Steve the Pretty Tripawd Kitty

Steve is a big foster sister again!

I helped the humane society with a giant raid (which you may have seen on the news as it made national news – Google Schaghticoke cat hoarder and it comes right up) a week ago. We removed 90 something cats from an incredibly disgusting home, and are waiting for about 50 more cats to come out of the walls and into Have-A-Heart traps that we have set. The cats we removed have respiratory infections, eye infections, flea dermatitis, worms, ear mites…some of them are blind. I haven’t even seen all of them yet. I know that two pregnant moms gave birth over the weekend.

Anyways, since Steve’s last foster sister, Sif, found her furever home just days before and since Jay was BEGGING me for kittens that he could name, I took 3 kittens home the day after the raid! They’re on meds for eye and respiratory infections; and they’ve been treated for worms, fleas, and ear mites. After just a few days in our home, their skin started to clear up and we could already see improvements in overall health!

Steve, as usual, is really excited to meet her new foster sisters and has been waiting outside the bedroom door every time I go in to feed or medicate them. Sadly, they’re so sick that it will probably be several weeks before she can meet and play with them. I know that when she does, she’s going to take right to them! I can already see her grooming them and playing with them!! It’s just so sweet how she sits outside the door waiting for them!

I just started a new part time job to supplement my income until my pet sitting business picks up and can pay the bills. I work at the local animal emergency clinic. There is currently a resident stray cat who is technically a Tripawd! He has half of one of his rear legs, but they call him Jack Sparrow since he’s kind of a pirate-y peg leg kitty! I was talking to one of my new coworkers about Jack Sparrow and how he is clearly not held back by his missing limb (he’s a cage climber), and I brought up Steve and the Tripawds community. Turned out my coworker has a Tripawd too! I told her about the website and Facebook page, then shared Steve’s story. Hopefully, she’ll be joining us!

Someone’s ears must have been burning. Steve woke up and climbed into my lap!!

The great thing about this job is that one of my pets gets free emergency care, and a second pet gets half off emergency care. I picked Steve to get the free emergency care since she seems to be the most accident/emergency prone. Of course, now that she (and Yorrick) is signed up, Saxon and Spyder are going to block or obstruct!! (knock on wood!!!!)

I entered Steve into a Cutest Pets Calendar contest a few months ago. She didn’t get enough votes to win a month, but because she was entered, she still gets to appear! Her picture appears in the collage for May! A certain kitty/doggy mother has a birthday in May! Hmmm…I wonder who?

Steve and I had a brief brush with fame this week! I entered Steve and Saxon into the local showing of a traveling Feline Film Festival. We were even up for an award! Sadly, we lost. I think the voting was a little skewed, but I’m not going to hold any grudges. It was pretty great to see Steve and Saxon on the big screen!! I made three entries and the producers only picked one. I wish they had picked one that highlighted Steve as a Tripawd, but I can’t really blame them for their choice. They went with a mutual grooming video. You could hear all of the “Awwww”s in the theater! The women sitting next to me couldn’t believe that two kitties could get along so well!

Besides getting to see my fur-kids on the big screen, I got to sit next to the kid who insisted a picture of him with his cat be his senior yearbook photo. Have you guys seen this kid in the news? I guess it went national. He knew he had to set up an appointment with a photographer for a senior photo, but he didn’t want the same ol’ boring photo, so he hired a family friend to photograph him with his cat. At first he was met with a lot of resistance from the school, but eventually they caved. He even ended up getting a picture of him with his cat and his principal with her Chihuahua!!

His mom was really cool. I hope to be that kind of parent some day!

 

Steve and Saxon have invented a new sport. I call it “Full Contact Grooming.”

It starts out all sweet and innocent, but you’ll notice something at the end of this video.

 

One of them always bites the other’s face or neck! Then this happens:

 

 

By the way, don’t you just LOVE the curly fur on Steve’s belly?!?!

Steve and I have been away for awhile, but it’s for good reason. Now that I’m back on my feet I’ve been busy volunteering at our humane society! I’ve been there almost every day, and for several hours each day! I got to take part in our local Puppies in Prison program, too! It was sooooo fun!!

I don’t have any clients with the pet sitting service, yet, but I’m still in start-up mode. I just got a logo, and I’m going to have my brother build a website hopefully in the next week.

Steve has gone back to her good ol’ cuddly self, sitting on the side of the tub every single day for my shower and napping on my lap or on the back of the couch on my shoulders almost every time I sit down! It’s been nice.

Jay was playing red dot with her the other day and she took a corner too wide and slid into the kitchen table. We were wondering out loud if she did so because she’s short a leg, or if any cat would do that. Saxon isn’t usually as clumsy, but he also isn’t as fast as Steve. All of our cats have soft, indoor kitty paws pads so they slip on the linoleum all of the time. Steve seems to slip the most, but again, she’s the fastest and most active of our 3 cats. She doesn’t slip when just walking, only when running after the dot or during normal kitty zoomies. She still has zero issues jumping!

Friday will be Steve’s one year Adoptiversary…another case of Holy Crow time flies! It’s come full circle in that the foster cat has become the foster big sister. We just sent our first set of foster kittens of the summer (we started WAY late this year) off for spay/neuter and took in a special needs adult cat who I renamed Sif from Cous Cous. Sif is extremely skinny and has no confidence, so I gave her the name of one of Thor’s battlefield partners. She needed a strong and brave name. The name of a warrior who stuffs her face and fears no one!! Steve and the gang can meet Sif in two weeks if Sif wants to meet them.

I announced to friends and family last night that I’m starting my own pet sitting service. The past year of being helpless thanks to the vertigo caused me to have some kind of epiphany. I’m done putting up with everyone else’s BS! I’m going to do my own thing! I’m here to make one person happy and that’s ME! While I will offer the same basic services that every dog walking/pet sitting service offers, I will also cater to special needs pets. I have enough of a medical background that I feel comfortable sitting for pets that some services may turn down. I can administer insulin injections and subcutaneous fluids. I am also familiar with post op patients (even severe ones like amputations!) and know what to look for if an owner has to run out of town during the post op period. If I have to bring a client’s pet to the vet, I know what questions to ask.

I really wonder how much of this would have happened if Steve had never entered my life. We continue to speculate if she was the cause of my vertigo. If I stop taking Benadryl, the vertigo comes right back nasty as ever. The vertigo started when Steve showed up. If I didn’t get the vertigo, would I have been brave enough to leave my decent pay, but miserable, warehouse job to do what I really wanted to do? I really think I owe my independence to Steve.

Fingers crossed this works out!

 

I can’t believe it’s been a whole year!!

 

Hoppy Ampuversary to mommy’s prettiest girl!!

Just over a year ago, I agreed to foster a 2 year old cat with an upper respiratory infection who also needed to undergo amputation surgery due to a deformed leg. I wanted the experience of caring for a post op pet. A good Samaritan had dropped this sweet, orange and white cat off at the humane society where I volunteer. No one knew why her leg was mangled and deformed the way it was. They knew that no surgery could fix it and that chances were she would get it caught in something when jumping or running, so her best option was to have it amputated.

In eight days, Steve celebrates her one year Ampuversary. Two weeks after that, we celebrate her one year Adoptiversary (or Gotcha Day, if you prefer). This past week, I’ve …well…. celebrated isn’t really the word…. hmmm. I’ve reached a year of being out of work due to vertigo symptoms. Yesterday, I had a doctor’s appointment to get approved to return to work. Yesterday was one year to the date that I had my first doctor’s appointment regarding vertigo. I’ve been taking 50mg of Benadryl twice a day for several weeks. Of all things, that is what has improved my symptoms.

There is a conspiracy theory in this house that Steve is the culprit behind my vertigo.  If my vertigo started when Steve first showed up, and an allergy medicine is what is making me feel better, doesn’t it make sense that a rather severe allergic reaction to Steve caused vertigo? Volunteering at the humane society, I’ve seen a lot (a lot) of pets returned because someone in the family was allergic. I can’t even fathom getting rid of Steve. Even if the past year happened only because of her, the past year was made better by her! She never left my side and she always cheered me up! She’s my Steve!!

I constantly catch myself looking at her and being grateful that she is in my life. She put me through hell with her gastrointestinal issues and she may be the cause of my vertigo, but she’s the sweetest and funniest cat I’ve ever met. She still waits in the bathroom for me when I shower (many times she still jumps on the side of the tub). She gets zoomies like a pit bull! She’s more energetic and playful than her brothers. Sometimes she just runs as fast as she can from the kitchen into the living room, then stops in front of Jay and I on the sofa, stares at us, and meows as loud as she can! If we ask her, “What?” she meows again, quieter.

Steve has taught me a lot in the last year. We already had a socially inept cat who I would classify as special needs, but Steve taught me what it’s really like to own a special needs pet. She taught me not to be afraid, and to stand up and speak out for our three and four legged friends! It always sounded good in my head, but Steve has taught me how great it is to really put it into practice.

Steve is only three. I look forward to many more years of learning lessons from Steve, teaching what I’ve learned to others, and enjoying my clown of a Tripawd cat!

I have zero crafting skills, but I gave it my best shot and made a ribbon for Steve so she can be the first Tri-kitty represented!

 

 

The best part was when I opened the packet that the paw prints came in, I noticed that they came in sets of three! It was like the paw prints were made for Tripawds!!

 

 

I’m going to drop Steve’s ribbon in the mail on Monday or Tuesday! We’re very excited to represent Tri-kitties and to maybe give them the encouragement they need to send in their own ribbons!

 

 

May we borrow 30 seconds of your time to show you just how cute Steve is?

You’d think they were littermates with how snuggly they get sometimes!!