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#1
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Thanks everyone, and a tribute to Rocky (Actually a repost of Rocky's looong Story from last month)
Many thanks to all who were pulling for Rocky, sending purrs to all of
us here. Some may consider swapping purrs a little strange, even silly, but when you need them they really do help the recipient. I know I collected those sent for Rocky, and they helped (may have gotten teary reading them, but sometimes crying is a good thing). I want to offer a special thanks to those who offered to help with the cost. I didn't reply earlier, both because I wasn't sure how much the final cost would be, and didn't feel like looking up Dr Haney's address. When I went to pick up the carrier (sadly empty, rather them full of a loudly complaining Rocky) I was surprised, and more than a little touched, to learn that a couple of you had gone through the trouble to look up the information and already made contrinutions. I learned today that it will be hard to personally thank all who contribute, screen names just don't match the receipts. I guess I'll just send a sort of blanket thanks, since some may not wish their names listed on the NG. Anyway, here's the vet's info: Dr Haney Midtown Animal Hospital 1101 SW Park Ave Lawton, OK 73501 ph: 580-353-3438 While on the subject of cost, I should say that the bill is much less than I feared. When I went in this afternoon, Dr Haney had already left for the day, but I'm pretty certain he gave me a big discount on the charges. I started to write a Rocky Tribute, then remembered his story (in what I thought would have been his words) posted last month. I think that post tells his story well, so am including it here. I've re-edited it, but haven't really changed it here. All I want to add is to emphasize that he was truly loved, and that his death seemed painless, both to me and to his doctor. I would rather he hadn't spent his last day in a clinic surrounded by strangers, but feel that it was necessary to give him a fighting chance. I know I don't need to tell you all that he'll be sorely missed. He was a great cat who lived too short a time after leaving his life as a feral and becoming my cat. ========== Repost of Rocky's Story (in his own words) (originally posted in early September) ========== Part One - I Become the King It's been a while now since I joined this here family, so I figured it was time to sit down and tell my story. I probably wouldn't bother, but the one the hoomin calls Sammy tells me both she and her momma, called Little Bit, have told their stories and that I should tell mine. I can't tell you much about my early years. Really have no idea how old I am. I know that the cold and hot times came several times. Momma taught me how to hunt for food, how to find cool spots when it was hot, and warm spots during the cold times. Momma taught me from an early age that hoomins weren't to be trusted. I figure she was right about most stuff, but lately I've found that at least SOME hoomins are OK. After I got bigger, momma and I got separated. I really don't know where she went. Things were pretty rough there for a while. All the older, bigger cats didn't want me around. I regularly got beat up until I learned how to fight and protect myself. After a couple more hot and cold times came and went, it got so that I was winning fights more often than I was losing. Things were really starting to look up. I established my own little territory where I was the King. All the other cats in the neighborhood gave me the respect I deserved. When some young upstart gave me grief , I'd either whip them into shape or make their life so miserable that they moved out of my kingdom. There were always hoomins around, but I avoided them as much as I could. Part Two - Changes After living the good life for a couple more hot and cold times, a couple things happened that changed my life. You see there was a group of hoomin dwellings in my kingdom where a brown-nosed tom cat used to hang around. I later learned he was what the hoomins call a tuxedo kitty. He had a white face and a black nose. I always called him brown-nose because of how he was always cozying up to the hoomins. The hoomins called him Spot, though. He used to say he was the official apartment complex cat. It worked for him, he used to go inside the various hoomin houses to sleep at night, get out of the worst weather, and get all the best food. The other thing that happened which ended up changing my life was that about this time a new hoomin moved into one of the hoomin houses. Eventually I'd end up trustung this particular hoomin and even let him pet me, but that was still in the future. The first thing about this new hoomin that changed my life was that he learned about Spot and he started putting food outside to encourage Spot to eat at there, and sometimes spend the night sleeping on his bed. I couldn't have cared less about going into the hoomin's house, but the food he put out for Spot was GOOD, so I started eating it when the hoomin put it out. Life got even better. All us neighborhood cats had a new source of good food, which of course is always welcome when you're not sure when the next meal is coming. At first I ran and hid when I saw the hoomin, but over time I learned that he wouldn't throw things or chase me away. So, after a time I stopped running whenever I saw him. After a while I started going closer and waiting while he filled up the food bowl. I learned a startling fact, it actually feels nice when a hoomin scritches you in that certain spot that you just can't seem to reach behind your ear. Part Three - Betrayal and My First TED Visit Life was good. I had the occasional challenge to my rule of my kingdom, but still won all my fights. After one fight, though, I had a war wound that wouldn't seem to heal.. It REALLY hurt and just wouldn't heal. The hoomin noticed that my leg was all swollen about three times the size of the other one. He tried to touch it, but I wasn't about to put up with that, so I hightailed it out of there and stayed away for a while. After a couple days I was starting to get really hungry, so I decided to go back and see if he was still putting food out. When I got there the food bowl was full, and I was so hungry I let the hoomin take a close look. The next morning when I went back to eat the hoomin was there waiting. When I bent over the bowl he snatched me up and stuck me in a box. Next thing I knew he carried me over to one of those big moving monsters that the hoomins sit in and ride around in. The hoomin put me inside the monster and it made a lot of noise and we were moving. It didn't last long, and when we stopped the hoomin carried me inside a different hoomin place. The hoomin talked to some other hoomin, then after waiting a while carried me to a smaller room. We waited again until another strange hoomin came. This was the worst hoomin yet, and I was really beginning to think momma had been right when she told me not to trust hoomins. This new hoomin looked at me through the bars on the box, and they opened the side of the box. I made a break for it, but there was no place to go. They threw something over me and held me so I couldn't defend myself while this new hoomin poked and prodded me. It ended up with this new hoomin sticking me with something sharp, but it didn't hurt much. When they put the box with the bars on the table I decided it was a lot safer inside the box than outside where they could poke, prod and stab me with sharp sticks. So, when they loosened their grip a bit I darted back into that box. Turned out, though, that's what they wanted. The hoomins exchanged some of their strange noises, then the hoomin who betrayed my trust picked up the box, and carried me back to the moving monster. After the strange moving feeling, the monster stopped and the hoomin carried me awhile. When he put down the box I found I was back where the adventure had started. The hoomin opened the side of the box, and I was OUT OF THERE. It may sound strange, but after the trip in the monster and having that strange hoomin stab me with the sharp stick, my leg stopped hurting and healed up a lot quicker than war wounds normally do. I stayed gone for several days before I went back to check for food, though. For a long time I didn't trust the hoomin and kept my distance. Eventually, I forgave him, after all he kept putting out food, and things went back to the way they were before. Part Four - Little Bit and Sammy Move In - Another TED Visit I was still the King, I lived the good life, and my sore leg was good as new. Sometime during this period Spot, the self proclaimed complex cat, disappeared. I heard the hoomin say later that he had gotten himself locked inside one of those BIG moving monsters with some other hoomin's furniture and gone to someplace called California. Serves old brown nose right, but I hear he was happy as he stopped being a complex cat and had his own hoomin family. Another cold time came and went. One of the neighborhood girls cats, called Little Bit, moved in with the hoomin and had some babies. She started living inside with the hoomin with Sammy, one of the babies. I started trusting the hoomin again, and even went inside the hoomin's apartment to eat sometimes, since the inside cats seemed to get better food than what the hoomin put out for us neighborhood cats. Things were good, until another challenge came and I had to put another pipsqueak in his place. I got another one of those swollen leg wounds which just won't heal. The hoomin tried to stick me inside the box with bars, but I remembered from the other time and took off and stayed away for a couple days. Guess I was getting spoiled by the regular meals of good food, though, and it's hard to get enough to eat when it hurt to walk, so eventually I went back. Since it was so hard to walk with my wound, the hoomin managed to catch me and stick me in the box again. It was a repeat of the first time - into the moving monster, back to the smelly hoomin place, stabbed by the strange hoomin, then back to where we had started. I took off again as soon as the hoomin put down the box and opened the bars, but didn't stay away as long. You know, there may just something about that stick the strange hoomin stabs you with, because the swelling started going down again, and in no time the wound healed. Part Five - I Become Part of the Family and Get a Name Things went back to normal. More hot times followed by cold times came and went. Life was good. Then a time came when the hoomin started saying he might move, and he started asking me if I wanted to go some place and become a "barn cat". He said something about having something fixed before I became a barn cat. I had no clue what he was talking about. I tried to tell him I was the King, life was good, nothing needed fixing, and I had no intention of becoming a barn cat - whatever the h*ll a barn cat was. One day when I went to eat he was waiting there with the bar-box. There was no way I was going to go into that thing, especially not this time as I didn't even have a sore leg. I took off and stayed away for a few days. I checked a couple times, but he had stopped putting out food. Then, one day when I went back he opened the door and told me to come inside if I wanted to eat. By that time I was pretty hungry, so I went on inside. Turns out it was a BIG mistake, because as soon as I started eating he dropped something over me. Before I could plan an escape I was back inside that blasted bar-box and on the way to the monster. This time we ended up at a different smelly place. The hoomin abandoned me and left me there with strangers. I ended up being held captive for a couple days, and on the second day the hoomins did something to me which I guess fixed whatever they thought was broken. Finally, on the third day MY hoomin came back and rescued me. I knew he was the one who had taken me to the smelly place, but I decided to forgive him right away this time. I figured I'd better do a little sucking up so that he would decide not to take me wherever the barn was - if this was what was meant by "Fixing" I sure didn't want to find out what he meant by becoming a barn cat. Sammy, one of the girl cats who lives with the hoomin, was actually pretty helpful telling me how to get the hoomin to help me become part of the family. Little Bit, Sammy's mom, didn't like me, and kept telling me how much fun I'd have as a barn cat. She didn't fool me though, so I followed Sammy's advice. It worked, too. When it came time for me to leave and go wherever barn cats go, the hoomin had decided to let me stay. I wasn't always too sure when Sammy told me how to get on the hoomin's good side, but learned that she's a pretty smart little cat. Lots of things have changed since I joined the family. Guess the first thing was when I got a real hoomin name. Before the hoomin called me "mostly white, black and white tom cat", or just Whitey. Once I became family he started calling me Rocky. I've learned a lot of other things, too. Once I became part of the family I started making strange sounds that the hoomin -- Steve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky (RB) [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html |
#2
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You know, I was thinking tonight that while it is sad he had such a short
time with you, I can just imagine the very sad and possibly much shorter life he would have had if you hadn't been there to feed him and tame him and eventually take him in. He had a happy life and it could have been so bad. Soothing purrs to you and the girls. |
#3
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You know, I was thinking tonight that while it is sad he had such a short
time with you, I can just imagine the very sad and possibly much shorter life he would have had if you hadn't been there to feed him and tame him and eventually take him in. He had a happy life and it could have been so bad. Soothing purrs to you and the girls. |
#4
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You know, I was thinking tonight that while it is sad he had such a short
time with you, I can just imagine the very sad and possibly much shorter life he would have had if you hadn't been there to feed him and tame him and eventually take him in. He had a happy life and it could have been so bad. Soothing purrs to you and the girls. |
#5
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Quality of love sometimes more than makes up for quantity, or duration. And it
sounds like Rocky had some of the best quality love out there. That tribute was sweet and spirited, just how I imagined Rocky must have been. Blessed be, Baha Karen Chuplis wrote: You know, I was thinking tonight that while it is sad he had such a short time with you, I can just imagine the very sad and possibly much shorter life he would have had if you hadn't been there to feed him and tame him and eventually take him in. He had a happy life and it could have been so bad. Soothing purrs to you and the girls. |
#6
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Quality of love sometimes more than makes up for quantity, or duration. And it
sounds like Rocky had some of the best quality love out there. That tribute was sweet and spirited, just how I imagined Rocky must have been. Blessed be, Baha Karen Chuplis wrote: You know, I was thinking tonight that while it is sad he had such a short time with you, I can just imagine the very sad and possibly much shorter life he would have had if you hadn't been there to feed him and tame him and eventually take him in. He had a happy life and it could have been so bad. Soothing purrs to you and the girls. |
#7
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Quality of love sometimes more than makes up for quantity, or duration. And it
sounds like Rocky had some of the best quality love out there. That tribute was sweet and spirited, just how I imagined Rocky must have been. Blessed be, Baha Karen Chuplis wrote: You know, I was thinking tonight that while it is sad he had such a short time with you, I can just imagine the very sad and possibly much shorter life he would have had if you hadn't been there to feed him and tame him and eventually take him in. He had a happy life and it could have been so bad. Soothing purrs to you and the girls. |
#8
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"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
... Many thanks to all who were pulling for Rocky, sending purrs to all of us here. Some may consider swapping purrs a little strange, even silly, but when you need them they really do help the recipient. I know I collected those sent for Rocky, and they helped (may have gotten teary reading them, but sometimes crying is a good thing). I want to offer a special thanks to those who offered to help with the cost. I didn't reply earlier, both because I wasn't sure how much the final cost would be, and didn't feel like looking up Dr Haney's address. When I went to pick up the carrier (sadly empty, rather them full of a loudly complaining Rocky) I was surprised, and more than a little touched, to learn that a couple of you had gone through the trouble to look up the information and already made contrinutions. I learned today that it will be hard to personally thank all who contribute, screen names just don't match the receipts. I guess I'll just send a sort of blanket thanks, since some may not wish their names listed on the NG. Anyway, here's the vet's info: Dr Haney Midtown Animal Hospital 1101 SW Park Ave Lawton, OK 73501 ph: 580-353-3438 While on the subject of cost, I should say that the bill is much less than I feared. When I went in this afternoon, Dr Haney had already left for the day, but I'm pretty certain he gave me a big discount on the charges. I started to write a Rocky Tribute, then remembered his story (in what I thought would have been his words) posted last month. I think that post tells his story well, so am including it here. I've re-edited it, but haven't really changed it here. All I want to add is to emphasize that he was truly loved, and that his death seemed painless, both to me and to his doctor. I would rather he hadn't spent his last day in a clinic surrounded by strangers, but feel that it was necessary to give him a fighting chance. I know I don't need to tell you all that he'll be sorely missed. He was a great cat who lived too short a time after leaving his life as a feral and becoming my cat. ========== Repost of Rocky's Story (in his own words) (originally posted in early September) ========== Part One - I Become the King It's been a while now since I joined this here family, so I figured it was time to sit down and tell my story. I probably wouldn't bother, but the one the hoomin calls Sammy tells me both she and her momma, called Little Bit, have told their stories and that I should tell mine. I can't tell you much about my early years. Really have no idea how old I am. I know that the cold and hot times came several times. Momma taught me how to hunt for food, how to find cool spots when it was hot, and warm spots during the cold times. Momma taught me from an early age that hoomins weren't to be trusted. I figure she was right about most stuff, but lately I've found that at least SOME hoomins are OK. After I got bigger, momma and I got separated. I really don't know where she went. Things were pretty rough there for a while. All the older, bigger cats didn't want me around. I regularly got beat up until I learned how to fight and protect myself. After a couple more hot and cold times came and went, it got so that I was winning fights more often than I was losing. Things were really starting to look up. I established my own little territory where I was the King. All the other cats in the neighborhood gave me the respect I deserved. When some young upstart gave me grief , I'd either whip them into shape or make their life so miserable that they moved out of my kingdom. There were always hoomins around, but I avoided them as much as I could. Part Two - Changes After living the good life for a couple more hot and cold times, a couple things happened that changed my life. You see there was a group of hoomin dwellings in my kingdom where a brown-nosed tom cat used to hang around. I later learned he was what the hoomins call a tuxedo kitty. He had a white face and a black nose. I always called him brown-nose because of how he was always cozying up to the hoomins. The hoomins called him Spot, though. He used to say he was the official apartment complex cat. It worked for him, he used to go inside the various hoomin houses to sleep at night, get out of the worst weather, and get all the best food. The other thing that happened which ended up changing my life was that about this time a new hoomin moved into one of the hoomin houses. Eventually I'd end up trustung this particular hoomin and even let him pet me, but that was still in the future. The first thing about this new hoomin that changed my life was that he learned about Spot and he started putting food outside to encourage Spot to eat at there, and sometimes spend the night sleeping on his bed. I couldn't have cared less about going into the hoomin's house, but the food he put out for Spot was GOOD, so I started eating it when the hoomin put it out. Life got even better. All us neighborhood cats had a new source of good food, which of course is always welcome when you're not sure when the next meal is coming. At first I ran and hid when I saw the hoomin, but over time I learned that he wouldn't throw things or chase me away. So, after a time I stopped running whenever I saw him. After a while I started going closer and waiting while he filled up the food bowl. I learned a startling fact, it actually feels nice when a hoomin scritches you in that certain spot that you just can't seem to reach behind your ear. Part Three - Betrayal and My First TED Visit Life was good. I had the occasional challenge to my rule of my kingdom, but still won all my fights. After one fight, though, I had a war wound that wouldn't seem to heal.. It REALLY hurt and just wouldn't heal. The hoomin noticed that my leg was all swollen about three times the size of the other one. He tried to touch it, but I wasn't about to put up with that, so I hightailed it out of there and stayed away for a while. After a couple days I was starting to get really hungry, so I decided to go back and see if he was still putting food out. When I got there the food bowl was full, and I was so hungry I let the hoomin take a close look. The next morning when I went back to eat the hoomin was there waiting. When I bent over the bowl he snatched me up and stuck me in a box. Next thing I knew he carried me over to one of those big moving monsters that the hoomins sit in and ride around in. The hoomin put me inside the monster and it made a lot of noise and we were moving. It didn't last long, and when we stopped the hoomin carried me inside a different hoomin place. The hoomin talked to some other hoomin, then after waiting a while carried me to a smaller room. We waited again until another strange hoomin came. This was the worst hoomin yet, and I was really beginning to think momma had been right when she told me not to trust hoomins. This new hoomin looked at me through the bars on the box, and they opened the side of the box. I made a break for it, but there was no place to go. They threw something over me and held me so I couldn't defend myself while this new hoomin poked and prodded me. It ended up with this new hoomin sticking me with something sharp, but it didn't hurt much. When they put the box with the bars on the table I decided it was a lot safer inside the box than outside where they could poke, prod and stab me with sharp sticks. So, when they loosened their grip a bit I darted back into that box. Turned out, though, that's what they wanted. The hoomins exchanged some of their strange noises, then the hoomin who betrayed my trust picked up the box, and carried me back to the moving monster. After the strange moving feeling, the monster stopped and the hoomin carried me awhile. When he put down the box I found I was back where the adventure had started. The hoomin opened the side of the box, and I was OUT OF THERE. It may sound strange, but after the trip in the monster and having that strange hoomin stab me with the sharp stick, my leg stopped hurting and healed up a lot quicker than war wounds normally do. I stayed gone for several days before I went back to check for food, though. For a long time I didn't trust the hoomin and kept my distance. Eventually, I forgave him, after all he kept putting out food, and things went back to the way they were before. Part Four - Little Bit and Sammy Move In - Another TED Visit I was still the King, I lived the good life, and my sore leg was good as new. Sometime during this period Spot, the self proclaimed complex cat, disappeared. I heard the hoomin say later that he had gotten himself locked inside one of those BIG moving monsters with some other hoomin's furniture and gone to someplace called California. Serves old brown nose right, but I hear he was happy as he stopped being a complex cat and had his own hoomin family. Another cold time came and went. One of the neighborhood girls cats, called Little Bit, moved in with the hoomin and had some babies. She started living inside with the hoomin with Sammy, one of the babies. I started trusting the hoomin again, and even went inside the hoomin's apartment to eat sometimes, since the inside cats seemed to get better food than what the hoomin put out for us neighborhood cats. Things were good, until another challenge came and I had to put another pipsqueak in his place. I got another one of those swollen leg wounds which just won't heal. The hoomin tried to stick me inside the box with bars, but I remembered from the other time and took off and stayed away for a couple days. Guess I was getting spoiled by the regular meals of good food, though, and it's hard to get enough to eat when it hurt to walk, so eventually I went back. Since it was so hard to walk with my wound, the hoomin managed to catch me and stick me in the box again. It was a repeat of the first time - into the moving monster, back to the smelly hoomin place, stabbed by the strange hoomin, then back to where we had started. I took off again as soon as the hoomin put down the box and opened the bars, but didn't stay away as long. You know, there may just something about that stick the strange hoomin stabs you with, because the swelling started going down again, and in no time the wound healed. Part Five - I Become Part of the Family and Get a Name Things went back to normal. More hot times followed by cold times came and went. Life was good. Then a time came when the hoomin started saying he might move, and he started asking me if I wanted to go some place and become a "barn cat". He said something about having something fixed before I became a barn cat. I had no clue what he was talking about. I tried to tell him I was the King, life was good, nothing needed fixing, and I had no intention of becoming a barn cat - whatever the h*ll a barn cat was. One day when I went to eat he was waiting there with the bar-box. There was no way I was going to go into that thing, especially not this time as I didn't even have a sore leg. I took off and stayed away for a few days. I checked a couple times, but he had stopped putting out food. Then, one day when I went back he opened the door and told me to come inside if I wanted to eat. By that time I was pretty hungry, so I went on inside. Turns out it was a BIG mistake, because as soon as I started eating he dropped something over me. Before I could plan an escape I was back inside that blasted bar-box and on the way to the monster. This time we ended up at a different smelly place. The hoomin abandoned me and left me there with strangers. I ended up being held captive for a couple days, and on the second day the hoomins did something to me which I guess fixed whatever they thought was broken. Finally, on the third day MY hoomin came back and rescued me. I knew he was the one who had taken me to the smelly place, but I decided to forgive him right away this time. I figured I'd better do a little sucking up so that he would decide not to take me wherever the barn was - if this was what was meant by "Fixing" I sure didn't want to find out what he meant by becoming a barn cat. Sammy, one of the girl cats who lives with the hoomin, was actually pretty helpful telling me how to get the hoomin to help me become part of the family. Little Bit, Sammy's mom, didn't like me, and kept telling me how much fun I'd have as a barn cat. She didn't fool me though, so I followed Sammy's advice. It worked, too. When it came time for me to leave and go wherever barn cats go, the hoomin had decided to let me stay. I wasn't always too sure when Sammy told me how to get on the hoomin's good side, but learned that she's a pretty smart little cat. Lots of things have changed since I joined the family. Guess the first thing was when I got a real hoomin name. Before the hoomin called me "mostly white, black and white tom cat", or just Whitey. Once I became family he started calling me Rocky. I've learned a lot of other things, too. Once I became part of the family I started making strange sounds that the hoomin -- Steve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky (RB) [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html sobbing at my desk Steve, I can't tell you how sorry I am. Rocky was a true treasure, a dear friend beloved by people around the world. I hope your heart heals quickly, I know Rocky would not want you to be sad,. Think of him at the bridge, frolicking like a kitten, chasing butterflies, and waiting for you, the one he picked to bestow his love upon, the one he picked whom he knew would love him best. Hugs, CatNipped |
#9
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"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
... Many thanks to all who were pulling for Rocky, sending purrs to all of us here. Some may consider swapping purrs a little strange, even silly, but when you need them they really do help the recipient. I know I collected those sent for Rocky, and they helped (may have gotten teary reading them, but sometimes crying is a good thing). I want to offer a special thanks to those who offered to help with the cost. I didn't reply earlier, both because I wasn't sure how much the final cost would be, and didn't feel like looking up Dr Haney's address. When I went to pick up the carrier (sadly empty, rather them full of a loudly complaining Rocky) I was surprised, and more than a little touched, to learn that a couple of you had gone through the trouble to look up the information and already made contrinutions. I learned today that it will be hard to personally thank all who contribute, screen names just don't match the receipts. I guess I'll just send a sort of blanket thanks, since some may not wish their names listed on the NG. Anyway, here's the vet's info: Dr Haney Midtown Animal Hospital 1101 SW Park Ave Lawton, OK 73501 ph: 580-353-3438 While on the subject of cost, I should say that the bill is much less than I feared. When I went in this afternoon, Dr Haney had already left for the day, but I'm pretty certain he gave me a big discount on the charges. I started to write a Rocky Tribute, then remembered his story (in what I thought would have been his words) posted last month. I think that post tells his story well, so am including it here. I've re-edited it, but haven't really changed it here. All I want to add is to emphasize that he was truly loved, and that his death seemed painless, both to me and to his doctor. I would rather he hadn't spent his last day in a clinic surrounded by strangers, but feel that it was necessary to give him a fighting chance. I know I don't need to tell you all that he'll be sorely missed. He was a great cat who lived too short a time after leaving his life as a feral and becoming my cat. ========== Repost of Rocky's Story (in his own words) (originally posted in early September) ========== Part One - I Become the King It's been a while now since I joined this here family, so I figured it was time to sit down and tell my story. I probably wouldn't bother, but the one the hoomin calls Sammy tells me both she and her momma, called Little Bit, have told their stories and that I should tell mine. I can't tell you much about my early years. Really have no idea how old I am. I know that the cold and hot times came several times. Momma taught me how to hunt for food, how to find cool spots when it was hot, and warm spots during the cold times. Momma taught me from an early age that hoomins weren't to be trusted. I figure she was right about most stuff, but lately I've found that at least SOME hoomins are OK. After I got bigger, momma and I got separated. I really don't know where she went. Things were pretty rough there for a while. All the older, bigger cats didn't want me around. I regularly got beat up until I learned how to fight and protect myself. After a couple more hot and cold times came and went, it got so that I was winning fights more often than I was losing. Things were really starting to look up. I established my own little territory where I was the King. All the other cats in the neighborhood gave me the respect I deserved. When some young upstart gave me grief , I'd either whip them into shape or make their life so miserable that they moved out of my kingdom. There were always hoomins around, but I avoided them as much as I could. Part Two - Changes After living the good life for a couple more hot and cold times, a couple things happened that changed my life. You see there was a group of hoomin dwellings in my kingdom where a brown-nosed tom cat used to hang around. I later learned he was what the hoomins call a tuxedo kitty. He had a white face and a black nose. I always called him brown-nose because of how he was always cozying up to the hoomins. The hoomins called him Spot, though. He used to say he was the official apartment complex cat. It worked for him, he used to go inside the various hoomin houses to sleep at night, get out of the worst weather, and get all the best food. The other thing that happened which ended up changing my life was that about this time a new hoomin moved into one of the hoomin houses. Eventually I'd end up trustung this particular hoomin and even let him pet me, but that was still in the future. The first thing about this new hoomin that changed my life was that he learned about Spot and he started putting food outside to encourage Spot to eat at there, and sometimes spend the night sleeping on his bed. I couldn't have cared less about going into the hoomin's house, but the food he put out for Spot was GOOD, so I started eating it when the hoomin put it out. Life got even better. All us neighborhood cats had a new source of good food, which of course is always welcome when you're not sure when the next meal is coming. At first I ran and hid when I saw the hoomin, but over time I learned that he wouldn't throw things or chase me away. So, after a time I stopped running whenever I saw him. After a while I started going closer and waiting while he filled up the food bowl. I learned a startling fact, it actually feels nice when a hoomin scritches you in that certain spot that you just can't seem to reach behind your ear. Part Three - Betrayal and My First TED Visit Life was good. I had the occasional challenge to my rule of my kingdom, but still won all my fights. After one fight, though, I had a war wound that wouldn't seem to heal.. It REALLY hurt and just wouldn't heal. The hoomin noticed that my leg was all swollen about three times the size of the other one. He tried to touch it, but I wasn't about to put up with that, so I hightailed it out of there and stayed away for a while. After a couple days I was starting to get really hungry, so I decided to go back and see if he was still putting food out. When I got there the food bowl was full, and I was so hungry I let the hoomin take a close look. The next morning when I went back to eat the hoomin was there waiting. When I bent over the bowl he snatched me up and stuck me in a box. Next thing I knew he carried me over to one of those big moving monsters that the hoomins sit in and ride around in. The hoomin put me inside the monster and it made a lot of noise and we were moving. It didn't last long, and when we stopped the hoomin carried me inside a different hoomin place. The hoomin talked to some other hoomin, then after waiting a while carried me to a smaller room. We waited again until another strange hoomin came. This was the worst hoomin yet, and I was really beginning to think momma had been right when she told me not to trust hoomins. This new hoomin looked at me through the bars on the box, and they opened the side of the box. I made a break for it, but there was no place to go. They threw something over me and held me so I couldn't defend myself while this new hoomin poked and prodded me. It ended up with this new hoomin sticking me with something sharp, but it didn't hurt much. When they put the box with the bars on the table I decided it was a lot safer inside the box than outside where they could poke, prod and stab me with sharp sticks. So, when they loosened their grip a bit I darted back into that box. Turned out, though, that's what they wanted. The hoomins exchanged some of their strange noises, then the hoomin who betrayed my trust picked up the box, and carried me back to the moving monster. After the strange moving feeling, the monster stopped and the hoomin carried me awhile. When he put down the box I found I was back where the adventure had started. The hoomin opened the side of the box, and I was OUT OF THERE. It may sound strange, but after the trip in the monster and having that strange hoomin stab me with the sharp stick, my leg stopped hurting and healed up a lot quicker than war wounds normally do. I stayed gone for several days before I went back to check for food, though. For a long time I didn't trust the hoomin and kept my distance. Eventually, I forgave him, after all he kept putting out food, and things went back to the way they were before. Part Four - Little Bit and Sammy Move In - Another TED Visit I was still the King, I lived the good life, and my sore leg was good as new. Sometime during this period Spot, the self proclaimed complex cat, disappeared. I heard the hoomin say later that he had gotten himself locked inside one of those BIG moving monsters with some other hoomin's furniture and gone to someplace called California. Serves old brown nose right, but I hear he was happy as he stopped being a complex cat and had his own hoomin family. Another cold time came and went. One of the neighborhood girls cats, called Little Bit, moved in with the hoomin and had some babies. She started living inside with the hoomin with Sammy, one of the babies. I started trusting the hoomin again, and even went inside the hoomin's apartment to eat sometimes, since the inside cats seemed to get better food than what the hoomin put out for us neighborhood cats. Things were good, until another challenge came and I had to put another pipsqueak in his place. I got another one of those swollen leg wounds which just won't heal. The hoomin tried to stick me inside the box with bars, but I remembered from the other time and took off and stayed away for a couple days. Guess I was getting spoiled by the regular meals of good food, though, and it's hard to get enough to eat when it hurt to walk, so eventually I went back. Since it was so hard to walk with my wound, the hoomin managed to catch me and stick me in the box again. It was a repeat of the first time - into the moving monster, back to the smelly hoomin place, stabbed by the strange hoomin, then back to where we had started. I took off again as soon as the hoomin put down the box and opened the bars, but didn't stay away as long. You know, there may just something about that stick the strange hoomin stabs you with, because the swelling started going down again, and in no time the wound healed. Part Five - I Become Part of the Family and Get a Name Things went back to normal. More hot times followed by cold times came and went. Life was good. Then a time came when the hoomin started saying he might move, and he started asking me if I wanted to go some place and become a "barn cat". He said something about having something fixed before I became a barn cat. I had no clue what he was talking about. I tried to tell him I was the King, life was good, nothing needed fixing, and I had no intention of becoming a barn cat - whatever the h*ll a barn cat was. One day when I went to eat he was waiting there with the bar-box. There was no way I was going to go into that thing, especially not this time as I didn't even have a sore leg. I took off and stayed away for a few days. I checked a couple times, but he had stopped putting out food. Then, one day when I went back he opened the door and told me to come inside if I wanted to eat. By that time I was pretty hungry, so I went on inside. Turns out it was a BIG mistake, because as soon as I started eating he dropped something over me. Before I could plan an escape I was back inside that blasted bar-box and on the way to the monster. This time we ended up at a different smelly place. The hoomin abandoned me and left me there with strangers. I ended up being held captive for a couple days, and on the second day the hoomins did something to me which I guess fixed whatever they thought was broken. Finally, on the third day MY hoomin came back and rescued me. I knew he was the one who had taken me to the smelly place, but I decided to forgive him right away this time. I figured I'd better do a little sucking up so that he would decide not to take me wherever the barn was - if this was what was meant by "Fixing" I sure didn't want to find out what he meant by becoming a barn cat. Sammy, one of the girl cats who lives with the hoomin, was actually pretty helpful telling me how to get the hoomin to help me become part of the family. Little Bit, Sammy's mom, didn't like me, and kept telling me how much fun I'd have as a barn cat. She didn't fool me though, so I followed Sammy's advice. It worked, too. When it came time for me to leave and go wherever barn cats go, the hoomin had decided to let me stay. I wasn't always too sure when Sammy told me how to get on the hoomin's good side, but learned that she's a pretty smart little cat. Lots of things have changed since I joined the family. Guess the first thing was when I got a real hoomin name. Before the hoomin called me "mostly white, black and white tom cat", or just Whitey. Once I became family he started calling me Rocky. I've learned a lot of other things, too. Once I became part of the family I started making strange sounds that the hoomin -- Steve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky (RB) [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html sobbing at my desk Steve, I can't tell you how sorry I am. Rocky was a true treasure, a dear friend beloved by people around the world. I hope your heart heals quickly, I know Rocky would not want you to be sad,. Think of him at the bridge, frolicking like a kitten, chasing butterflies, and waiting for you, the one he picked to bestow his love upon, the one he picked whom he knew would love him best. Hugs, CatNipped |
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"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
... Many thanks to all who were pulling for Rocky, sending purrs to all of us here. Some may consider swapping purrs a little strange, even silly, but when you need them they really do help the recipient. I know I collected those sent for Rocky, and they helped (may have gotten teary reading them, but sometimes crying is a good thing). I want to offer a special thanks to those who offered to help with the cost. I didn't reply earlier, both because I wasn't sure how much the final cost would be, and didn't feel like looking up Dr Haney's address. When I went to pick up the carrier (sadly empty, rather them full of a loudly complaining Rocky) I was surprised, and more than a little touched, to learn that a couple of you had gone through the trouble to look up the information and already made contrinutions. I learned today that it will be hard to personally thank all who contribute, screen names just don't match the receipts. I guess I'll just send a sort of blanket thanks, since some may not wish their names listed on the NG. Anyway, here's the vet's info: Dr Haney Midtown Animal Hospital 1101 SW Park Ave Lawton, OK 73501 ph: 580-353-3438 While on the subject of cost, I should say that the bill is much less than I feared. When I went in this afternoon, Dr Haney had already left for the day, but I'm pretty certain he gave me a big discount on the charges. I started to write a Rocky Tribute, then remembered his story (in what I thought would have been his words) posted last month. I think that post tells his story well, so am including it here. I've re-edited it, but haven't really changed it here. All I want to add is to emphasize that he was truly loved, and that his death seemed painless, both to me and to his doctor. I would rather he hadn't spent his last day in a clinic surrounded by strangers, but feel that it was necessary to give him a fighting chance. I know I don't need to tell you all that he'll be sorely missed. He was a great cat who lived too short a time after leaving his life as a feral and becoming my cat. ========== Repost of Rocky's Story (in his own words) (originally posted in early September) ========== Part One - I Become the King It's been a while now since I joined this here family, so I figured it was time to sit down and tell my story. I probably wouldn't bother, but the one the hoomin calls Sammy tells me both she and her momma, called Little Bit, have told their stories and that I should tell mine. I can't tell you much about my early years. Really have no idea how old I am. I know that the cold and hot times came several times. Momma taught me how to hunt for food, how to find cool spots when it was hot, and warm spots during the cold times. Momma taught me from an early age that hoomins weren't to be trusted. I figure she was right about most stuff, but lately I've found that at least SOME hoomins are OK. After I got bigger, momma and I got separated. I really don't know where she went. Things were pretty rough there for a while. All the older, bigger cats didn't want me around. I regularly got beat up until I learned how to fight and protect myself. After a couple more hot and cold times came and went, it got so that I was winning fights more often than I was losing. Things were really starting to look up. I established my own little territory where I was the King. All the other cats in the neighborhood gave me the respect I deserved. When some young upstart gave me grief , I'd either whip them into shape or make their life so miserable that they moved out of my kingdom. There were always hoomins around, but I avoided them as much as I could. Part Two - Changes After living the good life for a couple more hot and cold times, a couple things happened that changed my life. You see there was a group of hoomin dwellings in my kingdom where a brown-nosed tom cat used to hang around. I later learned he was what the hoomins call a tuxedo kitty. He had a white face and a black nose. I always called him brown-nose because of how he was always cozying up to the hoomins. The hoomins called him Spot, though. He used to say he was the official apartment complex cat. It worked for him, he used to go inside the various hoomin houses to sleep at night, get out of the worst weather, and get all the best food. The other thing that happened which ended up changing my life was that about this time a new hoomin moved into one of the hoomin houses. Eventually I'd end up trustung this particular hoomin and even let him pet me, but that was still in the future. The first thing about this new hoomin that changed my life was that he learned about Spot and he started putting food outside to encourage Spot to eat at there, and sometimes spend the night sleeping on his bed. I couldn't have cared less about going into the hoomin's house, but the food he put out for Spot was GOOD, so I started eating it when the hoomin put it out. Life got even better. All us neighborhood cats had a new source of good food, which of course is always welcome when you're not sure when the next meal is coming. At first I ran and hid when I saw the hoomin, but over time I learned that he wouldn't throw things or chase me away. So, after a time I stopped running whenever I saw him. After a while I started going closer and waiting while he filled up the food bowl. I learned a startling fact, it actually feels nice when a hoomin scritches you in that certain spot that you just can't seem to reach behind your ear. Part Three - Betrayal and My First TED Visit Life was good. I had the occasional challenge to my rule of my kingdom, but still won all my fights. After one fight, though, I had a war wound that wouldn't seem to heal.. It REALLY hurt and just wouldn't heal. The hoomin noticed that my leg was all swollen about three times the size of the other one. He tried to touch it, but I wasn't about to put up with that, so I hightailed it out of there and stayed away for a while. After a couple days I was starting to get really hungry, so I decided to go back and see if he was still putting food out. When I got there the food bowl was full, and I was so hungry I let the hoomin take a close look. The next morning when I went back to eat the hoomin was there waiting. When I bent over the bowl he snatched me up and stuck me in a box. Next thing I knew he carried me over to one of those big moving monsters that the hoomins sit in and ride around in. The hoomin put me inside the monster and it made a lot of noise and we were moving. It didn't last long, and when we stopped the hoomin carried me inside a different hoomin place. The hoomin talked to some other hoomin, then after waiting a while carried me to a smaller room. We waited again until another strange hoomin came. This was the worst hoomin yet, and I was really beginning to think momma had been right when she told me not to trust hoomins. This new hoomin looked at me through the bars on the box, and they opened the side of the box. I made a break for it, but there was no place to go. They threw something over me and held me so I couldn't defend myself while this new hoomin poked and prodded me. It ended up with this new hoomin sticking me with something sharp, but it didn't hurt much. When they put the box with the bars on the table I decided it was a lot safer inside the box than outside where they could poke, prod and stab me with sharp sticks. So, when they loosened their grip a bit I darted back into that box. Turned out, though, that's what they wanted. The hoomins exchanged some of their strange noises, then the hoomin who betrayed my trust picked up the box, and carried me back to the moving monster. After the strange moving feeling, the monster stopped and the hoomin carried me awhile. When he put down the box I found I was back where the adventure had started. The hoomin opened the side of the box, and I was OUT OF THERE. It may sound strange, but after the trip in the monster and having that strange hoomin stab me with the sharp stick, my leg stopped hurting and healed up a lot quicker than war wounds normally do. I stayed gone for several days before I went back to check for food, though. For a long time I didn't trust the hoomin and kept my distance. Eventually, I forgave him, after all he kept putting out food, and things went back to the way they were before. Part Four - Little Bit and Sammy Move In - Another TED Visit I was still the King, I lived the good life, and my sore leg was good as new. Sometime during this period Spot, the self proclaimed complex cat, disappeared. I heard the hoomin say later that he had gotten himself locked inside one of those BIG moving monsters with some other hoomin's furniture and gone to someplace called California. Serves old brown nose right, but I hear he was happy as he stopped being a complex cat and had his own hoomin family. Another cold time came and went. One of the neighborhood girls cats, called Little Bit, moved in with the hoomin and had some babies. She started living inside with the hoomin with Sammy, one of the babies. I started trusting the hoomin again, and even went inside the hoomin's apartment to eat sometimes, since the inside cats seemed to get better food than what the hoomin put out for us neighborhood cats. Things were good, until another challenge came and I had to put another pipsqueak in his place. I got another one of those swollen leg wounds which just won't heal. The hoomin tried to stick me inside the box with bars, but I remembered from the other time and took off and stayed away for a couple days. Guess I was getting spoiled by the regular meals of good food, though, and it's hard to get enough to eat when it hurt to walk, so eventually I went back. Since it was so hard to walk with my wound, the hoomin managed to catch me and stick me in the box again. It was a repeat of the first time - into the moving monster, back to the smelly hoomin place, stabbed by the strange hoomin, then back to where we had started. I took off again as soon as the hoomin put down the box and opened the bars, but didn't stay away as long. You know, there may just something about that stick the strange hoomin stabs you with, because the swelling started going down again, and in no time the wound healed. Part Five - I Become Part of the Family and Get a Name Things went back to normal. More hot times followed by cold times came and went. Life was good. Then a time came when the hoomin started saying he might move, and he started asking me if I wanted to go some place and become a "barn cat". He said something about having something fixed before I became a barn cat. I had no clue what he was talking about. I tried to tell him I was the King, life was good, nothing needed fixing, and I had no intention of becoming a barn cat - whatever the h*ll a barn cat was. One day when I went to eat he was waiting there with the bar-box. There was no way I was going to go into that thing, especially not this time as I didn't even have a sore leg. I took off and stayed away for a few days. I checked a couple times, but he had stopped putting out food. Then, one day when I went back he opened the door and told me to come inside if I wanted to eat. By that time I was pretty hungry, so I went on inside. Turns out it was a BIG mistake, because as soon as I started eating he dropped something over me. Before I could plan an escape I was back inside that blasted bar-box and on the way to the monster. This time we ended up at a different smelly place. The hoomin abandoned me and left me there with strangers. I ended up being held captive for a couple days, and on the second day the hoomins did something to me which I guess fixed whatever they thought was broken. Finally, on the third day MY hoomin came back and rescued me. I knew he was the one who had taken me to the smelly place, but I decided to forgive him right away this time. I figured I'd better do a little sucking up so that he would decide not to take me wherever the barn was - if this was what was meant by "Fixing" I sure didn't want to find out what he meant by becoming a barn cat. Sammy, one of the girl cats who lives with the hoomin, was actually pretty helpful telling me how to get the hoomin to help me become part of the family. Little Bit, Sammy's mom, didn't like me, and kept telling me how much fun I'd have as a barn cat. She didn't fool me though, so I followed Sammy's advice. It worked, too. When it came time for me to leave and go wherever barn cats go, the hoomin had decided to let me stay. I wasn't always too sure when Sammy told me how to get on the hoomin's good side, but learned that she's a pretty smart little cat. Lots of things have changed since I joined the family. Guess the first thing was when I got a real hoomin name. Before the hoomin called me "mostly white, black and white tom cat", or just Whitey. Once I became family he started calling me Rocky. I've learned a lot of other things, too. Once I became part of the family I started making strange sounds that the hoomin -- Steve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky (RB) [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html sobbing at my desk Steve, I can't tell you how sorry I am. Rocky was a true treasure, a dear friend beloved by people around the world. I hope your heart heals quickly, I know Rocky would not want you to be sad,. Think of him at the bridge, frolicking like a kitten, chasing butterflies, and waiting for you, the one he picked to bestow his love upon, the one he picked whom he knew would love him best. Hugs, CatNipped |
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