renaissance poisson

yesterday, we took cal to the vet for what looked like a herniated abdomen. this morning during surgery, the vet found metastasized pancreatic cancer. we decided not to let her wake from the anesthesia.

she was one of shadow's litter of four, which shadow brought to us a few days after we took her in. she was with us for 10 and a half years, and she was such a good cat, no trouble at all, ever. i feel a bit guilty because she never got a "real" name -- usually my cats name themselves in some way, but cal didn't do so right away, and we called her "cal" for "calico" in the meantime... and that stuck, and i stopped listening for a name. for a while i pretended it stood for "calliope", but really, that didn't fit. so, cal it was. sorry, cal. i should have tried harder. you deserved a better name.


she was the least rambunctious of the litter, but she was playful as a kitten, and remained cautiously playful as she grew up. unfortunately she became quite afraid of bacchus, and he could smell her fear, and went after her every chance he could. we kept him in a big cage for a while, and zapped him with water pistols so he'd stop terrorizing her. that worked, but she remained wary of him for a long time, always kept an eye out. in the last couple of years he's slowed down, and she figured out how to read his moods, and i have a picture of them lying on the bed together with less than a foot between them. that brought a unanimous sigh of relief. and then bang! started stalking her. poor cal, she just wanted to doze in peace, but the obnoxious males in her family kept pestering her.

she never met a box she didn't like.


she was very cuddly in a mostly unobtrusive way; she liked to sleep with shadow and/or timid, and she'd curl up behind the paramour's knees on the bed and snooze whenever possible. i called her my little pit viper, because she had a major thing for suckling and kneading in arm pits, going into a total drool trance. i wasn't very fond of that, but if i were into bargaining, i'd gladly let her suck my pit every day if she could have only stayed with us longer.


sleep in peace, little cal cat. we'll miss you.

in other news, timid has a bad ear infection in both ears. we took her to the vet, and now she has to stay confined inside, which means she has to stay in the big dog cage we have for that, since we don't have a spare room for a quarantined cat. she is NOT happy, though despite hating the cage she is being remarkably good. especially about the medication i get to squirt into her ears twice a day; i have no wounds to show for it (the paramour got scratched when we corralled her to put her in the carrier - next time, bigger towel). she yowls for a bit a few times each day, and tries to be a monkey and climb out the top of the cage (except that is closed too), but calms quickly if we sit down and pet her for a while. i am sleeping next to the cage on my thermarest so she isn't alone at night, and while i am not sleeping well, it keeps her mostly calm. we have pills to sedate her, but we're doing ok without.

10 days total, and we're at the end of day 4. i think we might all live. originally the vet wanted to put a cannula in her ear, but that would have meant 3 weeks inside and a cone around her head. she would have just gone nuts. as it is, her ears will likely cauliflower, but she doesn't need to win any beauty contests, and at least they won't hurt her.

we went to a new vet and she is great. gave me a prescription for 6 months of revolution so i can get all the others treated for fleas and mites as well -- the previous place wanted us to bring each cat in for that, which isn't in the stars. not gonna traumatize the lot of them just for a treatment. they were kinda weird in general -- the doctors never introduced themselves, and had no name tags either. i mean, you know my name and my cats' names, maybe i could get yours as well? i'm glad this new place opened, and it's even a bit closer.

vincent is around again (he was gone for a while), and actually looking a bit better, more meat on his bones. i managed to cut most of his matted fur off before the weather got colder, but there is still a chunk on his back that i can't get off without restraining him, and he is suspicious enough that he'd just disappear again after that. i rather keep him close so i can fatten him up. bacchus is still a dick to him, though he's starting to slow down now; getting older.

the "kittens" are all more than 10 years old now. time really does fly.

bang!,the younger of our two tuxedo cats.

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crud gone.

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extracted the "dailies" from the scrapbook backup, and am starting to prep high-res versions to upload to smugmug.

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both vincent and bear are settling in nicely. bear has his favourite basket, and today vincent curled up in the *poing*'s recliner for the first time. he's also filling out nicely; no longer feels like i could break him in two if i touch his hips. he's very cuddly as well; really loves being petted.

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the crud is definitely on its way out, but still lingering in the nose.

the consistent diet of wet food is helping vincent put some meat on his scrawny bones. he sleeps inside all the time now, though he doesn't like boxes -- right now his favourite place is under the futon couch. mangy-cat, who now is officially "melancholy bear", "bear" for short, has migrated from right next to the door to the space where the work bench will be once i put it together, and is curling up on a black piece of fleece; invisible.

since all the outdoor cats are now eating dry food inside, i'm no longer leaving dry food outside. the racoons are not well pleased, and have taken to dragging off the small plates on which i feed vincent and bear wet food outside, and breaking them. i guess i'll have to figure out how to feed all 8 inside at the same time; *ack*, or get some bowls the coons can't break, even if they'll still drag them off. i'm hoping that they'll depart once they realize they just is no more food to be had here.

i'm feeling a little guilty over no longer feeding them.

vincent is not happy with me. either it was the flea treatment or the application of his new last name that scared him off.

the latter is mostly the paramour's fault: vincent van d'oh.

once he trusted me enough to let me touch him, i knew it wasn't gonna be long before he'd move in, but #8 is quite intrepid as it turns out, and now follows me anywhere, even when scared. it's kinda endearing, but i know my place; i am The Purveyor of Food. though he does like the petting too; he even occasionally interrupts the eating to butt his head into my leg.

i am amused. bacchus is not. two new cats in his house! but he's remarkably peaceful with both the new toms. just the way he walks around and casts glances shows that he's enormously put out. i am petting him a lot. and i'm gonna build a cat tower; we need more places for cats to settle on. shadow dug up my grey shetland roving yesterday (which is in a bag); luckily i discovered her kneading it before she had felted the lot.

#8 looks in better shape in this picture than he is; he's basically skin and bones. he turns his face away when i try to look into his mouth, but i expect what i'll find once i get to see is not very many teeth, and quite possibly some badly infected ones. his fur is matted in several places, and his tail looks ratty, but today he is cleaning himself, so getting some food which he could eat easily into him was probably the main thing needed. he doesn't seem to have any fresh injuries; the missing ear healed before we saw him for the first time.

guess he needs a name now. the paramour doesn't like "ear". don't understand why not.

and not enough here.

so, there's news on the cat front. both feral toms who have been around for the last 2 years, the black ("mangy cat") and the tabby with the torn-off ear (#8) have become considerably more social.

mangy actually comes inside now and has even started to settle down (on the floor near the door). i'm guessing as it gets colder this will become more common. he no longer flees from me. he's also letting me pet him, and actively seeks it out by rubbing around my legs. i think he's almost at the point where i can take him to the vet. he's got some kind of infection, because his eyes are exuding cloudy liquid, but he's better than he's been. he doesn't even look particularly mangy now. all the good food is probably having some results.

he also gets along with most of the other cats now, even bacchus. well, bang still has hissy fits, but he has hissy fits with his own siblings, so that doesn't mean much.

#8 is a little less scrawny, and also less shy. he used to flee far away whenever one of us stepped out the door, but yesterday he sat next to the food bowl and talked to me. he still moved away when i refilled the bowl, but only under the hedge from where he was watching me and continued to talk.

so it looks like we will have to name him. *little sigh*. maybe we should start a reality show; we've got the "+ 8" down.

i have a cat with goldfish brains(not the one in the icon, this one.
- shadow was trapped in the attic.
- she mewled piteously.
- we took a ladder out to her.
- she wouldn't go, too steep.
- we wrapped towels around the rungs for better traction.
- she went on first run, not good enough.
- we took the ladder inside where there is attic access and less steepness.
- she wouldn't come down.
- i went up to pick her up. she didn't like that.
- we lured her with cat food treat at bottom.
- no good.
- finally we left to give her time to consider and maybe come down on her own (she used to do that all the time).

a few minutes later:
she barrelled down the outside (where the ladder had been before), sliding down the wall. then she went inside to eat the treat.

*headdesk*.

do you want to know a secret?

timid and shadow.

( click for answer to yesterday's mystery texture )