Jingles for Cat Lady - RIP

[dressagetraks]

I’ve mentioned Cat Lady, my delightful home aide client who currently has 16 cats (and who has given permission for me to post about her and them). All are happy, healthy, and socialized. This is not a kitten factory or a hoarder situation. The only kittens around are the dumped litter I found back in June - my Pharaoh comes from that litter, and the others are still with her.

It’s been three weeks today that I arrived one day to find CL in extreme pain. She finally agreed to call help, and the only reason she did it then was that I promised to feed and care for the cats if she had to stay in a few days.

She has been hospitalized since and isn’t doing well. Was perking up, but then going back down, which we are hoping was because of trying to switch IV antibiotics to oral too quickly. Best thoughts for her would be appreciated. And for the cats. I don’t think she’d think it inappropriate for me to mention the cats right along with her. She has been most concerned about them, and I have taken her pictures, one video, and even a stuffed cat (bought it for Mom but decided that CL would get more benefit from it at this point. Mom is another sad tale lately, though a more chronic and not acute one). She loved the stuffed cat, and when I visited once, she complained that a housekeeper had put him in the window but facing the frame and that he “looked sad.” I turned him to be looking out at the parking lot, like any cat looking out the window, and she said, “Oh, that’s SO much better.”

The cats. 16 cats. If she dies, I will have to try to place them. I cannot adopt 16 cats. They are fine cats and well socialized but adults except for Pharaoh’s litter, and even those are at half-grown stage now and not prime kitten cuteness. It will be a task. Of course, cat-sitting for the last 3 weeks is getting quite wearing by this point. But placing them would be a nightmare. I could take some to my farm and adopt but not all, but I promised her they would be taken care of. And those poor cats are so confused already. They know me, but they clearly cannot comprehend where she disappeared to, and they’re used to her there 24/7.

Please send a few good thoughts and prayers toward this situation. She is one sick kitten.

[Louise]

She has always sounded like such a wonderful lady. My thoughts will be with her, and with the cats. I hope that, as you say, the switch from IV to oral antibiotics was the culprit and that she will rebound. And, thank you for all you are doing for her.

[NoDQhere]

Sending prayers!! And hugs to you for being such a great friend to her and the cats. I wish I was closer to you so I could help.

[LadyNeon01]

Sending jingles to Cat Lady! I’ve enjoyed your stories about her and the cats. Hope she bounces back like a kitty!

[mvp]

Jingles for the Cat Lady indeed!

Stuffed kitteh facing the window as it should be… aww.

You know I believe in the healing power of cats and that I’m a little rough around the edges. Those ad up to sneaking a cat into the hospital for a visit. Of course, if I had 16 and I were in the ICU, that might mean something much worse… like 4 cats coming in to cause unorthodox chaos in the very clean, very serious ICU setting. And the sicker/more comatose I was, the more I’d need a cat.

[Zu_Zu]

Jingles & AO for ‘Cat Lady’ and all her cats and kittens ~

[B]

• Sunshine healing Jingles & AO for ‘Cat Lady’ and ALL her cats and kittens ~

this has worked nicely for others …

Print off some pics of her cats and kittens … regular size paper 11x13

if ICU will not allow you to tape the pics around the room then perhaps staple them together and carry with you and leave in the room … a kind of slide show to remind her …

even pics of her house or backyard anything to keep her wanting and fighting to get out !

[/B][B]Jingle Jingle Jingle & AO ~ AO ~ AO ~Always Optimistic ~

heck I would even record on my phone a video of her cats with SOUND and play and play for her ~

Bless you for helping her and all the cats and kittens… would gladly help if i lived close ~

** just try to make sure she sees the pics when she wakes up and hears their sounds if possible ~

[/B]

[mvp]

^^^

ZuZu, such nice (and better and “legal”) ideas for bringing The Essence of Cat to CL in the ICU. It sounds like more work for DressageTraks, someone who already goes to great lengths to support the aging CLs in her life. But what joy it would bring to this CL!

[eventerchick517]

I am jingling, hoping, and praying for CL. The world needs more like her.

[Callista17]

Lots of jingles for 18 of you…You, CL, and 16 babies…
If something does happen…I hope COTHers can help step up…

[suz]

I’ll be ready to adopt a couple of adult cats in January. Im in Vermont if that’s close enough.

[dressagetraks]

Thanks for the good wishes, all. She did think she had things set in case of anything - I had committed to four myself - but a few things she thought were settled have apparently moved on/changed their minds. The Sunday aide might still take the two blacks (Pharaoh’s brothers) if needed. Hopefully it won’t be.

I actually have taken several pictures for her over the last few weeks, and I took a video the other day. She saw that Tuesday night. I’ll try to print off a few pictures.

I was having a discussion this morning with Rascal. Rascal was second-to-last holdout on accepting me, but she finally did a couple of months ago. Rascal is just one of those proud, aloof, independent cats. Very attached to CL but does not choose the interact with the rest of the world, thank you. The other cats treat her with respect, and she tolerates them. Once she did decide I was okay, that was it. No slow warming up; just “okay,” and she came to me for scratches. CL said, “Rascal is an all-or-nothing girl.” I’m so glad Rascal had accepted me, because she’s been the only cat to have a mishap in the last 3 weeks. She got herself tangled up in a fly strip, and how she reached one is beyond me. They are hung from the ceiling, and it’s not low. She would have had to be just about levitating, but all of them are restless right now, of course. Anyway, she let me unwrap her, but she was looking disgusted as only a cat can look.

But Rascal of all of them, since CL has been gone, is trying to communicate. You can TELL she’s trying so hard to break the language barrier. The others are just uneasy and restless, but Rascal is a thinker, and she’s trying to comprehend this, and she knows that I have the answer. She will come to me, not meowing or rubbing against my hand for scritches, but just looking steadily at me, like, “You can explain this. If we try harder, we’ll connect.” Very intelligent, she is. I like Rascal more all the time. Of course, I have told them what is going on, but we’re speaking two different languages. The others have given up and are at “ATTENTION! ATTENTION! WE NEED ATTENTION! We don’t know why she left, but pet us NOW!!!” Rascal wants to understand it all.

Then there’s Tina, the brain-damaged at birth half-psychotic wild child. That cat simply does not react as cats do, and she’s not sweetly confused like many mentally challenged people are; she’s agitated and barely touchable by CL herself. In all her life, several years, she has never improved per CL. She was the last holdout as far as me. But during this hospitalization, Tina has finally let me touch her, I think just because she’s desperate for contact and isn’t getting any. She won’t settle and purr, and she paces restlessly and hisses as I pet her, but she doesn’t leave the zip code, either. I reported that to CL in the hospital, and CL said she’s like that even with her. She wants petting (sometimes) but still will never settle to it. She just seems to be missing a few marbles. Me petting several of the cats, including Tina, was the video I shot for CL as “proof.” I might conceivably be able to catch Tina, something I would never have said three weeks ago, but really, she wouldn’t fit in my environment at all, and I think taking her away from the only home she’s known would freak her out more. She lives at half freak-out anyway. Probably the best thing I could do for Tina is to have her put to sleep.

Hopefully none of this will be necessary yet. CL isn’t all that old. On the other hand, my Mom is only 71. Sigh.

[dressagetraks]

By the way, we’re in Missouri.

[Zu_Zu]

Missouri !!! east west north south ???

the ‘Show Me’ state !!
east west north south ?

Jingles & AO continue for ALL !!!

QUOTE=dressagetraks;8379894]By the way, we’re in Missouri.[/QUOTE]

[dressagetraks]

Southwest.

[Zu_Zu]

great ! Keep us posted !

some Cothers ‘around’

scream when you need help ~ please don’t hesitate !

• many ways to help …

pm … would like to send a card to the hospital …

bless you for helping her ! and her ‘treasures’ ~

[QUOTE=dressagetraks;8379939]
Southwest. :)[/QUOTE]

[dressagetraks]

Here is one of the pictures I took recently to take to her. Group shot at feeding time - not the entire crew, but some of them will not eat communally. These are the “fresh food!!!” ones. In the foreground are Elvis (gray and white) and Rascal (tortoise shell with back to camera).

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk8/dressagetraks/Cat%20Ladys%20Cats_zpsz9vpb9gr.jpg

[wireweiners]

Jingles for the cat lady from another cat lady.

[cayuse]

Jingles and prayers sent to the cat lady, caretakers and kitties.

[Louise]

Oh, Rascal is a tortie. That goes a long way towards explaining her 'tude. Any more word on how the Cat Lady is doing?

[dressagetraks]

Rascal is all-over tortie except for a white chin that makes her continually look like she just had milk. Gorgeous green eyes. I’ll try to get a front shot of her tomorrow.

No change with CL.