I've decided to create a page for the girls and explain how they came to be with us and "who" they are.
Sorry folks.....this is going to be LONG! LOL!
MIW-BAST
D.O.B. 9th April 2004
Domestic short hair, tortoiseshell & white
Miw was aquired from one of my work colleagues, for a friend. She was a tiny, coulourful, ball of fluff aged just 6 weeks. I got her settled in with my friends and their other cat, Albert......then I sadly left her there and went home. Days later, the friends rang me and said that Albert, had got out a window and been hit by a car!
He was at the vet's in a bad way and they weren't sure what the outcome would be. We were asked to take the kitten (Miw) and find her a new home so they could concentrate on Albert. My OH agreed so off I went to get her. When I got her home, I put her carrier on the floor and opened it. Miw got out and immediately leaped into OH's lap and curled up and fell asleep, clever girl knew who she had to win over! After a few hours of simply gazing at the sleeping ball of fur on his lap, OH looked up and said, "Well, we best give her a name and arrange for her vaccinations if we're going to keep her." And that was how Miw came to stay!
** Sadly, poor Albert had to be PTS after 3 weeks due to spinal and organ injuries. He was a gorgeous big Tuxedo cat with a HUGE personality and the warmest of hearts! R.I.P. Sweet Albert! **
Miw is gorgeous, with the silkiest fur imaginable and a loving nature. She is shy with strangers and doesn't like people other than myself, OH, and my son to pet her. But with us she is always very affectionate! Now, 4 years old, she is still very mischievious and active, and loves to play! She travels very well and goes on holiday with us every summer (usually Derbyshire), and to my in-laws with us for Christmas. Miw's full name is Miw-Bast, chosen by my OH, and it is ancient Egyptian for "Cat of Bast", Bast being the ancient Egyptian Cat Goddess.
My gorgeous Miw, my beauty, my princess, my cat goddess........I am forever your willing slave and will always do all in my power to worship you as you so deserve!
And next;
MOUSE
D.O.B 6th June 2007
Domestic shorthair, tabby & white
We decided in summer 2007, that it was time to get another cat to keep Miw company while we were out during the day. I found Mouse's picture on a website and decided to give her owners a call and see if we could go and look at her. We travelled 2 hours to the coast to see her and of course fell in love.....so we took her home! We named her Mouse because all the way home, in her carrier on the back seat, she SQUEAKED just like a mouse!
On arrival home, Mouse was put in the spare room and the process of introducing her and Miw slowly began. After 2 weeks Mouse had settled well in our home and Miw was "tolerant" of her most times, and quite liked her other times! From day one, Mouse was a VERY active, completely mad, NOT very graceful, whirlwind of mischief! Mousie loved to play.....ALL DAY.......often much to Miw's dismay. Not a very affectionate kitten, she couldn't be bothered staying still long enough to be cuddled or held! Her best friend is and has always been her back leg, which she will play with, cuddle up with, suckle on, and knead and purr at........quite odd really LOL!
When Mouse was 8 months old, she began to slow down. She was less active, more inclined to curl in my lap in the evening and go to sleep. At the time, we assumed she was just beginning the journey between kitten and adult cat.....how very wrong we were! We took Mouse to our vet's on 11th April 2008 when we discovered she was eating cat litter, she was more lethargic than could be considered normal, and her playful moments were rare. There, she was discovered to be severely anaemic (non-regenerative), very underweight, incredibly tiny for her age (she had stopped growing at about 6 months), and had a heart murmur. Guilt kicked hard, how could we have NOT noticed that she was so ill?! Blood samples were taken and we were sent home with Mouse for the weekend with an appointment made for first thing Monday. We were advised that her red cell count, hematocrit, and hemoglobin were so low that she should have been dead already, and were warned that it was quite likely she wouldn't make it to her Monday appointment. We spent the weekend on 24 hour watch, my OH and I took turns to watch her constantly as she had developed sleep apnoea as well. Monday arrived and Mousie was still fighting, we took her back to the vet where further blood was taken for testing, and she was put on antibiotics in case of infection, and steroids to try to get her appetite up, and then it was back home for the long wait for test results. Tuesday morning dawned and it was a rush to the vet's again as Mousie's breathing had become very laboured. She was placed in an oxygen-rich cage and we had to leave her.....it nearly broke my heart! On Tuesday evening the vet called, he explained that Mousie would not make it through the night unless something could be done quickly. A blood transfusion was her only hope, however, we didn't have time to do a cross-match of blood, so there was still a 50-50 chance of her rejecting unmatched blood, she could die anyway. It was a chance we were willing to take! Our vet's cat donated blood and the transfusion began at 10pm. The vet called us again at midnight and said that already Mouse was perking up and that he would remain there all night to keep an eye on her!!
We had found a quick-fix and bought Mousie a bit of time! Mouse remained at the vet and had surgery for bone marrow aspiration and biopsy, and then came home on Wednesday evening. The waiting game had begun......the test results would take 10 to 14 days to return, and treatment could take several weeks to kick in. The transfusion would start to deteriorate immediately and the red cells would drop dangerously again within weeks at most.
The test results came back and it was discovered that Mousie has a very rare (in cats) condition called Immune-Mediated Erythroid Aplasia. Treatment was steroids to "kick-start" the bone marrow into creating erythroids (red cell precursors) and to suppress the immune system from destroying the erythroids. Luckily, by this time Mouse had been on steroids to increase her appetite for 3 weeks, so should soon start to show signs of it working. Within just one week of diagnosis, the steroids kicked in and Mousie's body began to regenerate her own red cells!! Against all the odds, our little angel had won the fight!
Mousie is now 18 months old. She is still on high-dose steroids for her illness and has relapsed twice when we have tried to reduce the dosage......we are currently in week 1 of the third attempt, and hoping this time will be "third time lucky"! Mouse is still very tiny, the size of a 6 month old kitten and very unlikely to grow much. She has gained weight, though it frequently fluctuates. She is once again a very active, still not graceful, bundle of energy and mischief. We have developed a very close bond since her illness, and she now follows me everywhere I go when I'm home. She is a very affectionate, loving, playful and much-loved cat, and she is truly my "Miracle Kitty". We don;t know what the future holds, life expectancy with this disease is estimated to be 2 to 4 years.....the disease will eventually win.....which is even more heart-breaking as she is still so very young! We will be happy for all the time that we are blessed with our Mousie.
My sweet angel Mousie, I love you with all my heart and will do everything in my power to keep you happy and content for as long as you oblige to remain here with us mere mortals.
And lastly, in loving memory of my black beauty.
SQUIRT
D.O.B 3rd May 1998
Domestic short hair, all black
Squirt was the only surviving kitten of my house-mate's cat. She was rejected by her mother from birth, and was completely hand-reared by me. Squirt was born with a curved spine and a deformed tail. The spine defect caused walking to be difficult, but she eventually managed to master a sideways shuffle like a crab. The deformity in her tail meant that the tail was bent to lie flat across her bottom making it difficult to keep her back regions clean, it had to be amputated when she was 4 months old. With attentive care and much love, Squirt grew to be a lovely cat with an affectionate and loving personality. She was deepest black and looked almost blue in some lights, and had the most incredible blue eyes! Sadly, I had to leave her behind in Canada when I moved to England 8 years ago, but I visited her at least once a year when I got home to see family! I got the heart-breaking telephone call on December 13th 2006 that my lovely Squirt had been PTS because her worsening spine was causing pelvic problems and intense pain.
Squirt, my lovely black beauty.......I will never ever forget you, you were my first, you were my baby, and I will always love you and remember the special bond that we shared.