uh oh. Is that Rascal?
Yep. My overnight trap caught Rascal. She was sitting there in a cat loaf simply waiting but looking at me with a “this situation is your fault” expression. I did tell them yesterday to leave it alone. I baited it with marshmallows, which cats aren’t supposed to like while raccoons are supposed to love. On the other hand, why should I have normal cats?
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Here’s Gracie having a nap on the porch this evening. She’s now 14 and is just such a lovely cat. We miss Visitor horribly, but are happy to have Gracie.
She was treated with radioactive iodine for her hyperthyroidism in April. Her levels were off the charts. By July she was on the low end of normal, and I fear she’s now gone hypOthyroid on us. She’s a chonk, and she doesn’t eat that much, about 1/3 cup dry food and 1/4 can of wet food per day.
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Just got something out of a closet quickly, then turned around. This is almost all of the indoor cats of the farm. Solo was there, too; just out of frame (on top of a bookcase to my left).
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A few recent pictures of Rascal.
I’m still so grateful for timing with this cat. Of all of Cat Lady’s cats, she was the one who was untouchable - not spooked but proudly aloof. Cat Lady was her ONE person in the universe, and per CL, she had always been that way. I saw her six days a week for months, no progress, although all of Cat Lady’s other cats loved me. Then one day, Rascal just hopped up on a piece of furniture next to where I was working and presented her ears to be scratched. CL and I both were surprised at the gesture. 0 to 60 on that day. It was very shortly after that that CL became sick and then, after a long hospital stay, died. If Rascal hadn’t become friends with me before CL left, I never would have caught this cat to move her along with the rest of the pride to my farm. She remains unsociable with anybody and anything else, other than me. The one-person cat who became a two-person cat right in the nick of time.
Marvelous cat and quite a character. It’s been seven years this year since Cat Lady died. I imagine her sometimes looking down, seeing Rascal out on a walk with me, and smiling.
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Begging the question: who adopted who?
She is a very cool cat and clearly loves you.
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My favorite picture of the two of us.
Also, when I returned to my office desk after a lunch break today, I found a special delivery. The indoor cats often deliver the fish to my desk, both when I’m present and when I’m absent. This isn’t one of the mechanized floppy ones, more like a small pillow, but they love it.
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I have one like that that only one of my cats “plays” with and drags thru the house. I’m not sure if it’s prey or her baby. Silly cats…they love you and bring you prezzies.
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The indoor cats getting a can as a treat. I have a friend whose cat died, and she gave me all her food and litter.
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I was cooking breakfast a while ago. Scrambled eggs and turkey bacon this morning. The bacon was in the microwave. I scrambled the eggs on the front burner of the stove with Atticus on the counter on the other side of the stove watching alertly. So counter with microwave, stove (me), counter between stove and fridge, Atticus.
The eggs got done, and I put them in a plate along with the bacon from the microwave. Put the plate with eggs and bacon on top of the microwave. At this point, I needed to replace the egg carton in the fridge and get myself a glass of water. Not wanting to carry my breakfast plate while doing that (I get my grace at the cross, as Mom used to say; I have none otherwise), I put the plate on top of the microwave. I had moved the egg skillet, still hot, to the back burner of the stove, and the front burner of the stove, just turned off, was still very hot.
So I figured it was safe to move away from the plate for just a few seconds. I’m aware that the Second Feline Commandment about food being mine only applies when I am in direct custody of it. Sabra alone respected that rule for its own sake; I could have set a turkey dinner down in front of her, called it mine, and left the room, and she wouldn’t have touched it. All subsequent cats only follow the rule while I’m within a foot of the plate. But in this case, Atticus was on the other side of the stove and would have to cross the hot skillet in back or even hotter burner in front to get to the counter next to the microwave. Surely he wouldn’t do that.
As I put the egg carton back in the fridge, he was eyeing that plate most intently, took a step forward, then stopped with whiskers twitching in heat alert. I turned my back to fill my water glass from the sink. Sensing movement behind me, I turned back around, and there was Atticus neatly tightrope walking the handle on the oven door, bypassing the hot stove while still proceeding along the route to the land of turkey bacon.
I yelled no, and he stopped and then jumped down from the oven door handle. Part of me wishes I had a video of him carefully in single paw file walking along that handle, but by the time I could have taken one, he would have reached the other counter.
Never underestimate the ingenuity of cats.
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Satin and Bagheera. Isn’t it wonderful how siblings love each other? (They are just playing; they are quite friendly.)
Solo reminding me that in 27 minutes, it will be time to feed the cats.
Cotton in a tree
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I have started my Christmas rug project. With supervision, of course. The rug is a cat under a Christmas tree looking mischievous. You can see two indentations in the green line going from left toward the center. Those are where paws go.
And Rascal the woods cat this morning.
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I called the vet to make Cory an appointment yesterday.
A few weeks ago, she came up with what looked like an abraded nose, although it is very hard to get a close inspection. She was still eating, drinking, purring, talking when petted, and acting normal, so I figured she bumped her nose on something.
However, it simply hasn’t healed. In fact, it looks more raw/slightly lopsided than it did. Something is not right here. And then I connected up that Cory is the cat with a history of cancer about the head, which is why she had an ear amputated some years ago. What if this isn’t an injury but is a return of the cancer in a new spot?
So I called the vet. Went through easily a 10-minute conversation with the receptionist, who was carefully asking all sorts of questions trying to triage this. The nose itself or just drainage through it? No, it’s the nose itself. Or both; I could easily be missing a few details. Eating/drinking? Yes, she acts absolutely like herself. She will not let me near this, though. I cannot really examine it alone. They, of course, have her medical records from the original cancer. Breathing as usual? Yes, no odd sound or faster rate.
In the end, the receptionist classified her as mid level (really needs to get an appointment but not an emergency), which I agreed with. She has an appointment in the surgery roster for the 5th for sedation and an exam under anesthesia where they can really look at it and evaluate what we’re dealing with.
We’ll see from there. Hopefully, it is indeed an injury, just a weird one, and is treatable. But if the cancer has recurred, there is no way that we could amputate her nose. When I drop her off that morning, I will tell them that if it isn’t treatable, just let her go. I do think this is bothering her some, as she is extremely protective of the site on attempted exam by me.
(Note: Not current pictures)
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Cory
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