digest it lately is to eat in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep or when they are all gone.

I should be used to all this attention I suppose. I have been fortunate in the looks of my cats. All my cats have been real stunners, particularly the 2 all white boys, but I don't think I'll ever quite get used to people just totally falling in love with my cats and wanting to mess with them. I do want him to be social but I'm admittedly way too territorial and sometimes I do get cranky when people get a little too familiar with my animals. My last boy he caused a major stir in an airport once. I took him out of his carrier to go through the security gate and the whole room of people just went crazy. They were oohing and aahing and trying to pet him. I actually had about half a dozen people on the plane want to sit with me in my empty seat just so they could really look at him and talk to him. He was very, very popular, grin. It was those big peridot eyes of his. They were just so unusual that people just could not help but think he was gorgeous. He was, but he caused a bit too much of a furor sometimes for me.

My own fault. I could just pick a more normal looking, less showstopper garden variety of cat, but it just never seems to work out that way. I always end up with the best looking kitties around. I don't do purebreds but all of my cats so far? They looked like total show off kitties. I'm not really sure if I pick them or if they pick me, laugh, but any which way it goes I just seem tend to end up with the super smart, super stunning, extra smug, and snarky ones and so far Loki he's no different. I have been very blessed by the Goddess of Cats and I know it. He's got a MAJOR personality this cat. He's looking to be pretty smart and devious already. He's got a very stubborn will, and as I have said a freaking huge pair of lungs for such a little guy. Damn, he can YELL. This kitten he wants something he lets you KNOW it. It's usually me he wants. He knows who Mom is and he's got a clear cut cast of separation anxiety when it comes to me being in the house. I leave he nearly shakes the roof. He's driving my Dad and the roommate a bit crazy. Me, I'm used to it, I have dealt with ultra vocal cats before, but this guy he's definitely much louder than any cat I've ever met and he's barely 3 months old. What's he going to be like when his lungs are fully grown? I shudder to think....

I can tell he's going to be even worse than B was. He's a piece of work this baby cat and way too pretty for my own good. It must be a Siamese thing but people are just nutty about him so far. I have no doubts I was lucky to have gotten him when I did. I walk back in there today and talk to the guy at the adoption center and he tells me that at least a half dozen people have asked about him in the past few days. He's got people coming back to look just for him? He apparently caused quite a stir there last week when they brought him in even before they put up his "I'm adoptable sign." He had a LOT of people seriously looking at him for adoption this weekend apparently. I just got him first. I'm always there, talking to the kitties up for adoption, and the guy who's the head of that knows me fairly well at this point. He knows I am a very, very good cat mom and I think that did weigh a lot in my favor. He wanted Loki to go to a really good home and he knew he'd have the best with me, but even as I was adopting him I had to constantly tell people walking in there that he was taken. Some of them I don't think they wanted to hear that he was. It's going to get a little old if it keeps up at this rate. It's like I am practically fighting other cat people off with a stick...

There's such a thing as a cat being a little TOO handsome and charismatic, obviously....

[fizzyvimto]

Wow he is beautiful!

[magkelly]

Isn't he though? (Proud MK preens...) I had to take him back over to the vet this morning. It appears Clavamox really doesn't agree with him. She wanted to switch antibiotics and take a quick looksee at him again just to make sure his cat flu wasn't getting the better of him. I'm standing at the counter waiting and FOUR people just have to come up in like 10 minutes to fuss over him. I go in the back and into the little treatment room and the next thing I know all the vet techs and the other vet are also in the treatment room, and I'm talking it's barely bigger than a closet here and about 8 people plus me and him are clustered in there, and everybody is talking to him and calling him "pretty boy" and saying how nice it is to see him again and how sorry they are that he has the sniffles.

Did I say rockstar? Nah, that doesn't even begin to cover it. This cat is kitty ROYALTY apparently to the point where he's got his very own growing group of sycophantic courtiers at the pet store/vets, lol. This keeps up and pretty soon this cat is going to think he should be living back in a palace in Thailand, eating fresh caught fish and reclining on silk pillows. I'm of course smitten myself and very amused but I'm beginning to think all these fawning people are a little batshiz insane too. I mean yeah, he's very pretty, but he's not made of 14K gold, lol. :P

Major progress with the girl kitty this morning. She got all anxious yesterday and today when I took him outside. Apparently she haunted the door while we were gone. (So much for her "I'm not interested!" attitude.) Today he ran out into the hall and they met up. NO hiss. First time yet they've met in the hall and she's not hissed and run like a bat out of hell for under the bed. She just sat there and looked at him. He backed off a little, sat there like a good docile little boy and waited for her to approve or disapprove his presence in the hall. She sort of sniffed then very casually turned her butt to him and washed herself, then got up and went very slowly down the hall. She then went just under my bed but sat so she could watch him anyway. She's thisclose to accepting him. As soon as he's well enough I'm going to let him wander supervised a bit more. She's finally ready for more interaction, I think.

[cmohr]

He's a cutie..

[magkelly]

New kitten=new baby. He's been keeping me up nights...

[Ratmagiclady]

New kitten=new baby. He's been keeping me up nights...

It seems a lot of people, and cats, are up nights just lately.



Tak's been apparently feeling it, though he's currently perched on my lap like nothing was odd. All growin up now though.

(Also by night, puts on a special coating and wanders the block as Super-Takuma!) Shh.

[magkelly]

I don't think I've had a full night's sleep since he arrived, seriously. :P

He's almost over his cat cold and he's a bit bigger now. He's almost able to jump up on the counter and definitely has sharper claws than he did a couple of weeks ago. I have several sets of tire tracks to prove it. He really likes to jump up into your arms and I'm having a hard time training him out of doing that without asking. He needs to learn though before he grows up any more and I end up maimed for life.

He's sort of made friends with the girl but she won't let him get too close so far. They have touched noses, played paws through the door. They have even swapped toys under it a few times, and he is allowed in the same room with her now so that's definite progress. Today he ran up to her and touched noses and she just backed up and only hissed a little so I think they're definitely becoming friends. She's just been taking her sweet time about it. He's a bit too forward and loud for her I think. She's forgotten what it's like to be a kitten, lol, but she's spending almost all her time in the hall peeking at him under the door, giving me vaguely concerned looks whenever he has a fit of sneezes.

14 days and she's shown no signs of developing a new cat cold herself so I'm pretty sure she gave it to him and not the other way around. I'm not too worried about her getting the sniffles. She's on the same meds he is just in case but that bird has flown. There's no way she wasn't infected if he brought it in. I could only quarantine him so far in this place. It's just not set up for that and with me going back and forth between them for two weeks keeping the peace, and my Dad refusing to even try to maintain any cleansing routine between, even me washing constantly wouldn't be enough. Usual incubation on this type of cat cold stuff is 7-10 days so by now she's already got it or is immune.

Speaking off. I'm being paged. The Diva is up and her dish is empty so off I go...

[grhazelton]

Okay, a query for other cat owners. Our guy, Caruso, so named for his vocalizations (noisiest cat I've ever been owned by) has a grooming problem. Too much, that is, to the point where you can see skin on his belly. Some months ago when he was in this mode, the Vet noticed fleas and suspected an allergy to the fleas. Caruso had a shot of cortisone, and we used a prescription transdermal insecticide, with improvement after a few weeks.

Now he's at it again, scratching and licking and baring his belly. No evidence of fleas. My daughter suggested a food change to one with high meat and low corn, wheat, etc, so we've done that. He's to see the vet next week. Any other suggestions?

[magkelly]

Some cats will denude themselves out of stress. Anything new in his environment? It could also be an allergy to food, to his litter, or even that he has something going on internally with his belly, and that's his way of dealing with the fact that it hurts. Have they done an x-ray, blood tests? Has he been checked for worms recently? Any signs of ringworm? I had a cat that used to stress herself silly whenever a stray cat came into her yard. She used to pull out all the fur on her tail. But later she also lost fur due to a hormonal problem and it was on her belly...

[grhazelton]

Some cats will denude themselves out of stress. Anything new in his environment? It could also be an allergy to food, to his litter, or even that he has something going on internally with his belly, and that's his way of dealing with the fact that it hurts. Have they done an x-ray, blood tests? Has he been checked for worms recently? Any signs of ringworm? I had a cat that used to stress herself silly whenever a stray cat came into her yard. She used to pull out all the fur on her tail. But later she also lost fur due to a hormonal problem and it was on her belly...

I failed to mention that Caruso is also scratching a lot, and licks virtually everywhere he reach. No new things in the environs, same litter we've used for some years, a pine product we buy at Publix. He's basically an indoor cat, except when the booger scoots out the door as our aging and increasingly shaky old dog (Tyler is at least 16) totters in or out. Caruso got a clean bill of health at the vet's a few months ago. No behavioral changes except for the scratching and licking. He's his usual whiney, complaining self; god knows what he's saying about us and the world in general. What a vocabulary!

Guess its time for another visit.

Give my best to Loki. BTW, ya gotta watch vets, they always wanted to call my Loki "Loco." He was not amused. I warned them that Loki might really cause some mischief if they insulted him.

[magkelly]

I had a girl cat that became allergic to Feline Pine after a few years of using it. You might want to try a plain unscented litter.

[grhazelton]

I had a girl cat that became allergic to Feline Pine after a few years of using it. You might want to try a plain unscented litter.

Certainly worth a try! Lately he doesn't seem too happy with it; the litter box is in the garage and he often craps near the box, but not in it. Thanks. BTW I'd wondered about using the pellets made for pellet stoves. They are essentially compressed sawdust and have no real scent.

[tclausen]

I don't think I've had a full night's sleep since he arrived, seriously. :P

He's almost over his cat cold and he's a bit bigger now. He's almost able to jump up on the counter and definitely has sharper claws than he did a couple of weeks ago. I have several sets of tire tracks to prove it. He really likes to jump up into your arms and I'm having a hard time training him out of doing that without asking. He needs to learn though before he grows up any more and I end up maimed for life.

He's sort of made friends with the girl but she won't let him get too close so far. They have touched noses, played paws through the door. They have even swapped toys under it a few times, and he is allowed in the same room with her now so that's definite progress. Today he ran up to her and touched noses and she just backed up and only hissed a little so I think they're definitely becoming friends. She's just been taking her sweet time about it. He's a bit too forward and loud for her I think. She's forgotten what it's like to be a kitten, lol, but she's spending almost all her time in the hall peeking at him under the door, giving me vaguely concerned looks whenever he has a fit of sneezes.

14 days and she's shown no signs of developing a new cat cold herself so I'm pretty sure she gave it to him and not the other way around. I'm not too worried about her getting the sniffles. She's on the same meds he is just in case but that bird has flown. There's no way she wasn't infected if he brought it in. I could only quarantine him so far in this place. It's just not set up for that and with me going back and forth between them for two weeks keeping the peace, and my Dad refusing to even try to maintain any cleansing routine between, even me washing constantly wouldn't be enough. Usual incubation on this type of cat cold stuff is 7-10 days so by now she's already got it or is immune.

Speaking off. I'm being paged. The Diva is up and her dish is empty so off I go...

So with all this talk about the Diva, perhaps you should share also a photo of her in this thread....least, you know, when she gets a bout of insomnia and wakes up in the middle of the night, to see that you're all smitten by the lil' new intruder in her fiefdom....