GC passed over the rainbow bridge last night. We knew it was going to be any day now. We’ve been cherishing her, and trying to give her last treats and indulgences. This weekend we had been giving her cream, and a little bit of cheese, and any cat food she wanted, and greenies. Baby kittens in their new home
She did not seem to be in any pain. She has been growing weaker and less steady for weeks, months. No matter how much we fed her she was growing thinner. She was a happy girl, though, and stuck to the regular schedule. She got her cuddles, her skritches. She came to check out visitors. She and WC were born in August 2002 and came to our home in October 2002. Someone had dumped them in a dumpster next to a pet grooming business. We brought them and their little rescue mate brother (from a litter dumped 2 weeks after theirs) home together. We had only planned on 2 kittens, but there was no way we would leave any of them behind. We were determined that being dumped in a dumpster would be the last indignity and cruelty they would ever suffer. baby gc exploring the new world
We brought them home to our 6-month old puppy who ADORED them. She promptly adopted them and took care of them. Her favorite thing was to lick their ears for them – we called that a Mu-do, a shortening of the dog’s name. While the others seemed to take getting a Mu-do in good humor, GC merely endured it. 🙂 gc Oct 2002 after what might have been her first Mu-do
From the time she was a little kitten, we were fairly certain that GC was going to be a couch potato. She loved to eat and sleep and sit around watching everyone else work. Everyone needs a manager, and GC figured she’d be perfect for the role. She had a special affection for our son – he was “her boy”. I used to tell her when “her boy” was coming home so she could have the fun of anticipation. sisters learning the world can be good
She was so plump and cuddly. Do any of you remember Gund stuffed animals? They are/were the softest plushiest cuddliest stuffed animals. GC was what Gunds would be if they came alive. She was beautiful, so beautiful. She looked like she could have had Russian Blue blood in her, her coat was that color. Her paw pads – I always called them a dusty rose color. They weren’t pink – they were much more subtle and interesting than just pink. GC and her little brother, who was quite a bit larger
Oh my G kitty – we will miss you so very very much. May you be where you can have all the treats you want and a warm comfy place to nap. Beloved GC
double-decker sistersSharing a seat didn’t happen often but they DID get alongWC is/was, oddly enough, much braver than her siblings. They’d sit on the stairs during parties while she would venture into the room once the crowd thinned outBefore we had the fireplace, warm radiators were the place to besnuggling sistersproof that there were times when we were one big happy family, no sibling issues
She looks oh so innocent, doesn’t she? Adorable, sweet, quiet. You might ask, “WHY is she sleeping THERE?” Why? Because if she is there, the moment I move from my chair she will know, and begin meowing piteously for more cat treats. She has become addicted to Greenies. She will meow and meow and meow until she falls asleep in exhaustion. That is NOT a picture of sweet innocence. That is a picture of the fierce predator in wait for the prey. 🙂 I ❤ WC.
My sister got me a prezzie the other day. 🙂 The true names of GC, WC and BC are on the shirt, but I’ve cropped them out to protect them from the paparazzi. We will be distancing more than ever. My brother-in-law was running a fever all day yesterday. Now there are MANY things that can cause one to run a fever. But until we know why, we are being much more vigilant and distance. We’ve all signed up for testing over the weekend. Time to get back out in the garden.
I love my cats. You know I do. They also make me crazy, but that is the nature of cats. I’ve seen so many memes about how dogs all over the world are so happy that their people are home all the time. I’ve also seen memes about how all the cats are complaining because their people are home ALL the time. My cats have always enjoyed when I worked from home. It always turned into extra cuddles for BC, earlier dinner time for WC, and sometimes extra breakfasts for GC (we think she may actually be a hobbit but we haven’t quite reached 7 meals a day). There has been one other great joy for the cats now that we are both home, all the time, every day. WC pretending she is a little angel, never doing anything annoying
Last July WC came close to extinction. She decided somewhere in the spring that the carpeted stair landing would do very well for a litter box. We assumed this was some sort of aberration, that maybe she didn’t have the energy to walk down to the basement and use the boxes there. So one weekend my husband ripped out the carpet on the landing and all the stairs. I spent several days with several different chemical products attempting to remove stain and smell from the wood. I did a pretty decent job. We thought we’d solved the issue. As is so often the case, we were wrong. Lately GC has decided to sit under the dining room table. I guess she needed a change of scenery.
It turned out not to be about too far and difficult to walk to the basement. WC walked up the stairs to the carpeted upstairs hall and began to use THAT as her litter box. No amount of spraying or other little barriers seemed to dissuade her. My husband got wise this time and hired someone else to pull up the carpet. The poor contractor nearly passed from the fumes. You need to know that besides the 3 current cats, we have had 3 other cats before them and a dog. The people from whom we bought the house also had at least one dog. The carpet came with the house. Years ago we had already pulled out all of the carpeting from the downstairs (oh my the stench) and put in new wood floors. “Ah hah!”, we thought. Surely NOW we have solved this problem. I’m sure you sense what happened next. I’m a little angel too!!!
WC noted the lack of carpeting, noted that the litter boxes were still in the basement and noted that we were still completely lacking in understanding the true need. She began to urinate on our beautiful, comparatively new, wood floor. In the dining room. In the living room. I went a little crazy. We scheduled an appointment with the vet and in the meantime I debated locking her away. Trying to lock one cat away when you have 3 is awkward. When we ‘rescued’ BC we had to remove nearly everything from a small storage room and live with the removed items piled up all over until BC was clean and past her quarantine. (Sound familiar?) I couldn’t face emptying that storage area again. At this point I thought of bringing up a litter box to put in the bathroom on the 1st floor. Our dog was trained to use what we called ‘wee-wee pads’ (very classy, I know). We had them in that 1st floor bathroom. The dog was trained to use the pads. This saved us from having to walk her when we didn’t want to walk a dog. Every time she used the pads she got a treat (biscuit). Everyone – family and friends alike – were all trained to praise her and tell her how wonderful she was and give her a biscuit. Then we disposed of the dirty pad and put down a fresh one. We were all so effective at this that our male cat figured out that using the pads resulted in food, so HE started using them. Unfortunately male cats are not built to the same specifications as female dogs. That necessitated a new alignment of pads on the walls, not just on the floor. No, we did NOT give him treats. We didn’t really want to reward HIS behavior. My apologies. Never thought I’d post a picture of a toilet and litter boxes.
I put down a wee-wee pad in the corner of the bathroom and put a small litter box on top of it. WC used it immediately (or near enough to immediately). That was the issue – she wanted her commode on the 1st floor, thank you very much. Well, you know that if WC was using the commode on the 1st floor, everyone else wanted to do the same. Four wee-wee pads and 2 litter boxes later, we all use the bathroom on the 1st floor. My husband and I are less than thrilled about this. The dog had wee-wee pads. That was it. The cats also have LITTER. It sticks to their little messy paws, they kick it out of the box, sometimes on the pads, sometimes they are exuberant and it reaches the floor. Every day starts with cleaning the boxes, adding fresh litter, cleaning and readjusting the pads and sweeping the floor in the surrounding vicinity. It doesn’t last long. The first cat in kicks litter out. We spend the entire day cleaning the litter boxes in that room. They spend the entire day using the litter boxes in that room. When we worked in an office that was NOT in our home, we avoided hours and hours of litter box use. We had litter-free bathrooms in our office buildings. Ah, those were glorious days and we failed to appreciate them properly. One other joy of us being home – sitting with Dad on the couch while he reads his paper. GC and WC vie to see who can get there first and won’t let the other join. “He’s scritching ME!”
Back in those halcyon days we thought that after the kitchen renovation, we’d redo the bathroom as well. We can see that there is no point in pursuing THAT dream. There may be memes about cats complaining that their people are home all day, but OUR cats think it is fantastic. Clean litter box EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! Oh yeah, keep those folks working from home!! The cats are very, very happy. No people on the couch? We can share happily.
Ah, to be a cat. Or more specifically – one of MY cats. I’ll concede that not all cats have it as good as my cats have it. In this time of covid19, self-quarantining, social distance, what does an extrovert DO all day if there are no other people??? My cats are demonstrating the way to survive. Nay, not survive – THRIVE. Yes, they are thriving. They have no issue with social distance – WC is on the couch, BC is on the chair (MORE than 6 feet away) and GC is in the living room. What to do? Sleep. Do nothing. Periodically get up and eat. Use the litter box. Sleep. Do Nothing. They are the experts. So far the part I’ve learned the best is get up periodically and eat. 🙂 How to Pass the Time – Option 2
Today is my son’s birthday. As you can see by the picture above, I found a card that I thought was perfect for him. Although he is far from our home these days, and far from his/our cats, his love for them is strong. They love him too, assuredly, that is, as much as cats love people. He does soooooo much for them when he is here. He cuddles them, he plays with them, he finds new toys for them. He will even feed them and clean their litter box if need be (meaning I ask for help *grin*). I thought it would be considerate if they wished him a happy birthday. I offered to help them write a birthday haiku for him. I thought something like this might be appropriate:
Kind hands stroking fur,
Dangling string toys, scritching ears,
We love when you’re here.
When I proposed a poetry writing session to the kitties, I was greeted with scorn or indifference. GC, who considers my son “her boy” (as opposed to his considering her ‘his cat’) suggested this instead.
Feed me feed me FOOD!
More food NOW! poop sleep pee sleep.
Feed me feed me FOOD!
Do I look like I am in the mood to write poems?
WC is nowhere near as interested in food as GC. WC believes in TIMING, not quantity. She starts the meowing for her dinner sometime after 3:30 pm and will continue until she receives food. At which point she will eat 3 bites, maybe, and then walk away. She spends most of her day in her bed. The exceptions to that are when she’s puking or using the litter box. Somehow I have an unerring knack of walking past that room while she is in the litter box. Why can’t mother cats teach their babies to puke in the litter box?? That would save me SO much cleanup. Anyway, once I finally roused her to creativity, here is what she had to say.
BC – *smiling* – yes, it’s true, I’m extremely partial to BC these days. She knows it, too. The other 2 have me hopping and jumping and dancing attendance on them from the time I wake up til the time I go to bed. GC really does spend the most time with my son when he is home, but BC is a close second. They both (my son and BC) like playing games. Once she remembers that he is “safe” she’s very happy to hang about. Poetry is not her main talent, however, nor is paying attention, but she tried.
Do you belong here?
Oh right. You. Amuse me now!
Red laser dot game?
Look how cute my belly is! What’s a poem?
Sometimes you are better off having a blank card than a poem from your cat. *grin*
It has not been a good week. Let me be clear – my problems are mostly what we laughingly call “first world problems”. But they are MY problems and they are dispiriting and draining. None of them are insoluble, just very very annoying and frustrating. I know it will all get better. But for today, I’m so glad that I can at least shove all the work-week issues aside and concentrate on more fun problems: my son coming home for the weekend, throwing a Super Bowl party for 30-40 people, seeing my niece and grand-niece, seeing all my friends, going to hear some fantastic live music, and taking Monday as a vacation day. Can you NOT see that you are interrupting me???
But it’s gray and dismal again this morning, my back is hurting, I’m tired, and I still have meetings to attend. At times like this, it helps to remember what is truly important. WC will tell you that HER life is always very difficult, no matter the day of the week. You can see that for yourself. The new beds are too small. I need an entire chair.
GC will tell you that as long as there is food, there is no problem. BC will tell you “SHE had a bad week??? What about ME??? She took me to the VET!!!!” A beautiful thing about BC is that she does NOT hold grudges. She needed a LOT of cuddling yesterday to recover from the vet trauma. (She is healthy and perfect – it was her yearly checkup.) I love you, Mommy. Thank you for my bed!
We all attribute to Albert Einstein the saying that “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results” (even though it’s fairly certain he never DID say that). I have a NEW definition of insanity, one with which I think many of you will agree. spurned
The definition of insanity is “expecting cat behavior to make sense or conform to prior cat behavior”. My cats are in league to drive me crazy (or crazier than I am already). I absolutely MUST get healthy and get OUT of the house and AWAY from them. We’re sisters. We like hanging out together. Sometimes.
Cat beds. I will never ever again buy a bed for a cat. My dog was wonderful. I bought her a bed and she used it. She was CONSISTENT in where she slept and what she did. She was, in hindsight, perfect. I’m so cute
BC spent the day today in what I have been calling her bed in front of the fireplace. GC spent the day on the red couch, in my husband’s seat, keeping company with the WC, who was in HER familiar spot on the back of the red couch. Until we went in and spoke to them. Apparently THAT changed the aura in the house. I’d forgotten how much I like the radiator
WC is now comfortably ensconced in the ORIGINAL cat bed – the one that was hers, until GC gave it cooties. BC – in her bed. GC – on the radiator. My husband saw her approach what we thought was now her bed. GC saw WC in the bed and turned around and went to the radiator. (Actually she went and sat on MY work chair because I was not in it at the moment. When I chased her off so that I could sit she headed to the radiator.) What? This is MY bed now. Again. Sometimes.
3 cats. 3 beds. One might think that every cat could have a bed. But apparently that is NOT how cats think. Apparently the original bed no longer has cooties. Apparently the newest bed is unappealing. Apparently WC has a new game – driving me bonkers. I do not care HOW ill I feel next week – I am NOT working from home!!!! Except for when it is MY bed. Now. Sometimes. WHY do cats sit with their faces against a wall?? I don’t think this is a healthy pose. 😦
Last night I tried yet again to give the new cat bed to WC. Why? Because when SHE owned the first bed, she seemed to really enjoy it. Remember she gave up her perch on the red couch in the sunroom to be in the darker living room IN THE BED. I took that to mean that she liked the bed and the concept of ‘bed’. Okay, at least it doesn’t smell
Before I settled in to read, I tossed the new bed on the floor in front of the fire. That had seemed acceptable the night before. Indeed, WC went over to check it out. First she sat next to it for several minutes. I pretended to not notice. 🙂
Fine. I’ll try.
I watched her stand in the bed, sniffing it. No cooties – GC has not yet sat in this bed. WC sat in it. She faced the fireplace, she turned around and faced the chair. I could see the discontent on her little furry face. So expressive. She never curled up in it. After a few minutes of sitting, and finding it lacking, she walked away. She returned to her perch on the red couch. All the rest of us (GC, BC and I) were in the living room, enjoying the fire. But not WC. I thought you said the bed was MINE
This morning the bed was still on the rug in front of the fireplace. My husband remarked that BC was in the bed! I got up to see for myself. Indeed, BC was curled up in the bed. WC was standing there next to her. You can see by WC’s expression that she is NOT pleased. (Contrary to what I post here, there ARE occasions when WC IS pleased. Usually, however, they involve her in my lap being brushed and not only is it hard to take a picture of her when I’m brushing her but my primary view is of her back. Sometimes she turns a blissful face towards me.) BC has now spent most of the day curled up in the bed, except for a little while when she was on my lap. WC is in the sunroom on the red couch, GC is on the couch in HER bed in the living room. Fine. You can all sit wherever you want. This is no longer MY problem. 🙂 Thank you, Mommy! I LOVE the bed! Look how CUTE I am
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