Friday Cat Blogging: One Year in Da House

It's been a slightly rough week on the personal animal front (year anniversary of Zanzibar's passing, poor Tiger missing), it's been whack. But I'm happy to report some good kitty news!

It was exactly a year ago today that Paikea conned me into bringing her home with me. And I didn't even have to ply her with wine and drugs!

Paikea Looks a Little Psycho, No? Yes! Bronx, NYC 2006

Nope, she looked innocent (ha!) and sweet (please!), and I'm sure she regrets ever coming to my house. She's a sweetie when she wants to be, and I'm glad to help her suffer through this life. Ain't she lucky? She loves to play and she's a squeaker. It's very cute. I made the mistake of having a ribbon on the floor. I heard her gagging. I was lucky to catch it only half-way down her throat. Pull!! She fetches, she jumps up around real high for the feather-on-a-string game. She may not like the pets, but she's AOK in my book. You da real Play-ah!

And no, the video or the action isn't great... but she can jump for a girl...

Friday Cat Blogging: A Year Without Zanzibar

Zanzibar, Brooklyn, New York 2005

It's been a year since my wonder kitty girl, Zanzibar, said her last goodbye. I can't believe how much I miss that girl. I still cry sometimes when I think of her. Paikea is wonderful and I love her dearly, too, but having had Zanzi since the day she was born until the day she died was so special to me. Zanzibar was the first kitty friend that I didn't have to give away because I moved from place to place or my rooommate got the cat. She was the one who slept every cold night in the crook of my arm or nestled herself into my waist while I slept, waiting for me to wake up to feed her. She was the power purrer, the green-eyed pretty calico, the Godzilla look-a-like, the sweet thing, the baby kitty.

Anyway, I still miss you, my wonder kitty, I still miss you.

Friday Cat Blogging

I'm serious about the non-political postings for a bit. Sometimes you just have to take a mental vacation from the weight of the world.
So... here's Paikea! Happy Friday Cat Blogging!
(And finally, I remembered to do this on a Friday! Geesh.)

Monday Cat Blogging?

Damn, I missed the official 'cat blogging' day... AGAIN.

KEv asked about the move and the new little one; we're still settling in, but here's a photo of Paikea Renee Esme, or Pai.

Oh, and I found out that Paikea means "Whalerider," from the New Zealand myths...

Tuesday cat blogging

Ok, I know it's not Friday, the traditional 'cat blogging day' in blogging land, but I wanted to introduce everyone to my new friend. I'm not that fond of the name they gave her at the shelter, but here goes... Paikea Rene. I've renaming her Esme. I think. Still haven't settled on it yet.

Exactly one week after Zanzibar died, almost to the hour, I was waiting to go into the "End of Life Support Group" that I had been attending at my vet since Zanzi got her final and definitive diagnoses in November. As I was waiting, I was looking at the shelter cats, all waiting to be adopted. There were the older cats such as Honey and Sophie, whose owner had passed away from breast cancer, Marlowe the street cat who looked like he came straight out of a gangsta novel, and Stallone, a big and fat tuxedo cat. Among the four older cats, was a little kitten, who looked so sad, lonely, and generally, depressed. She was very very cute, too.

So, I go into the meeting, and I mentioned how sad, lonely, depressed and very very cute this kitty was, and the next thing I know, she's sitting in my lap. I'm being told how she doesn't like other kitties, and why she was by herself out in the front shelter cages and not the back cages, where all the kittens were. (She's a loner, like me!) After the meeting, somehow she came home with me. I don't quite know how it happened. All of a sudden she was in a cat carrier, and the same lady who drove me to the emergency vet to put Zanz to sleep was driving me home with new kitty. I really don' t know exactly how it happened, but lo and behold, there's a four-five month old kitten sitting on my stomach as I type this.

It's been a little more than a month that Zanz died and a little over three weeks that PR or Esme came home with me. I am only fostering her, making sure that she becomes acclimated to human beings, as she had been trapped and was a little skittish when it came to trusting. In fact, when I first brought her home, she wouldn't come near me. I had to grab her whenever she came near, if I was gonna get any kitty lovin'. It even made me sad a bit, cause I kept remembering how close Zanz and I were.

She still will run away from me if I startle her, and she's still a bit skittish. However, since I took her back to the vet yesterday to check up on her respiratory tract infection, she's been much calmer since her second vet visit and return back. So I think she knows she's staying (yes, it's pretty official that she's staying), so she's actually a lot more trusting.

One of the reasons I'm keeping her, is that I found a new apartment share in the Bronx, and will be moving in a few weeks, and my new place accepts animals.

Here's a picture of Paikea Renee Esme (still haven't decided on the name) but here she is:

This was taken when she first got to my apartment, and she's bigger now. And yes, I read Harry Potter. OK?

My vet runs Infinite Hope Shelter.