Pearl

Here is Pearl, outside where she most loves to be. I really wanted to do this limerick during Pearl Week, but woke up very ill on November 19th and just got well. As you can see, Pearl is a tortie and a Tough A** one, too. She is the alpha cat, though she is the smallest cat in the family. She even bosses George the dog around and keeps him out of the dining room, where all the cat beds and toys are. She doesn't want George to play with her toys, but she really enjoys playing with George's toys. She gets a lot of fun bunnykicking them. When Purdy went to the Bridge in September 2005, her Mom and Dad started looking for another cat and found Pearl in a shelter in January of 2006, when she was three months old. They wanted Pearl very much, for they drove an hour and a half in a blizzard to pick her up. Pearl celebrates her birthday on September 1st, which is the day that Purdy went to the Bridge and also her Aunt and Uncle's wedding anniversary. It makes a happy day that became sad a happier day again. Pearl was originally named after the octopus in Finding Nemo, but when her character became more apparent, her Mom and Dad thought that she was more appropriately named after The Black Pearl in The Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of The Black Pearl. She is quite a character. Like her two brothers, Pearl is very good at hunting and likes to eat her prey. Pearl only likes to sleep on the big bed if her Mom goes back to bed after breakfast. She finds it too crowded sharing with Jake and Bert at night.

                                     Pearl was feeling a bit neglected.
                                     She didn't get to blog, though she is respected.
                                             She got the blog for a week,
                                             Which her interest did peak.
                                     Let's hope that Pearl no longer feels neglected.

Fight, Moki, Fight

Moki is a terrific little kitty who has had to face more problems than any kitty should. He was a perfectly fine tiny kitten when he was first adopted, but he got sick shortly after his adoption, which is not at all unusual. What was unusual was that the sickness left him with an unknown neurological condition which is slowly robbing him of his ability to stand and walk. He needs help for even simple things like eating and using the litter box. Moki has never given up. He tries and tries to stand and walk and is managing so far. When it got difficult for him to play standing up, he started playing lying down.  He has put up with water therapy, where he is put in water and encouraged to move his legs to strengthen them. You might say he's been getting swimming lessons. He doesn't like it much, but he does it. Now Moki is very sick. He has a lot of blood in his urine and his temperature keeps dropping, then going up again. At first his Mom thought that he had an incredibly bad urinary tract infection, but the latest tests show no signs of infection. That means that, once again, nobody knows what is wrong with Moki or how to treat him. He needs all the purrs, prayers, healing thoughts and warmth that he can get. There is a wonderful virtual nap pile going on at his blog to keep him warm. Go join in or just send him some encouragement.

                                      Moki is a fighter; there is no doubt of that.
                                      If fight were all he needed, he'd be well in nothing flat.
                                                   Let's pray he keeps warm
                                                   And safe from all harm,
                                      For he really is a remarkable cat.

Farewell, Bounce

We knew Bounce couldn't last much longer, but it is always very sad to have to say goodbye. Bounce had high blood pressure and hyperthyroidism, for which he had been taking medication for years, but they finally wore his system down until he couldn't take any more. He had recently gone blind, but he seemed to be coping with that. What neither he nor his Mom could cope with was that he just couldn't get around much any more and he was feeling bad all the time. His Mom gave him the greatest gift of all by taking him to the vet to be helped to the Rainbow Bridge, where he could be young and full of energy again. I did a bio and limerick for Bounce, which you can read here.

                                     Poor old Bounce was tired and sad,
                                     So his Mom decided to make him glad.
                                          She helped him sleep,
                                          Though it made her weep.
                                    Now Bounce is bouncing around like mad.

Farewell, Winton and Girl Girl

I didn't know Winton. I think I visited the blog, Aging Felines, just once, when they were introduced on the Cat Blogosphere and never got back again. He was a handsome ginger boy and very loving. He loved to sit on the son's lap. Winton had a long hard fight with CRF, as so many older cats do. He reached the point where it was a blessing to him to take him to the vet for the trip to the Rainbow Bridge.

                                   Winton was looking for somewhere to hide.
                                   He was hurting, which Mom could not abide.
                                         They went to the vet
                                         For the deepest sleep yet.
                                   Now Winton runs free, with friends by his side.

I did know Girl Girl quite well. I was a fairly regular visitor to her blog before my visiting time got so restricted. I hadn't been to see her much lately, but I remember her well. She was quite a character and loved having fun. Her hide-and-seek Fridays were delightful. I have learned that not many hamsters live longer than two years and GirlGirl was two when she went to the Rainbow Bridge. She loved her family very much and waited to go to the Bridge until they all got home to say good-bye to her. When they got home, she was lying on her side and not very responsive, so they knew that she was going.

                                   Girl Girl waited 'til everyone was home
                                   Before breathing her last and setting off to roam
                                                Over the Rainbow
                                                To bask in the glow
                                    Of eternal youth and freedom to roam.

Jake

This is Jake of the PB&J kitties chillaxing in his bed with his nip banana. Jake is a big fan of nip and really enjoys himself with it, especially the home grown that his Mom keeps in the refrigerator. She grows it in a basket which she keeps up out of the kitties' reach most of the time. She left it down one time and Jake and Bert took advantage of the situation. Jake is the oldest kitty, at about six years old. He crawled out from under a bush one day when he was about three weeks old. His Mom found him and his Dad said to take him to the SPCA immediately, but it was a Saturday and the SPCA was closed. Mom took him home and kept him in the bathroom and by the time they could take him in, they had decided to keep him. There were two other cats living there at the time, Purdy and Basil. Both had been named after characters in Disney movies and the Mom and Dad decided to keep up the tradition, but were having a hard time deciding on a name for Jake. Finally the Mom came up with the idea that since peanut butter and jelly was the Dad's favorite sandwich, they should come up with a J name. That was how Jake came to be named after the seagull in The Rescuers Down Under. Jake is an indoor/outdoor kitty and a good hunter, as are Pearl and Bert. Jake has many of the characteristics of a Maine Coon cat. Jake likes to wrestle with Bert quite a bit. Jake's favorite human is his Dad. Jake loves to play with anything that has a feather on it.

Besides his Dad, Jake's favorite thing is the refrigerator. He tries to climb in every time he notices that it is open. There is a saying at his house that he loves the refrigerator even more than he loves his Mom. He also knows that the nip is in the refrigerator, along with lots of other yummy stuff.

                                     Jake has a crush on the big cold box.
                                     His Mom all the goodies in there stocks --
                                            Like nip and treats
                                            And all the good eats.
                                     Jake has to learn how to open that box.

Farewell, ShyGurl

I didn't find out until late last night that ShyGurl had gone to the Rainbow Bridge. It turned out that she had lymphoma, had lost quite a bit of weight and was very weak. Her Momma and Poppa took her to the vet and helped her over the Rainbow Bridge. Her Momma, Poppa, Ginger and Quest are missing her terribly. Q2 is still too new to really miss her much, but she also knows that something bad happened. I did a post about Shy that you can find here. It's not too late to go offer some comfort to her family.

                                     Shy was so sick that she couldn't stay,
                                     So her Momma and Poppa helped her on her way.
                                          Though tears were falling,
                                          The Bridge was calling.
                                     Now Shy can run and play all day.

Monty Q. Kat

Monty Q. Kat is one of the more famous cats around the Cat Blogosphere. He has hosted the "Do the Q" contest twice and he is the one who came up with the name for the Monty Q position. He is a big fierce mancat who is very tender and loving. He helped his Mom tremendously when she had to cope with the loss of Sprout. He loves his kid beans without reservation and has put up with lots of tail-pulling and other indignities that kids can inflict on cats. He is very laid back and nothing much ever bothers him, but he is also very particular. He likes his dry food almost exclusively and isn't even much interested in what the beans are eating. He only likes certain toys, but will play with his favorites very energetically. Kidbean has a fishing pole with a cat toy on the end of the line and Monty loves playing with that. He also is very fond of his feather wand. He has some shiny, rolly things with a bell inside that he just loves, but he tends to bat them under the refrigerator. Sweetbean, the little girl, is also very partial to these, and they tend to disappear after she plays with them. Monty has a great backyard with a high wooden fence. His Mom lets him out to play for a while and he almost always comes back in when he is called. However, on two memorable occasions, Monty has been very naughty about coming back in. Last November, he decided to go visit the neighbors and drove his Mom to distraction when he didn't come in that night. He was returned by one of the neighbors the next day, when the neighbor found Monty on the porch and recognized him from the fliers that the Mom had been handing out. A couple of days ago, he pulled the same stunt, but it was so cold out that he showed up by the back door the next morning. His Mom and Dad are going to look at the fence very carefully to see if they can find out how Monty is escaping. The fence is high enough that he shouldn't have been able to jump up and over it. The one thing that does get Monty worked up is if the family goes upstairs to bed and closes the baby gate at the top of the stairs, leaving him downstairs. This only happens when Monty is napping at bedtime. Monty has successfully trained Kidbean to open the gate after Monty starts singing. The limerick is kind of a catchall. Follow the links for more information.

                                    Monty showed us how to Do the Q.

                                    He also put his 'tocks on view.

                                                  He sings opera
                                                 To get to the top-era.
                                    Someone open the gate and let Monty through.

Two Awards

Boy was nice enough to give me this award. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.
Here are the rules:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog
2. Link the person you received your award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours, and
5. Leave a message on the blogs that you've nominated

I would like to nominate:
Moki
The Cat Realm
Team Tabby
Curly
Marie, Casey and Donny
Royal Kitties
and The Gibbs Creek Cats


The really nice cats at PB&J gave me this award. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

These are the rules suggestions for passing it on:

1. Those who have received this award, can add the pic.

2. Add a link to that person’s blog who awarded you.

3. Choose 7 others to receive this award and add links to their blogs.

4. Leave a message to their blogs so that they know about this.

I would like to nominate:
Shadow, Molly and Jake
Artsy Catsy
Missy, KC, Sol, Faith Boomerang, Smokey and BJ
Katie's Furry Mews
Niko and Cloud
Diamond's Lair
and Jan's Funny Farm

Sorry for the bare bones post today. I had an exhausting time at work and just am not very creative right now.