MEWSLETTER 48: September 14 2006 (Issue 6)

Hi Everyone and a very warm welcome to the tsunami of new subscribers who came flooding through the cat flap right after the last Mewsletter. For those who didn’t receive a copy of that issue, and the subsequent ‘sad news’ that I posted the following day, the Mewsletter Archives have now been updated and you’ll be able to read all past issues at your leisure.

Many of you may have come as a result of the website being mentioned on www.AnimalRadio.com when the author of Willi Whizkas’ book ‘Tall Tales and Lost Lives’ was the subject of an interview. If you would like to hear the interview, then please click on the link and look for 22^nd July. Willi’s owner ‘Carol Claws’ seems to have made it her life’s mission to promote and plug the Daily Mews wherever she goes – which is jolly decent of her (thus ensuring a very good review of the book at a later date!!)    

Thank you to those of you who sent me emails of condolences on Garfield’s passing. I received an incredible 500 or more! And for all those who sent me cards and gifts through the post, a heartfelt ‘thank you’, to you, too. I have been absolutely overwhelmed with the love that you have all shown to me at this sad time. <Gives a big hug to everyone>

Someone wrote to me and said that the way I wrote the Mewsletter made it feel like we are part of one big happy family, and as such, she felt that in losing Garfield, that you had all lost him – which makes sense to me – and which is why Laura Dumm has drawn a brilliant cartoon of Garfield holding the world in his paw. You can see this in the NAPPING ON A SUNBEAM section. As tributes for him poured in from all over the world, it is a fitting comment and a fitting cartoon of him. He truly was ‘the world’s cat’ and once again, I do thank you all for your great love and comfort at this sad time.

A brief update on my illness: since the diagnosis on 7^th June; these past 7 - 8 weeks have seen my white blood cell count stabilise which meant I didn’t have to go into hospital on 19^th June (as originally scheduled). These extra few weeks at home have been great because I’ve been able to monitor all the cats who are still grieving over the loss of Garfield and to continue the ‘great decluttering experience’ which needs to be done before my friend Steve comes over to look after the cats and my house, when (IF) I do, eventually, go into hospital.  

On August 22^nd I will be seeing a professor at a London hospital. The type of leukaemia I have is his specialty and he wants to meet me and discuss my treatment options. We now know that my brother is a tissue match which is great news. The search had already begun of the bone marrow register in the UK to see if there are any near matches and if there weren’t any in the UK, the search would have gone world wide. The professor wants the donor match in place before I start the chemotherapy. Thank you to all those of you who wrote to ask me how you could go about being considered as a donor for me – bless you. 

I know that the stabilisation of my blood is a result of all the prayers that have been said for me – so if you have been a prayer warrior on my behalf, thank you so much.  I really appreciate your prayers! And please keep praying – wouldn’t it be great if I didn’t have to even go into hospital to have chemotherapy!! What a fantastic testimony that will be!

I will keep you updated on progress as and when there are any new developments.

Since my last Mewsletter and the brief one about Garfield, the house has been very quiet and sad. I hadn’t realised how much of my day was taken up with caring for Garfield. I would do it again in a heartbeat but for a few days I was at a loose end wondering what I was going to do with all the ‘extra’ time I suddenly had at my disposal.

Garfield was a very special cat and I’ve written a short piece about him for the NAPPING ON A SUNBEAM section. Everyone who ever met him always commented on the way he ‘spoke’ to me and the fact that he seemed to know exactly what I was saying to him. He often meowed back after we’d had a conversation, as if he was having the last word, much to the amusement of any visitors here at the time. He had a very definite greeting meow which for all the world sounded like ‘Hello’. Again, friends would ask me in amazement if I’d taught him to speak.  He also said ‘NO’ and ‘Mum’ and in his younger days when he used to take himself out for walks, if he wasn’t sure where I was when he returned, he would always call out ‘Mu-um’! (Mum is the UK version of ‘Mom’)

Ollie says ‘hello’ and ‘No’ but he doesn’t have Garfield’s kissing techniques! Garfield was a lip kisser! The other cats give a head butt but Ollie’s head butts leave me with severe concussion! He hasn’t quite mastered the art yet!

July was very hot here in the UK and cats often go off their food when it’s very hot, so I wasn’t sure how much of their not eating was due to the weather or to their feelings of loss. Strangely enough Ricky and Sam are the two who seem to have taken Garfield’s absence more deeply than Timmy who spent all his time with him on a daily basis. But it’s funny how different cats react to the circumstances. Sam and Ricky are still not eating very much, although in Ricky’s case, he’s had tonsillitis – yes, cats DO have tonsils – and because he couldn’t smell his food he didn’t want to eat.  

Timmy had a couple of weeks of eating very little and although I’d say he isn’t quite back to normal, he is eating more than Sam and Ricky. Time will tell, and any extra time that I can spend with them to help them through this sad time, will be better for them and for me. I would only be in the hospital worrying about them. And they would be worrying where I was – in addition to dealing with Garfield’s absence.

Little Ollie has had a couple of scrapes recently; one involving two magpies and the other he managed to somehow break a bone in his paw. Timmy thought he was back in business as a nursing assistant when he saw both Ollie and Billy each limping with opposite front paws, but they both shrugged off his offers of help – much to his disappointment.

Ollie may well tell you the story about the magpies himself in a future issue of the Mewsletter but for now, he’s still rather embarrassed about the whole thing and prefers, for the time being at least, to keep it under wraps!

But one Monday morning, shortly after the ‘magpie experience, Ollie came in limping and, noticing that his front paw was very swollen, I took him to the vet, where he was examined and given an anti-inflammatory injection. As he was still limping badly by the Wednesday I took him back to the vet to have an x-ray done. When I picked him up later that day his entire right front leg was encased in a bandage and he was given strict orders to rest and not go out for a few days.  ‘Yeah right!’

I put him in the bathroom that night with his bed, litter tray, food, water, and a catnip toy but when I got up in the morning he was sitting on the window sill and the bandage in its entirety was lying on the floor as if Ollie had just stepped out of it! I had to take him back for a check up on the Saturday and Kevin, our vet, said it was probably a waste of time to re-bandage his paw as it will just come off again. Apparently broken bones can take about 6 weeks to heal so hopefully by the end of August he’ll be back to normal. At the moment he hobbles like Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol and all the other cats feel very sorry for him. He’s taken to shrieking his head off if he wants something rather than a polite meow but for all that, he celebrated his 4^th birthday on 1^st August with a cuddle and a kiss and a photo shoot in the garden.

Meanwhile on the Thursday after Ollie was all bandaged up, Billy came in limping with his left front paw. On examination I could smell a horrible smell and realised, after bathing it, that he had an infection, so he was whisked off to the vet for examination and a course of antibiotics. Billy has made a good recovery and very soon forgot to limp and only did it when he remembered! Then this past Thursday, he came in limping again with the same paw. He had another infection in a different part of the paw pad so he was taken back to the vets for more injections and another course of antibiotics. He seems to be doing all right now and lets me bathe it once a day with salt water and then I give him half a tablet followed by a big cuddle and ego stroking ten minutes!

 Timmy and Billy celebrated their 10^th birthdays on 5^th August – and they, too, had a photo shoot – although no one requested birthday hats! My own 40^th anniversary of my 16^th birthday is this coming Friday (18^th) and Number Two Son and Wife are taking me out to dinner!  

Ricky has spent a lot of this hot weather outside only bothering to come in occasionally to eat and have a rummage in the sweetie bowl. We had another breakthrough the other day – I love these milestones with Ricky because after 8 years of living with the Mewsers and me, he is slowly, but slowly trusting us. I knelt on the floor to comb him – something he loves having done and I bent down low and asked him to ‘give Mummy a kiss, Ricky,’ I was rewarded with the gentlest of head rubbings and a questioning look as if to ask me: ‘did I get it right?’ I stroked him and reassured him that he did, indeed, get it right, and just to make sure that had I got it right, I asked him again to give Mummy a kiss, and he repeated his actions with a very gentle head rubbing. These milestones with Ricky always bring tears to my eyes and I always thank him for spending time with me.

He’s been hiding himself away behind the Mexican Orange shrub which has grown enormous since last year. Only a discreet cough or a sneeze informs me of his whereabouts and he moves around the garden as the sun moves round. He often lies directly on the earth – being at one with Nature, and he often brings Nature back in the house with him when he comes in for a snack. All manner of twigs, small pebbles and tiny insects hitch a ride with him on his underbelly and he seems completely oblivious to their presence.

Most of the cats have been spending a lot of time outside these past few weeks since our ‘hottest July on record’ began. They can be found in various ‘camps’ that they fashion out of the penstemons and grasses and I suppose it keeps them cool. It is funny though, when I look out of the window and see just a few ginger shapes, and one black one, lying at all angles in and among the various plants and flowers!  

But this hot weather has its drawbacks and a few have written to tell me that their senior cats have suffered in the heat. It’s imperative that if your cat does have access to the outside, that there is sufficient shade and water for him/her to drink, especially if there isn’t a cat flap for them to come back into the house if it gets too hot. 

Sadly this heat has been responsible for many cats passing away, or becoming so ill that they have had to be put to sleep. Willi Whizkas’ friend GT (or Oliver as he is known) had a fly strike infestation which caused terrible problems for him. At 18 years of age, he has been struggling for a while with his health and the sad decision that none of us wants to make was made a few weeks ago. Please keep Willi and his friend Tushtots, and their owners, Carol Claws and John Paws, in your prayers.

Another senior citizen also aged 18, called Gemma, had bladder cancer and had to be put to sleep. She was the prettiest tortoiseshell (calico) cat I’ve ever seen and I know she will be sadly missed by all her family.

It’s natural in this hot weather to open windows but if you have indoor cats it’s imperative that necessary safety precautions are taken so that they can’t get out. When outside, they often lose their bearings and run off or get frightened – and they can’t always find their way back home. So do make sure that even the smallest slit in a window hasn’t got a cat eyeing it up as a prospective escape route!

A tragic freak accident took the life of little Milou in Belgium as he tried to get back in through an open window and misjudged it somehow and hung himself. A few days later his brother almost did the same thing but fortunately was rescued in time. Our thoughts are with Tin-Tin, his brother, and Jared his distraught owner.

I was without my computer for over 3 weeks which is why this issue is so late, and I felt like my arms had been cut off! But I did get some reading done of some of the books that have been sent to me and they will be mentioned in due course.

A special thank you, also, to every one who respected my earlier request about not sending me forwards and clogging up my inbox. When I logged back on to my emails after more than 3 weeks, there were over 800 emails – several from individuals who think it’s still ok to keep sending me things. Please, dear friends, I do implore you, do not send me anything unless it’s a chatty email from you to me. I don’t want forwards or inspirational items – nice as they are – because I just don’t have the time to sit at my computer and work through them all. I have to delete most things unread – so it’s a waste of time.

Laura Dumm wrote to me about one of her cats, Belly, having problems when he ate some catnip. Some of the stalks had got stuck in the back of his mouth and caused him irritation so that he didn’t want to eat anything. Belly already has a major health problem and he couldn’t afford to go downhill, but fortunately Laura was able to remove the stalks. When getting catnip, I always buy leaves, because you don’t get stalks and ‘bits’. 

Now let’s get on with the Mews!!!!  In this issue of your Mewsletter:

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Amazing Cats (Cat Chat Section): Zero – the cat with healing paws
Animal Welfare: Complaints in an animal rescue centre

                        : Think About It – by Ron Hevener
Cat Chat – Softer by the day - Jimmy
Mewsers’ Mewsings: Garfield’s 20^th birthday pictures and a letter to be opened on his passing.
Mewsletter Archives
Napping on a Sunbeam: Garfield tribute

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A hilarious and addictive game for you to play!!!!

http://upchucky.com/games/hairball-bowling.html

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BOOK QUIZ:  I won’t be doing the book quiz this month but hopefully, we’ll resume this section next time.

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AMAZING CATS:

Some time ago I asked if you had any amazing felines (or dogs, or other furry companions) that did something outstanding in your lives, like alerting you to burglars, a fire, flood or something similar.

Ann (from Florida) has written to tell me about Zero, her little cat who instinctively knew when Ann was in pain and responded accordingly. You can read about this sweet little cat here:

http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/zero.htm

ANIMAL WELFARE

Claire in Ireland sent me the following item for inclusion and although it’s about dogs (and yes, this IS a cat website), the excuses given by people when relinquishing their dog are eye-popping in their audacity. It just goes to show how selfish some people are and that we most certainly do live in a disposable society where life has little or no value.

http://www.thedailymews.com/AnimalWelfare/complaintsinanimalrescuecentre.htm

Ron Hevener has written another thought-provoking piece of work entitled ‘Think about it’ about the new animal laws that are coming into force in Massachusetts. Who or what are the laws meant to be protecting? The animals? You be the judge and see for yourselves.

http://www.thedailymews.com/AnimalWelfare/thinkaboutit.htm  

CAT CHAT

Jimmy our little feline fellow has written another entry about life in a household of 6 cats. Last time he wrote about the stress of being a top-cat; this time he’s admitting to getting softer as each day goes by – but don’t tell the others!

http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/softerbytheday.htm

MEWSERS’ MEWSINGS:

To see Garfield’s birthday photos, wearing not ONE, but TWO, different birthday hats, please click on the link.

http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/garfield20birthdaypics.htm

Garfield wrote a letter to be opened after his death, and you can read that on the link below.

http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/letterfromgarfield.htm

NAPPING ON A SUNBEAM

It’s never easy to write about a beloved companion who is no longer with you, but if you’d like to read about Garfield’s tribute, please click on the link:

http://www.thedailymews.com/NAPPINGONASUNBEAM/garfieldheart.htm

Because so many people sent me poems I set up a Tribute to Garfield section which is headed up by Jena in Texas who sent me a beautiful tribute to Garfield that she made herself, using a photo of him that I had on site, which she ‘framed’ and then added lots of beautiful poems. If anyone would like something similar for their own cats, contact me and I’ll pass your email address to Jena. She’ll help you to make it.

You can see the tribute Jena made here:

http://www.thedailymews.com/NAPPINGONASUNBEAM/tribute1garfield.htm

Jackie Staff in the UK sent me a lovely poem which you can read in the tribute section here:    http://www.thedailymews.com/NAPPINGONASUNBEAM/safelyhome.htm

Phil in the UK has a wonderful virtual pet cemetery and he has kindly set up a tribute page to Garfield. You can view it here and add your tributes if you wish.

 http://www.apetcemetery.com/viewpet.php?theid=326.php

If you want to add tributes to your own pets, contact Phil – he’s very sweet and understanding and will guide you through what you have to do.

Tuesday, 15^th August is NATIONAL CAT DAY and I am giving you all dispensation to take the day off from work so that you can spend time pampering your cats. I think one day a week should be allowed for this activity as it is well known that cats are very beneficial for one’s health! Enjoy your time with your cat and write and let me know how you made your cat feel special. Actually, we should make all our pets feel very special all of the time – but you can find out more about NATIONAL CAT DAY by visiting this website: www.happycatday.org

And clicking on this link: http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/whycatday.htm

Well, I’m going to end this Mewsletter here because it’s getting late and Timmy is on my desk with his claws pressing into my skin as I type! He’s like the Mafia yapping away at me reminding me that not only haven’t I eaten anything yet, but more importantly, neither has he. So, it’s my intention to send out another Mewsletter towards the end of August/early September which is when the Mewsletter is normally sent out with more news/book reviews/etc and more tributes to Garfield.  There are many items that I’ve left out this time, so if anyone has sent me any poems or interesting snippets they will be included next time.

Feedback is always welcome – good or bad – and I welcome any stories/poems/humorous anecdotes for inclusion. Don’t be shy.    

Until the next time, take care and have a Purrfect month!

Your friend

Pauline – Editor
Billy and Timmy – Video reviewer and Redundant Carer respectively
Sam – Ethnic Minorities Advisor
Ricky – Yoga Fitness Guru
Ollie – ‘I’ve come for my paw’ – actor extraordinaire!

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