Mia and me

I do know my grammar, but the title above has more alliteration (see I do know big words). HA! I guess everyone knows I am a “cat lady”.  While I may not have coffee mugs with cats on them. I do have cat necklaces and pins and earrings. I have cat t-shirts. And I specialize in cat paintings. In addition, I love writing and talking about my kitty, so guess I am the weird cat lady.

After Mia’s long drawn out treatment for corneal ulcers last year, she has never quite been the same. I am not sure if it was the pain, or the constant vet visits, but from an outgoing friendly cat, she has become nervous, skittish and retiring. Eventually she has come to respond to me and sit with me, but she does not appear when company comes and no longer openly offers herself for loving. At the least little noise or sudden movement she skitters off to hide. That has made me sad to see that transformation.

At the same time, she continues to play with her favorite green ball, runs around a lot when chased and will even play with the laser light some. She is very active and when she desires extremely affectionate. She has taken to laying on my stomach when I read in bead and like to knead me. All my everyday clothes and nightgowns have small “laser-like” cuts in them from her claws. I had to give up on the silicone claw covers, as her nails do not shed properly and they ended up growing into the pads. We had quite and operation a couple of times, cutting through the silicone nails to get them off and now she is traumatized about having her nails clipped. I do them once in a while when I feel particularly strong willed. Afterwards, I get the silent treatment for a long time. Right now she isn’t too bad about scratching the furniture. I guess she figures she has ruined both couches and there is not much more fun to be had. I don’t wish to buy new furniture, so guess I will have to spring for recovering the couch, preferably in canvas!

She has become camera shy for some reason, and we can never get a cute shot of her. She’s a fairly obedient cat, as cat’s go, but when the camera comes out, she looks everywhere except at the lens, so I have no good photos of her. In addition, her black fur seems to fool the focus of the camera and most of the shots are blurry. Because I am dreaming of one day being able to offer paintings of cats to owners, I also am thinking of what kind of good camera I could use to take really good head shots of cats. Has to be a camera with really quick shutter action! I got an e-mail about a photographer that does feline portraits at your home. I was drooling with her work and dreaming of her coming her and doing Mia, but then I saw the price. I am sure it is worth the $500 or so, but I just can’t afford that.

Since Mia has Irritable Bowel Syndrome, I have to be really careful with her food. Even so, it’s a constant challenge to keep her litter box clean and also other places as she has “accidents” if she is particularly upset. I tried an experiment with her food late last year, based on my research. Not a good idea. Things went from bad to worse, to positively awful. Let’s just say, Mia will never be eating wet cat food again. And I’ll add, that despite everyone’s raves, cooked pumpkin does nothing to help her digestion. I have found a dry food for cats for cats with her problem and she does pretty well with that, in addition to taking probiotics every morning. She loves her probiotics (I call it yogurt for cats), but will only take it in the morning and on the white table on the veranda. Every day she sniffs it like she has never ever seen the stuff in her whole life. She suspiciously tastes it and then proceeds to try to get her tongue into the tube feeder to get more than her daily dosage. If, however, I forget in the morning and offer it later in the day, it turns into poison. Go figure. I told you she was temperamental.

Despite me being the one who takes her to the vet, gives her meds and cuts her nails and grooms her (although that’s her favorite activity of the day), she has become MY cat. She sits on the white drawing table while I work on the computer. She sits on the table on the veranda when I read the Bible, she lays on my lap when I read, and naps with me when I rest on the bed. She just doesn’t like to be held in my (or anyone else’s) arms. See how she is trying to escape?  But she is my baby and gives me great joy. If you come and visit us, and are very quiet and pretend you don’t care for her, and stay a few days, she may even come out and beg for you to love on her – if you are worthy of such an honor. And you will enjoy it her purrs and her velvety fur. She’s my Mia.