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Coloration: Calico
Likes: Stalking the ever elusive mama around the house until she can sit on her
Pet-Peeves: -Hates to be picked up unless on HER terms - hates day-old food - hates having mama gone to SCA/camping/work (anything where she can't find the mama)
Favorite Toy: She only likes her "official" kitty tease, and then only when SHE'S in the mood
Favorite Nap Spot: on the back of the couch, on my lap, in any available sunbeam
Favorite Food: She *loves* chicken/turkey, and cheese. Which she can no longer have. She's rather peeved about that.
Skills: She can talk - occasionally says "ma-ma", and she waves if she wants your attention. She also climbs ladders.
Dwells:
indoors
Arrival Story: I ended up being owned by the cat at the ripe old age of 11 or 12 - she was barely 3 months old, and we'd found her in the street. After searching for several weeks around the neighborhood for a home, she came back to us and stayed ever since. She was originally named by her gramma, who gave her the namesake of "Shades of Belle" - the first calico we owned, when I was too young to remember. Shady started out as, literally, the ugliest kitten we'd ever seen - Her ears were WAY too big for her, her back legs were too long, and her tail was endless - we were afraid she would never grow into herself. We began calling her princess because we were afraid she would have a complex, but it became clear after a while that she got one anyway - this time of the OPPOSITE that we'd feared.
Bio: She used to groom my father's hair when he'd sit and watch the telly at night. She's also been known to actually guard the house, and can understand up to 40 different words and phrases including no, yes, wait, lead the way, hungry, cheese, chicken, catnip, food, sunshine, bird, out, and good girl. She walks like a raccoon most times, sort of slumped over and waddling, and she paddles in the toilet if the seat is left up in order to clean her feet after visiting her litter box.
Forums Motto: We are NOT amused.
The Groups I'm In: 10 YEARS OR OVER??? DOGS or CATS, CRF Support Group, kidney cats, Older Felines of the Pac NW, sassy cats of sassafrass
The Last Forum I Posted In: My dearest of friends... how it hurts...
Health: She is no longer with us - after 8 months battling with renal failure, having regular sub-Q injections and diet changes, her little body simply gave.
Shady's mama here... After a month of grieving, and a few more weeks of consideration, Fred and I have decided to head over to the local Humane Society and see if we can be adopted again.
I think it's a good time - I am no longer weepy, but instead remember all the good times with Shady, and the funny little quirks she had. Also, it's a few months before we have another new addition, our new baby girl, Elizabeth, due on February 1st. Time enough for a furry friend to get used to the house, the noises and the people, and then being able to introduce him or her to the new baby in stages.
So, wish us luck in being found by another wonderful fuzzy baby - I'm a firm believer that we will not adopt them, but they will, instead, insist on adopting us.
So, the vet says that if we give Shady the Lactulose (a major stool softener), as well as continue on with her normal food regimine, Shady should be fine. It apparently isn't a prolapse, or if it is, the vet doesn't feel that it's overly concerning at this point because it's so small... And the Lactulose should help with everything, as long as we keep her on a daily routine of giving it to her twice a day.
She hates it, but she quickly forgives me for giving her the nasty, sticky crap. I tried talking to her last night, and telling her if she really *did* need to leave, then we understood and it was ok... Don't ever tell me that pets can't understand waht you're saying. She got up, glared at me, and went to a corner to sulk, back turned toward me for a good two hours. Every so often she'd look over her shoulder as if to say "See? This is what I think of THAT suggestion!". She forgave me an hour after she came out of the corner, and has been quietly talking to me ("mrrrp - murple-murp") ever since.
I do know that it's only a matter of time, and I am (mostly) ok with letting her go. However, if the vet feels that she's going to do fine with something as unintrusive as Lactulose and the occasional sub-q, then I will do that - obviously, SHE feels fairly strongly currently about NOT leaving quite yet.
Shady's mama here. It's been a while since we last updated here. Things got really hectic, and we had been hoping Shady was getting slowly better.
Unfortunately, it seems as though the impacted and distended bowel she had been diagnosed with and suffering from for some time now has caught up with her. She now has the beginnings of a prolapsed colon, and there is no way to fix it without major surgery - which she is too old to endure.
Monday morning we will be calling the local vet to get a prognosis and possibly to send her to sleep. She is in such pain and is so uncomfortable - neither my dh or I can stand seeing her like this any further. Her quality of life has gone to a point of almost nonexistance.
I feel so blessed to have had her in my life for 21 years, and my dh fell in love with her when he first met her 2 years ago, and has continued his adoration throughout her trials and troubles. Yet, at the same time, I feel an immense emptiness in my heart at thinking of her not being there when I get home at night, of not having my head stepped on in the morning during her demand for food...
I know that it will be for the best, as she does not deserve to live in pain, but instead have dignity and love, remembering both my dh and myself as loving creatures who cared for her to the very end. It does not, however, lessen the grief we both feel at having to say goodbye. We were both hoping to have her for a few months longer, at least until the baby arrived.
I will be holding her to me for as long as I can, cuddling her to me and making sure she knows I love her. And we shall see...
Images..
Silken fur
Green-gold eyes
Pretty poses all for mama
Head bumps
purrs of love
Paws patting on face
Scolding when late
Inspecting paintjobs
Climbing ladders for high perches
Jack-rabbit long legs
big, big ears
long tail wrapped around you
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