My Sweet Kitty

My blue eyed beauty

 This is Misty. She is a cross between a Silver Tabby and a Classic Tabby. She has the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen on a cat. At the time of these pictures she was about 10yrs old.
As of this year (2012) she is about 15yrs old. She is getting up there in age, especially for a cat. I have had her since she was five. I got her from a guy I was dating back then. He had 3 dogs and 2 cats and unfortunately she always got the short end of the stick. She was a cat in need of a loving home that she didn't have to share with other animals. During the past ten years she has been my sweetheart. She loves to sleep on my chest or beside me. Craves attention. Loves to be brushed, petted and scritched behind the ears. She has even learned to tolerate having her claws trimmed.


I do not believe in de-clawing cats. It is a form of cruelty. To de-claw a cat they have to amputate the first knuckle to remove the claws. By trimming her claws once a month I am usually able to stay on top of it. She used to have a scratching post but she stopped using it after my ex and I got a new couch. No matter what we did she loved sharpening her claws on the material. In all the years I had her that was the only piece of furniture she damaged. Since then Misty and I have moved, the couch is gone and she hasn't clawed anything else. Maybe she just didn't like the ex or the couch! LOL


Throughout the past few years she has had stomach issues. During the three years my ex and I were together she would vomit at least once a day. You could imagine the stains that developed on the carpet in the apartment we lived in. Thank goodness for the carpet cleaner we hired; he got all the stains out. In the house we moved to we had hard wood floors and it was easier to clean up her messes. She also seemed to vomit less, so I wondered if maybe she was allergic or sensitive to something in the apartment and its carpetting.


In 2010 she got sick. It lasted about a month. She was vomiting a lot, defecating in the living room and pissing in the corner. She didn't seem to remember where her litter box was even when I would show her repeatedly. I ended up taking her to the vet a couple times to try and figure out what was wrong. This was only the second time in all her time with me we went to the vet. The vet figured that maybe she had a gastro-intestinal infection which would explain the vomiting and loose bowels. But it didn't really explain anything else. Why was she suddenly acting so strange? Why was she not using her litter box and instead using the corner to do her business and crying all night long? I had hoped the vet would have more answers. He did prescribe some food additives to help settle her stomach and an antibiotic to deal with the supposed infection. The medication was a bust as it didn't do anything. The food additive seemed to work though as it settled her stomach and stopped the vomiting. And she seemed to get better at least for a few months.


The vet's next suggestion was to have her teeth cleaned as she has some tartar build up and that could've contributed to her 'infection'. This would cost me an estimated $1000 or more. YIKES! I cannot afford that. I love my cat but I am not shilling out that much money just to clean her teeth. She is 15yrs old. If she has lived this well for this long she can handle some tartar build up on her teeth. I have not gone back to the vet since. My boyfriend doesn't like vets. He figures they are scam artists of the sneakiest kind. After my experience I am in agreement. To clean my teeth it costs less than $200, why should her's cost 5 times that?

Lounging in the sun

Recently she started doing it again. Vomiting everywhere and defecating in all the wrong areas even though she was still using her litter. She started losing some weight and I thought for sure this was the end of it for her. I was contemplating calling the vet once more. I was gonna see about having her put to sleep so that she would not have to suffer through this again. Last time the food additive helped so I decided to try that again. It seemed to work. Her episodes of defecating stopped and she eventually stopped vomiting. She seems to be on the mend again and I am happier. I am not looking forward to the day when she passes.

I am a firm believer in comfort care. When the time comes I will make her comfortable and try to minimize her suffering. I am not going to spend mucho $$ just to extend her life. At this point in her existence she has lived a full life and anything else is bonus for her and for me. For those of you that are pet owners you can understand the emotional turmoil you go through with your animals when they are sick and/or dying. Many of you will do every thing in your power to extend the life of your beloved pet and others will decide it is best just to end it before the suffering goes on too long. I am definitely one of the later bunch. When she was in the middle of her more recent illness period I was sure it was the end. I remember posting on Facebook how sad I was that she was coming to her end. I mentioned the troubles the vets were putting me through because they wanted lots of $$ just assess her before they would consider allowing me the option to euthanize her. I got lots of support from my friends. Many were giving me other vet options that some of them had used to bringing their pet's lives to a gentle end. It is at times like this when you find out how much people truly care. 


In September 2010 I moved to a new place and my boyfriend moved in with me. He brought with him his dog Toby who is a full size chocolate lab/pointer cross. He is gorgeous and super sweet. I will write about him in a future blog and show you some pictures. Misty wasn't too sure what to make of him. Like all cats and dogs they didn't get along right away; they still don't. They are learning to tolerate each other.


Misty likes to claw his nose when he gets too close and he likes to growl at her when she is in his way. They both will eat and drink out of each others dishes. Sometimes when one or the other isn't paying attention you can catch then hanging out and lounging in the living room. Sometimes I think they are putting on a show just for us. They are funny around each other in so many ways.


For a cat that went from being on the bottom rung of the ladder she is now at the top. She was too scared when she was living with the other cats and dogs to stand up for herself but over the years she has blossomed and learn to defend her space. She is learning how to share it now with a dog but this time she is making sure she is the queen of the castle and she rules with a sharp claw! 


When the time comes to bring her life to a gentle close I think I will have her remains cremated so that I can have her ashes with me. I had thought of burying her but there is no place that feels right. She is an indoor cat so there is no place in the great outdoors that would suit her. I figure I could get a nice little box that I can seal shut and paste her picture on. I figure that would be a nice thing for me. I am definitely not one of those people that have their pets stuffed so that they can keep them around as if they are still alive. I find that creepy. I would get rid of her stuff as I would not be getting another cat after her. My last cat Dinah lived to be 18yrs old and she was buried with her brother in the yard of the old house we lived in years ago. Dinah was an indoor/outdoor cat so burying her in the yard where he brother is buried was appropriate. After out living two cats I figure that I don't want another one. I will probably get another pet some time in the future but for now Misty is enough and as long as the boyfriend and I are together I also have Toby. 

She is the prettiest one around