Paging Dr. PeeWee

We need 10 units of cuddles, stat!

Stardust Monster

"According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you're just less orderly."

- Aaron Freeman, Eulogy from a Physicist 

 

The energy that was Mike Wazowski joined Carrie Fisher in her journey through the stars. Yesterday was a very sad day for our house, but after 3+ years of fighting, Mr. Man is finally at rest.

The last month had been pretty rough for the Mike. He dropped under 7 lbs for the last time on November 17th. He lost over half a pound in the last ten days, which is a lot when you don't have it to lose. He was eating plenty, but his body wasn't working for him anymore. Some days he could barely walk.

PeeWee took it upon himself to provide cuddle services over the last week.

We will miss our Mister Kittyson, but we know we gave him the best life we could. He was loved well.

Beautiful journeys, stardust kitty.

Fur Family Holiday

Mike's and Cali's stockings don't look nearly as exciting as the dogs'. I promise there's stuff in the cat stockings, too!

 

It's a good thing pets don't understand stockings. Or presents. Or Christmas, really. Because PeeWee's gift doesn't come close to fitting in his stocking.

Today is the day

The Cosmutt goes in for surgery to repair her torn CCL today.  It's always tough when a pet has to be hospitalized, even though we have a great vet.

UPDATE 12:40 PM: 

Cosmo is out of surgery. Doc said the implant went well, they got all of the pieces of the torn tissue cleaned out of the joint, and that she didn't have a meniscus injury.

She stays overnight at the vet and then we bring her home for a loooong twelve week recovery process before she can slowly start doing her normal stuff again.

Even with a torn ligament, this dog wanted to play every morning. It's gonna be rough on her.

UPDATE 12/22 8:15 AM:
Our regular vet called this morning after he checked on Cozzie. He said she's doing really well - her incision looks good and she doesn't have a fever. We should be able to bring her home this afternoon. Yay!

UPDATE 12/22 4:30 PM:
COSMO IS HOME!!!! Pics below the cut...

FARLEY!

Our sweet 2016 Boo Buddy is still patiently waiting for his furever home.

Though we've taken care of his adoption fee, it would be extra super if you would consider donating that amount to the shelter. Plus, through the end of December, donations are matched so you'll be helping twice as many pets with the same amount of money. All the wins!

Triple the fun

I've been to the vet each day for the past three days.

Cosmo developed a limp just before Thanksgiving. She was getting better, but then she just...plateaued. Got her checked on Tuesday and took her back for x-rays today. Turns out the poor pup has a torn ACL, so she goes in for surgery next week.

PeeWee the snot master had an appointment sandwiched in on Wednesday. More antibiotics for him, plus his kidney values were off, so he gets to go on K/D food now.

The joys of a fur family.

December Shelter Cat of the Month

He's a hunk-a, hunk-a burnin' love:

Bubba

He's a lover not a fighter:

Rocky Balboa

UPDATE: 1/1: These boys have been transferred to GPSPCA's Merriam location. Hopefully new eyes will mean a new home.

UPDATE 2/11: BUBBA & ROCKY BALBOA HAVE BEEN ADOPTED! TOGETHER!!!

Tis The Season

PeeWee says "Happy Holidays!"

Boo Buddies

Each year around Thanksgiving we sponsor the adoption fee of an FIV+ cat (preferably a black one) in honor of our beloved FIVver, Boo.

2195

That's how many subcutaneous injections of fluid Mike Wazowski has had. 2,195.

He has had 60 vitamin B injections.

He has taken countless pills and been subjected to dozens of baths.

It's been three years since we lost Boo and we almost lost Mike.

I can honestly say that we never expected him to last this long. We thought the sub-Q fluids and the steroids were going to give him a few more weeks, maybe even a couple of months. But then a year went by. And another. And yet another.

Gratitude

I have so many things to be thankful for today and every day.

I am so very appreciative of Great Plains SPCA and similar organizations that provide shelter to homeless pets without the looming euthanasia deadline.

TNR is catching on, so we will eventually be able to bring feral cat populations under control.

In addition to the shelter aspect, I'm so very thankful for GPSPCA's Hero Team for providing education and resources to the families of at-risk pets so they don't become homeless in the first place.

I have unending gratitude for the opportunity to foster sweet PeeWee. He has brought so much love into our lives.

And, of course, I am lucky to have an amazing, loving human, canine, and feline family to share my life with. Today and all days, I am most grateful for them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hanging by a thread

You know how in movies and TV shows, when an elevator is falling, there's always a couple of short falls and stops before the final long drop?

source: http://personal.lse.ac.uk/robert49/ebooks/PhilSciAdventures/lecture17.html

I feel like that's where we're at with Mike Wazowski. For about a month, he was steady at a respectable weight. We thought "hey, maybe we've finally got all this feeding and medication stuff figured out!" We really should know better than to have thinks like that with this cat.

He bounced up and down for a few weeks, then abruptly plunged below 7 lbs and has stuck there for days. And so, barring a magical improvement, we're huddled on the elevator floor, waiting for the cable to snap and send us plummeting into the inevitable.

Perks!

Our October SCotM, Litho, was adopted yesterday.

Even better, she was adopted by some friends of mine so I *still* get to see her.

Happy happy!

November Shelter Cat of the Month

She's soft and strokable:

Velvet

UPDATE 11/25: VELVET HAS BEEN ADOPTED!!!

UPDATE 3/23: Unfortunately, sweet Velvet is back in the shelter. We hope for the best, but a new home isn't always the right fit for our kitties.

UPDATE 4/29: VELVET HAS GONE HOME!

Belated news

I've been offline more than usual lately, so I somehow missed that our July SCotM, Georgia, was adopted last Wednesday!

This is so amazing. I was there that morning, loving on the sweet girl, and I commented on how her new kennel brought her down to eye level and made her so much more noticeable. Apparently that's all it took, because she went home later in the day!

 

October Shelter Cat of the Month

She's as purrrretty as a picture...

Litho

UPDATE 11/14: LITHO HAS BEEN ADOPTED!!!

Mega Match!

It's here! The biggest Kansas City shelter event of the year:

MEGA MATCH! 

$35 pet adoptions October 7-9 at Great Plains SPCA, KC Pet Project, and Wayside Waifs!

Adoption Hours: 
Friday, Oct. 7th -- 8 am - 7 pm
Saturday, Oct. 8th -- 10 am - 7 pm
Sunday, Oct. 9th -- Noon - 6 pm

Also, the SOS Match campaign is still going on. Every dollar donated to Great Plains SPCA through October 15th will be matched

It's a great time for shelter pets!

It's a great day!

Garfunkel has been adopted!!!

He arrived at the shelter over a year ago and was extremely frightened by his new surroundings. He then spent eight months in a foster home learning to trust and coming out of his shell.  He's been back at the shelter for a few months and he has gone from always hiding (but welcoming attention) to pretty social (though still a little shy).

The progress this cat has made just blows my mind. And today his hard work and patience was rewarded when his forever family was lucky enough to find him.

September Shelter Cat of the Month

You'll feel like a smart cookie if you adopt

Harvard

UPDATE 9/16: HARVARD HAS BEEN ADOPTED!

Purr-sonality

When talking with potential adopters at the shelter, I'm often asked questions about some variation of the 'rules.'

"Can two male cats really get along?"

"Are female cats too territorial to live together?"

Over and over I give the same response, that it's really more about the personality of the animal than the gender. I feel like this often frustrates adopters, and I get it. It would be so much easier (for all of us!) if there were a set of rules to follow to ensure a smooth addition to your fur family.

The great big world outside

PeeWee has chronic sinus issues, but I had noticed him getting stuffier and stuffier, so we made an appointment for him with the shelter vet.

He also doesn't do a whole lot of scratching, so we've had to start clipping his nails.  He is an incredibly chill cat, but he absolutely *hates* having his paws handled. It's pretty difficult to clip a cat's nails without handling their paws, so he's just not a fan of the process. As you can see by the amount of hair he left on my pants, this morning's session stressed him out just a tad.

Anyway, the shelter is 20-30 minutes away, depending on traffic. Since snuffles seemed less than thrilled to be in the carrier, we decided to let him out to roam the car for the trip.

PeeWee explored the backseat for a while, then decided he liked it better on my lap where he could watch the world go by.

What's going on out there?

Where are you taking me?!

This is faster than I like to travel...

He ended up spending most of the drive by my feet. Of course, being a cat, he decided he *really* wanted to be under the driver's feet, but he didn't protest too much when I blocked him. All of the other critters got a piece of his mind when we got home, though.

Linky Treats

There's all kinds of tasty stuff around the web:

First up, my college friend is fundraising to get a service dog for his son. Please consider throwing in a few bucks if you can, or at least sharing the link. Thanks!

Next is some advice for reducing the stress levels of newly adopted dogs:

What normally happens in a dog’s day is that they meet a series of stress-inducing triggers. If you’ve socialised them and introduced them to these triggers when they are young, they will most probably learn that these things are nothing to be afraid of. If you don’t, you’ve got an uphill battle to show them that a strange man in a hat is nothing to be afraid of. When we adopt an adult dog, we have no idea what they have been socialised with and what is a trigger.

- from "Trigger Stacking: how we set our dogs up to fail"

Then we have the CEO of GPSPCA encouraging us to put our judgments aside:

Now, instead of having 57 dogs in our possession at Great Plains SPCA and breeders who are mad, hostile, unwilling to heed to our advice and likely to just “do it again,” we have compliant partners with a better understanding about how to properly take care of their pets. We also have folks who won’t be afraid to call “those crazy animal people” if ever they find themselves in a position where they need help again. And.. that cute little wire-haired terrier who was matted three weeks ago, they’d had her shaved and treated for fleas. They did what they committed they would do.  

Had we let our emotions or the judgment that we wanted to cast upon these people drive our interactions with them, the outcome in this case would have been much different. Because we could focus on building a relationship with them and educating them, the outcome for the animals was the best it could be. And that, my friends, is the goal.

- from "A Note From Our Top Dog: When We Judge"

Finally, I can't stop watching this video of Kate McKinnon talking about her cat, Nino:

What goes around...

I was watching PeeWee sleep the other night.

Woke up to find him returning the favor.

Frazzled

Living with five pets is often like living in a house full of exceptionally gross toddlers:

Mike is hungry. Starbuck needs to go potty. Mike is hungry. Cosmo wants to play. PeeWee has a gunky nose. Mike is hungry. Cali is hitting! Starbuck is hungry. Mike pooped all over himself. Cali is taking stuff. Cosmo wants to play. Starbuck needs to go potty. Mike is hungry.

The Mike poop is underrepresented, there. It's probably about 1/3 of the time he either gets it on himself or steps in it and tracks it all over the bathroom. Spouse says it's like he's trying to teach us really crappy dance moves (yes, the Dad Jokes are strong with that one).

just imagine that second one created with poopy pawprints...yeah

There are definitely moments where I envy fur-free households. But then I come home and the dogs are so darn happy to see me they nearly wag their butts off. Or PeeWee curls up behind me in bed and his purr rumbles through my entire back. Or I see something like this

and I'm reminded to appreciate the love and companionship of my pets. Even as I'm scrubbing the bathroom floor for the fifth time in a week.

Exploring

Look who is feeling all brave!

August Shelter Cat of the Month

This Mr. Big Stuff will never break your heart.

Jimmy

UPDATE 11/2: JIMMY HAS BEEN ADOPTED!

Delayed

Today has been the Mondayest of Mondays, so cat of the month will (hopefully) be here tomorrow. Until then, you get photos!

PeeWee 'helping' with the August name tags for the shelter

Mike doesn't get pillows. He thinks they are for the butt and blankets are for the head

Garfunkel *does* have a rear end!

February's SCotM, Garfunkel, is getting braver by the day at the shelter. He was out roaming around when we came in yesterday. You can follow his adventures on his new Facebook page: 2 Boys 1 Home

Hat Trick

It's been a little over three years since things went seriously wrong for Mike Wazowski. He spent Independence Day weekend in 2013 at the animal hospital on IV fluids. He was severely dehydrated and his sodium levels were through the roof. I think the vet said they were the third highest he had seen in an animal that survived. So.

July Shelter Cat of the Month

Once you meet this sweet, shy girl, she's forever on your mind.

Georgia

UPDATE 10/19: GEORGIA HAS BEEN ADOPTED!!!

Holding our breath

The last three weeks have seen us gradually relaxing, though we're still a bit on guard.

Around 11:30 PM on June 7th, Starbuck had a seizure. We think.

CHEER!

Korath has been adopted!

While all of the humans were doing this

Korath was over there like "I wasn't even worried, yo."

Congratulations on your new kingdom!

That face, tho

A GPSPCA volunteer grabbed this adorable shot of Garfunkel and I just had to share it here.

Perfectly Normal

me circa 1989

'Normal' has never been a word I've embraced. From my middle-school days as a straight-A nerd in heavy metal t-shirts to my love of power tools over flowers and jewelry, the word 'normal' has not been one that most would apply to my life. But when it comes to my animals' blood work, normal is exactly the word I want to hear.

We were surprised and pleased that as of his most recent tests, all of Mike's values are within normal ranges. It has been *years* since that has been the case. Though he has once again dropped some weight, he is still over 7 pounds and he seems to be more consistent. His day-to-day weight is staying in the 7 lb 5 oz  to 7 lb 6 oz range without the peaks and valleys we were seeing before.

I'm still not wearing makeup or painting my nails, and it's very unlikely you'll find me at a neighborhood Bunco party, but this consummate weirdo is finally learning to embrace normal. Within reason.

June Shelter Cat of the Month

He's built like a truck and noms down kibbles like a vacuum, but this cat is a love machine.

Peterbilt

UPDATE 7/2: PETERBILT HAS BEEN ADOPTED!!!

Fuzzy Face

I just wanted to share how much I love my Cosmo girl.