Hallo, World!

Hallo, World!

Mummy says she is now handing this blog over to Me, Trixie.

But as I am not yet very good at spelling, it will be mostly pictures till I learn a bit more.

I am still waiting for the new, little brofur she promised Me. She says the lady who has been looking after him till now loves him so much that she might change her mind and want to keep him. If she does that, Mummy will have to start looking again...

Here are some pictures of Me, taken over the last week. First, a picture of Me playing with one of my many toys:

And here I am on TV:

And finally, another one of Me looking Impossibly Cute, as Mummy says:

'Bye 'bye fur now!

A (Relatively) Quiet Weekend

Trixie goes from strength to strength. She still has to take her antibiotic pills - just one more day to go - but she seems to be fully recovered and as bent on mischief as ever ;-)

If all goes well, I hope to bring home a little brother for her some time this coming week.

Meanwhile, here she is, continuing to make herself at home...

This evening, she even asked for a tummy-rub, just like Possum used to do.

Every modern home requires running water...

Crocs hold no fear for a fierce panther

There are lots of new toys here...

And a snug basket...

But Mummy's bed is best...

The Panther's Progress

I am relieved and thankful to report that Trixie seems to be feeling much better this morning. She slept on my bed last night (without making any attempt to pounce on my feet) and this morning, awoke refreshed (but not yet feisty enough to resist when I popped an antibiotic pill in her mouth). She ate, if not a hearty breakfast, at least half a bowlful of her new, dry food (IAMS, which Einat the vet recommended). In any case, as I mentioned in a previous post, she prefers to eat in the evening and at night. She then resumed her investigation of her new home, eventually taking up a position much loved by Possum, on the tummy-warmer Digital Converter. 

I remain cautious, but she does seem to be on the mend.

More Worries

Trixie was listless and off her food yesterday evening and this morning, she also seemed to have a temperature. I had intended to take her in to the vet today, anyway, to have her shots, and it's lucky I did because it turned out she did, indeed, have a temperature. The vet (the nice, new one) thinks she might have pneumonia, but she doesn't seem to have any other symptoms, such as difficulty breathing. Anyway, she (the vet) gave Trixie a shot of antibiotics to be on the safe side, and I have to give her pills twice a day. As I said, she doesn't seem to be displaying any other symptoms but I'm SUPER SENSITIVE and SUPER NERVOUS about anything that could possibly be wrong with her. I couldn't bear it if I were to lose another furbaby now, so soon after the loss of my beloved Possum...And after my previous experience with vets, I find myself always doubting them, whoever they may be. The other vet, despite his poor bedside manner, would probably have run half a dozen tests already, including x-rays. I called the (nice) vet a few minutes ago to ask how soon I could expect the antibiotics she administered to take effect. She said, by morning and not to get into a panic yet. But I can't help it. I've become so attached to my little panther that I'm almost freaking out already. Maybe she has eaten something poisonous - like the flowers I had for Shabbat.

Shimona - the Panicky Mum

Trixie's Brave New World

Trixie seems to be settling in nicely and to have made herself at home. I had forgotten how much mischief kittens and young cats can get up to! I had also forgotten how good they can be at hiding just when you most need to find them. How in the world does she manage to get up to the very top bookshelf and hide behind the books?! Now that I come to think of it,  when they were younger, Possum (and I think Pixie also) used to jump from the draining board in the kitchen to the top of the refrigerator and thence, to the top of the overhead storage cupboards! One could search for a long time before one found them - and now Trixie is up to the same old tricks.

Today, when the air-raid sirens went off again in Jerusalem, I found myself wondering what on earth do the inhabitants of Sderot and the other towns on the border with the Gaza Strip do about their pets when they have a Code Red (incoming missiles) alert. They have only 15 seconds to reach a shelter or a Secure Space. How do you even find a cat who could be on a cupboard, in a cupboard, under a bed, chair, sofa - much less persuade said feline to enter the nearest shelter - in such a short space of time?

Ah well, to get back to the subject in hand, I thought I'd  show you my little black panther exploring her new home :-) Enjoy - I do. And I'm sure she does too...

A nice, comfortable bed...

It's always good to have a panoramic view. That way, we can keep an eye on all the neighbours.

The sooner we get this computer thing figured out, the sooner we can start writing our own blog.

Time to play...

Not for nothing am I known as the Black Panther!

What's this? Ah, salad!

Two cats are better than one...

Enter the Black Panther

Just as I did when my beloved Minxie - my very first furbaby - crossed the Bridge, I took myself and my broken heart off for a brief vacation. When I came back the last time, way back in 1995, Possum was waiting for me. This time, I came back to an empty house (I can hardly call it a home) and realised that I couldn't bear it any longer. Maybe three weeks is too short a time, and insufficiently respectful of Possum's memory. I still have sudden attacks of tears when I think of him and Pixie. Nevertheless, on Sunday, I took the plunge and picked up the phone to the vet, Dr. Einat, to ask if she knew of any kitties who were looking for a forever home. And that is how, on Monday evening, a little black panther entered my life.

Her foster Mum, Barbara, found her under a dumpster about three months ago (she's a bit hazy about dates). We think she's about three and a half to four months old. Barbara had named her Schmendrick. Well, I'm sorry, but I think that's very insulting and no cat of mine is going to be burdened with a name like that! It didn't take me all that long to choose a name for her. Since she's full of tricks, I thought Trixie would suit her much better. Of course, it's not her real name. As everyone who knows cats is aware, each cat has no less than THREE names, only one of which is known to his or her Human. But Trixie will do nicely for this little black panther.

It soon transpired that, if I want to get any sleep at night, Trixie is going to have to be shut out of the bedroom - at least until she outgrows the desire to pounce on my feet every few minutes. Pixie used to do that too. Another trait she and Pixie share is the habit of hiding under the bed, in the very farthest corner - although even Pixie never hid under the sofa, and I can't imagine how she manages to crawl in there, it's so low. All in all, I think it must have been Pixie, rather than Possum, who chose her and sent her to me.

The first day she spent with me, I was worried because she didn't seem to be eating. But I discovered she prefers to eat in the evening and at night - and that, when she does, she has a voracious appetite. I don't understand why, however, with all the food I give her, she is apparently eating earth from the flowerpots of my houseplants!!! If anyone has any ideas about that, I'd really like some answers.

She's now trying to climb onto the keyboard, so I will leave you with the first photo I took of her and then go and play with her.

Five Days

Greetings to all Possum's friends - Feline, Canine and Human!

It's now five days since my beautiful boy left me, and not a day goes by without me dissolving into tears several times. Anything can set me off - the black cat in Steimatzky's bookshop that sits on a stool facing a wall of books, making her toilette and looking up, every now and then, to peruse the books, for all the world as if she's trying to decide which one to buy; the tabby cat in the car park outside my office that sits on the air-conditioning unit outside the window, having crossed a narrow pipe that does double-duty as a bridge; another tabby, with a fluffy tail like Possum's, who has somehow managed to get up onto the roof of the security guards' hut at the building's entrance and sits inside the casing of part of the air-conditioning unit there, nonchalantly making his toilette and turning away - just like Possum - when I try to take his photo; and most of all, coming home to an empty apartment, and knowing that when I start my pre-retirement leave in five days time, there'll be no little furbaby  running to greet me when I return home from work, exhausted, for the last time.

I was overwhelmed, and touched, by the number of comments left by so many people and kitties - woofies, too - after Possum's passing. I don't know how to thank you all individually for your support and sympathy. Some of you, I already know. Many of you, I have never "met" - but I hope to rectify that over the next few weeks and that you will continue to visit this blog, so that when the time is right and Possum and Pixie and Minxie send me a new furbaby, or furbabies, the new kitty (or kitties) will have a ready-made "family".

I would like also to thank Ann of Zoolatry, for the beautiful memorial graphic she made. 

When I've recovered a bit more, and can figure out how to do it, I shall make a separate Memorial page for all my furbabies and put this picture, and pictures of Pixie and Minxie, in a sidebar, as I've seen on other blogs. 

In the meanwhile, all I can do is wait - and learn to live with the pain of loss.

Shimona