Alexa

I haven’t had much time to post lately, since my free time’s pretty much spent with Alexa - telling her how brave she is and how much I love her (at least the second one’s actually true!). I took her to the vet to have her leg checked today and they said everything looked fine, but she has to leave the splint and bandaging on for about 5 more weeks.

She was a total she devil on the way to the vet. I had her in a cardboard carrier (I have no idea where our good one disappeared to. I suspect Svenn burned it.), and she began shredding it with her teeth on the way! By the time I carried her into the vet’s office, part of her little angry face was all the way through one of the holes.

Everyone in the office got a huge kick out of it. Of course, they didn’t have to ride back home with her!

She’s been sleeping since we got home - only getting up to eat and drink once. I guess she wore herself out. I think I should probably put a pot of coffee on, it looks like we’ll be up all night - arranging/rearranging her toys, dishing out salmon treats, giving her pink brush a workout, etc. Then she’ll curl up on her pink baby blanket and sleep like an angel.

Problem is, it wasn’t a halo on her head this morning!

I thought you’d get a kick out of the picture above. It came to me in an e-mail today. When I brought the hellcat home, I got into my e-mail and very much needed the smile this picture produced!

Click it for a larger view. Priceless.

I’m writing these words on paper as I lie on our remarkably cold and unforgiving marble kitchen floor next to Alexa’s extra large training kennel. No, she hasn’t been a “bad girl,” she’s a hurt girl.

She’s in this cage to heal and protect herself from hurting herself any further and I’ll go to the computer to type this in as soon as my baby goes back to sleep.

Our little girl broke one of her back legs in two places Sunday when she tried to jump up on an ironing board. It gave way, toppled over on top of her and fell on one of her little legs.

Thankfully I found a veterinarian who said she’d meet us at the animal clinic. Why DO these things always happen on Sunday’s?

Alexa had to stay overnight at the animal hospital which, of course, meant that between the time I left her and 4:00 the next day when we were able to pick her up, I cried several rivers of tears. Geez, mothers. Everything was so different without her in the house. She’s always my constant companion and I found myself missing her terribly. When I made coffee, she wasn’t under my feet wanting to play, when I took my bath, she wasn’t on her nearby rug, when my husband checked his e-mail, she wasn’t on the table beside his computer demanding his attention (which she always gets!), when I checked mine, she wasn’t on the desk in front of me.. Basically, she wasn’t anywhere she was supposed to be.

And it was so quiet - I missed (and miss) her little meow. She’s a talker, which is why I love the picture of her above so much. It captures the true Alexa… talking!

She has a splint on her little hurt leg and it’s wrapped in special bright blue medical bandages all the way up her hip - creating a blue peg leg for a cat who isn’t a very happy little girl right now.

One of the workers at this animal clinic told Alexa she was “a gorgeous kitty.” I thought, “Yeah…that’s not going to help. She already knows that.” She’s very vain about her looks. Very.

It’s killing me, overtime, to see her so uncomfortable and miserable. I want to cry every time she meows in pain or frustration. Fortunately, she’s on pain medication so these meows have almost gone away - except when the little hard headed diva tries to move around in her cage in awkward directions.

I want to cry every time I see her so uncomfortable, but like most moms, I do a good job of staying brave when my baby’s watching. It’s when I’m away from her that the tears come.

I slept most of the night on the floor by her cage. I woke up several times and she was looking at me - making sure I was still there. I fell asleep with one of my hands inside her cage and woke up with her little face lying on it.

Comfortable? No Way. 35 minutes of No Way comfortable! - But I wasn’t about to disturb my baby.

Almost 20 minutes ago (around 8:00 am), Prissy and I were trying to do some laundry (my little 20 year old girl has always loved laundry time - even now that she’s lost her sight, she knows what the sounds of the dryer and washer mean and she comes running fast walking slowly). When Alexa woke up and saw that I wasn’t beside her cage, she “called” me to see if I wouldn’t mind dropping everything to lie beside her while she went back to sleep.

Like I said at the first of this post, I’m writing this as I’m lying next to Alexa’s cage…

She’s sleeping now - and hopefully healing godspeed.

If your pet is, at this moment, healthy and unbroken - say a prayer of thanks. And while you have God on the line, I’d really appreciate a prayer for our Alexa’s healing. The fastest, most pain free healing God can send. Filled with plenty of sleep. So far, it’s the only time she’s comfortable.

Thanks and, oh yeah, hug your pets!

I’m sure you’ve heard of the highly popular online resource called Real Age, where you can find out what your “real” age is. The information is priceless - not only is it enlightening, it’s potentially life-saving.

I got an e-mail a few days ago about Cat Age, a website to determine the “real age” of your cat. It’s all pretty subjective, of course, because no expert (no matter how highly skilled or educated they are) can give a 100 percent diagnosis online, without actually seeing your cat in person.

However, the information is, again, priceless and has the potential to save lives. I consider myself pretty knowledgable when it comes to my little feline babies, but there were quite a few things I found out that were new to me. I was able to see what I’m doing right as well as what I could have done differently.

Apparently, spaying your cat is a great reason - for more than just the obvious. It’s actually healthy for your cat and can protect her from certain potential problems. That’s an area that caused Prissy to score a little bit higher than other cats in her category. However, given the fact that she’s 20 years old, I’m still feeling pretty good about her care.

Did you know that spaying your cat minimizes the risk of breast cancer and uterine infections? Alexa has been spayed (because she spent the months year of her life outdoors, until she got a taste of the good life), but Prissy has been a house cat since she was a kitten - so we just never saw the need.

Something else I learned - the teeth-cleaning treats we give our cats are good for treats serve a useful purpose. They help protect against periodental disease, which can ultimately affect various organs of the body and nervous system.

My cat’s ages were also positively affected because they live in a smoke-free environment. We know that smoke (even secondhand) is bad for humans, but sometimes we forget that it’s bad for our cats and dogs as well.

It’s a very fascinating survey and you get your cat’s diagnosis immediately - I highly recommend Cat Age!

Just when Alexa and I thought we had seen everything, we’re surfing along the web looking at cat toys and just look what we came across: A Cat DVD for Cats
! I’m not even lying, she raised her eyebrows. I’m pretty sure she’ll be wanting Santa to bring her one this Christmas.

The DVD has this to say for itself:
Over 3 hours of digital video footage to entertain your cats or dogs. Squirrels, goldfish, mice, birds, laser pointers and much more!

What a great idea! When Prissy’s eyes did more than just look beautiful, she’d love to “watch” tv. She’d sit on the couch all evening and watch whatever happened to be on. Her favorite shows were NASCAR races and Disney or NICKELODEON shows. I guess she loved the brightness and the voices of the children.

As for NASCAR, she just liked to cheer on her favorite drivers, Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip and Ryan Newman. She wasn’t much of a Jeff Gordon fan. She wouldn’t speak for days when he won.

Check out the Cat DVD for Cats by clicking the link. I think it’d make a lot of dogs and cats feel like 14 year olds at a Miley Cyrus concert.

Prissy loves her, too.

Alexa and I got the scare of our lives Friday. It involved the thing I’m most scared of in this world (hissssssss).

I noticed her at the sliding doors in our home office. She’s a totally fearless cat, so her odd, sort of frightened demeanor freaked me out immediately. It was also weird that she was looking upward - as in about 4 feet off the ground. Oddly enough, I never even suspected a human. We live sort of out in the country, so I knew it was an animal (or bird) of some sort. Problem was, Alexa has never shown any fear toward birds or any of our other frequent visitors (rabbits, raccoons, possums, skunks, cats…) She even saw a coyote (through a window) once and just bugged out a little.

But this time, she was sort of transfixed, almost frozen - yet she was trying to back away. I oh so carefully walked over, bent down to her level (while baby talking her, of course - she loves that stuff), and followed her gaze.

AAAUUUUGHHHH!!!!   You’ve heard of a rebel yell?  I gave a “Kill me now” yell.  This thing was quite big - and had slithered up the bricks, cut over sideways and presently was jutting it’s ugly face toward the glass, all the while sticking out its God-forsaken tongue.

My daughter (Stephany) and her boyfriend (Rusty) were in the driveway, getting ready to go somewhere. Being the brave person that I am, I went for their help.  I knew they’d get a thrill or two out of it - they love the Animal Planet channel and watch it religiously.  In fact, they’d just left the living room where they’d been “visiting” with bears.

My brave little Stephany stayed on the safe side of the glass doors with me and Alexa, while Rusty got a huge stick and got the snake down.  She got her camera to “capture” the drama as it unfolded!

Even though I’m scared to death of the vile things (snakes, not Rusty and Steph), I was honestly very impressed with the way Rusty handled the situation.  He never (not once) was agressive toward the snake or even gave it cause to think it was in danger.  Granted, my brain was thinking, “Club it! Kill it! Destroy it! Make it wish it’d never been hatched!”  - but the snake was very lucky that Rusty has a respect for all living things, even snakes.   If it had been poisonous, it would have met a different fate.

He “led” the snake away from the wall and the windows - for which all of us females were grateful.  He even let it all seem like it was the demon’s idea.  He sort of coaxed it with the stick - it kept “feeling” for the stick with its black tongue.  Gross!  Sorry, that just slipped out.   When he got it to an open area, he gently touched it’s back (?) with the stick a few times.  It kind of got into a little coiled heap (ugly) and Rusty put the stick down.    I love the kid, but I thought he’d lost his mind entirely when he made his next move.  He reached down, grabbed the thing close to the head (so he wouldn’t get bitten), while holding it’s tail end with the other hand.

The whole time, Steph and I were afraid  that Rusty was about to face a certain death, but Rusty seemed to like the fool thing.  He kept talking to it. I’m pretty sure that IF I ever did speak to one, it’d be through screams and possibly even profanity.  Rusty spoke to it calmly, though.  Then he took it to a field and let it go.

In all honesty, watching the whole thing actually made me a little less afraid of snakes.  I have no intention of ever befriending one, mind you, but I think it and Rusty both handled themselves remarkably well.  And I’m struck by the fact that Rusty wasn’t the least bit scared the whole time.  He treated it the same way I’ve always treated stray animals when they make their way onto our property.  I, of course, go way out of my way not to scare them and I always do what I know is best for the animal.  He did the exact same for the snake.

This experience showed me that snakes are simply wildlife, too.  Like the raccoons and possums I leave food out for and joyfully watch, rabbits I toss carrots to, and birds I feed every day - they’re pretty helpless in a lot of ways. 

I even thought one was kind of cute one time.  My husband, knowing my intense phobia, has often tried to expose me to them - in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, I’d become a little more reasonable.  The first time he ever took me near them, it was in a Snake House in a zoo in Kansas.  The minute I saw one, I ran (not walked) out of there, screaming the whole time. 

Calm.  Cool.  And oh so collected.

Fast forward about 10 years and we were in a pet store.  Behind the glass were some of these things.  One was curled up in what appeared to be a dog’s food dish.  I said, “That’s cute.”  Of course, I immediately turned and walked away, but at least I didn’t find it totally vile.

I’m still mystified by Alexa’s reaction. I just don’t think she knew what to make of it. She was actually born outside (her mother was the very essence of a wild cat… and I still miss her), and until I brought my baby girl inside, she lived outdoors. So, I’m pretty sure she’d seen snakes before. But she seemed completely out of her element and was very unAlexa-like.

Hopefully another one of those unwelcome visitors will never come calling again. She and I still go to the glass doors and peek out, like, a couple of billion times a day - sighing with relief when the only thing on the patio are cardinals, furniture and a grill. The things that belong there!

Obviously, someone who’s familiar with Alexa, Prissy, Svenn, and Bo used them as inspirations to create a bumper sticker. You’d think they’d at least send me one free, right?

The Cats running wild! Bumper Sticker lets the world know you love cats and gives them something to smile about at the same time.

You gotta love that!