The Chronicles of Fritz

From time to time I'll post some of the things my cat, Fritz, gets up to. Feel free to send me stories about your own cats here: Feedback

Last night, I was watching National Treasure on DVD (not a bad movie, BTW, but less action oriented than most Bruckheimer movies) and Fritz was sleeping peacefully on the sofa across the room. Now he's used to loud noises from my home-theatre so loud bangs and sudden noises don't frighten him in the least. Anyhow, during a quiet period in the movie, he awoke with a start, meowed (which is unusual for him) and stared accusingly at me. It was obvious he was upset over something and thought I'd done something to him, judging by the look he gave me. So I went over and stroked him and reassured him that everything was ok. He finally settled down again. The only thing I can think of was that he'd had a nightmare and had woken with a cat-equivalent of a scream. Have you ever seen something like that happen with your own cat?

"Ginger" Gets A New Home

Ginger (a.k.a. "Redpuss") is a half-ginger, half white, 12-year-old tom who suffered some bad health problems last year, including cat flu, 6 rotten teeth (with accompnaying toothache) and associated chronic infection, a septic lip, ear mites, skin allergies and a heart murmur. His story is documented at the Help Save Ginger page, if you'd like some background information.

While his health problems were sorted out, finding a new home for him has proved to be something of a problem. Neither friends nor family were in a position to take him in for two reasons - he's a cat-flu carrier (and my vet was insistent that Ginger should not to to a house that already has a cat) and his age (people are too worried that an ageing cat just means big medical bills down the road). Notices stuck up in supermarkets, libraries and vet clinics didn't get a single reply.

I contacted a few catteries to see if they could offer any leads I could follow up on. While they couldn't suggest anyone to place the cat with, they suggested contacting an animal shelter who didn't euthanise unwanted animals. Unfortunately, when I contacted them, they told me they only now dealt exclusively with dogs (apparently there'd been unholy war between the cats and dogs when they catered for both). They advised me to contact the Irish Cat Protection Association (Ginger and I live here) through their webpage.

Emails to their advertised email address went unanswered and after several aborted phone calls, I got a message saying that they'd moved and had a new phone number. I tried that only to get a message saying they were unavailable for several days and to leave a message. I did, but time was running out for Ginger.

Then last weekend, I received a call telling me that a home had been found for Ginger. It seems that a grand-niece of Ginger's original "owner" (read the Help Save Ginger page to see why the word's in quotes) has stepped in to take care of him. So, sometime in the next 7-10 days, he'll be heading off to his new home. It's a relief knowing that the Sword of Damocles no longer hangs over him and that the possibililty of having to have him put to sleep is now no longer an option.

New Cat Photos Posted

A selection of new cat photos has been added. These come from Ireland: "These are shots of Willow, born May 03, 2004 and we got him in July. He is a very placid cat, but not a lap cat. We were a little worried as there are two cats living next door for the last few years – but we should not have worried – he rules the back garden."

Merlin Gets His Voice Back

You may have read the post about Merlin, the cat who lost his voice. Well, I've heard back from his owner:

"Dear Gary,
Thank you for your reply. As you stated his voice is starting to come back. He can now purr and is starting to vocalize again. Again thank you for your response.

Best Wishes,
Merlin Kittys' Mom"

It's good to hear that Merlin is on the mend!

Site Updates

The Cat Lover Gifts Page continues to expand and a new page on Cat Magazines has been added. Some changes have also been made to the Cat Health page.

Cat Loses Voice

I received a query from a reader regarding a cat losing his voice and what could be done to help him.

Q: My cat Merlin has recently lost his voice (from my research I think he may have laryngitis). Two days ago his voice became raspy; after several days he lost his voice completely. He is a black half Siamese cat approx 2 years old and has always been very vocal. His habits are the same and still enjoys playing although he tends to look at us with a "what's going on with my voice?" look. Is there anything we can do to ride this out or help him.?

A: When a cat that is normally vocal loses his voice or become hoarse, it could indicate an inflammation of the voice box. This is laryngitis and may be caused by throat infections, tonsillitis, allergies to something he's inhaled or pulmonary disease. Sometimes, a stress-induced behavioral problem that involves extensive yowling or mewing may cause laryngitis. I advised the reader to make an appointment with a vet. A medical examination is in order to identify the cause of the cat's voice loss and to provide a proper course of treatment.

Cat Lover Gifts Page Updated

A new link to Cat Art has been added to the Cat Lover Gifts page. This talks about the merits of cat art and what having a painting of your cat done can mean to you (it meant a lot to me when I was given two paintings of my cats a couple of years ago).

Just to let you know, CatManDrew is a site I came across that provides some great cat art. The guy who runs it can even be commissioned to do paintings of your pet.

Cat Photos Page Updated

A new photo has been added to the Cat Photos page showing The Matrix, Animal Style. ;-)

If you're looking at photographing your own cat, Tips On How To Photograph Your Cat gives some advice and techniques on how to approach the subject (and your cat), especially if you're trying to create good keepsakes.

Cat-oholics Blog Replaces Site Updates List

This blog has replaced the older Site-Updates page which is still online through the link but is no longer available from the Cat-oholics.com main menu. All site updates along with anything else that's relevant to the website will be posted through the blog from now on.