Hello Again, COTD May '09 Update

I accidently posted this in Pets General late last night when I was probably too sleepy to be posting so I am re-posting it here in Cats General.....


Hi everyone,

I thought I'd pop in to say hello again.
I had the honor and pleasure of having my Tiger Lily be Cat of the Day in May of '09.
Unfortunately, shortly after that, Tiger Lily became ill with yet another bout of the sterile cystitis we'd had trouble with in the past.
Thus a 4 month long period of medicines, diet change, segregating her from the other 4 cats, vet appts., x-rays and ultra-sounds ensued, not to mention a lot of stress and heart ache.
After a lot of soul searching and talking with the vet and ultra-sound specialist, it was decided that Tiger Lily just wasn't meant to be part of a multi-cat home. We made the difficult-for-we-humans decision to re-home Tiger Lily.
Although we miss her like crazy and would've given anything to be able to keep her with us, she is now an only-cat in a loving home. No more cystitis, no more medicines, no more stress of having to share a home with other cats.

So, I am now just Momto4FemaleFelines.

The difference in our household is amazing. The stress with Tiger Lily here was more far reaching than I ever realized. It had caused my Molly to start marking the house, which all pet owners know is not a pleasant thing.

Molly no longer marks. My oldest cat (she's only approaching 5 but is the oldest), Philly, no longer stays hiding out in 'her' room by herself 95% of the time. She is out and about, playing more with the other 3 cats, developing a relationship with my husband. My sister cats, Kit & Molly, are spending more time togehter. Piper, Tiger Lily's baby, is the only one that hasn't seemed to change...she's her 'loves to sleep' self/ceiling Gremlin watcher self. I was worried she'd get depressed over her Momma leaving, but she seems just fine.

Anyway, that's what has happened here at my house....I had hoped to become a more regular member here after Tiger Lily had been chosen as Cat of the Day, but between all the emotional stuff of Tiger Lily's illness and the decision making process and ultimately her leaving us, and then the Holidays, I just never got back here.

We still miss Tiger Lily like crazy, but as one of my friends said, "rescuing does not mean they all have to live with you". In my mind, I know I made the right decision to get Tiger Lily into an only-pet home, but my heart still aches at times.

That is sad that Tiger Lily had to move, but thats the best thing for her to be the Alpha Cat, and is better for her former roomates as well.
At least shes where hopefully you can visit.
:love::love::love:
There are some Cats who have to reiign as Top Cat :cool::cool::cool:

Hard as it is, this does sound like the right decision -- and not only for Tiger Lily but for your entire clowder.

It is nice to have you back; I love your siggy pic!

Some of these decisions are heartwrenching, but you did all you could, and it worked out for the best. Welcome back! I love the siggy, too! :)

Thank you for your kind words and compliments on my siggy pic!

We tried for over a year to make it work with Tiger Lily. Pretty much her whole story is told here:
http://cats.about.com/od/feralcatsre...ersey-Kitties/

At first, it seemed Tiger Lily was going to fit in okay. But then after several months it seemed she and especially Molly were fighting for alpha position, and sometimes Kit would get in on the skirmishes as well. We were kind of hoping the ultra sound would've shown a kidney stone and that if there was one, removal would stop the health issues and we could just tackle the behavior part, but alas it just wasn't to be.

Unfortunately, Tiger Lily is not close enough for us to visit, but I have heard from her new family and she's doing well.

Welcome back.:) I'm sorry to hear that you had to rehome Tiger Lily but you did the right thing. Some cats need to be only cats. I had to rehome my cat Cirrus several years ago because he also wanted to be the alpha cat but my Storm wasn't going to back down. Now he's in a wonderful home that even has an outdoor cat run. He does share it with 3 other cats and a pug but there's plenty of room for him to have his own space. I hope that you'll be able to keep posting on PT and I look forward to hearing more about your cats and seeing many pictures of your cats too.:)

We have to do what is best for our babies, and sometimes it is giving them up. It sounds like it has improved everyones quality of life so you know you did the right thing.

You still have 4 so when you have time, come and post pictures of them and tell us what is going on with them.

I gave my Chester to the one he loved the most, the one HE choose to be his human and it was the best thing I ever did for him. He is so happy now and everyone loves him so much there. I get to see him when ever I go visit (which is often) and it took a long time for him to quit running to hide when he saw me because he thought I was going to take him away from his Rie Rie. Now he no longer runs and hides from me so I can still love on him and see him whenever I want!

Krazyaboutkatz,
Thank you for your reply. It is so nice to find people who've been through the same thing and who understand.
If it was only fighting, we may have continued to try things, but with the stress causing the discomfort of the cystitis for Tiger Lily, it just wasn't fair to keep trying because WE wanted to keep her with us.
I went through a lot of guilty feelings in my heart, even though my mind screamed at me that we did the right thing in re-homing Tiger Lily.

I do plan to post more regularly here now! Looking forward to becoming familiar with all the humans and kitties here!

Laura's Babies,
I wish Tiger Lily were close enough to visit. She traveled all the way to Massachusetts! She went to the same adoption center that took her two boy kittens in June of '08. I don't know if you saw the link I put in a post above, but there was a whole big story about how Tiger Lily and Piper came to be part of our household.
I'm glad things worked out for your Chester!

Don't encourage me on the picture thing, LOL!:eek:;) I'm a photo-taking-freak and can sometimes get carried away and when I have a good photo shoot in natural light with the kitties (or "the girls" as I call them), I have a hard time narrowing down just which pics to post and end up posting lots. (This is not the only cat forum I participate on).

But I am looking forward to sharing here and getting know the humans and kitties better!