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Mewswire The newsletter of CatHobbyist.com December 2002 In This Issue:
This is also the time of year when many think of those less fortunate. Don't forget your local shelter or rescue when it comes to the spirit of giving. Contributions of cat toys, suppies, money or time are all appreciated. Best wishes for a happy holiday season to all of you and your "furrie" family members, too, from all of us here at CatHobbyist. Moira O'Connor
As part of PetHobbyist.com's Fourth Annual Chat Week, we're very pleased to welcome some very special guests to CatHobbyist.com! For a complete listing of all guests, visit our Chat Week Schedule. Here are some highlights: Dr. Stephen
Tobin Betty Lewis Dr. Eric
Averill Friday,
December 13, at 9 PM Eastern in The
Auditorium Judy Carmody
Ho Ho Ho, somebody is going to have a very merry Christmas! Visit our Holiday Contest Page for details!
Kasha's
Wings I didn't know it then, and wouldn't for many years, but that upper respiratory infection had collapsed one lung. Kasha grew and filled out playing heartily with her adopted feline brother, Ashley (also a rescue). Kasha and Ashley accompanied me through many changes of residence and several relationships until we finally settled just outside of Boston. Not long after, we discovered that Kasha had developed hyperthyroidism...then hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and chronic renal failure. She developed a toxicity to the only medication able to control her thyroid and from there she went into congestive heart failure. It was August 1999. Kasha was 16 years old. The vet prepared the "pink solution" as I lifted Kasha's limp body onto the examining table. The vet began her final examination of Kasha, but Kasha had other plans. For the first time in days, she stood up and then, to the amazement of us all, she jumped off the exam table and back into her carrier. Hmmmm....we all just looked at each other. Obviously, Kasha hadn't given up the fight so we thanked the vet and brought Kasha back home. I went online to inform the list of this turn of events and discovered that dozens of Holisticatters had prayed for Kasha at exactly the time of her vet appointment. Prayers came in from nearly every continent and apparently, Kasha heard them all. It was one of many "Kasha miracles." There was no magic cure for Kasha. We sustained her with homeopathic and herbal treatments until the vets at Tufts University Animal Hospital saw her and immediately recognized her fiesty spirit. She lived for a week at the hospital in a baby incubator in the emergency room as the doctors stabilized her. They told me how Kasha was so alert and sat up in her incubator to watch everything that happened in the emergency room. During that week when Kasha "supervised" the emergency room, not a single animal died. Not even the dog who had nearly been ripped to shreds by another dog, nor the dog that had been hit by a car...not a single casualty the entire week. We brought Kasha home, then, and made the hour-long trip back and forth to Tufts for check ups and plans to heal Kasha. The vets were going to try an experimental surgery where they would treat Kasha like a trauma victim going in quickly, removing the thyroid quickly, and getting back out in record time. It was the only way, the only hope, that a 16-year-old could survive such a procedure. In the mean time, we focused on keeping her stabilized. It was December 11, 1999, when we brought Kasha in for her check up and blood sample in preparation for her surgery which was to be scheduled within the next few weeks. That night when we brought Kasha home, she was salivating from the mouth...a kind of sticky fluid...and her breathing was rapid and shallow. We rushed her back to Tufts. It would be our last trip. The following morning we received a call that Kasha was dying of a septic infection and probably would not live even another hour. An hour...the exact amount of time it took us to drive from our home south of Boston to Tufts. Rushing to the hospital, I noticed a hawk flying above and to the right of our car. Hawk after hawk led the way to the hospital and so it was no surprise that Kasha was still alive to say her good-bye. The vet brought her to me in the exam room and I asked if we couldn't just let her die naturally. The vet said it wouldn't be an easy death and she left to get the "pink solution"...Kasha didn't live long enough to be injected with it. Before the vet could get back, Kasha suffered violent and rapid seizures in my arms and died. The vet came back and knelt beside me as I cradled my dear Kasha in my arms, now lifeless but at peace. We cried together for we both recognized that an amazing, miraculous animal had just passed from our presence. But the miracle didn't end there....not for this kitty. I called my parents to let them know Kasha had passed. My father reminded me that two years ago to the very day, my grandmother had passed away at the age of 101 years. He then said, "It's interesting considering you named your cat after your grandmother." Huh? My grandmother's name was Katherine...whatever was my father talking about? What I never knew until that day was that my grandfather's nickname for my grandmother was Kasha. And so the last miracle was revealed...on the anniversary of her transition into a life of spirit, Kasha had come to help Kasha. Two weeks later we celebrated Christmas. We hung our stockings, one for each human and one for each kitty. Fifteen stockings hung on the wall, but one very special stocking sported angel's wings, for Kasha surely is continuing to make miracles from heaven. Lucy Lucy was frightened and hid under the camper parked beside the house but would come out to eat at night. Gradually she allowed me to come closer and then brought a white kitten. A week later she brought another white kitten to visit who was very frightened of humans and ran fast as lightening. Lucy weighed only 4-1/2 lbs when I took her to the vet for spay. She convalesced quietly in the spare bedroom for the week. The night before her stitches were to be out I talked with her about whether to let her back outdoors or integrate her into the cat family. She made her decision at 2am and began to bounce on the walls wanting outside. That was in June. She stayed around our yard most of the time and I frequently held the door open trying to coax her indoors. No way. As November cooled down she would sometimes come barely inside the back door by the family room and eat but remain vigilant and I had to leave the door open. December was colder and she did take a couple of quick tours around the family room but right back outside. Lucy has never asked to go back outside again. Initially the TV noise or radio was scary to her. She felt safe in the family room and going into the rest of the house took months. She is a happy girl and a bit pudgy. Of course her two kittens, Sam and Lightning Bug became a part of our cat family early on. Luna |
What
an exciting time at CatHobbyist (and all the PetHobbyist sites)!
Chat Week is here! This is the Fourth Annual Chat Week at PetHobbyist.com,
and it's the biggest one ever! We have over 40 guests that week,
including a cat photographer and a chat on preparing for your pets
if they should outlive you. There are several chats on holistic
pet care, careers writing about animals, feline diabetes, and so
much more. It all starts on Sunday, December 8! Some of our special
guests are listed below, and you can find the full schedule at 
And
of course, the holidays are here. Our cats' most favored time of
year, when they think they've received the world's best cat toy
- your Christmas tree and the presents under it! The best day of
the year for Bear was when the Christmas tree came in the house.
He loved his tree. Rarely would he bother any ornaments, rather
he would pick out one gift and that would be his spot under the
tree. He was always so good with the tree that it was a great shock
the first year we had a second cat who wanted to climb the tree,
play with the ornaments and eat the lights and ribbons on the packages!
We found an alarm system that worked well - putting bell ornaments
around the bottom of the tree.
For
those who appreciate CatHobbyist.com's free chats, message boards,
newsletter, photo gallery, rescue and adoption listings, free web
hosting for rescue groups, and other resources, or who just love
feline art, be sure and visit our NEW 
Dr.
Susan Wynn
David
Congalton
Helmi
Flick
Continuing kingsnake.com's holiday tradition
of having a most excellent Christmas contest, PetHobbyist.com is
having its biggest contest ever. This is a chance for pet lovers
all over the continental United States to get their stocking stuffed
with a NEW Gateway™ 42-inch plasma TV, thin enough to hang on the
wall! Now you can watch TV or plug it into your computer and surf
the web with the latest in flat screen plasma technology.
She
was a scrawny, sickly little creature when I found her in 1983.
Born to a Siamese mother who was sentenced to a life outdoors, she
had no chance of survival. Flea and mite infested with an upper
respiratory infection so severe pus oozed from her eyes. The vet
didn't hold out much hope that this little kitten, no more than
12 weeks old, would live very long. Undeterred, I named her Kasha...the
English spelling for the Polish word meaning buckwheat and reflecting
the color of her fur.
I
remember the day well. Kasha hadn't moved in a couple of days. Her
feet were swelling and she was losing the fur on her feet and nose
where a perspiration-like fluid oozed from her skin. It was time.
I lifted her into her carrier and, together with my life partner,
Michelle, took her to the vet to ease her transition into the spirit
world. As a member of an internet holistic cat care group, Holisticat,
I had put the word out that Kasha was going to be "put to sleep"
that afternoon. I told my fellow members the exact time of her appointment
and asked for their prayers...not for a cure, but for peace for
us all.
We
moved to Southern Illinois in April, 1999, and I was thrilled to
see a black and white stray coming around our new home. Where we
lived in northern Illinois I was hassled by the community for feeding
homeless cats. My five cats were indoor only and I wanted to add
to the family.
And
then came the day of Christmas eve and it was 10 degrees outside.
That evening I held the door open and asked her if she would like
to spend the night. Much to my surprise, she did. First thing the
next morning Lucy was at the back door, "Thank you very much, Lady,
but I'll be leaving now." I opened the door and it was still 10
degrees. She stood in the doorway and swished her tail a few times,
turned around and marched hautily back inside. "Well, maybe not
today."
Luna
was found sitting huddled up on a piece of construction equipment
near a very kind woman's house. When she approached this tiny ragged
looking black kitty in order to pet her, she noticed that she had
a pink rhinestone collar wrapped tightly about her neck and right
foreleg. She scooped up the little creature, who was incredibly
friendly, and rushed her to the vet, who just happened to be the
one for whom I worked at the time. Upon further examination, the
collar was found to be deeply imbedded in the flesh of her underarm
and chest, and was cutting off her air supply at the throat. She
was rushed into emergency surgery to remove the collar, at which
time she nearly hemorrhaged to death as the collar was no longer
blocking the blood from the deep wounds it had caused. The flow
was stemmed and she awoke free of the horrendous pain of the collar.
When I first saw her, she was in the recovery area, bleary from
surgery but awake enough to purr when I spoke to her. She was a
year old, but only weighed 3 pounds. She was skin and bones, smelled
terrible, had a thin, greasy, flaky coat, and no hair at all on
her ears or the area that had been shaven for her surgery. But she
had a spirit, and it was as big as any large wildcat. It shone out
of her eyes, which were as large as the moon, especially in her
tiny, woebegone little face. She was entered into our adoption program
as numbe