New life,Old Life

Greetings, animal lovers! After a seven-year gap, this site is officially reopened. Meet Dmitri and Svetlana, the two newest members of the family here. 

Their previous human was moving out of state, and needed to get them to a permanent home. And I needed a new cat, although not necessarily this soon. So, one of those serendipitous situations where everybody comes out ahead.

My previous cat Cindy has just been euthanized on Monday of this week, and I got these guys Wednesday evening. Still digesting it all..

But here they are, ready or not. Ready or not goes for them as well. They're still digesting as well. In true feline fasion, they've gone into hiding on a couple occasions. I'm pretty chill about it now, but the first time got on my last nerves. 

Emotions have kinda run high this week, having lost my feline housemate of almost 14 years. I miss her even in the midst of all this new feline energy. I'll probably do a blog about her. In the meantime, there's plenty of Cindy down the page. 

 So back to Dmitri and Svetlana. As far as coming up with their names, I just let the animal's qualities speak to me, and something comes forth. And it's always a proper name, never Fido or Fluffy. I'm sure there's some underlying psychological reason for that. For what it's worth, this is the only time my cats have gotten so-called foreign names. But they look exotic to me, with the black fur and bright green eyes. 

With the female, I first thought Natasha. But then that would make her brother Boris, and he didn't seem like a Boris(whatever that's supposed to mean!), and even if he did, Boris and Natasha has been done. Wanted to be original, or at least closer to it. 

So a bit of modification and Dmitri and Svetlana were born. 

The name Dmitri I remember from the movie Taras Bulba, which I saw as a kid. Cool name. I tried to watch that movie as an adult, and Tony Curtis's Brooklyn accent ruined it for me. 

So there you go. They're brother and sister, and play/wrestle just like a couple of feline siblings. I've only gotten a brief demonstration in the short time we've had together. I had two girls for over a decade preceding, who also wrestled, but with them it was more competitive, more cut-throat. I didn't see that edge with these two. Then again, I've only  been privy to  one of their matches, 

Anyway, here we go with another animal adventure. It's a good thing, gets you out of your own head --at least enough to care for something other than yourself. More to come. 

 

Jillcat Roundly- my drama queen

This is Jill. I'd introduce you in person, but she'd probably run and hide until you left. She does that whenever anyone sets foot in the house. And she stays hidden until they're safely out the door. 
 Strangely enough, her sister/littermate Cindy is just the opposite. She's there to greet whatever visitors pass through the portal to the inside. When I give guitar lessons here at the house, she always comes in the room and hangs out. If they want to pet her, she's glad to let them. And then(depending on the season)she sheds all over their coats..

Here is Cindy. She's calmer and steadier(but of course still a feline with all their jumpy excitability) and less given to drama. Much more gregarious than her xenophobic sister, but not quite as demonstrative toward me. Not a lapcat, even though she loves to be petted(providing you're a certain distance from her).  Cindy is everybody's cat, where Jill is strictly a one-person feline. 
Most of the time with these two, things are pretty even keel. They have their occasional spats, but they're always short-lived, and peace is restored. The few truly dramatic incidents we've had seemed to have centered around Jill. As you might figure.

When I first got them, back in 2009, I'd just emerged from a brief rat problem in the house. I'd had glue boards all over the house, and had been getting rid of them prior to my cats' arrival. But there was one I missed, and sure enough they found it! Jill found it, and  I found her impaled on it coming home for lunch. So I had to rush her to an Animal Hospital, where they managed to extricate her. A very stressful day for all involved. 

She also got out of the house once and ended up underneath the front porch. Not quite as white-knuckle intense as the Glue Board Incident, but still with enough stressors to kick in those adrenals. 

Jill is a very affectionate animal, and is usually on my lap when I'm sitting, or curled around my legs when I'm sleeping. She has her moments, though, when something frightens her(besides just strange people coming to the door!)or offends her, and she has to withdraw. 

Normally, like her occasional sibling spats, these are fairly short-lived, and I'm able to coax her out of her shell. Just coming off a doozy right now though, one which went on for the past two days. 

Animals don't have a Borca's Area and a Wernicke's Area  in their brains to give them the language to tell you what's wrong- nor the right muscles in their mouths to form the words. They can't even point to where it hurts! Most of the time it's just some kind of Animal Heebie Jeebies, but it can be a sign of illness. They hide that stuff as best they can. 

When the withdrawal runs into hours, you start to wonder. Jill's predecessor would do the disappearing act for long periods and it turned out to be a serious lung and kidney problem. So I've been through the Worst Case Scenario here. At least a Worst Case Scenario..

In this case, thankfully, it seems to be benign. Just Jill's perennial fear of damn near everything! After much coaxing and finally ignoring her ass(well okay not really..)I think we're back to norbal. I'm crazy about both these cats, but Jill is probably the one I dote on, and who dotes on me. Which is what makes these separations so tough, that you're used to all this attention(sometimes more than you'd like)and when it's taken away, it smarts a little. 

Whether you have kids or not, pets become members of the family after awhile. Like kids, there's the potential for great joy, but also the ability to really take it out of you. So I'm relieved that we're back in business, but a little worn out by it. 

Well if there is a saving grace here, through all the worry and irritation over my cat's antics, it's that( if the energy is channeled right) my house ends up being a lot cleaner!
 

Cat Accessible

With two frisky felines here in the house, I try and make sure the house is ergonomically right for their special talents and needs. What this means in plain English is that they can jump to their destinations. Cats like to be as high-up as they can. My Mom maintained that they just like to be at our level, but I still think they like that top shelf, that apogee in the house. 

Cindy, pictured here, could make that jump from floor to dresser in a single bound(I've seen her do it), but the white table makes it much easier for her- and Jill, although that's primarily(but not exclusively)Cindy's domain. 

 She loves to be petted from up there, and often sits in the white chair in anticipation of my passing by the dresser, whereupon she paces about while I(as her attendant)am expected to wait until she's settled in for the petting to begin. Well,she gets what she gets, as her attendant gets bored with this game- which is of course heavily weighted toward Cindy's welfare..

This may look a little strange, but there's a story behind it. The upper level, mezzanine dining here was set up because originally I had a dog eating in here as well. Dogs and cats, you may know, don't tend to share very well when it comes to food.

 And with everyone's stuff together on the floor, Lester(the dog)would  just push the cats out of the way and scarf down their chow, along with his own. No compunction whatsoever. Absolutely shameless. I intervened, of course, when I caught him in the act(and he tried to be sneaky about it)but there was many a time I saw the cats back in the dining room with Lester soon leaving the kitchen with that triumphant grin on his mug. 

So the elegant solution was to have multi-level dining. Everybody's happy. Peace on Earth, and enough rice for all the people. It solved the problem, and we've just kept on with the mezzanine thing long after Lester's departure back in August of 2012. And pretty much every time, the cats use the stairs!

 

Lester's Official R. I. P.

 I wrote a piece about him right after his passing, but posted it on my regular blogsite. He was noted, but still needs to be noted here on this site, however belatedly.

Lester Vernell Schuette-Roundly, b. December 1996;

died August 28, 2012. A long life. Preceded in death on July 1, 2009 by his feline housemate Maxine. Survived by current felines Cynthia Noelle and Jill Elaine Roundly. 

In the last couple years, he'd started to get dottier. Then the continence thing started to rear its ugly head. He'd whiz on the carpet moments before I was due to leave for work, and/or leave me "keester eggs" when I got home. And then his mobility went. Couldn't even get back down the stairs after I'd carried him up. 

That last day was rough, taking him in to be put down. I just tried to make it quick. Lester knew what was up, and in his nervousness, stunk up the van pretty good, but these things pass. It was the kindest thing I could do for him, the thing most suited to his welfare. 

He's still missed, probably even by the cats- who may well remember him fleetingly, in between feedings and naps. 

One other thing: I'll need to change the name of this website to 3 Bodies- 10 legs. 

Almost another year with the girls

Well it's almost been another year. Developing a few cobwebs here, as far as posts. July 13 of this year- 2013- will make 4 years of having these two(mostly)delightful felines sharing my home. 
  
Cindy(l)and Jill(r)came from a litter of 4 out in Pleasant Plains, and were two from the litter who kinda banded together from the start. I wanted two girls anyway, to counterbalance the canine testosterone of my dog Lester. And they all got along. 

Lester, as you've already read, passed on last August. He and the cats had a nice relationship. They played together- mainly Cindy, but all three had their own kind of rapport. 

And the cats basically get along well. There is the occasional snit, a recent such bout we're just coming out of. They bicker, then co-exist for awhile, and then they're friends again. I can tell when they're both sitting in the windowsill downstairs(a pic of this exists right here on the site)that Cindy and Jill are back in business. So here's to another year and many more like them. 

happy 3rd anniversary, Cindy and Jill!

Hard to believe it's been a whole three years since I brought these two scalawags home. Got 'em out in Pleasant Plains, IL, from the neighbor of a friend from work. They were about six weeks old, both contained(just barely at that!)in a computer box. From left to right, Cindy and Jill.


For what I suppose are my own unfathomable reasons, my pets have always had regular "Christian" names, no fluffy or fido for this one. And they usually get middle names as well: Cindy is actually Cynthia Noelle and Jill is Jill Elaine. Likewise, the canine component of my quadraped family is Lester Vernell. If they're going to become a member of the family(albeit honorarily)they should be named accordingly.


July 13, 2009 was the day I added Cindy and Jill to the family. At the very beginning of the month, I'd had to have my cat Maxine euthenized. Maxine(strangely enough, no middle name)had been with me for the past 12 years, so her absence was quite a loss- for Lester as well as me. He was overjoyed when I brought the kittens home to roost. It took a little time for the three of them to adjust, but before I knew it they'd settled in. 


Lester, at this juncture, is getting a bit long in the tooth. He's having more trouble getting around, but is still able to perform his basic functions: eating, drinking(and yes, thus excreting)and pushing the cats out of the way to eat their food. Not too many more anniversaries left for him, I'm afraid, but as long as he still messes with the cats(and they with him), there's some quality of life left in the old boy..

Cindy and Jill look like they'll be with me a lotta years. They get along just like you'd expect from sisters: there is the occasional snit, but for the most part are very tight. That's why I brought them in together, so they'd have each other. 

So congratulations, girls, on three very nice years. Here's to many more!

Life with Lester

I've had him maybe 15 years at this point, since he was a mere pup. Amazing how mellow he was for about the first week or two- then WHAM-O! A 20-lb bundle of destructive canine energy, and heading all directions at once.

Over the years he's mellowed back out, gone full circle as it were. Getting him fixed awhile back there helped- at that time my neighbors had a poodle who used to drive him crazy at certain times. It was the scent of course, but I still contend that it was the way she shook that little thing of hers that also got my Lester all aquiver.

And age took care of the rest. He no longer goes crazy barking every time someone is on the front porch- or for that matter, any dog even across the street. If anything, he's a bit too mellow these days, getting that phlegmatic temperament like Jed Clampett's dog Duke.

With the mellowness though, seems to come cantankerous old fart'ness, an ornery stubbornness about such vital matters as his cuisine(must have gravy or the birds get it)and the basic pecking order in my animal kingdom. He was, after all, the first one here.

I got Lester around Christmastime of 1996. He got a feline housemate that following Spring, a kitten roughly his age whom I named Maxine. They were together for 12 years, until her death in 2009. From there I got two female kittens- Cindy and Jill-who've been with us ever since. So Lester has grown up in a household populated by felines.

Of late, he and I have been having our difficulties. Part of it has to do with his more frequent incontinence, some of which is age and some is anger towards me on occasion. Many mornings experiencing an unwelcome squishiness on certain areas of the carpet. He is also wont to walking in the kitchen while the cats are eating and just pushing them out of the way then proceeding to eat their food(yes yes I've tried elevating their food dish but one of them in particular gets up there, scoops the cat food into her paw and drops it back onto the floor, whereupon she leaps down and eats it from the floor. Oy...). Every time I catch him at this I push him out of the way and then he has to listen to me as I lecture him--well, he has to listen to that tone of voice I'm sure he hates. So I've been the Bad Guy, the ogre where he's concerned.

And so sometime Tuesday evening, I'd let him out into the backyard, and the side gate on my fence was slightly open as it turned out, enabling him to slip out the back, Jack. He'd made a new plan, Stan. No need to be coy, Roy- he'd set himself free!

The back gate has been left open(I'm thinking by some neighbor kids, who've since been talked to about it)and he's gotten loose before, but he usually wanders around the front of the house and one of my neighbors spots him. But this time he took off for points unknown: around the front of the house and this time veering off across the street and into the next block. Someone there said they saw him, and that he was real interested in what the cats over there were doing- which is understandable since he's grown up with felines pretty much his whole life. I guess that's sorta like a guy with lots of girl friends, or a girl whose friends are all guys. A dog whose friends(or at least cohabitors)are all cats.

Anyway, he got loose and I couldn't find him. Searched the block on foot, and then got in my vehicle and combed the neighborhood. As it turned out, the Pound got him. Had to go down to their facility in the middle of a workday, and took a bit of a lecture myself on his grooming. I took it, paid the fee, but still maintained that Lester is not a neglected animal: he gets 3 squares a day, all the attention in the world(you can always give your pets more though..), and has 2 cats to play with all day. That seemed to soften things a bit. I was just glad to see that he was there, and okay. Not thrilled to be there by any means, but alive and well.

He was delighted to be home, and gave me a doggie-hug(wrapped himself around one leg). And I was delighted to have him home(incontinence and other canine histrionics notwithstanding), so he was made over even more than usual. Actually as far as grooming, I've done that to some extent every time he comes back into the house wearing part of the yard. Lotsa cockleburrs.

Lester is now 'bagged and tagged', meaning he has tags around his neck and the microchip in his rear end(the doggie GPS). I'm just glad he's okay. Lester could have a lot more good years in him yet, but at 15 he is getting older. When his time comes, I'd just as soon it be here- with his feline and human buddies at his side.