ADOPT A SENIOR PET MONTH

November is Adopt A Senior Pet Month.

I have always had senior pets.

When I was a child my mother had a pet chicken named Henny Penny. She had her own chicken coup and when she wasn’t eating bird seed, she pecked at bugs around the yard.

Troubles seemed like the oldest dog on record, but we couldn’t be sure of her age. Our neighbors Oscar and Eloise moved to Oregon when I was a preschooler. We took their dogs Troubles and Queenie, two sister mongrels. I could not identify the many different breeds that went into them. Queenie was killed on the highway right after the neighbors moved.

I remember that when my dad pulled Queenie’s body off the highway, Troubles followed him and watched as Queenie’s grave was dug.

I was a preschooler then., We still had the dog Troubles when I graduated from high school and she lived for a few years after that.

I adopted a four month old cat in March 1972. Both of his hind legs were broken; he had malnutrition and various other medical problems. The shelter manager said he was too badly injured to live. He was slated for euthanasia at the shelter, but I loved him from the moment I saw him. I named him Thaddeus and he lived until December 1992; He had just turned twenty.

A few years after Thaddeus died, I had a very rough year. My dad died of cancer in August of 1995. As I struggled with that, we knew a stray cat lived in the neighborhood. I told all our neighbors I would take the cat if anyone caught her.

On December 16 of that year, the day before my birthday, my husband noticed the stray, a pretty young calico in our back yard.

He went out and brought her in. We guessed she was seven to nine months old. I named her Felina, after a Mexican dancer in an old Marty Robbins song, “Music would play and Felina would whirl.” Felina is still living with us. She is now twenty years old and will soon celebrate 20 years of living with us.

We did adopt a senior pet when we adopted Lancelot from the Pet Adoption Alternative in Warren. The vet guessed Lancelot was eight years old then.

Tiki our dog adopted from Michigan Animal Rescue is 14 born in 2001 and Senior pets bring a lot of joy. They are easier to cope with than kittens and puppies. There is no potty training.

What is or was your oldest pet?

NEW CHAIR, OLD CATS

I have a new office chair, but I am hiding it under colorful beach towels. The towels add color and fun to my office. More important they protect the chair from the cats.

Lancelot, a huge grey cat about ten year old, hurries over to the chair and climbs up to the back where he hangs on like the chair is a bucking bronco about to throw him. The old chair was a rocker, and I used to sometimes forget he was there. Lancelot learned that he has to hang on, but I don’t want him hanging on. I hope he will cling to the beach towels and not to the new chair.

Kira, a younger cat is a climber too. The chair is in front of the book case, and it is part of her daily climb. I didn’t mind the climbing or the clinging with the old chair. It had some of its stuffing pulled out by cat paws, and I used the beach towels to hide the damage to the chair.

I hesitated to get a new office chair. I thought the cats would quickly destroy it. They’re working on it.

I have cats. so fancy furniture is not on my want list. Even the floor and walls get some mistreatment. We need to paint, but this year we are putting on a new steel roof and solar panels.

We have all indoor cats so the roof should be safe. My new office chair, however, is in danger from cat claws.

But this chair is new. I want it to last for awhile. I scold Kira. I pull Lancelot off when his claws are sunk deep into the chair.

I have taken Lancelot off the chair several times, and he seems to be okay on the desk. For now.

Cats seem to think new furniture needs to be clawed up, so it looks more cat friendly.

Hairballs Happen

When I pulled my refrigerator out to clean behind it, I found a fresh hairball. I live with cats, so finding hairballs is not unusual. I took out the spray bottle of Lysol and quickly mopped it up.

Usually hair balls are left in places easier to find. The back of the refrigerator was a surprise even though Lancelot, one of my older cats, does go back there sometimes to sleep, and all the cats climb on top the refrigerator. They like high places.

It reminded me of an embarrassing hairball moment from a few years back. When I went to a faculty meeting. I sat at a table with half a dozen other college instructors. I reached in my purse to pull out a pen. Instead I pulled out a hairball.

Hairballs happen. Nowadays I make sure my purse is zipped shut when I am at home, and I glance at the insides before I leave