fundamentally feline

Kodiak Bears

A thoughtful pose taken during our professional photo shoot!

Kodiak was brought into the practice where I was employed at the time. His original name was Issac. He had been abandoned outside of an apartment complex and brought in by a local cat rescue. He was a stunning cat, but Kodiak had some baggage. He was all four-paw declawed (AND LEFT OUTSIDE!) We performed our usual intake protocol getting him ready for adoption, but in doing so we discovered how mutilated his little feet were. Nonetheless, we put him in our adoption room in hopes of finding him a new family. He was marveled at and inquired about daily; he was super handsome after all.

We learned quite quickly that Kodiak was a biter, likely why he was left outside where he was defenseless having no claws. We began warning people not to touch or pet him too much. It is a bit challenging to adopt out a cat when you have to tell people not to interact with him. He was so soliciting of affection and good looking making him a bit hard to resist. Finally, we had a taker. A cat savvy parent that understood he was a bite risk but wanted to take on the challenge anyway. We adopted Kodiak to her with specific instructions on managing the behavior. Fingers crossed off he went to home number two.

A few weeks later Kodiak was returned for biting. It happened a few too many times and a bit too hard, so the family decided it was not the right fit. So, does declawing keep cats in their homes? The answer is vehemently no.

We decided to look a little further into Kodiak’s aggression by x-raying his feet and discovered he had some bone remnants from his declaw. Since the cells for the nail come from the bone, if the entire P3 bone is not completely removed, you get regrowth of nail under the skin. We decided to do surgery to “fix” this, which basically involved re-declawing him. We did not offer declawing at this feline only practice so it was my first experience with the procedure. I was horrified and sobbing upon his bloody recovery from anesthesia. I will liken it to slaughtering your own cow for a steak dinner. For the majority of people, if they had to kill it to eat it, probably wouldn’t. If clients could watch a video of a declaw surgery and the cat’s recovery post op before electing to do it to their beloved cat, they wouldn’t. Sheltering clients from the gruesome facts is an enormous part of the “cover up” that is happening in veterinary medicine.

Photo taken during the Cats101 filming on Animal Planet!

More before smartphones photos.

Kodiak could no longer be trusted in the adoption room. He was a liability, so he lived in the back of the hospital where I became extremely attached to and empathetic for him. I’ll never forget the day I saw him scratch on one of the posts at the clinic, it made me choked up that he knew just what to do, remember cats also scratch to scent mark so even without claws the behavior is performed. So I took him home and Jake and I became home number three that I know of, and this would be his last stop because we do not give up on animals, no matter what. The baggage was still there, and we learned to recognize and work with him but you ALWAYS had to watch yourself around Kody Bears. He proceeded to have more re-growths on different toes at different stages of his life. Kodiak was declawed initially and then re-declawed 3 subsequent times. We know more now and we know better; we should have opened up all four feet and just corrected his botched declaw from the start, perhaps two feet at a time, but hindsight is 20/20. Kodiak developed one last regrowth in his senior years but I couldn’t do it to him again. I chose to medically manage him and treat him for chronic pain instead.

Italiano Bears on the counter, "helping".

Shadow and Kodiak.

Fireside Bears.

Kody had another good friend at the clinic, Charcoal. Honestly, I was having a hard time choosing between which of the two I would adopt. One Saturday when I was off from work, I got a call from one of the other techs asking me to choose because a family was interested in both of them but only wanted one cat. I was in tears, I couldn’t! I know I picked one, I think it was Charcoal, but I honestly cannot remember. I was nauseous when I arrived that next Monday morning wondering who was going to still be there waiting for me. They were both there! We adopted them as a pair. You will meet the stunning Charcoal next month.

Kodias Bears! So many nicknames for this one, OMG! Bears was also quite the chef, he assisted Jake in the kitchen nightly and ate most everything offered that was of course non-toxic. We used to call him “Italiano Bears!” His dream was to go to Italy and have bruschetta, boy oh boy did he love cheese. No matter what we called him, his name always ended on the plural and that carried over to pretty much everybody, we don’t know why, it’s just what we do! He also enjoyed sparkly puff balls and regularly did the “calling” behavior that I so adore.

Bears, Wiccas and Charcoal.

Charcoal and Bears cuddling with Grant below.

Being a "real artic bear" in he snow.

Trying out my new stethoscope.

I LOVE this pic! Eleven on the bed at once is our record.

This cat remained unmanageable at the vet for the rest of his life. I would bring him up for his annual visits and we would examine and vaccinate him in the car. The vet’s office was associated with horrific pain. Another result of these procedures is that cats often miss out on veterinary care due their temperament, or they must be sedated for appointments due to their increased aggression.

One morning I woke up and found him deceased in the red room/extra bedroom. I yelled to Jake who came running out of bed, he and Jake were super tight. It was ok, for Bears this was the best way for him to leave us. I hate not being able to say goodbye, I much prefer to nurse and spoil them. I know everyone is different, but I personally loathe it when they are ripped away from me, but for Bears this was for the best. He hated the vet and the last thing I would’ve wanted was a struggle at the time of euthanasia.

His "school boy" photo.

Living at the clinic post housefire.

Beached whale Bears.

If you must alter a species to the extent of a 10-toe amputation (or worse, all 18 toes) just to be able to live with them, then I ask, why have you chosen this species with which to share your home? Scratching is an innate feline behavior; it would be like asking a dog not to bark or a bird not to fly.

I leave you with a quote from Jeremy Bentham, “The question is not “Can they reason?” nor, “Can they talk?” but, “Can they suffer?“

The answer? Yes, indeed cats can suffer and they do so at the hands of their doctors every day in this country. It is time to end the suffering. I hope this story has moved you to join the crusade to end declawing in the United States. Please consider joining or donating to the Paw Project and help us end this madness.

On behalf of the memory of Kodiak Bears please stop the suffering.

Freyja

Probably about 16 or 17 years old here!

Freyja was honestly one of the kittens that drew the urge to keep the whole litter, I just thought she was so scrumptious. She grew up to be, what I think, was our most beautiful cat we have ever had. She lived up the goddess’s name we bestowed her. Our best friends nicknamed her Sasquatch! They would pet sit for us and leave us notes (remember, she was around before smartphones) or send texts that they had a “Sasquatch sighting!” I always thought this was hilarious but also tells you how elusive she was. She had no shortage of nicknames that is for sure. One that stuck the most, was “Bloomies” or “Bloomers”. You see, I have a thing for calling everyone some variation of “pants”, Leftypants, tortiepants, you name it. Freyja was too classy for pants, she wore bloomers! She also shopped at Bloomingdales (she told me), “Bloomingdale Blooms” was not a rare thing to hear me shouting around the house! I do realize that I am mildly insane, but hey, it’s fun to have nicknames!

Our dear Freyja. Her name means the goddess of love and beauty in Norse mythology. If you have not gathered by now, I’m of Swedish and Norwegian heritage so we have a bit of Scandinavian flare with some of the names we have chosen over the years. Freyja is the last kitten to feature in the “Mammas and her babies” category. I am sharing everyone in the order that we adopted them!

Freyja was a shy kitten and remained a shy cat for most of her life. This is a good life lesson for all of us. You cannot necessarily make a cat be who you want them to be. I adopted these kittens at barely 4 weeks old and they were all so different, every single one of them! Loads of commonality too, so much so that I do think there was only one father, plus the color patterns makes sense, and lead to just the one dad. Still, so much personality variation and I raised them all the same, offering the same experiences. I think it is important to learn to love your cats for who they are and the unique qualities each one offers.

You had to sneak up on her for good pics!

Full blown Sasquatch mode right here! Look at that lush coat.

She was a screamer like her siblings, the whole family was so vocal. I can recall all of the typical young cat naughtiness she embraced like getting in the fireplace, shy, skittish, super fun to bathe! If you even made eye contact with her downstairs she would bolt, you definitely could not bend over and pet her or pick her up! No way! However, she did always seem to know that when you were on the toilet, fresh out of the shower or horizontal in bed and that meant you were safe. She would get on our chests and embrace shoulder scratches and drool little drool drops right into our mouths if we weren’t careful! Such a wonderful purr and cooing, it was a special gift. I was the only one who could medicate her and trim her nails her whole life!

Chillin' in her condo. Look but do not touch!

Captured a pic of her playing! A rare photo indeed.

Some pics are not the best because so elusive!

It was as a senior that we really got to know and appreciate her. She gradually started to lose her hearing and it was actually a good thing! We had a new cat! She was far less noise phobic, she started to come downstairs to “meds time” wondering what all the fuss was about, she started to allow us to handle her and once in a while she would grace us with her presence of the sofa. If Freyja came to see you , you did not dare to breathe or move a muscle, it was a special gift and you embraced it! I even trained her to a leash and harness at 18 years of age and she enjoyed our “supervised yard fun” time. It was amazing!

So many words! "You're doing it wrong!" Is what I'm sure she is saying!

Waiting for our bi-cavity ultrasound at the internist's office!

At the vet for lab work recheck.

She lived almost exclusively upstairs at the top of the “treehouse” (the vertical space treehouse we built in our master bedroom) until she lost her hearing. Then she decided she needed a change of scenery and decided to join the family. It was awesome. She pretty much set up shop on a cat condo right in-between the kitchen and living room, she was in the heart of the action for her last 4-5 years of life. She would bark orders at us from the top of the condo, it was glorious! She demanded a lot of room service and we obliged, we were a very dedicated staff. This also led to us missing her more than we ever thought because she blossomed into such a big personality!

Enjoying meds time with a syringe of yummy food.

A "Mommy and Me" day at the office!

Still puzzlin'! Foraging right up until the end.

"Did someone say sparkly puff?"

This cat played with interactive wand toys and foraged for food up until a few weeks before she died. She was also a fierce hunter of sparkly puff balls and “called” while carrying through the house. This is a behavior that we sorely miss and loved the sound of her “calling” us to a meal with her prey. She also truly loved our dogs, groomed them, and even herded them! It was pretty hilarious to watch 20 year old, 7# Freyja, tell 100# Sebastian that he needs to move, “no, over here, never mind go over there!” And he would go! She had a lot of opinions! Her quality of life was outstanding. Even at 21 years of age, the top of a six-foot-tall cat condo (complete with heating pad) was where she lived. Needless to say, I start joint support very early in life, she started around age 12, and never showed a single symptom of arthritis or stiffness.

Freyja loved all of her doggies. She groomed them and taught them well!

Freyja blooms knew every single animal that I have cared for in my adult life. She was strong, survived so much, including our housefire, and had great quality of life well into her geriatric years. She is dearly missed, but we hold no regrets with this one. Others have left us feeling robbed and heartbroken. Some we did so much for and still lost them so young. Twenty-one years, 5 months and 10 days is a pretty good run that we can accept. She will always be our beautiful goddess.

Her last day with us, since 4 weeks old. We had a good run. She was finally tired.

How lucky are we to have these amazing and gorgeous animals that someone else just threw away?

A Food Puzzle Tutorial: How to get the most out of our food puzzles, their interconnecting qualities and how to combine with commercial toys for increased challenge!

This video details how to best utilize the foraging toys made here at Fundamentally Feline. We offer toys for beginners all the way to the master forager. Our toys also nicely compliment commercially available food puzzles and this video will show you how to do just that! Our toys can be purchased at https://www.fundamentallyfeline.com/s…

Beyond the Nip! Honeysuckle Scent Enrichment

Tartarian honeysuckle is a scent that some cats respond to in the same euphoric way they do catnip. Not all cats respond to all scents so it is worthwhile to try them all.

Wick better known as Wiccas

Wiccas was another one of Asia’s beautiful kittens. We were so lucky to not only get cats loaded with personality, super smart, chatty talkers but they were all stunning too! Well, they are cats, so hard for them to not be beautiful, I suppose. We named her Wick because of the little orange flame on her nose, but since clearly we like to pluralize everyone’s name and another syllable was more fun, we called her Wiccas. We used to say she was a little junior witch and attended “witchcraft scouts” instead of girl scouts! Wicca witchcraft scout! We are pretty insane with the morphing of nicknames. In fact, some of you know that I also end a lot of their names with “pants,” well, Wiccas was the originator of the pants! Lefty took it and ran with it, but she started the trend. If you look closely, you will see that she has “tortie-pants” as most of her tortoiseshell markings are on the back half of her body. “Little Miss Tortie-pants” was born and tragically spread to others! Haha!

One of my favorite photos of her from our professional photo pet shoot!

Loved this silhouette, she often offered this pose.

An excellent mother & she made gorgeous babies.

Here she is again!

Wiccas was an opinionated little lately and was never afraid to speak up. The whole family was super vocal, and I loved every minute of it. She was the first cat I ever taught to “hi-five”. When training, it is ideal to start with behaviors that the cats naturally offer, and she was grabby during meds time, so it quickly morphed into an asked behavior of hi-five! This cat could not get enough Hill’s a/d and she is the star of some of my medicating videos. She was such a cooperative girl and her help has allowed me to teach others! I am grateful for what each of them have offered, they have been great teachers.

Same window! Creature of habit!

Me, holding Wiccas and Simon!

This lady knew how to relax!

Always with her family-keep related cats together for a harmonious household!

Simon, Mammas and Wiccas.

Freyja is the only one missing here!

Wiccas and Simon

Sisters! Freyja and Wiccas. How cute are they?

As you will see in the photos, even though she adored us and was super affectionate, she was a cat’s cat. She was often curled up with one of her blood relatives but could just as easily be seen cuddling up with the one of our many other cats as well. It would be so sad for a cat like her to not have a house full of friends! Adopt family members, it’s the best, for you, for them, for everyone!

One funny little trait she had was her fantastic mane. Every spring, it was as if she would molt, not just shed, and she lost it all. We called her "little pea head" because she still had her fluffy pants but lost her plume of a mane and looked so different! It was so much more dramatic than any other long- haired cats we have had.

It was awesome how super outgoing she was, and the kitchen counter is definitely empty without her up there screaming at us as we walk by and greeting our guests. That girl made herself known, that is for sure!

The vultures on the counter WAITING for meds!

Keep related cats together! Mother in the middle.

Baby sitting the rugrats, Willow and Soren!

Wiccas lived to be about 17 years old, she was the second of the five of them to leave us. Her passing was one of the more traumatic loses I have experienced so I will spare you the details. Hold them close, you just never quite know when it will be their time. We love you Schnicklefritz Wiccas! Yup, another nickname, or just Schnickles, that worked too!

Clearly she loved Simon the best!

Beauty Queen

Asia (a.k.a Mammas)

Her classic disgruntled look, but this is just her cute muzzle regular style!

(a.k.a. Mammas, Mother, Mother Gers, Gers, Codger (because she looked old and wise long before she ever was senior)

What do I say about this cat? These stories are getting harder to share as they stir up so much emotion. Asia was just amazing. She was pulled from animal control by a rescue and brought to the practice where I had just been hired to be a tech, same place that introduced me to Peaches home one month prior. She had been shot with a pellet gun, had a dead tail and was dragging her bloody back foot behind her. She was 4.25# and nursing four kittens that were barely four weeks old. She was to be euthanized as soon as they were weaned. To think of someone not getting to experience how awesome she was, to think she was set to be killed because of her injuries, injuries that were incurred by nasty humans, struggling to survive despite horrible circumstances and people were ready to throw her away like trash. Unfathomable.

Emaciated, 4.25#, first day home.

An excellent mother & she made gorgeous babies.

Simon was a Mammas boy for life!

I wanted so badly to show her to Jake. I desperately wanted him to meet her kittens. I fell in love at first site with the whole lot of them. Fostering was the solution, or so I thought! Remember from earlier posts, we have never successfully fostered anyone! Ever! Once they cross the threshold…

I tried hard to commit to this fostering thing, then Jake said to me, “So what do you want to name them?” I said, “We can’t name them! Then we’ll keep them!” Well, we named them, ALL. Boom, the end. And so it began, we went from 6 cats to 11 in the blink of an eye.

Simon and Mother. I just love this photo.

Asia was an excellent mother and Simon attempted to nurse her until he was 9 months old! He was a mamma’s boy till the very end. She was one of the first cats that I tried to clicker trained, she was always first in line at meds time and LOVED a/d! She was my office assistant and our “bathroom attendant”. She raced into the bathroom to assist all guests, ensuring they had an overall lovely experience here at Meow Manor. She was quite put out if a non-cat person would not allow her to accompany them, all of our usuals were used to Mother’s assistance! She was so googly!

Oh, at one point her limpy-droopy tail decided to fossilize and die (thank you pellet gun). Literally turned into stone around age 15 and we had to amputate the dead portion of her tail. One day she is walking through the house, “click, click, click” tail was like wood! We may or may not have kept that like a lucky rabbit’s foot.

On the set of the Cats 101 shoot!

The big C got her in the end. This story is a lesson about the SUBTLEY of a cat’s illnesses and how incredibly imperative it is to notate even the most minor changes in your cat. Just a literal hair out of place can prove to be, well, life changing.

It all started with a squinty eye. Both Jake, and a friend that was staying with us at the time thought I was nuts! From the moment I saw that half-closed eye I was on high alert. There was no reason for the squinty eye, no one had popped her, there was no discharge, no scratch, no swollen mucosa, nothing. I put some drops in it for giggles, but I knew my Gers. I couldn’t shake the ever so slight asymmetry, things were changing. It probably took TWO MONTHS before anyone else could appreciate what I was seeing. Slowly, she developed a bump on the side of the bridge of her nose, then her eye got more and more affected. She saw our favorite surgeon, but there was nothing to do. She was 18 years old so invasive surgeries, biopsies and radiation were not really an option. Her beautiful little face became quite distorted towards the end.

"Mothering" baby Willow.

Willow became her protégé'!

She STILL FORAGED, clicker trained with Willow, came for meds time, she was so in there but when she would get food from a puzzle it was getting hard to swallow. She was starting to starve as the mass grew and invaded her throat. She was otherwise so happy and, in her routine, so I made a rather extreme call, I had a feeding tube placed. I was told by her surgeon, “No one knows her quality of life better than you, Ingrid. If you think she is still happy then this is ok to do.” So, we did it. She even foraged with the tube in and then I would feed her! Her son, Simon got to cuddle with her just a little bit longer, Willow had her mentor just a little bit longer, I had my Mammas just a little bit longer. That was all we got, about 5 weeks. I awoke one morning to her sleeping on my pillow, which was not a typical spot for her (changes in behavior are often the first sign that something is wrong!), she was wheezing, now the goddamn cancer was affecting her breathing and I didn’t have a tube for that. We said good-bye that day, here at home with her remaining children by her side.

Foraging despite a feeding tube!!

"Yes, humans are simple, Mother."

Clicker training despite the cancer distorting her face.

She would stay on my lap for hours while at the computer, even at the clinic!

She raised Willow for me. Taught her the ropes, taught her how to be my office assistant as Mother spent most days on my lap at the computer. Willow loved her like a mom, and Mammas was so good to her. Now they are both gone. But they live on. Fundamentally Feline has offered many outlets for me to honor these precious relationships. She is in my talks, my videos, photos, all of these cats will continue to teach all of you for years to come. I am grateful for all they have taught me. I am who I am because of them. We are the lucky ones.

Our beautiful Mother, adopting her and the whole litter fulfilled a lifelong dream and is literally one of the best things I have ever done.