Closing the Books

 I was paying other bills online, so I browsed over to the King County Pet Licensing site, and I closed out the records for Billy & Whitey.

Farewell, old friends.

Catzilla Coda (all nine lives are precious)

The departure of the Catzilla Brothers left us with a number of things we have no use for in the foreseeable future.  My favorite rescue organization, MEOW Cat Rescue, is closed because of COVID-19, but I asked the right people, and they took a shipment from us.

Today I dropped off:

•  Two jumbo litter boxes
•  A box of 1 ml syringes
•  Food
•  KD prescription canned food (most of a case)
•  Non-prescription canned food (most of a case)
•  Bag of TikiCat Sticks (liquid gravy treats)
•  For subcutaneous fluids
•  3 bags Ringer's lactate solution
•  10 burettes
•  ~ a dozen needles

All of these items were never used.  (Billy was actually put down before the burettes ordered for him arrived.)

The gift of Billy & Whitey, our first rescue cats, to those still waiting.

Requiem for the Spider-Cat

Whitey Asleep in My Office a few Days Ago

A few days ago, I wrote I didn't know how Whitey was taking the passing of Billy, his littermate and life long housemate. We wonder if he was saddened by his brother's passing, for Whitey's own time comforting us was cut short today.

I rose at 7 AM this morning, a few minutes early, raked the litter box, and was feeding the younger cats by 7:35. They both finished their meals in one sitting; Oscar did not get the whim as he often does these days to finish upstairs in private. Katherine came down to feed Whitey, and we agreed to take showers and go get bagels before the heat of the day (with a projected high of 96º). I headed up to take my shower while Katherine finished in the kitchen, including unpacking wet food ordered for the Catzillas.

We never made it to bagels. Katherine came in the bathroom as I was drying off, and said, "We need to take Whitey to the vet. He had a seizure." 

She thought he was still breathing. I told her to get dressed, and I did the same.

When we got downstairs, he was still unconscious on the living floor. Katherine called an emergency vet, who referred her to two more. I looked up the number for Emerald City Emergency Clinic (where we had taken Billy in June) and called them. We decided to go there, and Katherine poured Whitey into a carrier. We agreed on the way in that he might not make it. 

With Conv-19 restrictions, they came out to the car to take him in his carrier into the building. As soon they started to check him, they called us, and gave us the news.

With great sadness we announce that Whitey, age 16 and a half, was pronounced deceased today at ~ 9:00 AM at Emerald City Emergency Clinic in Seattle. He was predeceased by his brother Billy by four days, and is survived by his foster nephews Oscar and Penwiper.

The Catzilla Left Behind

Someone asked how Whitey is taking the passing of Billy, his littermate and housemate from birth. The honest answer is I don't know. 

They were often in the same room together peacefully, and we have numerous pictures of them curled up together. At the same time, they really did lead separate lives. More of Whitey's memorable interactions in the past few years have been with his nemesis Penwiper than with his brother. 

(Mostly, the Catzilla Brothers, always fed simultaneously, sampled each other's food under the theory the contents of the other bowl always tastes better. This does not aid tracking intake!) 

Whitey meowed A LOT last night between 1 AM and 5 AM, but that has not been unheard of over the past year as his eating habits have gotten flaky. He's also been meowing this morning even as I write this.

(Katherine notes he also mournfully meowed when Billy was in the clinic.  Who knows?)

The thing that I just noticed is that he sat up in the blue chair and meowed. Normally, when he wants food, he comes to the human and meows directly at him/her.

He quieted each time for a bit after getting food or affection; food seems to quiet him longer. He looked headed for another nap in the blue chair, but then just seemed restless.

Stress eating? (No idea.)

Now he's stretched out on the floor for a nap. All I can say to our new Senior Prince is, "Sleep well."

p.s. Katherine said "He was pretty restless last night. He's often restless lately, but maybe more than usual."  That seems accurate.

The Quiet Hunter Hunts

So we eat dinner last night, do the dishes, feed the boys, open most of the downstairs windows, and then +Katherine Derbyshire heads upstairs.

My job before following her is to rake the litter box and to open the laundry room window above it, also known as The Whitey Window (his favorite). There is no time limit on these tasks, so I sit at the dining room room and read for over an hour.

Billy wanders by me as I'm wrapping up my reading and hints he'd really like a kitty treat nightcap. I love our senior prince, so I step over to the kitty treat cabinet to appease him. Then I happen to look left. Lo and behold, look who is in the sink window, enjoying the evening view and air:

Whitey Quietly Hunting in the Kitchen Window

For all I know, he's been there most of the time I've been reading. And he looks too sweet to mist to nudge down off there.

I decide to go about my business with Billy, and sure enough Whitey hops down to his usual spot on the floor to get his share of treats. Meanwhile, Penwiper and Oscar arrive from wherever they are, so my simple treat-or-two-for-Bill turns into a full dessert for everyone.

Then it's off to the laundry room to rake the box and open the window before going upstairs. I head back into the kitchen to wash my hands, and Whitey passes me. He knows where he belongs:

Whitey in the Whitey Window in the Laundry Room

He almost looks like he's telling me, "See, if you had opened my window an hour ago, we would have never had to discuss the window over the sink."

Lesson learned.

By a Nose

The inmates running the asylum would be so much easier if they didn't rumble with each other. And they have been, or Whitey has been walking into edges of inanimate objects:

Whitey and His Abused Nose

I have my usual suspicions about the other party involved.

Also ...

Note to Penwiper: performing your death-defying leap to the top of the headboard (AKA Death From Above) when it's time to flush the humans out of bed does not work nearly as well if there's no human on that side of the bed.

Two hairballs (one two-part hairball?) cleaned up.

Boys fed, box raked.

Four kitten meals until the chief valet returns.  (I miscounted yesterday).

Catzillas at Rest

The Catzilla Brothers in Two of Their Natural Hobbitats

Nothing more needs to be said.

Life (and Paw) is Good: A diary

Monitoring low maintenance Whitey and his paw bandage (June 6th)

A few quotes from my Facebook stream:

June 12th - Whitey's sturdy paw bandage is off, replaced by a bandaid. The latter, as expected, lasted ~ an hour. Doctor says not to worry about it.

June 10th - Don't tell our vet, but Whitey (with his bandaged paw) left collarless overnight. Bandage still intact after 36 hours of feline freedom.

June 6th - Every five minutes, my Mac reminds me to check on Whitey. This ensures he is not attempting to damage his bandage. As you can see, checking on him is not terribly strenuous. The only thing less strenuous is being Whitey himself.

Note, by the way, that just out of the picture is Billy in his sun drenched chair. He makes his brother look alert.

June 6th - Whitey left UNCOLLARED & alone (and asleep) for an hour while I went for a bagel & @kewms rode her bike. Bandage untouched. #FaithRewarded

Whitey and The Usual Suspect

Whitey is wounded.  He's not hurting, but we're not used to seeing blood on his hind leg like he got tonight.

(Scratched nose? Yes. Other wounds?  No.)

Whitey's Right Rear Paw

After getting a photograph of it at a good angle, above, we can see it is obviously a claw sized puncture wound. If I was in CSI mode, I'd get a sample and compare any foreign DNA to a certain Tuxedo.

Family Portrait

Wednesday  morning, something happened which I'm not sure has occurred since Penwiper arrived years ago -- all the cats more or less in the same place for more than ten seconds.  And war didn't even break out.

I was even able to get a picture.

The Four Feline Overlords, Together at Last.
(click for a larger view)

Travel Accommodations

Speaking of the vet . . .

As always, the Catzilla Brothers hated going to the vet on Friday. However, since then, Whitey showed that he does like cat carriers – so long as they don't move!

Whitey enjoying his private cabin in the front hall

And yes, that picture is post vet visit.  

Elderstates Cats, Redux

Billy and Whitey got their annual shots on Friday.  The vet also drew blood to check on our geriatric kittens.  The vet called back with the results of the blood work this morning.

Whitey is normal.

Billy has slightly elevated kidney function, he needs more tests.   It's early, so this should be looked at, but is not a serious issue ... yet.

Billy & Whitey, Elderstates Cats

Billy in His Younger Days, High On a Laundry Room Cabinet

The Catzilla Brothers turned 12 this past February, and that's not young.

Several months ago, Whitey seemed less limber than he has traditionally shown, and after consulting with our friends at +Kenmore Veterinary Hospital, we put him on a daily supplement for possible arthritis.  He seems a little more limber and comfortable with it.

Now Billy is troubled. In particular, the Mighty Hunter of Kitty Treats is showing real signs of slowing down. I noticed sometime ago that he doesn't get as many treats on the fly as he once did, but that's subjective. What's not subjective is that in the past week he has shown diminished confidence in his trademark leap from the kitchen counter to cabinet tops in pursuit of traits. A treat tossed up on a cabinet causes him to put his paws up on the cabinet, measure the distance ... and then puts his paws back down.

Then while Billy reconsiders the problem, Penwiper, at less than half the age, goes up and gets it.

Billy is not completely hindered; he's still chasing treats on the floor, and getting on the counter when he wants. However, but he usually goes up via the kitchen trash can conveniently located at the end of the counter as an intermediate step. (That's always been a good route, but his bias has changed to use it almost exclusively.)

It could just be Billy has a cold; he's been sneezing. But we're also seeing loose stools in the litter box (we don't know from who) -- a vet visit is in order after the holiday.

Self-Storing Nap Kitten

Last night, when I was putting clothes away before bed, Billy jumped up into the drawer for my Land's End shorts, and after poking at the drawer above it (it used to hold kitty treats, years ago), he settled in for a nap. I warned Katherine not to walk into the drawer when she came to bed, and crashed myself. He was still quietly curled up in the drawer at 2:30 AM when I got up to check why his brother Whitey was meowing (for no reason, it seems). At least one brother was cute overnight.

Best Toy Ever! (at least for 2016)

For years in the original Summer Kitten Farm, we had a Van Gogh reproduction hanging in our bedroom. After we moved to Kenmore in 2007, we meant to get it promptly unpacked and rehung.  Honest.

Today we got it unpacked:

Our finally unpacked Van Gogh reproduction

The boys don't care if we hang it, but they think it should have been unwrapped years ago, because the inner wrapping paper is fun!

Whitey checking out the Van Gogh reproduction wrapping paper, AKA his new blanket.

Whitey and his new blankie

And where is Billy in all this?  Very happy, thank you.

Billy nestled deep in the folds of the blankie.

Billy is actually nestled deeper than it appears in the photo -- the flash lit up his comfy cave.

Penwiper has also visited the paper, but Whitey reclaimed his ownership of it before I could get a picture.

We'll get the print hung later today.  I'm not exactly sure where the valets are sleeping tonight, since the boys do love their new present . . .

The Return of the Master to the Big Black Kitty Warmer

While Whitey has always loved warm spots around the house, but for some reason after we moved to the Kitten Farm West he gave up on using the Big Black Kitty Warmer.  For years, it's been of the domain of Billy, Penwiper, and Oscar, but never Whitey. 

Whitey on the Big Black Kitty Warmer (Mark I) in Stoneham, December 2006

Until today, that is.

I'm delighted to see Whitey reclaim his rightful spot this evening.   (This delight included misting Penwiper when he tried to commandeer it!)

And yes, through the years, Whitey has slept through AC/DC.

Whitey On the Big Black Kitty Warmer (Mark II), November 2015

Menu Changes at Le Cafe Matou

Whitey has been fickle about eating off and on all summer, and after the vet visit early this month he went turbo fickle mode, eating little or none of his kibble for multiple meals in a row.  So we tried to wake up his appetite by:

• spiking his food with hard kitty treats.
• begging and petting.
• spiking his food with Kitty Crack (http://bluebuffalo.com/product-finder/cat/?facets=cat_treats)
• giving him partial portions of wet food.
• giving him all wet food.
• giving him wet food spiked with Kitty Crack.

All this worked in varying degrees, and after several false starts for now he seems happy on a full diet of all wet food. This is not as good for his teeth, but we'd rather have a properly fed cat needing his teeth cleaned than a hungry cat with clean teeth.

However, all this wet food flying around has a spillover effect.  In particular, we need to also give consideration to the others in varying degrees:

• Oscar has never liked wet food, he'll walk away from kibble any where near wet food.  So we can and do feed him kibble as always.
• Penwiper wolfs wet food down mixed with his kibble, and clean up Whitey's bowl when allowed to after everyone else is done. So he needs a little reasonable restraint (to avoid premature clean up) to be a happy diner.
• Billy is now making us shake our heads:
• Traditionally, he likes wet food ...
• ... The smell excites him as we serve up the meal ...
• ... Once eating, the smell will drive him to abandon his own kibble meal half way through. Never mind that he is locked in the bathroom, he still has the nose of a cat ...
• ... but if we give Billy wet food, he doesn't eat it. This is a new development in the past week.

The solution to Billy (for this morning at least) was let him eat his chosen meal (kibble) with everyone else for the dining room.  He was a gentleman to Penwiper and Whitey (Oscar started and finished early enough to not be an issue), no one left more than crumbs, and everyone was happy.

Suffice to say it's all a fluid situation with the regulars at Le Cafe Matou.

Check for Penguins ... and Other Overlords

We call the master bathroom the Penguin Pen, because a certain tuxedo cat likes both to attend the humans using it and to hang out there after lights out, quietly warbling about his sadness.  This is not to say he and his housemates don't like the other bathrooms, but their doors are usually closed and thus off-limits as performance spaces.   They will use them when available, so we always "check for penguins" before closing bathroom doors.

Katherine used the center upstairs bathroom this morning before kitten breakfast, and she left it open because Whitey slipped in with her.  He was guaranteed to follow her down to breakfast, saving her the effort of shooing him if she waited to close it.

Later, Billy hopped on my desk to get a drink out of my (okay, his) water mug, causing me to notice it was low.   After he refreshed himself, I refilled it from the still open center bathroom.   While in there, I discovered a fluffy penguin lounging on the bath mat, who departed gracefully.  I then checked the tub, lest Whitey was hiding behind the shower curtain.

Katherine mentioned I should also check the under sink cabinet for Whitey.  This makes sense in general as Whitey loves to hide in our self-closing French-hinged cabinets, but makes no sense in that bathroom because the door hinges are misaligned.  The doors to be lifted while closing to get them slide over each other and actually close.  Even a small human with thumbs couldn't do that from the inside.

Whitey was inside the cabinet, with the doors closed.

Beats me how he closed them.

Update:   I tested both doors. The right door is misaligned. the left door will open and close fine if the right is left untouched.  I must always be using the right door.

Photo Friday: Ten Years of the Quiet Hunter

As noted, Whitey likes his window perch in the evening.

Whitey Quietly Watching the World from his Window

I considered posting a photo of him looking at me (and the camera) from the window, but let's face it: That's not what he is there for.

Feline Cuteness Paralysis

Of all windows in the Kitten Farm West, Whitey is most likely to be found following the world from the laundry room window, especially during the warmer weather when it's open. We'll look for him there as we come home. In fact, we call it The Whitey Window, and will open it just for him if the weather is nice.

Last night, after +Katherine Derbyshire and I watched a movie, she started closing downstairs windows before retiring upstairs for the night.  She got the living room, dining room, and finally headed into the laundry room to close The Whitey Window.  I pointed his likely presence out as she headed in there, and indeed ...

Katherine: Whitey, it's time to close your window so I can go upstairs. 
me: Don't close it.
Katherine: You willing to come down later?
me: Well, I'm going to bed next, so no.   Go ahead.
Katherine (coming out of laundry room): He gave me a cute kitten face.

The window stayed open until Whitey later wandered upstairs, so Katherine had to make an extra trip down.