May is National Pet Month!

 

Cool Cats: Guest Interview with Renee and Moose

 

Greetings, friends! The following featured interview is a follow-up to a previous post titled, "Meet Moose, The Cat Who Converted Me: An inspiring True Story by Renee James". 

And so without further adieu, let's begin!

😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻

Question: First of all, could you please give us an update on Moose's medical progress since your last post?

Renee: Moose was at the vet the other day for his annual exam. His glucose and thyroid levels were PERFECT. He remains in remission from diabetes and still does not require insulin. About a month ago, his thyroid medication was switched from pills to a compounded liquid for more accurate dosing. It seems to have really worked. Unfortunately, he has pancreatitis now. I haven't gotten to speak to his doctor as she got sick and I believe is out of the office (because she NEVER leaves me hang otherwise). He may need to switch to a hypoallergenic diet but I'm waiting to hear back from her.

Question: What have you and Moose been up to these days?

Renee: Moose has been up to nothing but chaos and sass recently. The norm.

Question: Did you ever believe in your wildest imagination that you would be so endeared to a cat?

Renee: No. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd have a cat as a best friend. Never. I didn't know they had personalities.... but here I am, with Mr. personality himself. I quickly became a servant to his every demand. I'm a woman working in a men's state prison.... I don't get bossed around or told what to do...until Moose waddled into my life. He's in charge. And I accept it.

Question: What are Moose's favorite things?

Renee: .Moose's favorite things are food and naps. Emphasis on the food. All food. Any food. He recently discovered he LOVES steamed sugar snap peas.

Question: Does he follow you around the house?

Renee: Yes he follows me around. He's my trusty sidekick. Or maybe I'm the sidekick? He always has to know what I'm doing.

Question: Who would you say that Moose "favors" more between his cat parents/guardians - you or your husband, or does he treat you both equally?

Renee: I would say Moose favors me but he does love both of us. He's generally a ladies man. He treats us fairly equally.... we both get different attention at different times. Moose attacks Jon every night around 4am for food. He lets me sleep. The other 23hrs a day he hangs out with mama. But dad IS allowed to pick him up, hold him, squeeze him, and kiss him.

Question: Have you ever considered adopting a feline brother or sister for Moose?

Renee: I often think about adopting another cat. I get torn between thinking the companionship would do him well, but he also loves the spoiled life of an only child. He enjoys being the center of attention. We live in a one bedroom, loft style apartment so there's no doors anywhere except the bathroom...which Moose can open. With that, I don't know how to safely introduce another cat as I have nowhere to isolate them..

Question: What are some more of Moose's interesting habits and/or idiosyncrasies?

Renee: His most interesting habit is probably that he HAS to jump inside the refrigerator EVERY time it opens. He needs to do an inventory..

Question: Does Moose like to take walks with you?

Renee: Moose likes to take walks. I put his harness on and away we go. We don't really go anywhere, we just sniff around the yard for the "good grass". Everything is a hunt for food. Occasionally we go to the playground across the street and he enjoys sitting up high on the sliding board and scanning the area. One time he peed in the mulch.

Question: Would you say that Moose is shy with people he does not know or is he outgoing?

Renee: Moose is not shy at all. He loves people. He loves new people because he pretends we don't feed him and tries to guilt them into feeding him. Moose even had a birthday party for his 10th and he shook every last person down for food. Unfortunately... on Thanksgiving we had a guest that I didn't particularly care for, and apparently neither did Moose and now he's decided he hates men (except my husband and step son). He has been around 3 other men since, and he hissed at and bit all 3. One was my brother who he already knows. He didn't hide in fear, he willingly approached them just to hiss and bite. His vet was consulted and advised that for now, all male guests not make eye contact with him or engage him. Give him his space. (BTW the person he didn't like had absolutely no physical contact with him and positively didn't physically harm him).... it's a long story for another day.

Question: Is Moose a tree dweller or a bush dweller?

Renee: Moose is a bush dweller. Far too lazy to climb.

Question: What is the funniest thing that Moose ever did?

Renee: Funniest thing he ever did??? Gosh that's tough. Probably when I couldn't find him and when I did... he was INSIDE the trash can. Another favorite was his $450 poop because he held his poo in protest while we were on vacation and got himself so stopped up the vet had to manually remove it. I'm convinced he did it on purpose. One time he ripped open every single packet of oatmeal and scattered them across the kitchen floor. Or... when I had to put baby locks on the cabinets so he knocked absolutely everything off the counter, including the coffee pot because he was pissed.

Question: What is the scariest thing that Moose has ever done?

Renee: Scariest thing he ever did was experience diabetic ketoacidosis. He very suddenly was vomiting and pooping at the same time and just screaming in pain. Absolutely whaling with pain. We rushed him to the emergency vet at 1am. His blood sugar was over 500. I bawled the whole way there. I've never been so scared.

Question: Is Moose a snuggler?

Renee: Yes Moose snuggles in his own way. He sleeps above my head. We share my pillow. Sometimes I wake up and we're nose to nose. He loves sitting in my lap in the kitchen, but only in the kitchen.

A special "THANK YOU" to Renee and Jon for sharing such an important part of their life with us - MOOSE VIRGINIA!

In loving memory ...

Back in 2015, we needed to change veterinarians as our long-time vet passed away. VERY tough decision indeed because, in my opinion, a trusted vet is always hard to find - especially after you have had whom you considered to be THE BEST in the field.

On a referral from a very good friend, we decided to take our fur babies to Dr. Mike Comalli and his wife, Lila Comalli who started their own business, the Conrad Weiser Animal Hospital. Luckily for us, Dr. Mike is located only a few miles up the road from our old vet.

Dr.'s Mike and Lila Comalli

Sadly, I received an e-mail from the hospital that we lost Dr. Mike at the end of last year.

It was never revealed what his cause of death was, but one thing is for certain he WILL BE SADLY MISSED! His wife, Dr. Lila Comalli, is still with the hospital and she is actually the vet who saw Lady Tabitha last Friday. I am so very grateful that she is still with us! BTW, Dr. Lila is allergic to cats, but is such a good, caring person and dedicated veterinarian that she will see one cat a day. 

Thank you, Dr. Mike for taking care of our precious fur babies. Rest in peace!!

Mommy's Day wishes!

 

No, seriously, Domestic Rats ...

 

It has been my experience that not very many people know (or are even educated at all on the subject for that matter) that domestic rats make great pets! They are generally friendly, very clean, and extremely intelligent! They are even capable of being trained.

Many years ago, long before I met my hubby, an ex-boyfriend of mine had brought home a black and white domestic rat from the local pet store which he named, "Daisy." Never being exposed to any other critters other than dogs, cats and rabbits, my very first thought was, "What? You brought home a sewer rat? UGH!"

But it did not take me very long to realize that these guys are NOT "sewer rats" at all. They, in fact, make very cool pets indeed! Daisy was super friendly and very smart as well. She was so well-behaved that all we had to do is open up the cover to her huge tank and she would simply walk on to the palm of our hands, never nipping or biting. Believe it or not, even the cats accepted her. Hard to believe? Well, it was no more harder to believe for me than our cats getting along with our bunny Sam! ;o)

 I have found a great article on the ASPCA's website which I have included here in this post ...

 http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/small-pet-care/rat-care