Smooch, Sadie and Kimba

Smooch, Sadie and Kimba

Smooch was a kitten Judy had rescued before we met and had lost the vision in one eye from an altercation with a feral tom in the cotton fields near Judy's home in Loxley. He took to me from the beginning and I found him to be every bit as lovable as his name implied. Judy had named him Smooch because he would literally kiss your face and rub against it energetically when so inclined.

Here he is with (clockwise from him) Simon, Bobby, Roscoe, Remy, Sassy and Rocky

  

Through four houses and more than 15 years Smooch remained friendly and unafraid of anything or anyone - strangers or friends. He was the only cat we have had who got along well with every other cat he met. He was also the only cat we have had (so far) to die of old age. He started fading and had a couple of seizures one day and passed on that night in Judy's arms.I buried him the next day in our cat cemetary, next to Sadie.

Sadie was our first rescue together. We were still living in Loxley and Judy came home from work telling me about this very shy tortoise-shell Persian she had seen at the Daphne Animal Shelter. She said all she could see was the top of her head and amber eyes peeking over the top of the litter box in her kennel. I surprised Judy (and myself) by impulsively adopting Sadie and bringing her home the next day. This is one of only a couple of surviving pictures of her.

She took up residence under our bed and never really came out except at night to eat and use the litter box. When we moved to the farmhouse outside Robertsdale, she started to come out of her shell, but always remained aloof as far as the other cats were concerned. When we bought the Lake Forest house (3000+ SF) Sadie had a lot more room and became more sociable, even deigning to eat with the others at times.

But not long after moving to Silverhill, she started having seizures and behaving erratically and we took her to the vet. He told us she had a tumor on the back of one eye that was pressing against her brain. The offending eye was surgically removed but she never really recovered. The vet said he thought the tumor was too intrusive and had compromised her brain tissue. After a few more seizures and no sign of relief, we euthanized Sadie and she became the first resident of what was to become our cat cemetary.

Kimba

Smooch was actually the one who adopted Kimba. He brought her home while we were in Loxley one day and it was love at first sight for me. She was a tiny Snowshoe kitten who strongly resembled a cat I had had when I lived in Pensacola named Crystal. She had the most striking blue Siamese eyes and the sweetest personality of any cat I had ever seen. I named her Kimba after the white lion in my favorite childhood cartoon.

Kimba was a bit delicate though and we had a number of scares with her; once when she tasted some liquid potpourri and another time after the exterminator came. She was always so mild-mannered and unoffensive and she got along well with every cat we had although she and Smooch shared a special bond. She moved with us from Loxley to Robertsdale to Lake Forest and finally to Silverhill.

She had been allowed outside (as all of our cats before moving to Silverhill) and always stayed near the house - coming when called every time. Until one night in November when the cold weather was moving in during our first winter in Silverhill. Kimba did not come home that night ... or ever again. After a couple of days I guessed that something had happened to her and actually remembered that she had been coughing and sneezing a lot in the days before.

At first, I suspected a predator had gotten her (a neighbor's Chow mix was rumored to attack cats and small dogs) but later I came to believe that she was really more sick than we thought. I honestly think she left us to go die on her own the way animals are known to do. Dying is a solitary thing in the animal world - as far as I know, only humans come together at the time of passing.

Fergie

Fergie

I realized I'd really better cover (most of) the ones who have come before and are undoubtedly waiting for us at the Rainbow Bridge.

Fergie came to us as part of a litter of fosters and immediately stood out with her striking appearance and incredible spark. A bobtail that really did seem to be part Manx, since she had the longer back legs, she stole our hearts from the beginning.

I don't specifically remember who named her, but I remember thinking the name was appropriate because she kind of reminded me of the singer with the Blackeyed Peas.

I don't think there was every any doubt that ours would be her forever home. Sadly, "forever" has different meanings for everybody. In fact, forever for Fergie was all too short a time. She had a great relationship with all the others and could cuddle with any of them. She was active and animated and her antics made me laugh often.

Here she is with Roscoe, another late furchild of ours. His entry is coming shortly.

She even managed to snuggle with "the old man" Smooch, who is the only one so far to die of old age (more on him shortly as well).

We are not sure exactly what happened, but as she grew she started having pain and hunching her back. Before long she cried out any time you touched it and was reluctant to move at all unless food or litterbox compelled her. She rapidly got worse and soon refused to move at all.

When X-rays revealed a lumbar spinal deformity that basically allowed part of the spine to grow and another part not to, and needless to say we were very upset. The vet said it would only get worse and there was no way to relieve it surgically or with medicine. The prognosis was constant and escalating pain and suffering and no one wants that for any living thing.

So ... we had to make the incredibly difficult yet kinder decision to put her down humanely. As with Gypsy before her, Judy held Fergie while the vet helped her go to sleep for the last time and brought her home to be interred in the growing pet cemetary in the middle of our back flower garden.

Here you can see a bit of the cemetary fence to the left behind a couple of our outside residents.

At this point you have to understand and accept that some of your loved ones will be with you a long time and others for a much shorter period. You just have to love them as you can, while you can.

Poor Randy (and Gypsy)

Poor Randy (and Gypsy)

Randy is another of our rescues, fostered as a kitten and becoming a permanent resident when his problems became apparent. As a kitten, he had an eye that was permanently dilated and made him extremely sensitive to light. He spent much of his first 6 months under the couch and in dark corners because sunlight seemed to hurt him. Eventually, he got better and acted more normally, but he always seemed "a little off," possibly retarded or something.

He really bonded with another rescue foster, Gypsy, a Siamese mix who had been hit by a car and left with our Vet. Judy had to nurse and perform daily physical therapy on her until she could walk again. She was just the sweetest thing ever and she kind of adopted Randy.

They slept curled up with each other, cleaned each other and tended to do everything together.

Unfortunately, Gypsy had carried something with her from kittenhood that is pretty common in cats, but does not usually develop into anything more serious. Feline Enteric Coronavirus (FECV) is relatively common in kittens, but most develop a resistance or never become carriers. Gypsy was not so lucky.

However,  occasionally FECV mutates into Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP,) which is a fatal and extremely unpleasant disease with no definitive diagnostic test, no cure and no really effective treatment. She eventually had to be euthanized as the build up of fluids in her chest made it near impossible for her to breathe.

Randy missed her terribly, but eventually settled down into a (relatively) normal life. Strangely though, he never really got the hang of cleaning himself and tends to appear greasy and unkempt.

Then last year he started having strange problems. He would spontaneously make the strangest honking, coughing, almost hiccup sort of a sound and seemed to be in real distress when it happened. A general exam and round of blood tests didn't reveal anything and it only happened rarely so we didn't concern ourselves too much at first.

It soon got worse though and we would find him curled up on his side on the floor in front of the litterbox, convulsing slightly. Another trip to the vet for X-rays this time revealed a colon packed so full of hard fecal matter he couldn't pass it. An enema and fluids got him back to normal (for him) and we learned about Megacolon, which is basically the failure of the peristaltic action in the colon. Waste no longer moves through the digestive system normally and requires regular medication or surgery (which offers no guarantee of relief.) After some very expensive tests from a Vet who specializes in gastrointestinal issues, we determined that he has it.

The good news is, there is a drug, Cisapride, which stimulates peristalsis and allows for elimination of waste. Unfortunately it is quite expensive and only available from compounding pharmacies. Also, the oral administration became nearly impossible. The problem is, it apparently tastes really vile and even though flavoring is added, it is not enough to mask the pure nastiness. So Randy became adept at recognizing the distant sound of the shaking of the bottle and would bolt to whatever hidey hole he could find. He would also vioently oppose any effort to squirt the stuff in his mouth, which could get messy and stressed him quite a bit. It got to the point where we could not be certain of giving him both doses and so the relief was short-lived.

Thankfully, I managed to discover an online compounding pharmacy that specialized in multiple dosing forms of many medications, including a transdermal one. Wedgewood Compunding Pharmacy carries Cisapride in a number of forms and we decided to try the transdermal gel. It comes in a "Twist-A-Dose" applicator which measures the exact dose and is applied to the inside of an ear. It causes him no anxiety, doesn't have a foul odor or taste and, most of all, is very effective. Aside from the rare need for an enema (once in three months) he has settled down to a somewhat normal life. (that's Ollie the poly with him on one of the catwalks - more on him later.)

It is sad that there is no such easy treatment for FIP. We all really miss Gypsy.

Greetings from A Feline Nation!

Eleven cats and holding


My name is Ross and I am a member of a feline nation. Granted, I am not a cat myself, but I am tasked with supporting the needs of 11 resident rescues and the occasional group of foster kittens and cats at our 5-acre Silverhill, Alabama residence we call Casa Del Gatos. 


To be perfectly honest, my wife Judy does the vast majority of the real work. I just do the heavy lifting and feed when needed and provide cat seating space on and around my body at various times of the day. 


This is far from a thankless job, as most of our assorted "broken" kitties are extremely grateful and repay me with many cat-gifts. Assorted occasional deposits of waste products in unpredictable locations and a mouthful of fur when I awake every day immediately come to mind. However, we also receive moles, mice, rats, rabbits and squirrels in various degrees of life, death and dismemberment. These are, as far as we know, caught by only two of the outside cats - both females. 


Sassy (short for Sasquatch), a polydactyl Maine Coon who is physically intact but mentally unstable and a perpetual victim of the others, is the original hunter. She also has some odd ideas about what constitutes a cat bed.

Lila (short for Delilah) though has joined in the fun too. She is a calico DSH who was savaged by a coyote and required substantial reconstructive surgery and physical therapy by Judy before she could walk again. Now walking almost normally, she only limps when it is cold (probably the steel pins in her leg?) She also has a penchant for sleeping ONLY in a basket on top of the fridge.  As you can see, her infirmity changed her sitting habits a bit.

More from A Feline Nation soon ...