It's pet day again and today I introduce Sabrina. Sabrina has a special story. It's a story about sweetness, love, and excellent timing.
She appeared one day at the printing business that my sister owned and I helped her run. We'd show up at work and there she'd be, sitting on the back steps waiting for us. She was so loving and affectionate we knew she had to have been dumped. This was not a feral cat. The weather started getting cold so we decided to bring her in. We kept her in the shop and managed quite nicely to hide her from the owners of the building. All our customers fell in love with her. She would hang out at the front and greet everyone as they walked in. She had toys, a comfy bed, and lots of love, and she never once tried to go back outside.
We decided one day that it was time she went from a shop cat to a house cat so I decided that I'd take her home with me. At the time I lived in an apartment and was already at my 2 cat limit but I figured, two cats were black, would they just think it was the same cat?
I brought my carrier to work and decided to take her to the vet to get her vaccines and get her tested before bringing her home to my cats. She tested positive for feline leukemia. I was devastated! This precious little cat! She didn't seem sick. She was so active and healthy looking. But feline leukemia is highly contagious so I couldn't bring her home. So we decided to make the best of it and keep her at the shop. She loved it there anyway.
Around Christmas that year she got sick. We took her to the vet and she was treated with antibiotics. Well, she never got better. After about 6 weeks of vet visits and medication she had about as much as she could take. She was too weak to fight the infection. We had to put her down. It was such a sad day.
But the timing of this was almost magical. She got so sick during the coldest months and we were able to keep her warm, fed, and loved. Thank God she didn't have to suffer out in the Indiana winter! Somehow I can't help but get this feeling that perhaps by some powers beyond our control she was sent to us. Sounds odd but....
Since this is Halloween weekend, Punkie decided that she should be the pet of the week. We have two other black cats in the family but she insists that she is the Queen of black cats for a number of reasons. First, she lives with me, second, she's the oldest and has been around for 11 years, and third, because she's such a good girl. You'll meet the other two at a later time. One lives with my son and the other lives in Heaven now :(
On to Pumpkin! As you can tell by the photo, she goes by many names. For years I called her Kinnie Roonie but Brian (her Dad) likes to call her Chunkie Punkie and the kids call her Plumpkin. But to her defense, she has lost a few pounds and isn't so chunky or as plump anymore.
Punkie, as I like to call her, is the Purrrfect cat (sorry, couldn't help myself). She really is. She doesn't get into anything, she doesn't knock things off tables, she doesn't jump onto anything or go where she doesn't belong.
She has never gone potty outside the litter box. Not once in 11 years! When I take Bubba outside, she will stand by the door but doesn't attempt to go outside. She's also a love-bug. She has a few select people that she will snuggle with. She's so soft too!
She really is the best cat anyone could ever have.
Teapot graphic above can be found in my Tea Time Scrap Set at Etsy.
Today I'm going to introduce you to Patches. This is my son's cat who lives with him in his apartment. He came to us in the middle of the deep freeze. About 7 years ago we noticed that something was living under our deck. We didn't know what it was at the time. Elyse finally discovered that it was a kitten. It took us a couple of weeks of feeding him before he would trust us. As soon as we got close enough we grabbed him and took him to the vet. Poor little thing had an upper respiratory infection, eye injury, and was underweight. The doctor was surprised that he even survived the sub zero temperatures considering how sick he was. We got him some medicine and he turned out to be a great pet and family member for us all. Isn't he handsome?
It's Pet Day again! Today, I introduce Miss Buttercup. She's the alpha everything in this family. You all met Bubba last week and what I didn't tell you about him is that he likes to torment Pumpkin (you'll meet her later) but not even the Master can't intimidate Miss Buttercup, all 5 1/2 pounds of her. She can take on the world!
She was the first cat I ever had. One of my co-workers at JoAnn Fabrics knew I had been talking about getting Elyse a cat so she brought in a box one day with this tiny little Siamese mix. All I could think about on my way home from work were those ice blue eyes. Needless to say, I called her the minute I got home and told her I'd be at her house in the morning to pick her up.
Buttercup is 12 years old now and still acts like a kitten. She's quite the character. She always has to be at the highest point in the room and she can get there. She's got rubber legs. She also has to be in the middle of everything! Whatever you are doing, she has to get that little nose into it.
She has the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen. She's a beauty. She lives with Elyse in Delaware now so I don't see her much. But when I do get the opportunity, I pick her up, look down at her, and she hisses at me! I love that cat!
I thought it would be fun to have Pet Day once a week. Each week I'll introduce you to one of our family pets.
We are going to start off with Bubba. This is our little seven pound Yorkie. He's such a little sweetie. He's also a funny little guy. He chases the gigantic exercise ball around and growls. He's so vicious! Yah Right! He also has a thing for the toaster. He always knows when something is in the toaster and when he discovers this, he runs to the heating vent in the dining room, looks into it and growls and barks. We don't know why he does this.
We almost lost our little guy in January when he became blocked and bladder stones were stuck. I ran him to work (I work for his vet) and I was hysterical! I couldn't bear to see him suffer like that. Doc rearranged his schedule and actually ended up saving his life. He said the stones had caused so much damage that his urethra was surrounded by necrotic tissue. That's dead tissue! When I asked him if the damaged area would heal, and recover, he said, "I don't know, I've never had a dog live with that much damage."
He's now on prescription food that should prevent future stones. He had a few stones removed six months earlier but those didn't cause any damage and they were too big to get stuck like the last ones did.
Our sweet Bubba! He's one tough little guy!
