“I’ve been a loyal Pet Tips ‘n’ Tales reader for ten years,” said Joy, “and now that I am recovering from surgery there is finally time to tell our tale!
My husband, Dean, and I have three rescue cats. Our eldest, Sam, is a brown and black tabby who turned 17-years-old on
Halloween. Bitsie is a 12-year-old white and calico cat, and Sunu is a 4-year-old jet-black kitty.”
Many people are unaware that kittens and puppies, like humans, are born toothless. Kittens’ 26 baby teeth begin appearing at 2-3 weeks of age. The health of a kitten determines the age that the teeth appear. Kittens lose their baby teeth, around 3-4 months, as their 30 permanent teeth erupt. An adult cat’s teeth are fully developed at seven months.
This is how a professional can tell the age of a feline.
Being a rescue kitten is definitely not the same as being born at a neighbor’s where the mama cat and kittens are well fed and safely snuggled in a closet. “Sam was cruelly dumped in the country to starve,” said Joy. “It almost worked. The tame kitten was sickly, malnourished and still had his baby teeth when miraculously rescued.
Bitsie was a feral kitten who looked
four-weeks-old, but our vet said her teeth indicated she was double that age. She was itsie-bitsie - and still is.
She and our Greyhound, Rafi, immediately bonded making the funniest odd couple with their vast size difference. When Rafi would lay down, Bitsie would march up to him and bump his face with her face until he’d wash her. Only after Rafi had soaked and cleaned the top of her head and her ears was she ready to move
on.
Bitsie didn't tolerate Sam, but after Rafi’s passing Sam lovingly understood Bitsie’s grief and started grooming her. And she let him!
We ‘found’ Sunu right after our beloved 16-year-old cat, Sparky, and my mother passed. In Avatar (our favorite movie) the word Sunu means ‘Joy’. Sunu healed our hearts by bringing laughter and joy back into our lives.
He was a tiny, brave kitten. When Rafi first saw
Sunu, the dog laid down, put his big head on the floor and intentionally looked away. Rafi stayed immobile until Sunu mustered enough courage to carefully toddle over and smell the gentle giant. I had never witnessed a dog submitting to a feline in such a gentle-kind way. He was the best ‘family’ dog.
Sunu is a ‘Daddy's cat’. When he hears Dean's vehicle, he runs to the door to greet him. He also sleeps glued to Dean’s side and Dean won't
disturb him. Dean will complain, ‘I don’t have any room.’ I explain, ‘He’s a cat - move him.’ Eventually, I gently slide the cat my way. When Sunu ‘asks’ to crawl under our covers; he crawls in, turns around, drapes his front legs over my arm, and snuggles. He weighs 12 pounds and it’s like adding a heating pad on a cold winter night.
We discovered Sunu’s favorite ‘toy’ by accident. I turned on our small flashlight and Sunu pounced on the
beam. So we bought him a cat laser light toy, and the second he hears it click ON, he runs into the room, intent on hunting and killing the offending moving red dot.
Just like humans, as we age, so do our cats’ and dogs’ teeth. Sam recently had an abscess tooth pulled. He spends most of his time either sitting or sleeping on me. His gentle purr-esence helped me heal after knee replacement and breast cancer surgery.
As I type, he is on my lap. We have something in common, as two years ago he survived cancer on his chin.
The veterinarian advised us, ‘Take him home. It is too risky, at his age, to under go surgery.’ We felt we had nothing to lose, so as an experiment, we applied a natural remedy internally and topically, and it worked! We also used Reiki and prayer. Today Sam is doing well!
The other
morning, Sunu was meowing and staring at Dean in bed because breakfast had not yet been ‘served’. Dean said, ‘I am the wrong person to talk to. Go tell your mother.’ Well, Sunu turned and stared at me until I climbed out and fed him.
We are grateful for the cats that bless our lives and hope that we have blessed theirs.”
Appreciation for Tips 'n' Tales