Gonna update this topic from the April post, for folks who haven't been following me elsewhere.
In my April post, I mentioned that Kaga was showing his age and experiencing some mobility and dementia issues. The decline continued steadily, and by the end of May he was falling off furniture and had at least one episode a day when he didn't recognize us or his surroundings. We recognized that we were close to having to make a quality of life decision.
We made a vet appointment for him, to gauge exactly where his health was to assist in making that decision. The vet agreed with us that his body condition, muscle mass loss, and mobility were poor and declining, and had a really good and compassionate conversation with us about the ethics and kindness of making that choice. (And yet Kaga threatened to smack the vet for listening to his heart and looking at his teeth.) The kidney disease was also a factor and we agreed to bloodwork to check that...and then it took 20 minutes for the tech to bring Kaga back to us, because apparently he demanded that EVERYBODY in the clinical room pet him after his blood draw.
The bloodwork showed that the kidney disease was close to going acute; we could have mitigated that by doing subcutaneous fluids, but he would have hated that and it didn't seem kind for a 20-year-old cat whose quality of life was already declining. The vet was also concerned about his hematocrit numbers and hinted that there could be possibility of cancer. That seemed pretty definitive evidence overall. And we were united in not wanting to risk the possibility of him going into crisis. Our farewells to all of our other pets were crisis situations, as their bodies failed. We did not want to go through that again.
We called Lap of Love and made an appointment. On June 12, with the help of a very kind and compassionate vet, we said goodbye to the angry little void who had shared our life for 18 years. He was between us on the couch on his favorite blanket and he was within our love and our touch. Fezzik got to come in afterwards to look at him and sniff him. The vet made a pawprint and clipped some fur for us. It was so peaceful, gentle, and kind that it literally changed how I grieved; there was none of the anger or bitterness or second-guessing that had happened with our other four-legged family when their ends came. And while I miss him and always will, I am beyond grateful that this funny, opinionated, reckless, jock-boy kitty stayed with us for 18 years. (Mr. Charles did not have quite as easy a time of it, as it was only over the final couple of years that he came to understand that Kaga had always been "his," with a very special bond born of roughhousing and masculine posturing; and grief is harder for him in general, due to family dysfunction. But even for him, it was easier to have this choice and this gentleness even in saying goodbye.)
We knew that we didn't want to seek new feline companions right away, both to allow us to fully grieve Kaga and for practical reasons to be detailed another time. In mid-November, we decided we were ready and began looking around. We hoped to find a bonded pair--we knew we wanted two cats--and found a couple online. So one afternoon the week before Thxgiving week, we decided to go ask about them and look at other cats available.
We went first to Seattle Animal Shelter, which was where we found Kaga...and eventually gave up. They were shockingly disorganized and unhelpful, they did not have any bonded pairs onsite at the time, and the cats we'd seen online were in foster care and the process for meeting them was completely different. After getting through our disappointment and frustration, we decided we would try another facility, and went to Seattle Humane's facility in Factoria.
At this facility, the cats awaiting adoption are in wall enclosures or cubicles with plexiglas windows, so visitors can walk through, get good looks at cats, and interact with them through the windows. As we walked by one enclosure with two gray and white cats, one of the cats followed us the length of the window, and at the end stood up and pawed at the glass to get our attention; the other cat was inside a wooden "safe spot" box and looked at us but didn't come out. We looked at them and made sweet noises, but decided we would look at the rest of the cats, just to be sure. And a bonded pair of a tiny Siamese and a small black kitty who looked a lot like Kaga did get a lot of our attention.
Eventually we went out to the front desk and expressed our interest in both pairs. The staff member wrote us a "permission slip" for the gray and white cats; we couldn't meet the other pair yet because they'd been spayed/neutered that morning. So we went ahead and visited with the gray and white cats.
The one who'd followed us along the glass had been dubbed Sparkplug and she was happy to interact with us, slightly confused by the attention initially but warmed up quickly with some treats and a toy and us petting her. The other one had been dubbed Firecracker...and did not live up to it, staying firmly put in the box. But she was happy to be petted, did a couple of brief face rubs on hands, and didn't even care when we touched her feet. After about 10 minutes and some discussion, we agreed that we'd been chosen.
Adoption was slightly delayed because they had upper respiratory infections and the shelter wanted to have them seen by the vet and get them started on meds. But we brought them home the Saturday before Thxgiving and set up the tiled area in our downstairs hallway as an acclimation area. We have never done a "correct" new pet in the household/new pet meeting existing pet process and decided that we would do so this time, since no one knew how these two cats might do with a dog. (We knew Fezzik would be all right--he's submissive enough and gentle enough, and he understands "hiss/paw full of claws in the face" perfectly well, and he loved Kaga and Squish.)
The cat dubbed Firecracker hid in the scratcher house and refused to come out unless one or both of us were sitting on the floor by where she was.
The cat dubbed Sparkplug jumped the baby gate after two hours because we had come upstairs and left her alone, and had her first encounter with Fezzik through the sliding glass doors; after initially being startled, she just sat and watched him.
So much for doing things "correctly."
We kept the baby gate up so Fezzik wouldn't barrel into their space, and continued to feed and socialize them downstairs as the cat dubbed Sparkplug wasn't brave enough to come upstairs yet; it took her a couple of days and some coaxing. But once she was upstairs, she immediately begin exploring and marking things as her own, and wasn't fazed by Fezzik though she gave him space. By the Monday before Thxgiving, both cats were comfortable in the household and exploring and testing boundaries.
They are about a year and a half old; we don't know a lot about their background but they clearly had good human socializing before they got to us. They share a diagonal splash of white fur in the same place across their backs, and their voices and vocalizing patterns are very similar, so we think it's reasonable to assume they're sisters. The names they came with didn't suit them and didn't feel right, so we took a few days to learn what their true names were. And now you can meet them. (I can't reliably do the tag to open in new tabs/windows, so you'll need to either right-click to open in new tab/window, or back up after looking at the links to return to this page.)
Torchy Blane is the one who jumped the baby gate. She's the darker of the two, and her build is circles (round head, cylindrical body). She's adventurous and a little reckless; not only did she jump the baby gate, she also got up on the refrigerator and the kitchen window sill and spouse's bookcase soon after coming upstairs. She's named after the
intrepid, adventurous, wisecracking investigative reporter played by Glenda Farrell in a series of 1930s B-movies from Warner Brothers.
Effie Perine is the more cautious one. Her gray is lighter, with more obvious striping. She's built on triangles, with a triangular head and a wedge-shape body. She is extremely interested in knowing what's going on at all times, and she insists on supervising me. She's named after Sam Spade's secretary in
The Maltese Falcon and very specifically
the 1941 version played by Lee Patrick.
They are both REALLY sweet and love attention and affection and being petted. They aren't lap cats but they don't mind being held and love to lie next to us or on us when we are in bed (and Torchy regularly climbs onto spouse's chest for snuggles). They know their names and can (but don't always) come when called. Torchy is more spouse's girl; Effie is more mine. They get zoomies 2-3 times a day and will fight each other vigorously, then snuggle together for a nap. They like sitting in the window by spouse's desk or by the sliding glass door and watching birds. Torchy is very particular about when and how Fezzik interacts with her and doesn't seem all that interested in making friends. Effie, OTOH, will seek him out, touch noses, and even rub against him, and has invited him to play with her; we think full friendship is achievable.
We are so glad to have kitties in the house again, and particularly younger cats who are more active and busy and silly; the downside of older cats is that these aspects fade with time. It makes a real difference in how we feel to have these little gremlins around and sharing love with us.
Fezzik is doing great overall. He's about 8 years old, which as a large breed marks him as entering his senior years. He is starting to show issues with arthritis in his hips; our vet recommended a glucomasine supplement and we'll consider one of the injectable supplements. His most recent bloodwork came back so good that the vet said, "This is the bloodwork of a two-year-old dog." He does appear to have some chronic seasonal/environmental allergies; the vet shrugged and talked about Apoquel but also suggested periodic Benadryl as the first step.
He is still very big and very strong (a juggarnaut), very affectionate and sweet, and Not A Thinker. His adventures with physics are endlessly entertaining (he corners like a Trans Am and has no idea where his head or limbs exist in physical space). His squeaky rubber Kong balls are *life* and he even made up his own game of Ball In The Box, where he will play with the ball for a bit, drop it into a spare box, roll it around inside the box for a moment, and then take the ball out and play with it again.
He loves us, car rides, defending his territory (he is SO BARKY and squirrels and rabbits are his nemeses), the pibble mix who lives behind us, and going to doggie day camp. He's interested in the cats but will take cues from them and is being cautious lest he get hisses and swipes. He got to come to Kalaloch with us for our anniversary getaway last year but found the stay kind of dull; he did get introduced to the beach at Point No Point and liked the beach itself (smells! things to explore! potential snacks!) but absolutely rejected the ocean. He REALLY wanted to meet the "water doggie" (river otter) that happened to be on the beach while we were there; we had to make VERY clear to him that this was not a friend. [The park at Point No Point includes a freshwater marsh in addition to the ocean beach, and this river otter is a regular visitor who strolls out of the marsh and into the surf for snacks. It's well-known to people who frequent the park and we had seen it on a previous visit. On this particular visit it had caught a smallish fish and was resting in the surf to eat it, despite a bald eagle trying to steal the fish.]
So, we are full up on pets for the moment and happy to be here (though spouse occasionally makes noises about getting another dog). It's good to have that extra love and comfort with where things are now in this country.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
