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My #cats with their favorite pink string toy. #aob
Category: Cats & Dogs
Our Dog Gummy Bear
He was supposed to be euthanized so my wife brought him home. He’s about 10-12 and is (I think) a Yorkshire / Dachshund mix. He’s quiet, already trained, and is always excited to see us, unlike some cats I know.
My Cats: Dapper and Thumper Gallery Update
The Black Cat of Audubon Ave.
When my wife and I lived in Singapore, we saw cats walking around all the time. The locals call them “community cats.” That has a nice ring to it. It sounds a lot better than calling them “strays,” which implies that any cat not in a home is outside of its natural habitat. Cats can be friendly outside as well as inside and add character to a neighborhood, as long as they’re properly maintained, and from what I remember of Singapore, they were definitely well cared for. Fat little guys, always lounging on the void decks underneath the HDBs. =)
Anyway, I don’t want to get into that whole debate, really. I was just reminded of it a few days ago when I was walking down Audubon Avenue on my way home from the bakery and saw a black cat hanging out on the sidewalk. I don’t think this cat was really a stray, because she was just too fat and friendly, and she wasn’t scared of anyone. Maybe people around here just like cats. Who knows? Regardless, it brightened up my day.
When I reached down to pet her, she stuck her head up. Then she tried to play with my watch band and rolled over to swat at my hand. Very friendly cat! I hope someone is taking good care of her! She reminds me of my own black cat, Thumper, except she has a long tail. Thumper is from Singapore, so her tail is naturally short.
The Great Cat Reunion and Christmas in Georgia
For the week of Christmas, my wife and I flew down to Georgia to visit relatives. It was the first time I’d been there in about two years. It was really nice to get out of the city, see my family and relax. Going around town, looking at the places I went to school, the places I used to hang out, and sharing those memories with my wife was a good experience for both of us. She left feeling like she knew me better and I came away from the trip feeling a bit more grounded. Going to college and taking heavy course-loads with only short breaks between (I’ve been cramming in Summer and Winter classes as well) had me feeling like I was mentally flying off the rails for a while there. I’m also not taking a class this Winter. That’s mostly because I have Grand Jury Duty but I don’t think I would have taken a course anyway. I just need time to let everything I’ve learned sink in, and time to just unwind.
While we were in Georgia, my wife and I visited Sand Hill on Fort Benning, where I did my basic combat training back in 1998. We also went to the National Infantry museum. I’ll be posting about those experiences over the next couple of days. I can’t believe how much Sand Hill has changed, or how nice the Infantry Museum turned out to be. I was expecting something, but not something that well put together. It’s the Army, after all!
Anyway, before we left for Georgia, we had one small issue we had to take care of: the cats. Dapper and Thumper probably wouldn’t have wanted to fly with us to Georgia, even if it had been affordable, not to mention the fact that I don’t think my family would want cats running around their houses anyway. So, they had to stay at my mom’s place with their long-lost sister, Marble. They hadn’t seen each other in about six months and Thumper hasn’t gotten along with Marble since I left the Philippines with Marble instead of her back in 2010 and she had to sit there for a year waiting on me to bring her to NYC. I think she got jealous!
So, throwing them all back together for a week was probably not the best idea, but cat-sitting is so expensive these days, and I trust family more than I trust a pet-sitting service anyway. I figured they’d be ok. Everything seemed to have gone ok, anyway. Bringing them back was entertaining. We had to wrap the carrier up in blankets because it was about 24 degrees outside that night with a brisk wind. When we exited my mom’s building, one of our cats gave this horrified meow when she felt the breeze. Then she buried herself in blankets!
I hope everyone had as good a time over the holidays as we did, and that everyone’s year is off to a good start!
My Cat vs Human “True Love” Poster
A few months ago I started regularly reading a web comic called Cat vs Human. It’s really crazy just how closely Yasmine Surovec’s experiences with her boyfriend and her cats mirrors mine and my wife’s experiences. Her insight into cat behavior and the strange situations that arise from letting cats into your household and into your life make for great reading and great entertainment.
Her comics are pretty popular and she has a Cat vs Human store for related merchandise. About the time I got really hooked on her web comic I looked at the store and was disappointed to see that the poster I wanted was out of stock. She finally had more printed and put up for sale last week so I ordered immediately! This is what I went to the post office for yesterday, and what the mail worker failed to deliver to my door, even though people were in the house all day.
My wife loves cats. She loves all animals, really, but cats have a special place in her heart. They’ve helped her through some hard times with their companionship. I agreed to adopting cats because I knew it would make her happy, but before long I realized that those little bastards had wormed their way into my heart as well. I love our cats, very much. Each one has a unique personality and even though they can cause disaster at times, there’s nothing quite like having a cat curl up in your lap unexpectedly and purr, content to just be next to you.
My cats, like my wife, are now part of my family. If my wife had her way, she’d adopt them all, but that’s not feasible, both for economic and hygiene reasons. Still, this poster really visualizes our life, loving someone no matter what, taking the good with the bad, making sacrifices and finding middle ground to start from. I’ll be framing this and hanging it in the bedroom.
Marble’s Memorial Day Adventure
Being a Singaporean cat, Marble hasn’t had the opportunity to celebrate any American holidays until she immigrated to the US this year.
It was with great excitement that she oversaw the grilling operations at my mom’s place.
Yup! This is what she was waiting for! Shrimp and chicken. =)
She had her own bowl. That’s one of the shrimp that was set aside for her. She really does enjoy shrimp and chicken. She’s not too big on pork though.
Since moving to the US, this cat has really been spoiled. She eats plenty of scraps from the table. She’s come a long way from living in a potted plant on the side of the road in Singapore.
An Update on Boomer and Her Health
I wanted to write this update to let you guys know what’s going on with Boomer, but also to say thank you for your support. I was surprised at how quickly the donations for Boomer’s surgery rolled in, and then I was even more surprised when the donations exceeded the requested amount. The amount requested was 75 dollars but a total of 100 dollars has been donated for Boomer. To those of you that sent in donations, thanks! They’ll make a big difference in Boomer’s life.
My information about how Boomer’s doing now is primarily drawn from a recent post on the owner’s blog. If you read that post, you probably won’t see anything new here. If you didn’t read that post, you should, because in addition to this information, she told some stories about some very interesting people she met while she was out with Boomer. Fair warning though, one of the pictures of Boomer in that post look like something from a nightmare, so don’t look too closely if you expect to eat in the next hour or so.
The night before taking Boomer to the vet, the owner found out from a friend that she could go to the PSPCA (Philippine Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and have Boomer’s surgery done for a lower price. She decided that was the best course of action and commuted for four hours to get there. The PSPCA is in sort of a seedy part of Manila that’s a long way from where she lives, but despite the travel, the costs would still be lower than what the local vet was asking. I asked her about it, and she said she wanted to make sure that as much of the donated money was used for Boomer’s healthcare as possible. She didn’t want to waste any of it.
Upon arriving and having Boomer examined, the PSPCA vet disagreed with the first vet’s recommendation. The vet at the PSPCA said that Boomer was too young for the surgery yet, and that removing her eyes would cause her to bleed out and die, because the vessels would be too small to properly stitch up. He recommended bringing her back in a month to see if her eyes could be removed then.
Photo from owner’s blog of Boomer on the table at the PSPCA after getting an antibiotic shot.
In the meantime, the vet gave Boomer an injection of antibiotics and prescribed an antibiotic eye drop to try to control the infection until they’re able to remove the eyes.
So, for now, Boomer’s health is still precarious. She could die before she’s able to have her eyes surgically removed. Just to be sure, the owner is looking for a third opinion. She says the PSPCA vet was young, and perhaps inexperienced.
Let’s all just keep our fingers crossed for now. I’ll provide more updates as I see or get them.
Help Save A Kitten’s Life (Help Needed Now)
Someone I know who reads my blog from the Philippines posted an entry on her blog yesterday that I found really disturbing and upsetting. I felt the need to share the story here, to see if I can help her out.
You see, this is a problem involving a very young cat that’s in need of some serious help. I’m sure most people that have read this blog more than once know that I have a soft spot for cats. I have two myself, and one more that I passed along to my mom, to complete her household with warm furry happiness.
The kitten’s name is Boomer. She was named after the character Grace Park plays in the popular sci-fi show, Battlestar Galactica. According to the owner, this cat was abandoned and, even though it seemed sickly, she took it in to try to improve and hopefully save its life. Shortly after she took it in, she noticed that the kitten had an eye infection. After pulling together the money required for a visit to the vet, she took the kitten to town.
This is where things get aggravating. The vet she took the kitten to did an examination and then gave an eye drop prescription. The owner applied the eye drops as prescribed, but instead of improving, the kitten got worse, so she again raised funds and took the kitten to another vet. The second vet looked at the prescription and told her that it was completely improper for those eye drops to be used. They contained a steroid that, instead of making the kittens eyes better, made them horribly worse.
The infection had perforated the kittens eyes, leaving her blind and in constant pain as her eyes, quite literally, are rotting in her head. The owner was told that in order to save the kitten, a very delicate surgery was required to remove her eyes, before the infection spread any further. Yes, because of the first vet’s improper prescription, this kitten, Boomer, is now blinded for life.
If this had happened in the US, the first vet would be bending over backwards to do everything he could to avoid lawsuits and attention from animal welfare organizations. Unfortunately, this happened in the Philippines, where pleas to CARA and other animal welfare groups or more often ignored than not. I have first hand experience with that. I reported cases of animal cruelty to them when I lived there and never even received a response.
So, the only thing to do is to raise the funding for the required surgery, which will, hopefully, save the kitten’s life. She’ll never see again, due to the negligence of a so-called veterinarian, but even blind, she could potentially live a long and happy life. I’ve seen books about blind cats that are very happy and content with their lives, like Homer, from Homer’s Odyssey (@HomerBlindCat on Twitter).
Every cat deserves a chance, especially when that cat was maimed by a human.
The total funds required for this kitten to receive the surgery she needs is 5500 PHP (approximately 125 US Dollars). Between myself and the owner, 2,200 PHP (about 50 US Dollars) has been covered, so I’m hoping that I can bring this to people’s attention, people who are willing to pitch in and get this cat the surgery it needs to live.
That’s 75 US Dollars folks. I’d contribute the rest myself, but I have to pay for textbooks at the end of the month. If you have a few bucks to spare, even if it’s just 5 dollars, I’ve added a PayPal donation widget to simplify the matter for you.
https://giving.paypallabs.com/flash/badge.swf
Any donations made through this widget will go directly to the owner’s PayPal account, not mine. She can be contacted through her Twitter account, @RunningTindera. I’ll be adding this widget to my sidebar, and instructing the owner on how to add it to her sidebar as well. The widget doesn’t seem to work in the sidebar on Blogger, so she added it to her original post instead.
If you want to read the original post (by the owner) about Boomer, please click Here. It’s a bit of a sad read, though, and the pictures or completely heartbreaking, just so you know. The images in this post are borrowed from her post.
If you can’t contribute, but know others who might, please share this story.
Welcome To New York City, Marble!
This is another post about Marble, the cat I brought with me to New York City and gave to my mom. She’s done quite a bit of traveling and this last trip was hard on her, because she was in the plane for so long, but now she’s adjusting quite nicely. She seems to not mind being in an apartment or mind the noise of the city. Like one of my friends said, she’s a city girl at heart. She grew up in Singapore after all.
She’s still in that ‘adjustment’ period when it comes to my mom’s cat. They haven’t quite become friends yet. Marble doesn’t seem to want anything to do with him, but he’s been really aggressive and we have to keep an eye on him constantly. It seems like every time we turn our backs he’s trying to go after her. I’m sure that will stop after a while, but he’s been the lone king of this apartment for over a year, since his older brother passed away from old age. It’s typical cat behavior, not wanting to concede territory to another cat, but it still seems bizarre, because in human terms it would be like a retiree beating up a 10 year old child brought into his house by a relative. Marble is barely over a year old, so she’s still a young cat.
To that end, she’s taken to staying high up, where that big fat cat can’t reach her. She stays on an armchair next to me, or sits on the shelf over the radiator by the window. She really enjoys that spot because it lets her look out onto the street below. Sometimes she goes onto the balcony and sits on the freezer too.
So far I haven’t done much in the city except random errands, but I’ll definitely start posting some stuff soon. Tomorrow I want to write a bit about the flight from Manila to New York and Narita airport in Tokyo. To end this post, though, I’ll leave you with a not so good photo of the beast of a cat that my mom already had:
Now use the following photo for a size comparison:
Dapper, the cat on the left, is about the same size as Marble.
Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog 