Most of my week was spent getting ready for Dava’s surprise party, but I did manage to get a few shots I was happy with this week.

Emma had a playdate this week with her best friend from first grade. They are really funny and silly together. I love how this photo captured that.

I took these two photos at my parents house while waiting for the carpet cleaners. Nora was just playing on my parents bed and I was snapping away.

We managed to get our Christmas tree up this week too. Flora discovered her new favorite spot in the house.

Please visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom to view all the Weekly Winners participants.

Ever since Flora’s visit to the vet a few weeks ago I have been keeping her in the laundry room.

The vet said she might need some time to get retrained to use the litter box. Also we never really ruled out cystitis, due to the blood in her urine. I wanted to keep her confined to the laundry room until we ruled out a medical problem.

We were supposed to recheck her urine after 2 weeks. A few days ago I went to the vet to pick up a little box and this really cool litter called “Nosorb“. You are supposed to put only the Nosorb in a litter pan. It doesn’t absorb urine, but gives cats the feel of cat litter. I thought it was neat, but Flora didn’t.

The first thing she did was go into the box and scratch all the litter out of it and spread it all around the cabinet where her box is located. I kept checking to see if she peed, so I could collect the urine to take to the vet. I kept looking in the box, but it was dry. Then at the end of the day I noticed that she had been peeing all around the litter box. GRRRR! I was able to suck some of it up with a syringe so that I could take it to the vet.

After that I spent forever cleaning up small black pellets of Nosorb and cat pee. I dropped off the sample to the vet yesterday, and expected a call with the results today.

I did get the call, but no results. Apparently the lab spilled the sample in transit! Why did this have to happen to Flora, who is such a pain to get urine from???? For plenty of other cats it would have been no problem at all. But for Flora it is a total pain to get urine.

The vet was super nice about it and offered to do just about anything for us. I decided to drop her off there tomorrow morning and let them worry about getting the urine this time!

I heard from the vet today about Flora. The results are that we still don’t know if there is a medical problem.

She had multiple blood tests done, and all those turned out normal. Her kidneys are functioning normal. But her urinalysis was a bit inconclusive. Cats really don’t get urinary tract infections, but they do get cystitis. I have had more experience with this than I could ever want. That is what my old kitty Amos had. He used to pee bright red urine on my bed.

Flora’s urinalysis did show a significant amount of blood. But, we aren’t sure what caused it. Earlier in the day the vet tried to get urine from her by sticking a needle into her bladder, called a cystocentesis. But they weren’t able to get enough urine to run a full test. But what they got didn’t have any blood in it. So they kept her for the day and waited for her bladder to fill up again. Later they did the cysto again under ultrasound. On the ultrasound they saw some “sludge” in her bladder and the urine was bloody.

Now the question is where the sludge and blood came from. It could be that they just didn’t get any of that “sludge” in the first urine. Or the blood may have come from the first cysto. The bladder bleeds very easily.

So, we still aren’t sure. I still want to know for sure if she has cystitis or not before we start any other treatment. We decided to wait for 2 weeks to let her bladder heal. Then we will try to get another sample by having her pee in a litter box with litter that won’t absorb. We should be able to do another urinalysis and figure out if she still has blood in her urine.

If she does, we will start her on meds for the cystitis. If not, then we will see how the behavioral changes are going. Since yesterday she has been in the laundry room. She has been using her litter box religiously in there. I feel bad that she is isolated from all of us, but I don’t feel like I have much of a choice right now.

We should have some answers in another 2 weeks.

Remember my cute tiny kitten? Flora is a year old already. It seems like yesterday that I was flying to Seattle to pick her up.

She has grown into a full fledged cat and she is still adorable. She is still small, only about 7 pounds. She is a small compact cat, typical of American Shorthairs. She has striking markings and adorable big eyes. People always comment on how beautiful she is. So many people have told me that she is the most beautiful cat they have ever seen.

She is adorable, and we all love her. One thing I don’t love, though, is that she has started peeing on my carpet. I feel like I am cursed when it comes to cats and urinary problems. Our old cat Amos used to get cystitis all the time and pee on my bed. I thought that was terrible. Now I think that was easier. At least then I could just wash all the blankets and sheets and get the pee out. It is nearly impossible to get it out of my rugs.

When we got back from our last trip to North Carolina I noticed that it smelled like cat urine in our stairway. That night I got out the black light and went pee hunting. I found tons of spots on the landing, and more downstairs. The next day I found her squatting and peeing on the landing.

Now I have a bunch of issues. The first is getting the pee smell out and the second is how to get her to stop the urinating. I decided to take her to the vet today to rule out any medical problems. I should get the results tomorrow. But my gut tells me it is just a behavioral problem. She gave me some suggestions and ultimately said that there are medications we can try that have a 90% success rate. That was a big relief to me. I don’t want to medicate her, but I am happy that there is something we can do if all the other things don’t work.

I love Flora, but I just can’t deal with a cat that urinates all over my house. She is confined to the laundry room for the next week so she doesn’t have access to any of her favorite pee spots. The vet said some cats just need to be reminded and retrained to use the litter box. If all else fails, I guess we will have a kitty on Prozac.

These are the pictures I took of Flora and her sisters at the breeders house.

This is Flora and her sister Merry Weather. Flora is in the back.

Flora

Flora’s sister Aurora

Flora’s sister Merry Weather

These pictures are of one of Flora’s relatives. He was a gorgeous cat! Flora won’t have quite as “wide” of a face, since she is a female.

None of these pictures really capture how cute Flora is in real life. I have been trying to get some more shots since she has been home. I hope to get a photo I love soon!

Just a quick post to update everyone on our new kitty. Scott is out of town this week. He left Sunday and won’t be back until Friday night. I have been spoiled lately–he hasn’t been gone this long in a very long time. I miss him!

I think we are going to keep the kitty’s name Flora. That is what the breeder named her. I haven’t come up with anything I like better. The kids like Flora, and Emma and Ian both said they want to keep her name Flora. So, I am pretty sure, Flora it is.

She is doing well adjusting. I can tell everyday she is getting more outgoing. Last night, after the kids were in bed, I opened the bathroom door and let her come out into my room. She came out and looked around, and then hid under my bed. She slept there all last night. Early today she started purring when I petted her. That was a big improvement.

I didn’t spend much time with her today. I am just getting ready to go to bed and she is currently running around my room pouncing on things I think she is feeling at home!

Pictures are coming soon, I promise!

Our new sweet kitty is home!

It was so hard to choose just one. I was so glad that I actually went there and saw them, rather than picking one out from the pictures. I went there totally planning on picking Aurora. She looked the cutest to me in the pictures that Alicia sent me. She said that she had the mellowest personality, and that was what I was looking for. But, when I got there I completely changed my mind.

Aurora was cute, but they were all cute–much cuter than their pictures. She was cute, but she was so scared. She hid behind her litter box the whole time. She hardly came out at all. She was VERY shy. I was worried that our crazy loud house would overwhelm her completely.

I had a much harder time deciding between Flora and Merry weather. Flora was the most outgoing. She was the first one to come out and check us out. She was playful. and liked the toys. Merry weather took a few minutes, but she warmed up and was playful too. They both had features that I liked. I loved Flora’s wide face and big eyes. I loved Merry weather’s light silver and dark black coloring–Flora’s silver was a bit more brown. Alicia told me that Flora was the pick of the litter. I think that her personality finally convinced me. I think that her spunky personality will fit in better with our family.

She was perfect on the trip. She never made a sound. I could tell she was scared, but she was a great traveler. We are home now, and she is still pretty scared. I decided to keep her in our room for a few days while she gets more used to us. She is hiding in the bathroom right now. I hope that she settles down and feels better tomorrow.

I can’t wait for the kids to see her and find out that we have a new kitty! I’ll post some pictures soon.

We are getting a kitten!!

About 6 weeks ago I had spoken to a breeder in California. I was waiting for her cat to have her kittens. She kept telling me that once they were born I could put down a deposit. They were due on December 28th, and would be ready to go home around the end of March. I told her we were in Utah, and that I would come out to pick up the kitten when she was ready to go home. She always seemed a bit wishy washy, but I figured she just wanted to wait until the kittens were born so she knew what kind of a litter she had, and what kittens would be available. I tried to call her yesterday, and her machine was full. I sent her another email. She told me that her cat had 3 female and 1 male kittens. We went back and forth a few times, and then she told me she didn’t want to place any kittens outside of California. She said she had enough interest in California and she didn’t want to stress out the kitten. I was so irritated! I had been waiting and waiting on her. I told her right up front that we were in Utah, and she said it wasn’t a problem. Ugh!

So I started doing some more research, and I found another breeder in Washington, and she has 3 female kittens ready to go home now! I spoke to her on the phone today, and we are all set. I am going to fly to Seattle on Saturday to pick one out! She is coming from Star Kisses Cattery She has 3 available, and I will wait until I see them to pick one out. Here are some pictures of the 3 kittens she has:
AURORA

FLORA

Merryweather

I can’t wait to see them on Saturday!

Well, I think we are one step closer to getting a new kitten.

A few months ago Jen talked to me about wanting to get rid of all her animals before she moved into her new house. She said she was going to try to find a new home for her cat and Amos together. I thought it would be next to impossible to find a home for two cats over 10 years old. I told Jen that if she couldn’t find someone to take them, I would take Amos. I really didn’t want him, but I couldn’t let him go to the pound.

Surprisingly, I got a phone call from Jen a couple of days ago the she had someone coming to look at Amos! She wanted to make sure it was still OK if she gave him away. I didn’t get the message until it was too late to call. I called her the next morning and she said the people had loved him and took both cats home. I was happy that he had a new home, but a little bit sad at the same time. At least when he was with Jen, I knew where he was, and how he doing. Now he is with some strangers and I will never know how he is. I hope they love him and give him a good home!

I contacted a breeder about a Silver Tabby American Shorhair kitten. The cat was pregnant and due December 28th, so she should have kittens any day now. I sent her an email today, and I hope to hear back from her soon. She doesn’t start taking deposits until after the kittens are born. I can’t wait to hear if there is a new female kitten available for us!

I have been wanting to get a cat for a long time. I always had cats growing up. Scott and I had a cat, Amos, that we got when I worked at University Pet Clinic in 1995. We had him until we sold our house and moved in with my parents. Then my friend Jen took him for us. We intended to get him back, but when we moved into our new house I just couldn’t do it. He was so happy with Jen. She had him for almost 2 years. She has another cat, and they loved each other. They slept all curled together, and I just couldn’t bear to take Amos away from his friend.

I have been wanting a cat, but Scott was really opposed to getting a cat. He wanted a dog, and said that if I got a cat he was getting a dog. I REALLY don’t want a dog. First of all, they are too much work. I have enough to do with the 3 kids! I know I would be the one who did everything for the dog. And, since we live on the golf course, we can’t have a fence. We can have an electric fence, but they are expensive and don’t always work. Plus, we just travel too much for a dog. So, since Scott was so against it, I just kind of put the idea of a cat out of my mind.

But, today he surprised me! Out of the blue he said “I was thinking we should go get a cat”. I was shocked. He wants to do it for the kids. They really love cats. Ian is so sweet with them. There was a cat at my parents house in NC last week and he loved it. When we were trick-or-treating Ian saw a cat at one of the houses and just couldn’t stop petting it and talking about it. That is what got Scott really thinking about it. But, when he said we could get one today I hugged him and jumped up and down! And, it was his idea. I didn’t even talk him into it

He wanted to just go get one today from the pound. I had all I could go to control myself and not just run down there and get one! But, I think the best thing to do is to wait until after Christmas when we are back from Maui. I don’t want to leave a little tiny kitten by itself in our house while we travel for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I saw a cat a while ago that I loved. I did some research and found out it was a Silver Tabby American Shorthair.

I checked into it, and it seems like the perfect breed for us. It is short hair and a pretty mellow easy cat. It is great with kids, quiet, and low activity level. Sounds perfect for us! Click here to see what the Iams Cat site has to say about it.

Now I just need to see if I can find a breeder and find one that will have kittens ready sometime around January.