Stryder

Stryder turned five on April 1st. He is the one who enjoys playing with toys the most. Scotchy will play with them occasionally, but Stryder is the one who lays claim to all toys coming into the house and gets the most enjoyment out of them. He also enjoys going outside a lot. This got him into a bit of trouble when he was just a very young cat. Stryder is one of Sugar's five kittens, all boys. Two of them were adopted by some people who own a farm and three of them stayed with Kellykat. Frodo, Gandalf and Stryder all liked to go outside and romp in the grass. There is a formerly feral cat who lives next door named Lucky and he really likes to roam. Frodo started hanging around with him and went off with him one day, never to return. Then Gandalf started hanging around with Lucky and went off with him, also never to return. Then it was Stryder's turn. He also went off with Lucky and disappeared, but he came back after two weeks. Kellykat rushed him to the vet to make sure that nothing untoward had happened to him while he was gone. He was fine, but the vet recommended that it was time to have him neutered. Stryder got the operation and has stayed close to home ever since.

                                       Stryder loves to play with his toys.
                                       The catnip inside them gives him joys.
                                               Now he's running around
                                               With his paws off the ground
                                        After playing with his catnip toys.

Farewell, Sugar

Very early Wednesday morning Sugar went to the Rainbow Bridge on her own. The trauma of her wounds from the wild dog attack in addition to her kidney disease were just too much for her body to handle. She is being sorely missed. There is a story that I meant to include in her other post, but I got too wrapped up in what had happened to her and forgot it. I will tell it now, as it may lighten up the sadness a bit. Last Christmas Sugar decided to bring home a gift for everyone. I don't know exactly what it was, but it was alive and when Sugar let it loose in the house, it provided much entertainment for all the cats. Kellykat finally caught it and put it outside again, still alive, much to the disappointment of all the felines.

                                          To the Rainbow Bridge Sugar had to go
                                          Because her body was damaged so.
                                                         She tiptoed away
                                                         Ere the break of day
                                           For she saw the Bridge was all aglow.

Scotchy

Before I go ahead with Scotchy's story, I have some bad news about Sugar. The vet was able to bring her out of the anesthesia and she seemed to be doing better, but when they checked on her at 1 am Wednesday morning, she had gone to the Rainbow Bridge. The combination of her wounds and her kidney problems just proved too much for her. I'll be doing her tribute tomorrow.

About three and a half years ago a fluffy orange, black and white kitty showed up at Kellykat's house and just began hanging around. She didn't act very feral, but no one could find out where she came from. She was quite persistent in wanting to be adopted, so Kellykat gave in and named her Scotchy. Scotchy fit right in, although she sometimes seemed to want to take over being Alpha cat from Sugar. Sugar always put her in her place and they were all friends again. Scotchy torments Stryder a bit at times, but Stryder does the same to her. Scotchy really enjoys hanging out on the wooden porch in the sunshine. From there she can watch the birds and anything else interesting going on in the neighborhood. She enjoys her nip quite a bit and loves to rub her face in it. She graciously allows herself to be combed and brushed, to keep her floof looking its best. The picture shows Scotchy playing one of her favorite games. See that delightfully floofy tummy there? Better not touch it. Scotchy loves showing off her tummy, but will grab, bunnykick and bite any hand that dares touch it. She doesn't bite very hard and doesn't use her claws when she bunnykicks. It's all a game to her. Kellykat knows this game well and will go around and pet Scotchy's back or side, or go for the tummy and pull her hand away quickly.

                                               Scotchy likes to bite the hand that pets her
                                               Tummy, when her Momma lets her.
                                                                It's like a game
                                                                In which no blame
                                               Falls on Scotchy if she bites her.

Sugar

In a strange coincidence, I had already chosen Sugar, Scotchy and Stryder for my next batch of limericks before Sugar was attacked, so I have decided to start with her. Sugar is the oldest of the cats, but she is still a young cat. She had a litter of five kittens and Stryder is one of them. She is a very loving cat and lives up to her name. All the kitties are indoor/outdoor cats, but they mostly stick close to home. Sugar was attacked by a pack of wild dogs and severely mauled. She has really bad punctures on her back and a lot of bruising around her lungs. She was really lucky that her lungs were not punctured. She is still at the vet as of my writing this, as she didn't come out of anesthesia as expected. It turns out that she also has kidney problems, which prevented her metalbolizing the anesthetic as she should have. The one good thing that has come out of this trauma is that now her vet knows about the kidney problems and can treat them. As Sugar is still a young cat, she stands a good chance of recovering from both the mauling and the kidney problems. She does need a lot of care and her family is very worried about her. If all goes well, Sugar should be going home on Thursday.

                                        Sugar is as sweet as she can be,
                                        But now she is feeling a bit puny.
                                               I'm sure she'll get better
                                               When the vet will let her
                                         Go home to her loving family.

Farewell, Peasley

Welcome to my 600th post.  There isn't a whole lot of information about Peasley on his blog, but this is what I found out. He loved Turkey Feast Fancy Feast. He liked lounging around on his cat tree and on his patio. He loved to watch birds out the window and playing with his toys. His Mom had him since he was a tiny kitten and she's just devastated that he's gone after 22 years.

                              Peasley lived for twenty-two years,
                              And that's quite a few, my dears.
                                      To the Bridge he went
                                      With naught to repent,
                             But leaving his life-long companion in tears.

Farewell, Sooty

I don't know a whole lot about Sooty, as she started her blog when she was diagnosed with lymphoma in May. I did learn that she moved halfway across the world to New Zealand with her family and she liked it there. Before she got sick, she liked to go out in the warm weather. She was the family's official greeter, always there at the door to welcome any family member returning home. When she was feeling bad, she stopped doing this, but she rallied a bit not long before the end and started doing it again. Sooty's tumors were in her intestines and at her age of 13 and the fact that she had lost so much weight before she was diagnosed persuaded the vet that an operation was inadvisable, as she would probably not survive it. Sooty was put on chemo, but it didn't work. She seemed to get better for a little bit, then got worse again. The hoped for remission didn't happen. Sooty went through all this in good humor. She willingly took her medicine and tried her best to eat and gain back some weight. When the vet discovered that the cancer had spread to Sooty's liver, her family made the hard decision that it was time to send her to the Bridge, to spare her any more suffering.

                                         Sooty lived to a goodly age,
                                         Then cancer took her in a rage.
                                                   Her folks helped her go
                                                   To the Bridge, although,
                                          They hoped to keep her to a ripe old age.

Farewell, Peaches

I tried to do this last night, but Blogger was offline. Peaches was a small poodle who loved cats and adored her humans. She lived with Loa's family for 16 years. She didn't get much coverage in the blog, but what pictures there are of her mostly show her napping with the cats. I imagine that she is delighted to find so many cats at the Rainbow Bridge and is probably in the middle of the biggest nap pile ever right now.

                                   The time came when Peaches got old and tired.
                                   Because she was so loved and admired,
                                                  Her folks helped her go
                                                  To the Bridge, although
                                    That was the very last thing they desired.

Farewell, Gizmo

I got the impression that Gizmo would have preferred to be an only cat, instead of one of four. He much preferred the company of his humans to the company of the other cats. When they still lived at the old house, with the big yard, where they could all go outside to play, he would wander off by himself, instead of joining Casper and Patches in the frog hunts. He was originally adopted by the Daughter, but ended up with his Mom. Something happened that must have really bothered him, because when the Daughter would come to visit, he would hide from her. Gizmo was the only cat who liked to have his belly rubbed. He would even ask for belly rubs. His Mom is really missing this. Gizmo wasn't a loner all the time. He would occasionally join another cat for a nap, but these occasions were pretty rare. Gizmo was nearly 15 years old and his health had been failing. He was down to 5+ pounds the last time he went to the vet. They found a cancerous mass while feeling for his kidney. The vet thought that the tumor was operable, but in his already poor condition, it was very likely that he wouldn't survive the surgery. His Mom felt that it was much kinder to just send him on his way to the Rainbow Bridge, so that is what she did. Gizmo's Mom has really been through a lot lately, with both her Daughter and Son having had surgery recently. They both came through very well, but the anxiety must have been terrible, and then Gizmo's passing on top of it all. She really could use all the support we can give her.

                                 Cancer led Gizmo right up to the Bridge.
                                 His Mom helped him cross, which really took courage.
                                        Now he can leap and run
                                        And have lots of fun,
                                  But we are sad because he has gone to the Bridge.

Farewell, Charlie

Daughter Amy decided to adopt Charlie from a shelter. She was looking for a big ginger cat with lots of catitude and Charlie fit the bill perfectly. He wasn't all that big at the time, but it was obvious that he would grow quite a bit. Charlie had been rescued from being a full time barn cat. When he discovered that his new family had a barn on their property in Vermont, Charlie was thrilled. During the summers, he only came inside to eat, and that only if he hadn't managed to feed himself enough, as he was a mighty hunter. This was a great arrangement, as the family already had an Alpha Cat, Buddy. Charlie was the Boss of the Barn and Buddy was the Boss of the House. The only rough times were the winters, when they both stayed inside most of the time. There was some hissing and swatting then, but both of them spent most of their time eating and sleeping, so things went along pretty well. Charlie even made friends with the skunks who hung out around and in the barn. Things got a little more tense when the family moved to New Hampshire and no longer had a barn on the premises. From what I have read, Charlie eventually made himself the Alpha Cat, as he was the one who laid claim to the bed and would chase off any other cat who wanted to sleep there. He still spent as much time as possible outdoors, as the family had a large rural property and he had plenty of room to roam. He would come inside every night at about 10:00. One night he didn't come home. The family was able to reconstruct what had happened. Poor Charlie got ambushed by two coyotes near a wooded area. Coyotes don't fool around when they attack, so Charlie probably didn't suffer anything more than a moment of terror and pain. It's sad, but Charlie would never have been happy as an inside cat.  I am sure that the Rainbow Bridge has enough room for every Alpha Cat to have his own territory and pride of cats who want to follow, with no need for fighting about it.  Charlie has probably already found himself a barn and a group of followers and lots of mice to hunt.  Maybe even some skunk friends.

                                   Charlie came to grief near the wood,
                                   So he ran to the Bridge as fast as he could.
                                        Now he is the Boss Cat
                                        Of wherever he's at,
                                  While we shed a tear when we think of that wood.

Farewell, Max

Little Girl, a tortie, left her two kittens under car for their future Mom to find when they were only three weeks old. Evidently, she was unable to care for them, but the Mom knew just what to do. They were both bottle fed and cared for and adopted. Little Girl also joined the family. Max was a very calm and loving cat. His Mom called him Mild-Mannered Max. He was just six years old when he went to the Rainbow Bridge. He had recently visited the vet, who found nothing wrong, but he had liver cancer. I don't think anyone should get mad at the vet for not finding it, as cancer in cats is often very hard to diagnose. Max's cancer was very swift, as it only took about a month. He went to the Bridge with his Mom beside him, comforting him as best she could.  His family is missing him very much.

                                   Max went to the Bridge on his own.
                                   He closed his eyes and faced the unknown.
                                         Now he can run and play
                                         With his friends all day,
                                    But his family feels bereft and alone.

Farewell, S'more

S'more was a ten-year-old tortoiseshell with just a touch of tortietude. She was taken to that last trip to the vet when her kidneys failed to the point where she could hardly stand or walk. S'more had a rough start in life when her first family abandoned her in an apartment complex when they moved. She was starving when a nice person found her and took to her a vet's office who offered to keep her until a home could be found for her. Her forever Mom found her there and brought her home. This treatment led to a slight eating disorder. S'more would often try to eat every bit of food in her bowl as quickly as possible, which led to barfing it all up again. It took her a long time to accept that there would always be food for her in her new home. S'more just loved to give her Mom kitty kisses. She was a very loving cat and was much loved in return. She will really be missed.

                                        S'more had to be helped on her way
                                        To the Bridge where she can run and play.
                                              She'll have a great time
                                              In that place sublime,
                                        While we weep a bit 'cause she went away.

Happy Fourth of July

This is Yankee Doodle Donkey wishing all of you a very happy and safe Fourth of July. I hope that the fireworks don't upset you kitties and woofies too much and that you get lots of time with your families.