Throwback Thursday - Bagheera and Cinder

 The Man had to go in and clean out his office (he is likely never returning to it full time and they are doing renovations while most people are out). He came across pictures of Bagheera and Cinder. This is proof the hat tax has been in effect for decades. These pictures are likely close to 25 years old!

Nin - This was actually taken at Christmas, but fits the theme

Bagheera as Robin

Bagheera as Princess Penelope

Lady admits she isn't sure who got to be the pumpkin! 

Mummy Nin

A Cat Free Year

Today marks one year since our angel Nin left us. Nin was 20 years old. Our angel Bagheera left us the year before at age 19. We had a cat in our house for 20 years.

While we have adjusted to a life with a cat, I really miss them. I still go to check/clean the litter every few weeks. I would get another one in a heartbeat and when I read stories of cats being found in yards etc. I am hopeful that one will find its way to our yard and need a home. I think that is about the only way I will convince the Man to get another one at this time. (There are lots of outdoor cats around, so it is possible). 

Today I remember my two cats with love and affection, even if I really don't miss the litter (next cat is being toilet trained).

Baggy on the left and Nin on the right

Old Habits Die Hard

Our house has been cat free for 7 weeks now.  The biggest change is we get to sleep in on the weekend. The dogs aren't up as early without our Nin alarm. I admit I don't really miss it many mornings.

We were cat "owners" for 20 years and 11 days. In that time I clearly developed some strong habits/routines about the cats. In the past few weeks I have found myself almost writing cat litter on the grocery list when I noticed it was on sale at the grocery store (it was a really good sale). Over the weekend, when as I was walking to the laundry room with a huge load of laundry I thought to myself "I must remember to scoop the litter while I am down here."  I had to laugh out loud both times because I neither need to buy litter nor scope it.

I miss my cats and I miss having cats.  I do occasionally get the urge to bring a new one home, but I know it is not the time. We want to travel more (and that is hard enough with the pups). The idea of a kitten is not appealing and the stress over trying to introduce a new cat to Hailey and Zaphod is intense. So for the time being, we will be cat free and maybe, just maybe, I will get over my litter obsession.

Angels Bagheera and Cinder

Feline Friday - Remembering Bagheera and Changes

Yesterday was one year since Bagheera died peacefully in his sleep.

He was the first pet the Man and I had, and we shared just over 19 years together. He was a grumpy but loving boy, who truly thought he was a panther.  He knew what he liked and didn't and wasn't afraid to tell everyone.  As I mentioned last week, I still see him around the house in shadows. I am not surprised he is the one who haunts me as we had a special relationship.

It has now been just over 3 weeks that our house has not had a cat. There have been a few changes in the house. First, it is the first time in about 15 years that there has not been a gate that needed to be moved to get into the laundry room. The laundry room has served as a litter room too. To keep those pesky pups out of it, it has been gated. I must admit this is a change I like as I am not having to put the basket down to fiddle with it.

Secondly, I am now use glass cups and not plastic ones far more often. When I am at home I usually have a glass of water on the go. For years I shared this water with 2 cats. They would jump up and put their heads in. Because my water got knocked over often enough, I switched to plastic, so at least I wouldn't be dealing with glass and spilt water. Now there is none to share with, so glass it is. While I really prefer drinking out of glass, I do miss sharing.

Bagheera - Taken on his 17th birthday

____________________________________

Tomorrow will be Lady's birthday adventure part 5 - all about fire. While you are all reading that, we will be jammed into the car heading to visit Grammie and the Big Guy and Tendra and Barley for a few days at the lake. Last year, Lady and Phod went alone. This year, all 4 of us are going. We are sure we will have some great adventures! 

Correction

The Man has pointed out to Lady that her story had a error in it. The scar on his belly is not from the tub incident. The tub incident caused the foot scar. The scar on his belly was caused when the wild panther used his stomach as a springboard. The wild panther Bagheera caused so many scars, it is hard to keep track of them all. My apologizes for this error.

We will be catching up with everyone tomorrow. I worked 3 long days Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so have fallen behind. Hope everyone had a great week.

It is the last Friday in the month, so it is time for FFHT!

Thanks to Murphy and Stanley for organizing this fun event.

Today's story takes place a long time ago, in an apartment high up in the sky (well, not that high, it was the 6th floor).

In this apartment, there lived a wild panther name Bagheera. He was a fierce beast who had slain the curtains and had learned to hunt for bread by opening the freezer. Like all good panthers, Bagheera occasionally liked to play in the water. He would hop up on the counter and play in the sink. He was very curious about the tub.

One day, the Man was having a peaceful bath in the tub. Panther Bagheera was on the edge playing in the water. Then, without warning, our brave panther slipped into the tub. There was screaming. The Lady came running to find a very wet and unhappy cat, and to see the tub water turning red. When the panther had fallen in, he had scratched up the Man. The Lady found this very, very funny, and nearly died laughing. (She is not the kind of person you want around if you want everything to be all serious and quiet. She finds almost everything funny.)

She knew, she and the Man would remember this forever because of the scar left on the Man's belly. After this, the panther Bagheera was more cautious around water, but until he was a very old cat, did occasionally like to play in it. However, he was never invited back to bath time!

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Feline Friday - Blast From The Past

Recently I finally unpacked my photo albums and I came across a zillion pictures of the cats.

Here is one from October 1999:

This is how they spent much of their time, snuggled. Bagheera is the one in front and Nin is the one sitting up on the pillow. 

They truly were best friends. 

Black and White Sunday - Thinking about Angel Baggy

The Difference in a Pet Death at Home

I wasn't completely prepared for what to do in the event a pet dies at home. Our previous pets were euthansized and it was a different experience to have one die in his sleep at home.

Now, while I am deeply saddened by Baggy's passing (I am working on a post about grief for the coming days/weeks), I found some of the following to be humours. [My humour may be upsetting to others so read at your own risk].

I found out about Baggy's death in my car drive home (I have a bluetooth, so it was safe). Baggy had died on his mat in the front hall. The Man got a towel and wrapped him in it and put him in the garage until I got home. In my head I have been trying to imagine a box to put my boy in.  What I didn't know was he was in full rigamortis. When I said goodbye to him in the wheelbarrow (which is a bit funny), I realized we didn't have a box big enough for him. He was very stretched out, I forgot how big a cat he was. 

The second problem I encountered is I had a Skype consult that evening. Our vet clinic is about 1 hour away. To take him in for cremation, would be 2.5-3 hours which couldn't happen, I am electing to have all my pets cremated even though we have the land to bury them on because when I die, I want to be cremated and have all our ashes spread together. So I called the clinic to ask what to do and they said to freeze him.

This lead to my next problem, while there was room for him in it, I wasn't sure what to put him in. The idea of having my dead cat in the freezer was a bit disturbing. He wasn't going to fit into a box, so I decided the best bet was to wrap him in another sheet, place him in a garbage bag and put him in the freezer. This struck me as sooooooo funny I couldn't stop laughing to actually do it. The Man had to help because I was crying from laughing so hard. 

The next problem was the next morning, it seemed a little disrespectful to carry my cat into a clinic in a garbage bag. I dumbed out the Halloween costumes and put him in a rubbermaid container. 

My next funny moment occurred at the clinic. I had left for work early, and hadn't seen the Man that morning (he was still in bed). It struck me as very funny that the second sentence I said to another person was "you should know he is frozen and was in full rigamortis when I froze him". These are words I had never thought I would say to someone else. Then to get an estimate on the cremation, we had to weigh him. There I was carrying my dead cat around the clinic in a garbage bag and having him weighed. Which was so strange it was funny. (Baggy was about 18 lbs). 

Overall, I realize I wasn't prepared for a pet to die naturally at home. I have spent my life planning saying goodbye in the clinic with the vet. Even as Baggy was clearly getting more fragile, I was still looking for the moment it was time to go tot he clinic. I didn't know what to do if a pet died at home. Now I know. And I will forever get a little smile when I picture putting my king of the beasts in a freezer . . . . (it was all a little ridiculous). 

In Loving Memory of Bagheera

Bagheera

March 29, 1995 to July 23, 2014

It is with a  heavy heart we share the news that Bagheera died peacefully in his sleep while we were at work yesterday. He was 19.

Bagheera was our first pet, named for the panther in the Jungle Book, my favourite Disney movie. He was a slight terror as a kitten, climbing the curtains, opening the freezer to steal bread, and there was the time he ate a magnet and nearly died. His favourite game in his young years was stick. We had a round dining room table and we would run the stick around the edge of the table in circles until he would get so dizzy he would fall over. His worst habit was the nose bite. If he loved you he would bite your nose, and he would often do it in a sneaky way so you couldn't block him, like when you were sleeping. He had the loudest purr I have ever heard. He once caught a mouse in our house and was upset I wasn't thrilled with the present.

During his middle years, he was not a happy cat. He disliked our little dogs who chased him. However,  he had been very happy the past few years, especially since the move to the country. He spent many an hour lounging in a favourite chair in the sun. He loved the time we allowed him to spend outside. While he was getting old and slowing down, we had no indication that it was his time, but are grateful he went peacefully in one of his favourite sleeping places. May we all be as lucky to end rich lives full of love so peacefully.

Dear Bagheera,

We didn't have a chance to formally say goodbye. Thank you for being such a great, if not moody and bossy, pack member for 19 years. You will always be remembered, and not just because we all have scars from your claws, but because you were such a character. Cranky one moment, happy the next, always letting us know that it was your house and you could decide at any moment to kill us in our sleep. Thanks for keeping us all in line.

We will miss you.

Your loyal subjects

Feline Friday - A Lazy Day in the Sun

Now that Bagheera is old (and there is no danger in him running away), we allow him to occasionally join us outside. Last Sunday was a beautiful day and we took him out in the grass with us. It is one of his favourite things and at 19, he deserves as much fun and love as we can give him.

Watching the world go by

Wanting to nap in the grass but I am in his face taking a picture

Lazing in the sun with Hailey

Now there are 4 (and you can see how close to the Man Baggy was)

Now you may wonder where Nin was during all of this - he was inside fast asleep on his couch. He doesn't mind going out, but doesn't love it the way Baggy does (maybe that is because once, maybe 6 years ago, he accidentally got locked out of the house and spent a night under the deck. We thought we had lost him, but he stayed scared in the yard!)

Feline Friday - Whose bed is it really?

Baggy would like the new bed to be his. Both he and Nin seem to be enjoying it. We may be having bed wars here!

19 things about Baggy:

Today is our Bagheera's 19th Birthday. Happy Birthday Baggy!

1. He was adopted from the Humane Society
2. If he is really happy he will bite your nose. It really hurts.
3. He once caught a mouse in the house.
4. He ingested a magnet that got caught in his intestines and we had to have it surgically removed. We still have the magnet in a pill bottle.
5. About 3 years ago his kidneys started to fail. We changed his diet to low protein and within 6 months they were functioning like normal (to the surprise of our vet!).
6. When we lived in our first apartment we had hideous currents he climbed up and destroyed and I was happy about this.
7. He loves to snuggle with Nin. They are often found all curled up together. It always makes me go awwwww.
8. He is no longer agile. He can't jump up on furniture but can still climb up on a few things.
9. He has the loudest  deep purr.
10. As a kitten he would open the freezer to steal bread.
11. He swaggers when he walks.
12. I am not sure he doesn't know he isn't a panther.
13. He loves to be brushed.
14. In his youth he would chase his "stick" in circles until he fell over.
15. He has always had bad dander.
16. He has started wanting to sleep with us again. He hasn't done this for years.
17. Several people have scars on their stomachs from his back crawls when he used them as a spring board.
18. He has adopted one of the chairs as his. He will stand and stare at the dogs if they are on it and they usually give it up.
19. If he is not snuggled with Nin on the couch, he likes to sleep on his chair, in the sun, on the counter under his lights or his cave in the laundry room.

Feline Friday - The time Baggy lost his mind

Baggy is our first fur kid.  He was the king of the jungle until about 12 years ago when we brought the first dog (Loki) home. To say he hated Loki and Gemi would be an understatement. He did not like anything about them. This is mainly because they chased him and took his spot on the bed. He basically lived in the basement for 8 years, a place off limits to the dogs.

After Loki's death, he started to become a little more tolerant of Gemi. Since then he has become tolerant of the dogs. He will be out and about when they are around. He has tolerated a sniff from them (often with a protest). But while he hasn't acted like he is plotting to kill them every second of the day, he hasn't been overly friendly with them.

You can imagine our shock last Friday when the following happened (please excuse the poor quality of the pictures, I only had my phone and didn't want to leave to get my camera).

Baggy came into the room. We put him on the bed (as he can't jump up anymore). Then he went and snuggled right into Phod.

I think the look on Phod's face was fear

Then the unthinkable happened. Bagheera, the dog hating cat began to lick Zaphod. He licked him for several minutes. The Man and I watched in shock and awe really that this was happening. Phod just put his head down and didn't move.

Lick, lick

This snuggle lasted for at least 15 minutes. It lasted until the Man had to get up.

Later that day, we came upon this:

Lee, Baggy at the top, Nin at the bottom, curled up on the couch. Note that Lee has her mouth and head touching Baggy.

Clearly Baggy lost his mind last Friday, that or the end is near!

Feline Friday - Laundry Inspector

Just checking to make sure the towels are washed and folded to my liking

You get a B+ - they could be warmer

Bagheera, the inspector

Wordless Wednesday - Ideas from Twitter - What Were They Thinking? Bat Cat

Feline Friday - The Mat:

First the cats would like to thank me for not dressing them up this year. I thought about it, but thought they have both lived 18 years and should enjoy a year without being dressed up. I warned them if they made it to their 19th Halloween, we will be going full out!

Last week I was excited to receive my order from Mollie and Alfie's shop. If you haven't gone, I suggest checking it (click on the name in the last sentence and it will take you to their site). They have  lots of fun things! I had intended this purchase to be a gift, thinking my cats were too old to enjoy it. (Don't worry Panda and Loops, I will get you something). I took it out of the bag to look at it and immediately had 2 cats on it. They love it so much, that I decided to keep it. It has replaced their pillow and basket sleeping place on the counter. 

Since we got it, our Kitty Nip Mat, it has been very well used. 

Here is Baggy, resting after a snack. 

Thank you Mollie and Alfie, it is the purrfect place to rest! The cats give it 4 paws out of 4! (And the dogs have not taken it off the counter and destroyed it yet, so win, win!)

Feline Friday - At the Watering Hole

The stealth panther sneaks up to the watering hole.

He checks to make sure the enemy is busy

She is.

He drinks

Starting tomorrow we start our tribute to Halloween - it is Man's favourite holiday!

Black and White Sunday - Bagheera

Enjoying the summer like weather we have been having.

Wordless Wednesday - Baggy gets some dog cookies