Tabby's written a book!!!

Tabby writes:

I'm excited to announce my children's book!  You can preview it below.  It's 26 pages of photographs and text, about my life and my work.  The cost is $19.43 for this softcover square book.  To purchase, click "Book Info" at the end of the preview.

Meet Tabby the Therapy Cat by Written and photographed by Karen Thompson | Make Your Own Book

Spooky 2's diary from Catster

Spooky writes:

First of all, Mommy can't believe she forgot my Bridge anniversary on the 6th!  It's ok, Mommy, I forgive you.

As our family moves from Catster to Cathugger, we are each publishing our previous diary entries here so that we will still have them and others can read them if they like.  These entries are mostly previous to the creation of "Furry Tails of the PDX pride", and are from earliest to latest, organized by cat.

The new house!

December 30th 2009 2:58 am

Fun!!! I got to be on harness for the first time, and ride in a car! Foster Mommy and Foster Daddy were so proud of me and impressed with my car-riding skills. I sat on Foster Mommy's lap the whole way to the new house and purred!

I didn't know what a fireplace or a fire was before I came here. I've only tried to climb the screen once, and that was when there wasn't anything inside. I talk to Foster Mommy and Foster Daddy about the fire, and am mesmerized by the whole thing.

I love the wide open spaces and dash from room to room. Foster Mommy throws my jingle balls down the long hallway, and I run after them happily.

They adopted me!!!

January 14th 2010 1:32 am

I'm at my new forever home! No, I didn't go somewhere else. I got to stay right here with my foster family, who are now my REAL family! Mommy and Daddy had a serious talk tonight, and they told me that my new last name is the same as theirs now. Yay!

Happy snuggles,

Spooky T.

CH? What's that?

February 4th 2010 1:27 am

Mommy and Daddy both have been trying to figure out why I fall and why I'm so floppy. Today, Mommy did an internet search and they have been talking about something called CH. It doesn't sound scary. It's just letters, so why does it bother them so much?

CH, cerebellar hypoplasia, would explain my falling and flopping. We put a question up in the "Answers" part on here, but that was before Mommy noticed my almost-imperceptible head bobbing, which is the only thing missing from a "correct" CH diagnosis, according to what she's been reading.

Luckily, my family loves me ANYWAY, and told me that I'm theirs and that they will never leave me like my first family did. Yay!

-- Spooky, one happy, floppy kitten.

I love music! Music means snuggles!

March 11th 2010 1:50 am

Guess what?! Music playing on the computer means that Mommy has a snuggle lap for me! Tonight I was flopped on the floor of the dining room after eating, when all of a sudden I heard a song coming from the computer in the kitty tree room. I knew Mommy was in there, so I went running at top speed, came around the corner, skidded to a halt in front of the computer chair, and jumped up in her lap! Snuggles, loves, and singing, all equal a happy ME!!!!!! And a happy MOMMY!!!!!!

Oh, and a jealous Carbon kitty who spat at me as I raced by and then he went and hid under the bed, MOL. I was too focused on getting my snuggles that I didn't chase him this time.

What happened?

June 6th 2010 6:26 am

Yesterday afternoon, I was curled up in the dining room in my favorite spot, when all of a sudden I felt weird. Something was happening, and not a good something! Mommy was sleeping, and Daddy was taking a shower, so I ran to Daddy since he was closest. I skidded to a halt in the hallway just as he came out of the shower, meowed my concern long and loud, then flopped over and started drooling, dripping a small puddle onto my paws and the floor. Daddy cleaned me and it up, then set me on the couch so I could snuggle with him and Skylar.

Then, it happened again! My eyes went wide and unseeing, my body went rigid, and I started drooling heavily again! After it was done, I meowed a complaint and my confusion.

Daddy called for Mommy, who woke up and came out. They both petted me while they tried to decide what to do. Daddy called our friend Kellee, who's a vet tech, but she couldn't come until the next day.

About an hour later, I had another seizure. This time, I was sitting on Mommy's lap when it started. I looked helplessly at her, then lifted my tail and peed. I couldn't help it! Then the wide-eyed seizure, then drooling again, and my confused meowing. Mommy and Daddy tried to get me to relax afterwards, petting me to calm me down again. That helped a little, and I took a bit of a nap for a couple hours.

While I was asleep, Mommy searched online for vets that were open on a Saturday evening. Of course, many were not. She found one that was, and called them. It was a 24-hour place, so when I woke up (and had another seizure) she and Daddy packed me into a carrier and drove to the hospital.

The people were so kind! I had a seizure again as my purrents were filling out the paperwork, and the people immediately took me back and put me on a big table in the open room. I looked at them and meowed, and one of them went to ask my purrents if they could give me something to help calm me down. Of course, Daddy said yes, so they gave me Valium.

The vet came out to discuss options with my purrents. She said that I probably had sustained brain damage from the seizures, and there was a poor prognosis if I survived. The vet wanted to keep me in for 24 hours at least, give me i.v.'s and do bloodwork. Even then, it would be the same prognosis: not likely to survive, or very brain-damaged if I did survive. Mommy & Daddy said their goodbyes, and Mommy stayed with me and petted my head and cheek as the shot was given. :'( The hospital needs to hold my body until Monday so that the state can release it (standard procedure for anyone who comes in with seizures), so my purrents will bury my body then. My new profile picture is my picture superimposed on the bag that the vet did for my purrents to take home, containing a bit of my fur and the heart from my catheter wrap.

:'(

Mommy & Daddy loved you, Mr. Spooky kitten! R.I.P. July 2009 -- June 6, 2010

My burial

June 8th 2010 2:15 am

Daddy brought my body home from the vet's yesterday. He put it on a blanket on the living room floor so my aunties and uncles could all say their goodbyes. Tabby, Little Bit, and Skylar came over, looked at my body, sniffed it from head to tail, then touched noses with each other, conferring with each other. Rori hid, because she mourns in a different way and never has needed to see the body to know. Carbon had been having fun with a catnip toy, so he wasn't keen on going to see what was on the blanket. He was more interested in the box that Daddy had brought home. But Daddy said he couldn't jump in the box, and wanted him to look at the blanket. He didn't quite know why. Mommy picked him up and placed him nose-to-nose with my body. He was kind of afraid of me while I was alive, because he doesn't consider kittens to be cats until they are at least a year old, for some reason. But he sniffed because he was that close, then realized what he was sniffing. He looked at Tabby, who was right beside him, touched noses with her, then looked at Mommy and Daddy and walked away to the other end of the house.

After everyone had sniffed and said their goodbyes, conferring with the others about it, and even Starla had come to say her goodbyes (Mommy brought her out to see and sniff), Daddy carried my body out to the backyard. He and Mommy buried my body in a corner of the yard, at a spot where you can see and hear the geese in the marsh next door. I loved to see and hear the geese, and even got to see one fly one day when I had gone out on leash to the back deck!

Happy Birthday to Tabby!!!

Tabby writes:

What, you mean it's my birthday again already????  Wow!  Mommy says I'm 6 years old today.  I don't feel like I'm 6 years old!  Today, I'm going to sleep on top of the folded laundry on the dresser until Mommy gets up, then I'll watch for Tuxie & Leopard to come eat while I eat my breakfast.  After napping a bit more, I'm going to play with Heimdall, Freya, Little Bit, and maybe our foster cat Missy if she wants to play.  Then, I'll nap with Mommy when she takes her nap.  After that, who knows what I'll do for the rest of the day?  Probably more of the same.  If it's nice weather, Mommy will take me out for a birthday stroll like she did yesterday.  Well, yesterday was my visiting day, but I walked almost half a block y myself on the weay back!  It was just such a nice day to walk and feel the sun on my fur!  I'll write about my visit later on today.

Love,

Tabby.

Happy Birthday to Carbon!!!

Carbon writes:

Happy birthday to me!!!!  This is how I'll spend my birthday:  wake up and annoy Tabby and Rori by leaving a stinkbomb in the box in the bedroom, then run around playing.  Crash on the bed until Mommy wakes up, then watch as she brings Starla into the bedroom.  Then I'll run out to the window and see if any friends are in the backyard, followed by eating and playing with everyone.  I'll try to get Missy Kitty to play (she played with Freya a little yesterday), but I'm still wary of her because she's got a strong left hook.  Then running around playing with some of my favorite toys, snuggling with Mommy and Daddy, and snuggling with shoes.  Yep, I'm looking forward to enjoying MY day!  :)  Mommy and Daddy say they can't quite believe I'm 6 years old already!

Baby-Dot & Baby-Tuxie's diary from Catster

The tiny tuxie angels write:

As our family moves from Catster to Cathugger, we are each publishing our previous diary entries here so that we will still have them and others can read them if they like.  These entries are mostly previous to the creation of "Furry Tails of the PDX pride", and are from earliest to latest, organized by cat.

Gone too soon

September 22nd 2009 12:26 am

Baby-Dot here. I was only with my last foster family for a week. I left for the Bridge when I was 2 1/2 weeks old. Foster Mommy was worried because I never ate as much as my brother, and wasn't as active as he. I was nursing from the bottle when I died, in Foster Mommy's hands. She had taken us to her work so she could feed us after her class, so she called Foster Daddy and he came and got her. My brother was snuggling with my body, so Foster Mommy picked up my body and petted it, kissed it, and arranged the fur. She settled the tiny paws and set the body back into our tote.

At the same time I died, even though I was away from home, Skylar knew. He woke up from a nap and walked over to sit with Foster Daddy in the chair.

Foster Daddy dug a hole by where Lydia and Sara are buried in the backyard, burying my body there. He stroked my fur and both of them told me how sorry they were that I had to leave so early. They told me they loved me, and how they had tried their best to give me what I needed. I know they did their best for me.

Foster Mommy called the lady who cared for me for the first 1 1/2 weeks, and they both cried while talking.

Both brothers are angel kittens now

September 22nd 2009 2:39 am

Baby-Tuxie just left us as well. I took him out to feed him, and he barely meowed. He had been screaming his lungs out, but barely made a sound this time and he was so cold. My husband held him while he went through the same things his brother had.

We buried him in the backyard next to his brother. We think that they had some kind of infection, and had no resistance because they never nursed from their mama cat.

Rest in peace, little ones. We loved you both!

KMR powder warning!

October 7th 2009 1:36 pm

Everyone who fosters needs to check the smell of their KMR powder! If it does NOT smell like milk, call PetAg (the company that makes it) at 800-323-0877 and tell them. They will send out a replacement in liquid form.

The rancid KMR powder is due to excessive heat while shipping! It is NOT a manufacturing issue or anything related to PetAg. It is the fault of the shipping companies letting the product sit in enclosed trailers in the summer heat.

There is no way to tell which packages will be rancid before they are opened. It is not by lot number or by expiration date. It is by when and how they were shipped.

PetAg is being very nice about this issue. Our foster mommy called about our can, and the lady was extremely polite and kind. She is sending liquid replacement that can be stored for up to a year and a half, and sending a call label so the rancid powder can be sent back free of charge.

They are going to reformulate KMR powder so that it stands up better to extreme heat and doesn't separate as much. The liquid wasn't affected at all.

The lady said that some of the symptoms we had (diarrhea, listlessness) could have been caused by the powder, but since we didn't have the vomiting usually associated with food poisoning that it wasn't the whole story.

Please, please, PLEASE pass this on to individuals and organizations who foster!