Thank you for all your kind comments about Georgie. Srsly, what did people do before they had internet support? It feels so much better to read the commiserations, the anecdotes, the personal experiences, the tips.
And also the book recommendations. I ordered Desser, The Best Ever Cat by Maggie Smith (recommended by Jessica), When a Pet Dies by Fred Rogers (recommended by Trina) (I LOVE Mister Rogers), and I Miss You: A First Look at Death by Pat Thomas (recommended by Amazon after I added the other two to my cart). Our library has Lifetimes by Bryan Mellonie (recommended by Trina and Heather), so we’re going to pick it up this weekend.
Another Heather asked if Georgie were Burmese. The vet lists him as an American domestic shorthair, which I think is a nice way to say “cat mutt” (Georgie was a shelter kitten), but when I went and looked at a bunch of pictures of Burmese cats, I saw some that strongly resembled Georgie, and I also saw resemblances in the Burmese temperament: Georgie still acts like a kitten, and he’s social and cuddly (though not much of a meower, and the adjective “intelligent” didn’t click right into place). Maybe he’s got a Burmese grandparent.
Oh em gee. Woman. Stop taking my picture. Also, I’m ready for another Pringle.
Confession (not remotely cat related). Until you wrote that post specifically addressing the use and pronunciation of “OMG,” whenever anyone (including you) wrote “oh em gee” I thought it was like…I don’t know what to say..oh…um….gee…
It didn’t NOT make sense, but, well, I feel enlightened.
Also, my word verification is angst.
His face shape and the tone/shade of gingerness is extremely burmese. After working in that cattery for 9 years, I’d be almost certain of his heratige. Btw, working in a Burmese cattery-best job EVER for a young teenage girl lol. My burmese was the most unintelligent cat in the known universe but she sure did meow a heap. I swear, your cat is making me want to go get a new kitten so badly-he’s just gorgeous.
Oh em gee, no I’m chuckling just a little. :) I too had a cat that ate pringles, sour cream and onion were his favorite and he would seriously pluck them from my hand whilst on the way to my mouth!
My current kitty, Gus who you may have seen on my site, has hankerings canned shrooms (never fresh), marshmallow but only after I’ve mushed them, fresh coconut, and (lord help me) cotton candy.
Kiss Georgie for me and give him another Pringle. :)
Cheers!
pringles. LOL
I had a cat growing up that loved mushrooms too…also only canned. He preferred them off of our pizza. He was an awesome cat. he used to let me dress him when I was a really little girl…and put him in a stroller and whatnot. He has an orange and white manx (named OJ) and he always had this slightly annoyed expression on his face. He rocked.
My mom had a cat who ate donuts.
I just can’t get over the pringles. My Inky just jumped up here and put his ass in my face as if to say “yeah stupid bitch…we like pringles…hello?!?! Thank God Georgie has finally made that clear… can I have some?!”
On the book front I can also recommend Goodbye, Mog by Judith Kerr. The Mog series of books is very popular here in the UK.
We had to put down our 18 year old Norwegian Forest cat a few weeks ago. She was clearly not herself and whilst the vet declared her fine at 4.30 one afternoon by 11.30 that night she was clearly almost entirely blind and extremely distressed so we tool her to the 24hr vet who said that she likely had a tumour in her brain that had reached the point of affecting her sight and movement. The husband decided that it was better to let her go then rather than waiting the night as she was so very unhappy. The children have been remarkably stoic about it. the younger (2.5) knows she is no longer here but can’t quite process why. The older (5.5) talks often about how the cat is dead because she got very ill and old but we all loved her so she had a nice life. The elder however has expeienced death of an uncle relatively recently so may have more experience of death than your average 5 yr old. Not a nice thing to deal with ever though.
I love that series of Mr. Rogers books.
He is so cute.
This is totally off subject but I wanted to thank you for posting the last pay it forward contest – because I WON! I couldn’t believe it; I’m so excited for the donation being made and also of course for the package! Now I’m nervous about doing a pay it forward of my own, but I’m already carefully planning what’s going in my goodie package.
Something that really helped everyone when our oldest can had to be put down was finding a book with a cat that look almost exactly like the one who died. For us, Sneakers The Seaside Cat was perfect…
If you know now that Georgie looks like a Burmese, are there any children’s books about that breed of cat? That way you have a happy book to remember him by….
I didn’t read through the comments on the other post so I don’t know if anybody recommended this already, but The Tenth Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst is really good too.
I’m so sorry about your kitty cat and think you are very brave to write about the subject. It’s educational for me because I hadn’t thought about the fact that we’d have to deal with that some day with our dog (who is only 8, but some day we will). I grew up in the country where my dad just had a spot under a tree where pets were buried. I lost a lot of pets in my youth (we lived near a highway, in the country, not a safe place for domesticated animals). It didn’t traumatize me, but did teach me a lot about loss and life/death. Which I think is valuable for a kid.
I want to echo Daycare Girl’s suggestion of The Tenth Good Thing about Barney by Judith Viorst. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that yesterday. It is an old one and might be difficult to find at the bookstore, but the library should have it and it is available on amazon.
We can’t have cats, although I’m sure if we could our cat would also love Pringles, because what’s not to love?
My cat used to knock you over for one of those baked lays thingies.
SRSLY. What is IN those??
I didn’t get a chance to post my sadness on the last post. I had Beloved Kitty… he had chronic renal failure for almost 2 years before he developed congestive heart failure. I wrote a lot about it, not blogged, but I had a kitty update web site for him. If you want to see it, I can email you the web site. It’s a tear jerker though and you’ll probably cry.
(I liked looking at tear jerker sites when Beloved Kitty was sick. It made me feel less alone. Let me know.)
10th Good Thing About Barney carries a huge Kleenex warning! I can’t read that book, seriously.
And you can never go wrong with Mr Rogers.
Hugs to you & Georgie.
We had Persians, neither of whom did well in their twilight years, which was especially hard on Kyle. I feel for you, and your sweet chip-munching kitty.
I love that your kitty likes chips. What a wonderful quirk!
When my oldest kitty boy was younger he was quite fond of Cheez-its and Lucky Charms. And he still sits and waits impatiently for me to finish my cereal so he can slurp up the last bit of milk. :) If I take too long, he tries to grab the bowl or stick his foot in it.
My cat Jack has a taste for Pringles as well. He likes it when we hold it while he licks the saltly goodness. When he’s had enough of the first side, we have to flip it over and let him lick off the back side. Then we flip back to the first side and he licks until we have a soggy, limp Pringle falling apart in our hands.
Poor Jack. He’s been living in the basement “apartment” (code word for bathroom) for a while now, because he can’t seem to find his litter box when he has full run of the house. I don’t have the heart to get rid of him – we got him from a shelter after he had been abandoned. I feel like if we get rid of him, he’s being abandoned all over again.
Give Georgie a hug and a kiss for me.
Poor kitty … and I didn’t even think of the book thing! Remembering Ruby by Melisa Wells is a great pet loss book, too — and available on Amazon. The wee ones were too young when Farrell died to really get it.
Good luck :(
try this book too:
http://www.amazon.com/Tenth-Good-Thing-About-Barney/dp/0689712030