Thursday, June 5, 2008

My Souvenirs









I thought it was time to introduce you to my fur family.
Zorro (not pictured individually), is a 9 1/2 year old black kitty with a white patch of fur on his tummy. I always tell him that his stuffing is coming out when I pet his white patch. He is the sweetest baby on the face of the planet. I adopted him at 6 months of age. He had an open fracture of his rear limb that was infected and required amputation. I was on my radiology rotation when he came in to the hospital and I fell in love with him. He would lay my lap and purr, despite everything he had been through, and the pain he must have felt. The evening of surgery, he hopped up, shook off the anesthesia, and went home with me to live happily ever after. He is a trooper. He has happily traveled across the country with me multiple times. Has lived in Iowa, California, Florida, Illinois and Arizona. He has been in planes, cars, and RVs. He loves to sit on the back of the sofa and watch reruns of CSI on Spike. Or maybe that's what I like to do... but he sits with me.

Jerrie, named for T.S. Elliott's Mungojerrie made famous in the musical Cats, is my next oldest. I adopted him from the humane society in Omaha, a beautiful facility. He was in a cage with 2 other cats, and when the three of them were brought into the visitation room, he brought me his toy to play. He is a 7 year old black and white tuxedo kitty. His markings are very unique as they are not symmetrical. Jerrie has ADD. Or at least that would be my diagnosis if he were human. He is into everything. He loves to be petted, hates to be held. He follows me around all the time, talks constantly. He can't sit still. He's the cat version of me... a total busybody. He's thin, but would eat nonstop if you let him. He hates to travel. Despises it! He has lived in Florida, Illinois and Arizona. The last time I took him in for his teeth cleaning, he let me know how he felt about the car ride by pooping on my console. He was tranquilized for most of the drive across country. He has inflammatory bowel disease and has to eat a special diet. He purrs. He plays. He likes to lay on things. He has taken up permanent residence on the kitchen counter (don't worry, he only gets one corner). He likes to sleep by my feet and every once in a while if he thinks I'm already sleeping, he'll curl up in my arms. He truly is a lover.

Blue, short for Katmanblue (you know, play on Kathmandu), is a beautiful 3 year old Siamese mix. I ask him every day, "how'd you get to be so pretty?" He was another rescue. Came in to my hospital as a kitten with an abscess of his prepuce that made it impossible for him to pee. My boss did surgery to correct the problem, and after a few weeks of recovery we decided that it wasn't good for such a baby to grow up as a 'clinic cat'. So he came home with me. He is absolutely gorgeous. And I'm not at all biased. He has the funniest meow... I call it a purrmeow. It starts with a trill and ends with the meow. Prrrrow. Prrrrow. I call him Bluebird, and he lives up to the name by singing to us. He loves to carry his toys around in his mouth. And he loves socks. If I forget and leave my sock drawer open, he will have them distributed around the house before I get home. He also loves to drown his toys/ socks in the water dish. He's not allowed to sleep in the bedroom at night because he will keep me awake all night- nuzzling my face, biting my nose, licking my forehead. He would need constant attention which is not conducive to sleep. He is my kitten.

Gus, short for Asparagus, is a big orange tabby cat somewhere around 6-8 years old. His name also comes from the musical Cats.
Gus is the cat at the theatre door. His name as I ought to have told you before is really Asparagus, but that's such a fuss to pronounce that we usually call him, just Gus.
Gus was also a souvenir from work a year ago, came in with a reversible form of liver failure. His owner was planning to euthanize him, but consented to turn him over to my care since his condition was fixable. He had a feeding tube put in and was fed through it for about a month while he recovered. He has been a great eater ever since! He is a pudgy, soft, sensitive, incredibly sweet kitty. He looks at me with these eyes that melt my heart. His meow is barely audible. He loves attention, pleads with his eyes for me to pet him. He's never demanding. Always polite and patient. He loves to sleep in the window perch. When I open the sliding glass door he tries to run out before I can stop him because he loves to roll around in the dirt. His coat gets filthy!

One cat was fine. Two cats was great. Three and four cats is a zoo! There are 5 litter boxes (the cat's have their own bathroom). Breakfast and dinner is a feeding frenzy as you can see from the photo. But I have four constant and faithful companions. I have more love in my home than I ever thought possible. If I had room for more cats, and the right one came along, I know I'd have more love in my heart to share. They give my joy, make me laugh, comfort me when I cry. They want nothing more than love, food and a warm lap. I would give them the world if I could. Until then, they have me.


2 comments:

SkirtChaser said...

And if anyone is interested in one of them please let us know. We will ship anywhere in the world at no cost, a matter of fact we will pay you!!!

Jodi said...

awww....I think they are all beautiful.
We have 3 cats. Itchy -he's fat and bitchy and loves to get dirty, Penny-short for Pendant because she has one tiny white spot exactly where a necklace pendant would fall--she's rebellious and her love can run hot or cold, and Alley--who's the perfect petite little loverkitty who has amazing agility and grace---all are rescued alley kittens. Then there's our dog Bailey is so absolutely brilliant and sweet- a rescued country ditch puppy. So its kinda zoo-y around here too. :) But I agree, they do fill the house with so much love...