and i'll call rusty

Happy Birthday, ladyinpink602! Have a great day!

It's lvs2read's birthday today. I hope you get lots of love and sunshine and prezzies and have a fantabulous day!

At the risk of depressing myself I thought I'd share a story about Roxy. This might be a rerun for some of you.

I got her on January 11, 2007 and fell completely, totally in love with her the moment I saw her.

To go back a bit Sasha had died three weeks earlier. One of the vet techs said she knew it was a little soon but they had a 9 year old cat in the back that they'd promised his dad they'd find a home for him. I hadn't even thought about getting another cat but, since Desi was now an only child for the first time in his life and really needed company while I was at work, I thought getting another cat might be a good idea. Marcia brought Pepper out and I took him home.

He was a grizzly bear of a cat. Huge black critter. I let him out of the carrier in the kitchen and he promptly bit me. Luckily I was wearing a parka and a thick sweatshirt because he clamped onto my forearm and would not let go. I actually thought I'd have to go out on the street and yell for help or phone someone. He had no intention of letting go, I could see it in his eyes. Finally he did release me, I herded him back in the carrier and took off my jacket, rolled up my sleeve and saw that he hadn't broken the skin but he left teeth marks on me. I thought he'd likely try to kill me in my sleep, so he went back to the clinic. I hope he found a home, as long as it wasn't with me. He would have hurt Desi, who was a little guy.

The girls at the clinic connected me with someone who had a female Maine Coon. Went to see her and thought that she would do very nicely. Large cat but friendly. I brought her home and named her Gabby, since her humans hadn't bothered to give her a name. She was quite chatty. She hissed at Desi when he tried to make friends but she left him alone so I let her explore. That first day she would not go in the bedroom unless I was in there. Desi was just chillin' on the bed waiting for her to decide to be friends. She slept on the couch that night, while Desi stayed with me. She woke me up by crying in the kitchen. I fed her and then she stomped into the bedroom, knocked Desi off the bed and started pounding him into the carpet. He scrambled to get out from under her and hid under the bed. For the next few hours every time he stuck his nose out she'd go after him. She was vicious and she intended to kill him. Desi was 11 years old, it was his house and this creature was going to hurt him, so she went back. She did find a home as an only child.

The clinic called me to say that Sasha's ashes were back. I went to pick her up and the office manager said, "I have kittens, you know." I did know. Natalie had told me a couple of months earlier how her three female kittens had tried to destroy her house. They were three months old and little holy terrors. They knocked over lamps and plants and unraveled an afghan. She put them out in a shed on the farm where she lived and her daughters looked after them.

I went home and the next day I called her and said, "You said something about kittens?" She described them to me. She hadn't seen them for a week or so and I don't remember much about the descriptions, except that one looked like the mother with various colours (she was a dilute tortoiseshell) and short haired, the second one was also shorthaired and greyish white and the third one was a fluffy greyish white. I said, "I'll take the fluffy one."

Best decision ever.

I went the next day to get her. Marcia saw me come in, went to tell Natalie and they both came back down the hallway like a procession with Nat holding the cutest cat ever. Nat looked at her like she'd never seen her before. Greys and browns and white with a raccoon mask and a bewildered expression on her face. I thought, "Rocky Raccoon" and just absolutely fell in love.

Nat handed her to me. She was soft and adorable. I asked her, "Do you want to come home with me?" She didn't answer but once I had my hands on her I didn't want to ever let go, so I put her in her carrier. Natalie told me that she had all of her shots but would need to be spayed in a month. She was five months old at that point. She also said she'd changed colour since she'd last seen her.

I took her home and introduced her to Desi. He sniffed her butt, she hissed at him, jumped onto the floor, saw her reflection in the full length mirror, hissed at that and then jumped back up on the bed. From there she hopped up on the bookcase under the window, leaped to the chest of drawers, up to the crown moulding over the closet, onto the top of the bedroom door, to the crown moulding over the doorway, down to a dresser, onto the bed and then plunked down next to Desi. That was it. She was ours.

She did some more exploring later around the house. I had some work to do on the computer so I was on the couch with the laptop. She checked out most of the nooks and crannies of the house and then jumped up on the couch, hopped onto my right shoulder, draped herself so that her front legs were hanging down my front and her back legs down my back and had a nap. She was so soft tucked up against my neck. If I hadn't already been won over that would have done it. She was so different from every cat I'd ever met. A real character with a huge personality, even as a baby.

I met her sisters a month later. Also adorable but I knew I'd gotten the best one of the litter.

I've said this elsewhere. I try not to play favourites with my cats, because I love them all, but because of who Roxy was she was always my favourite. I spoiled her rotten or, rather, she trained me to spoil her. Because she was so intelligent it was easy to reason with her most of the time. She'd argue and hiss if I wanted her to go inside and she wasn't ready, but she would go in and lie down on the floor, accepting but clearly not happy with me. She'd always forgive me within moments. Always.

I miss her so much I can't even begin to describe how much it hurts now that she's gone. My friend Jane said she packed a lot into her seven years. She really did. It was like she knew she'd only be here for a short time and wanted to enjoy every minute. I'm so glad I got to enjoy her.

It was a tumour that cut off the blood supply to her kidney and stomach. It burst and abscessed, probably a week or so before she showed signs of being constipated. There was nothing anyone could do if she was being stoic about any pain she might have felt. She didn't want to worry me, if I know her. I'm just sorry she was in pain at the end, but the meds they gave her yesterday might still have been working for her.

Such a great cat. Gone way too soon, not that it's ever a good time.

I still can't believe she's gone. There'll never be another cat remotely like her.

My beautiful, sassy little girl passed on this morning. She was struggling with pain and breathing this morning, so I called the vet and told him I was bringing her in before they opened the clinic. She took her last breath in the carrier just seconds before the vet pulled up beside us. She had fluid on her lungs. He thinks there's a tumour in there somewhere. I told him to do an autopsy. I want to know why my gorgeous cat is gone at 7 years of age.

I am completely lost. I try not to play favourites with my cats, but Roxy was always something special. I gave her a birthday party when she turned 6 months old, complete with party hats for her and her late big brother Desi. Some of you might remember the post about that. I'd never known a cat like her. Friendly, sociable, goofy, very much a diva. I took her to the nursing home where I work and she loved to flop down on the floor and insist complete strangers rub her belly. We'd walk around outside with her on a leash and she did the same thing to whoever walked by. If someone spoke to us she figured they were there to see her.

I miss her so much.

We're home! She's still spacey. The vet said overweight cats have a harder time with the anesthesia and the enema. She just went potty so the enema finally worked, as she hasn't eaten anything since 6 a.m. yesterday. She growls every time I try to pet her head, so I'm letting her chill for now. Hope she doesn't hate me when she's finally herself. She might associate me with pain from when I picked her up this morning, but she might also have been so out of it she didn't know it was me.

The main thing is she was given a pain killer and she should be fine. :)

Just called the clinic. They gave her some Metacam (painkiller) and she's "chillin' in her kennel." I can pick her up in an hour. If that's all it took why didn't they give her the painkiller yesterday instead of making my girl suffer for 24 hours??

Will get details when I go to pick her up. For now I am very relieved. Still hoping it was just about the pain from the procedure and not something more serious.

My girl was badly constipated last week, so she went in to the vet's yesterday morning for an enema. They also gave her some fluids. I brought her home later in the afternoon. The vet was busy at the time, but phoned me at home. She said Rox would be pretty wobbly until about 9 last night. She was still wobbly and quiet when I went to bed about 9:30. Woke up this morning to find her still lethargic and she cried out if I touched her, and when Charlie tried to snuggle with her. Helpful little brother. Not. Decided to stay home from work to keep an eye on her. Called the clinic as soon as they opened. They told me to bring her in so they can keep an eye on her, after asking if she's seeking heat or cool spots to hang out. I told them she was probably looking for a cooler spot, as she stayed mostly close to the outer walls of the living room. She was also sleeping on top of a coiled up extension cord. That couldn't have been comfortable. Riley sleeps in uncomfortable spots when he's not well, which, thankfully, hasn't been for a long time.

I put my hand lightly on Rox to let her know I was there with the carrier and her bladder released. Managed to get her halfway into the carrier with her crying and growling the whole time. She staggered in the rest of the way under her own power.

She's now at the clinic again. Waiting to hear how she's doing. She could really use some positive vibes right now.

Happy Birthday to yooooouuu, ldyanne! I hope you have a terrrrific day!

Who keeps putting cats on my bed?




And in my laundry basket!