No picture today but I was thinking of songs artists wrote for their pets. I think “Martha my dear” may be amongst if not the best. McCartney wrote it for his dog. I’m going to write a song for hairy this weekend, I’ll let you know how it comes out.

 

Ok so I’m noticing a new issue with super dooper. As I’ve said before she turned 23 this year. She had several medical issues but I can give her IV and shots and stuff but I’m pretty sure she is blind now. I finally put some new tile in, I had to hire someone to help me just somethings are a bit difficult with an old injury I have everything went fine but sooper dooper kept following the guy around meowing to be fed. Usually she is scared of strangers. She needs to eat frequently as her body can’t pull the needed nutrients from food so she is frequently meowing very loudly for food (one way you can tell your cat is deaf the volume of their meow increases significantly) so now she is blind, although not completely she can see someone is there just can’t see who it is, deaf, has cancer, needs daily IV for hydration but she is still going and not exhibiting any signs of suffering. The vet said her thyroid and kidney functions come back and are equal to that of a cat half her age. So screw it I just got to feed her quite often but even with all these issues she pretty much acts like a normal cat, except she misses jumps and falls down occasional. I’m just not sure if I need to change anything if she goes completely blind. I’m hoping blind cats can still remember how to get to the litter box. So far it’s not an issue but there really isn’t much I can do. I wonder if I can get a guide dog for a blind cat? Is that a thing? PS I enclosed a picture of the tile came out nice but I’m not hip on the color but it’s what my wife wanted and I’m not going to argue about tiles, choose your battles as they say

 

The status quo sounds like it is the best you can hope for, so don't change anything (or move anything, since she is blind).

 

Ya that’s what I’m hoping Dan. I mean she pretty much sticks to one floor she will go upstairs to check things out when she gets those rare bursts of energy but hopefully her making her way sound the place all these years she has it down pretty good but if you put a blindfold on me and told me to find the bathroom I’m not sure how I’d do, maybe I’ll try it this weekend. Or maybe you could try it and report back to me I am kind of busy, that is if you don’t mind of course.

 

Haha, ok I'll give it a try and let you know.

I haven't had a blind pet yet, but I've seen them adapt incredibly well to other changes and disabilities. They are really amazing that way, and I think part of the reason is that they don't feel sorry for themselves.

One of my dogs gradually went deaf, and I swear she learned to lip read. More likely she was just incredibly in-tune with facial expressions and body language. She also used the other dogs as her ears, and was barely a step behind running to the front door to bark at intruders. She was so smart. Her favorite trick to steal another dog's treat, was to run to the front door to bark at a non-existent person, causing the other dogs to charge to the door. Meanwhile she would loop back and grab their bone. After I saw her do it half a dozen times, I knew it wasn't just an accident.

 

Ya good point and you made me recall I did have a discussion with my vet when sooper went deaf. The way she explained it, and this is paraphrasing a bit, animals live in the now so how it is now is how it’s supposed to be. They aren’t think “shit I can’t see like I did yesterday” they simply adapt to how things are at the moment. I think that’s basically how she put it and it made sense at the time. It’s funny I run groups on occasion and will use mindfulness and other schools of thought but a lot of it boils down to “keep your head where your feet are at.” It’s funny how that can be so difficult for us humans, I think many animals have mastered it.

 

Kinda sad when ur married and your wife isn’t waiting at the door for you but hairy is

 

Lovely morning for a stroll with the boys

Biscuit time

 

Hairy is such an awesome cat! So loyal, I guess she sees how much you do for super duper and knows that you are the best cat dad.

 

Beginning of the week, weather was fantastic here in Belgium, and so we enjoyed it with a couple of nice long hikes with Neo.

For the first one (17km hike), we went near the region of Ypres/Westouter, unfortunately known as battle fields during both WW.

 

Wow as always such beautiful pictures. Reminds me of Gettysburg here in the US, it’s a beautiful place with great views but it’s hard to fathom the carnage that took place on the ground upon which you stroll. Hope neo is doing ok with the arthritis

 

Ha ha thanks kind words. I told the story before but just briefly I rescued hairy from a sick family member. I was originally led to believe that hairy was being taken care of but then I found that was not true and they were going to drop her off in the middle of no where as her original owner was in the hospital. Anyway I flew up to another state (driving) and snatched her up. She looked horrible, malnourished, missing patches of fur as stress related eczema had done a number on her. So I brought her home, damn she hated me for months. I kept her in a room we don’t use with food, water and a litter box I would spend time trying to pat her but she would hiss and swat. I was finally able to let her out of the room when she acclimated but she didn’t want much to do with me. One day I was reading and she hopped on my lap. Since then she really does follow me around the house and when she hears my car pull up she runs to the door and waits for me, actually my wife says she usually waits by the door around 4:20 I usually home somewhere around there. I used to have to get her shots to treat that eczema every few months, it’s been a couple years now the problem has subsided. She also does this little dance when she sees me walking up the steps. It’s more like walking in circles a few times but I remember my German Shepard used to do that when I got home. Cats can’t be compared to dogs, completely different species of course, but it’s certainly not accurate to say cats don’t have personalities. They aren’t as prominent as dogs of course but they have them.

 

@Walrus Anyone who doesn't think cats have personalities has not had a cat.

 

The old boy is nearly out of hibernation and loving the bursts of sunshine - he is turning into a super shedder as he starts to drop the winter coat.

This fake advert also made me smile - Cat charities are important ...but more than a few of the crafty felines in our neighbourhood fall into the category below :0)
.

 

Cat sitting for my son.






Oh, and dog shitting............errr sitting

 

Daughters always leave the old boy a treat

 

Starting to look as if this is now youngsters seat and not mine

 

I would not be able to move the youngster either.

 

How about loosing the bed.......

 

Beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky. Starting to feel like Spring. Time for a break.