The Official HTF Cat Thread (1 Viewer)

[Alex...]

 

[Kevin Hewell]

What a weird video that doesn't play.

 

[mylan]

What a weird video that doesn't play.

The video plays fine with me.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

 

[Kevin Hewell]

And of course the ginger is the sun.

 

[Alex...]

 

[Todd Erwin]

So, I apparently live in a county where most of the elected officials hate cats. Today, they held a commissioners' meeting to discuss changing the animal ordinances essentially equating dogs and cats, including making it mandatory that any cat who is outdoors be on a leash and will require a license.

Why are they making this change? Well, apparently the current ordinance stated that dogs and cats who are trapped by or turned in to Animal Control be held at the shelter for five days and their photo be posted on designated bulletin boards around the county and on social media. Except that dogs were actually being held and announced for up to 14 days and cats were rarely ever posted, many of which were found to have been euthanized the SAME DAY that they were turned in. A few weeks ago, a group of cats were baited and trapped in a vacant lot by some residents who turned them into Animal Control as "feral" and a nuisance. One of those cats was a beloved pet that belonged to a young boy that had escaped from the house one morning as the boy was going to school, and his collar and tag was found the following day in the yard. Posters were placed around town and pleas made to social media of the cat having become lost, and a $200 reward offered. However, Animal Control failed to post any information on the beloved cat and was euthanized at the end of business on the day he was turned in. And the sheriff's solution is to change the ordinances to not only require licensing, but also label any cat that is roaming free without a leash as "at large" and subject to the same laws that have governed "at large" dogs for years. The commissioners' have no problem with changing the ordinance, since one had to have the interior of his customized Jeep professionally steam cleaned because he left the window open one night and a cat entered thru the window and sprayed the driver's seat, another one found claw mark scratches on the hood of his "classic" car that he assumes were made by a cat, and the third has had her garden trounced on and defecated in multiple times. The family of the dead cat is angry and feels that they are being punished because Animal Control did not treat their cat the same as other dogs that were allowed to live a few more days and had the chance of their owners being notified they were at the shelter.

Thankfully, the ordinance is not going into effect until after the revisions are posted publicly and a public meeting held on May 15th, and at the audience's urging, the commissioners were willing to hold two meetings that day, one at 10:00 am as part of the bi-monthly board meeting and another round later that day at 5:30pm to allow the public to attend.

 

[Todd Erwin]

So, I apparently live in a county where most of the elected officials hate cats. Today, they held a commissioners' meeting to discuss changing the animal ordinances essentially equating dogs and cats, including making it mandatory that any cat who is outdoors be on a leash and will require a license.

Why are they making this change? Well, apparently the current ordinance stated that dogs and cats who are trapped by or turned in to Animal Control be held at the shelter for five days and their photo be posted on designated bulletin boards around the county and on social media. Except that dogs were actually being held and announced for up to 14 days and cats were rarely ever posted, many of which were found to have been euthanized the SAME DAY that they were turned in. A few weeks ago, a group of cats were baited and trapped in a vacant lot by some residents who turned them into Animal Control as "feral" and a nuisance. One of those cats was a beloved pet that belonged to a young boy that had escaped from the house one morning as the boy was going to school, and his collar and tag was found the following day in the yard. Posters were placed around town and pleas made to social media of the cat having become lost, and a $200 reward offered. However, Animal Control failed to post any information on the beloved cat and was euthanized at the end of business on the day he was turned in. And the sheriff's solution is to change the ordinances to not only require licensing, but also label any cat that is roaming free without a leash as "at large" and subject to the same laws that have governed "at large" dogs for years. The commissioners' have no problem with changing the ordinance, since one had to have the interior of his customized Jeep professionally steam cleaned because he left the window open one night and a cat entered thru the window and sprayed the driver's seat, another one found claw mark scratches on the hood of his "classic" car that he assumes were made by a cat, and the third has had her garden trounced on and defecated in multiple times. The family of the dead cat is angry and feels that they are being punished because Animal Control did not treat their cat the same as other dogs that were allowed to live a few more days and had the chance of their owners being notified they were at the shelter.

Thankfully, the ordinance is not going into effect until after the revisions are posted publicly and a public meeting held on May 15th, and at the audience's urging, the commissioners were willing to hold two meetings that day, one at 10:00 am as part of the bi-monthly board meeting and another round later that day at 5:30pm to allow the public to attend.

 

[bmasters9]

So, I apparently live in a county where most of the elected officials hate cats. Today, they held a commissioners' meeting to discuss changing the animal ordinances essentially equating dogs and cats, including making it mandatory that any cat who is outdoors be on a leash and will require a license.

So, IOW, even if your cat is on your own property and you're going out to a shed to feed it, they won't be allowed to walk themselves-- you'll have to walk 'em out there, I take it.

 

[Todd Erwin]

So, IOW, even if your cat is on your own property and you're going out to a shed to feed it, they won't be allowed to walk themselves-- you'll have to walk 'em out there, I take it.

No, they are safe on your own property.

 

[DaveF]

My best buddy, Dash, is dying. We will likely choose to end his life this week or next.

We got home from the eclipse vacation and he was sick with an UTI. We got him through that but he stopped eating. We’ve come to learn he has widespread cancer. It seems to have developed rapidly in between vet visits. He won’t touch any of his normal food or treats. But he will eat some few bites of canned chicken out of my hand. And he’s still drinking water. So we’re watching and trying to decide when to release him from suffering. He’s doing ok enough right now, is still mobile, enjoys being petted. But he’s near the end. It’s not months, it’s tomorrow, or next Monday. It’s before my next business trip start of May so I’m home for him.

 

[bmasters9]

My best buddy, Dash, is dying. We will likely choose to end his life this week or next.

We got home from the eclipse vacation and he was sick with an UTI. We got him through that but he stopped eating. We’ve come to learn he has widespread cancer. It seems to have developed rapidly in between vet visits. He won’t tough any of his normal food or treats. But he will eat some few bites of canned chicken out of my hand. And he’s still drinking water. So we’re watching and trying to decide when to release him from suffering. He’s doing ok enough right now, is still mobile, enjoys being petted. But he’s near the end. It’s not months, it’s tomorrow, or next Monday. It’s before my next business trip start of May so I’m home for him.
View attachment 220309

Sorry to hear that, the impending loss of a companion.

 

[Alex...]

My best buddy, Dash, is dying. We will likely choose to end his life this week or next.

We got home from the eclipse vacation and he was sick with an UTI. We got him through that but he stopped eating. We’ve come to learn he has widespread cancer. It seems to have developed rapidly in between vet visits. He won’t touch any of his normal food or treats. But he will eat some few bites of canned chicken out of my hand. And he’s still drinking water. So we’re watching and trying to decide when to release him from suffering. He’s doing ok enough right now, is still mobile, enjoys being petted. But he’s near the end. It’s not months, it’s tomorrow, or next Monday. It’s before my next business trip start of May so I’m home for him.
View attachment 220309

 

[ChristopherG]

Sorry to hear that Dave.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

We’ve come to learn he has widespread cancer.

That's what happened to Dukie. He got intestinal cancer. He still had a decent appetite but he kept losing weight because he could not absorb the nutrients from his chow. I had to put him down when he dropped from 15 lbs to 8 lbs. He was only 17 years old.

 

[AlohaTiger]

Morris! I know his names not Morris but I call all ginger cats Morris .

I think/ bc the first cat I can remember is bc of the Morris commercials in the late 70’s/ early 80’s . I love animals , so having them being sick is just like my brother or sister being sick . I don’t have any any other advice to give you but to give ‘em all the love you can , which I’m sure do .








.It’s

 

[DaveF]

We said goodbye to Dash this afternoon. It was clearly time. Perhaps we should have done it sooner, but waiting longer would only have prolonged his suffering.

A solace is that as hard as it was to do, making the decision, having an afternoon with him, and letting him go, was on our terms while he not yet in a terrible terrible condition.

What was most hard was his little kitty mind was still normal: He was still Dash and wanted to the Dash things like get brushed when I got home from work or lick pizza grease from my fingers. But he was so low energy, and had quit eating last night, was struggling to get up stairs.

I miss him dearly but I did the best for him that I could with sending him on.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

We said goodbye to Dash this afternoon. It was clearly time. Perhaps we should have done it sooner, but waiting longer would only have prolonged his suffering.

A solace is that as hard as it was to do, making the decision, having an afternoon with him, and letting him go, was on our terms while he not yet in a terrible terrible condition.

What was most hard was his little kitty mind was still normal: He was still Dash and wanted to the Dash things like get brushed when I got home from work or lick pizza grease from my fingers. But he was so low energy, and had quit eating last night, was struggling to get up stairs.

I miss him dearly but I did the best for him that I could with sending him on.

Sorry, Dave. I had to put down my orange guy, Plutarch was his name, in October of 2022. He was 23 years old. He had so much personality and was very much my best buddy for many years. Every morning we took walks together, had my coffee with him, he followed me everywhere I went. Never had to put him on a leash, he just walked right along side of me all the time. People always seemed amazed that I could walk around the neighborhood with him and when I stopped, he stopped and sat down. They thought I had trained him and people would ask how I did it. I never trained him. He just did that.

He was such a great friend when the time came to let him go, it was very hard on me. However, his energy was gone, he did not want to eat, and he was mainly just curling up in a ball to sleep. He spent his last night laying next to me in bed, head on the pillow next to mine. He seemed to really enjoy that as that was his preferred sleeping spot. The next day I scheduled the appointment to bring him in and it was such a sad day for me. I had spent so many years with him always there by my side that I could not imagine a morning without him.

I knew I was doing the right thing, preventing his suffering, and in doing so allowing him to pass peacefully. However, my heart truly broke. I have always loved animals. I've had dogs and/or cats all my life. People seem to say that it is harder to bond with a cat than with a dog, but I've found it is the same bonding with either. All of the cats I've had quickly bonded with me. Dogs generally will bond rapidly, cats can take longer and they can be more finnicky about who they bond with, but they will bond and you will become family to them.

My wife noticed how sad I was in the mornings and she insisted we go get another cat. All the cats I had ever had, they just moved into wherever I was. I did not go out and get one. They just showed up and stayed. This time though, our house was a bit more remote. There were a couple cats stopping by, but they belonged to someone. So, she showed me photos of the cats at the shelter and there was this orange kitten that looked stunningly like Plutarch. I could not resist and had to go meet him.

We did, ended up adopting him and another cat that reached both paws out of her cage as my wife walked by and pulled her in. She announced we had to take her home. The orange kitten was not thrilled with most people holding him, but when I picked him up he allowed it and was fine. When my wife tried, he leapt out of her arms and began trying to escape. They had to get a net out to recapture him and it took quite a bit of time.

I thought when I brought them home, he would be the problem. That it would take a while for him to settle in. The female seemed much more interested in people, and cuddled with my wife immediately. She was older, 2 at the time. I thought she would be easy. Turned out when I got them home the first night, I opened their cages and let them out. I know the general thing with cats is to keep them in one room at first, until they adjust. I have a good-sized house but had no other animals so, I figured I would just let them roam.

The oddest thing happened, at least in my mind. The older cat ran off and hid somewhere. The little orange kitten, the one that seemed to want to escape from his cage and from people that picked him up...well...he began walking around the house by my side. So, I took him on the full tour, room to room. He strolled along right next to me, including a bathroom break, where he followed me into the bathroom, saw me using the facilities, there was a litter box there, so he went as well. He slept near me that night, I could not find the other cat, she had vanished into the house somewhere. The next morning, we went downstairs and I fed him breakfast. I thought the other cat would emerge but she did not. Later in the day the orange kitten led me up some stairs and into a room that had some boxes in it and showed me where she was hiding. She did not want to come out so I brought food to her and some water.

It took her a few days to adapt, basically it seemed with coaxing from the kitten. He just took immediately to following me everywhere and watching whatever I did. It helped me immensely, again having an orange shadow. The bond with him, well, it seemed immediate.

They say that animals sense emotions much better than people do. It is a survival instinct thing with them, where it pays to be able to understand what others around them are feeling. This little orange kitten seemed to know I needed some help. That I was going through a tough time. He stepped right in to help. I was amazed, and honestly, grateful. He's been a total joy to get to know. His personality is pretty amazing. He's the most talkative cat I've had. He lets you know what is on his mind and has more unique sounds to tell me something than any animal I have ever been around. He loves when I engage him in a conversation.

I still miss Plutarch, that unique relationship, the way he interacted with me. The intense friendship. They do have their own personalities like anybody else.

So, go out and give another animal a home. They will help you through your sadness and grieving. You will enjoy getting to know a new companion, friend, and member of the family. You will bond with them and it will be, as with Dash, an honor and a privilege to have the chance to know them and share the world with them. They do bring so much to our lives and it would be the best thing to give another a chance to do so.

 

[Sam Posten]

Saying goodbye is so hard but it’s a comfort to see them off peacefully

 

[Mike Frezon]

It's the hardest thing us pet owners have to face.

I'm sorry for your loss, Dave.