Cats Rule & Dogs Drool

How much truth is there to the statement Cats Rule & Dogs Drool? While dogs are notorious for drool and sloppy drinking habits, cats are far from being drooler's and sloppy drinkers. Most of the time that is. I have been doing lots of pet sitting and over night stays with dogs. This has been a reminder of just how different they are from the cats with eating and drinking.

I house-sit for quite a few dogs, and honestly, none of them are really big on drooling. They are just really messy with the water bowl - either slurping and then walking away with their mouths open but still full of water, so it's dripping everywhere. Just last week, Blu, a little Frenchie, was blowing bubbles in her water dish. We took her for a walk and had a dish of water that she would stick her whole nose into (practically up to her eyeballs!) and blow bubbles. She would walk away and then come back for her official drink of water. I'm not quite sure what that's about, but honestly, it is the most adorable thing ever!

I sit for Scout - a German Shepherd that I love. She is protective, adorable, and big. She is a very messy drinker. Starting with - she prefers the toilet bowl water over her fresh, clean bowl of water. I guess the toilet water is always nice and cool! But that being said, there is absolutely a line of water drops from the toilet to wherever she lands in the house - on the couch, sprawled on the floor, or upstairs in bed. Thank God it's clean water!

As for the cats in my life - they are absolutely more finicky about drinking. Cats are notorious for running more on the dehydrated side of life. Just my cats alone, have 8 water bowls available at all times to them. All of them different sizes and shapes - three of them are "moving" water, the rest flat water in different sizes/shapes of containers. By far they prefer the moving water. We created a bubbling water fountain for them that most of them prefer. The bubble piece is a smooth piece of ceramic so it keeps the water cooler than just a dish of water and it keeps the water flowing. They are most drawn to the very top where the water literally bubbles and then falls as a thin layer down the rounded ball. Double win in their book for water drinking. Sometimes for a little added entertainment they will dip their paws in the water, make little waves and then have a drink. Occasionally if a toilet seat gets left up, they inspect - getting toilet water on their noses and paws and tracking it everywhere while looking for some nose bumps.

Back to the finicky water drinking - put a cat and dog side by side while they drink, hands down a dog will ingest more water in the same amount of time than a cat will. Not so

shocking, especially because cats are very particular about not getting overly wet when drinking, taking little sips all the time. On occasion, my cats like to "water" their toys and I'll find them floating in the water bowls. They haven't done that since I added a moving whale to one of the bowls. It has the ability to move around, but I just leave it floating in the bowl. No more picking out soggy cloth toys from the drinking bowl. I have yet to see a dog water his toy in such a manner.

Cats may rule the world, but some do drool - take Roughy for instance. The right amount of attention in the right setting and he drools enough to leave a wet spot under his chin. None of my others have picked up drooling yet. But the potential is out there.

Dogs absolutely drool - given all the right circumstances, but in no way can you say Dogs Rule and Drool! Dogs just don't rule like cats do; they certainly lack the attitude that is natural to cats. Dogs rule in a more cute & innocent way. I'm more likely to sneak treats to a dog than a cat because dogs will eat just about anything. Meanwhile, the cats will turn their nose up if the treat isn't the right flavor, shape, brand, or the timing for a treat is wrong.

Leading me to - yep, cats are finicky about food. It takes twice as long to feed a cat and give them medicine if it must be taken with food or mixed in. While dogs, you can put their pills in cheese, a pill pocket, covered in peanut butter, and they have no idea you just medicated them. Cats absolutely know if you added meds to their food or a treat. Mix meds into a dog's food, they still eat their meal in 2.5 seconds. Mix meds into a cat's food 30 minutes later, and you're still walking behind them coaxing them to eat the last of the medication/food mix. This became blatantly obvious this week while doing cat drop-in visits. In the time it took me to scoop litter and handwash cat plates, the medicated food was still being eaten, very slowly.

Cats Rule, sometimes Drool.

Dogs Drool, sometimes Rule.

Till our tails cross again,

Mel

Dreams & Nightmares

Not everyone has them. If you do have them, maybe you remember them when you wake up, maybe you don't. Superstition says that telling your dreams to people is bad luck. Yet there is a belief that the more you talk about your dream, the more likely it is to happen. I'm not sure I fully believe it's bad luck to tell your dreams. For some reason, I seem to remember hearing, "Tell your dream so it doesn't happen."

There are some psychologists who say that dreams reflect our worries, fears, desires, and things like that, which in some ways makes absolute sense. Especially if you're not one to take in all of the things around you. Sometimes we need a nudge to see what's going on. Maybe that comes in the form of a dream or nightmare.

Generally speaking, I don't have dreams or nightmares, but when I do, they are very strong and generally wake me up to the point of no more sleep to be had. The number of times that has happened could be counted on one hand. I guess I don't fall into the deep sleep that is required for dreams, as a tosser, turner, and being up every hour on the hour, there isn't much time to let dreams run.

Surprisingly, a few months ago, I had a dream that woke me from a deep sleep (for once, getting a good sleep, ruined by a nightmare!). I say nightmare because it truly was something I would never want to happen. Needless to say, immediately upon waking up, I woke up Gene and told him about the dream. He brushed off my dream as nothing (to the point that months later he doesn't remember me telling him).

What was this nightmare? It's summer in real life, but in my dream, it's winter, with snow on the ground and very cold. (My ideal weather!) Clearly, this dream is set at my current house. In the backyard where this takes place, everything is just how my yard is set up now - all covered in pretty snow. I'm on the sunporch because I realize two of my cats have gotten into the yard. None of my cats go outdoors, so I'm desperately trying to get them in out of the snow and cold. Peppermint, my tuxedo cat who was the matriarch of our cat family, refused to come in. Instead, she pranced her way along the shed and down the alley. No amount of calling, coaxing, treats, or anything would get her to come back.

Following closely in her footsteps is Rollie, a Siamese, another of my senior cats. There's a moment of debate in Rollie's mind - follow Peppermint or come inside with me back to warmth and food. Rollie comes in with me, while Peppermint looks back at us but keeps on moving. I'm happy Rollie came in, but baffled why Peppermint wouldn't. Then I wake up - in a panic, crying, realizing it was a dream/nightmare. Peppermint crossed the rainbow bridge last year, so I'm trying to make sense of this dream. The only thing I could come up with seemed far-fetched, but nonetheless, it was all that made sense. Peppermint was telling me Rollie was sick, her time was coming, and Peppermint was ready to guide her.

I know, crazy, absolutely crazy. There's no way that could possibly be. So like any crazy person, I called the vet at 7:20 am (they open at 7) after fighting with myself that I was absolutely crazy and that no, I wasn't. What could the vet do for me? Confirm some facts from Rollie's last visit. The receptionist answers (someone who always has a smile, ready to help and a shoulder to lean on). I say I just need to know a few things about Rollie's last visit, then I'll tell you why and you can call me crazy. We both laugh, I say I'm definitely having a rough morning.

My questions: When was Rollie in (not too long ago, she's current on her shots), did we do bloodwork (we did), how did the results look (they go over them with me when we get them back, but confirmed nothing to worry about). So I say, "Boy, what a relief," but now why am I frantically looking for those answers? Because of the above-mentioned dream where Peppermint is coaxing Rollie to follow her. I tell this all to the receptionist and she says: nope you're fine! It's just peppermint saying you're doing a good job taking care of the rest of the cats.

I go on about my day after we laugh about the dream. What a relief that Rollie is up to date with everything and shows no signs of anything to keep an eye on. Life should go back to normal at this point, right? Wrong, not with 12 cats. Instead, we end up at the annual visit time for the Siamese cats (Rollie and Smokey). Rollie gets sick a week before her scheduled visit, so I take her in for an emergency visit. The next week, Smokey goes in for her visit. They both get updated on shots and bloodwork. Rollie has lost some weight, but not enough to be alarmingly concerning.

We received results for both of them - Kidney Disease. I probably shed a few tears over this before the panic set in. Now we have two cats that need a special diet, supplements, etc. Gene and I are maxed out on time to dole out meds, prescription food is expensive. We free feed, how am I going to make this work.

Just as I feel like I'm getting the kidney disease situation sorted out (including putting 11 cats on prescription food), Rollie gets a "cold," or so we thought, followed by her eye being mostly closed. Two more emergency vet visits for her led to the diagnosis of a tumor/cancer.

While all that is going on, all I keep thinking is Peppermint tried to tell me. She showed up in a dream, and I tried my best to make sure all was well with Rollie. The thing with Cancer/Tumors is that they can go undetected, with no symptoms, and then it's a full-blown thing. So yes, I followed up with my vet, they double-checked the blood work for me, and did everything they should have. I did everything I could, but still, we missed the tumor.

So, do dreams come true if you tell someone? This time, it absolutely did. Do I sound like a crazy person? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, I would do all that again.

In addition to that, I wear a Fitbit every day. I NEVER hit my "zone" workout. I literally have to be out hiking to make that happen. So imagine my shock when, sitting on the floor at the vet's office holding Rollie, she's taking her last breath and my Fitbit goes off saying I hit my "Zone" workout. I almost died right there. Gene chalked it up to me knowing Rollie took her last breath and I was so worked up. My friend Barb said, maybe it was Peppermint saying she was there and is showing Rollie the way. I am more inclined to believe Barb. It aligns with the dream, as wacky and crazy as it may be. But Peppermint and I were soul mates so it makes sense that she is still attached to me in some way, even if it's unrealistic.

Hug your fur kids a little closer today, take pictures of them all the time. Cherish the good times, laugh at the bad times, and enjoy every minute with them!

Till our tails cross,

Mel

Cancer Sucks

I'm not even sure where to start. My mind is a hot mess, jumbled and murky. I'm mad, sad, depressed, hurt, and feeling completely broken. Why? Cancer & Tumors - that's why. At this point in my life I feel that most people have dealt with a cancer situation in some way. Whether you had/have, someone you know had/has, one of your family members, or one of your four legged kids.

In my case - cancer has struck my household twice in 5 years. That's two times to many. This time - it cast it's horrible spell on Rollie, my 18+ siamese cat. I'm beyond devastated, have been crying nonstop for going on 72 hours (as I write this....by the time it posts it will be a full week of hard core ugly crying). Cancer sucks for humans - 100%, it sucks more for pets. As humans we can say I don't feel good, this will make me feel better, I want/need whatever. We can process the treatment options and make a decision based on research and doctors recommendations.

In pets, they don't have that voice, they can't tell us what hurts or doesn't feel good. They can't say this will make me feel better, that treatment is the one I'd like to try. It's left to their hooman and Dr. to make those decisions using our best judgment. Let's add in that the cure for cancer is non-existent, sure radiation and chemo are treatments that can make it go away temporarily or sometimes permanently for humans. In pets, what are the real treatment options? No to many. This time around, there was NO treatment option. Why? Because of the location. Rollie has a tumor, behind her left eye.

How did we get to the tumor diagnosis? We initially went to the vet cause she sounded a little wheezy, her only symptom. Sure she had lost some weight - but we had just gotten our

Kidney Disease diagnosis, so we were not concerned about the weight at this time. We treat with an antibiotic injection. She starts to sound better - fabulous!

Now we notice her eye is closed/squinty. Could be one of a bunch of reasons - an eye infection of some sort, a scratch, debris in the eye. Nothing major to worry about. Nonetheless, I scheduled a Dr. Appointment for her. At which point, the Dr. notices the back of her mouth looks like there is potentially an infection, but more likely she has a tumor behind her eye. So we go over the treatment options - an injection of antibiotic in hopes that it's just a really bad infection that needs more meds, this is a more financial friendly treatment. OR we can schedule for them to do more invasive testing that includes have Rollie put under anesthesia. Right off the bat that is a more expensive option and one we would be best to leave as a last resort.

So I say fingers crossed lets do the antibiotic. Maybe I double crossed somewhere, maybe someone has a voodoo doll and figured I needed this shit in my life. The antibiotic did not work. Eight days later I call the vet to say, it's no better. We discussed previously there isn't much that can be done without costing an arm and a leg and then some. We could do testing that would confirm it's a tumor, but that's it. So why did I call the vet? In hopes that maybe it was something else, denial, who knows. But the answer was, bring her in, we will do some testing tomorrow.

First thing Gene drops her off (After she spent the night with no food and being dosed up on gabapentin). She hangs out at the vets office in the kennel, where she tries to get the door open. She HATES anything with a metal grate or door. She once tried to get out of her carrier with a metal door by pulling her nails out on the metal. Yep - showed up to a routine vet appointment with bloody paws....However, at the vets office she didn't go to that extreme. Dr. B checked on her several times to see if what she was seeing was really what she was looking at. Sure enough, from her visit 8 days ago it had gotten so much worse. Dr. B said Rollie is on her last few days/weeks. It has progressed so fast that the time is moving quickly. No more testing to be done, no anesthesia to be had. Rollie has cancer, and it moved to quickly for anything to be done. On the phone with Dr. B who has the patience of a saint, I cried, sobbed, and gathered my thoughts. What now? That was my question, now what do we do. This seems to be a recurring question with my pets.

Is it truly time to let her cross the rainbow bridge? Is it time in a few weeks? How do we know, like truly know that it's time? There's a questionnaire that the vets office gives us, everytime we end up with an extremely sick cat. It's truly meant to help you decide if it's time. With the all to famous line - Quality of Life is important. It does help, although we have always known it without the questionnaire. My last question: What do you think we should do? I know, really - she can't answer that, she shouldn't answer that. But I ask, and she says how is she at home I tell her: She's moving around more than she ever used to, seems mostly happy/content, obviously in pain. Dr. B says, take her home, spoil her, cuddle with her, give her all the love and treats, give us a call and we can get you scheduled.

I go get her, I cry the entire way there, while I'm there, the entire way home and the entire time I'm at my pet sitting job. At which point I call and schedule for her Euthanasia for Friday afternoon. I sob even more. It's a good thing they know who I am and what I was calling for. Minimal information needed other than to tell me a time, wish me happy last moments and they are sorry for what I'm going thru. I continue to cry for the next 3-4 days on and off about this truly shitty situation that no one should ever be in.

It's absolutely killing me that I have to go to work at the dress shop and the chiropractor, that I'm house sitting ALL week. I'm not home to comfort her, I haven't been there because I've been working so much. I'm hurting for so many reasons, I feel like I failed as a pet parent to her. Deep down, I know I didn't fail her, she got the best care possible, loved more than I can ever explain, spoiled to the maximum. But yet, I still feel like I failed her. She's 18, lived an amazing life, getting the best food, treats, human snacks and all the pets in the world. But yet, I feel so horrible and the one thing I can't get over - I failed her.

So I do what any sane pet parent would do right? I keep going to work, continue with the pet sitting, and decide to wear myself down by visiting Rollie every couple of hours. Cuddles with her sitting on the kitchen floor, sitting by the litter box, laying on the bed in Gene's office cause she silently snuck in there for a snooze. I can sleep later, I can catch up on housework next week, nothing is more important than my time with her, and maintaining the jobs that pay me.

She is a twin, has a sibling by blood (literally from the same litter) that she is bonded with. They are often found laying together, ontop of each other, in the most uncomfortable positions. They are never to far apart. They share everything - including the kidney disease diagnosis. My heart hurts for the empty spot that will never be filled for smokey. My heart hurts that Rollie is going on the Rainbow Bridge Journey without her best pal. She will be reunited with some of her siblings - Peppermint & Pita.

She has a unique bond with one of the kittens as well. Bear - he forced his way into her to close for comfort zone. This happened shortly after the kidney disease diagnosis. Who knows why, but he has decided that she has no personal space whatsoever. She's laying in her comfy bed, he climbs in and lays down right by her side to snooze away the day. She's walking around, he follows her and body slams her, rubs his face on her face, sniffs her butt. Whatever he can do to be a little bit closer to her he does. Most days, it doesn't bother her at all. As the cancer took over and rapidly spread, her patience for his shenanigan's was getting shorter. One day I'm in the kitchen, I see him body slam her. I'm about to say leave her be, she doesn't feel good. But Rollie reacted faster than I could speak. She turned and bit his head, not hard enough to do anything - just enough to let him know she'd had enough. No hard feelings on his part, he still gets to close to her.

I don't know how I will function after this journey is complete for Rollie, things will be different, there will be an absence in our home. Her quirky little meow's, high fives that she tricks everyone into giving her pets, carry jingle balls by her K-9 tooth and dropping them when someone looks, her piercing blue eyes watching me cut cantaloupe waiting for the pieces I "accidently" drop.

Cancer's a bitch, I hate it. I hate that there's no cure for it. I hate that even more so in pets the medical technology isn't there, when it is, it's so expensive you have to make hard decisions - treat or not. All dependant on your financial situation.

Rollie - keep being you, love us, gain your weight back, don't forget your trick - giving fives, watch over us and don't let Smokey leave us to soon. You'll always be my one and only Rollie Pollie. Peppermint & Pita are waiting for you with open paws and hearts.

With a truly broken heart,

Till our tails cross,

Mel