9..8...7...6..5..we Have Ignatius! Options

[Jon730]

The Cat Shuttle was launced at 12:15 Local Time and re-entered on schedule at 13:00. The payload will be brought to Inbound Decontamination at the Vet at 14:15 Local Time.

All systems are nominal.

[katzen11]

welcome, Iggy !
wishing you and your new family a long and happy life.
Eva

[LoveThem]

OMG, Jon

Your new photos just prove Iggy looks so precious..words cannot do him justice!


Oh, Boy, Iggy....you are now in a perfect place...there is going to be a lot of love surrounding you and your sweet unconditional love will create a happiness where you are..that is priceless!

Congratulations, Jon..your interview could not have been more successful.

I'm glad YOU passed the interview!


Thanks for posting these pictures so quickly. We look forward to more pics and hearing all about your new bundle of joy...What a delight to see him!

[Jon730]

Your new photos just prove Iggy looks so precious..words cannot do him justice!


Oh, Boy, Iggy....you are now in a perfect place...there is going to be a lot of love surrounding you and your sweet unconditional love will create a happiness where you are..that is priceless!

Iggy is back from his big scary day! The vet loved him, and one of the technicians ran out to the car to get her camera and took many pictures of him. Iggy WAS OK with them till they drew the blood sample. (All tests were negative.) The he faced away from them, curled into a ball on the examining table, and fell asleep, til they retiurned with the results.
As soon as I got him home and released him from the Cat Shuttle™, he started playing and purring, so there were no hard feelinhgs. SLOWLY over the next week, we can introduce him to The Girls.

Iggy has the brightest pinkest nose and soles of his feet that I have even seen on a cat! It just made the Vet Staff melt. The vet was one of the senior ones there, and has a weakness for cats, and adores our Siamese, so Iggy had good political connections going in!

[forduffy]

Congratulations, Jon and Iggy! I could not be happier for you, Jon! Best of luck with your little bundle of joy!

[Jon730]

Iggy's Big Day!

All tests at theVet's were negative! So this is likely true for the entire litter! He now has his first shots. The Senior Vet fell in love with him, and he was a huge hit with the Staff. One of the technicians ran off to get her camera, and took many pictures of him.

He was tired when he got home..first time in a car, two trips, then the second involved needles. He mostly slept, and did not eat much. My niece visited last night, and was swept off her feet at how beautiful he is.
My niece lives with a Cat Lady for a landlord, and when she was in college worked as a Vet Assistant, so she is cat-wise.

This morning, however, he decided it was time to Raise Hell. And me. He is eating (And eating), and using the litterbox like a grownup.
The other cats are curious and know Something Is Up.

The Vet looked at his legs and the ratios of the bone sizes and expects he will be a BIG cat!

He has a wonderful disposition, and purrs like a chain saw! If no one steals him (As a few threatened) I will give him a wonderful life...He is precious.

[Jon730]

GROAN! OK, I have it bad.

Remember all the new parents who show you baby pictures, as if you had never seen one before?
Well, THIS is worse.

Home Movies!!! Converted to WMV format from the camera original AVI to save bandwidth.


FOOD ATTACK!!!

Purring Demonstration 1
Purring Demonstration#2
Playtime!

[LoveThem]

Oh, Jon, I saw all your movies. What an absolute bundle of joy. If I need a smile I will know to come here and just play these over and over. I can't see enough of Iggy. I am so glad you did set up that interview. He is so teeny tiny. And loves to play and eat and play and eat and play and eat......

Hugs to both of you. I just can't stop smiling. Thank you for a wonderful morning surprise!

[Jon730]

Hugs to both of you. I just can't stop smiling. Thank you for a wonderful morning surprise!

I admit that when I first logged on here in the depths of my grief I had initially questioned to myself whether it was appropraite to have this thread.

Now I see that the reminder of the joys a new friend delivers serves to remind us all of the best times with our friends who have gone to the Bridge. Our losses are a recent memory and we wonder if we will ever be happy again. I am still miserable about Miles, and always miss her..but seeing Iggy act like Miles did when she fiorst came in gives me hope of another wonderful relationship, and reminds me of the early joys.

So, since all Iggy's labs were clean we decided to do a short two minute introduction today.

Well, there were two reactions:

WHO IS THIS COMMONER, TO STARE SO BOLDY AT OUR ROYAL SELF????

And:



Murphy is somewhat less gracious, and NOT PLEASED. And the feeling is mutual.

[katzen11]

GROAN! OK, I have it bad.

Remember all the new parents who show you baby pictures, as if you had never seen one before?
Well, THIS is worse.

hi, Jon, must be different with kitty-pictures(-movies).
i love to see them them over and over again.
Iggy will keep you busy for a very long time.
best wishes
Eva

[goliath]

Now I see that the reminder of the joys a new friend delivers serves to remind us all of the best times with our friends who have gone to the Bridge. Our losses are a recent memory and we wonder if we will ever be happy again. I am still miserable about Miles, and always miss her..but seeing Iggy act like Miles did when she fiorst came in gives me hope of another wonderful relationship, and reminds me of the early joys.

New friends bring new smiles. Though I too miss my Goliath so very much, Browser has brought so much laughter and fun into the house. The side benefit of having Browser is that he has brought out a wonderful and playful side of Gidget. That's a miracle in itself.

It's great Jon to hear you so excited and upbeat with little Iggy. After having had your vet examine him though, it sounds like one day he will become a biggy Iggy.

Enjoy!

[forduffy]

I love those movies so much!!!!! I can watch them over and over.

[Jon730]

Thank you for the pictures. But most important you helped me. As you know I miss Rassy cat. I think about him all the time. And here I am with two new guys. Your words described the way I was feeling exactly. And yet, I am glad that I have Mario and whiskers. These two came to me as young cats. I got Rassy when he was three months old. I too am hoping for a wonderful relationship again. So we always miss, but it doesn't mean that we should let the past control us. So like you, I am working on my relationships with my two boys.

Well, this helps me as well.
First, I worry about the gloating tone of my posts hurting bereaved people...It is almost like laughing at a funeral, and that what was bothering me.

But I know they made ME happy. Yet, last night I took a bath- And was sad, because Miles always insisted on keeping me company and "Guarding" me. She was so insistant that if I did not bring her in, she would BREAK in and open the door and let the cold air in, and disrupt my relaxation. Then, afterward I went to bed in Iggy's room..and thought, "Iggy did not know her. He smells her in here, everywhere, though. Should I be happy? If I am not it is NOT his fault."
Then, he started clowning around, and laid on his back with his little white-gloved paws flailing around reaching for me, and I had to smile. Then he purred and purred the way Miles used to.

He did his best.
He is not her, but it is not his fault.
He tries. So I get into the spirit of the thing. It helps.
I worried about coldly "Replacing" a favorite pet, but this is not like that. He is not her.

I have fences to mend with Sam and Murphy, though. Miles always dominated them, and Murphy had an expression on her face, "Oh NO! Not this $%^& again!!"

[goliath]

Well, this helps me as well.
First, I worry about the gloating tone of my posts hurting bereaved people...It is almost like laughing at a funeral, and that what was bothering me.

At first I was worried too Jon. But then I got to thinking about it and decided that the reason LS has so many different topic areas is so we can post about more than grief. Having a new furlove is certainly something to rejoice about. They help us find some joy and happiness. It's a win win for both sides.

Bringing a new puppylove into our home was good medicine for all of us as well as Browser.

[Jon730]

It's great Jon to hear you so excited and upbeat with little Iggy. After having had your vet examine him though, it sounds like one day he will become a biggy Iggy.

A Biggy Piggy Iggy.
I read that a growing kitten can add 20 grams a day.
Well, he is trying, and I have to go out shopping for cat and kitten food tomorrow.
140 Grams a week more cat. More than a pound a month or so!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOOK!


"FIGURE 1 Daily weight gain of male kittens fed three purified control diets with complete amino acids only (AA Control), with amino acids and untreated casein (C Control) and with amino acids and heated casein (HC Control), and kittens fed five purified experimental diets with untreated casein and no added lysine (-Lys/+C), with heated casein and no added lysine (-Lys/+HC), and three diets with increasing levels of added lysine and no added casein (0.4%Lys, 0.55%Lys and 0.7%Lys). Values are least-squares means ± SEM, n = 16. Values with different letters were statistically different, P 0.05.
"

In four years he will be big enough to eat ME. I know, they slow down after kittenhood, but his daddy is enormous. And I had to joke about it...If you saw the movie of him eating.

Oh yeah. Add Cat litter to the list....One thing I miss about dogs, even small dogs, is that you can take them outside to empty them.....

[LoveThem]

QUOTE (Jon730 @ May 14 2008, 08:04 PM) *
Well, this helps me as well.
First, I worry about the gloating tone of my posts hurting bereaved people...It is almost like laughing at a funeral, and that what was bothering me.


Oh, Jon. You are not "gloating" at all. You are being happy and expressing that happiness and joy...the wonderful things we experienced at the beginning of our relationship with our special one no longer with us. Those were the best of times. Our babies taught us that and they would never want us to be deprived of times such as these.

No way is it laughing at a funeral...no way, Jon!


That is why there are these Sections especially New Beginnings....that is so wonderful to visit. We have had more than one baby in our lifetime and each one was so very very special and we would never not have opened our home and heart to the next one time and time again. These new babies need us just as much as we need them. Our special ones being taken from us is not anything we can control. All we can do is be glad we had them in our lives and just treasure the time that was given to us to have them with us.

We can't go through life being depressed forever about something we can't do anything about and our babies would never ever want to see us that way at all. It is a tribute to them and what they gave us that we are able to go on and smile and laugh. None of our current happiness compares to what we had but as we have that no more, we must create new memories and of course, they will be happy and healthy and good ones....that's what the beginning of a bond is all about. I love the photos of Iggy. I love your stories.
I just want to scoop him up and hug him myself.

If one wants to cry there is a Section they can vent there but if one wants to be happy about something..that is not a crime...that's a start of healing. We will never forget our loved ones. We will miss them forever. We will have times we will cry. We will have times we think of them and smile. Everything is meaningful to us.

But what we have learned from them is what it is like to experience that special unconditional love they showed us time and time again. It is too hard to go without it and I think it is a tremendous tribute to our special ones to open and hearts and home to one who needs us just as much as we need them. Our babies are angels now watching over us and waiting for the day our souls will all be together. they gave us a beautiful gift of love and when we pass that along to a new one...it really is a tribute to the ones who taught us about this in the first place.

So..share, Jon and do not hold back. It helps so many here to see those precious photos. We love to see and hear things that either make us laugh or smile big time. Iggy does that and your joy in having him is just contagious.

We are not just here to share our pain with each other....that is something that is special all its own and it has a special place here. But we are also here to share our joy also. As is said...Laughter is the best Medicine... and anything we do to make ourselves feel better is the right thing to do and when we reach out to each other and share wonderful feelings...those are moments to treasure.
I would rather smile than cry. Crying is easy. Smiling is not so easy but when we help each other to do that....well, our angels sitting on that big Rainbow are just feeling our happiness with us....only their tails must be twitching...that always made me smile to see and it makes me smile to think about.

Bring it on, Jon...you don't have enough pictures to tire us out...the more we see..the more we want to see.

Hugs, Iggy...you darling little devil..you are such a love and are full of fun..That is a sight to see..we love it!

[goliath]

In four years he will be big enough to eat ME. I know, they slow down after kittenhood, but his daddy is enormous. And I had to joke about it...If you saw the movie of him eating.

Speaking of movies, Im pretty sure I saw a cat on the sci-fi channel that was about the size of the future Iggy's body composition given your careful calculations there Jon. He may just eat you alive someday..........and you undoubtedly will love every minute of it.

Have fun and keep bringing the pics and stories..............I love it!

[Jon730]

Hugs, Iggy...you darling little devil..you are such a love and are full of fun..That is a sight to see..we love it!

wub.gif

I wish I had brought the camera to bed last night!
It has been decades since I had a kitten, and I forgot what they are like when they are RESTED. Since Tuesday was his Big Day, he was tired and slept a lot.
Last night, however...
I was trying to read. He discovered the "Attack the feet under the blankets" game. We played this for some time.
Then he got really excited and totally looned out, running all around the room like a racquet ball. Everything on every surface was moved or knocked over. The laundry basket was overturned and looted and all the carefully rolled-up socks became projectiles.
Then he ate. Then he got his head stuck in a canvas boat shoe, and the shoe was running around with little white feet scurrying, like a turtle on dexedrine. I rescued him.

Lights Out.
He took up a Guard Station next to my head. At some point I was awakened by him licking my nose and purring...NO, I do not do cocaine, not do I snort catnip. (Like he NEEDS a stimulant! My wife bought him a catnip toy, but I think I will wait till he's 21 in Cat Years.)

I am not sure how well I slept but he seems fine.
I am worried that though he is eating well, he does not seem to be drinking much water...and since he is a male...well..
He is eating a lot of wet food though.
He certainly ACTS healthy to say the least. This will take some getting used to. All my old used cats played, and still do.
But not at these energy levels.

Now I remember what a kitten is like. It also shows me why everyone wants a kitten, and pass by the older cats in shelters, and this makes me sad. I learned that kittens are in so much demand that the lovely lady who gave me Iggy told me people were calling offering to "Take the whole litter".

She seems certain they intended to sell them to shops or individuals. My wife told me of similar things when she had that brief scandalous stint at managing a Pet Center decades ago.
Kitten Pimps.

[Jon730]

Bring it on, Jon...you don't have enough pictures to tire us out...the more we see..the more we want to see.

This will make you regret it! A sleep-deprived father! The obligatory Fathers' Day Photo! I promise, no more of these! Cat Only hereafter.

[LoveThem]

I know it has been 17 years since mine were kittens but I remember at first feeding kitten food that was like oatmeal...something dry soaked in water so it was not dry at all. For real food...they got wet all the time when they graduated to not-kitten food. I wouldn't worry about him drinking water if he is getting wet food. I don't know that they need dry at all. I seldom saw mine drink water but I was told that was natural because with wet food, the need for water was less and they knew instinctly when they wanted water.

My one boy, Little Guy, was about 9 years old when he had a problem with dry. I found out later on x-ray he had a small bladder and that's probably why he could get blocked up. At that time, my parents had passed away and we had to drive to another State each week to take care of emptying the house and everything that went on. We did this for 6 months. So while we were gone, we would load up dishes with only dry for the 3 cats. Actually about 2 months after we stopped this 100% dry, was when my boy first got blocked which I could tell cause he kept going in a box and coming out without doing anything and would walk from box to box and back again so I knew there was a problem. I had a mobile vet visit and she put in an IV and flushed out his system and he was fine. If Iggy is getting either mostly wet or maybe also some dry that water was added to, he should be just fine. I wondered about not seeing mine drink water and was told with that kind of diet they didn't have to drink a lot of water and since it wasn't often they wanted it, I just missed seeing them drink. They would only be at the water dish a short time anyway when I did see them.

I had bought a pocket book on Kittens and I still have it. That helped me figure out what to do for them. You can also ask your vet or ask a gal at the vet to ask the vet when he has a moment, explaining taking care of a kitten seems all new all over again.

By the way, the adventures of you two that you just posted simply had me laughing all over the place. Thanks, Jon. What a wonderful way to start my morning...with laughter. I also love to come back and reread these stories and just laugh all over again.

You mentioned catnip.....I tried a catnip scratching board with my kittens...they loved it...then...they started attacking each other so no more catnip for them. With Iggy's energy level....catnip just might double it...I don't know. I can just see...catnip for Iggy and vitamins for Jon......LOL

I also think I remember that kittens want attention all the time...they seem to never get tired but then all of a sudden they are napping after they totally exhaust us..and...cat naps do not always last very long....they are boundless balls of energy...bless their hearts! What an absolute joy they are!

Thanks again , Jon for keeping up the sharing with us. We never can hear enough fun stuff and we do need that in our lives.