Thanks guys... a kitty ramble

[hippybngstockng]

Thanks to everyone who sent Buster their positive energy, and all the sympathies for us since his passing.  I have to say I really miss the guy- he got sick pretty fast, but before that he was totally funny to have around.  I took  to calling him "Grumpy Uncle Bad Touch" because he was totally obsessed with his comfort and pleasure.  If you were sitting nearby and not petting him, you'd hear about it.  If you sat next to him and encroached on his area, or caused an upset in his balance, you'd hear about it.  If he was bored, you'd hear about it.  His meow evoked Dahlia's infamous "Mrack". Short, to the point, and unabashedly opinionated.  Uhura and Betty never really got the chance to appreciate him, and it's too bad because I think it was indeed a pretty good match.

As for the pets- I don't think they care either way right now.   Betty is probably happier not to have to step around him.  Uhura was looking for him yesterday, but I think she senses he's gone now though she remains unconvinced that he might not come back.  I can sense her needy qualities returning already and I don't know whether I will eventually act on that or not.

It seems obvious that with a mellow cat I am taking a risk that mellow means sick.  Since I worked for a vet I figured I'd be able to tell the difference, but there's a certain degree to which FIP is a survivable disease and can hide for years without anyone knowing- Buster didn't look sick, though he did have a somewhat enlarged gut, the only immediate indication that made me ask about FIP at his first vet visit.  Since he didn't have a lot of the other signs at that point (and since I got the crappy vet that time) we ruled it out without testing for it, but alas...

Therefore any mellow cats I get now will have to be tested thoroughly, and said tests are expensive as hell, so that being the case I probably won't be getting another cat unless we win lotto or another verified healthy and mellow cat is thrust upon me.   Uhura is much less likely to take to any form of active cat, and that's also a giant variable I am uncomfortable with.  Active cats, besides sometimes being bullies, are often into things like eating house plants, hunting in the fish tank, getting into the trash, destroying things for fun...  I don't have to tell you people, I'm sure you know.  I've been burned and burned and burned again by my cats, to the point where I've cried out, "I'm just never going to be able to have nice things, AM I!!!???" to no one in particular because of course your cats don't listen and don't care about your feelings about your stuff...  At least not as it relates to something THEY did- they are often very sympathetic about other things you care about, especially if you happen to be consoling yourself with ice cream.

Anyway, I just can't believe it happened to me.  That's probably why I've been so quiet- I'm always Ms. High and Mighty Pet Woman, and here I got a frigging Typhoid Mary (which sadly is what I did sometimes silently called him in my head) out of a shelter that obviously had more than a couple little epidemics going on- I was blinded I guess by how much the place reminded me of Doug's place.  In the weirdest way I miss working for Doug- I don't miss Doug, but I miss working there when he wasn't around.  I want to continue to do what I believe in, but I feel extra stupid when I fuck up because, well, I'm just not supposed to fuck up.  At least it was FIP and not the feline AIDS or leukemia.  She's vaccinated for leukemia but it was back when I got her- many many moons ago at this point.  FIP can only be transmitted by blood contact though, so since they never had themselves a smack down I can be pretty sure she didn't get it.  In fact, most of the time I wonder if SHE has it already because she's always snored and has this little wheeze when she's relaxing, always had it though and it never gets worse.  Still, I put my baby, my favorite, the light of my heart at risk.  I am a bad bad stupid ex vet assistant who should know better.  I should've been anal and sprung for the blood test in the first visit.  Bad hippy, no more kitties for you...

Comments

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

I suppose kittens are right out? I've always found that so long as I have the kitty early enough, I can train them not to jump up on things they're not supposed to or do things they're not supposed to. I have had many many cats and I own many nice breakable things. And only a very small few of them have been broken due to cats, and those that have were due to the one unruly cat I adopted and then had to be away for three crucial "training" months. ;)

[hippybngstockng.livejournal.com]

hehe... I have this thing against kittens- I really love other people's kittens, but actually living with kittens can make me pretty testy because they only seem to sleep when you can't, and the rest of the time it seems they need to keep you awake ;) This is actually one of the reasons I am shocked I thought I could live with a child- it's not like they're terribly different, they take a lot longer to get over it, and they break things on purpose even! LOL

I have thought of though, it since as far as trsining goes I couldn't agree with you more- Delirium who I had since she was 8 wks was always the best behaved, hands down, at least when it came to staying out of where she didn't belong or being good about not knocking everything over. Also Uhura, since I think she might have had a litter before I ended up with her, might really take to a kitten and mother it. I actually seriously thought about it instead of Buster even, but ruled it out in case it didn't work out that way. Now I think I need to rule it out because I'd have to take one that was already de-sexed since that's also not cheap :( Might already be too late on the training- you remember Meerkat, right? I didn't get him until he was 9 months, and he was already a little weasel ;)

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, sink your teeth into this. Both Jiji and Nimbus I adopted when they were very little. Jiji I think was only 6 weeks old and Nimbus maybe 10. Both of them had already been neutered when I got them. There is a procedure now that allows vets to neuter male cats at a -very- young age. I think if you set yourself that as a caveat, you may not come up empty handed.

9 months is -way- too old. You need to get a kitty when it's still a proper kitten. I would say anything over 6 months is way too old, and even 6 months is pushing it, though Cirrus (who I adopted at 6 months) was very decent and still trainable at that age.

[olivia777.livejournal.com]

I just got caught up with your posts. I'm very sorry to hear about your cat. I know what a terrible loss it is. I hope your other cat is well.