Katie - Katie is my 10 year old Dalmation. I had wanted a Dalmation for about 20 years when I finally got her back in 1989. She was a darling little puppy that the breeders had considered putting down because she’s a “patch” Dalmation. This meant she had a large solid patch of black instead of spots somewhere on her body. With Katie it is her ear; something I found really cute! But, to breeders she was a flawed dog and so should be destroyed. Luckily the people who had Katie’s mom could not stand to destroy her. So I was able to buy her for $100 when her litter mates all cost $350. From the beginning she was a smart and loyal dog. I could teach her a trick in a day’s time and she was housebroken in just three days. Unfortunately she is getting old now; she is having some problems that have forced me to turn her into an outside dog. It broke my heart to do it but the other option was to have her put to sleep.

A Sad Update On November 20, 2000 Gina went out to feed Katie and found her dead in her doggie igloo. I had been worrying about how she was going to be able to handle the winter if it was as severe as the weathermen were predicting. She was going to be 12 on her next birthday and her age had begun to show. She wasn't as spry as she had been and I could tell that weather changes bothered her a lot. We miss her terribly but I am thankful for the years we had with her. She was a wonderful pet and I will never be able to see another Dalmatian without thinking of her and remembering the many years of loyal companionship she gave us.

      Callie - Callie is our baby machine. She is a beautiful torti cat that was left behind by some neighbors when they moved. She is such a good cat, so lovable. I could not stand to see her starving, so I began to put food out on the porch for her. In no time flat I had a cat!!! And her gift to me? A litter of kittens, and everytime I get ready to get her fixed, guess what? She’s pregnant again. So, I have been blessed with four litters of kittens since I decided to feed her!!

Another Sad Update Callie never stopped being the most popular female cat in my neighborhood. She went on to have two more litters of kittens. Every time I would make arrangements to have her spayed she ended up either pregnant or in heat by the time the appointment rolled around. The vet wouldn't fix her while she was in heat and while the vet WOULD fix her while she was pregnant, I just couldn't bring myself to let them do that. So she would have more kittens and then we needed to wait for the kittens to be weaned and for her milk to dry up. By then she would be off entertaining the grateful males in my area.

Unfortunately even though I always made a bed for her and the new babies, Callie would drag her new kittens off to hide them as is common with mother cats. We would track her down and bring them back home and by the next day she would have moved them again. Her favorite place to go was in through the basement window of the neighbor behind me. She had done this several times and no matter how many times we brought them home she would go right back there.

Last Spring I noticed that Callie was once again pregnant. I made up her bed on my porch and waited patiently for the new arrivals. Around the time of her due date she came up missing. I assumed she had gone somewhere to have the kittens and would bring them back in a couple weeks when they began to move around since she had done that before. When she didn't return we began to ask if anyone had seen her. It was then that we found out that she had had five new kittens in that same neighbor's basement and she had called animal control and had Callie and the kittens picked up and destroyed without notifying me.

      Lily - Although her face looks different and she weighs about 20 pounds, Callilily is marked just as beautifully as her mother. Her Torti markings are breathtaking. She was born in April of 1997 and I loved her from the moment I saw her. At about nine weeks she got clipped by the tire of a car and she has never been the same. She is our “mentally challenged” baby. She drools. She still thinks she’s a kitten who needs to nurse. And she is huge, a side effect from making sure she did not also give me litters of kittens!!! She is so lovable, but she is like a bull in a china shop. When she jumps on something, everything goes flying!!!! She is Gina’s cat through and through though. She lays with Gina when ever she can and cries outside her bedroom door at night when Gina goes to bed.

      Pee Wee - A litter mate of Lily’s, this was the first male pet I would ever consider. He was the runt of the litter and was the most pathetic little thing I had ever seen. When all the other kittens were able to climb out of the box to play he was stuck in the box. He would cry until we took him out so he could be with the others. Then we would hear him crying again only to find that the others had gotten back in the box and he was stuck on the outside!!! So I took him in and I have never regretted it. He is such a good cat. However, he is afraid of his own shadow; he will stay hidden for hours if company comes. He is a beautiful gray and white bicolor shorthair cat and like his sister, he prefers Gina to me.

My Final Sad Update We had to have Pee Wee put to sleep on October 25, 2000. He had always had very sensitive skin and I had taken him to the vet and he would have steriod injections but they would only help for a month to 6 weeks and then he would be in the same shape. He would scratch at himself endlessly and had raw spots all over him.

During the summer of 2000 the cats all got fleas. I'm still not sure how they managed that since none of them were ever outside but they all got them and they were ALL so miserable. I got the stuff needed to treat them but Pee Wee could not tolerate it on his skin. I got a flea collar for him thinking that would help only to find him the morning after I put it on him with blood seeping out from under the collar. When I took the collar off I found that in less than 24 hours the collar had made him have a raw and bleeding circle the size of the collar around his neck. I called the vet to see if he could get the fleas off Pee Wee. He told me that there was nothing he could do... that anything he had to treat him with would be agony on his super-sensitive skin.

It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make concerning my pets but I really had no other option. Because we couldn't get rid of Pee Wee's fleas, Lily and Fred just kept getting reinfested over and over again. The fleas were beginning to bite Gina and I, also. I knew that the other cats and even Gina and I could get very ill from the constant flea bites and also Pee Wee had gotten to the point that he would try to scratch himself and he would cry out in pain. Finally, because I loved him and couldn't stand to see him hurting anymore I had him put to sleep. It broke my heart and I cried all that day but I knew that he was better off.

      Fred - Now this is my cat. Fred came from the local dog pound. He had been left there by his mother’s owner who was not happy that her Siamese had had kittens by an alley cat. He is such a joy in my life and he makes me laugh so much. He is my computer baby, also. He sits in front of the monitor and swats at the screen and insists on being in the computer room any time I am! Fred has his own homepage! Please go see it. It is really cute and good for a smile!!

Another Update On Thanksgiving evening I came home from my sister's house to find Fred acting a bit odd. I noticed him going to his litter box over and over again and standing for a long time and barely going to the bathroom. By late that night he was crying a low gutteral sound when he would try to use the litterbox. I knew from reading cat magazines that he had a urinary tract infection. So I called the vet right away and took him in. The vet told me that he didn't have a blockage but did have an infection. He put him on medication and assured me he should be fine. One day after the medication was gone Fred was once again yowling when he got in his litter box. The vet thought he just didn't stay on medication long enough and gave me more pills and said that should certainly do it!

Well....before the medication even ran out this time Fred was once again in pain and unable to go to the bathroom. I decided to take him to a different vet this time. Of course the diagnosis was the same as I knew it would be. But this vet thought the other vet hadn't given Fred strong enough medication since he is a very large cat. So he started him on a stronger medicine. It seemed to work but once again, the day after it ran out Fred was sick again. The new vet thought he just needed more medication so he gave him more of the same pills. By now it was New Year's Eve day.... Fred had been sick and/or on medicine for over a month.

Then on Tuesday evening, January 9th, I heard that familiar sound of Fred in pain. I went to check on him and I noticed he looked almost sleepy as he sat in the litterbox frozen in a stance for several minutes with no telltale wet spot in the box. When I touched him he cried out painfully. The following half hour or so was terrifying. I watched as Fred's condition deteriorated rapidly. He began to drool and when I would say his name he wouldn't show any signs of even hearing me. By now it was 8 p.m. and so I frantically called the vet that had been treating him. I was told that in all liklihood he had a total blockage now and that I should take him to the animal hospital in Columbus which was about an hour away from me. When I told the vet's wife that I couldn't take him there because of the time and the weather she told me that if I didn't he would probably be dead by morning when her husband would be available.

I hung up in tears and began to call randomly from the phone book to other local vets. I finally found an office that had just closed a few minutes earlier and when they heard Fred's symptoms they told me to come right away....that they would wait. By the time I got Fred there he was breathing roughly and was semi-conscious. The vet came in the room and within seconds told me that Fred had a total blockage of his bladder and that his bladder was swollen to the size of an orange. He was in shock and his heart was faultering. The vet was so kind to me. I was so afraid Fred was going to die and I didn't want to lose him but I knew that the cost of saving him was going to be way beyond my budget. I told the vet that and he told me that he'd worry about getting paid later.... that right now saving Fred was the important thing.

I don't know how long the vet worked that night to stabilize him. I stayed there with him until 10 p.m. The vet told me he would call me if he got worse and also told me I was welcome to come back the next day to visit him. Fred ended up being in the clinic for three days on IVs and with a catheter sewn into his bladder. After he came home he had a couple slight relapses but once the special prescription food that he now has to have for the rest of his life began to take effect he has been fine. He had weighed about 22 pounds when he got sick and went down to 16 pounds but now is gaining back that lost weight.

What I found out was that the first 2 vets were only treating his symptoms and not the actual problem. He had struvite crystals in his bladder that were like barbs that were cutting up his urinary tract and then on that Tuesday night they had bonded together to actually block his bladder completely. Unfortunately it is a condition that returns over and over again once a cat has had the first episode unless a strict prescription diet is followed.

For you curious readers.... you REALLY don't want to know what this whole ordeal cost!!! I can tell you this.... I affectionately refer to him as "my $6 million dollar cat" now. *G*

      And now, for my fellow cat lovers, I offer this as a guide for the next time you need to give your cat a pill!

1.  Grasp cat firmly in your arms. Cradle its head on your elbow, just as if you were giving baby a bottle. Coo confidently, “That’s a nice kitty.” Drop pill into its mouth.

2.  Retrieve cat from top of lamp and pill from under sofa.

3.  Follow same procedure as in (1), but hold cat’s front paws down with left hand and back paws down with elbow of right arm. Poke pill into its mouth with right forefinger.

4.  Retrieve cat from under bed. Get new pill from bottle. (Resist impulse to get new cat.)

5.  Again proceed as in (1), except when you have cat firmly cradled in bottlefeeding position, sit down on edge of chair, fold your torso over cat, bring your right hand over your left elbow, open cat’s mouth by lifting the upper jaw and pop the pill in—quickly. Since your head is down by your knees, you won’t be able to see what you’re doing. That’s just as well.

6.  Leave cat hanging on drapes. Leave pill in your hair.

7.  If you’re a woman, have a good cry. If you’re a man, have a good cry.

8.  Now pull yourself together. Who’s the boss here anyway? Retrieve cat and pill. Assuming position (1), say sternly, “Who’s the boss here, anyway?” Open cat’s mouth, take pill and—Oooops!

9.  This isn’t working, is it? Collapse and think. Aha! Those flashing claws are causing the chaos.

10.  Crawl to linen closet. Drag back large beach towel. Spread towel on floor.

11.  Retrieve cat from kitchen counter and pill from potted plant.

12.  Spread cat on towel near one end with its head over long edge.

13.  Flatten cat’s front and back legs over its stomach. (Resist impulse to flatten cat.)

14.  Roll cat in towel. Work fast; time and tabbies wait for no man or woman.

15.  Resume position (1). Rotate your left hand to cat’s head. Press its mouth at the jaw hinges like opening the petals of a snapdragon.

16.  Drop pill into cat’s mouth and poke gently. Voila! It’s done.

17.  Vacuum up loose fur (cat’s). Apply bandages to wounds (yours).

18.  Take two aspirins and lie down. 19.  Forget aspirin, drink glass of wine and lie down.

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