Pets

[Rich53]

Momma cat adopted us, despite us having two other cats and a 90-lb dog. She was quite loving purring to get petted, but her breath could fell a moose! We took her to a vet who said she was OK, and not pregnant. Several weeks later she dropped her litter of three kittens. She would go outside even if it was quite chilly, then come to the door to be let in. Some time after the kittens were weaned, she went out and never came back.

Buddy was my wife's cat, born in her closet. He developed digestive problems in his middle age, and became a sack of skin and bones. We finally put him to sleep. This picture was taken before he became so skeletal...

--Rich

 

[Hermes2020]

Pets are our children. I love my Lulu as much as any human.

 

[KreativeK]

Aww, love your pet stories and know they were loved. Cats do have a mind of their own. When they start losing weight usually it is illness such as cancer or leukemia and does not take long after that.

 

[CaliAnn]

I love animals - a HUGE cat lover! I used to do rescue, TNR and foster. These days, due to health, I only do cat fostering for FIV positive cats, as my current formal feral cat is FIV positive

 

[Rich53]

Pets are our children. I love my Lulu as much as any human.

And they are a lot simpler! When a pet is hungry, it lets you know. No "Are you hungry, Richy?" nonsense. (Almost wrote "pussyfooting" )

--Rich

 

[Rich53]

Aww, love your pet stories and know they were loved. Cats do have a mind of their own. When they start losing weight usually it is illness such as cancer or leukemia and does not take long after that.

Well, Buddy - the grey - tested negative for those and hyperthyroidism. He lasted about a year after DW noticed something wrong.

--Rich

 

[Rich53]

I love animals - a HUGE cat lover! I used to do rescue, TNR and foster. These days, due to health, I only do cat fostering for FIV positive cats, as my current formal feral cat is FIV positive

Yeah. DW had a cat that developed FIV. It lived to be about 21. The last few years it would have fits. (Which was what caused us to have it checked by the vet.) About all we could do was wrap it in a towel, and stroke its head until it calmed down...
One day, it just didn't wake up...

--Rich

 

[CaliAnn]

Yeah. DW had a cat that developed FIV. It lived to be about 21. The last few years it would have fits. (Which was what caused us to have it checked by the vet.) About all we could do was wrap it in a towel, and stroke its head until it calmed down...
One day, it just didn't wake up...

--Rich

FIV+ cats are very hard to adopt out - people are afraid they won't live long, or they might catch it themselves. It takes a deep puncture wound to transmit the disease to another cat and is not transmittable to humans. I try to educate people to these facts, but it's a hard sell. On the brighter side, I just found a home for my latest fiv+ cat! A beautiful, long haired, sweetascanbe, with a touch of sass cat - he is so awesome! I wish I could have kept him, but he didn't get along with my cat... sigh....

 

[Terri]

I love animals - a HUGE cat lover! I used to do rescue, TNR and foster. These days, due to health, I only do cat fostering for FIV positive cats, as my current formal feral cat is FIV positive

You're an angel to these kitties! My sister lives in Florida, and she has a couple of acres and routinely does TNR. She tries not to foster as she has about 5 of her own (cats and dogs!) but she's the first to admit how hard it is not to fall in love.

Thanks for all you do!

 

[Triduana]

Beautiful pictures! Nice to hear the stories behind them too.

I'm afraid I have no idea what TNR or FIV is? (There's a rule on the forums for not using acronyms, just so everyone understands without confusion )

 

[Rich53]

Beautiful pictures! Nice to hear the stories behind them too.

I'm afraid I have no idea what TNR or FIV is? (There's a rule on the forums for not using acronyms, just so everyone understands without confusion )

Sorry! FIV is one more than FOU! Actually, our vet also called it "feline AIDS" (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), and, while reading elsewhere last night, I found TNR is Trap, Neuter, and Release - a means of keeping the feral cat population down while maintaining the benefits of their mouse- and bug- killing habits. It seems that feral cats in some eastern European country is so bad that they are on the verge of declaring cats to be an invasive species!

--Rich

 

[Artyczar]

And what is FOU?

 

[Triduana]

Thanks for the explanation

Sorry! FIV is one more than FOU!

That took me a minute

 

[Rich53]

And what is FOU?

One more than THRE?
Just messin' around! I noticed that FIV looks FIVE minus the last letter; hence "FOU" - FOUR minus the last letter! (My DW has put up with this insanity for over 30 years. Does that qualify her for sainthood or something?)

--Rich

 

[CaliAnn]

Does that qualify her for sainthood or something

A statue at the very least

 

[Terri]

Beautiful pictures! Nice to hear the stories behind them too.

I'm afraid I have no idea what TNR or FIV is? (There's a rule on the forums for not using acronyms, just so everyone understands without confusion )

You're so right, Triduana - and I just broke the rule myself up there! oops....

TNR - since my sister does this, I am familiar with the acronym and it's easy to get lazy. Trap-Neuter-Release can be done by anyone who has the time. She explained it to me in this way: You can't adopt them all, or even tame a feral kitty colony, but you can control its growth by ensuring they all get spayed/neutered.

I didn't get at first what FOU meant, and I'm still not entirely certain about DW, either! But I think Rich was having a play with FOU, and his....darling wife?.... understands his sense of humor. So it seems we're all in training here! I've never seen the feline leukemia put in letters like the FIV or FIV + so that caught me off guard, as well.

It's very easy to use acronyms when you personally know what they stand for, and are chatting with others who know, too. But too often the internet can confuse as well as educate any of us, so that's why our guidelines ask us to refrain from using acronyms.

 

[Rich53]

You're so right, Triduana - and I just broke the rule myself up there! oops....

TNR - since my sister does this, I am familiar with the acronym and it's easy to get lazy. Trap-Neuter-Release can be done by anyone who has the time. She explained it to me in this way: You can't adopt them all, or even tame a feral kitty colony, but you can control its growth by ensuring they all get spayed/neutered.

I didn't get at first what FOU meant, and I'm still not entirely certain about DW, either! But I think Rich was having a play with FOU, and his....darling wife?.... understands his sense of humor. So it seems we're all in training here!

Gee, I thought DW was general enough - like NASA or AFL-CIO - that everyone knew it. I read DW as "Dear Wife" but "Darling Wife" is better!

I saw SIL the other day, and couldn't figger out if it was Son-in-Law or Sister-in-Law!

Not to confuse things too much, but is a DSLR a Darling SLR?

--Rich

 

[Terri]

is a DSLR a Darling SLR?

Yes. Yes, that's exactly what it is.

 

[Triduana]

AFL-CIO - that everyone knew it

Nope, never seen that before!

 

[Rich53]

Nope, never seen that before!

(Laughing at myself!)

You mean the entire world does not know of the "American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations"?? They must be falling down on their job!

It's basically a union of two unions of labor unions. Let me explain: At one point, there were a bunch of labor unions, and they decided that they would have more bargaining power if they worked together. A "union of unions", so to speak. Finally, there were just two of these "unions of unions" left (AFL and CIO) , and they joined forces. Rather than looking for a new name, they decided to merge their names as well.

Anything more should probably be discussed in the "non-art" forum...

--Rich