Thank you everyone - double the fun - double the love and double the trouble.  What a pair.  It is so cute, the momma still thinks she needs to groom KiKi.  KiKi is going to be bigger than Roxy though.

Danielle said that Terk is making up for lost time when he didn't feel good - he is back to his same, maybe worse terror.  She just loves him and is so glad that he is being such a bad, wild boy.  He is spoiled, that is what is problem is.  She had a friend say over and sleep on her couch and Marconi said that Terk woke him up every hour on the hour, chewing on his feet, playing with his hair, etc. How funny is that. It is like he was saying, OH BOY someone in the living room to play with me all night.

Things are turning out - during that awful week with OK left me and Terk was so ill, I never thought I could smile again but Danielle's stories of Terk and watching Roxy and KiKi play makes my heart joyous again. I can see Ok in KiKi and I think that is what is making it so very enjoyable. It is like KiKi is the reincarnation of every kitty we have ever had and Roxy looks like Danielle's boy Terk, even though Danie lives in CT and I live in upstate NY.

Life has strange ways.  I have always believed that the Lord does not give us more than we can handle, but there are times I wonder how much more could come our way.

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving to all of your and your furry little loved ones.

Sandy, Angel OK, Roxy and KiKi

Thank you Carol.  I just bought them cans of turkey and giblets, so they will have their own turkey dinners.
 

Oh I will.  I am just hoping that I won't be too neurotic about them and let them be kitties.  Everytime they don't look just so, I get worried but I know that will go away and I realize they are fine.


Thank you

Sandy, Angel OK and Roxy and Kiki

Hi everyone:

Just to let you know I haven't gone far.  I have been trying to deal with my grief - I miss OK so very much and it is hard to believe still that he is gone.

BUT good news - Roxy - a black and white female kitty and her daughter a calico and white have come to live with us.  They are used to be in a barn, so right now they are in with our bunnies, not running around and I am gradually going to try and get them used to being in the house only.  I do not want to have kitties running around outside. Our old girl was 19 and she had never been let to run outside.  These girls are 1 and 5 months.  They are so loving.  I was still thinking about the kitty at the shelter but decided to give these girls a great home.  They are beautiful.

I already have wonderful memories - KiKi the calico is quite the little mothering baby (she is the daughter). I went out in the barn (shed) where the rabbits are and a cage was open and my first thought was, geez a rabbit has gotten out. Wellllllllllllllllll, Kiki was laying in the doorway of the cage keeping the bunny in her cage.

Ok would love them.  Roxy is a needy little girl. She just wants you to pet her all of the time but does not like being held for more than a nanosecond.  Now Kiki is very independent, like Ok was.  She will come to you and let you pet her on her own terms.

I am sure they will make the transition fine but I was afraid to bring them in - I think I need to acclimate them to being inside and not climbing walls and running across rafters. They are young enough so I don't think their will be too much of a problem unless they claw my husband leather chair.  He likes them and our blond cocker isn't afraid of them. Roxy walks around her rubbing on the dog and the dog says OBOY, I am gonna score some kitty food.

Life will never be the same without my big boy OK kitty but you are all right, I have his memories and they are with me everyday.  How he loved to sun his belly. How he would bring me presents, like flying squirrels.  Him letting a bunny chase him.  I am sure that he is so very happy now, not sick, feeling well and he would not have been happy being inside all the time and being stuck all the time.  I always look at the patio door when the outside light comes on because that was the sign that OK was ready to come in and then I would see his sweet face.

That is why I am not going to let the girls outside.  If they too someday get sick, they won't miss being able to chase mice and the all the wonderful things OK did that made him happy. I will find a way for them to be happy in here.  For now though, they are in sometimes but mostly in the shed guarding the bunnies and getting up on the shelf and turning up the radio.  We woke up the other morning with the radio blasting at the other end of the house where the shed is. Guess they wanted to party.

I know I could not have gotten through this time without all my new friends in here and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. 

Oh, by the way, my daughter's kitty Terk is doing just fine. Had his staples out today. 

Thanks

Sandy

Thank you - it is almost exactly a week when it all started to go downhill.  I need to just think of good memories and not the events of last Wednesday.  I still feel like it was my fault but I will make it up to him. He is buried on the hill behind our house next to our old girl. They used to have their squabbles and she was so small and he so big and he would back down everytime to her. He really respected his elders and knew she was there first and she told him that everytime she had the chance.

Thank you

Sandy and Angel OK

I have so many stories that I am remembering about my buddy.  They are spinning in my head today.  I have been thinking of him today and what we were doing together and did I hug him enough and did I tell him I love him enough. What were my last words to him.  The answer to myself was that I loved him and hugged him and told him I loved him each and every day and as much as he would let me.  He was always a free spirit and now he is still a free spirit, not tied down in anyway.

I remember one time when he was not a house kitty yet and he was at our backdoor begging for food and my husband jokingly said to him - go earn your keep or catch a mouse or something like that and then maybe we will feed you. It wasn't very long after that, there was OK sitting on the back porch with a mouse by his dish looking up at us saying, well there, can I eat now?

Or the time when we had a bunny dropped off at our house - we raise rabbits, so I am the rabbit lady and everyone thinks we need rabbits. Well anyway, Ok knew that our bunnies were off limits.  The bunny that was dropped off weighed about 5 pounds and chased this 20 pound cat around the yard. It was the funniest thing I ever saw. I have pictures of that.

He gave me so much joy.

Thank you

Sandy and Angel OK

A week ago today at this moment I was starting to feel a bit of hope that my precious man would be "ok". He had been sitting in the sun and walking every so slowly to his various haunts outside. Now I think of it as he was saying goodbye to his favorite places. He even tried to go to the edge of the woods farther away from the house but decided to attack the water bucket instead, his favorite thing to do. Whenever I would fill it for the rabbits, he would dump it. 

As I said yesterday, he came to me on his own terms and he lived here on his own terms and he left on his own.  He was a very independent kitty.  He would do things at his own pace, like sitting at the patio door looking in like he was begging to come in. We would go to the door and open it to let him in and he would look at us as if to say "why did you open the door, Im not ready to come in, just looking at you" and then when he did come in, he would take his ole sweet time and walk to the middle of the livingroom and lay down stretched out and said "look at me" with his tail dancing. The tip of his tail was dancing to the sound of my voice until minutes before he had the seizure that took him. 

Today I was remembering when he first came.  I would be going to the barn and there were a lot of cats around but this one cat would sit and watch me and it kinda creeped me out a little bit because the others would run for the hills.  He would sit in the weeds, on a stump, behind a tree and watch me come and go to the barn. 

One day I was outside in the middle of the driveway and saw OK coming down the path and thought well it is now or never. I called out "kitty, kitty". WELLLLLLLLLL he came running towards me at full speed and I thought OMG he is going to attack me (been watching too much TV) and I had no place to go to, so I stood in the middle of the driveway with my face covered. He ran right by me and went under our house.  From then on, I started feeding him and one day before he let us touch him, I noticed he had a collar on. I got a towel, still fearing the worst (brave aren't I) and went out. He stayed there and let me take this tight, tight collar off of him and we bonded then and that was the start of my romance with my little man OK.

I keep thinking of the kitty at the shelter and it is a good thing my husband was gone today and I didn't have a vehicle because I probably would have her home right now one way or the other. I can see her eyes looking into mine, those beautiful green eyes, just the way OK would look at me.  She could be OK's twin sister and she seemed to have the same temperament because when all the other cats were begging for attention, she stayed curled up until I moved her brother and she looked at me and seemed to say, come to me because I am not coming to you. When I picked her up, she sort of became part of me and started purring and looked at me.  I know she is the one but I will give it a bit because if it is meant to be for her to come home with me, she will still be there when I can get her. If not, I am sure there will be another one but she didn't act needy and act like look at me, look at me.  I think that is what caught my eye and she is the only kitty there that was gray tiger and white. Her littermake was all gray tiger.  She has the sweetest face.

My heart aches for her but I need to make sure that it is not just still aching for OK but I know now that my broken heart will mend with another sweet little one and when the time is right, a sweet little one will be home with me.

I just couldn't justify going to the shelter when I still had a vet bill to finish paying. 

Thank you all for your support. Thought you would like the story of how OK came to us. It makes sense. He was such a free and independent spirit that I do not think he would have been happy being a completely house kitty and getting needles and vet visits and such.  He had had the same routine for many, many years and tried to do that routine even though he was almost too weak to walk.

He was and still is my lover boy and my heart is aching today.

Thank you

Sandy and Angel OK

I am so sorry to hear about your loss of Rocky.  It has been a week since we lost OK.  It is so hard.  Our heart breaks with  yours.

Sandy and Angel OK

Thank you all - I hope so but he seems more comfortable tonight and has cleaned himself up. 

I will keep you all updated in the am.

Thanks

Hi everyone:

Well OK  home for the first night and day - he did get up in the recliner last night, sooooo he had enough strength to do that.  He did use the box, so that is a good thing, no poops yet but did wet.  I am thinning down the a/d and giving him that in a puppy syringe feeder.  He is taking that better.  He is still quite weak and tired but is purring and walks around a bit.

I am taking his sugar levels via blood out of the tip of his ear and it was 456 a while after I fed him. I panicked and the vet is out of town, so I called Cornell University pet emergency center and they said that it was higher than normal but not that high after eating.  I have just found the vein in his ear to test is blood in the morning fasting and see where we are.  I am going to get some strips tomorrow and see if I can catch some uring and test that but that might be a battle. 

At least he just doesn't sit in one spot with his head hanging down. He does move around, so I am taking that as a good sign. 

I am just happy he is home and purring when I pet him and he is cleaning himself but he is certainly a mess.  I have been trying to get him cleaned a bit but don't want to disturb him too much with that.  He is dry now anyway and I think happy to be home.

Thank you to everyone

He is just not liking it at all.  He is really tired now but it was a long ride home for him and he walked around a lot.  At first it seemed like his hind legs weren't working that well but he just needed to get them going.  He is now on his bed and I have him on a warming pad because I think they did at the vets.  He was getting so many fluids at the vets and peeing so much that he is wet with pee and smells really bad but I am changing his pad so he gets dry and hopefully he will clean himself up.  Is this normal for when they have been in a cage and really sick for a few days.  I am so in hopes that he starts eating again.  He doesn't seem to like the A/d and spits it out but I am going to keep it up.

Thank you

Hello:

Ok came home today.  He had just come off of his IV when I picked him up and they were still force feeding him.  I brought home some prescription cat food and he hates it.  They had been feeding himP ProPlan by force feeding him.  I put the prescription A/D in a little water to thin it and put it in a puppy syringe and he drank it when I put that in his mouth.

Any ideas on how I get him eating by himself.  He was in organ shutdown on Monday from some sort of toxin and through pushing IV his values are getting back to normal except his glucose, so he is now a diabetic from the toxins.

The vet had to go away for the weekend and I opted to bring him home.  He started cleaning himself and was purring but got upset and acted putout when I tried to force feed him.

I am so glad to have him home and want to do anything I can so he doens't have to go back to the vets for more IV on monday.

Any idea??

Thanks

Hello:

Ok is home but he is still very weak and we are having to force feed him. I am hoping that him being home in his own bed that he will come around.  He started cleaning himself as soon as he got home and I was petting him in the carrier on the way home and he started purring.  He seems to weak by his hindquarters while he starts walking but then comes around.

Keep the good thoughts and prayers coming and I am sure we can get him strong and better.

Thank you

I just got a call from the vet tech and he may be coming home tomorrow.  My heart was so broken on Monday and now it is full of joy.  They are so great there, they tried him on three different kinds of food until they found one he would eat and they warmed it up for him.  It is ProPlan Salmom she though.

Again, thank you to everyone.

   I just talked to the vet secretary because everyone else was in surgery but she said that the vet tech said that everything was improving and he ate.  They are so shocked as they didn't think he would make it. I am sure it is everyone's prayers and positive thoughts that have pulled him through this and a little of his own "psychocat".  I don't know when he can come home but I am getting letting myself get more and more optimistic.

Now raising all of the money for the vet bills - yikes.  I put him first and then worry about the rest later. We did that when our daughter was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 4 and things worked out and she is alive and healthy at 25.

Again thanks to all of you.