Cat Care

When they were young, Katie and David wanted a cat, and with two children, you know it is better to get two kittens than one. We bought our cats, Latte and Liger, from the Humane Society through a local pet shop when they were tiny - and the same size.

Things have changed.

When you have a pet from babyhood, you don't really know what its character will be. Both of our kittens were shy at first. David and Katie chose them from a group of kittens, and were beyond thrilled to bring them home. I remember the day. We called my parents, who used to have cats, and they came over to meet the new "grandkittens."

We decided that Liger's name didn't fit him (I can't remember what it was), so we thought of new possibilities. "Tiger" was one, since he has stripes, but that was passed over in favor of "Liger," due to our enjoyment of the movie "Napoleon Dynamite." Latte's name seemed to fit him (Italian for "milk") since he is milky-colored, so there was no need to make a change there. The kids took wonderful care of the kittens from the time we brought them home in May of 2006 until Katie's cancer diagnosis in October of that same year. Then came the big separation.

We were blessed by our neighbors, who took care of the cats when we had to move to Seattle and live in Ronald McDonald House and Children's Hospital. At first, Gregg and David commuted back and forth, but that was exhausting, and we did not like being separated from each other so much. Our neighbors stepped in, fed our cats, let them in and out of the house, changed the litter box, mowed our lawn and brought in our mail. They took perfect care of our home when we were unable to do so ourselves, and that included our cats. They gave the cats love and attention so that their characters developed well; the cats are now comfortable with all kinds of people.

We missed Latte & Liger, and were dreadfully homesick, but there was nothing we could do about that except to be patient. Katie missed them so much that she got a toy cat in the hospital's gift shop; it had batteries, and made a purring sound. It even fooled many of the hospital staff, but it wasn't the same as the real thing.

The day came when we were able to bring Katie home for a weekend visit. The cats gave all of us the "cold shoulder" except for her! Isn't that interesting? It was as if they understood. She loved being with them again, and they loved her. Eventually, they forgave the rest of us.

After all five rounds of chemo were completed, we were allowed to move back home for three weeks of rest before Katie's big surgery. That was another happy reunion between cats and family. Then we had to move back into Ronald McDonald House for Katie's surgery. It lasted 18 hours, and she nearly died in the process, but she didn't die - she lived. It was a miracle. After her surgery and six weeks of recovery, we got to come home for good. The cats have been a source of a great deal of joy, love and laughter for our family. They entertained and comforted Katie right up until the day she died.

Katie was paralysed from the waist down two weeks before she passed away. Latte would come to her room and sit with her.

They are no longer shy, but their temperaments have developed quite differently. Liger is like Gandhi, and Latte is like Attila the Hun. Liger is very feline, and Latte is dog-like.

Latte has some kind of injury on his ear right now. I am trying to avoid a trip to the vet, because A.) the cats HATE-hate-HATE the car, B.) I don't like leaving them with the vet overnight and C.) in my experience with cats, nature can often resolve the problem. So I am waiting. While I wait, Latte has a tendency to make a mess on any and all furniture - he heads right for the light-colored upholstery when he has any blood or such. So last night, I decided to give his ear a cat bath (or a "whore's bath", for Smileygirl's benefit) with a warm, wet cloth. He fought me at first, but then he started to purr and come back for more, so I wrung the cloth out and repeated the process several times. I imagine that it may have felt to him like his original cat-mother was licking his head. It was a win-win situation for us:  his ear looked better, he was happy, and now, I think I know how a mother cat feels - minus the fur-balls catching in my throat.