fundamentally feline

Asia (a.k.a Mammas)

Her classic disgruntled look, but this is just her cute muzzle regular style!

(a.k.a. Mammas, Mother, Mother Gers, Gers, Codger (because she looked old and wise long before she ever was senior)

What do I say about this cat? These stories are getting harder to share as they stir up so much emotion. Asia was just amazing. She was pulled from animal control by a rescue and brought to the practice where I had just been hired to be a tech, same place that introduced me to Peaches home one month prior. She had been shot with a pellet gun, had a dead tail and was dragging her bloody back foot behind her. She was 4.25# and nursing four kittens that were barely four weeks old. She was to be euthanized as soon as they were weaned. To think of someone not getting to experience how awesome she was, to think she was set to be killed because of her injuries, injuries that were incurred by nasty humans, struggling to survive despite horrible circumstances and people were ready to throw her away like trash. Unfathomable.

Emaciated, 4.25#, first day home.

An excellent mother & she made gorgeous babies.

Simon was a Mammas boy for life!

I wanted so badly to show her to Jake. I desperately wanted him to meet her kittens. I fell in love at first site with the whole lot of them. Fostering was the solution, or so I thought! Remember from earlier posts, we have never successfully fostered anyone! Ever! Once they cross the threshold…

I tried hard to commit to this fostering thing, then Jake said to me, “So what do you want to name them?” I said, “We can’t name them! Then we’ll keep them!” Well, we named them, ALL. Boom, the end. And so it began, we went from 6 cats to 11 in the blink of an eye.

Simon and Mother. I just love this photo.

Asia was an excellent mother and Simon attempted to nurse her until he was 9 months old! He was a mamma’s boy till the very end. She was one of the first cats that I tried to clicker trained, she was always first in line at meds time and LOVED a/d! She was my office assistant and our “bathroom attendant”. She raced into the bathroom to assist all guests, ensuring they had an overall lovely experience here at Meow Manor. She was quite put out if a non-cat person would not allow her to accompany them, all of our usuals were used to Mother’s assistance! She was so googly!

Oh, at one point her limpy-droopy tail decided to fossilize and die (thank you pellet gun). Literally turned into stone around age 15 and we had to amputate the dead portion of her tail. One day she is walking through the house, “click, click, click” tail was like wood! We may or may not have kept that like a lucky rabbit’s foot.

On the set of the Cats 101 shoot!

The big C got her in the end. This story is a lesson about the SUBTLEY of a cat’s illnesses and how incredibly imperative it is to notate even the most minor changes in your cat. Just a literal hair out of place can prove to be, well, life changing.

It all started with a squinty eye. Both Jake, and a friend that was staying with us at the time thought I was nuts! From the moment I saw that half-closed eye I was on high alert. There was no reason for the squinty eye, no one had popped her, there was no discharge, no scratch, no swollen mucosa, nothing. I put some drops in it for giggles, but I knew my Gers. I couldn’t shake the ever so slight asymmetry, things were changing. It probably took TWO MONTHS before anyone else could appreciate what I was seeing. Slowly, she developed a bump on the side of the bridge of her nose, then her eye got more and more affected. She saw our favorite surgeon, but there was nothing to do. She was 18 years old so invasive surgeries, biopsies and radiation were not really an option. Her beautiful little face became quite distorted towards the end.

"Mothering" baby Willow.

Willow became her protégé'!

She STILL FORAGED, clicker trained with Willow, came for meds time, she was so in there but when she would get food from a puzzle it was getting hard to swallow. She was starting to starve as the mass grew and invaded her throat. She was otherwise so happy and, in her routine, so I made a rather extreme call, I had a feeding tube placed. I was told by her surgeon, “No one knows her quality of life better than you, Ingrid. If you think she is still happy then this is ok to do.” So, we did it. She even foraged with the tube in and then I would feed her! Her son, Simon got to cuddle with her just a little bit longer, Willow had her mentor just a little bit longer, I had my Mammas just a little bit longer. That was all we got, about 5 weeks. I awoke one morning to her sleeping on my pillow, which was not a typical spot for her (changes in behavior are often the first sign that something is wrong!), she was wheezing, now the goddamn cancer was affecting her breathing and I didn’t have a tube for that. We said good-bye that day, here at home with her remaining children by her side.

Foraging despite a feeding tube!!

"Yes, humans are simple, Mother."

Clicker training despite the cancer distorting her face.

She would stay on my lap for hours while at the computer, even at the clinic!

She raised Willow for me. Taught her the ropes, taught her how to be my office assistant as Mother spent most days on my lap at the computer. Willow loved her like a mom, and Mammas was so good to her. Now they are both gone. But they live on. Fundamentally Feline has offered many outlets for me to honor these precious relationships. She is in my talks, my videos, photos, all of these cats will continue to teach all of you for years to come. I am grateful for all they have taught me. I am who I am because of them. We are the lucky ones.

Our beautiful Mother, adopting her and the whole litter fulfilled a lifelong dream and is literally one of the best things I have ever done.

Zinnia

The very first Fundamentally Feline profile pic was this beautiful girl!

Professional photo shoot was a challenge because she was shy.

She freaked out in the trap! Hardcore. Again, not knowing then what I do now, Jake and I were freaked out too. She thrashed around in the trap, bloodied her nose, we were afraid to open it because she was like a wild animal. But we couldn’t possible leave her in that trap all night, or could we? No. So we let her out in a bathroom, instinctually I have always been super paranoid about disease and fleas, etc. (perhaps a precursor sign that I was born to work in feline medicine!) She bolted around in there, but calmed down considerably quickly. Insanely, I gave her a bath, because that seemed like a swell idea at the time! We made an appointment at what was soon to be my future employer and brought her up to be tested for the communicable feline disease, treated for fleas, spayed etc.

Zinnia is the reason I am here, or Z, as we have affectionately called her for years. She started it all. Sure, I had cats before Zinnia came along, but she is what gave me my start. She presented challenges that forced me to learn more about cats and their behavior; she provided circumstances I had never dealt with before, she got me my job at my first feline veterinary practice, she was the first face of Fundamentally Feline and here is her story.

We were still living in our apartment at the time we started seeing her outside our window. All too commonly people move and just leave their cats behind. It was always dark when we would see her and we were novices, so we though she was huge, likely male and maybe even a long hair. I called the vet practice where we already took our 4 cats and they allowed us to borrow a humane trap. They taught us how to use it, suggested what to bait it with, and emphasized patience, that apparently some cats are “trap smart” and it could take weeks to catch her. Well, turns out she was pretty hungry because we laid a trail of canned food and had her in 15minutes!

I got the call that she was all done, got through surgery fine and was ready for pick up. When I go to pick up I was informed that she was pregnant but not too far along, so they spayed her anyway. Given my beliefs and the homeless pet population, I was fine with this. I was surprised at how very routine it was to do so, and how nonchalant everyone was about it though. I later learned how commonplace pregnant spays were and how necessary.

As I was returning the trap, discussing post op protocols and her follow up vaccines visit, the office manager turns to me and says, “you want a job?” I said, “are you kidding I have wanted to work here for years!” I had no experience and was about to graduate from art school, and here I am considering a job as a vet tech. So, we set up an observation day so I could see what I was getting myself into and I guess the rest is history! (I met cat #6 on my observation day, but that is another story!)

Kitchen and dining area was her headquarters.

Supervised outside time towards the end of life.

So then it was integration time. We had 4 male cats already, two pairs of brothers. So Zinnia was the “odd man out”. She was pretty “pissy” but all and all the intro went ok. Knowing what I know now I feel certain that Zinnia was likely someone’s only kitten, and was what we call poorly socialized. She likely grew up isolated from her our species and did not understand all of the social cues that most kittens learn from their litter mates in the first few formative weeks of life. I have always been a believer in adopting in pairs, just because it seemed like the right thing to do, but Z confirmed this! So she coped.

Then we moved. Shortly after Zinnia settled in we bought our first house, our only house thus far, and the house that has landed us on Animal Planet and in magazines for the feline accommodations we have made for it. It was good at first, more space for successful avoidance with the boys. When #6 came along that wasn’t so bad either, that was Peaches and she loved everyone. But by now I had started my job at the clinic; in fact, I started there the day after we moved into the house. The influx of stray and down on their luck cats in need of homes, blew me away. I set out to save the world, and well, adopted way too many cats too quickly.

So, within two months we went from 4 cats to 5, to 6 to eleven! In came Mamma and her babies. Our first foster failures and Zinnia was pissed. I do not know if there was any psychological impact on her having recently aborted her kittens, or if I just had a few too many bitchy females. Regardless, I had two females that hated each other (Mammas and Z) and some males that were happy to join in the fun, and some kittens who were about to grow up to be little hoodlums! Well, actually, they were amazing, but Zinnia never did take too kindly to them. The trouble shooting began.

As time passed by I somehow thought it was a good idea to have even more cats. And, well, it was! In fact, it was the best experience of our lives, except for poor Zinnia. You see, she was really the only one that wasn’t having a good time. It became imperative that food, water, litter, vertical space was provided in every room of the house, but most especially in Z’s favorite places. Everyone would come to use everything, but it had to be right for her. You see, successful avoidance became the goal. I didn’t need her to be cuddled up on an armchair grooming one of the kittens, but I needed her to be able to get to all of her basic needs without being attacked in the litter box, kicked off the top of a cat condo, etc. I think that is the big take home message. When you have cats that do not love each other, why do we make it so hard for them? They should not have to share a food dish in the kitchen or one hooded litter box in the laundry room, through a cat flap! It is ridiculous the obstacles we humans make these cats cope with and then we get upset when they don’t comply!

Zinnia, taught me about what I now call Tarzan syndrome or only child syndrome. Cats learn the majority of their social skills with other cats by 9-12 weeks of age and if not around other cats during that formative time, they tend to be aggressive with their own species. Zinnia was defensively aggressive towards the other cats and often provoked the fights she was in due to her lack of confidence around them. She taught me that sometimes you have to adopt cats for your cats and not cats just because YOU want them. She taught me about providing an environment of plenty so we make successful avoidance feasible. Z is extremely senior now and my number one priority. No other animals will come into this house to stress her out. I am rooting for her to outlive just as many as she can so she can enjoy herself. She is a happy cat, but I think she could have been happier had I known then what I know now. Hindsight is always 20/20 isn’t it? I am better for it now and better equipped to help others with cats just like Zinnia who have found themselves in this situation. Thank you Z.

I quickly had to take a much deeper interest into how to properly meet the needs of a multi-cat household. This wasn’t about filling the food bowls and scooping boxes anymore. Thanks to Zinnia’s poor feline socialization skills and my overzealous need to save every cat on earth I developed a profound interest in environmental enrichment. This wasn’t really what I was hearing it be called at the time. Life became all about increasing the vertical space in our home to increase square footage and giving the cats lots of cool stuff to do. I later learned that was all called EE or Environmental enrichment!

A very senior lady, about 17, enjoying the fire.

Lynx

Lynx was Shadow's brother and my first experience with a "lynx point siamese" (mix). He was one crazy looking little kitten. I couldn't tell what he was going to turn into, he was kinda buff, kinda organgy, a black tail, I thought he was a little mess! Boy, was I wrong! He turned out to be such a handsome cat and now, I must say, that the lynx point color pattern has now become one of my absolute favorite coat patterns in cats.

Quite quickly our household of two boys became four boys. It was so easy! Now as a cat behaviorist I can appreciate why. Once we got some opinionated ladies in the mix that is when the trouble started.

When they were wee

Smaller than the shoe!

Would you look at him? SQUEE!

They slept this way their whole lives.

I just cannot get enough of these baby pics.

One of my favorite things that Lynx used to do was come up and "rabbit kick" our feet using his hind feet but in a standing position. He did this so very gently, like he was kicking the air, it was so freaking cute. I wish we had smart phones back then or I would absolutely have video of this behavior. I have yet to have another cat who does this behavior which is a reminder to capture all of the memories while you can.

Lynx was only 12 when he left us and as I shared when I told Shadow's story they were both diabetic, hyperthyroid and later developed liver disease, IBD and pancreatitis, triaditis. They acquired these diseases in a different order but they had all the same genetic issues. The benefit of adopting related cats is they are instant friends for life and have a playmate in each other, the downside is the host of medical issues and losing them close together.

This cat loved our hammock swing! Got "stuck" but not really, just playing.

All four of our 1st boys in "loaf" position.

Foraging, the early years.

My first food puzzles were old water bottles.

He too, had so many nicknames, Lynxy dinxy do's was one. I know, we are crazy. It should be noted that when I first implemented foraging toys we had 16 cats, Shadow and Lynx were the ONLY TWO cats that would use the toys, at first. They were my little super stars. They taught the rest of the crew how it is done, and my foraging crusade began. Lynx, thank you for the memories and for foraging. Your interest in food puzzles changed my whole world and I am so grateful to you boys for teaching me.

An old man long before his time.

Shortly before we said goodbye for the last time.

So handsome.

Shadow

A fave candid of us. He loved to ride on our shoulders.

This is Shadow. We adopted Shadow and his brother, Lynx when they were only one month old. Shadow weighed one pound and Lynx was only ¾ of a pound! It was my absolute dream to have “Siamese” cats and I quickly learned how easy it was to adopt cats with this “look” without having to buy and contribute to the homeless cat crisis.

Shadow was the love of my life (sorry, Jake, but he totally understands!) This cat was amazing, and we were very bonded. I loved how he would sit on my left hip and suckle on my ear lobe. He was like an infant and would ask to be picked up. His favorite toy was a lightweight jingly ball. He would bat them around everywhere and would carry them and call. He would leave them in my purse and in my shoes, so cute!

When they were wee

Squee, OMG!

They were naughty little tots (which we enjoyed)!

Q-tips and plastic milk jug rings were a hit with these two trouble makers as was toilet paper and "foraging" in the kitchen cabinets which quickly earned them child safety locks. These were the early years, before food puzzle toys.

His lanky teenage stage!

It is difficult to talk about those who were so special to you, it can be hard to summarize their life in a just a few paragraphs. I used to joke that I couldn’t have loved him more if I gave birth to him myself, now I feel that way about Hitch, but I suppose it is ok to share that feeling with others.

Shadow left us at only 14 years, not even close to long enough. He and his brother both were diabetic and hyperthyroid. They both also later developed liver disease, IBD and pancreatitis (otherwise known as “triaditis”). They acquired these diseases in a different order, but they had all the same genetic issues. The benefit of adopting related cats is they are instant friends for life and have a playmate in each other, the downside is the host of medical issues and losing them close together.

From our professional photo shoot. So glad he was still with us for this special day.

Always adopt littermates, keep family together, this is how cats thrive.

We used to call him Shadow Dancin’ after that 70’s song, which later morphed into “Deathwish Dancin’” because he did a lot of daredevil things and often injured himself! All of our pets have a ridiculous number of nicknames so far removed from their original name it only makes sense to us! We miss this boy so much, but it feels good to look back on who we have called family and all they have taught us.

We are the lucky ones.

Our first stroller. These two really enjoyed strollin'.

HIs signature. He could not get enogh of the left hip.

Jake tells me he was looking at me, "blowing bubble hearts" in this pic.

Look at those tootsies!

With all my heart.

Mercury

Complete with catnip froggy on his head.

First week home, 9 months old!

Mercury and Festus were brothers. It is always advised to adopt related cats and keep feline families together. This helps to ensure harmony and a bond. Re, as we often called him (or Re Re) was the more bold of the pair and I distinctly remember him playing with the strings on my backpack in the adoption room where we met.

Mercury was also the most insulted when I decided I was going to save the world, one cat at a time, and continue to grow our feline and canine family. Mercury was the very first cat in my personal life that started spraying! He even sprayed me once while I was sitting on the couch in my scrubs, needless to say I started changing immediately after arriving home after that. Behavior slowly became my focus, but initially it was so that I could better understand my own household.

Enjoying the nip. Mercury was a violent drunk on the nip.

Mercury very slowly became paralyzed his last year of life. We never got an official diagnosis but we managed his care and he became our SECOND paralyzed cat at the time requiring bladder expression as well as defecating help. These were the only two cats that never got to forage. I learned about that just after losing them. It’s sad the regrets one has of those who came earlier, before I knew as much as I do know, hoping I gave them a good enough life.

We love and miss you boys.

A youthful, barely year old, Re.

He often laid with his legs stretched out like this and dangling off the cat condos.

A two-headed tabby monster.

Always together. Bonded pairs are ideal to adopt.

Multiple cats enjoying the first version of our "treehouse".

Our Mercury.

Buggin’ Out by Nina Ottosson

Another stationary foraging gem! This puzzle can be used for wet or dry food. There are essentially three levels of difficulty built into this toy. Stationary puzzles as a whole are easier for most cats but when there are multiple moving parts it has the potential to present a challenge.

fundamentally feline

When they were wee

When they were wee

Always adopt littermates, keep family together, this is how cats thrive.

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