Goldie Girl

It seems like I have always had Goldie as a cat because she fit in with the family the very first day that she came into my home. The first time I saw her, she was lingering by the pool. She had burrs all through her hair and she looked like she was just burrs, skin and bones.

I sat on the bench on the porch and watched her for a bit before I called, “Come here kitty.” That's all it took to have the kitty run from the pool and land in my lap purring away. I was giggling hysterically because the cat was extremely friendly and cute. After about fifteen minutes of petting the cat, I decided I was going to relieve this stray of her burrs and see if I had any food to give “her”.

While she was eating half a can of chicken, I cut the burrs out of her hair. She didn't care that I was doing that because she was so hungry. She finished the amount I gave her before I was done cutting, so I gave her the other half of the can. “She” licked the can clean.

For some reason, Michael came up from downstairs and saw me interacting with the cat. He would never let me have a cat because he said that he didn't want his house to become a big toilet, didn't want his TV to be destroyed (the tv doesn't have a protective plastic screen), and he was very allergic to cats. I guess he couldn't stand to see an animal starve, he opened the living room door and let the cat come in.

The cat didn't hesitate in walking through the door. I was in total shock watching Michael let the kitty in considering I was never going to have a cat. The cat toured the majority of the house. I jumped on the opportunity to possibly have a cat by suggesting we go get some cat food from the store. While Michael and I went to get food and kitty litter, Andrew babysat the cat.

We came back with lots of canned cat food. A box lid was used to make a kitty litter box. Over the next couple of days, we kept a close eye on the cat to see how she was adjusting to eating regular meals and what kind of behaviors she had towards us and the house. She didn't scratch the furniture but a couple of times because we admonished her when she did it. Krysty, Beckie and I looked over the cat's skin to check for flees and ticks because Krysty saw something on the cat. We got over ten ticks off of the cat.

Andrew helped me give the cat a bath so “she” would be nice and fluffy, along with flea and tick free. As I was drying her, I noticed two white worm like objects near the kittys bum. I did research to find that the poor thing had ring worm. I treated her for that twice and haven't seen any signs of worms since.

About a month ago, I noticed that there was a male cat that would hang around our property. Since Goldie (the cat) is an indoor/outdoor cat, Michael and I decided that we needed to get the cat fixed. Beckie tried to make an appointment with one of the clinics closest to us, but they were booked for six weeks. She found a place to take the cat within a reasonable distance and that could take her within a week.

We kept the cat indoors until the day of her appointment. A lady from work gave me a cat cage since she had many. Beckie managed to get the cat in the cage and drive her to her appointment. Goldie complained the whole way there. At the clinic she was shaking because she heard other cats and dogs bellowing. Beckie left the clinic and went about her other plans for the day. Sometime during the day, there was a message left on the machine from the clinic. That wasn't discovered until Beckie and Michael returned from picking the cat up.

I guess when Goldie was dropped off at the clinic, Beckie told them she was a stray. That might have been the reason that she had her belly shaved before she was put under. It's a good thing they did that because they did find a scar in the place where kitty's get spayed. ::::Laughing Out Loud:::: Goldie went all day and the night before without food and water just to get her belly shaved and spend the day stuck in a cage. She was not happy one bit when she was brought home and she wasn't afraid to show it. She pouted the rest of the day and didn't want to have anything to do with us.

The next day, she was back to her loving personality, wanting to play, be petted, and fed. Goldie does not hold grudges. She even lays on her back to have her bare belly petted. She is truly a great cat. What a trooper!

Unlike my parents, I know a girl cat from a boy cat. :oD

SQEAKHER BECAME SWEEKHE

CAT CONFUSION

We have cats. Here a cat, there a cat everywhere a cat cat. Before the recent addition of Squeak I would see two or three cats in the kitchen and one or two in the window sills and some lying on the bed.

Now Anita swears there is only three but I have counted up to a dozen. However, when she gets them all together it does appear there are only three. Maybe the confusion is in the names. She calls the two black cats Emma and Lucy while I call them Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. She calls the Calico Rosie Cat and I have called her RZG short for Rosie Girl. So that accounts for at least six of them. At any rate along came Squeak.

Our good friends who live out on 110 acre farm have Barn Cats. Sometimes the quantity varies due to foxes and chicken hawks and various other factors. One day we got a call and they asked if we could baby sit a newborn cat while they were on a trip to Texas. We agreed and received a cat no bigger than a small apple. Anita had to feed her with a medicine dropper. She gradually got bigger and bigger and Anita became more and more attached to this tiny fur ball. The cat would make a noise that is best described as a Squeak so therefore the origin of the name Squeak.

Well, it came to pass that the friends came back from their trip to Texas and they said that they would be out in a few days to get Squeak back. I told them that Anita had grown quite fond of the little fur ball. I told them that Anita had a firearm in the house and that it would probably be dangerous to repossess the cat. They realized that Squeak and Anita had bonded and after all, they had oodles of cats still around the farm. So Squeak became a member of the family.

When we first got Squeak she was sick and Anita took her to the vet to get some medicine to clear up the virus. Everybody made a fuss about what a cute girl that Squeak was.

A little later, we discussed having Squeak fixed because we did not need any more little cat critters running around. Anita made an appointment with the Vet for Squeak to have a cat hysterectomy.

On the fateful day, Anita took Squeak to the vet. I was sitting at my desk at work and Anita called me on the cell phone. It sounded as if she was crying so I said what is the matter? At that time I figured out she was laughing as she told me about the call she received from the vet. The vet asked her, “Did you know Squeak is a male?”
I was floored. After Squeak being a cute little girl kitty for so long, it took a long time to come to grips with this. Thus Squeakher became Squeakhe.

At least that explained his aggressive behavior running around the house like a bat out of hell. Chasing the girl cats. Squeak was an Alpha male and the only male cat in the household. But the vet tamed him down a mite as Squeak ended up nutless in Idaho. We still refer to him now and again as a her and when we do he attacks. He always wants to get even so we are watching him closely. All the ladies on Anita’s quilt blog were flabbergasted to find out that Squeak was a he. This is going to take some getting used to but everyone is now able to laugh about it. That is everyone except Squeak.

When I told my daughter, Margaret about Squeak’s ordeal, she told me her cat story. She had a female cat, yes indeed a real her or she. She wanted to have her cat fixed so she took it to the vet only to get a call saying: “When I shaved her belly I discovered that she has already been fixed or altered as Squeak would say. Anyway the daughter Unit had to have her say. She said at least I know a girl cat from a boy cat. I explained that all the time we thought that Squeak was a she that I had not seen, nor had anyone else, a dangling participle. Over time we are hoping that Squeak will forgive us for calling him a girl for almost 5 months. But just in case, I lock the bedroom door.