refalo.com

Sukhi is back on antibiotics for her gums. The vet suggested the second round. Her gums looked great both times while she was on antibiotics. I’m looking into a number of other things to try on an ongoing basis. I really am not looking forward to learning to brush her teeth. Her mouth is very private. I joined a yahoo group in hopes someone there has been through something similar. No cat care help so far but they are all about sharing cat pictures. I can’t help myself….

Click to join CatsWorld_KittenTales

I wish I had the restraint to pick just one. Sukhi couldn’t leave the flower arrangement alone. Both Paul & I took pictures of her. As you can see, there is no room for her to sit there, probably 2 whole inches of table back there.

I dropped her off this morning (Friday) to get her teeth cleaned. She has bad gums and grubby teeth. I’m a little worried because they have to put her under to do it.

She is at Bethany Family Vet Clinic where she went when she was a Foster Cat. They remembered her when I called and were pleased she was placed. Bethany charges half what our Lake Oswego Vet does.

No food for Sukhi after 10 pm last night. She was hungry and fussy this morning. There was an Orange Tabby at the Vet whose back legs were paralyzed. He was a good scooter and very good natured.

Sukhi is fine. They extracted 6 teeth. We have 10 days of medicine which is going to be no fun for us. Ear drops and antibiotics.

I’ve figured out how to do the antibotics. I use a syringe and don’t try to give her more than .4 ml at a time. The ear drops are a disaster. She turns in to the Spiderman villan Venom.

Oh the afternoon nap …

Found this cat bed the day after Paul said I could pick out a cat. I was afraid that she wouldn’t use it. The house is full of places to sleep. I looked for a location she picked herself and placed the bed. Sukhi naps every afternoon here. Very little will disturb her. I took everything off of the bakers rack (you can see some of the books) to dust and that didn’t disturb the sleeping. Here are the sounds of an afternoon nap with belly rub. The movement noises in this file are Sukhi kneading the bed.

Listen Here:

I’ve decided to call my kitty Sukhi.

Sukhi (Sanskrit) possessing or causing happiness or pleasure , happy , joyful , pleasant , comfortable , easy , a religious ascetic.

Sukhatva (Sanskrit) n. ease , comfort , delight , happiness , prosperity.

There were a number of things I didn’t anticipate in bringing a cat home. The first is how often I would be looking under my bed.

The second is how often I would be dragging ribbons and strings around the house so she can practice her cat skills. This one is blurry because I didn’t use a flash but you can see how intensely interesting she is in the activity.

The other thing I didn’t anticipate is how much I would make cat noises to talk to her. She is very vocal and will come running if I cat talk to her. This is what it sounds like when Sukhi wants me to play with her string and get off the computer. I think about half-way she walks over to the digital recorder and investigates.

Listen Here:

So having a cat is the biggest thing going on right now. I took these pictures for her former foster mom. Here she is taking an afternoon nap in the swanky cat bed.

She woke me up this morning with her hunter call so I would play with the string. She can play tug-o-war with it and carries it around the house. I wasn’t 100% sure she was aware that i’m involved with the string game. Her cat skills are getting better with all of the practice.

It has taken 5 weeks for me to get cat nap privileges. I though cat naps came with the cat.

I took her to a groomers on 4/18. She has long hair and doesn’t shed. I bought 2 brushes an they didn’t do a thing. Turns out a furminator is just the very thing. She came back smelling wonderful. Still smells very good. She was very pleased with the results and wanted every one to feel how good her coat felt.

I’ve been under the impression that my cat doesn’t like wet food, she has barely eaten it at all. Its taken about two weeks to get through one can, most of it went down the drain.

Just for kicks, I picked up a couple of very small cans of food from Healthy Pet on my lunch hour. I went there to pick up the very popular purple fake fur blanket for under the bed.

I picked on can that looked like it would be the most wholesome and one based on a super attractive lable. This morning I broke out the Tiki Cat and it didn’t last 5 minutes.

I know these aren’t great pictures but Paul complained I didn’t have any posted. Kitty arrived at noon yesterday. Apparently she has been in Foster care for a year. I was asked why I had picked her, I said when I saw her picture I though she looked like she could be my cat. I checked with my parents, and my first cat in 1970ish was a Siamese Cat.

She camped out on the couch yesterday and under the bed today. She got up when Paul got back from the gym and to help him get seconds for dinner. Fingers are crossed.

Its so strange to have such a small animal and one who isn’t food motivated. We had Arrow on 4 cups of dry food a day and he would have eaten 16. From a package of food this cat should have 1/3 c based on her body weight.

I’ve tried giving her 1 tsp of wet food in the evening and couldn’t figure out why she was passing on it and eating dry food. That is until I was with her when she tried to eat and failed. I had to spread it out a bit because she couldn’t eat the clump.

Crashed out with me watching A Scanner Darkly.

When I did the spread to see about having a cat the reading was:

(Past)5 of Cups Rx	(Present)Justice Rx	(Future)9 of Pentacles

My dad’s cat Toby sold me on Burmese cats as a breed. My fantasy of the last decade was to have one. So when Paul suggested the idea of a cat it was about how to find one. Turns out it is not as easy as it sounds. Many of the people we contacted really need a lesson in e-mail etiquette and public relations. The wretchedness of the breeders and potential breeding conditions let me to explore the shelters & rescues.

I’m feeling like the Justice Rx has to do with the change of view to find a cat who needs a home. Which is a much more socially responsible thing to do. I used to volunteer at shelters in Ogden & Colorado Springs.

We met under very difficult conditions at a Petsmart last night. I expected there would be a little room where we could play for a few minutes. Tatiana, her foster mom, the woman in charge of the rescue and I went to the Equine area. The foster mom opened the crate and handed the cat to me. I was very surprised that she didn’t squirm and get away. I got her talking to me by trilling and then found a spot on her back near her tail where she liked to be rubbed. She enjoyed it so much that her paws started kneading.

Its difficult to tell anything under those conditions but I think we established:

• beautiful cat
• healthy, alert
• enjoys human contact

I already had the application filled out so the next steps are to see if Paul is allergic and to arrange for cat delivery. I’m going litter box and slicker brush shopping today. Any advice on cat litter? Its been 15 years since I bought any.
Bonnie drew the following card for Tatiana.

Card Title: Six of Cups
Esoteric Title: Lord of Pleasure
Numerical Keywords: 6: Harmony, Pleasure, Perfection
Element: Water (cold, wet)
Elemental Keywords: Love, Container, Emotions
Qabalistic World: Tipareth in Briah
Translation of World: The Beauty of Creation

Keywords: Amiable, Patience, Gain & Pleasure

Interpretation: Beginning of wish, happiness, success and enjoyment. Innocence, Fond Memories.

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite (1911)

Children in an old garden, their cups filled with flowers. Divinatory Meanings: A card of the past and of memories, looking back, as–for example–on childhood; happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the past; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving new relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are disporting in an unfamiliar precinct. Reversed: The future, renewal, that which will come to pass presently.

Honestly, I feel really creeped out about the business of cat breeding. My interactions with the breeders have been less than positive. This week I visited the Cat Adoption Team and the Oregon Humane Society.

There are a couple of cats I’m considering. I’m meeting Tatiana at Petsmart tonight at 6:16 pm. She is in foster care at Indigo Rescue.

A siamese/himalayan mix, she endured and survived abandonment and starvation and yet has maintained her very sweet and mellow temperament. She is completely undemanding and is content spending her day napping in a warm bed.

Weighing in at 5 pounds and believed to be approximately 5 years of age, she has recently been spayed and has undergone some much needed dental work.

Kit is at the Humane Society. Kit is a beautiful lady who is looking for a very special home. She is an independent girl who just wants a warm place to curl up and nap. She has been around older children and done fine in the past but an adult only home may be best. Kit would love to be the only princess in your home seeing as she does not get along with other cats too well. Come visit this stunning girl today and see if she’s the one for you!

Kit is a bengal who is the most beautiful cat I’ve ever seen. She hates being picked up and was more interested in exploring the room than playing with me. She did climb on my lap and play with my hair. When I first saw Kit she reached a paw out and patted me on the head.

She is missing fur from being shaved to attend to cat fight wounds. She hates other cats. The breed info says the females are independent and prefer being petted or played with to being held. And are really only affectionate with their owners.

I was having a bad morning on Tuesday. Paul showed me a picture he took on his cellphone to cheer me up. It was the results of his allergy test. The top red blotch is histamine, the middle prick is saline, the bottom is cat. From this test he is as allergic to cats as saline.

Bottom line is I have a kitchen pass to get a cat. My dream pet is a little Burmese. Like the one pictured on the left. I’m not having a lot of luck finding a kitten.

I fell in love with my dad’s Burmese Toby when I stayed with my parents for 2 months to help care for my mother as she recovered from surgery to remove a brain tumor. I think Toby was about 5 years old at the time. I was amazed at how interested he was in human attention. He slept with me under the covers, naps too. He was a great help when I worked on the computer, sitting on my shoulders or lap. Good company for watching movies as well.

I’m trying to convince Joanne of Starstrutter Burmese that I would be a good pet owner.