Door Opener & Max is checking out

Well, I can't say for sure whether it was Max leaning against it or if Charlotte finally has figured out how to open the door to my office.  This morning it was open just enough she could get in.  It's a bi-fold door, so it just takes enough of a push in the right place to get it started. I'll keep an eye on it and see if I catch her opening it ... if she does there won't be any point in keeping it closed any more.

At this point, she's about as big as my first cat was at a year old (7 pounds).  She's 5 months old today.  Her paws look a bit big for the rest of her.  We'll keep an eye on how she grows.  Sarah caught me by surprise when, at a year and a half, I realized she'd grown to 12 pounds.  I've never had an itty bitty kitty.  And it doesn't look like we're starting now.

The picture's perspective makes makes her look a little bigger than she is, but not a whole lot.


On the other hand, things aren't going so well for Max.  His "things" that are growing on him are continuing to pop up.  Some of them, he has licked open and we are having to constantly remind him to stop licking them.  We've also had to "diaper" him.  Last night it was with a triangle bandage (the kind you'd use for a sling) with the short side split to tie around his tail.  Today it's an old T-shirt, with the excess waist material safety pinned over his back to keep him from just walking out of it.  We have an appointment with the vet next week - he's headed out of town and it was the earliest we could get him in - to see what we can do about the worst of his lesions. 

His hind legs continue to weaken.  He can still make it up the stairs, but sometimes it's barely.  He needs help getting into the car more and more often.  But, he still wants his rides and he still stands up while the car is moving.  We'll see how this week goes for him.  On the plus side, last night he ate more than he has in quite a while.  I gave him a very small crumbled hamburger patty and he ate it like he was starving.  He then acted like he wanted his dinner so I opened a can for him and he ate most of it right away.  Later I fed him a big hamburger patty, crumbled up.  Even though it was on a big platter and Charlotte stuck her head in to get some, she got little or none of it.  He ate it all.  That's the most he's eaten in an evening in a long time.  Most nights he takes a few slurps of the gravy, eats a quarter to half overnight, and might or might not eat the rest of the can the following morning.

With the lesions, weakening hind legs, diminishing appetite, along with "the stare", we feel like he's fading, sort of "checking out".  "The stare" - he'll stop and just look into the distance.  He doesn't seem to really be there.  He doesn't always know which side of a door to pass - the "people door" in the garage that goes outside opens in and if he's not on top of his game he might head into the wedge on the wrong side of the door.  Part of it may be the fading vision, but some seems to be more like he just isn't there behind those eyes. 

Each day is one more gift ... every day since last October has been a gift.

Charlotte's new toy

My sister had no idea she was sending us a new cat toy.  She sent us a box of homemade treats.  We'll enjoy the toffee, peanut brittle and home grown walnuts.  Charlotte gets the box.  It only takes a few minutes to convert the right size box to a great fun toy.  One (or more) jingly ball sealed inside a cardboard box with a few holes big enough for a paw but too small to allow the ball(s) to come out provides hours of kitty fun.  Then, when she bites one of the holes big enough to get the ball, we just another box.  For $20-40 you can buy a plastic one, professionally designed ... we spent a couple bucks for a half dozen jingly balls at the grocery store.  This is her second box - she chewed one of the holes bigger and got the ball out of the first one ... after a couple weeks or more.  Today, as she heard the ball rattle around while I cut the holes she was climbing my leg to get to the box and poke her "arm" inside.

We don't know yet if it's a new phase or temporary change, but Charlotte is no longer pouncing on our feet around 7 am.  Instead, she's likely to come back to bed and come under the covers.  Or if she's still on the bed she'll move from her spot by Tom's feet and come under the covers.  She's been letting us sleep as late as 8 or a bit after. . .

She has decided she likes to harass poor old Max.  When she discovered she had the power to use her less than 5 pound body to make a 60 pound dog bark and get up and move, she was a holy terror.  That first night she must have pounced on him at least 6 or 8 times in just a 20 minute period or so.  Then she pursued him up to his preferred sleeping place at the top of the stair and did it a few more times.  She now generally does it at least 2 or 3 times a day. 

After being gone a little over a week, it looks like Charlotte has grown some more.  Of course, I expected it, she's a growing kitten.  She weighed just under 4 pounds a couple weeks ago, now she's just under 5 pounds. 

Last night she got crazier than we've ever seen her before.  She got out into the garage a couple times and really didn't want to come back in.  After Tom went to bed she got pretty much psychotic.  I don't know how many times she went after Max.  Time and again I heard him bark.  He tried to move someplace she'd leave him alone.  It was no good.  She followed him and went at him again.  And again.  I don't know if she just pounced next to him or if she was actually pouncing on him. 

When I went upstairs to bed she continued harassing Max, then moved on the pouncing on plastic bags in the bedroom and climbing the closet door to see if she could pull down my robes.  When she tired of that she'd run across the bed, including us, and jump onto the curtain over the head of the bed.  The last time she tried it, I grabbed her by the tail and sent her toward the edge of the bed.

Eventually, she did settle.  Somewhere.  I didn't see or hear her again until after I got up to go to the bathroom.  Then she was ready for a cuddle under the covers for a little bit.

What a night!

Contact!

She may have done it before, but today I saw it for the first time.  Charlotte walked up to Max and rubbed her face on his face.  He didn't really react, but she's trying to make contact.  She's not content to be ignored. 

I don't think Max & Charlotte will have the same relationship that Max and Charlie had.  Charlie would sort of harass Max from time to time, but most of the time they just tolerated each other.  We'll see how Charlotte drives this relationship over the long haul.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing today, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. 

We're thankful Max is still with us and still having good days.

We're thankful for Charlotte (most of the time; after all, she's still a kitten)

We're thankful for snow - that makes it possible to go snowmobiling

We're thankful for our family and friends

We're thankful we're still healthy enough to enjoy the kind of life we live.

To the Vet

This morning Charlotte met Dr. Brooks, our vet for more than 23 years.  She did really well.  She kept retreating into her carrier, but didn't fight or cry.  She got her second kitten shot, as well as her leukemia and rabies vaccinations.  We also had her micro-chipped.  Since we plan for her to travel with us, we want to be able to get her back if she gets lost.  To everyone's surprise she didn't react at all when he injected the chip.  At that point she'd already had 3 vaccinations in about the same spot.  When we got home, after a snack & a big drink of water,she settled in for a chest nap.

We also took Max in.  His hips are getting weaker and weaker.  He can still get up the stairs most of the time, but sometimes he needs help these days.  Also, in the last day or so we noticed his right eye had gotten very red -- not the white part but the iris/pupil area.  Dr. Brooks gave us an ointment & pills to help it heal.  Often this kind of thing will resolve itself, but we wanted to give his system some help with it.

It's official

Well, it's official.  We went back to the animal shelter and completed the rest of the process to officially adopt Charlotte.  We had already left a check, now they'll cash it.  We have the paperwork from her first vet visit (kitten vaccination & spay) and we'll take it with us when we take her to the vet we've been with since 1992.  We also have a certificate for her first rabies vaccination, ultimately covered by the sheriff's department. 

We told to call us when they get a batch of kittens that need socializing.  Kittens need to be socialized to humans before they're 8 weeks old or they may not adjust to them.

When we go to the vet on Thursday, it will be a double appointment.  We want to have the vet check Max.  He's pretty deaf,  Now, he seems to be losing his sight.  And his hips are getting weaker and weaker.  But, he still stands up when the car is moving, and he fully expects a ride by 10 or 11 each morning, getting more frantic the later we delay getting out & about.  We still have time with him, bit the clock is running down.

Moose Close Call

This afternoon, we put Max out for an afternoon relief break.  As I started to busy myself with something I heard a woof from the side of the house (his trolley runs along that side of the house).  Before I could get to him he started barking more seriously.  I went out to bring him in and ...

Oh CRAP!  Not more than 20-30 feet from him, in the next yard (remember the only fences in our subdivision are low and open to allow flow of wildlife.  Of course, I yelled "Max!"  Of course he wouldn't/couldn't hear me.  Then the moose started moving toward him.  Still on the other side of the fence, but we're talking a fence almost low enough for me to cross over and an animal whose belly hangs well above that same fence.  It is not an obstacle to a moose.

For about a tenth of a second I thought about going down the stairs to grab his tether and bring him back, then survival kicked in.  I yelled, I clapped my hands.  I yelled some more.

Since yelling was doing no good, thank goodness I remembered the air horn, a portable canned air boat horn.  By the time I grabbed it from just inside the back door to when I got back outside, the moose had come closer. 

At least it was only a bull.  This time of year it's the cows with calves that are the most unforgiving. 

At one point Max was within less than a foot of our fence and the moose was within 2-3 feet of it on the other side.  I blasted that little air horn.  At first the moose didn't react.  Then he moved a little past Max and squatted the tiniest little bit and peed a little bit.  Maybe that was his bookmark for unfinished business, maybe it was a message to not stop here.  Then he moved on. 

Whew!  For years I have been terrified that one day we'll get out there too late, or not be able to do anything but watch.  This was probably the closest we've come so far.  As much as I love Max, I'm not going to go down and do hand-to-hoof combat with a half-ton pissed of powerful animal.

No photos - it was much too important to convince that bull moose to move along than to get his photo.

Max update

Today, we took Max in for the vet to catch him up on his vaccinations and do a "dental" (knock him out and scrape the tartar off his teeth).  Because of the problems he had from October to February, Dr. Brooks was pleasantly surprised to see Max on his schedule.  His last visit in February he had thought it might be Max's last.  It was great to see the happiness on Dr. Brooks' face to see how well Max is doing.  We joke that he's like a cat, on life #6 or 7 ...

So, he'll take longer to come completely out from the anesthesia, but he's coming around.  He can eat a little tonight, then work back up to normal feeding.  Tonight, he's starting with the Super Simple Chicken and Rice Dinner.  Every time one of us goes near the kitchen he watches us like a hawk, hoping for more to eat.  We're so happy to see he didn't lose his appetite.  That always worries us.  He's done it three times since October and each of those "hunger strikes" was a total rejection of all foods. 

For now, at least, he's still on track for a long life.  He's starting his 7th month since his spleen was removed ... and it's 5 months since his stroke ... so far, so good.

Way to go, Max!