Mary, queen of cats » photo

Feline labelling

zsh — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:57:29 +0000

As any pet owner knows, a collar and tag are essential pieces of equipment. If your favourite, furred friend is a wanderer at heart, chances are they could get confused on their way home. As any cat owner knows, the tendency of felines to squish themselves into the darnedest of places knows no bounds. Often the smaller the entrance, the better.

This leads to a bit of a concern regarding the cat’s collar – not only must an owner make sure the collar itself is stretchable, so it can easily slip off if their wearer is in danger of choking or worse, but it should also be ultimately able to tear or snap to get them out of a jam. That being said, the collar not being as fixed as it could be does lead to the more rambunctious feline losing more than their fair share.

And this presents a difficulty in and of itself – what about the tag? One can only have so many collars around the house, especially with a cat that goes through them like most people go through underwear. And of course there’s no way we would allow Mary out without a tag on her collar. If she were lost and someone picked her up, they’d have no recourse but to deliver her to the SPCA, which (like many well-intended animal organisations) is animal welfare- and not animal rights-oriented, and largely a bureaucratic farce, so definitely not a place I’d like my girl to ever see the inside of. This is assuming, of course, that those who find her have good intentions and aren’t just out to steal her for themselves. And who wouldn’t want to? You’ve seen her pictures, right?

To cut a long story short, the pain of having to have a set of pre-engraved tags, or having to rush about looking for an engraver and/or pet tags while her majestic-ness sits at home growing more inclined to pommel any people-flesh she sees exposed with her incredibly long claws while we sleep, is not conducive to a healthy cat-and-person relationship.

Imagine our glee (srsly, glee) at finding a little collar called the Rogz – it’s a little plastic tag doohickey that allows one to scribble/print down the relevant details and snap the tag together themselves. Also handy if you need to change said details. You can check out their site for more info (and no, we’re not getting commission from them, just appreciating the product), but the pic below gives an idea of what it looks like:

Plastic Rogz tags

The following images show Mary wearing her own Rogz tags – obviously they suit her rather… er… active lifestyle:

Cat and tag caught unawares

And from another angle

Waking with a camera up the schnozz

Cat, unamused.

LOL cats

zsh — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:15:54 +0000

For those of you who’ve been hidden under a rock for the last few years, one of the most far-reaching Internet memes is that of the lolcat. Since 2007, icanhascheezburger has been the single most influential disseminator of lolcat material, and while not all are winners many are… especially those that highlight feline behaviour:

So if you haven’t already, visit the site or subscribe to their feed – well worth it.

Mary’s blue period

zsh — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:27:59 +0000

Being someone who truly appreciates animals, both wild and domesticated, for what they are and what they have to teach us, I’ve never been one to condone the ridiculous practice of clothing one’s pets. The majority of people who do so, in my humble opinion, are anthropomorphisizing in a sad way, and generally using their animals as pseudo-people to make up for some lack in their lives and/or themselves. And I’m not the only one who thinks so, thank your-deity-of-choice.

However, be that as it may, recently we found ourselves crossing this line with Mary. Not for the reasons one would imagine, though – it was simply the least complex solution in order to stop our silly Siberian from over-grooming a wound. The Victorian collar option was out, as the wound was outside the area, meaning she could still reach it with her hind legs. We’d tried bandaging her paw, but that led to her toes becoming painfully sensitive for some reason.

As a last resort, we bought her a blue cat (or dog, more the humiliation…) shirt, tore off the very badly thought out sleeves – she could barely walk with them hampering her movement – and put the thing on over her collar. Needless to say, little Miss Fluff was very indignant about the whole thing, but it paid off in the long run (+/- 3 weeks, cringe) as her wound finally healed.

Adjustments around the collar area.

Final tweaks around the collar area.

Finally shirt is on...

And not even a solid under-shirt scratch...

... can stop Mary keeping her distance from the those shirty savages.

When outside for the first time, Mary checks to see if anyone is watching her misery.

And like many before her, uses grass to feel better.

Heading out into the cruel world.

Finally at rest, plotting her revenge.

‘ello, ‘ello

zsh — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:23:59 +0000

As you might not have recognised due to the incredible subtlety in the title, the hiatus is finally over. Mary is back, hopefully to stay. We aim to update this blog at least once a week with insights into sharing one’s life with a clawed, furry friend. More information, more pictures, more drama, more warm, fuzzy feelings and – most importantly – more awareness.

One Wild Guess What This Is About

Nikki — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:15:14 +0000

Take one wild guess what this post is about. The winning answer of course is another trip to the vet.

Christmas day, Mary’s new human friend, The Neighbour knocked on our door informing us that Mary had a wound on her shoulder blade and it was bloody.
We have been dealing with this particular wound for quite a while. We have no idea how she got it. It looks like a graze of some sort. It is not a tear and it is not deep enough for stitched. And we couldn’t put on a Victorian Collar because the wound falls outside the area of the collar. Mary kept on scratching and scratching and it would heal and then just be bloody after she was done with it. We were stumped.

Being Christmas, the vet was closed and we had to wait until the 27th of December for the vet to open. The solution of course was something I never thought of – wrapping the back paw she does the scratching with. As per usual, Mary was really not happy.

Sometime in January the scab of the wound came off. I took off the bandages around her back paw thinking everything was finally over. I was sadly mistaken. The day after I removed the bandage, the bloody wound was back. So back on the bandages went. It has now almost been a month and the wound is almost healed. Mary in the meantime, has figured out the most impossible ways to remove the bandages, meaning we have to rebandage her foot every second day or so.

She also uses the bandage to her full advantage. When meowing in the morning to wake us up for food does not work, she loudly sits and picks the bandage with her teeth. She bites and pulls (hard) and then releases it with a loud snap of the teeth. That get us up in a flash.

The Wound

Back from the vet, the wound clearly visible

The bandaged paw

The Killer Who Drives Us Insane

Nikki — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:04:30 +0000

One thing about Cape Town that seems to get to even the born and bred Capetonians, is the wind. Otherwise known as the Black South Easter or the Cape Doctor. This wind is a constant in summer and can get to strong that people have to hold on to poles just to keep up right.

Unfortunately, we live in the basin of the city where this Black South Easter turns. When it blows, trust me, you know it. This also means kitty gets locked inside. This also means we have a very, very unhappy cat on our hands who has no problem in letting us know exactly how unhappy she is about not having access to outside. She keeps us up all night and howls non-stop. She drives us insane. It is not fun trying to sleep with a loudly complaining cat in the background doing her utmost to keep you awake. And of course, she no longer cares about being squirted. Mr. Squirty has lost its effectiveness.

When she is outside, she is in her element. And what she loves more than being outside, is if we are outside with her.

Recently, she came back from outside for a nibble. Her food was finished and when we did not jump up and give her biscuits, she went outside again. Ten minutes later I went to look for her and found her crunching on something (as in literally, you could her “crunch, crunch”). I first thought someone gave her a piece of meat or something and I panicked. Upon closer inspection, I saw she was eating a mouse, and the crunching sound was the head in her mouth. I felt insulted – we are obviously not important enough to share in the spoils of the hunt. No gifts brought to the lair (for which, I have to admit, I am eternally grateful!).

This morning, I noticed that she has a wound in her neck. It is a deep gaping hole. Fortunately the vet gave me extra antibiotics which I will give to her to keep infection at bay. If that does not help, it is back to the vet again.

The Hunter with the Hunted

The Wound

I wonder what she is trying to say?

Nikki — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:31:51 +0000

Here we go again. This time, I had my shoes included.

The vet said Mary has allergies that causes her to self mutilate. Fabulous.

For real

Nikki — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:50:53 +0000

One wild guess what this post is going to be about…… yes, you’ve guessed it!! Mary is off to the vet……again….. today. The timing could not be worse – Mary and I have just patched things up.

Her skin condition is worsening. We have tried, as you already know, everything as far as food is concerned. We have taken her off fish, she is getting sick of the chicken, and last night my partner boiled her some raw steak and kidney. If you think chicken stinks when you boil it, then boiling steak and kidney is sure to make you gag. The smell has crept in to everything. You can smell it on my partner’s clothes, his hands….. and to top it all off, Mary has zero interest in the food (lord alone knows I don’t blame her!). She did not even so much as feign any interest.

In the pictures below you can see some of the irritation on her skin (and no, it is not ring worm). The base of her tail is full of tiny little scabs and the fur is thinning in the area. It is clear Mary is uncomfortable – she is constantly over grooming, her tail is always twitching and she is incredibly vocal. These are all signs we have come to identify when the skin flaring is especially bad.

Wish us luck, we are leaving for the vet in about 10 minutes!

On the inside of her leg

On her neck (raw and moist and scabby)

At War

Nikki — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:36:58 +0000

Mary and I are having a petty little war. Every day this week (since being at the vet on Sunday), when we get home from work, we find our cupboard in this state:

Please note that it is only my clothes that are being ripped out of the cupboard. Not my partner’s, but mine only. All my nicely ironed clothes, crumpled and on the floor.

My revenge? Every time she annoys me while I am at home (specifically when she whinges and whines for no good reason), I give her a squirt with a syringe full of water. I started that this morning, and got her a pot shot in the middle of her forehead! She was really not pleased. But it seems the message got through – we came home today and there was only one item on the floor!

And before anyone jumps down my throat for animal abuse, chill. We used to discipline Mary that way. It is completely painless and harmless. It is just very undignified and annoying. She does something we don’t like, we do something she does not like. She learned very quickly where her boundaries are within the “pack”.

ROMPS #003

zsh — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:22:26 +0000

Mary has changed during the time she has been with us. As she has aged, her fur has steadily become thinner, as it would. This photo shows that she still has enough to shed, come summers.

Also clearly visible in this photo is the nick in her right ear. We assume this was caused in a fight, but do not know – she had it when she adopted us.