Knittn' Yarns

My Scabby!

As I wait for my Knit Pick’s order to arrive, so I can fill ya’ll in on my next package. I thought I would tell you a little story about my dear fat kitty Scab, or Scabby as I like to call her. Scab she is a special cat, and I really mean this. If I only had photos to capture the brilliance of Scab, especially of the time the fat kitty tried to squeeze through a two inch hole in our kitchen window. This did not work out very good for her. In fact I came home to crying kitty that was stuck half way through the screen. Oh Scabby, I do love you. Actually she is a really affectionate cat. You can not come over to our house without one of the kitties looking for attention. They are attention sluts.

So onto the story of how Scab came to us! The Bearded one and I had lived together for about a year. While Bacon is a great cat, I think that the Beard was jealous of the attention Bacon give to me. So one morning Beard rolled over and said to me, “I really think we should get another kitty, and name it Mr. Belvedere.” “Another cat, you got to be kidding me,” I said. Regardless of my opinion, I found myself at the pound that very afternoon looking at cats. There were so many sweet kitties, purring waiting for us to take them home. So many cute cuddle ones, and then there was Scab – or I should say Mr. Belvedere. Mr. Belvedere had been there the longest, doomed to be euthanized. Kevin had her out of the cage petting her while she chomped on his finger and had all of her claws exposed. He loved how wild she was. Mr. Belvedere wasn’t mean, just a little rowdy. Cute enough, but I foresaw aggression problems toward our already sweet Bacon. However, this was to be Kevin’s cat and his cat was going to be Mr. Belvedere. Oh yes I forgot to mention that Mr. Belvedere was picked up on Franklin and Nicolette – I am next to positive that she was the sign my jacket guy’s cat.

Anyways, we adopted all six pounds of that kitty. The whole car ride home she was a sweetheart, purring and snuggling. As soon as we got her home, Mr. Belvedere claimed her domain. She immediately used the cat box and then plopped right down on the couch. It was so strange; I have never seen a cat behave this way. As for her and Bacon’s relationship, well we have two kitties that don’t let any animal faze them. There was the normal fighting, but my sweet white kitty can hold her own. Our cats have been known to chase a dog right out of our house. Anyways, there were fights and naturally we knew that Mr. Belvedere’s claws would need to go. Little Bacon, was starting to look a little worse for wear. So I call up my big sis, is a veterinarian. So naturally me being frugal and thinking I would kill two birds with one stone drove to South Dakota to see her – new cat in tow. So we took our new kitty and drove all the way to South Dakota, and on the way we noticed that Mr. Belvedere had started to sneeze. However, we pushed this to the back of our minds. I mean cats sneeze. So we got to South Dakota, did the operations. Which Beard and I helped with, I will tell you right now I will never declaw anything ever again.

Regardless, with the operations done we started our journey home. Mr. Belvedere was still pretty out of it from everything, but on the car ride home her sneezing become excessive. Well to make a long story longer. Back in Minneapolis, away from free vet services, we found out Mr. Belvedere had an upper respiratory infection. Bad News, the cat was in the emergency clinic and we were out of money. After spending $600 and arguing with the clinic to let me take the cat home, we finally had her. However, Mr. Belvedere did not look like she was going to make it. She was dull in color, was not going to the bathroom and completely unresponsive. In fact the only way we could tell if she was alive was to watch and see if she was breathing. Well, I called my sister in tears and she put a couple of calls into the U for me. I got oral antibiotics and by following her instructions – i.e. feed the cat a mixture of baby food, antibiotics and water from an eyedropper 7-9 times a day. We also had to quarantine her, as respiratory infections are very contagious didn’t two sick cats. Not to mention it was winter so our house was freezing. We set the cat in the office on blankets and a heating pad. Well this went on for two weeks. By the end of the second week I had told myself, if the cat doesn’t make a change tomorrow I am going to have to put her to sleep and at this point Mr. Belvedere really felt like an investment. So the next morning came, and Mr. Belvedere was still the same. I feed her out of the eye dropper and planned to call my sister over lunch when I came home. Well, I went home and guess what I found. I weak kitty sitting up cleaning herself, I was so happy – if fact I am almost crying right now. Mr. Belvedere was purring looked shiny and well wanted some real food and to use the bathroom. I got her a litter box to use and some food, and well what can I say those are still her two favorite things.

So I bet you are asking about the Scab part. Well when Mr. Belvedere awoke, we were just happier than pigs in shit. We just wanted to pamper the poor baby, hence the weight problem. Anyways, once Mr. Belvedere was strong enough to be released from her quarantine we discovered that she had developed a pretty gross bed sore. Which she preceded to lick every time she sat on your lap. After seeing that gross scab on her side, well Mr. Belvedere just didn’t seem appropriate anymore. I love the cat, but she is kind of gross. I just love her. Oh I want to go and pet her right now, I’ll bet you $5 she smells like the cat pan. I forgot to mention, that she loves car rides, and if our neighbor’s door is open she will walk right in and make herself at home. What a goof.

posted by Kelly @ Thursday, September 14, 2006