pet love...

We love our pets around here.....really do

There are furry friends and not so furry friends.

but they are loved all the same.  This is my oldest son's pet, Sonic the bearded dragon.    He eats crickets and veggies....he is just generally cool.

It's pet week at i heart faces so I had to share some pet love.  Now I am going to go snuggle with Bob the bulldog in bed.

good-bye Felix

Grieve not,

nor speak of me with tears,

but laugh and talk of me as if I were beside you.

I loved you so

it was heaven here with you.

-Isla Paschal Richardson

Tonight out sweet cat, Felix, left this world.   

We surrounded him.....comforted him.

So thankful he had come home to be with us.  That he waited for us to come home tonight before his sweet spirit left this world.

Felix's life was a short life....but a special one.  

2 years ago our friend found Felix and his sister on the median of the highway near our house.  

It was days after we had lost our dog, Blue.   I saw them and new they weren't going to the Humane Society.  My heart was hurting from the loss of our dog and those kittens came home and filled our heavy hearts.

They were wild kittens, only a few weeks old, very hungry and very sick.  

We nursed them back to health.   His sister went home to live with our neighbors and Felix to live with us.

He was so small, so sweet and spunky.  He loved the kids...loved them so much he would always let them hold him, slept with them.  He was the kind of cat that rubbed your leg and would roll over in front of you so you could scratch his belly.   He was the kind of cat that followed us around the yard and when we would go on walks.   He was the kind of cat that was a bottomless pit....could never fill that belly.  And his belly showed it.   He loved to play with Bob the bulldog.   His favorite sleeping spot was in bed with Judson.

Recently, he had been using the new carpet as a litter box and became a "garage kitty".  

That is, his box and food were in the garage.

He loved being outside for his "kitty adventures", but he was always stayed close.   Rarely gone long enough to miss a meal.
Then a few days ago he had been been gone a couple days, hadn't been coming home for food.  

Not like him.   

I knew something was wrong.
It was.  Yesterday came home so lethargic.  So weak.  

Now I believe he had come home to be with us.  

I brought him into the vet this morning.  He was terribly anemic.  His level was a 10.....VERY low.  The vet said his blood was like water.  Normal level is 28.   So we decided to attack this with meds and force fed him.   The diagnosis is likely "Hemobart".   I have never heard of it....but it attacks the blood cells.   He could have contracted this disease from a flea or a bite from another cat.   

12 hours after the vet appointment, 2 doses of meds and force feedings, it was clear it was too late to stop this disease.  

We were all with him....surrounded him with our love.   Said good-bye to our sweet kitty.
too soon to go, but in his short life gave us so many memories, so much love.
The boys loved you so much....their hearts are hurting...  
all of our hearts are.
Felix the cat.... you will be missed forever and remembered always.

Cat Drama

I have CAT DRAMA.

We have 2 black cats.....and I think both decided our brand new carpet was perfect for their pee and poo.

Meet Cecil....our beloved 14 year old cat who has been with us since our first year of marraiage.  He has seen it all and has been the most wonderful cat.   He has also become more and more nuerotic with age, but who doesn't, really?  These days he talks (meow, meow, meow) incessantly to us when he wants to be fed or wants water from the sink.   I know, the sink.  That is gross, but for some reason I indulge him.  Want to keep him well hydrated to live as long as possible.   Maybe I am the crazy one.  But I think Cecil may be losing it.   He has never had any major issues other than a his back teeth last year, which is totally resolved after removal.  

He has been such an easy pet, so loving and soooo easy.   

But recently he has decided that the basement is a great place to pee.....and not in his cat box which was a mere 15 feet away.  Oh no.  He has been using the carpet. And not just any carpet.....my NEW carpet!!!   That's right BRAND.NEW.CARPET.  

I have recently banned Cecil to the back section of the house where our bedroom and office are.   His food, his box are all there now, which I also don't particularily like in my space.  But I am TRYING to keep him there...all of his needs are met there: he can get water from the bathroom sink, he can snuggle with us at night and he can bask in the sun from the sky lights.    But now there is an issue of keeping him in there....he is a keen escape artist like any cat, but seems to be accepting his new place in life.

It is making me crazy that it is  NEW carpet installed recently after we paid money to transport my in-laws pool table (VERY HEAVY) to our home.  New carpet that we installed so we wouldn't have to replace it again after the pool table was installed!  NEW CARPET!    @#%@!

Now I feel like the neurotic one.....constantly sniffing, SMELLING FOR IT.  

Sometimes on my hands and knees sniffing to find any spots.  nice visual.

Purchasng multiple urine out products and using the wet vaccuum on it!

It seems useless.

 I am beside myself and it is driving me crazy. 

To make it more complicated we have another black cat, Felix.  I have also banned him from the house beause I believe he is involved and may be the one who started it.  He is to be a "garage cat" because I am also certain he is apart of this drama.  We are trying to just keep him in the garage, but he is highly motivated to sneak in.  Ugh.  He is also a wonderful cat and loves the kids...   our neighbor found Felix ans his sister in the median of the highway near our house.  He was tiny and since he has been with the kids since such a young age loves them, follows them around the yard and even lays by the pool to be near them.

 I can hardly think of the alternative to stop this...I can't even say it out loud here, but it is on my mind and I hate it and cried about it and hate it.

thoughts? cat loving people out there?  honestly, what would you do?  They are both perfectly healthy cats.   Do we keep them sanctioned out of the house?   Get some kind of carpet or door zapper?   I don't think this behavior is going to stop. ugh.