Some of the souls have changed, but the fun continues

I wanted to take a few moments to update the members of our changing family. We have had a couple of really sad times with the death of our oldest cat and our guinea pig (Scruffy). When Scruffy got sick, Vickie worked very hard to try and save her, but she ended up continuing to get sicker and finally died.

Vickie waited for about 6 months before deciding that she wanted to adopt another guinea pig, which after a few weeks needed a friend. We have not really named either one of them, but the cats have taken them into our family.

Finally, I could not talk about the members of our family without saying that we seemed to have unintentionally got our neighbors dog, that we now call our "step dog".

So, the list of non-humans is (in order of size):
Gracey Grey
Genny Guinea
Abby
Jingle
Recon
Shem
Jasmine

Farewell to Lou-Lou - Part Four

In July of 2008, I married Vickie and she and J.C. moved into what was my house, only ... I "thought" it was my house, turns out it was Lou-Lou's house and I was being ALLOWED to stay here. My new bride found it extremely funny to watch me feed Lou-Lou. I always made him meow before I would give him food or treats. He did not like it, but I always did it and sometimes I fully believe that Lou-Lou had an internal mental struggle giving me the meow for his dinner.

Lou-Lou was slightly annoyed when Vickie moved in and brought along her four cats. As humorous as all the interactions with the various cats were, Lou-Lou still remained "Dana's Cat" and continued to be fun, even being more playful sometimes than before the new marriage. After about 9 months with all of these animals, Vickie and I decided that we had to do something about the fleas that seemed to be worse than ever before.

As the unofficial King of the House, Lou-Lou was either used to the baths, too dignified to get very angry, or already getting sick and we just did not know it yet. About 3 weeks after these pictures were taken, my friend for so many years started to slow down, not be so playful, and no longer even able to jump on my bed. Twice I found him by the creek in front of our house just laying there, not coming to my calling.

I have to admit that I was not at all prepared for the emotions that came with having to put Lou-Lou to sleep. It really was one of the most painful and complicated experiences of my life.

The peaceful experience of holding him as the veterinarian gave him the medicine to stop his heart. The sense of loss when his breathing and movements stopped on June 23rd, 2009.

The grief that came over me as I showed him in his cardboard casket to my children when picking them up from summer camp. The pride I had in my boys as they insisted in helping me dig the grave in the back yard.

While it might seem trivial now, I could not be more proud of Vickie and all her words of wisdom during this time. I really did not want to have a "funeral" over a cat, but it really did help both the children, Vickie, and especially me to find Bible verses to read and prayers to say.

Lou-Lou, you will never know how many memories you gave me. Even now it is difficult to write about your death. We continue to laugh at the joy you gave us and the times we shared.

Goodbye old friend.

Farewell To Lou-Lou - Part Three

It has been a long time since posting, but I wanted to continue my sharing of Lou-Lou's life with my family. When I wrote last, Lou-Lou was living "the dream" with everyone in the neighborhood.

When my wife asked me to leave in July of 2003, I never even asked for any of the cats that we had. To be honest, it would have been very difficult for me to care for them as I was out town much of the time and where I was living, I did not know many people around me.

About 1 year after the purchase of my new house, several of my old neighbors were calling to tell me that my ex-wife had moved and that she had left Lou-Lou behind. At this point, I told the neighbors to "catch him" and let me know when they had him.

Here is when the fun begins ... of course they caught and called when my children were visiting me and we had to bring this poor cat home in the trunk of the car. He had gotten used to his new "way of life" that no longer included me or the children, so he was very scared when we brought him home. This was, after all, a bachelor's house with two small kids. Just walking through the house could be a hazard!

The fear he had evaporated very quickly and after only a few weeks, the old Lou-Lou that I knew and loved was back. We fell quickly into a routine. I got up in the morning, went to the front door and let him in, played for a few minutes, fed him, then went to work. He of course had been out all night "hunting" or whatever cats do all night and needed to sleep all day. After work, I came home to Mr. Sleepy that would take a little time to wake up. We would again, hang out and play, then at bed time, he would go outside and I would go to bed. This continued until our new family moved in July of 2008...

Farewell To Lou-Lou - Part Two

When last I wrote, Lou-Lou was growing up and was found to have a heart murmur.

So ... first wife and I worked hard to make sure Lou-Lou took his medicine everyday. Because she and I did not yet have any children yet, he was the center of our attention. Toys, beds, etc., he had it all. He would slept on the bottom of the bed or on us, pretty much "allowing us" to be around him. The one nice thing was that Delena did not ever give him any wet cat food, we just always had a bowl of dry out for him.

Leaving out dry cat food on the front porch of course gave for interesting visitors. Birds, other cats, and even a really gross opossum visited us over the years snacking on Lou-Lou's dry food. He always remained an "outdoor kitty".

After several years of this and a couple of other cats joining our family, we started to see less and less of Lou-Lou. He got to the point of only being seen about 3 times a week. After some investigation and talking to friends, we found out he was double timing us with some of the neighbors. He was their cat during the day, and our cat at night.

All of our neighbors thought this was funny, some also letting us know that he was also staying in their our buildings at night, eating their dogs food, etc. It was great fun and lasted until my divorce in 2003 .....

Farewell To Lou-Lou - Part One

When I was dating my first wife, one of my best friends Scott called me. He was upset that his cat's kittens were attacked by a dog and only three had survived. He wanted to know if I wanted any of them. Being his friend and trying to help him out, I thought I would be nice and take one to Rhonda.

If you are reading this, you "probably" know who Rhonda is as we were pretty much joined at the hip in high school. Rhonda LOVES cats and I was a normal boy jerk in high school that loved to be Mr. Man and act like I loathed cats. I was trying to "make up" for my old ways by bringing her a kitten.

Little did I know that Rhonda did not want the kitten and I was left "holding the cat". I can remember very well spending the night at my parents where NO CATS ARE ALLOWED. I had to sleep with the kitten on my chest all night long.

This is where the story begins. I have a cat that I did not really want, one friend that needs me to take it from him, and another friend that does not want it. I also have a kitten that has slept on my chest and completely, and I mean COMPLETELY bonded to me after only one night. Finally, my girlfriend (at the time) convinced me to keep it and she would help me take care of it.

For whatever reason, we named the kitten Lou-Lou (I believe it was a name she had for a cat earlier, even though we knew he was a boy). Trying to be a good pet owner, I took the kitten / cat into the local vet and started its shots and medical exams.

Back then, I was in college, so my time was spent working part time, going to school, eating, sleeping, and playing with the new cat. Since I had never owned (or been owned would be more precise) a cat before, everything he did was new to me and just like new parents, I thought it was all new to everyone.

As an example, Lou-Lou would sleep on my clothes. Being a college kid, I had to be cheap, so I rarely used the dryer instead putting my clothes on one of those folding wooden racks. I started to notice that sometimes, the clothes would have fallen off the rack. One day as I was putting the clothes back, I was attacked by the kitten. HE WAS THE ONE that was throwing my clothes off the rack. I started "sneaking" up to the apartment to see that he was actually sleeping on the top of the clothes and could see out the window.

During this time, we took Lou-Lou to the vet for one of his final vaccinations. During his exam, we found out that the vet thought she heard a heart murmur. I had so quickly gotten attached to this cat that I was really shocked at how upset I was that he could be sick. We had an ultrasound done (yes, writing this I still cannot believe that I paid for it) so they could confirm the murmur. I was given pills and taught how I was supposed to give them to him everyday.

This was my first indication at how attached I had already become to this cat ..........

How many souls sleep here?

When we go to sleep at night, it is fun to think about how many souls are nodding off under this roof that are not Mom, Dad, or one of the children.

Come in and meet the four legged family members (smallest to largest).

Scruffy - Abyssinian Australian Guinea Pig
Basically a ball of fur that eats, makes whistling noises, and drops little raisins. I was completely against getting the thing, now she is one of my favorite pets.

Abby - Berman - Ragdoll
The internet is not big enough to describe the attitude that this cat has. You know your cat is sexy when she is missing three teeth and is two toes short of a world record. She got lost once for almost two weeks. Once found and returned, she is terrified of leaving the yard.

Jingle - Black Short Hair Domestic
The cat that most disliked me when she arrived is now that one that Vickie swears cries "Dadddddyyy" when she walks by me. She acts like a six year old girl after her fathers affection.

Lou-Lou - Tabby / Short Hair Domestic
This is the "old-man" of the house. I have had him since 1994 and as far as I can tell, he thinks he is human. He would be the only cat still having front claws, although I don't believe he knows it.

Recon - Blue Point Siamese
This bad boy wakes up for about 1 hour a day, sleeps with his face always buried in something (carpet, pillow, another cat, etc.). When he is awake and plays, he is usually upside down or chasing a moth .... WEIRDO!

Shem - Bobbed Tailed Tabby / Short Hair Domestic
When he first moved into our house, he was so big we had to install a dog door instead of a cat door. This cat even has it's own facebook page, now that is a big, fat, lazy hunk of manly fur.

Jasmine - Yellow Labrador Retriever
She is one of the most gentle dogs I have ever met, even after we brought all these cats into her life. She so loves Vickie, she brings her bones, squirrels, rabbits, and chunks of dead deer.

Here are just a few of the fun facts about the animals.

• "Love me, love my cats", Vickie Gunderson, just before we got married.
• My mother (Mattie Bostic), really dislikes ALL the animals.
• It took almost 3 months to stop the cats from sleeping all over us.
• Shem has a thing for head butting and following women into the bathroom.
• The word "Shem" can be a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb, depending on how it is used.
• Jingle can jump over six feet high to the top of a cabinet without any help.

I could continue with story after story, but maybe that will be something to write in another post.