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Posts Tagged ‘cats’

Rude Awakening

Posted in Lifes Observations, tagged , , , on February 27, 2010| 6 Comments »

Saturday started off normal enough.  Got up at the regular time of 5:30am to let the dog do her thing and make breakfast for the pets.  As I crawled back into bed I noticed it was very warm in our room so I cracked one window open about an inch and half figuring that would let the cool air in while keeping the snow and wind out.

A few hours later I’m suddenly awake, my wife is asking telling me there is a bird in the room.  The six cats are jumping off the shelves, dresser and bed, launching themselves at the low ceiling and windows as a little bird zooms around the room.  My wife and I fly out of bed and ‘join’ and by join I mean ‘add’ to the pandemonium.  My wife decides to put all the cats in the bathroom so we can rescue the bird safely.  Putting the plan in motion she grabs a cat and in the bathroom it goes, I’m quick on her heels with another cat.  Two in, four to go.  In the back of my head I hear the voice of worry, is it really a good idea to shove six excited cats who don’t really get along into a tiny bathroom together?  My wife opens the bathroom door to toss in a third cat, in the process the first two escape.  I snag another cat, but when I open the bathroom door I free the captive cat in the process.  Keep in mind we went from a dead sleep to total pandemonium to the implementation of a plan in mere moments. 

“Wait!, where is the bird?” I asked. In the moment I took to try to get a better grasp of the situation I noticed that while the cats were still excited they seemed to be looking for the bird and not finding it.  Could it have found its way back out the window?  We stopped and looked and listened.  No sign of the bird surely if it was still in the room the cats would know, but they were also looking.  My wife went to open the curtains a little wider and she noticed Trouble staring intently, following his gaze my wife spotted the bird on a shelf.  Everybody spotted it at the same time.  Once again chaos ensues.  Now we were a little more awake the task was to toss the cats into the living room.  Once again every time we got a cat out the door, the previously evicted cat would sneak back in.  Finally we got all the cats clear of the room and opened up all the bedroom windows as wide as we could.  Once again we lost track of the dang bird!

As I am starting to freeze to death in our room my wife says to me, “Do you think the bird flew into the living room while we had the door open?” We look stupidly at one another, my wife heads into the living room while I keep watch in the bedroom.  Half a minute later I hear through the closed-door, “The bird is out here”  As I step out the door my wife is heading towards me with a cat in her arms, “Cats back in the bedroom” she calls out as she starts to pass me.

“Wait!” I yell in a panicked voice, “windows in the bedroom are wide open”

“Shit”

I ran back into the unbelievably cold bedroom and closed all the windows.  Once again we were faced with the task of herding all six cats through another door.  This time we had the added benefit of the dog howling away in the laundry room.  Finally we managed to separate the bird from the cats.  The bird (a Carolina wren) seemed to be in good condition and we managed to gently usher it through the door.  My wife and I sat down and took a collective deep breath. After a minute or so of silence I asked,  “So, breakfast at Denny’s?”

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Snow dog

Posted in Lifes Observations, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 10, 2010| 9 Comments »

Seriously
What can she possibly be thinking about

I told myself when I started writing this blog that I would not do stuff like this.  But I think I will and I won’t make apologies.  My wife, myself, our dog and six cats are inside on this blustery cold night.  We are all well fed and warm.

Sequoia is very lucky, if she wants to get out of the snow, the wet and the cold she certainly can.  If she takes one step backwards she is out of the falling snow as she is on a covered deck.  A few more steps backwards and she can jump onto her lounge chair.  She also knows that if she wants in the house all she has to do is let out a few howls and we would let her come inside.  The simple fact is she likes to be out in the snow and the cold.  She is after all, a husky, and this is the season of the husky. One shake of the coat and all that snow is gone.  Slip your hand past the guard hairs and she is dry.  During this season you can’t even feel her skin due to the thickness of her undercoat.  If you call her she just turns her head and gives you the ‘come on let’s go play in the snow look’  She will not go hungry and there is always clean water available for her.  

Not all dogs and cats are this lucky. There are thousands of dogs and cats suffering out there without homes, they don’t have fresh water or a steady supply of food they can’t get out of the elements and they are without a voice.  The majority are alone and unwanted.  Please take a moment and give them a thought.  If you are a pet owner and have not yet had your pet spayed or neutered then get it done, tomorrow.  Believe it or not your pet does not need to experience parenthood, that is your ego, your emotion not your pets.  Truth is there are enough pets already out there for everybody to own numerous times over.  Don’t deny them that chance by just adding to the pet population, adding to the problem.  If you are looking for a pet then adopt one from the SPCA or any shelter.  Want a purebred?  Guess what for every breed of dog there is a rescue organization that deals exclusively with that particular breed. Not only are they purebreds they are a fraction of the cost and more important they need a home.  Please don’t be a part of the problem, contemplating a pet? Excellent, but be a part of the solution.

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Trouble

Posted in Lifes Observations, tagged , , , , on January 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Standing in the parking lot at the grocery store in Phillipsburg my wife announced that she was ready for a kitten (see Fate Or Circumstance, Part 1) and I rebutted that I wanted a dog. Who knew it was a magical parking lot? 

August of Nine years ago we were still trying to find a home for Husky when the Trouble began!

We were just about to take our exit off the highway when my wife yelled, KITTEN! I pointed the car to the shoulder of the road, hit the brakes then checked the rearview mirror. “Where is the kitten?” I asked as we got out of the car.

“Over in the bushes on the other side of the road”

 “sigh”

Just as home is always up hill, everything else seems to be on the other side of the highway.  Sure enough I looked at where she was pointing and there the kitten sat meowing bloody murder.  Our experience has been that when you approach cats on the side of the road they tend to turn and run, so the plan was simple, I would head around on the diagonal and try to loop around behind while my wife took the direct approach.  I went my way, my wife waited a beat and went her way.  The kitten had plans of its own and made a direct charge across the road into my wife’s arms and promptly bit her on the wrist.  If cats could talk this one would have been telling us. ‘What the hell took you so freakin’ long!’ We made sure none of his litter mates were hanging around and then headed home.

From day one the cat was trouble and was so named.  He didn’t get along well with others,  he was strong, he was ornery and he was not afraid to use his teeth and claws.  This one we were definitely adopting out.  When adopting out an animal our first priority of course is to find a good home.  There is no use placing an animal in an environment that isn’t better than the previous situation.  We were starting to realize Trouble was going to be a difficult case.  There is no doubt that he would take one bite out of somebody and he would find himself back on the wrong side of the door.  It made sense that this was how he first wound up on the side of the road.  We took him to our trusty vet Lee and there were no parasites, no worms, not a tick or flea to be found.  Somebody probably decided that he was just too much to handle and had recently dumped him.

Trouble was a pain in the ass, because of that he spent most of his nights locked in the bathroom, otherwise around two in the morning we would all pay the price.  The other ‘problem’ was he could charm the pants off the devil.  Didn’t matter how scared our arms and hands were from his scratching or how sleep deprived we were from his night time antics,  it didn’t matter how he would torment the other cats all he had to do was turn on his charm and your heart melted. 

At four months old Trouble weighed in at five pounds and to the relief of all our vet agreed to have him neutered.  Nine years later Trouble weighs in at 18 pounds of solid muscle.

I admit we didn’t look too hard to find Trouble a home.  First because of his disposition most sane people would have booted him out the door.  Second, Trouble just has that certain charm. While he has calmed down some he can still raise a little hell.  Not long ago we added Gumdrop (our latest cat) into the mix and for months Trouble would simply not let Gumdrop on the floor!

Obviously it all worked out and some might accuse me of anthropomorphism but I think Trouble appreciates the fact that we love him for who he is and on his terms.  Every night after my wife and I settle into bed Trouble runs up between us for his nightly hug and then heads to the foot of the bed where he sleeps curled up behind my knees.

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Lazy Sunday

Posted in Lifes Observations, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 24, 2010| 3 Comments »

It was a difficult week at work, and it doesn’t look like it is going to change in the near future.  But it is Sunday and I’m not worrying about it, just enjoying a lazy day.  I am sitting with my feet up reclining under a blanket on my recliner. We are catching up on some tv watching and I’m wondering what the next post on my blog will be about. A cat is lying down in the crook of my arm, my wife is beside me working on her cross-stitch, dinner is in the crockpot smelling wonderful, dog is lazing on the deck. It is a Norman Rockwell moment.

Suddenly the house explodes in pandemonium.  The dog is on her feet thundering down the deck snarling and growling, hitting the end of the zipline so hard that her paws came out from under her bringing to a sudden stop on her back. Inside the cats are on full alert, hair standing on edge, tails fluffed twice their normal size.  I’m already half way out of my chair untangling myself from my blanket, my wife is on my heels.  Something is going down outside and it’s not pleasant.  I’m expecting to see a full-blown dog fight.  Husky doesn’t like other dogs and its even worse when they are on her territory and very little else causes this kind of reaction.  I step out the door and there is Husky at the end of the porch, while there is no sign of another animal she is clearly agitated and looking down the driveway.

At the end of the porch I grab husky as I look in the direction she is looking, keeping just out of her reach are 3 soaking wet, half-grown english bulldogs.  I grabbed husky and brought her into the house while my wife checked on the three stooges.  With a little food my wife manged to coax the stooges into Husky’s kennel where we could keep them contained and safe. Now, it just so happens that at the end of our street there is a guy who breeds old english bulldogs.

We hop in the car, minus the dogs as there is no way I’m letting three soaking wet muddy dogs into our vehicle, and no, we don’t have his number. It turns out the family had just gotten home from a shopping trip.  He knew the dogs had escaped but he decided the dogs would probably find their own way home and if not he would look for them once he got back. I’m not sure how going shopping would be more important than looking for three of your lost dogs but a lot of things I don’t understand. Luckily, everything worked out in the end, as it usually does.  Eventually the adrenalin stopped pumping (except for Husky who is still agitated)  and we were able to settle down and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. 

This serves as another example of how one moment you are happily relaxing secure in your life enjoying your time when bam, suddenly even if only for a short time your life can be tossed into sudden upheaval.

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The First Time

Posted in Lifes Observations, tagged , , , , , on January 6, 2010| 7 Comments »

In post Number Ten I said that the end can usually be found in the beginning.  No matter how much we learn, how much we do, how many changes we endure I am becoming more and more convinced that the above statement is true.  Of course I can’t know that for sure as I’m not yet at the end, possibly the middle because now and again I get a hankering for a shiny red car, but thats another story.  

 I was talking to my oldest friend the other day and it sparked the memory of  his cat Skippy.  I am happy to report that Skippy lived a very long and luxurious life.  

The year was early high school and on most days I could be found hanging out at Richard’s house.

As Rich and I were leaving school I looked down into some bushes and there sitting ever so quietly was the cutest little grey kitten. Never before had I seen something so adorable and so pathetic.  It was all grey except for a white patch on his chest and huge polydactyl paws, that is, he had an extra toe on each front foot, a massive head and a tiny body.   I picked him up and looked at Rich, we knew there was no way I could take him home, but Rich had that look in his eye, he already had a plan.  We carried the cat 3 miles to Richard’s house and Skippy to his credit only panicked once while we crossed a busy street.

Once we got home I realized the brilliant plan Richard devised was to carry the cat home and figure out the rest when we got there. Skippy gobbled down the milk and Kraft singles we gave him and then explored the house. We knew Richard’s mother was due home soon so we put the cat outside and put more cheese on the porch so he would know which house to hang around of course Skippy gobbled down the cheese (so no evidence was left) as we headed to our usual spot in the basement. Richard only knew he couldn’t let his mother know that we brought the cat home.  The plan quickly became the ‘cat? what cat?’ plan.

We heard the front door open.

“Boys, there is a little grey kitten at the front door do you know anything about it?” we both went running upstairs to see the kitten that we ‘had never seen before’ . “Mom can we keep it?” was Richard’s plea, and of course the answer was no but we were not allowed to just abandon it we had to find the owner, our task was first to knock on all the doors in the neighbourhood and to call the local paper and put an ad in the lost pets section. We did as we were told, picking up the cat and knocking on doors knowing that there was no way anybody in the area owned this kitten after all it was found 3 miles away.  But Richard’s mother was watching us from the porch so there was no getting around it. Nobody of course had ever seen the cat before.

We were allowed to bring the cat in but had to keep it in the garage. We called the paper and placed the ad just as Richards dad came home. I always had trouble understanding him because of his heavy german accent but he was able to make himself  very clear this time,  the cat was to stay in the garage and under no circumstances was that cat allowed any further into the house.

The following day was Saturday, as usual Rich and I got together at his house, imagine my surprise to find the cat in the basement not the garage. Richard’s father relented and allowed the cat into the basement, but in no way was that cat allowed upstairs. 

By Monday morning Skippy had a name,  Mr. that cat is not leaving the garage had named the cat but it was some german name that nobody could pronounce luckily we were able to change the name to Skippy (because Rich saw him chasing a squirrel but the kitten was not running, he was skipping)  Mr. That cat is not leaving the garage not only named the cat but was now allowing the cat to sleep on the bed and rule the house and pretty much claimed the cat as his own.  Richard’s mother had gone to the butcher to buy chicken livers for Skippy which from that day forwards always topped off his cat food.  It quickly became the norm for Skippy to peruse the people food and only after determining that it was not better than his food could we all eat in peace.

All those years ago I never even thought about animal rescue, I was much to busy just trying to survive high school. It is only a good twenty-five years and many rescue’s later that I realized Skippy was my first rescue.  And now animal rescue which I only got involved in 10 years ago has partially defined who I am today.

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