In memory of Tazzy

After loosing our much loved Cat Tazz last week, I wanted to have something special to remember her by and something we can take with us if we ever move.
I have commissioned a large river pebble to be engraved with her name and dates and a special message, it's absolutely lovely and it will be placed in a very large pot we have on the patio in which a Japanese Maple is planted and was one of Tazzy's favourite places to fall asleep in the Summer, her ashes will be buried beneath the stone.
I wanted something beautiful to look at and remind us how lucky we were to have her.
The stone is being carved/engraved by Stoodly Jones Workshop.

Love Amanda xxxx

Awww Amanda,
That is a lovely idea and a perfect remembrance, it will be a lovely memorial.  We buried Scamp under the apple trees and I will get some miniature daffodils today from the market and plant them over him.  I guess by now you might have read that you have to share the FHH seat with me.  Just was not expecting that at all... and still feel numb, not sure what happens now..... My brother had calcium done and his is fine, same with mother, so was told mine might be a de novo mutation.
Take care, Sue

Hi Sue yes I have see your message and have left a little reply, please feel free to contact me if you want. The daffodils will be beautiful and a lovely happy reminder of Scamp.
Love Amanda xxxx

That is a beautiful idea, Amanda! What a wonderful way to remember Tazz!

We now have 7 cats buried out in our yard under 3 huge, beautiful maple trees. My husband made some wooden markers for every cat, and our granddaughters put the names on and decorated them.

The first kitty to be buried out there was the poor little guy I accidentally ran over in the driveway 22 years ago. His name was Mutzi. That was a HORRIBLE day that I remember so clearly, and it brings me to tears every time I think about him. It was a very dark, rainy, windy morning. I was taking my daughter to school. I was backing out of our long driveway. I hit a bump in the driveway. It was trash pickup day, and since it was so windy, I assumed some trash had blown into the driveway, and I had run over it. So I kept going. I then ran over the 'bump' a second time. It wasn't until I backed up far enough, that we could see from the light of the car's headlights that that bump was our precious little cat, Mutzi. From that day forward, none of my cats have EVER been outside!

The second cat was the mother of 4 of my cats. My daughter had named her Little Black Girl. She was a stray living near my daughter's house. My daughter was renting and not permitted to have pets, so she fed Little Black Girl and played with her, but she wasn't allowed in her house because of the rent restrictions. Little Black Girl then had 3 kittens, Rocky, Spooky, and Chewy. Little Black Girl disappeared shortly afterward. I asked my daughter if I could adopt Rocky, Spooky, and Chewy. She had grown very fond of these little kittens, and I knew it would be rough if I took them away, but I wanted to give them a good home, since they were not allowed inside of my daughter's house because of the rent restrictions. She only lived about 1/4 mile from me, and I told her she was welcome to come and see the kitties anytime she wanted. She agreed that that would be best for them. I then had 5 cats.

Little Black Girl then returned to my daughter's house and had 3 more kittens. I was not looking to adopt any more cats. So we decided those cats would have to remain strays at my daughter's house. She fed them and played with them. They were adorable!

Little Black Girl then disappeared again. These 2 female kittens grew some and each had 3 kittens of their own! My daughter knew one of the cats was pregnant, because she had short hair, so it was very obvious. She was not aware that the little long-haired cat was pregnant. My daughter had a crawl space under her house, which she let the cats have access to in the cold weather. This is where she found 3 tiny, newborn kittens. She assumed they were the kittens of the short-haired cat, but that cat was not taking care of the kittens. She was ignoring them. Afraid the kittens wouldn't survive without their mother, my daughter gathered up the kittens and took them across the street to our vet's place. They agreed to take them in and try to nurse them along. Two of the kittens died. The surviving kitten was taken home by one of the girls at the vet's office. She named this kitten Milk. Not sure why. The kitten was all black. Maybe that was why.

Several days after my daughter took those 3 newborns to the vet's office, she found 3 MORE newborns under her house in that crawl space, and the short-haired cat was taking care of them. That was when she realized that the 3 newborns she took to the vet belonged to the black, long-haired cat and NOT her short-haired sister! That was why the short-haired cat was not taking care of those 3 kittens my daughter took to the vet. They were not HER kittens! My daughter felt terrible! She did what she thought was best for the little kittens. She had no idea they belonged to the other cat!

Eventually, all of the cats and kittens grew and left my daughter's house, but Little Black Girl, who was responsible for producing all of these cats, died. My daughter found her under her house in that crawl space. We never knew what happened to her. Of course, I offered to bring her to my house and bury her out in the back yard with the cat I had run over years earlier. So then there were 2 cats buried in our yard.

A few years later, my daughter accidentally ran over a poor, big tom cat on her way home from our house one night. It was dark and raining, and she never saw the little guy. She called us in tears, wondering what to do. We had no idea if he belonged to anybody or not, so I had my husband pick him up and bring him to our house. We buried him out under the trees with Mutzi and Little Black Girl.

There was just that 1 tiny, black, long-haired female remaining at my daughter's house, whose kittens were mistakenly taken away from her. There was no way I could leave this little cat there all alone. Not when I had her 3 half siblings already at my house. So I adopted her too. I then had 6 cats here. This little girl was so darned adorable and so tiny, I named her Tu Cute. I call her T.C.

I lost one cat, Chim-chim, at the age of 15 from diabetes and huge facial tumors. He had 2 big tumors removed from his face. One day I noticed one of his eyes bulging. The vet told me it was due to a big tumor behind his eye. He told me the only way to help him was to remove his eye. The poor cat had gone from 19-1/2 pounds to 7-1/2 pounds!!! The diabetes was killing him. At this point, I chose to end his misery for him.

I lost the another cat, Rocky (named this by my daughter, because she was always playing with rocks around her house before I adopted her), at the age of 10. She had VERY long hair. I had not noticed she had been losing weight, because she did not like to be held or picked up, and with that long hair, it was not noticeable just by looking at her. She did start getting sort of finicky with her eating, but I figured it was just a stage. I took her to the vet to be anesthetized and shaved, because her fur had gotten VERY matted up. I could not possibly get them out! The vet weighed her and told me she had lost a lot of weight. He examined her and told me he suspected liver failure because of the yellowing ears. Instead of shaving her that day, he did exploratory surgery. He called me at home to tell me Rocky's liver was in terrible condition, and she had large intestinal tumors. He said he could stitch her back up, but she would need chemo treatments, and she probably didn't have much time left. He recommended putting her down. I struggled with the decision, because I didn't even get a chance to tell her goodbye, but I knew it was best for her, so she was put down that day.

I lost another kitty, Sprytle, at the age of 18. Sprytle had thyroid issues. We had been treating it, but she too lost a LOT of weight and looked pitiful. She was emaciated at the end. I couldn't bear to let her suffer any longer, so I had her put down too. This was just 3 months after I lost Rocky!

I lost another kitty, Spooky, a little over a year ago, at the age of 14. Well, she would have been 14 three weeks later. Spooky had stopped eating and acting like she was in severe pain. She would be walking and then just hit the floor, curl up, and not move. This was not like Spooky. Spooky was very energetic, and she was not real fond of T.C., so there was no way she would just lie in the middle of the floor very suddenly like that and not move. She also started to lose a lot of weight. The vet told me they could do x-rays and/or exploratory surgery, but because of the weight loss, the appetite loss, and the fact that Spooky was obviously is severe pain, they suspected tumors and suggested I had her put down. After watching my other cats struggling terribly with their illnesses and knowing that once they are that sick, you can do all you want to help them, but they are not going to last forever, I just could not put Spooky through anything more.

I now have 2 cats left. I have Chewy (Chewbacca) and T.C. (Tu Cute). Chewy was 15 last month. T.C. will be 15 in July. Chewy has lost some weight. He also has thyroid issues, which we have been treating, but he continues to look rather ragged and thin. I am preparing myself for his loss in the not-so-distant future. T.C. still looks healthy, is very playful yet, but has gotten pretty finicky with her eating, so I think something is just not right with her. Her glucose was elevated in January when she got very sick and had that very long 3-1/2 hour emergency vet appointment in January, but they told me stress can cause this, and I can tell you that poor little cat was stressed out of her mind that day!!! They checked her fructosamine that day too, which gives them a idea of where her glucose has been in the past 2 or 3 weeks. That level was extremely low/normal. So I don't think she is diabetic. She will be going to see the vet tomorrow to have her glucose and fructosamine levels checked again and to get her claws trimmed. I wish we were back already!!!!

So I do understand the heartache of losing precious pets. I have no idea how my heart will withstand that 2 more times, but I am aware it probably won't be too much longer before it will have to.

Audrey

And, as if that post wasn't long enough, I forgot something! Sue, I'm sorry to hear about the FHH. I hadn't seen your post regarding this yet. You and Amanda will have to work through this together now. Good luck to you both!!

Audrey

Hi Audrey
You have had some wonderful cats and they have been very lucky to have been looked after and loved by you.
It is so sad when they have to leave us and it's going to take a long time to get over Tazzy and maybe one day we might take on some more, Tazz had a sister Molly who we lost when she was very young, we've had cats in the past and always had two together until one passes away.
I hope T.C and Chewy are with you for a lot longer and enjoy being loved by you.

Love Amanda xxxx

Lovely cat stories, Ladies - thank you.

Love and Hugs from Tigerlily xxxx