Rainbow felines

Wuppie was my first feline love! The first time I saw him, he was just a little ball of fluff and so adorable! He grew up to be a large, rather dumb tom, but still adorable. I could never be angry with him for long. Even when he grabbed the steak off the table or the sausage from the fridge! When I had to leave him behind in the Netherlands, I cried for so long, my parents had to come down to console me!

Mathilda came along with Wuppie, because I didn't want him to be on his own. She had her own quirks: out of all the cats, she never miaowed, unless in trouble (like being locked in the airing cupboard). She was outgoing, friendly and always wanted to be petted. She would never sit still long enough to take a photo, because as soon as you moved, she thought she might get attention and was on the move as well. 

Sophie was a little farm cat that had definitely not been socialised enough. She was a bit of a scaredy cat and especially in later life, was very prone to being bullied by the others. Which in turn meant that she was allowed to spend her nights with me in the bedroom. The one time she tried to climb a tree was not a good experience though: I had to get her out and after that, she didn't go outside, unless I was out as well!

Julius came to live with us and was such a loving cat. He loved playing catch (actually bringing the little cloth ball back to me, sort of) and could play that for hours. Unfortunately he contracted some bladder problems, after which he stopped using the litterbox. In the end I had to take him to the shelter, because I just didn't have the time for him anymore. Never again though!

Linette was an outside cat that was hungry. And every day she got closer, until she was inside and I closed the door on her. Nobody seemed to own her and nobody wanted her, so in the end we kept her. She always was a very thin cat, especially in the summer, when she would stay outside for days on end without eating. She had a special relationship with Wuppie, needing a lick on her head every so often and being happy after that. 

These were the five cats I owned before Miss Oswin came into my life. They are still very much missed!

This post is for the Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day, which actually took place yesterday. Blame it on the time zones!

Letting go of Sophie

12th May 1999 - 19th July 2011

Might be a gross post. Scrap the might...

Yesterday Sophie introduced a new move: sliding along the floor on her bottom. It looked quite funny, but to her it was a necessity. Because her poop was stuck!

Cats tend to eat grass to make them vomit. Which they then seem to do indoors with abandon and not at all outdoors. But Sophie had decided that she might train to be a cow and had not vomited. So, the grass had travelled to her colon and needed to be pooped out. But grass is long and while half of it came out with the poop, the other half got stuck inside. Which in turn produced the new move, because she couldn't get rid of it.

I felt sorry for her though and got myself some tissues and went after her. I grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and was able to get the blades out completely. Which was a stinky, smelly and dirty thing, but what can you do? I washed my hands thoroughly afterwards! I hope she has learned her lesson, but I doubt it somehow.

Told you it was gross...

Monstrous Monday 14

Sophie loves being in front of the heating on a nice soft pillow! She would probably love being in front of a roaring fire. On a nice soft pillow of course.

Monstrous Monday 11

It would have been nicer looking if there had been one on the other armrest, but they didn't want to cooperate.

Monstrous Monday 10

THIS IS MY HOUSE! SO GO AWAY!!

Monstrous Monday 7

I saw Up recently. Even though the film was a bit disappointing, I loved the dogs in it. Everytime they would spot a squirrel, they would all face that way. In this photo Sophie reminds me of that.

SQUIRREL!!!

Monstrous Monday 6

My name is Sophie. I am quite nervous and don't like other cats very much. They sometimes bully me! But Mara doesn't. She gives me treats and hugs and kisses. Although she sometimes overdoes it (not with the treats though, you can never overdo it with the treats).

Barracuda, chicken and marbles

Wuppie, the original 'Weighty Matter'

The name of my blog is Weighty Matters. It wasn't always that, it used to be 'the life of Mara'. Boring isn't it? Then one day I was blogging about my monster Wuppie. And he is a monster. A big hefty weighty monster. And the title of that post was Weighty Matters. I thought it was a nice name, stuck it on my blog and hey presto. Nothing much to do with weight in the literal sense, more a floaty sense of the heavier decisions I would have to make.

Sophie on her way to the Vet

Last year Sophie (another of those monsters) was ill. Cancer to the bladder wall. They managed to cut the tumor out, but instead of saving 1 1/2 centimeters  (about half an inch) of clean cancer free bladder, they only had 1 1/2 milimeters (about one tenth of half an inch) left to work with. The vet also told me, that were she to get sick again, it would be the end of her.

Linette climbing a tree

Recently my cats have all starting losing weight. Partly to do with summer: they just eat less. Partly to do with being able to go outside: why eat when you can enjoy the great jungle (also called my garden, but that is an altogether different story). However, Sophie never lost a lot of weight. She was always a stable slightly overweight cat.

Mathilda loves the shade more than the sun

Yes, you've guessed it: Sophie turns things upside down this year by losing weight. A lot of it. You can see her backbone. You can feel her ribs. She's always loved cleaning out my plates. I let her do it now, even leaving some extra, because she will not eat properly. But yesterday I realised I had a small tin of catfood left. I showed the other two 'hungry' monsters (Wuppie and Mathilda) out of the kitchen, closed the door and emptied out the tin.

Barracuda, chicken and marbles

She was ravenous! The marbles* confused her a bit and I had to jiggle them about a few times, but she cleaned out her bowl. The best thing though: she managed to keep it all in as well: no throwing up at all...

*Cats who don't often get treated tend to just gulp the food in almost one go. Putting big marbles in the food, makes them having to search more and move more. Because of that, they eat slower. Not having another scrounger in the area will help as well.

In honour

Because she's a darling, even when she wakes me up too early in the morning.

Because she's a weirdo, because she'll only sit on my lap if there's a towel on it.

Because she's a beauty, even with that bigger than normal belly.

Because she still loves me, even though I locked her in my bedroom for a whole day.
Because she's the Queen!

Oh no!

I had a hard day at work. The sun shone while we spent a few hours in the most well-known amusement park in the Netherlands (the Efteling). We had breakfast (consisting of a Sprite, french fries with mayonaise, a frikandel and a kroket. In short: junk food) at 11.30am. We went on a small steam train. I had cotton candy. We saw Sleeping Beauty. We got stuck in traffic on our way back to the school.

When I finally got home I heard a faint miaowing. And I realised I had locked Sophie in an upstairs room. Not the bathroom, not the laundry room, but my bedroom. She had been locked in there from 6.30am without food, water and even more important: a litter box!

So, right now, I am trying to get my duvet (kingsize) washed. It doesn't really fit in my washing machine, so I hope it will be allright. Ah well, that'll teach me to check under the bed and on top of the wardrobe when leaving my bedroom in the morning!

Snow monsters

There's nothing else for it: I have to show you some photos of my monsters in the snow! After all, this is the second time in such a short period that we have so much snow and the chances of that happening again soon are pretty slim. The first one I want to show you is of Linette. This was her first time out in the snow. Last time I kept her indoors, but this time she was allowed to experience the white stuff as well. She didn't like it one bit! She cowered underneath the garden chair and she would only step on the snow free zones!

Sophie had been out before, but didn't much like it. This time however, she made her own way out and even walked into the garden a bit. It was really funny to see her though, because after every step she would shake her leg to get the snow off...

Wuppie loves being outside and takes the snow in his stride. He seems to be thinking: 'Hey, I'm outside, who cares what the weather is like?' He doesn't seem to mind the cold, or the wet. If he could he would probably be out there for ten minutes every hour! (You have to snooze and sleep and rest in the warm as well don't you know)

Even though Mathilda is quite an easy-going lady, she did feel the cold at one point. So, there was nothing else for it but put her on my shoulder. Of course it made it hard taking a photo of her, but I think we managed reasonably okay. The reason I am holding her is not that she would otherwise fall off, but to keep her in the shot!

PS: there was 8 centimeters this morning (about three inches). But it's still snowing now...

Feline Friday 30

Whose scratch pole is it anyway?

Feline Friday 25

Two ladies who don't really get along. Hissing and growling especially from Sophie's side! This is one of the rare moments where they sat on the same small bench. Only for about as long as it took me to take this photo though...

On the left it's Linette, on the right is Sophie.

Feline Friday 23

What do you mean I'm inside? Don't you see my front paws: they are outside! So, I am outside...

Vet

From top to bottom: Sophie, Mathilda, Wuppie and in the corner (barely visible) Linette

Yesterday it was time for the yearly visit to the vet. Always a massive operation in this household, since I've got four cats, three baskets and my only two ways of transport are my bike and my feet. Now, usually I would take my bike, put the trailer behind it and cycle off to the vet's. However, when they changed my wheel a while ago, they put the coupling on wrong, so I can't use the trailer anymore. Very annoying. Fortunately I have a very nice father who does own a car and he was willing to come and help me out!

So, yesterday as my father was pulling up weeds in the front yard, I made my way to the vet with several unhappy monsters. And they made it very known they were unhappy! After arriving at the vet's, I had to wait for half an hour. When it was finally my turn the vet told me she had expected four kittens! Well, if you want to call a 6 kg (13 lb) ginger monster a kitten...

Checking out Sophie's heart rate

First up was Sophie. She is always most scared, so I try to get her over and done with asap. She had lost some weight since the operation a few months ago, but she was doing fine. After her shots she moved back in to her basket as quick as she could.

The colouring paper used to determine the exact damage to her eye

Next up was Mathilda. She had some problems with her left eye, so after the vet stuck a piece of paper in her eye, making it look as if the Hulk personally was treating her, the vet found it was only a small infection and with some ointment she should get better reasonably quick. Then Linette was up. Her weight was good, teeth as well and she is generally a very lovely cat, so no problem there.

Wuppie was last in line. Both he and Mathilda love to just roam around the room, sniffing and looking. This time however, he wasn't so much into that. He was a bit grumpy, because he kept hissing as well. He didn't even want to come out of the basket. However once out, he didn't cause any problems. Probably because he is the most laid-back of all my monsters. Nothing fazes him.

After receiving the ointment for Mathilda, the anti-worm medication for all four and paying up, I was able to go home again.

I can't wait for next year...

Feline Friday 19

Why is it that whenever I try to make a photo of one of my cats, one of the others decides to walk into my frame? You might be able to spot Wuppie (you can just see his ears on either side of the tail). The tail belongs to Sophie.

Feline Friday 11

My monsters don't always have the air of being the most intelligent of creatures. I took this photo last week of my darling Sophie (who is doing very well by the way), while she was just looking around her. With her tongue hanging out! For about ten minutes!!

Silly Sophie...

Feline Friday 6

When my monsters are outside, they do run into each other from time to time and if they do, they have to check whether it's friend or foe. So, a little sniff, a little lick and they're on their way again!

Sophie (yep, again)

Yesterday I had to visit the vet once more. Sophie had to have her stitches out. She didn't like it of course and this time I had to use a smaller carry case as well. The one I normally use is open at the top, but it was raining and really windy, so I wanted a closed one, so she wouldn't get too wet. At the vet's she was also weighed again and she is not as weighty as she used to be. She used to be about four kilograms and yesterday she was only 3,6 (a loss of 10 percent!)! That could be due to the operation and the subsequent stress, but it could also be due to the medication.

She gets an aspirin-based fluid medication. Now, if a human takes to many aspirins, he will get severe problems with his stomach (and I'm experienced in that, having taken between 4 and 6 aspirins every day for nearly three years). The same goes for animals. So, it might be that the medication is causing some stomach problems. For this coming week I've had to reduce the amount of medication and hopefully it will get better. If it doesn't get better, she might have to come off the medication completely, which in turn means the cancer doesn't get treated.

She's causing me some grieve this nervous little pussycat!