Frankie is the name of our female cat that we bought together just before we got married. She was the first pet that I ever had an investment in owning. She’s a beautiful, white-haired Burmese with bright blue eyes – hence the “Old Blue Eyes” moniker. Frankie is “Sweet Sixteen,” but has found some “Evil Ways.” Whenever we travel, we always hire someone to stay with her and the dogs, and when we return, revenge seems to be on her mind.
She’s been especially bad this past week, and we’re hoping that it’s not a kidney condition. When I got up the other morning, she promptly peed on the sheets. We then scrambled to get all the bed covers in the washer and treated the mattress. She also left a turd in my wife’s bathtub to let us know that it wasn’t just me she was after. However, the next day, she went into my office and peed on the chair. Once again, it was Spot Shot to the rescue. I can deal with her hair-balls, and an occasional dried turd that gets matted in her hair, but revengeful urine stains are not acceptable. Bad Kitty!
I took Frankie to the Vet yesterday. Hopefully, she doesn’t think that it was revenge on my part and cause for further retaliation on her part. She’s a fluffy twenty-five pounds, barely fits in her kitty carrier, and cries non-stop whenever she’s trapped in there, including some lengthy cross-country moves. Frankie has now lived in Indiana, Illinois, Texas, and Oregon, so she’s well traveled but clearly upset when she’s on the go. You would hardly know that she’s around most days, hidden comfortably under our bed, but becomes quite vocal, like clockwork, when it’s feeding time.
Our “Fat Cat” has earned the respect of our similar-sized dogs, even though Tally still tries to taunt her. Frankie has a pretty good right-cross punch, and bats our dogs away with ease. She’s very comfortable with Tinker, but initially joined our household with only one bigger dog named Belle and several other kitties that she has since outlived. Frankie no longer is part of a kitty committee, and now a solo act, but managed to tolerate two cousin kitties that stayed with us for awhile.
We’ve been racking up some Vet bills of late. Tinker alone takes two liquid doses of antibiotics, two tablets for allergies, an eye salve, and bacteria swabs daily, not to mention a monthly heartworm preventative. It’s a good thing that Tinker isn’t revengeful, especially after several weeks of trying to cram tablets down her throat that she would somehow hide and spit out later. We eventually paid to have these pills liquefied, so they were more tolerable to ingest. I made the mistake of trying to hide them in her food, and now she won’t eat without carefully inspecting each kibble to make sure it’s not a disguised bitter pill. Needless to say, I’ve made too many trips to the Vets and our credit card is getting worn out. Tally usually goes along for the ride, but so far she’s remained healthy, happy, and drug free. Tally runs and hides when it’s time for her heartworm medication and fights to keep it out of her mouth. As the low-cost pet, she’s now the “Good Dog.”
We have a bedtime tradition called “Ham Time,” although it’s really healthier turkey that we now feed them. It accelerates the last outing for the dogs each night in anticipation of their special nightcap. They do their business outside quickly and then stand by the refrigerator, waiting for their meat treat. Frankie is also impatiently pacing as I bring the pups in from their final walk of the day, waiting for her portion of turkey goodness. You would think it’s Thanksgiving every night at our house – if only the pills went down as easy.
Extra loads of wash, dry cleaning bills, grooming, stain remover, walks, trips to the Vets, medication, turkey slices, chews, treats, doggy bags, kitty litter, and food are the price we pay for our pets. However, even though I complain about it, these pets are well worth it. They are now my only co-workers, and retirement life would be lonely without them. The get all excited when they hear my wife’s car coming up the driveway, and sit by the garage door anxiously waiting to see her. I’m happy to see her, too, although not always as expressive as they are.
Kisses