Cat profile for Sebastian, a male Domestic Shorthair

Domestic Shorthair

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Home:Schuylkill Haven, PA

Age: 4 Years Sex: Male Weight: 14 lbs.

Catster stats for Sebastian


Stars:

Leave a treat for Sebastian

Nicknames:
Sabs, Sabatini

Kitty Complexion:

Activeness

sleepy		very active

Intelligence

silly		genius

Curiosity

not curious		very curious

Friendliness

timid		affectionate

Vocal

not vocal		very vocal

Quick Bio:

-cat rescue

Coloration:
Orange & White Tabby

Likes:
food, scratches on the belly, sleeping, purring like a madman

Pet-Peeves:
loud noises

Favorite Toy:
his stuffed hedgehog

Favorite Nap Spot:
wherever we happen to be, often on the recliner in the living room (as seen by all the whitish-orange fur on the cushion) and on our bed

Favorite Food:
homemade chicken food

Skills:
Yes, he's VERY talented! He readily comes when called, he can do flips and throw his toys amazing distances, he is the only alarm clock that could wake us up at 4 am, his purr has medicinal qualities

Dwells:
indoors

Arrival Story:
A friend of ours was feeding a pregnant feral that started coming around their house in the country. She gave birth under one of their bushes (the cat, not our friend) in August 2007. Sebastian is one of the three kids. When they were about 5 months old (and we got back from our honeymoon...yeah, we decided to have "kids" right away) our friend tried to capture the kittens. Our friends kept and spayed one (her name is Marvelline), and easily captured Sabs' sister Belle in a pillowcase. Sabs was a tougher to catch (we had Belle for over a week before we got Sebastian) and required a live trap baited with some tuna. Once we got him home and he got adjusted, he's the sweetest, most lovey guy on four feet. We got him and Belle fixed as soon as possible (obviously), which I think, in part, helped him mellow out (we were afraid he would spray, but he never did. He's been perfect). He still has some of his feral "skittishness" in him, but he's still young and getting braver all the time :-) Sabs is a scaredy cat around people he doesn't know, but he is a Velcro kitty with us! He just wants to be with us all the time, and always seems to know when we need a snuggle. He sleeps at our feet at night, and purrs himself to sleep. What a sweetie!

Bio:
Recently, Sabs accidentally fell through the screen on the window and found himself outside for the first time in two years. He panicked, and ran into the woods behind our house. We followed him for as long as we could, but it soon got too thick for us to get through as he kept going deeper and deeper. We had a live trap set on our back porch for four days, and we thought he was gone for good. We were discouraged when we saw a tom cat hanging out on our property on the fourth night, and we thought that it was him that was eating the bait off the trap without setting it off (we believe he belongs to someone in the trailer park a half mile away from us. He roams all over, so we doubt he's fixed) But later, on the fourth night, we heard the trap go off. We were expecting to see the other cat or maybe a raccoon, but we caught our wonderful Sabs! I literally jumped for joy. He's down to 7 lives now. The ordeal that brought him to 8 lives left also affected his sister Belle. I know now to check the ASPCA toxic plants list before I bring anything into the house. My favorite flower used to be a peace lily, until one morning I found some of the leaves of my favorite houseplant chewed off and thrown up on the carpet. Both Belle and Sebastian were acting really strange, so I quick googled if lilies were poisonous to cats. They are. Extremely. Lilies can cause irreversible kidney damage in a couple hours, and full blown acute kidney failure and death not long after that. I rushed them to the vet, and they were started on IV fluids. The vet said since cats have such a fast metabolism, the toxin was most likely already in their bloodstream and vomiting/charcoal wouldn't do anything. I asked her to try anyway. She attempted several times to make them vomit but they couldn't. They had about a 30% chance of surviving. All weekend, they were under constant emergency vet supervision, receiving the IV fluids the entire time (trying to flush the toxin from their systems). On Monday morning, we took them home, with the warning that there was nothing more they could do and we would soon know if the toxin was gone. We weren't quite prepared to lose both our babies; each day that went by without one of them dying was a miracle. After a week, we were pretty sure that both of them would pull through. 9 months later, they're still doing great and we're so thankful for that. Moral of the story: NEVER BRING ANY KIND OF LILY INTO YOUR HOUSE OR YARD (ESPECIALLY IF YOUR CAT GOES OUT). THIS WAS A HEARTBREAKING ORDEAL THAT COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN AVOIDED. I hate peace lilies now.

Lives Remaining:
7 of 9

Forums Motto:
the man of the house