Conference misery::feline

    Could this also be a topic of other felines that have used up a life or
    two, or 3, or 4...
    
    Alex has only used up one...she was weak and barely moving when we got
    her...and now she's fine.
    
    Rico has used up 3...he was taken from his mother too soon, and barely
    survived the ride home.
    
    He managed to fall UPSIDE DOWN behind a radiator, and we almost didn't
    find him in time.
    
    Then there was the time that he had somehow gotten his collar twisted
    around the leg of our coatrack and nearly choked to death.  He was
    choking so bad he couldn't even cry out.  It was a good thing we were
    home that day...if we weren't...  anyway, we had to cut his collar off
    of him and then did he ever CRY, CRY, CRY!!!  (I didn't know that cats
    could cry tears 'til that happened.)
    
    Tiki holds the record...at 5 lives!
    
    1) as a young cat (about 1 year old) he suffered from Feline Leukemia.  
    The doctors wrote him off, but offered to put him on an experimental 
    drug...it worked.
    
    2) When he was about 2, my sister-in-law locked him in a room (in a 3rd
    floor apartment with bad air circulation in the middle of August) with
    the windows closed, the fan off, no food, no water, (no box), and when
    we got home, he was almost unconcious.
    
    3) when he was almost 4, he suffered from a severe infection in his
    front paws.  He had "thumbs", and the claw from that area couldn't
    reach things like carpeting or scratching posts, so it grew in a
    complete circle and started piercing the skin again.  He never let on;
    we never knew, until he came down with a temperature and started
    getting sick.  We had just those extra claws removed.
    
    4) His kidney sand/stone that the vet wouldn't let us take him home,
    when he was 7.
    
    5) Tiki finally lost the fight when he turned 9 - liver and pancreas
    failure.
    
    K.C.

    Never give it up!
    Smokey had a perforated uterythis and white blood infection - and the
    vet and I could bring her back. I am happy for kitties coming back and
    send you all power to make 100%.
    Nat

    I am very  happy to hear that Tim is doing well!!  Congrats to you for
    being such a devoted kitty parent!
    
    K.C. -- you have certainly had your share of close calls!!  The collar
    incident is very scarey.  I have had folks ask me why I don't collar
    and I.D. my 3 indoor cats in case they ever accidentally slipped out...
    and this is precisely why!  Even the breakaway collars leave me a bit
    skeptical.
    
    This weekend, Herbie decided to be a brat and jump onto the top of the
    stereo stand.  He ended up losing his footing and fell behind it....
    upside down!!  I was frantic, but he managed to right himself in the
    small crawl space and I opened the glass doors on the bottom so he
    could walk back out.  All I could think of was the many wires back
    there and what if something happened and he electricuted himself.  Of
    course he emerges with an "I meant to do that!" look on his face.....
    
    

    So glad to hear Tim is doing better.  Please post updates on his
    progress?
    
    Karen
    

    Re: .3
    
    We immediately un-collared both Tiki and Rico after that incident, and
    they had been collar-less since.
    
    My hub is thinking of putting collars on Rico and Alex as soon as Alex
    is old enough (as kind of an "in case" thing - "In case" they get out),
    but I don't know how Rico will take to it.  Incidentally, when Rico had
    his accident, it was with a flea collar, and it is CLOTH collars that
    are going to be gotten (if the decision is ever final).
    
    The coatrack is, for the most part, unchokable now.
    
    As for the upside down, Rico never righted himself.  We had to pull the
    radiator away from the wall and manually remove the furball, still
    upside down.
    
    Last night Alex came close to "death" - she kept us up all night, so we
    wanted to THROTTLE her!  ;^)  (one purr and "sweet-face", however,
    and...*sigh*)
    
    K.C.

    My sweet, alas deceased, Miss Flea was without one wing of her hip
    bone, and nowhere for the thigh bone to socket into.  She lived for
    eight years (until a neighbors dog killed her) with a limp but it
    didn't impair her one bit.  Dr. Peduzzi, Hudson, Mass, Mass, did
    a wonderful job and extended her life.  This little kitty had 18 lives,
    I swear.  She survived so much and never backed off one inch from
    anything.   
    
    I will keep my fingers crossed that everything goes well for you and
    kitty.

    Your Tim sounds like a real fighter....also just like my little
    Thunder.  When I brought her home from the vet after her third
    operation for a tumor in her mouth area, I was told to had feed her
    with a tube because she wouldn't be able to eat by herself.  While I
    was filling the tube up with food/mixed with water, she proceeded to
    finish up all the food left by the other kittys.  So much for not
    eating.....
    
    Good luck on your kitty.  Sounds like the 6 weeks is going to be a
    *very long time* for you...
    
    Sandi and the Storm Troopers
    

    Hi All,
    
    		Thanks for all your replies and concerns over Tim. Since
    Since Monday Tim has continued to recover at a fantastic rate , he spends
    some of the day sleeping but the majority of the time pacing around his
    cage on all four paws looking for a possible escape route, this
    involves scratching, tearing and shreading the paper on the bottom of
    the cage.
    
    		Thursday night we have an appointment with the Vet, I think
    he is going to get a shock over the rate of Tims recovery. Hopefully he
    will tell us that 6 weeks is to long to cage him given his present
    recovery rate.
    
    			David

My little pookie when she was a kitten (right, she's only a year old now) was 
travelling with me in my car when she climbed underneath my seat.  No problemo!
My other kitten had done that before.  She had a harness on though which got
stuck.  She started to panic, but I couldn't get her out.  I immediately 
started crying and had thoughts of her dieing underneath because she couldn't
breath....although probably not far from the truth, my mind has a tendency
to run away on me....

I pulled a real stupid move by trying to push my seat up with the levers so
that I could reach her.  After I did that which didn't help in the least, I
was afraid her hair was stuck now.  Someone was looking out for me though.  A
cop happened to stroll by.  He couldn't get her out either; but finally
figured out how to take my seat out.  I knew it came out, but didn't  know how.

Anyway, everything was fine....mom was a bit flustered to say the least....I
know...I know....I should have them in cages.....

Michele

    
    
    Hi DAvid
    
    I'm glad to here that Tim is doing better.  I wanted to let you
    know that my friend had a puppy that got stepped on my a horse and
    the puppy had injuries similar to Tims'.  The puppy was confined for
    6 weeks, and has fully recovered.  
    
    Please don't rush the 6 weeks though, Although the puppy was
    acting better after a week or so, that had to continue to confine
    her so she wouldn't run around like the mad woman she is and re-damage
    her hips.
    
    Good luck and best wishes to Tim for a speedy recovery!
    
    Michele & Nippa
    

    Hi All,
    
    	Timothy is still recovering at a fast rate and becoming
    very frustrated with his captivity. We were confident enough to leave
    him in trust with a neighbour (the same neighbour who helped my wife
    search for Tim with a torch exactly two weeks ago), while we attended
    the FREDDIE MECURY Tribute Concert at Wembly Stadium, London, UK. on
    Easter Monday.
    
    	We arrived home at about 0200 to find a sleeping Timothy, on
    hearing our voices the said Tim became a lively, frustrated, sulking
    'brat', and in the best cat traditions made us very guilty for our
    little diversion (I think deserved ?).
    
    	After sufficient fondling and loving Tim forgave us and then
    proceeded to insist on release, this was refused and the sulking
    restarted. We turned off the light and went to bed.
    
    	This was two days ago, I have just phoned my wife at home to be
    told when Joan was changing his dirt tray he tried to jump over her
    arm, this failed and he obviously hurt himself (just a little). He now
    knows (for the next day or so) why he is kept in the pen.
    
    	We are moving house by 200 miles on Monday and as such I have two
    weeks off from next Monday , on my return to my new DEC Office
    (Warrington, Nr Manchester UK) I will inform you of his progress.
    
    	Regarding the move we will move Tim plus the other 3 cats Bubble,
    George and Tuppence in travelling cages (at least Tim will be used to
    this), and our dog (German Shepherd/ Ruff Collie cross) called Cai in
    the car with us ... it about a 2.5 hour journey. However once there we
    moving to the edge of the Yorkshire moors with the back garden adjacent
    to some farmers fields and then moors and moors and more moors !!.
    Heres hoping given the new location Tims type of accident is the last
    to happen to our family.  
    
				Thanks for all your concerns
    
    
    					Last update in 2-3 weeks
    
    
    
    						David.

    I envy you going to that concert...I saw it on TV Monday night, and it
    looked FAB.  BOY, do I envy you going!!!
    
    I'm glad that Tim is doing well, and as he is used to the confinment,
    the move shouldn't be too bad for him.
    
    Moving with furballs...isn't it fun?
    
    K.C.

    Hi Everyone,
    
    		Tim, George, Tuppence, Bubble and Cai (ze dog) coped very
    well with our move to Yorkshire. We kept Tuppence, Bubble and George in
    the house for the first two weeks, which gave Tim some company although
    the said 3 cats were not that happy about been shut in and having to
    use a dirt tray again!
    
    		Saturday last I installed a cat flap and after a couple of
    escorted trips around the garden were allowed free use of the cat flap.
    
    		Tim was once again the only cat confined to the house,
    yesterday my wife took Tim to our new vets for a check over (all of 5
    pounds), Tim is fine and no limp!! Joan took him on two escorted trips
    around the homestead and then (with some reluctance) agreed to give him
    free use of the cat flap. Well, last night he was in and out and in and
    out... of the cat flap whirping and calling, as we say here he was
    "proud as punch" to get out of his cage and start again as pack leader.
    However he was a little concerned about the local farmers cows peering
    over our back garden wall, and even more concerned when they started
    mooing.
    
    		Tim, Joan and I would like to thank everyone who helped us
    through this difficult time via 'good old' NOTES. I have taken a copy
    of the replies which Joan intends to keep!! (for Tim, of course!).
    
    
    			Thanks Again
    
    				Tim , David ,Joan and the rest of the 'zoo'

    Hi,
    
    		Tim died on Thursday morning (5am), next to our bed on the
    floor. Three weeks ago we lost Tuppence to FIV, Tim and Tuppence were
    very close and we were very worried whether Tim had FIV or not, he
    started going downhill about a week ago with a mouth abcess (common
    symptom of FIV (it was exactly how Tuppence started)) which responded
    to treatment, but last Tuesday he started going down hill, we took him
    to the Vets who noted his temp. was lower than normal, usually a sign
    that a cat is dying; we were asked to bring him back the next day for
    tests. That afternoon we realised that Tim had FIV and was dying and
    should not be subjected to a day 'locked-up' at the vets, and we would
    explain this to the vet and make his last days as comfortable as
    possible (Tim showed no signs of suffering); he died at 5am Thursday
    morning in my wife's arms.
    
    	Tim and Tuppence will be greatly missed, it seems Tim's luck ran
    out at last, but I guess due to my wife's nursing after his car
    accident he had another 4 years of fun in the countryside. I miss his
    morning 'wurp's' and still cannot beleive he is dead. It was easier to
    accept the death of Tuppence she had been ill for sometime and was
    begining to suffer, in fact we had just decided to take her back to the
    vet for him to put her to sleep, she died in the car next to me on the
    way.
    
    	We have 4 cats left Tammy, Tabby, Bubble and George; we have
    decided not to have them tested for FIV - we do not want to know -
    after all what could we do, and what would we do if we found 2 were
    positive and 2 were negative ?.
    
    	It still hurts to think about Tuppence and Tim and all our times
    together, I suppose time help's ...
    
    	In Fond Memory Of Tuppence and Tim
    
    	David, Joan, George, Bubble, Tammy, Tabby, Fey and Cai (The Mut's)

    
    Dave, my condolences to you and your wife. Such a sad experience. 
    Prayers for the rest of your clan. 
    
    Shaw

    Dave...my sincere sympathies are with you during your loss
    of both your cats.   I had to go back and re-read the original
    note on Tim...and thank god he had a WONDERFUL four other
    years with you.  Hopefully those four years brought you
    many more great memories that you can hold dear to your heart.
    
    Sandy

         My deepest condolences to you and your family, Dave.  It's so hard
    losing one, but two over such a short period of time is awful!  Tim and
    Tuppence are together once again at the Bridge.
    
    					- Andrea
    					  Bigfoot, Loki & Midnight
    

    I am very sorry.  You and your kitties were very lucky to have
    shared so much time together, and I know they are waiting for
    you at the Bridge,
    
    Karen
    

    Dave, my thoughts are with you and try to comfort you as possible.
    Thank you all for making the last day nice for the cat. Now another is
    waiting at the Bridge.
        
    Nat & furries

    Our condolences as well. It is a difficult time, but you have wonderful
    memories!
    
    Sari and The Hon. Col. Sebastian Moran,DROFFC

    I'm so sorry to hear of both of your losses. I'm sure that being at
    home with you and your wife made made the last hours of both cats more
    comfortable.
    
    Deb and THE FIRM

    
    
   I am sorry to hear of the kitties. 
    
   Take care.
    
   Eva    

    Hi All,
    
    	I would like first of all to say thankyou for all  your messages of
    sympathy, and secondly to apologise for the delay. It has taken me some
    time to be able to face this specific note again, but I think we are
    all on the mend now ( Joan and I, the other 4 cats ( George (a large
    black cat) has taken over Tim's role as pack leader (after a number of
    scraps with Bubble (the other male), and our two dogs). 
    
    
    	Thanks Again
    
    	David, Joan, Tammy, Tabby (ladies first!), George, Bubble, Cai and
    	Fey