Tag: cuddles

Day one…

The kittens are still alive and so am I! On Tuesday evening, a friend of ours texted over a picture of four kittens on a blanket, with a caption “Look at the black one!” She then proceeded to let me know that her granddaughter or her granddaughter’s roommate had found and trapped these stray kittens at the warehouse that she worked at and they needed homes. Not sure if my honey was ready to bring another cat into our hearts, I forwarded it to him asking if he wanted to meet them. It was a resounding yes.

My honey has an uncanny knack for being able to gauge an animal’s personality. we went expecting to fall in love with the black one, but that’s not exactly how it happened. The black one was pretty scared and the gal handed it to me first. My honey was handed the grey one with white paws. Boots, as he is now known as. He knew how to reel my honey’s heart in and began purring and nuzzling his head under my honey’s arm. That was it. But we were both torn. The black one, now Pook, had been buddies with Boots in play and sleep. The third one was pretty independent. We just couldn’t split them up. Thus, Pook AND Boots.

I have never raised a cat from kitten stage. Our Spanky was probably 6 months old when she came to us. A big difference from what I am guessing are eight week olds. The first day was very quiet. No meows at all. Lots of tails between the legs for Pook. They ate well, drank well, pooped and peed well and slept well. Unlike me, who had my mother’s ears on while wearing earplugs. And silly me, I thought I would let them out of the cage for a little bit to let them begin to acclimate to the room. Not real smart. I left the room for a moment to get cat food and they were gone when I returned. I thought a moment, then checked in the underbed bin for my garden work clothes. That was one of Spanky favorite hiding spots. There they were! Four ears sticking out of it.

But, it gets better. I let them stay there a bit. When I next returned with my honey, they were no longer in the box. After some diligent searching, I finally located a warm bulge in the lining of the recliner chair in the corner. Sigh. I finally had to cut the lining to get them out and re-cage them. Needless to say, the recliner is no longer in the bedroom.

A trip to the local pet store later in the day, and a hundred dollars later and I was armed with plenty of kitten food in various forms. Fortunately we had kept some cute little dishes for food, some not so cute, but extremely practical dry food dispensers, a litter box and enough plastic newspaper sleeves to gather the litter clumps in.

The day ended with the cats romping and wrestling each other and playing with some leftover toys. When I decided it was time for bed, I picked Boots up like a baby and he started to purr and relax. Ahh! I think I stumbled on the Mom factor. Roll them over into the submissive posture to calm them. After a few minutes of cuddling, I placed him back in the cage and did the same with Pook. Mom time was shorter with Pook, but still effective. The closed cage was greeted with a couple complaint mews, but they settled down as soon as the light went off. I think. Again, I slept with earplugs. Mom ears hear everything.

So. Here I am with new mom foggy brain due to lack of sleep. but enjoying the adventure. Day two was a little easier. I learned they are both climbers, thus the early morning order for a cat climbing tower from Chewy.com. I am trying to let them out of the cage, yet keep them confined to the one bedroom until they are too large to fit inside anymore furniture, or don’t want to.

Hope my kitten stories bring a smile to your face and and a bit of joy to your heart!

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Goodbye dear Spanky…

Today, we had to say goodbye to our sweet girl Spanky and I need to share.

Spanky was a stray who came into our lives twelve years ago. A black cat who wore a white bikini. She was pregnant when we found her roaming the neighborhood. We started feeding her, but left her alone, thinking she might go back to wherever she belonged. She gave birth to three kittens in the a roll of carpeting, in the back of a neighbor’s truck. We decided to take her in when the young neighbor showed up at our door with a pure white kitten in his hands asking what he should do.

At that point in time, we had four adults, two dogs and two cats already living in our home. Fortunately our home and our hearts had enough room to fit her in. She quickly became a part of the family, although she truly preferred being a one pet family. She tolerated the other animals, and people, and became extremely loyal and attached to my honey and I. It took us almost three weeks to find the perfect name for her. I remember lying in bed next to my honey tossing names about, when he said, “How about Otis Spankmeyer the third? Spanky for short”. It fit her a personality, and the name stuck.

She was the youngster in the house. We got her spayed, and she outlived all the others. In 2011, we became empty nesters. My dad had retired, and my folks decided they wanted to spend some retirement years in their own place. They had moved in with us several years earlier when we purchased a large home with in law quarters. They took their cat with them. We downsized, just us and the two cats. A while later, we had close friends, family really, who were moving from another state to our town. They moved in with us for six months while they found jobs and looked for their own place. A few days later, I found cat pee on my down comforter on my bed! My first thought was that our older cat had started to lose her faculties. She was, after all, fifteen years old. We battled the peeing for a few weeks, and I was ready to put her down. Until… one day I walked into the room and found Spanky on the bed trying to hide some fresh pee!!!! That little stinker!!

A regimen of canned pumpkin for a possible bladder infection and replacing the comforter put an end to the peeing. The vet said she may have just been mad at us for bringing change into the house. She ended up having a love hate relationship with the guy who moved in. He loved to tease and play with her, and in later years would treat her to pieces of shredded mozzarella cheese when he visited.

Spanky loved to play hide and seek with her daddy when he arrived home from work. Often running from him into a room, waiting for him to come find her, and when he did, she would bolt to a different room. She was a triller too. Whenever she would jump, awaken to a pet on the head, she would let out a squeaky little trill. It was like an early warning that she was coming up into the bed to cuddle. She loved to cuddle in the mornings. She would crawl under the covers with me for about 15 minutes, and she would stretch out next to her daddy a little later in the morning for love. At night, she loved being scooped up by her daddy like a baby, and would gently paw at his chin while he stroked her back.

She was a hunter, and cleared the backyard of voles when we first moved in. Patiently she would wait at a hole, watching and listening, sometimes for a half hour, before suddenly springing and flinging a one of the little creatures into the air with her teeth.

These past couple months were filled with many vet visits, and she quickly gained a reputation as the “infamous Spanky” amongst the vets. They even marked on her chart beware of fast teeth.

Our favorite thing was sitting in the backyard on a warm sabbath morning, drinking coffee and watching her chase bugs in the backyard.

The tears and sobbing comes and goes. I know that with time, the hole she leaves in our hearts will shrink. We are entering another chapter of life. She brought us great joy, we brought her great joy. No one is immortal except the Almighty. But, the hole she leaves in our home may well make space to bless another abandoned animal in the future. She will be desperately missed. Rest in peace with no more suffering, our dear Pookie Bear, our Spanky Girl.