Some of you (I charitably assume) will have read my post from a month or so ago about how my big Tiger cat passed away form a heart attack or stroke.  I still miss him terribly, too, but the younger cats, especially Radar weer just lost without him.  He raised Radar from a kitten and Radar doesn't have the desire to be an Alpha, so he has been pretty unhappy without anyone to look up to.  It's not been so bad for Blue, he still had Radar, so his world hadn't really changed all that much. 

So a couple of weeks ago, I started the search for another cat.  I wanted a female, because I thought they would be more likely to accept her, and an Alpha.  It had to be one who liked other cats, especially an obnoxious overgrown kitten like Blue, and one who would generally fit into the family circle.

Last weekend I turned up a good candidate.  After meeting her at an adoption event, I brought her home.  Meet Ember



She's very sweet, but she has the right amount of tortitude to stand up to the boys.  It's been 4 days and so far there hasn't been anything other than a bit of wailing.  I think it's all going quite well.  She came from somewhere down in Southern VA and she's about a year old.  Naturally, she had a litter of kittens which had already found homes, but she's since been spayed and I think she's gorgeous.  The boys are not so sure. 

My Tiger cat is gone.  He had an apparent stroke late last night. 



He was fine early in the evening, sitting next to me as usual, playing with his scratching post, just like usual, but he kicked up a fuss about 3 am on the bed next to me.  I patted him and he settled down, but when he didn't come downstairs for breakfast, I knew immediately that something was very wrong.  When I searched him out, his paw was ice cold and he couldn't stand on it and his breathing was labored.  So we called the vet and I took him in. 

They did some diagnostics and found that his heart was enlarged and he had a lot of fluid in his lungs.  They gave him less that a 50% chance of coming through this episode alone.  I could tell he was in a lot of pain, so reluctantly, I opted to have him euthanised.  He was only 10 years old and had been given a clean bill of health less than a month ago when he had the dental work done.  I stayed with him and, of course, the end was very peaceful - at least I could give him that.

He was the sweetest, most empathetic cat and I miss him terribly already.  Go give your pets a hug.  You always think there will be another time, until suddenly, there isn't.

Unfortunately, the warm weather did not last. We had some of the coldest temps of the winter following them, then about 6" of SNOW. That was the most we had all winter. However if that was the baddest thing winter could throw at us, I'll take it.
It's still pretty cold, but the daffs are up, the horses are shedding, and I saw a very optimistic Robin yesterday working the lawn.

Radar, the little kitten brought to me from Pennsylvania, is growing up. He's in the middle of another big growth spurt. I'm amazed at how big he's gotten. He's still just as cute though, and he still loves his 'Uncle Tiger' chew toy.

Here is rescue kitten Radar after a week of home livin' Quite a change, don't you think?


And here he is with his Big Pal and Best. Chew. Toy. EVAH! Tiger.