Old 'Bert' the adopted cat.

General Discussion FSM Ready Room
1

Some of you may recall, two years ago we rescued and adopted a 23 year old Flame Point Siamese cat, terribly neglected by an irresponsible neighbor. He spent most of his life outside, when it rained at least he had a car to sleep under, his food and water bowls were largely left unattended and empty.

He came to my wife as she was gardening, yowling and clawing at his jaw, ugly, foul brown stuff all around his mouth, clearly in agony. Wife took him to the emergency vet, he had four teeth badly infected. They said he would need some extensive care and advised her it would be costly, and after all he was obviously quite old. No hesitation, go ahead.

After teeth extracted and four days of hospital care with meds, we got an $1800 bill and took our new/old cat home, told owner he wouldn’t be returning, no argument.

His name had been Albert, we thought that was a bit formal, so he became just plain Bert. His age is verified by the past owner’s daughter, she remembers her age when she was given the cat, he’s now 25. Looks a little tough, has advanced arthritis and some difficulty walking, but gets where he’s headed to in time.

Pretty much blind and deaf, but knows his way around and does well enough. When outside in fenced yard, our black lab Ellie early on sensed he’s not seeing well, so she goes slow and leads him around. They both spend lots of time helping wife with her very active gardening work, supervising I guess.

We just hit the two year mark, since Bert came to live with us. He really seems very happy to be living in a house, with his own bed, food and water bowls. Ellie and Bert are inseperable, their beds are side by side, if you want to find one, look for the other.

Damn the expense we incurred, it was so worth it to let a living being have a better life, after the misery he must have felt. We’re in Oregon, it does get cold here and it rains a LOT. Wife Karon and I are happy just seeing him safe and living in a comfortable home, he can’t purr well any more, but he sure tries.

For the life of me, I cannot understand or tolerate humans letting an animal suffer, whether it’s by neglect or abuse. To all of you that do care well for your pets, thank you.

Patrick

2

We just lost our “Ghost Mama”, a maltese grey, this past weekend. Her Mom was a stray that decided we were a good home. Ghost had to have been around 18-19, can’t remember when she was born, had to be around 2000-2001, if not a little before. Had a massive stroke a week of so before after a series of little ones. She bounced back after the smaller ones, but this last one was too much.

They do become members of the family, as much or more so than kids.

Nice to hear the old man is enjoying his retirement after a rough life.

3

Well Pat, you made me cry. Good of you to take him on. When he does pass on, he’ll be waiting for you at the Rainbow Bridge, fat, healthy and in his prime.

Yes, my admiration to those who adopt a lost animal.

Bill

4

We were told by the stray cat the WE were gonna be his gaurdians.

The wife and I were having a very adult conversation,(to be read as loud), about something stupid. Can’t remember what it was about. Well being the kind of man who knows nothing is solved with a bad temper I walked out on the porch to COOL OFF. Outta nowhere this cat shows up, he appears to be in good health and not manged. He comes up on MY porch, now HIS, sits down next to me and stares off into space with me while I calmed down.

I didn’t shoo him away and after a few dsys of “hanging around” I asked the wife…a cat lover, to make him comfortable. She was more than happy to accommodate him.

Next came what to call our new found friend…I said Freddy the Freeloader cause to me he is one more mouth to feed, the wife said Jack. Yep Jack has been a wonderful staple in our home for almost 4yrs. I’m the one who actually advocated that he come in during a very cold spell we had that winter.

Never know where or when a friend will find you, be open.

5

Ya done good, Patrick! [Y] for you and Karon!

6

So, here we are, my wife and I, sitting on our five acre ‘hobby ranch’ with six horses, three of which are rescues, four cats, all rescues, and two dogs, both rescues. We lost an old cat recently who had survived a tumor and two surgeries, and lived on for another three years before succoming to a massive infection. Thus, I went to pick up another cat from the Humane Society (yup, another rescue). This one cat there was pretty nice and friendly and I though she would make a good kitty for the wife . . . The darn critter bonded to me instead! So, now I have to get her another cat; but this time, she is going in and pick the little beast out herself so it bonds with her. The problem is that I am the cat person and she is the dog person, so I suspect that the new cat will bond with me anyway . . . damn!

7

All of our cats were adopted strays. Except for our newest, who we got his owner had to give him up. At one time we had four of them napping everywhere. We are down to two. Harry Mudd, a Thai, (a siamese), and Bruce Wayne a Tuxedo cat, hence the name. Very great cats. You have a great story to tell about yours.

8

My latest dog is a rescue. We always have lots of Labs around. We live in a great place; beach, hills and woods.

This one was a breeding female, $ 4000 pups. More papers than the Library of Congress. Just a gorgeous dog, So when she could no longer drop litters, they got rid of her. 6 years old, never house trained, scared of her own shadow and Lords knows what she thinks about turkey basters.

Won’t go through a dog door or a half open regular door.

But she’s kind as all get out, and really smart. Her older “sister” is getting on towards 13 so it’s good to have two.

She’s totally bonded to my wife, which makes me happy. I get to dote on the older one, who’s an ex-hunter and has George Carlin’s sense of humor.

I’m a rescue man for ever now.

9

Poor old kitty. Special place in hell for those that abuse animals. We have one foo foo dog and a cat I got during an animal rescue fair in a parking lot here in town. They are the same age and fun to watch. She is the one in the middle of all my model kits.

10

All of our cats past and present were throwaways that wandered into our yard, then into our home, then into our hearts. Even Mr. Peeky Pod, aka Squeaky, that evil scruffy Mafia type cat. Actually he reminded me of Baltar from the original Battlestar Galactica. He even had that same “look” when Baltar was gloating from his throne. We loved them all.

And now my current charge, The Chicken, is calling for his supper. Yes he is a cat, and a male one at that. But “Rooster” sounded odd. I wanted to call him ”Jimbo” but sis said no.

11

Patrick there is a special place for people who did what you and your wife did for Bert.

My wife and I have been together for 29 years. When I met her she had two cats. Angel the white fluffy social butterfly. And Mouse, yes that was his name, all 28lbs of him. One of the smartest cats I’ve ever met. Mouse was diagnosed with cancer at 13. My wife started treatments. I never asked her about $ because it didn’t matter to her. Well we got 3 more years out of him. 15 years later she finally told me how much we spent over those 3 years. $10k plus. I almost fainted. We’ve had 14 cats since we’ve been together. Have 4 now. But Mouse will always be my favorite.

12

May God richly bless you for doing that. I will never understand people who treat him as his owner did. People like that are the one thing that could make me believe humans evolved from apes…no, not so, apes are a heck of alot smarter. How about sharing a pic of your new old friend?

13

Thanks for sharing such a great story. The world is full of dog people and cat people. I’ve had dogs nearly all my life and never owned a cat. A few years ago I got married and inherited a cat. I gotta tell you he’s been a great pet. My wife acquired him much like Bert.

Just don’t understand the cruelty to animals thing. There is something wrong with these individuals way before an animal entered their life.

14

People who are cruel to animals, are likely to be cruel to other people, too.

15

Patrick;

Excellent results there. Animals don’t need to be abused. That, to me, is like abusing a child. When I moved in with a mother and daughter who had been dear friends of my late wife. They had two dogs and a cat. I had a dog. Well, the dogs bonded well.

Now the daughter gave up her room for me. Had to wait for her to fix things for the cat. Cat’s nam? SAM. Sam decided I was now her Human for good. We have been together now for 14 yrs. She was two when she made her claim.

I definitely love this little furry gift from God. She knows when I feel bad and uses Purrs for therapy. Plus an occassional hug for good measure. Have you ever been hugged by a cat? I wake up with this furry face next to mine and both front feet around my neck and the wiskers tickling my chin.

Oh, Now the surprise, she is from a Siamese mom but SAM is stone black in color with a much shorter tail. I think daddy was the neighborhood stud? Oh! and those Lemon Yellow eyes!

She talks like a Siamese, Plays like one, But is just a bundle of Fluffy love. Why would anyone want to abuse her? Or the dogs I have had the fortune to live with. Loving to a fault. Like I said God Bless you and the Missus. They need us when they’ve been familiarized with living with a human . They give love unfettered. Why can’t some just return it? Like you folks did?

16

Wpwar11;

Who told you that you own a cat? Humans don’t own cats! It’s the other way around, don’t you know that? LOL.LOL.

17

I’ve had pets all my life. Can’t remember any time when I didn’t have one. Add to that the fact that ALL of them were strays or rescues. My wife says that there must be some form of telepathy between animals and they send out the word to others where to go if you need a home. The last two cats showed up on our back steps a year apart. If we tried to let them out to get some exercise, they wouldn’t go more that 10 feet away from the steps. They stayed for about 18 years. We currently have a rescue dog that we got about 4 years ago when she was only 1. When the UPS or Fed EX trucks are coming, we wait until they come up the driveway and let her out. She runs to the door of the truck, sits up and begs till they give her a treat. If we aren’t home, they leave the package with a treat on top for her.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5xPrsCrRQQyzZxFE8

Jim [cptn]

18

Patrick,

I understand. My wife and I have had and lost a few cats and dogs. Our latest dog we got a few months after loosing my 15 year old Lab. This guy, we got from the pound. He was a stray, Lab mix, black and about 1 1/2 years old by what we can figure. A few months ago he started having a limp in his right rear leg. We took him to the vet and found out he tore his ACL. I was told this is a common issue, who knew? On Christmas eve had surgery to correct it, which intales cutting the femur and repositioing it to eliminate the need for an ACL tendon. This surgery cost $2900. The day after his 8 week mark, in which he was completly healed, I was playing ball with him and he tore his left knee. Well back to the vet again and another $2900. He’s 4 weeks into healing from this last surgery now but is supper happy and feeling much better. Another 4 weeks and we get to play some ball again.

19

Right on! Someone told me once cats don’t have owners they have agents.

20

I went from zero cats to four in relatively short order. Adopted a six month old cat from a coworker who had an adult child and grandchild who were allergic move into their home. She’s almost 5 now.

The my wife adopted a rescue who has some health issues because she thought the first cat needed a friend. So cat #2 joined us later that year.

Then my daughter found a tiny feral kitten a couple years ago and left him with us until she found him a new home. Then she found another stray kitten that was going to be left with us until she found him a home.

Fortunately, my daughter moved out of state and away from the apartment complex adjacent to an empty field where she kept finding the feral kittens. So we now have four cats and not even more.

Bottom line, there are many, many cats (and other pets) that need a good home.