The dead couch

I guess I will reupholster my couch in 14 ounce denim.  That should stand up to Missy.  I had intended to just wait until she was gone, but with her being in excellent health, I think I need to get busy this weekend.  I have been thinking about doing some easy chairs in denim. It wears great.  So I'll haul out my tools and get after it.  On a scary note, whether you believe in climate change or not, seeing spring wildflowers bloom in November is a little freaky.  And some of the shrubs that don't bloom until March or April are now in full bloom.  Yeah, this is freaky.  And our trees have not lost their leaves yet.  They are still green. 

Take a look at this

Here is my couch, compliments of Missy.

This is what is left of my leather couch. It was a beautiful  green.  However, one night when we had a thunderstorm and she was scared.  She could hear the thunder, but could not see anything.  So she dug a hole in my couch and then proceeded to eat it. 

And this is what is left of Honey's $90 bed.  This is the second one she destroyed.  It took her about two weeks before she decided to destroy this one.  And it took her about 20 minutes to do the job. 

And this is all that is left of her most recent bed.  We will be doing fleece blankets now. 

Duncan's bedtime.

Every night at 7pm, no matter what I am doing, Duncan comes up and stands up on my leg, whining and scratching for all  he is worth.  It is his bedtime and he wants to be put in the big bed.

So on the big bed he goes and he is there when I get ready for bed.  On my pillow.  I have actually slept crosswise on the bed because he would have one pillow and Jock would have the other one and Picasso would be on the foot of the bed.  Love my furrbabies.

Sadness

I'm really missing Spats tonight.  He would follow me around meowing for more food.  He loved to eat dog food so when I fed the dogs, I had to keep him from getting into their food.  He did love Friskies canned food.  He had his favorites.  I tried to get him the expensive ones such as Wellness, Blue Buffalo, even Royal Canin.  Nope.  He would not eat them and forget getting the other cats to eat them.  And it is too quiet without him.  He kept things hopping.  RIP Spats.  You are missed.

Spats

This is my Spats when he was about 7 months old.  He and his brothers destroyed this Christmas tree, but they had a ball doing it.  I lost him today.  I took him in to the Doc because last night he stopped climbing on my lap and he didn't sleep on my pillow.  He would try to eat and couldn't.  He has lost all muscle mass.  But he still purred when I picked him up.  But I knew it was time to let go, so I did.  I will miss him.  He was 17 years old and had been with me from birth.  RIP Spats. 

Missy

I took Missy in to see the doc today.  I was convinced I needed to have her put down.  Doc checked her out and said that my 17 year old dog was one of the healthiest mature dogs he had seen.  Her heart was fine, lungs were clear, no abnormalities in her stomach.  So my 17 year old dog is still going strong. Amazing. 

New Addition

We have a new addition to our house.  Her name is Tiger and she is a 1 year old muted tortise shell calico.  She is my granddaughter's and she is so sweet.  So I now have 2 young ones and 6 old ones, 5 are very old.  I will continue to care for them till the end of their days.  I really do love all of them.

My cats

I have three old cats.  They are all 16 years old.  No muscle mass left.  Almost no teeth.  Yet they still want kibble.  So I give them kibble along with the wet food.  I held Van down and cut his toe nails.  One had gotten too long and bled when I cut it.  He ran away mad and hid.  I let him go until the next morning.  When I got up and after taking care of the dogs, I put food out for the cats.  Picasso and Spats came to eat.  No Van.  So I started looking for him.  Being 16, I never know if I will find him alive or not.  I spent over 2 hours looking for him.  Couldn't find him. So I gave up and decided I would tear the house apart when I got off work and find him.  I was in my bathroom brushing my teeth when I heard the door under one of the sinks. close.  I looked quickly but did not see him.  However, when I went to check the food, he was there.  He may be old, but he is still just as sneaky as always. 

Not yet fall

We are still in the melting stage of the weather.  Yesterday the heat index was 105.  I came home from work and let the little guys and Missy out back.  It took them about 2 minutes to be back at the door demanding to be let back inside in the air conditioning.  Next up is Honey.  She is in her crate barking for all she is worth and that bark feels like an ice pick going through your eardrums.  Ok, so I let the little guys and Missy back inside and almost get run down as they charged in.  I open Honey's crate.  She bounces out, whips around the island in the kitchen, barking the whole time.  I open the back door, she tears toward it and comes to a sudden stop when she feels the heat.  She whirls and charges back to her crate.  She wants no part of that heat.  I literally have to pull her out of her crate and shove her outside.  And it took her less than 2 minutes.  So, all of mine are spoiled to air conditioning.  And Honey does not like rain either.  They are so much fun. 

The hunt

My three cats, all brothers, are 16.  Spats is so skinny and eats all the time.  He is healthy.  Just lost muscle mass with age.  Picasso is the lazy one.  He will ask for affection if he does not have to get out of his basket on the sofa table.  You walk by and he demands petting.  Van, well I worry about Van all the time.  Sometimes I think he is ready to go, then he fools me and struts across the house and looks so chipper.  So since they are all old, every morning I do a head count.  I hunt all of them up to make sure they are all still with me.  Spats does not need to be found.  He is always on top of me in the morning and follows me around demanding food.  Picasso is in his basket.  Van  has hiding places and sometime I have trouble finding him.  That was this morning.  I fed the dogs and put them out.  I started mixing the wet cat food with chicken broth and I'm worrying about Van.  I had not found him yet. Then I carried the wet cat food to the sun room and there was Van strutting across the room.  I still don't know where he was hiding.

Great halters.

I just found this great harness.  You can put ice packs inside it to keep your dog cool.  You can also freeze this to keep the dog cool.  I found it at dogs.com.I will be ordering one for Honey. Don't remember the price, but it was comparative with other halters.  So, www.dogs.com. I wish I could have found one of these when my Max was alive.  He hated to go out in the heat.  He was a German Shepherd and the sweetist, most gentle fellow.  He was my best friend.

My fur babies

It's been raining for two weeks.  Honey has not been able to get out in the back yard and run off her energy.  She hates rain and hates to get wet.  So this is how she is entertaining herself.  She is destroying her pillow.  Actually, she totally destroyed it.  It took her 2 days but only because I kept stopping her when I would hear her ripping it up.  Now she is sleeping on fleece blankets.  That $80 beautiful pillow is nothing but a few pieces of canvas.  But she had fun. 

Baby, my son's 100 pound pit bull came over on Sunday for a play date, which he does every Sunday.  I am still cleaning mud off my white cabinets in the kitchen.  Oh, but it was fun for them.  And the best part for Baby is the ride home.  He sits in the back seat between my grandchildren.  Sunday when they were getting ready to drive off, my granddaughter was getting her face washed by Baby.  They love him as much as he loves them.  And the upside, when Baby comes to play, it wears Honey out and she will sleep soundly all night and most of Monday. 

My caregivers

I have had some health problems recently and I have had some good caregivers.  Duncan and Jock have loved it.  They love that I go to bed around 7pm.  They love that I am home more.  I can't sit down in the living room without Duncan and Spats in my lap, Jock on the footstool at my feet, Missy on my mutilated couch, Picasso and van draped around my neck.  Honey cannot be still long enough to be anywhere for more than 5 minutes.  Honey looks forward to Sundays.  Baby (he now weights in at 100 pounds to her 45 pounds)comes for a play date.  They wear themselves out, trash my kitchen and dining room.  Baby, when he drinks, has water all over the floor.  Honey is so dainty. Never a drop of water on the floor.  Never a piece of food on the floor.  It is amazing how dainty she can be.  And if I had her energy and could bottle it and sell it, I would be rich.  She can go and go and go.  And like Daisy, she just knows that that squirrel will just jump down into her mouth.  She would not know what to do with it, but she still thinks it will just drop down into her mouth.

My cats are now 16. I am constantly trying new foods.  They are doing ok, but of course they have lost muscle mass and only eat wet food now.  My 4 footed roommates make life worth living.  Without them, it would be miserable.  

Nighttime Romp

For the last several nights, Honey has woken me up barking in the middle of the night.  I though someone or something was messing around my house.  Well, last night I found out what it was.  I have a resident squirrel in my yard.  I have another squirrel trying to move in.  And at 3am, they were having a contest of wills on my roof.  I could hear them running, hissing at each other.  And Honey barking and her bark is so high pitched it feels like an ice pick going through your eardrums.  Daisy had a deep bark and could rattle the windows with it.  Honey can make you wish you were deaf.  Thank the stars that Baby will be over tomorrow for a play date with Honey.  She will be exhausted all day Monday. 

Missy is still going strong like the Energizer bunny.  She can't hear and can only see light, but she can still eat, sleep and she does.  She is 18.  I told my daughter she had better suck up to her nieces and nephews because at the rate Missy is going, she is going to outlive both of us and the nieces and nephews will have to take over.  She shows no signs of really going downhill.  And this dog has never had a sick day.  She goes to the vet for checkups, she has had a fatty deposit removed once.  She went to the vet to be spayed when we first got her.  She is the healthiest dog I have ever had.

My little guys.

We had a thunderstorm this afternoon, a pretty bad one.  I had to sit in the hall with Duncan on my lap and Jock sitting beside me demanding I pay attention to hem.  Missy was on the other side.  Duncan and Missy are terrified of storms so every time we have one, I wind up on the floor in the hall.  That hall is blocked from any outside light so they don't see the lightening.  But they do hear the thunder.  So we spent an hour on the floor.  And about halfway through, as if there weren't enough animals on my lap, Spats decided he wanted in on the action.  This cat would not let anyone touch him until he was about 12 years old.  Now we can't get him off us.  He wants constant attention and petting.  Storm is over and now everyone is asleep.  They are resting up for tonight so they can keep me awake.  Well, Spats keeps me awake.  Every one else just wants to sleep and everyone gets really annoyed with Spats and his cruising around the bed most of the night.  Honey is doing great after her surgery.  She will get the stitches out on Monday.

Honey

I took Honey yesterday to have her spayed and get all shots. The vet tech called me around noon and told me that Honey was in full heat.  I was so shocked.  She had stopped bleeding 3 weeks ago.  That means she was in heat for 7 weeks.  They went ahead and spayed her.  I brought her home around 4pm yesterday.  She thought she had been punished for something.  I did not get pain pills because I had never had to use them.  I went back today and got the pills.  Honey is such a wuss. I gave her a new pillow.  She loves it.  She did not eat Monday night nor did she eat this morning.  But tonight I gave her a can of wet food and she scarfed it down.  She also got up this morning and went outside with the rest of the guys.  Duncan is still petrified of her, but Jock and Missy are starting to accept her.  I think it is because she is calmer while she recovers.  She was much better after I gave her a pain pill.  She is the most timid dog I have ever had.  But she loves her home and her crate.  I had hoped to fold up the crates and store them.  Won't be happening.  That crate is her safe place.  So I am stuck with it in my dining room.  Oh well. 

My house of animals.

I have really been busy.  Other family matters have taken up my time.  Now I am back to doing nothing but playing with my little guys and working part time.  Honey goes to the vet on Monday to be spayed and get her battery of shots.  She will not be happy with that.  I am having a devil of a time training her to a leash.  She sees no good in it and she hates it.  I am making progress.  I have never had a dog that was so hard to train.  She is suspicious of everything.  I still have to keep her separated from the little dogs.  She just gets too rough with them.  Jock tries, but he is just too small and she just runs right over him.  Duncan is scared to death of her.  She would never intentionally hurt him, but she is so hyper and she will not slow down. That dog even wears out my son's pit bull.  He can last about 2 hours with her and he is done.  She, however, is still going strong.  There is no quit in her.  And her best friend is Spats.  Spats is one of my 16 year old cats.  He has always been really skittish.  For years, even though he was born here in this house and spent his life with us, he would not let us pet him.  Now he does like some attention.  But he loves Honey.  And Honey is so very gentle with him.  If I could just get her to be as gentle with the little dongs as she is with Spats, life would be great.  I'll just keep trying. 

Recovering

Well, we are kinda recovering from losing Sally.  She is missed.  And Missy will probably be next.  She is 17 and she is beginning to slow down.  She can hear a little and see a little.  She is eating good, but I notice she stumbles sometimes.  I am going to take her in for an exam.  I will let her go while she can still walk in on her own.  I will give her her dignity.  But I am not looking forward to that day.  She has been with me since she was a year old.  She is so sweet and always has been.  It is the pits that your animal family cannot live as long as you.  And it hurts so bad each time you have to let one go.  Abby has been gone 2 years and I miss her every day.  Max has been gone 7 years.  I am always looking for him.  And Daisy.  She drove me nuts, but I come in the house looking for her. 

best part of life is animals

If I had only humans to associate with, I would seriously consider ending it all. Humans are the nastiest, meanest, dirtiest creatures on earth and they breed like flies.  Ever notice after a flood, all the trash that has accumulated in the small stream beds?  Humans.  Yeah, my animals keep me sane and keep me from saying "f--k it and just walking away from everything,"  God must be sitting up there crying because of the mess humans have made of this beautiful planet He gave us.  We are probably his one mistake.

Rain and my animals

I have to push Honey out the door when it is raining.  She has gotten over her fear of the dark, but she hates rain.  So it is a battle.  She is one stubborn dog.  Duncan wants to go out front in the driveway.  He hates getting his feet wet.  That little guy must have had a hellish first part of his life, but the last part is great.  He is one of the princes in my kingdom and I am his handmaiden.  Along with Jock.  Jock has now started showin jealousy at the others.  His display is demanding to sit on my lap.  I, of course, will always give him all the love he needs.  My animals make life worth living even if Missy has destroyed my couch.  Time to upholster. 

I will always miss those I have lost.  They will always have a place in my heart.  I look at their passing this way:  They shed their bodies because they wore out and they moved on ahead in time.  They are waiting up ahead for me. 

Another hole in my heart

I took Sally into the vet Sunday, Feb 28.  She was ready to go but was having pain and discomfort leaving.  So I took her to the vet and let him help her leave.  It really hurt, but she was ready.  She is buried next to Abby and Marie in my back yard and I will plant roses on their graves.  Every time I have to let one go, I lose a small piece of my heart.  She was a sweetie.  I will miss her.  RIP, Sally.

My Sally

Sally has quit eating.  She is very weak.  She still purrs up a storm while I sit and hold her.  She does not seem to be in any pain. I will not haul her into the vet to have her put to sleep because it really frightens her and I don't want her last memory to be fear.  I will miss her.  There will be an empty spot in my heart.  There are many empty spots in my heart.  But they will be waiting for me at the rainbow bridge.  I do believe that.

Sally

My little Siamese mother cat is going down fast.  I am afraid I will lose her soon.  She has cancer but she is not in pain.  She is always purring when I hold her and I hold her a lot.  She sleeps a  lot.  She is 17. All my animals are old except Honey.  Missy, my mix breed dog, is also 17.  She sleeps a lot, but other than that she is in great health.  I will miss my brood.  I love them dearly.

Lost another on

Our family has lost another beloved pet.  My step-daughter had to put her friend, Jasmin, down 2 weeks ago.  Jasmin was in good health except she had arthritis in her spine and it got unberable for her.  She was in pain most of the time, so the decision was made to let her go.  She was a sweetie.  She was truly and American breed.  She was a mix of just about everything.  She had the coat of a German Shepherd, the long body of a basset and the short legs of a basset and a face of a Dachshund.  And was as stubborn as a dachshund.  She will be missed.

Mine are still all hanging on. Sally sleeps most of the time.  She is not in pain.  When I pick her up, she is purring as much as always and loves to stick her nose in my tea glass.  She sleeps on my pillow at night.  I keep the house warm for her.

Missy is showing signs of maybe being in some pain so I will be taking her in next week.  It may be time to let her go.  But she has had a great life.  She is 17 and has been with the family for all but about 11 months of that 17 years.  It will hurt, but if she is in pain, I will let her go.

Been busy

As usual it has been a very busy holiday season and post holiday season.  My little guys have kept me very busy.  Jock, my  old man, is a puppy this morning.  He is running and tossing his toys in the air.  Not bad for a 9 year old.  Missy is still going although I see some slow down now.  She has turned 17.  Not bad for a medium sized dog and Missy has always been really healthy.  It is sad to see them all get old.  Honey makes up for it though.  She wanted to go outside and play this morning, that is until she was out about 10 minutes.  She is not used to the cold and for our area it is really cold this morning.  We are at 31 and I know the rest of the country is worse off, but we are not used to this.  Our winter is a comfortable 40-50's.  And it won't last long.  Anyway, Honey was demanding to come back inside after about 10 minutes.

I have some new daffodils in my yard this winter.  Someone is missing some bulbs they planted.  The squirrels brought them to me.  I get a lot of my plants from the wildlife.  I got all my lantana shrubs courtesy of the birds.  That goes for my Turks Caps as well.  Oh and the lemon mint that graces my yard every spring.  Gotta love those birds.

My cats have all gotten old at once and I will lose Sally soon.  She has slowed down more and more.  She has cancer.  She is not in pain. She sits on my lap and still purrs and she is still eating good.  So until she tells me it is time, she will live right here comfortably.  Her new favorites spot is the bottom of a nightstand when I am working.  So I made her a nice fleece bed on it.  My babies are all growing old at once.

Holiday season

It was a very busy holiday season.  I hope everyone had a quiet Christmas and that the new year is kind to all.  I left my babies and went to Savannah, Georgia in the week between Christmas and New Years.  My son took care of them.  They were so glad when I got back.  I had everyone glued to me.  Duncan would not let me put him down for at least two days and Jock was glued to me.  Honey kept watching to see if I was leaving again.  I had to go to the grocery store on New Year's Day to get more dog and cat food.  They thought I was leaving them again.  When I got back, all of the dogs were sitting at the door.  The cats were on the sofa table and every one of them was watching the door.  They have finally settled down a little.  Duncan is in bed already.  He goes to bed early.  By 6, he is demanding I put him on my bed and he curls up on the quilt and goes to sleep.  He is really showing his age.  He just sleeps all the time.  I don't have a clue how old he is but I hope I get to keep him for a long time.  Jock is 9 and Missy is 17.  It will really hurt when I lose them.