Tag Archives: cats

What’s in Your Closet?

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This is my office which has been taken over with stuff from our closets. The painting is of our Palm Springs backyard.

Yesterday, we were getting new carpet installed in our guest room and casita. We went through Costco because a neighbor recommended them. First, you have Costco’s backing if you aren’t satisfied or something goes wrong. Second, you get a percentage back from Costco on a gift card.

We had a salesperson come to the house with samples. We selected what we wanted, signed a contract and paid. The salesperson did measurements with an electronic device. He said I needed to empty out the closets and remove little things, but they would do the heavy lifting of beds and dressers.

We decided to replace the carpets after Christmas. My son is very allergic to cats and even though I raked the carpets to get rid of Olive’s hair (yes, there is such a thing as a pet rake) and I had the carpets professionally cleaned, my son couldn’t breathe. His doctor told him to leave or go to the ER. Not a great Christmas memory.

I’m sad to lose Olive and I miss her every day. She loved to hibernate in the daytime under the beds in the casita and guest room. Hence the cat dander.

We have a friend who is a retired pulmonary physician. He said cat dander can last in carpet up to three years. There’s no getting rid of it.

We had no carpet in our Palm Springs home. We replaced the carpet in our kids’ bedrooms with hardwood floors because of the allergy issue.

I can’t believe how much STUFF I had crammed into two closets. Now that it’s all out in public view in my office, I think it’s the perfect opportunity to go through it all. We are having guests for a week starting Sunday. What a great time to empty out the closets and have new carpet.

In those closets I had Christmas ornaments, gift wrap, and giant jugs to purify water from our pool in case of an emergency. Also, a sewing machine and fabric. And lots and lots of photo albums. Where will I put these things now? That’s the question.

What oddball things do you have stored in a spare closet?

Remembering Olive

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Kitten Olive with her best friend Angus, may they both rest in peace.

It’s been a sad few days for me. But I’m forcing myself to go outside and walk. I also spent time going through all the Olive photos on my iphone. I’m sharing some of my favorites here today.

Olive enjoying the Palm Springs lifestyle.

angry kat shreds tp
Olive in a negative mood

Olive found herself locked in the car. I have no idea how that happened. She was deathly afraid of cars and hated them.

A picture taken by my daughter on one of Olive’s first days with us.

Below is Olive enjoying indoor/outdoor life in Palm Springs.

Indoor Arizona life.

My favorite photo of Olive.

Closet cruising.

A stowaway in my suitcase.

My pretty kitty.

One of Olive’s favorite things to do. Harass the quail.

Which is your favorite Olive photo? And why?

A catty weekend

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Bob cat kitten
I love this bobcat kitten photo. There were two and a momma visiting, but I only got a picture of this one.

I have been anxious about my cat Olive. She got stressed and sick when we went out of town. She was doing better after her visit to the vet, but on Friday she stopped eating and was curled into a ball hiding under the bed. Although we were giving her laxative twice a day, nothing was moving. I wrote about Olive last week HERE.

I drove to a pet food store and bought a variety of treats and wet food for her. Something to entice her to eat. I bought canned salmon, sardines and anchovies at the grocery store.

She turned her nose up at all my treats and Saturday she refused to eat. But finally things were working for her in the litter box. Also, she wasn’t drinking any water and she felt bony, thin and dehydrated.

My daughter called and said not eating for two days was a bad sign. I told her our vet wasn’t open on the weekend. She suggested I find a pet ER. I couldn’t find once close by. But I read an article online about how to get your cat to eat.

It said to place small amounts of food in several places around the house. Also to put some food on your finger and rub it on her gums.

I woke up Sunday morning to see that two of the containers of food were almost gone. Now she’s no longer hiding but sitting on the throw rug watching birds through the window. She looks alert. She looks like she on the mend.

I can’t tell you how relieved I am!

In my opinion, the only thing worse than having sick pets and not knowing what is wrong, is having sick children. What are your thoughts?

Waiting for Olive

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Not a happy camper in her carrier.

I made the executive decision to take Olive to the vet yesterday morning. I was waiting to see if she’d get better. Saturday she pooped after we got home. This was good news because the cat sitter said she had not done that in several days. She ate on Sunday. More good news.

Olive has an Rx for laxative and after a few doses, she seemed back to her normal self.

And then she didn’t.

She quit eating, drinking water, peeing and pooping. She’s been lethargic hiding away under the bed in the casita. She’d sneak out to vomit white foam. I didn’t think that was a good sign, so off to the vet.

Because this is a recurring issue with Olive — whenever we go on an extended vacation — the vet treated her symptoms rather than using diagnostic tools like X-ray, Ultrasound and blood work. This happened two years ago and they did all those tests. You should have seen the bill!

Now I’m waiting to see how she reacts to treatment. Waiting and waiting. The vet filled her with fluids, plus vitamins and a pain med. She’s drowsy and I’ll just have to wait some more.

I’m having a stressful day hoping Olive feels better. If she doesn’t get better, than I promised to bring her back for diagnostics.

Do you remember the old fashioned veterinarians we used to have? In our town, one vet would treat cats, dogs, horses and cows.

What do you think of modern medicine for pets?

Grooming Olive

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Olive the cat before grooming. Look at all that fur!

Poor Olive! First we left her for four days while we visited friends in Salt Lake City. (We did have a cat sitter check up on her.) Then Monday morning, our first morning home, a mobile cat groomer arrived.

We’ve been dealing with Olive shedding hair all over the house, Olive spitting up hair balls, and looking uncared for.

Maureen the cat groomer arrived with a folding table topped with a rubber mat and a backpack full of various tools. I had confined Olive to a bathroom so I could easily find her. As soon as I opened the door, Olive shot out the door down the hall. I spent the next 10 minutes searching for her. Once I spotted Olive, I had to dive on top of her.

With Olive on the table, Maureen spent the next hour and a half with various cat brushes and combs, pulling out matted knots and Olive’s heavy undercoat. I stood at the table holding onto Olive, while telling her what a good girl she was.

This was the first time in Olive’s 11-year life that she’s been groomed. I try to brush her and she puts up with it for about 30 seconds before taking off.

I asked Maureen about shaving the cat, if that would be better than trying to brush and comb her out. Hubby wanted Olive shaved.

“That’s up to you,” Maureen answered. From her tone, I gathered shaving a cat was not something she was keen on.

“Since this is her first time being groomed, lets keep going with combing,” I said. “I think an electric razor would freak her out.”

In case you didn’t know, Olive is a scaredy cat. I had a friend’s daughter take care of her for three or four years whenever we left town. She said, “I don’t believe you have a cat.” My friend’s daughter never saw her. Except for the food being eaten and the litter box being used, there was no evidence that Olive existed.

The sheers did come out for Olive’s underside. The hair was thick, long and matted. Maureen said she’s never groomed a dog or cat that liked their hair being pulled out of their armpits or tummy.

When a large black trash bag was filled with cat hair and Olive’s polydactyl claws had been trimmed, we were done. Olive immediately leaped off the table and ran down the hall never to be seen again that day.

Olive wearing her lighter summer do.

If you have a dog or cat, do they like being groomed?

What are your thoughts about shaving a cat?

My son tried to give away the cat on Facebook!

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Pretty kitty
Our pretty kitty Olive.

This was the second post ever on my blog. I was looking through old posts and I thought this tale was worth retelling.

Robert’s asthma and allergy appointment — on his first day home from college for his four-week Christmas break — didn’t go well. The doctor said we could get rid of the cat or put Robert up in a hotel for four weeks.

We’ve only had baby Olive for a year. We’re not too attached, but still. She’s a member of our family. We rescued her from a local pet shelter and committed to be her loving family. And she’s Robert’s little sister’s cat. Not mine. I felt before we agreed to give Olive away, we needed to discuss this with little sis. Or, let Olive be an outdoor cat.

I heard that Robert had posted on FB for a new home for Olive. Of course, as his loving mother, I’m filtered from seeing his posts. Grandpa, on the other hand, has full access to Robert’s FB account. He told me about the long and lengthy post about how I love the cat more than my own son. Short and shorter: we needed to get rid of the cat. Several people had said yes to adopt the furry feline. Some even called me!

Am I a terrible mother for not wanting to give away our pretty little kitty, Olive Bear?

Robert said I’m infected with Toxoplasma gondii and I’m in danger of turning into a crazy cat lady. I “googled” the toxo thing. It’s different than cat scratch fever, which can cause chills and a fever. T. gondii is a protein that invades your bloodstream and makes women crazy about cats. Or, it makes men crazy in a wild way. And there’s a link to schizophrenia. It’s why my OB GYN told me not to change the litter box while I was pregnant. However, he said that if I’d been around cats my entire life, most likely I was already infected. Great.

 I know about crazy cat ladies. We had one in my home town. She lived in a house filled with felines and feces. Hundreds of cats. My parents drove me to her house out in the country a few miles from town. The home badly needed paint and had broken floorboards with cats leaping in and out of the foundation. We picked an adorable calico kitten named Pansy to bring home. Pansy died a few weeks later from feline pneumonitis. 

I never had good luck with cats. I can name the ones we owned when I was young: Ting, Tack, Tenni-runner, No Name, Thomasina I, Thomasina II, Little Leticia, Bianco (white in Italian), Striscia (stripe in Italian), and my favorite, OJ Simpson. (I was a huge OJ fan. Remember, this was decades before I quit being one.)

We lost these cats (in addition to the aforementioned Pansy) by the time I reached first grade, due to an overzealous cat-hater neighbor. He caught them in a wooden trap, dropped them in a gunnysack, then tossed them in the river.

When we moved out into the country I had Soute´ (a French word from ballet that means jump) from second grade through high school. Coyotes and bears were kinder animals to our kitty than our former neighbor in town.

babyolive2

We adopted Sherman years before we had kids. That allergy doctor told me for years to get rid of Sherman. Robert was allergic to lots more things than cats. Things I couldn’t control, like rye grass and trees. Sherman lived from 1992 for 17 years — until a neighbor’s dog jumped a wall and killed him. 

I know it’s terrible not to want to get rid of the cat. I never believed that our cat could be harmful to my child. Now, my son is living in beautiful Santa Barbara, going to college. He’s only home for visits. Or maybe it is the toxoplasmosis that let’s me rationalize all this.

olivetp

Olive letting her temper show. Once my daughter left for college, Olive became mine. We found a solution to the allergy problem called an air purifier for our son’s room.

Looking back, was I bad mom for wanting to keep the Olive the cat?

What is the topic of your second post on your blog?

Thankful for Thanksgiving Pets

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A photo of my daughter’s pug who was used in social media marketing for her college swim team. The swimmers on the sports marketing team posed Waffles around the pool wearing goggles, on the blocks and lifeguard stand.

As I think about Thanksgiving, it dawned on me that our last two pets, Olive and Waffles, were adopted Thanksgiving weekend. What a joy they’ve brought to our family.

My son left for college in 2011 and my daughter and I visited the animal shelter in Palm Springs looking at kittens. It was right before Thanksgiving that Olive came home with us. Because my son is allergic to cats we waited until he moved away to college to adopt Olive. We kept Olive hidden in our daughter’s bedroom for the four-day weekend and didn’t think my son would have any reaction from his room down the hall.

Olive’s baby picture taken around Thanksgiving.

Everything went smoothly. I cooked dinner for my kids, husband and dad. I remember a wonderful weekend spending time with family walking downtown and playing in the park.

Then my son called to let me know he was back at school safely. While we talked on the phone, the kitty snuck out the door into the backyard.

“Quick, get the kitty!” I yelled to my daughter.

“WHAT?!” my son said. “I knew it! I knew there was a cat in the house. I had allergies all weekend.”

Today, he can visit our home in Arizona with Olive inside, and doesn’t seem to suffer. I’ve installed an air filter in the casita and the new house doesn’t have the same issues as our 1930s Palm Springs house did for allergies like mold and a grassy back yard.

Then came Waffles. It was my husband’s idea to adopt Waffles as a companion dog for our daughter. She came home from college for Thanksgiving weekend, along with our son, and met Waffles for the first time.

My kids and Waffles

I cooked for our family, my college roommate, who was visiting from Seattle with her mom and brother. Plus a former coworker of mine — and dad of course. Waffles was a hit with everyone — except Olive. I remember my college roommate’s brother thanking me over and over for a home-cooked Thanksgiving. They had planned to eat in their hotel restaurant.

Waffles was beyond cute and so tiny!

Pretty kitty Olive as a grown up.

Waffles as a middle-aged man, snaggle teeth and gray hairs.

Have a happy Thanksgiving with family, friends and your furry friends.

What is it about Thanksgiving and adopting our pets? I’m thinking our prior two, Sherman and Angus joined us in the fall as well.