my tortie

[frenchgirl]

Hi...I adopted a female tortie from a no kill cat shelter in 1998...she is five years old and boy I didn't know what i was getting into!!! Most people I have met their torties are fairly affectionate, however, i have also heard of the opposite where they can be quite tempermental and nasty. My girl's name is Devonander (she came with it and since she knows her name i thought I had better not change it) although we just call her Devon. Most torites are very VERY playful and can get up to the dickens!! I got her shortly after a man found her in a dumpster....kids had burnt off her fur, broke her tail and she was under so much duress that she had the worst pustular eye infection and upper respitory infection I had, at the point, ever saw with a cat. I was delivering litter to the shleter and as i was walking by her cage i felt this paw tap me on my arm and one look...well i was a goner so i took her home a half hour later, and fixed her up. The vet said she would NEVER grow her fur back but i proved him wrong (well SHE proved him wrong). She is the most loving, most kissy, most princess of a cat i have ever hadthe pleasure of knowing. I actually had to put her on Prozac last year as she developed sever seperation anxiety from me and would pee on something that I owned if I was gone too long during the day, or pissed her off somehow. (she was to the point where if a door was shut between me and her she would bonk her head into it repeaditly trying to open it and if i didn't pick her up immediatly after walking in the door from work she would climb up me like a tree. Also she insisted sitting on my lap during bathroom duties and sleeping with her head just under my chin at night). Now that quirky behaviour has cleared up and she is still pretty loving. I love her to death. Torties are great.

[AmberLee]

She is a torti! Wow, she had a rough early life. No wonder she is so dependent on you. It sounds like it's worked out well now. What a beauty she is! Her eyes remind me of pools in woodlands. And affectionate, too. I think you both lucked out in finding on another. {{{hugs to you both}}}

[wayne0214]

french girl, Good for you. in taking Devon home with you. It seems as though many people take pleasure in torturing a small animal. They need to have their butts kicked! At any rate, she found you, and knew that you would provide a good, loving home for her. This is something that she was looking for from the previous bunch that came into contact with.

I continually have trouble with Snow Cat, a 1 year old flame-point siamese, peeing on my dirty clothes, especially those in the clothes hamper. I don't know if this is because of him missing me during the day, or what. He seems to only do this when their litter box is beginning to fill up.

I have 5 torties in my menagerie. One of them is an outdoor cat, 3-year old, Checker, and is feral, in that she will not allow me to touch her,. But she is content to stay around the place, even though I have never picked her up for some huggies or scritchies. On the other hand, I have 4 indoor torties of which all of them are affectionate. The oldest of the indoor group is Princess, and the other two are Maine Coon kittens (Tiara and Pepper) they are about 9 weeks old. The remainder tortie is a tiny kitten (in size, not in age) that is part Abyssinian. (I havn't named her yet). All allow me to pick them up for some scrithies and huggies. Princess allows me to pick her up when she is ready, otherwise, forget it! Princess is a lap cat, but only when she wants to be.

Personally, I'd consider Devon a fortunate find, in that she really appreciates your affection and attention you give her, and this is not to mention the rescue of her from a traumatic beginning. Good for you, and blessings to you and Devon.


..........wayne

[frenchgirl]

Hi Wayne...I agree Devon is a find. I love her so much I can't express the joy she gives me every day. Last summer (year ago today) I had found out she had CANCER and I had already lost a shepard to leukemia 4 years prior. The vet was so great. I am still paying off the bill but so far it hasn't returned and it has a very very low chance of re-occuring. I would do ANYTHING for her and i think she knows it!!!

Have you thought about possibly putting your flame point onto a prescription drug?? I usually do not recommend in general pills for people or pets, but after having Devon for two years and she would continally pee on my stuff (my side of the bed, my jeans, my pillow, where i sit on the couch, my bathtowel etc...NEVEr my husbands) i basically had had enough. I took her to the vet and i sat there with Devon wrapped around me...her head was under my neck and her front arms were wrapped around my neck and her body was glued to my front torso with her little legs wrapped as far as they could go. The vet thought it was cute and I am sure it was a picture, but this is how she sat most of the time even when I was at home or wrapped around my shoulders purring and drooling away. After 48 hours on the Prozac there was the hugest difference in the world. She has been on it for 2 and a half years and had ONE accident and that was MY fault. not hers. So its been a blessing in disguise. Even my vet put one of his cats on a similar drug as he had a male cat who would not quit spraying for the life of him and it worked. I think there are some animals, like some people, who need a bit of a mental boost to make sure all the connections in the head go smoothly.

How did Checker come into your life???
Michelle

[AvaJoy]

Reading about your tortie girl makes me wonder what I am in store for . . . I trapped a little tortie about 2 weeks ago, and after having her spayed I decided to work with her and not just release her because she had a previous broken leg that did not heal properly. She has now bonded to me and is petrified of everyone and everything else! She will never have the run of the house (or the chance to pee inappropriately) because she is FeLV+ and I have my other cats' health to consider, so she is in a large cage/dog crate to recuperate and she feels safe there. I look forward to her growing more and more affectionate toward me, and was delighted to hear about another tortie that is crazy-in-love with her human!

[frenchgirl]

I am so happy to hear you are considering keeping her, not just because she is attatched to you now but because she is FeLV+. You are in for a road ahead you you, whether it be difficult or not. The good thing is that she has responded to you very positively. I have had a few vets, vet techs, and other customers of mine in general tell me that tortie's seem to be either really really affectionate or can be pretty tempermental. My sister also has a tortie and she is a purring/biter who has no qualms about giving people swats and chewing on their pant cuffs, then coming back for bum pats and chin scratches.

Do you have access to a porch in your home? What i had one customer of mine do was screen off an area on her porch for her 3 FeLV+ cats. The rest of the porch was screened off and her other cats had the run of that part of the day, and the positive cats had the run of it that night. It worked out really well.

I would bet that in one year she will come a long way if you continue to work with her and just plain love her as you are doing right now. Our other cats have. Its amazing what animals will repond to if just given the chance.

Michelle

[wayne0214]

Michelle, forgive the days delay in getting back to you. No, I havn't thought of taking Snow Cat to a vet for this problem. I changed my firkid's litter arrangement yesterday. Formerly, I used sand, but since I am going away for a couple of weeks, I though that it would be best to install a litter system that is more practical, for my pet sitters to clean up , and didn't take so much time and energy to maintain. However, I am glad that I bought the litter material, because I can see that it is a definite improvement over sand. Now I'm watching how well they all adapt to the commerical litter, especially Snow Cat. So far, I have seen that they like to dig in the litter, more so than in sand. I'll have to wait and see what happens, and check any piles of clothes or boxes of rags to see if they have "kitty tinkle" on them

........wayne

[frenchgirl]

Hi Wayne...hope this reahes you before you go on your holidays (happy holidays by the way!!)

I have recently switched to a cedar litter that clumps up beautifly...much better than regular clump litter and gravel litter. Its called "Katgo" or another product which is similar and the same results is calles"Rainforest Cat Litter" which is cedar and flushable. (so is the other one). It has no silica in it and I use it most of the time now because it smells (finally) like there isn't a litterbox in the house and it clumps up great. It still tracks but not like those annoying granules of other litter. I did a slow switch to it in January...so far three of the four cats love it except GUESS WHO??? My tortie. She refuses and there's not much I can do about it.

I would personally like to train them all how to use the toilet.

MIchelle

[AvaJoy]

Muskrat will eventually have to room with my "son" Meeshe (blonde tabby) who is also FeLV+. He, too, was a rescue and is about 3 or 4 yrs. old now and still an otherwise healthy, happy boy . . . I keep my fingers and toes crossed!

[frenchgirl]

Hi! OUr next door neighboor has an feLV+ cat who is 14 years old and hasn't had to go onto any steroids or any type of medication yet!! She got him when he was 7 mos old...so there is hope!! He is only suffering from mild arthritis now, but nothing related to being a postive kitty. I know a few people who have postivie tested cats who are older and in great health with little to no pills taken to combat the illness!

I think cats have an amazing way of staying healthy with lots of love and attention and healthy foods.

All the best!!

[yorkster]

Frenchgirl, your kitties are beautiful!
And the story about Devon was sad, but had the best happy ending I am glad that you found each other.