This will be my last post .....

There's no good way to say this, but this will be my last post. My faithful readers of the last three years know that I've been having, shall we say, health problems. As in an encyclopedic range of health problems! I could list them here but that's not what my final post is all about. I'm sure my owner will come up with some kind of suitable memorial post for me that will give credit to the legions of medical staff, including the cute vet techs, who have made sure that I had these last three years. Basically, I'm on the downside of the ol' HRQOL problem (that stands for health related quality of life). Since I have a scientific mind about evaluating the world, naturally I go with the CDC approach to quality of life. All my board certified vets recommend the CDC as a source of information. Some writers on this topic, who one would think would be smarter than me, have asked assume science makes you immortal, what will you then do for eternity? I'm sorry, but that's just a stupid question. The CDC considers QOL to be "a broad multidimensional concept that usually includes subjective evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of life." I like that definition because it's really long. I think what that means is - is life sucking too much.

Anyway, I spent today with my owners of 15 years. My first 3 years I was known as "Speedy" and lived with a woman who had to take me to the shelter. Life and death is a cycle. I came to live with my owners after they lost their previous puss, Midnight, after 20 years. Obviously they are the best-est of owners or their cats would not live such long lives! All these pictures of me are on my last day - June 22, 2010.

I woke up this morning with a special kind of tired.

I just don't have much of my ol' gusto!

Nothing special about this picture except that it's the top of the hot tub where I was always able to lay and warm my carcass. I'm going to miss this for sure! Eighteen cat years is 89 human years! No wonder I like warm places! 

Morning with Mom

It was thanks to Cathy that I got adopted in the summer of 1995. Dad (aka Curt) was moping around due to the demise of Midnight who lost a battle with cancer at the age of 20. Cathy had him come with her to the Humane Society (a curious name for a place with cats and dogs). She told him they were just going to look around. He fell for that. It ended up being between me and this knockout tortoise hair female who was, pardon the expression, really whoring it up by continual leg rubbing. I just acted respectable, yet friendly, and they picked me!  This was a stroke of genius on my part because as a Maine Coon, I'm not that friendly. In fact, the big cat book describes my breed as amiable. Not friendly or good-natured or charming or sociable. Just amiable. That means like barely friendly! That's just racist!! Although it's sort of true too. They took me home and I spent three days under the bed!

These pictures of me and Dad were taken right before Mom took me to see Dr Schoen who was designated to give me the pink juice (as they say). Mom had to take me, Dad wussed out. He was pretty broken up about this. I want to give a final thanks to Dad who always took notes on what I had to say and put them into my blog. If it wasn't for him, there wouldn't have been a Huskercat. Without me there wouldn't have been one either so let's not make too big a deal out of what he did. What I'm trying to say was it was a partnership sort of. My brains; his typing.  

These pictures are getting kind of sad. So ....

What I thought I would do is tell you about some of the things that made each day special (aside from all the love and attention that came my way). Let's start with catnip! This was something to roll around about!

Waiting for a final catnipping. I never got too sick for catnip!

Krazee Kitty catnip is pretty good, but Cosmic catnip is the best! I received no financial benefit for this endorsement, although I should have. Getting cat nipped by the pool overlooking the San Gabriel Mountain Range is about as good as it gets. 

This wasn't anything fun, but my last two weeks I got 200cc's of saline each morning subcutaneously. My kidneys were punking me. And why not, most of the rest of my body was going off the deep end! While it would perk me up, it didn't end up jumpstarting either of my kidneys. C'est la vie! I wish I knew what c'est la vie meant ... 

One of Mom's stained glass windows in the background.

My little Husker red food dish they kept on the bed for me. It was a transparent attempt to get me to sleep with them at night. I slept on Mom's pillow quite often.

Friskies cat food storage container.

This was my food layout in the kitchen (below). If this photo were taken more responsibly you could see the image of a cat like me in the bowl on the right. This is where my Grilled Fancy Feast (usually the one with Tuna) would go. On the left was the Friskies hard food; the middle bowl was fresh water (changed every day). I had long sought an endorsement from the makers of Grilled Fancy Feast in Gravy with tuna, but this never materialized. Fancy Feast cat food indulged the taste of the cat (me) just as the advertising said. It was a slow cooked tuna feast that was lavishly basted in gravy and had a tantalizing flavor just as the commerical said. It's the best. I reviewed their Grilled products many times on my blog and they never responded to my many requests for commercial endorsements. Well it's too late now! I hope their top brass lose sleep over this for years to come! 

Friskies hard food (L), water (C), and savory Grilled Tuna Fancy Feast with gravy (R)

I always got special treats too. Whisker Lickin's is pretty good.

There's no beating Pounces for that special treat!

My personal brush. It was made of boar bristles (no kidding!) and had an elegant American Beech hardwood handle. My Dad got it at Sephora which is apparently a fancy place. My Mom was a little annoyed with this since she got her brush at Target, but she eventually understood that I deserved it.

This looks weird but I love this. It makes my brain go funny in a good way.

Here is where I would sit on my sheepskin, eating Pounces and watching Husker football. Talk about the good life!! I hope the Huskers have a good season this fall!

I leave this world with no regrets (and no apologies to all my bird, bug and lizard prey - they had it coming anyway). I've had 18 years full of love and gave it back when I wasn't sleeping. I've done the math and it looks like each of my lives equals about two years (here's my work: 18 yrs / 9 lives = 2 yrs/life). I got no complaints. I would have been completely dead three years ago if not for all the help from Dr Prouix from California Veterinary Specialists and all the other medical people. I've told death to "suck it" for three years now but that game is up. Final score: Me, 3; Death 1. HA!

Ok, well getting back to things ... Cats have 9 lives, but only have one last day. I'll push off from this life with a poem. (it doesn't rhyme but I'm still calling it a poem. I don't know if it is technically a poem. It doesn't really matter.)

When somebody loves you, everything is beautiful.

Every hour I spent with Cathy & Curt, lives in our hearts.

When she was sad, I made sure she wasn't alone.

And when she was happy, so was I.

I would curl up with Curt or he would hang with me.

Whichever it was, it made us both happy.

Year after year, I was the Huskercat.

It meant a lot to me and I know to my millions of friends.

I always knew I was loved

Otherwise, why all the pictures and sexy new friends?

It's now hard at the end of the day 

I need some distraction, oh beautiful release.

My pain now goes down a one-way street

Memories seep from my veins 

But I know they are full of love, and maybe 

I'll find some peace tonight.

So tired of the storm that is in my body 

That brings me to my knees.

Nevermind that, it's what happens after all these years.

I felt the love that provided all this final care.

But I will soon escape this storm.

In the arms of an Angel, I'll fly away from here.

I know it's just an image, but I'll leave this world in comfort.

I spent 18 years in the arms of Angels.

There's no better blessing than what I had.

Grief is the price we pay for love.

So don't mourn me too long, just remember me.

Know that my end is just my final victory roll!

And make sure there is another Huskercat.

(inspired by Sarah Mclachlan (and some just outright plagiarized - so sue me! Sure! Just try and sue a dead cat!!!!) , and from others and thoughts from my own brain)

Every day was like Christmas for me!

I hope you didn't think ending with a poem was lame!

Well ... like I would end lots of my posts ....
I'm outta here!

Much love,
Tommy (Thomas) The Huskercat!


PS - remember me!

Kira from Oregon! She and I graduated!

Kira came to visit again! This time she stayed for 5 days! She must have really missed me, I mean like seriously! Apparently she was graduating. I'm not sure what from but it's rather obvious that she had a graduation gown on so what else would she be doing? I'm just using basic common sense here.
I was minding my own business when she noticed me (see photo). She insisted that I be included in her graduation portrait. I'm not a photo whore or anything, but if Kira wants to be in a picture with me then Kira will be in a picture with me.
As the reigning Huskercat I was very happy to see her in her Husker shirt and Husker skirt. She has an excellent sense of high-fashion. She just does everything right! I'm still confused about what she was graduating from ... she got college educated a couple years ago and got a fancy art degree. Maybe is was post-graduate study in Huskercatology! I bet that's why she stayed so long. If she did get an advanced degree in Huskercatology I didn't know anything about this degree program. I'm assuming that it would be accredited like fine colleges such as Stanford or Harvard or Chaffey College.

Naturally this raises the question about where my cut is from the tuition! I'm going to have to look into this ....

Nebraska should be proud to have her sporting her Husker football outfit like this! I wish I was graduating like her. But then what the heck would I do with a higher education. Both my owners have PhDs. It certainly hasn't made them any smarter! HA!!

More sexy new friends for me!

Today was fun! I didn't get one visitor - I got two! My personal cuddler is st merrique. That's her name. It sort of sounds like something you would order at a fancy French restaurant although I would prefer Fancy Feast Grilled Tuna in Gravy. But I digress. Merrique has been venerated by the Pope (this happen to all Saints like Merrique.) I couldn't find Saint Merrique on the Catholic Saint web site so I'm not sure what kind of saint she is, but if it was left up to me she would be the Saint of Hotness!

My other sexy friend is Rachael. She is St Merrique's roommate. She and St Merrique have lots of animals including cats so I think that's why there were able to love me up as much as they did. They have 2 cats, They also have a llama. I think they may be pulling my paw about this llama thing though. It doesn't make a lot of sense to have a llama. Llamas smell really bad and my two new friends smelled really good.

The problem with these two chicks is that they have a big dog. His name is shibby. I have to be honest here, when she first said the dogs name, I though she said his name was shitty. That would make sense to name dogs things like that. Dog are soooo stupid! Shit for brains is how us cats refer to dogs. No matter - I don't have to put up with the dog and I really liked that Merrique and Rachael drove in from LA to see me. How cool is that!!

That's all for now!

My May Day!!

Today is May Day. I don't usually celebrate May Day. Big deal you might say! I don't have anything against May (which should be known as International Cat Shedding Month). But I don't celebrate May Day for two reasons. First off, it's International Worker's Day. I'm retired cuz I'm almost 18 human years old. If you do the math it comes out to 88 cat years. Why should I celebrate working? Give me a break! Secondly it's mostly communist countries that celebrate it so it would be un-American to get all woopie about May. I'm no commie!

But this May Day was special because I got another visit from my friend Natalie! She's been here a bunch of times but I haven't seen her for a year! It's about time she showed up for her traditional photo with me. It was good to pal around with her. You can see her giving me some serious squeeze! Nothing wrong with that!

Many of the Huskercat fans might be wondering How does Tommy get all those great pictures with all his sexy friends? It's not too complicated. It helps when you're a real chick magnet like I am. Once you got that going for ya then you just need a studio with all the fancy lights and stuff so my best features will be preserved when I get the squeeze.

This this picture gives everybody a real behind the scenes sort of view of my Huskercat Studio Facility. According to Wikipedia, I'm the only cat with his own Studio Facility. Ok, actually it doesn't say that on Wikipedia. But it will in about an hour! HA! I'm not sure why one of my owners poked his head into this picture. You'ld think he could get his own friends or at least find something to do!

Anyways, I'm not the only one who can be funny. Later on Natalie texted us a photo she took which was pretty funny. I've included the photo in question. For some reason she sent us a photo of a little poop at the bottom of a toilet! My first reaction was What's up with that?? But then you got to admit that was pretty funny.

But there was a little more texting ...

My Owner: My brain finally figured out what the pic was!

Natalie: What pic?

My Owner: Of a turd at the bottom of a toilet bowl.

Natalie: What!! That's my fish!!

My Owner: Well your fish looks like a turd!

Natalie: I'm flushing it! :(

My Owner: NO!! NO!!!

So all that was pretty funny! I don't know if she was just messing with my owner or what. Not that I care if she flushed her damn fish. A smarter move with the fish would have been to have brought it here so I could eat it! I mean - come on! I bet I would still prefer Fancy Feast Grilled Seafood Feast with Gravy though. Nothing beats Fancy Feast!

Well that's a good way to wrap this up. Talking about Fancy Feast!

Another bloodletting!

Another trip to the vet! This is getting old! I'm still coughing and having breathing problems. I know I'm old, but it's not like I have a 3 pack a day problem.
I look pretty insignificant in the big scheme of things in this photo. It's a bad perspective or something because if I wasn't a big deal they wouldn't be shoveling all this money into my medical care.

Here is my owner giving me the full body petting treatment. I know better than to let my guard down though. There's usually not much pleasant that happens to an animal at these vet clinics. I'm just stating the obvious here.

Jennifer is the first medical staff to check on me. She's the one who comes over to take care of me when my owners are gone. They don't have some kid next door check on me; I get a fully trained vet technician to give me my steroids and cancer meds and give me a thorough looking over. She also feeds me naturally.

Unfortunately (for me) the first thing they have to do before they get down to business is weigh you and take your temperature. Weighing in is no big deal but getting your temp taken is down right unpleasant. I think the surveillance photos tell the story better than any string of words I could come up with!

My medical case is pretty complicated. That's why I have all kinds of medical staff looking after me. It's the celebrity treatment that I deserve. The verdict is that I need to have blood tests done and sent down to the specialists at California Veterinary Specialists in Murrietta where they can scope it out.

I HATE having my blood drawn! It's not simple like for humans. They stick a needle right into your jugular vein (yikes!) to suck the blood out of me.
As can be seen here, this required them bringing in some big burly guy to physically subdue me so the lab tech could nail me with the syringe. I made sure it wasn't pleasant for anyone! I was in a bad mood about this!
The blood is for a CBC blood test. It sounds pretty simple but it analyses a lot of things about my blood. I got to have the right amount of red blood cells and it tests that. Seems like it would go without saying that blood cells are red. I mean blood is red itself! Therefore, if there were cells in blood and they weren't red they sure would be once they got all bloody!! Everything is red after it gets bloody! It also tests my hemocrit which has something to do with how packed my blood cells are. When the vet first mentioned my hemocrit I thought she was calling me a hypocrite! That's not me! Hemoglobin, reticulocytes and all kinds of other stuff too. Sure alot of stuff in blood!!

I was feeling a little surly after all this. The penalty for this is apparently locking you up! Oh well - time out is never a punishment for a cat. We excel at laying around doing nothing! I was in and out of there in a half an hour. No biggie!

Looks like they'll send my blood tests down to the specialty clinic to my oncologist, Dr Prioux. We'll see what he has to say!

I'm backing this book for autism research!

f - eleven volume 2 by Wolf189 | BOOK INFO

Yo, check this out ... Volume 2 of the photography of some of the f-eleven members (who are a bunch of photographers and models) has just been published. The proceeds go to autism research so that's good. Here's a fancy slide show that shows off the book. But I got something else about this that I need to blog about! I don't usually promote books or stuff unless I'm in them so you know this is a good one!

But another book said that all of us cats have Asperger's syndrome. Now that just sounds like name calling! BTW, the correct spelling is "Asperger," not "assburger." Hey, it's not some tasteless joke, I'm just mentioning it since I made that mistake so I assume that lots of my readers might too. This Asperger's thing is like autism - sort of, it's complicated.

So anyways, back to the topic - the book about cats having Asperger's syndrome.

This book says that all cats have it. I didn't know what it was so I wikied it and people with that have social and communication problems. I wouldn't say that I have a communication problem! Hell, I got a blog! Where do humans come up with this crap!! Cats just don't communicate much with humans (like skeezy dogs do) out of a natural sense of superiority that we have. Humans are supposed to just figure out what we want.

I know cats are superior because humans have got us to make life better for people who have autism. You can't beat that! The story talks about how cat therapy was a miracle. That's right - have a cat - get a miracle! That's more than dogs could do! In fact, if it was a miracle that this cat did, then that makes cats like Jesus! Maybe I should start a church!!

Ok, I'm outta here!

Look at Me!! I got married!!

HA!

Not really. Just kidding about me getting married!

Kira came to visit again. She came all the way down from Portland, Oregon to see me! It would be easy to conclude that we got married, but that would not be correct. Although she loves me lots, she has her own cat and, besides, people don't marry cats! There no church that would get behind that! Just sayin'One thing is for sure ... Kira would be a lovely bride if she were getting married! She's coming back in June. Stay tuned for more pics of her and me!!