Long Term Friends

When you have cats for an extended time, they become part of your life.
Rudy and Stasher accepted my wife and I when they were six weeks old.
Stasher hissed at me when I removed him from the carrier. Rudy was quite an
ugly little fellow but he grew up to be the "classic cat". Rudy was always
the complacent one. It really hurt his feelings when he was reprimanded for
bad behavior while Stasher would just look you in the eye, flip his tail,
and walk away. Stasher was adventurous. As a kitten he fell in the commode,
fell into the fish tank while observing the fish, got into the air duct
system while I was painting the bathroom. When we built our new home he
would get on the ducts in the basement and walk at around 4:00 A.M. The
ducts would flex and BOOM as he traversed them. In Phoenix I built them a
"Cat Walk" (dogs have "runs" but cats stroll) with an entrance through the
laundry room wall. It was 8' wide, 12' long, and 8' high with a ramp and
perches at various locations. Rudy loved to sleep on a perch early in the
morning, before it got hot. They could go outside whenever they wished.
Although Stasher was adventurous he was strictly a homebody. He would get
traumatized when trips to the vet were made and take out his frustrations on
Rudy. We found a mobile vet that made house calls and it helped a lot but
they both would try to hide when they saw the vet in the house. Both of them
became totally deaf at about 15. Rudy developed kidney problems at 18 and we
injected 200ml of Ringer's every other day. At 19 he had arthritis and
received Cosoquin (probably misspelled) every day. He loved roast turkey
breast and would sit in the kitchen for hours waiting for cooking to be
finished. He was not a lap cat but wanted to lie beside me in the recliner.
His favorite spot for daytime sleep was his basket, which he had for about
20 years. At night he slept next to my wife and Stasher slept next to me.
Stasher was kind of a "don't touch me unless I say it's O.K" for a long
time. I sometimes called him Bear because he had only two dispositions,
Grizzly Bear or Teddy Bear. In 1995 I underwent chemo and radiation
simultaneously and was quite ill. Stasher would get on the bed at my feet
and wouldn't get up to drink, eat, or visit the litter box until I got up.
After my recovery he followed me around and wanted into my lap whenever I
sat down. I started calling him my "puppy". As they aged, their intake of
food concerned us as it was minimal. With the vet's blessing I mixed Turkey
baby food with their regular food and they actually regained a bit of
weight. Turkey was the only baby food we could feed them as it was the only
variety without onion powder. They would only eat about a tablespoon at a
time but needed it about every 2 hours, including all night.
At 21, Rudy just couldn't make it any more. He was ready for crossing the
"Rainbow Bridge". Within 10 days of exactly one year of Rudy's passing,
Stasher joined him. We still miss them and speak of them often. We compare
traits of our current four, Opie, Rambo, Felix, and Oscar with those of Rudy
and Stasher.

James wrote:
When you have cats for an extended time, they become part of your life.
Rudy and Stasher accepted my wife and I when they were six weeks old.
Stasher hissed at me when I removed him from the carrier. Rudy was quite
an ugly little fellow but he grew up to be the "classic cat". Rudy was
always the complacent one. It really hurt his feelings when he was
reprimanded for bad behavior while Stasher would just look you in the
eye, flip his tail, and walk away. Stasher was adventurous. As a kitten
he fell in the commode, fell into the fish tank while observing the
fish, got into the air duct system while I was painting the bathroom.
When we built our new home he would get on the ducts in the basement and
walk at around 4:00 A.M. The ducts would flex and BOOM as he traversed
them. In Phoenix I built them a "Cat Walk" (dogs have "runs" but cats
stroll) with an entrance through the laundry room wall. It was 8' wide,
12' long, and 8' high with a ramp and perches at various locations. Rudy
loved to sleep on a perch early in the morning, before it got hot. They
could go outside whenever they wished.
Although Stasher was adventurous he was strictly a homebody. He would
get traumatized when trips to the vet were made and take out his
frustrations on Rudy. We found a mobile vet that made house calls and it
helped a lot but they both would try to hide when they saw the vet in
the house. Both of them became totally deaf at about 15. Rudy developed
kidney problems at 18 and we injected 200ml of Ringer's every other day.
At 19 he had arthritis and received Cosoquin (probably misspelled) every
day. He loved roast turkey breast and would sit in the kitchen for hours
waiting for cooking to be finished. He was not a lap cat but wanted to
lie beside me in the recliner. His favorite spot for daytime sleep was
his basket, which he had for about 20 years. At night he slept next to
my wife and Stasher slept next to me.
Stasher was kind of a "don't touch me unless I say it's O.K" for a long
time. I sometimes called him Bear because he had only two dispositions,
Grizzly Bear or Teddy Bear. In 1995 I underwent chemo and radiation
simultaneously and was quite ill. Stasher would get on the bed at my
feet and wouldn't get up to drink, eat, or visit the litter box until I
got up. After my recovery he followed me around and wanted into my lap
whenever I sat down. I started calling him my "puppy". As they aged,
their intake of food concerned us as it was minimal. With the vet's
blessing I mixed Turkey baby food with their regular food and they
actually regained a bit of weight. Turkey was the only baby food we
could feed them as it was the only variety without onion powder. They
would only eat about a tablespoon at a time but needed it about every 2
hours, including all night.
At 21, Rudy just couldn't make it any more. He was ready for crossing
the "Rainbow Bridge". Within 10 days of exactly one year of Rudy's
passing, Stasher joined him. We still miss them and speak of them often.
We compare traits of our current four, Opie, Rambo, Felix, and Oscar
with those of Rudy and Stasher.

They left memories: gone but never forgotten. Best wishes. MLB

James wrote:
snip wonderful kitty memories
At 21, Rudy just couldn't make it any more. He was ready for crossing
the "Rainbow Bridge". Within 10 days of exactly one year of Rudy's
passing, Stasher joined him. We still miss them and speak of them often.
We compare traits of our current four, Opie, Rambo, Felix, and Oscar
with those of Rudy and Stasher.


What a lovely tribute to your old friends.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban.
In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

"James" wrote in message

When you have cats for an extended time, they become part of your
life. Rudy and Stasher accepted my wife and I when they were six
weeks old. Stasher hissed at me when I removed him from the carrier.
Rudy was quite an ugly little fellow but he grew up to be the
"classic cat". Rudy was always the complacent one. It really hurt his
feelings when he was reprimanded for bad behavior while Stasher would
just look you in the eye, flip his tail, and walk away. Stasher was
adventurous. As a kitten he fell in the commode, fell into the fish
tank while observing the fish, got into the air duct system while I
was painting the bathroom. When we built our new home he would get on
the ducts in the basement and walk at around 4:00 A.M. The ducts
would flex and BOOM as he traversed them. In Phoenix I built them a
"Cat Walk" (dogs have "runs" but cats stroll) with an entrance
through the laundry room wall. It was 8' wide, 12' long, and 8' high
with a ramp and perches at various locations. Rudy loved to sleep on
a perch early in the morning, before it got hot. They could go
outside whenever they wished. Although Stasher was adventurous he was
strictly a homebody. He would get traumatized when trips to the vet
were made and take out his frustrations on Rudy. We found a mobile
vet that made house calls and it helped a lot but they both would try
to hide when they saw the vet in the house. Both of them became
totally deaf at about 15. Rudy developed kidney problems at 18 and we
injected 200ml of Ringer's every other day. At 19 he had arthritis
and received Cosoquin (probably misspelled) every day. He loved roast
turkey breast and would sit in the kitchen for hours waiting for
cooking to be finished. He was not a lap cat but wanted to lie beside
me in the recliner. His favorite spot for daytime sleep was his
basket, which he had for about 20 years. At night he slept next to my
wife and Stasher slept next to me. Stasher was kind of a "don't touch
me unless I say it's O.K" for a long time. I sometimes called him
Bear because he had only two dispositions, Grizzly Bear or Teddy
Bear. In 1995 I underwent chemo and radiation simultaneously and was
quite ill. Stasher would get on the bed at my feet and wouldn't get
up to drink, eat, or visit the litter box until I got up. After my
recovery he followed me around and wanted into my lap whenever I sat
down. I started calling him my "puppy". As they aged, their intake of
food concerned us as it was minimal. With the vet's blessing I mixed
Turkey baby food with their regular food and they actually regained a
bit of weight. Turkey was the only baby food we could feed them as it
was the only variety without onion powder. They would only eat about
a tablespoon at a time but needed it about every 2 hours, including
all night. At 21, Rudy just couldn't make it any more. He was ready for
crossing
the "Rainbow Bridge". Within 10 days of exactly one year of Rudy's
passing, Stasher joined him. We still miss them and speak of them
often. We compare traits of our current four, Opie, Rambo, Felix, and
Oscar with those of Rudy and Stasher.

A lovey tribute to two wonderful feline friends.

I'm glad they introdued you to the joys of being ownedby cats - and that you
now have four owners rahter than just two.

Hopefuly we'll hear more aout Opie, rambo, Felix & Oscar and indeed about
Rudy & Stasher.

Welcome to RPCA!

Yowie


--
If you're paddling upstream in a canoe and a wheel falls off, how many
pancakes can you fit in a doghouse? None, icecream doesn't have bones.