Goodbye, Buster, You Will Be Missed

Thursday morning, my beautiful, 16 year old cat, Buster came up from the basement with thread coming out of his butt. Since we couldn't get it out and felt that this was an issue, we called the vet. We took him to the vet and then we left him there for 5 days and nights. We went to visit him every day that the vet was open and loved on him frequently, but we were not able to bring him home. Today, I had to make the decision. He had stopped eating and was still unable to go (the reason he couldn't leave the vet office). The vet, a very wonderful woman, and I discussed what was going on. Due to the expense, his age and all things, she agreed to do an exploratory surgery on him and if there was something very minor wrong, she would fix it. If there was something really wrong (what she was thinking...cancer), then she would just put him down. She called this afternoon and gave me the bad news. My beautiful loving cat, Buster, was put down this afternoon, with Pancreatic Cancer.

Rescues

My family and I have 4 animals, at this time. It makes life interesting and keeps us on our toes. All of our animals are rescues.

When my DH (Dear Husband) and I were first married we tried to bring my cat from my parents home to our home, but she did not adjust well and neither did my mother. So we had to return her to my parents, who loved her to her dying day. When we would go over to visit, she would visit with us, bc (before children). AC (after children), she would run and hide. My children were not afraid of her. My sister's children were terrified of her.

So, one day, I found mice droppings and told my DH that we were going to go look for a cat. We went to my favorite animal shelter (Campbell County) and were going to look for a kitten. What we found, was one very large (not fat), skinny, orange and white male cat. They told us he was going to be put down because no one would adopt him. We did. We brought him home and gave him his name and loved him. He came in and ate when he was hungry and caught the mice. He is a very good cat.

Then we adopted a black and white, male cat. That we named Houdini. He was very loving and very abused. I took care of him and loved him and healed his wounds and he caught a snake and helped keep the house free of rodents. We put him down in 2012, he was very ill.

One day in June of 2009, a small black cat (we found out later she was a kitten) came into our yard. I started taking food out to her (we weren't sure until later). She was very scared and very tiny and very thin. It took me a long time to get her to trust me and let me touch her. She came into our house and we took her to the vet and found out she was just barely a year old (in October). She is pretty much mine. She will let my DH touch her and sometimes my oldest can pet her, but she only comes to me. She is very sweet and lets me know with the loudest meow I had heard from her that there is a spider and she will keep it cornered until I get a shoe and kill it. She knows that catching and eating a spider would make her very ill, so she just corners them and hollers for help.


After a time, we found out that there were people trying to break into houses and one day they tried to get into my house, while the girls and I were home! So talking with my DH, we decided that we needed to get a dog. One that would at least give us warning before someone got in. So I went to the vet, to find out how much it would cost us to get a dog vaccinated and how often we would need to bring her in and how much to get fixed and other things. I had not found a dog yet, just getting information. The office was excited, they had a dog that needed a home and since I was good with the dogs in their office, I could be trusted with this dog. So they brought her out to meet my youngest DD (Dear Daughter) and myself. She was so very sweet and wiggling all over herself. What a little doll. I said, that I had to bring all the family in. This would not work if one person had a problem with her. So we all went back to the office and met the dog. She was so tickled to be released from her cage and then we brought her home and she was so good with our cats (who were terrified and hissing in fear). She gave them a large berth and they have moments where they fear her, but it is working.

Then one day, the family was all out in the back yard, playing, cooking. Here comes another cat. He is skinny and hungry. So we fed him. He stayed. He loved on the dog. He loved on the children. They loved on him. That summer it was very hot. We had several days that were 100 degrees F and over. He had a heat stroke and we took him to the vet, who would not treat him unless we agreed to keep him. So we did. We said he had to be fixed before that would happen. So she did. She gave a discount because we were rescuing another animal. This poor cat has the longest name I have ever given an animal. He is Prince Naveen (the girls were watching the Princess and the Frog) Dingleberry Doofus (from the DH) Rotten (he ran out of the house and stupid us chased him in the heat) Houdini II (he escaped when we didn't notice and found him on the back porch waiting to be let back in and the previous cat was named Houdini). We still have him and he is very loved. He doesn't escape as much as he used to. It seems a neighbor treating a pond area in their yard put some bleach in it and he may have burned his throat drinking it. It made him very ill for awhile.

So here is the lesson: There are a lot of animals in this world that need a home. Please do not go out and buy an animal. Go to an animal shelter and adopt. Fix the animal, they reproduce very quickly and frequently. We don't need more animals, just the ones that are around need to be loved now.

For those who have a dog, I found this recipe on FB (where else), and is supposed to be good for dogs. I plan on trying this for mine.

Cleo’s Pumpkin Dog Biscuits

* Brown rice flour gives the biscuits crunch and promotes better dog digestion. Many dogs have touchy stomachs or allergies, and do not, like many people I know, tolerate wheat.

Makes up to 75 small (1″) biscuits or 50 medium biscuits.

Gorgeous Night

Tonight I am thankful for the beautiful night. Actually, today I am thankful for my friend Caren, who lent me her Spot Bot so I can clean some carpeted areas without hauling my huge carpet cleaner to them. Also, for her friendship. We have such a good time together. I am thankful for the guys who while working on the park on Miller Road, took time to help me catch my dog, who got away from me because I was trying to do too much again! I am thankful for tonight's beautiful night sky to help me become grounded.

I am thankful for the new cat....he has so many names. Naveen, Houdini (he likes to escape), Rotten, Doofus, Dingleberry. But he entertains me when the kids are at school and he makes me laugh at his antics. Like tonight:

Last night I am thankful that all the cats and one dog could be in one room and not fight or growl or hiss (the cats).

I am hoping that tomorrow I can work on my knitting!

My poor Animals.....

My children are not cruel, they just think that things they wear look good on Poochie and Kitties.....End result, poochie is wearing sunglasses or fake glasses, or hats, etc. They also constantly pick up the kitties. Poor cats are a little too big for the girls to hold comfortably (for them). Oh Well, they are only young once.

Cats (Again) and some finished projects

Let's start with the cats. I previously mentioned that we had adopted two cats. Both are males, we call them Buster and Houdini. They are really wonderful cats, very loving and they take a lot from the girls. They have been watching the cats that we have been caring for outdoors. First, we had Doofus. We think he is dead. I was never able to catch him and he hasn't been around for awhile. Now, there is Lucky. She is a beautiful black cat. But she is very freaked out by movement. She is getting used to the sound of my voice and doesn't run as long as I stay on the inside of the screen door. She also doesn't run away when the girls come to the door. This is progress. Tonight, I finally caught Patches. Patches is an orange and white cat. Fixed male with his claws. He is very scared. The girls were running and talking very loud and he was freaking out. My husband and I set him up in the garage. He has a litter box, food and water and a blanket. He started exploring right away and he is very calm in the garage at the moment. I can also lock the door to the garage in a way that won't allow the girls to open it. Tomorrow, Patches will be looking for a home at the Cook Road, Lebanon, Ohio Shelter. He is really sweet and I think with a lot of love he will make an awesome pet for someone.
Isn't he a sweet looking boy.

Now on to other projects. School is starting and I needed to go through my daughter's clothing and sort it so that it was in correct sizes. To do this I started to pull clothing out of one closet and then I decided that I needed to take photos for everyone to see what I have on my hands.

These are my daughters closets. Two girls who are the same size share a closet and the youngest has a small closet all to herself. When I started sorting, I discovered that most of the clothes were for the youngest girl....6 (six) whole boxes of clothes are for her. Now seriously, I could let this child where one set of clothes every day (except panties, socks, undershirts and pjs) for 4 months before I had to do wash for her. I made her get rid of some of the clothes. We compromised. We kept the dresses, the shorts (she wears those under her dresses), but she would thin out the t-shrts and blouses. There were just too many of them. I have 3 bags of clothes in size 4-6 t-shirts and blouses to give away. Then after summer is over I will have many summer dresses and some shorts (not all, remember she wears them under her dresses) that will be going to the Good Will or to anyone who says, "I'll take the clothes!" That was one of my big projects finished. It took two days. One for the older girls closet and one for the younger girls closet.

Then onto the knitting front. I would like to give a big thank you to Wendy Knits. I borrowed her book from the library and found this awesomely simple pattern for a hat. So simple, I could remember it to make my darling daughter a simple pink, worsted weight wool hat. She loves it (altough you need to consider it is summer and it was early morning and she was not in the best of moods).

She will wear this hat every day of the winter. I will be making her a simple knit 3, purl 3 scarf, so that it ribs like her hat. Now, if I could only find an easy mitten pattern.

Now, I am going to check on Patches and then I will work on DD 3's afghan. I am almost finished and I am excited about that.