1. JUNE • 2003
REFLECTIONSONACATSDAILYLIFE
Reflections on a cats daily life
Volume 2
10708 College Ave
Kansas City,
Missouri 64137
(816) 763-3797
djdesign@swbell.net
Reflections is a non for
profit organization that
provides stories and
information about a cats
daily life.
All stories herein are the property of
Paws and its affiliates.
Rusty is a kitten who was born to a next
door neighbor's cat named Dottie. He
was born out side and in the wild.
It wasn’t until he was several months old
that we noticed the mama cat and her
kittens hiding in the engine compartment
of a broken down truck that was parked
in front of our house.
At some point all three kittens were to
be taken to a friends house up in Liberty,
MO. Some how when the kitty cat round
up took place, Rusty escaped capture
and was left behind.
Within a few days I noticed that he
seriously had lost some weight
and was not feeling good
because I could now get close
enough to him and to pick him
up, where as before he’d run
away when ever I’d walk towards
him.
So, I brought him into the house to
take care of him. When Monday
came along I took him to the vets
office. Rusty calmly went with
me to the vets, not making any
kind of fuss. The vet was very concerned
about his weight, he weighed less than
2 lbs. and he was supposed to weigh
a lot more than he did. According to his
growth he was only 3 to 4 months old.
I was given 2 different kinds of medicines
to give Rusty on a daily basis until he
recovered, and we were supposed to
come back to the vets office in 3 weeks.
When Rusty made his return visit he
had gained twice the weight, weighing in
just under 4 pounds. The vet was very
shocked to see him grow so much, and
was very pleased to see him and kept
repeating "thanks for bringing Rusty".
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
New Bully in the Neighborhood 1
A Kittens recovery 1
Elvis goes on a walk about 2
Allie Lives on in Art 3
Cat Word Search Puzzle 4
There is a new bully in the neighborhood
and he's going around the block biting
other cats! Especially mine!
Be on the look-out for a white male cat
with blue eyes who has not yet been
neutered. He has been hanging around
the Saint Catherine's church area, and its
unknown at this time if this cat is wild or
if it has an owner. He has already bitten
three of my cats and chased numerous
cats up trees, leaving them stranded for
hours while he waits at the bottom of the
tree for them to come down.
Two of my cats that were bitten had to
be taken to the vet, and both had serious
bite wounds that had to be opened and
drained of infection. The end result was
two shaved cats in precarious places and
two vet bills that left me out almost two
hundred dollars less in my pocket.
Both cats are now doing just fine, but one
of them took longer to recover than the
other, he goes outside a lot and suffers
from flea bites and was struggling to
leave his wounds alone.
The next step will probably be to go door
to door to find out who owns this cat, or
to post signs on the street lights warning
other cat owners about the dangers
of a cat who bites other cats and who
can spread disease and die of Kitty
Leukemia.
A Kittens Recovery From Near Death
Rusty at age 5 months and now at a year old, what a
big difference!
(continued on page 4)
New Bully in the Neighborhood
2. Reflections on a cats daily life www.catpawsnewsletter.com2
It was a Wednesday night just like any
other night, except this was trash night. I
got home at the same time I usually do,
fed the cats, then let those that wanted
out outside.
Elvis had just recently started going
outside and he was real good about
coming in, so when he didn't show up
when I called and whistled (this is how I
call my cats in for dinner - by whistling)
for him one night in March 2009, I got
worried.
After trying to call to him from both the
front and back door, I waited a while and
tried again. It was not the first time that a
cat did not come back at night, but it was
the first time that he did not come back.
I went to bed that night worried but not too
overly concerned. In the morning, I tried
calling and whistling for him again and he
did not appear.
I took my bath and got ready for work.
Mike went outside and did a walk around
the house whistling and yelling "little man,
Elvis" for him as he went. No Elvis.
I went to work and got so worked up that I
asked my boss, Sandy, if I could go home
and look for him. I think I was almost in
tears when I asked her.
My friend Carol, who I also worked with
and who had also given me Elvis, assured
me that he will probably show up.
My boss let me leave work early, and no
Elvis when I got home and called for him.
I sat down at my computer and made up
a flyer for a missing cat.
Elvis goes on a walk about ...
Elvis at 6 months old - at home taking a nap with Mike. Elvis back home again safe and sound.
My husband came home and we took the
file up to Kinko's to have it printed.
I stayed in the car and waited for him to
have the flyer printed, I was too emotional
and I still had friends who worked at that
Kinko's store and I knew that if I started
talking about it ... I would start crying. So,
I waited in the car.
Copy of the poster of Elvis we had printed.
Lost Cat
Name: Elvis
short Hair Nuetered Male Cat,
Yellow W/strips, 6 Months old
Please Call Mike @ 816-763-3797
or Cell 816-352-7097
10708 College ave
(lost in st. Catherine’s area)
and look for him. My friend Alicia, from
Kinko's, also came over one of those
nights to walk and looked for him. We
walked up and down the blocks calling his
name and once or twice I thought I heard
a cat meowing, but could never pin point
where it was coming from.
Those first few nights I cried myself to
sleep. I would start to think about him,
how he liked to get under the covers with
me and snuggle. He'd purr so hard that
he'd have to slurp up the drool.
After a week of him missing, I hadn't given
up hope, yet I was beginning to doubt that
we would find him.
Then, on a Saturday, a week and a half
after he disappeared, I went to the back
door in the morning to call the cats in
to eat breakfast and I heard a panicked
meow. I looked around, and there he was
sticking his head out of the doorway of
the shed. He ran to me as fast as his legs
could run and went straight to the food
bowl to eat.
He looked like he had been starving and
probably had been locked in someone's
garage until he finally had made enough
noise or they had opened up the door
to go some where and he could get out.
He returned with a scar on his left ear as
seen in the above photo.
Now my husband and I do not let him out
on trash night, any other night is fine, but
not trash night. We can now joke about
the incident saying that Elvis had gone
on a walk about just like the Australians
do but at the time it was no joking matter.
We walked the neighborhood that night
putting up posters and calling his name.
For the next 3 nights we continued
whistling and calling his name each night
after getting home from work, but still no
Elvis.
My friend Carol called all the shelters and
then joined one night to walk the streets
3. 3Reflections on a cats daily life www.catpawsnewsletter.com
Allie ... Lives on in Artwork
"Allie in the Wild" Colored Pencil "Allie on the steps" Pastels
"Bath Time" Felt Pens/ Water Color Pencils - Word Picture #61
Allie - When You Were Younger
Felt Pens - Word Picture #54
Allie was the first cat that Mike and I
got together shortly after we had to
put my childhood cat Penny to sleep
after owning her for 20 years. Mike
and I went to Wayside Waifs to look
for a cat. He was not totally convinced,
since the only cat he had ever been
around was Penny. His parents had
owned dogs but never cats. They told
him that he was allergic to cats, which
he may have been when he was younger but was no longer allergic to them.
Especially since he had no reaction to having Penny around the house. I think
his parents just told him that because they didn't like cats nor did they want
one around their house.
We went inside and had a look around. At the time they only had just a few
kittens and only one female and since I had Penny so long, I was partial to
having another female. She was all black except she had a small white patch
on her chest and paws. I almost didn't get her since I really wanted a yellow
cat like Penny was. Mike said, "we get this cat or we go." Not liking that
ultimatum...I chose to get her, since I really missed having a cat.
We filled out and signed the paperwork and made arrangements to bring her
back to have her spade. Since she was a kitten, she was too young to have
been fixed yet but Wayside Waifs will spade her for free if you bring her back.
They put her in a box and we drove her home to her new Furever home.
Some how during the trip home she ended up in my lap. When we got inside
I put her down on the ground and she immediately starting meowing. She
couldn't see me even though I was right behind her so she started calling out
loud for attention. I said, "hey, I'm right here". She turned around, saw me
and stopped meowing. Mike and I both started laughing. That was just the
beginning of our adventures together.
Over the years Allie had become one of my favorite subjects for taking photos
and then for creating artwork from the photos I took of her. I liked her dramatic
black and white tuxedo coat and she seemed to get a kick out of being noticed
and photos taken of her. She liked to follow us around where ever we went
around the house and even liked taking rides in the car. She especially loved
watching Mike as he worked on cars. She would get up on the hood or inside
the card and she would just hand out with him.
Sadly, Allies passed away after 18 long and full years of life. But she will
always be forever immortalized in my artwork that I created of her. From felt
pen word pictures to Colored Pencils or Pastels - she will be forever young.
4. Reflections on a cats daily life www.catpawsnewsletter.com4
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10708 College Ave
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Missouri 64137
(816) 763-3797
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Reflections on a cats daily life
Cat Word Search Puzzle
Find and circle all of the words that are hidden in the grid.
The words may be hidden in any direction.
AGILE
CLAWS
CROUCH
FOOD
FURRY
HAIRBALL
HISS
KITTENS
LITTER BOX
MEOW
MILK
PAWS
POUNCE
PURR
SCRATCH
SLEEP
STEALTHY
TAIL
WHISKERS
I've already had one cat die of that
disease from being bitten by another
cat and I don’t want to have another
cat die that way. It is not a pleasant
way to die, nor is it a positive
experience having to have your cat
put down to sleep.
So my only choice is to find out who
owns the white cat.
Chances are though that the cat
doesn't have an owner, that he is a
feral cat and that I will end up calling
animal control to have him picked up.
The other thing that I, as a cat owner,
need to do is to make sure that all
of my cats have their shots. Actually,
that is the most important part.
If my cat that I had mentioned earlier
had been up on his shots, he would
not have died of Kitty Leukemia.
continued from page 1
New Bully ...
Update ...
Since writing the story above, the
white cat has not been seen since. I
can only assume that maybe he has
passed on due to illness just as my
cat did. Especially since the white cat
seemed to be in such poor health. It
is sad when these feral cats end up
spreading disease and our pets and
us have to suffer for it.