Picked the Boss up from the vet, and he is home relaxing comfortably. They all said he was a complete doll and they loved him because he was so sweet. All I could think was I’ve had this guy for a week, and he is already into me for three hundred bucks, so I hope he has the decency to not spray in the next couple of days as all the hormones work their way out of his system.
And I am still working on adopting out Snowbell. Are any of you interested and able to give her a home? I will pay the adoption fee.
maya
$300! Of course the vet thinks he’s sweet. None of that low cost spay and neuter shit for the Boss.
cathyx
So funny.
cathyx
My cat wouldn’t leave me alone when I got back from being gone for 2 weeks. It was like I got a new pair of fuzzy slippers.
John Cole
@maya: Well, 80 was for the adoption fee. The rest was his neutering, and I did the pre-op blood test to see if he would be ok with the anesthesia, shots, nail clipping, treating ear mites and fleas, blood tests for Feline Leukemia, etc. It adds up, but it is worth it for me mentally to know that I have established a baseline for medical care and that right now, he is a perfectly healthy cat who has everything tested and we know where we stand.
Botsplainer
*guffaw*
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/25/world/europe/snowden.html?_r=0
Yeah, Crime and Punishment is the most fun read ever. A laugh a minute, full of giggles.
NickT
Meet the new Boss, significantly different to the old Boss.
But where are the notes about Cole’s Teutonic platinum hair? I demand an end to this anti-metrosexual bigotry!
Emerald
Thanks so so much, John, for helping sweet little Snowbell! If nobody can take her, perhaps MARC can help.
Boss is gonna lose his fat cheeks now, but sounds like you’ve got yourself another great, and completely healthy, kitteh!
However, you need another cat tree. MCs love to climb.
MattR
I’ve seen a similar one of those before. Quite funny. And quite a contrast from Ellie’s reaction when I am gone for an hour.
ruemara
@Botsplainer: Well. Isn’t that an educated thoughtful young man we would entrust with NSA content? Seriously, who vetted him for the job?
My cats can’t deal with me being gone for my job on a daily basis. If I was gone for 6 months, Takkun would have killed me by doing the all important kitty basket weave with my legs as I tried to move up the stairs.
Schlemizel
I used to travel for work a lot & sometimes be gone for 2 weeks at a time. My Ripper would always come running to me when I came home. She would nuzzle and demand attention. Then it was as if she remembered she was mad that I had left her and walk away & scold me for about 30 minutes.
ruviana
In the midst of everything with Tunch and now Boss (so he’s still Boss?), I dealt with my own crazy boycat who had a seizure, necessitating me driving about 40 miles to the emergency vet and dropping over $1000 on him to find out he has CHF and an enlarged heart–he’s okay though now he takes oodles of meds every day. He got another trip last week when I thought his kidneys had shut down; fortunately it was constipation which appears to be resolving. A note to John, apparently male cats are more prone to this and Maine Coons (along with siamese–my boy has some in him) are particularly susceptable. When you hit the vet again, just ask them to check his heart for anomalies–they can hear it in the heart beat. Obviously there are treatments as I’m working with my guy. I didn’t want to post anything earlier out of respect for Tunch–I’m still getting over that and you have my sincerest condolences.
Schlemizel
@Botsplainer:
He should be having the time of his life. Between Dostoevsky and living in the land of personal freedom and privacy that is Mother Russia. What more could a true libertarian want?
maya
@John Cole: I understand. Just kidding with ya. Pets are an expensive undertaking. Every time my dog Buddy gets something in his ear – which is fairly often – it’s $250 at the vet because the big sissy can’t stand anyone probing into his ear, or any where, so he has to be sedated.” Master Card or Visa”?
Need to invent ear screens for big dumb wussy dogs.
Linda Featheringill
Snowbell is sooo pretty!
No, Linda. You can’t have another cat. Sit down and be quiet.
Botsplainer
@ruemara:
My favorite passage of all:
Secret Agent Man sounds a little … ripe … these days. Wonder if he’s cursing Assange and Greenwald yet for yanking him away from Hawaii and his hotbody, high maintenance girlfriend?
MattR
@Schlemizel: That is exactly how Ellie reacts when I am gone for a week or so. She gets ridiculously excited (to the point of peeing when she was younger) for 10-15 minutes then gives me the cold shoulder for a couple hours before finally settling back in to normal.
Anne Laurie
@maya:
Heck, it just cost us more than $300 for each of our little dog’s annual physicals — gropes, pokes, weigh-in, blood test for heartworm, and distemper shots. Times three! But we’re in the pricey BosWash corridor, not West by gar Virginia.
Felonius Monk
@cathyx:
Funny. The cats we had about 15 years ago would totally ignore us and sulk for a couple of days after we returned from being away. It was a very amusing ritual. All we wanted was to pet them and play with them because we’d missed them and they wanted none of it.
BarbaraI
Second ruviana’s recommendation about getting cardiac tests for “Boss.” I don’t have Maine coon cats, but all three of the white cats who have owned me have had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which Maine coons also seem to be predisposed to. All were diagnosed young (before they were four years old), all of them were put on small amounts of atenolol (cheap), and all have had no further development of HC. First cat lived to 16-1/2, two current cats are 11-1/2 and 9-1/2, and are going strong. You’ll pay for the ultrasound (around $300 in the NYC area), but the peace of mind is worth it.
Keith G
@cathyx:
Several years ago an aggressive bout of pneumocystis pneumonia about put my lights out for good. After 30 days in hospital, my very enfeebled self got taken home wherein my tortie, Tapestry, would not let me get more than a few feet away for the duration of my 6 weeks of further recovery. I was so touched by her seeming need to be my companion/nurturer. She was one of the best beings I have even known.
Maybe a lot of cats don’t care, but some do…indeed.
raven
This cat’s for you. Looks like one of them maine coons.
raven
@efgoldman: Oh hell yes, the luggage makes our doggies nuts!
quannlace
Pet insurance is starting to sound pretty good.
Nerdlinger
@Botsplainer: He can be proud of sharing the same fate as that of Philby, the famed champion of individual liberty.
Keith G
@efgoldman: Tapestry had a similar reaction to luggage or moving boxes. But there was no punishment, only purrrs upon rrretrrruns.
pat
Aww, if Snowbell were closer to western Wisconsin and if I thought there was a chance that she would get along with Susy, and if I thought there was a chance that my sister would take both of them when we are in Europe for several weeks at a time…
In other words, totally impossible. Sigh. She looks like a sweety.
maya
@raven: Nah. That’s one of those Busby Berkeley cats
Schlemizel
Anybody heard from Southern Beale? I am wonder how her hand is doing after yesterdays excitement.
Schlemizel
@Keith G:
Every cat I have ever had responded with affection. I think the people who say cats are not affectionate either have never given affection to a cat, don’t understand a cats affection or just plain need a slobbering, drooly subservient greeting.
Svensker
@MattR:
Tee hee, so sweet. That is real doggie love.
schrodinger's cat
Kittehs is affectionate, their displays of affection are however frugal and subtle.
NotMax
@Schlemizel
Beale post from earlier today.
Another Halocene Human
That’s a cat alright.
Turning its back is the final signal of contempt. Oh, snap.
Anyway, you know unlike dogs and their servile attitude a cat will simply hold a grudge over your absence… I mean, dude’s lucky he didn’t get clawed up in retaliation (oh wait psst that’s later when he wakes up… angry kitteh style)
SiubhanDuinne
@Felonius Monk: I take care of a friend’s cats whenever she’s out of town, and one of them (Wellington) flings himself into my arms whenever I unlock the door, every.single.time. It’s really funny, especially since I only see them about three or four times a year.
Trollhattan
JC: set me up for that video perfectly, you did.
WereBear
Cats are subtle.
Not everyone can “get” subtle.
AdamK
@cathyx: Mine too. She barely ate while I was gone, and hid the whole time, and looked all matted and miserable. For the next month she wouldn’t let me out of her sight and was constantly glued to my ankles.
CatHairEverywhere
In light of the dog video, thought you would all like this:
Cat responds to his owner coming home after 6 months
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1bo98838hs
Pogonip
@WereBear: That black cat’s yawn was not very subtle.
John, what is the Boss’s new name?
CatHairEverywhere
@CatHairEverywhere: never mind…
cckids
@Another Halocene Human:
Their whole attitude is “Oh, were you gone? Didn’t notice”.
I will see my cats’ reaction; my daughter is due home in an hour. She’s been on a 6-week road trip; 3600 miles, camping all the way except for 2 nights in San Fran & 3 nights in Seattle. Solo all the way!! She’s been planning & saving for it for 2 + years, and she made it a reality. (including buying her own car).
Oh, and she just turned 18. Mom’s a little proud.
Scott
My crew greets me at the door after work and get very vocal and demand attention when I come back from a trip – then they snub me for a few hours.
Michele C
My cats are not subtle. I have never been to the bathroom without my Simon if he could get there before I closed the door. Snoopy forgave me on sight for shipping him from Jakarta to Detroit, rubbing against my legs, purring, and screaming his hellos, once we got him out of he crate. Packing is not allowed, with vibrant sit-ins in the luggage, even though they massively adore their sitter. They run to the door when we come home, especially if my husband is early (OMG! Daddy is home! Already! Play with us now!)
My sister thinks it’s because I’ve always had dogs. No idea.
StringOnAStick
My first cat would hold a grudge over my extended absence, which grew shorter with age, until before she passed she was just plain glad to see I’d returned home.
The current cat meets us at the door every day, wants to play then (and also later; not bad for 12 years old). I try to pack out of her view, and sneak it into the car so she doesn’t see it, but she’s getting better and better at sniffing out the signs of impending absence. Once you come back from a trip, you get one or two days of her constantly saying “wow” instead of her usual melodious meow, plus nearly being loved to death. People who say cats don’t care clearly have never been loved or loved a cat; I view that attitude with suspicion….
Botsplainer
@quannlace:
I just bought a Trupanion policy for my puppy. Deductible is $300, and I’m paying $35 a month.
ETA – Thanks, Raven, for that comparison site! It was perfect.
Violet
Glad Bossman is doing well! Thanks for working on adopting out Snowbell. She looks like a total sweetie.
peej
One of my current cats berates me at length when I get home after an absence of more than a few days. Then neither of them will let me out of their sight for a while thereafter. It’s considerably better than one of my previous cats who used to pee in my suitcase when he saw me packing it. I used to have to hide it because of that.
Geeno
If you could deliver Snowbell to my home, I think my wife could be worn down about another cat. I know Otis, age 17, clawed but very gentle in nature, would love to have a companion to mutually stalk for fun.
scuffletuffle
@Geeno: Give Annie Laurie or John your address by email…someone will arrange a travel plan.
Interrobang
My tortoiseshell cat waits for me at the door every day when I come home from work, and yells at me until I greet her and pet her. If I do go away, she spends the next few days plastered to me until she’s sure I’m back to my normal routine.
She’s also very demanding about climbing up onto me when she wants to be held.
The soundtrack of a video of me getting home from six months away would probably sound like an aggrieved “Pr-KOW! Pr-KOW! Pr-KOW!”, then *sound of picking up cat* *world’s loudest purring*. Honestly, I don’t want to find out, because that would involve being away from her for six months…
Elie
I am glad you got him spayed, John. Good on you — good for him…
DeAnn
@John – if he does spray order some bac-a-zap. We have 2 girls that spray(!!!!) even though they have been spayed. A little expensive but works great :)