Randy has gone to the Rainbow Bridge

Randy

Randy was one of our "broken" fosters that stayed on. He was generally a really sweet cat but really never was a normal cat after we had to put Gypsy down a few years ago. For the past several years he has suffered from megacolon, which is a painful and unpleasant intestinal condition.

As a kitten, he was visually impaired and may have had some neural issues since he had a very stiff walk and acted almost like he was mentally compromised at times.

Randy with Gypsy

But when Gypsy adopted him, they became best buddies and were together most of the time. They would groom each other (mostly Gypsy doing the work) and sleep together every night.

Randy was never really the same after we had to put Gypsy to sleep and he stopped grroming himself and just became listless and unenthusiastic about anything.  The megacolon problem started becoming apparent about a year later. It was regularly painful for him and extremely costly to treat with drugs and therapy.


He had really been declining lately and seemed to have essentially given up the fight so we made the final, kind decision to euthanize him a couple of days ago. I took him in to save Judy the heartbreaking experience. She has been through this a few times for the others who went before him and it was just too much. When I took him to the vet's office, he was very calm and quiet and seemed almost thankful - like he knew exactly what was happening.

It hurts every time we have to do this and we will miss Randy, but we are relieved that he is finally out of pain and can rest.

Everybody got homes! Kind of.



Ce-Ce and Olive with Milo

Well, it took a good while and several iterations of the Craig's List ad, but everybody got adopted. Sort of.


Actually they all did, but imagine my surprise to have two of them returned after 2 weeks at their new home.


Can you imagine someone growing to adulthood and not knowing that they are allergic to cats? Well, neither can I but that is the story from the guy who adopted Ce-Ce and Olive.


He called one day while I was at work and told Judy that his wife had been "sick" since the kittens got there and they finally "discovered" that she was allergic. I call bullshit but what are you gonna do?


Anyway, the girls were back at our house when I got home and it was like they had never left. Completely comfortable and getting along (mostly) with all the regulars - they acted very much "at home" and that is where they have remained with no indications of adoption efforts whatsoever. They are sweetie-pies and really cause no trouble so I have accepted it. So yes, that's right - Casa Del Gatos now has thirteen feline residents!

My concept of "maximum feline density" is apparently flexible.



Jezebel

Olive needed a new name since hers sounded so much like Ollie, so she became Jasmine. Jasmine and Ce-Ce have not slowed down a bit and in fact have a number of the older cats acting kittenish again - especially Reggie, who pretty much considers them his kittens and spends just about every waking hour with them (particularly Ce-Ce).

The much older cats generally tolerate them well with a warning hiss or swat of a paw to keep them in line. But they are such good girls they rarely cause much of an uproar.

They are still sleeping separately from the rest of the group in the "Foster Room," but I expect that to end any day now. Feedings of wet food are usually broken up into shifts anyway with the senior cats going outside for a quick break before breakfast. So, the logistics are ok so far.