november 8

sick kitties

I don't talk about my cats much here. I talk about them enough in my real life. I live in a neighborhood where people have either just moved and left their cats or they just keep collecting them. The ones who have no one to take care of them come to me. No shit, they just show up with their cute little mews and hopeful eyes and say, "Are you the lady that feeds the kitties?"

But, honestly, I ignore them. Because I already feed about four stray cats. And that's down from ten. Yes. TEN.

Then these lost kitties go next door to my freaky neighbor who's 20-something trashy daughter puts a color on them and calls them hers. She always says she'll take them "home" but I can't figure out where the hell that is since she's always in her mom's backyard drinking beer with her friends. She now has six fucking cats. SIX. And they are usually outside.

You can imagine what my flower beds are like. Yeah.

The problem really got out of control summer before last when the meth freak (really, we had no idea she was cooking) across the street got kicked out of her house when they busted her and she left behind four cats and a few more who were hanging around her back door. And they reproduced. I have fed these cats because I don't believe animals deserve to starve because some asshole ditched them. I have had all but one of the females fixed.

I do not like all cats. That's why I get these cats fixed. Out of last year's batch of kittens two turned out mostly normal and have homes (one with my mom), and the other two took off shortly after they were spayed and I never saw them again.

I like my 14-year-old diabetic, skin cancer prone calico although she is more like a sweet, old great-aunt that you go read the paper to on Tuesday afternoons. I've had her since my best friend from childhood, Laurel, caught her in her backyard when we were 13.

My two-year-old black kitty, Hallow, is a brat. She is constantly in trouble and complains non-stop. It's like having a 14-year-old who constantly pushes the limits. She stays out for days on end, she bitches about the food, she pisses and moans about how the kittens are bugging her.

Which brings me to this year's kittens. They are wonderful, sweet, beautiful cats. I have never known such fabulous, loving animals. There were three; one went to a good home, another has one lined up and the last one, well, she just might stay. I don't know. We can't afford her but, I looooove her. And so does A*.

So of the two kittens we have left, who are, BTW, almost eight months old so they are not realy kittens, one is called Gray, because she is the gray one, and the other is called Cow, because she was black and white spotted when she was a baby. Their sister, who was adopted, was called The Dark One, not because she was evil, but because she was the darkest one. See, they were not supposed to get real names because WE ARE NOT KEEPING THEM.

But now, with Cow, who is the one I looooooove, I get to call her Cowgirl which makes me love her all the more. Sometimes I call her Cow-pie, just because it's funny and, well, she has no idea.

Okay. So the whole reason I'm writing about my cats is because something bad is happening. Or maybe not, but it's scary. The Gray One's eyes got all cloudy last week. At first I thought her pupils were really dialated because they were reflecting light in a funny way. Then I saw that they were full of yellow haze. She couldn't see in the dark and ran into a metal box head first at top speed.

All the cats are sneezing. All four of them.

I took her to the vet yesterday and the nice new vet lady said the kitten has puss in her eyes and it's caused by a virus. There are three viruses that are common and fatal and there is no cure and no vaccine. They are feline AIDS, feline leukemia, and something called FIP, which causes their insides to fill with puss. Or something like that.

So I'm waiting for the results from the tests. And I'm trying not to think about it. I'm having a crazy day at work which makes this all very easy to not think about.

I can't imagine losing all of my cats. Even these damned kittens we never bothered to give proper names.

I may have to think about carting all those strays off somewhere. And make sure my crazy neighbor is getting her cats vaccinated. Although that wouldn't have helped this situation.

I'm really fucking sick of bad things happening and not being able to do a damned thing about it. It makes me too tired and depressed to take care of the shit I can control.

So, if you do this kind of thing, pray for my kitties. Thanks.

- november 8