Mealtime Madness with the Senior Wonderpurr Gang

Gidget followed me into the cat apartment closet where I placed her dish containing a smidgen of Fancy Feast pate and a handful of Iams senior kibble on the rug, then closed the doors to prevent others from stealing her food. Over the past year Gidget has decided she’s not a fan of canned food – any canned food – so I mix her kibbles in with the pate to get something into her.

Next, I invite Peaches to join KC, Candy, and Frank in the kitchen where they dine atop a pink child’s table with the legs removed. However, she dives under the bed, leaving me no choice but to serve the Queen her cuisine where she hides, suspicious of my motives.

Meanwhile ChauncieMarie and Opie dine on top of the bed, happily lapping the Purina Pro Plan Hydra Care liquid supplement that I poured over their yucky prescription noms for kidney disease, mainly to get them to eat it. I hover, waiting for Peaches to finish. Naturally she slows her bites to the point of raising my blood pressure. Chevy and Nikolas are waiting for their dinner delivery, but I can’t leave, because the moment I do my French girl will immediately join Peaches and eat food she shouldn’t have. At nearly nineteen ChauncieMarie’s nose can still ferret out the food she can’t have and has a pattern of checking out Gidget’s closet to see if the door is adjacent, as well as any other bowl that smells better than hers. She moves amazingly fast for an old broad.

ChauncieMarie has had CKD for the past two years. This year Opie was also diagnosed with CKD. Telling my old ginger boy that he can no longer eat from everyone else’s plates has been an uphill battle, so I finally had to ban him from the kitchen. This is the main cause for Peaches being suspicious, because Opie has been her dining partner and best friend for nearly sixteen years. If he can’t leave the cat apartment, well… she won’t either.

I get down on my knees several times to check the Queen’s progress, receiving a glare each time I do. No one shoots a glare like my torbi. I finally risk it to run into the kitchen to grab the remaining dinners and deliver them to Chevy and Nikolas with apologies for being late. Bless them both, they hunker down over their dishes without complaint. At least at first. I will return in a bit to find if the flavor of pate agreed with them. Nik has become picky over the past year and sometimes will leave his meal untouched.  Chevy is a bit more happy-go-lucky and will eat just about anything. I deliberately give them something different in case they want to switch plates.

Recently ChauncieMarie turned diabetic, throwing an even bigger monkey wrench into my life with the Wonderpurr Gang. In all honesty I've watched this train coming at me for years. The train being that I knew when I adopted a group of stray cats all within a short time of each other, all pretty close to the same age, one day they would become seniors with varying medical issues. Well, now the train is about to run me over. I'm okay caring for them financially, but the heartbreak is going to be enormous. I'm certain every one of you reading this can relate.

Twice a week since October 18^th I’ve run ChauncieMarie across town to have her glucose checked to determine the right amount of insulin for her. I went through this with my tabby Buddy who passed at age 24 after being diabetic for ten years. Unheard of, but I don’t mess around when it comes to my fur babies. He traveled everywhere with me so I could give him his insulin twice a day. I would even leave parties to drive back home to give him his insulin at the same time. So, while I’m deeply sad about ChauncieMarie going through this, I’m devoted to give her the same dedication. God forbid anyone else becomes a diabetic – looking at you, Miss Candy Applebottom who needs to drop a few pounds. She tells me she’s not fat, she’s fluffy, but I digress.

Then on top of ChauncieMarie’s latest medical revelation, I now face even darker news. When we returned from our Alaskan cruise, I noticed that Jesse’s left eye looked a little weird. At first, I thought it might be the light. He’s not one to look me full in the face, rather he dips his head and looks away, especially when I aim a camera at him. So, getting proof that something was wrong took time. Finally, I got the photo. His left eye looked orange and the pupil was strange. I ran him to our veterinarian on the same day I took ChauncieMarie in to be diagnosed with diabetes. Doctor Feelgood tested his eye for scratches but as there were none, she determined it was internal. We chose to take Jesse to the University of Florida Small Animal Hospital in Gainesville where we had taken Buddy way back when we first adopted him as a two-year-old stray. He had an odd voice, and his breathing was noisy. Turns out he had a polyp growing in his nasal passage. With that a success story, we were confident that they could help Jesse.

Gainesville is two hours away via winding back roads. Jesse went with us to Ashville, North Carolina last October, so I knew he would travel well. And he did. At the hospital they gave him a once over to determine that he may have a tumor in his eye. Best news – it’s just in his eye and can be removed along with the eye. Worse case – it’s lymphoma and has attached to his eye, which means its elsewhere in his body. And, as if that was not upsetting enough, they told us Jesse tested positive for FIV.

 Jesse is fourteen years old. He is the son of Queen Peaches and was born (along with his now deceased brother Jack) under my neighbor’s deck on March 30, 2009. Never once had any vet told me he’s FIV+. That Chevy is FIV+ didn’t surprise me because when he first turned up, invited by his pal Nik to join the Garage Band, he was a friendly but feisty kind of guy. However, he sensed that Jesse and Nik were his only hope of getting a home, so he always got along well with them. No fighting at all. So, I’m not sure how Jesse, who has always been an introvert, never a fighter, got the virus.

 We return on the 17^th for Jesse to go through a full day diagnosis with both the ophthalmology and oncology departments involved. If you feel moved to say a prayer for Jesse the Toothless Wonder, we would sincerely appreciate it.

Ironic how November is not only National Senior Pet Month but also Pet Diabetes Month. 

Sadly, Dori, the President of the Ber Month Fan Club, is off sulking in her window hammock because her plans to celebrate Everything Autumn have been derailed due to time restraints that have kept me from performing my job as her muse and secretary. There's always next year, I've told her. I've even suggested she can celebrate Autumn all year long, which she may or may not do. You know how cats can't make up their minds..

I'm blessed to have cat loving friends who appreciate the trials and tribulations that go hand-in-hand with rescue. Upon hearing of Jesse and ChauncieMarie on Instagram and Facebook they've reached out to me with advice and reading material. I sincerely appreciate you all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Kim

Until Next Time...

. 

Exploring Alaska Coastline Aboard the Holland America Koningsdam

Friends, this isn't Dori so don't wait for me to do any wavy paws. This is Kim (aka The Momanager) who along with Ray (aka Dadders) managed to escape the Wonderpurr Gang for ten glorious days to cruise the Alaska coastline aboard Holland America's Koningsdam ship.

Being away for ten days was both fun and worrisome. My fur babies mean the world to me, and because they are sliding into their golden years, being away is rough, especially when I'm on the other coast, plus aboard a ship without a way for anyone to get a hold of me. I deliberately didn't buy the WiFi package for the ship as I could check in with our kitty sitter when we stepped on land, and I felt secure in that my almost-nineteen-year-old super senior ChauncieMarie was in good shape to not need any close monitoring. And in all honestly I needed a break from both cats and my social media life. I've heard it's good to take a break, and after this past long hot summer, I was truly ready for one. I told Ray I wanted to go someplace where my melting brain could solidify, so he chose to take us back to Alaska.

We had already enjoyed a cruise to Alaska during the Summer Solstice 2015, and while it had been cold in June, I wanted COLD so Ray chose one of the final cruises for the season in September aboard the Holland America Koningsdam. With me being overwhelmed trying to write Rabbit's book (still a work in progress) and juggle umpteen cat social meowdia accounts, I had no brain juice left to plan a huge vacation. And since Ray is retired and constantly complaining he's bored, I let him take the reigns.

He truly hit one out of the park. He booked us first class on Alaska Airlines out of Tampa. We flew to Seattle, and the next day took an Amtrak train to Vancouver, Canada. The next day we boarded the Holland America Koningsdam ship with early boarding access as Ray booked us in the Neptune Suite that came with a private concierge lounge with coffee and yummies right across the hall from our room - I had to stop Ray from popping across the hall barefoot and in his robe for morning coffee - plus access to Club Orange private dining room.

PS - Orange is the color of the Dutch royal family - the House of Orange-Nassau - and has thus been considered the national color of the region for hundreds of years. The Holland America line has splashes of Orange everywhere, and therefore so do my videos. I've created short video highlights of each day, so please enjoy at your leisure. Thanks so much. 

Celebrating Dori on her Birthday

 

We at It's a Wonderpurr Life are celebrating our beautiful Dori today on her birthday.

Dori arrived in our Southaven, Mississippi yard at 3 months old on a cold winter night shortly before we left to drive up to Michigan for Christmas. At the time I thought it was just one stray, a black female with a bad eye. I told my fabulous pet sitter, Michelle, to feed her while I was away.

When I returned a week later, Annie the stray had brought her entire family - baby daddy Nikolas, two black panther sons and twin tabby girls. 

While the parents were sweet and tame, the kittens were WILD and scared the hekk out of me with their hissing and spitting. But I caught them all and kept them in an upstairs bedroom throughout the winter while I worked to simmer them down in order to be adopted.

Almost immediately I knew the one tabby girl had to be removed from the others. She was very sweet and never once tried to murder me with her mittens. She was so pretty with such a delicate feminine face. Ray started calling her his little peanut. Her twin was cute, but in a tomboy kind of way.

I put the family on Pet Finders, and right away there was interest in Dori. But when Ray found out his little peanut could be adopted, he said NO! To be honest I was relieved even though at the time we had around nine or ten ex-strays living with us. 

So Dori was officially adopted, and we also kept her daddy, Nikolas, who truly was the best daddy I've ever met. He loved his kittens and played with them all the time. I recall dragged a rug around the cat room for Nikolas to surf on, with the kittens jumping on to ride with him. To this day Nik is still a very sweet guy, and rooms with our FIV+ tabby Chevy. They were Garage Bandmates with Jesse until we moved to Florida and Jesse was kicked out of the band after losing his teeth to stomititis.

We cannot imagine our home without Dori. She has a sweet, spunky spirit, and greets every day with Joy. I especially cherish hearing her squeals of delight upon finding her precious Dolly Meow (who is constantly being lost under furniture or inside closets), or when she snuggles with me at night, waking me every now and then to pat my face and lick my cheek. Who needs REM sleep when you have the sweetest little girl reminding you that life is truly Wonderpurr, even with a dozen plus cats.

Happy Birthday, Dori! You are the true inspurration for It's a Wonderpurr Life.

Field Trip to Yates Cider Mill

 

Hi evfurrybuddy, it's me, Dori, President of the Ber Months Fan Club.

Today I invite yoo to join me on my first ever field trip to celebrate Everything Autumn. 

We're going to visit Yates Cider Mill in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

My momma and daddy grew up in Michigan with fond memories of elementary school field trips to Yates Cider Mill, now celebrating 160 years of being one of Michigan's most beloved places to spend a day in autumn.

So without further delay, click on the video below.

I hope yoo enjoyed my field trip and learned stuff yoo didn't know about how apple cider is made. If the links in the video aren't working and yoo want to learn more about the history of  Yates Cider Mill, please click the image below to go to their website. And while there yoo can also order apple cider and donuts to be shipped to yoo on the day yoo request.

Well, I'm exhausted and need a nap, so I'm going to say bye bye. If yoo would leave me a message to let me know if yoo enjoyed my field trip, it might help me create future field trips. Thank yoo so much for joining me. Now go off and make it a Wonderpurr day. 

Until Next Time...

Rabbit Receives Much-Needed Advice from Dr. Basil

 

Pals, Rabbit here. Yah, long time no meow, mostly cuz our momanager has allowed Dori to monopolize our family blog. Pffft! That's show biz, I guess. Anyway! I happened upon the homesite of the Bionic Basil B Team last week and saw Dr. Basil is back to giving advice.

Years ago my brother Herman consulted Dr. Basil on various topics, and was even fortunate to meet his momanager in purrson at the Blogpaws conference in Myrtle Beach. Good times, good memories. So when I was growling about feeling unappreciated, Herms recommended I unload my issues on Dr. Basil and see what resolutions he could come up with.

Boy, do I feel vindicated! Dr. Basil has a phenomenal background in understanding the feline psychic and as a result, he totally got me.

Please do yourself a favorite and click the image below, not only to read Basil's advice, but also to find our how you can get your problems resolved by the ultimate expurrrt in feline problems.

You won't regret it! Until ... well. Whenever cuz clearly everyone's darling Dori has full reign over this blog. Purrs, Rabbit.