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pergamjee In reply to lucytherescuedcat [2014-09-05 09:19:57 +0000 UTC]

Thank YOU, for sharing in our cat stories!

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lucytherescuedcat In reply to pergamjee [2014-09-06 01:44:13 +0000 UTC]

You are so very welcome! 

 

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pergamjee In reply to PhantomStormchase [2013-11-29 05:44:14 +0000 UTC]

... ooohhh, I hope you have many many trees! ^^

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PhantomStormchase In reply to pergamjee [2013-12-03 22:29:20 +0000 UTC]

My entire backyard is a complete forest. Probably more than a thousand trees! That's enough, right? LOL..

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pergamjee In reply to PhantomStormchase [2013-12-04 04:28:39 +0000 UTC]

THOUSAND TREES!!!

That's kitty heaven! oohhh ... what wouldn't our cats do for that! Unfortunately, here in our tiny island nation, land is scarce and costly ... no way can we ever have a place like that for our cats ... ah well, we can dream, can't we? ^^

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PhantomStormchase In reply to pergamjee [2013-12-05 00:18:35 +0000 UTC]

Heehee.....

Give me all your cats names!!! So I can carve them into trees...

Well, technically the trees I mentioned were bamboo...But close enough... Lol...

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pergamjee In reply to TeaPhotography [2013-07-26 05:11:45 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for the kind thoughts. We know death is part of living; there is no avoiding that ... we are prepared to deal with that ... but when a life is cut-short by something like cancer, it is just so difficult to accept.

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pergamjee In reply to EmilyScary [2013-07-25 09:13:15 +0000 UTC]

ahhh ... do you mean the Turkish Van? No, I don't believe so. Yes, she's been to the doctor's ... there's nothing that they could do for her ... thank you for caring and commenting.

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EmilyScary In reply to pergamjee [2013-07-25 14:01:23 +0000 UTC]

anytime :3

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pergamjee In reply to Mayroon [2013-06-23 10:13:09 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! ::runs off to look for your cat::

I see a beautiful calico cat ... what's her name?

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Mayroon In reply to pergamjee [2013-06-23 10:37:27 +0000 UTC]

Originally she has no name, but when I was little I called her "Murli" for no reason^^ But that name is embarrassing so I call her "cat" ^^'

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pergamjee In reply to Mayroon [2013-06-23 10:41:06 +0000 UTC]

hehe ... "cat" is a perfectly good name ... if you only have ONE cat!

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Mayroon In reply to pergamjee [2013-06-23 11:05:36 +0000 UTC]

no problem. If you have 2 cats, call the first "cat 1" and the second "cat 2"

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pergamjee In reply to Mayroon [2013-06-23 11:34:02 +0000 UTC]

and if you have 36 at the same time?

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Mayroon In reply to pergamjee [2013-06-23 11:50:36 +0000 UTC]

... Then you have a problem, if you want to name them all "cat" XD

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pergamjee In reply to Mayroon [2013-06-23 11:51:53 +0000 UTC]

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pergamjee In reply to AveryCF [2013-04-30 01:15:15 +0000 UTC]

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pergamjee In reply to iNsAnItY-Wolf-Cry [2013-04-23 23:35:55 +0000 UTC]

She was a terribly good cat. ^^ Playful and joyful, never letting her blindness hold her back.

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pergamjee In reply to Doll-Ladi [2013-04-12 02:26:39 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. We are okay ... there is no time to dwell on the grief ... we cry, and then we carry on ... we are kept busy with the many other cats we have. And we have the lovely memories Jo made for us ... her story, except for the last few weeks, is mostly one of joy ... she was a very joyful cat! ^^ So, you see, it is quite "safe" to read the description here ... it is about her life, not her death ...

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pergamjee In reply to Bitch0nline [2013-04-11 22:42:53 +0000 UTC]

thank you for your kind words ... it is not death itself that worries us so much as the manner of it ...

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Bitch0nline In reply to pergamjee [2013-04-12 11:35:04 +0000 UTC]

your very welcome yes death is a very scarey thought

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pergamjee In reply to ZIM402 [2013-02-25 00:23:47 +0000 UTC]

aha ... we have tried that too ... no success ... but it's okay, we look at these feed times as bonding times with Jo ^^

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pergamjee In reply to SerenaAndMina [2012-12-16 18:48:25 +0000 UTC]

Wow! Three and a half blind ones! Were they blinded from accident, or birth, or old age? Jo was our first (our twenty-one year old is now going blind from old age, which is another matter!) and every day was (and still is, sometimes) a learning experience for us. Do share some of your experiences, if you have the time ... I would love to hear them!

Well, to be fair, the fault was ours, for making that decision to leave her at the vet for such a long period of time. Vet hospitals, like human ones, are full of germs ... worse still, probably superbugs like those in human hospitals, what with the overuse of antibiotics! We will never make that mistake again.

Jo is almost 16 now, and still in pretty good health. Her appetite is slowing, but I guess that's to be expected at her old age.

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SerenaAndMina In reply to pergamjee [2012-12-18 16:44:11 +0000 UTC]

Hello pergamjee.
Well, when first commented on your photo of Jo, I was planning on adding a bit of depth about my kitties. I was a bit afraid to talk about it, as it can sound quite upsetting to hear or to read. I will begin telling you about my blind kitties in the next paragraph. I beg of you PLEASE, do not continue to read it if you begin to find it upsetting in any way, PLEASE!!! I will try to be as least descriptive as I can be, in my long story.
This is serious, and may even seem unbelievable, perhaps even unreal. Unreal like, Ripley's Believe it or not (if your familiar with it.) So please PLEASE pergamjee, STOP reading if you are upset by anything you are beginning to read. I DO NOT want to upset you in any way over it.

Okay, if your ready..........

Well, it all started with three pregnant mother cats. All three gave birth approximately the same time, in the late late fall of last year.

One Mother cat, an outside-only kind of cat, whom I used to call Mommy-Kitty, disappeared about two weeks after she gave birth, and I never saw her again. This was very unlike Mommy-Kitty to just disappear like she did. She had successfully birthed three previous litters, and never abandoned them before. She was a very beautiful Mother indeed. I was quite distressed, not only over her disappearance, but about her kittens as well. They were only a few weeks old at the time, and I could never let theses babies just die.
Well, my brilliant idea to save them, wrought further dismay when I decided to bring these babies in the house.

At the same time, I had two Mother cats whom are inside-only cats. One a calico, I call Tinker. The other a very very petite tortoiseshell colored cat I call Lil' Bit. Both these cats had already began to share with taking care of one an others kittens. Everything from feeding to washing them. Since they were already sharing one an others kittens, I figured I could split Mommy-Kitty's kittens between the both of them as well. I thought this was best because the kittens would do better receiving Mother's milk than what I had to offer.

So, all together, I think there were 15 kittens and the two Mother cats. Both the Mother cats appeared healthy and normal, and still are to this day. However, when it came time for little eyes to start opening, they opened with many problems. If I can remember right, lets just say about 8 out of 15 opened their eyes about as normal as to be expected. The rest had nothing but a torturous pain to deal with. Their eyes were constantly dried shut, with scabby looking stuff over the slits of their eyes, and puss oozed from them when opened. Our vet advised us not to bring them in because they were far too small to travel so far. (Unfortunately, my family lives out in the country, nothing but inconvenience is to be expected, when you live far from the city.)

Anyways, I called on the phone, and explained everything that had happened from when Mommy-Kitty disappeared to what their eyes were doing. He had said to dip Q-tips in warm water and roll them over their eyes to clear them and even add a bit of Vasoline(petroleum jelly) after their eyes were clean. He said it sounded a bit normal and not to worry, and just call back in a week and tell him if the results had changed.

Well, a week went by, the the results most certainly changed!!! They got worse is what began happening. Some of the kittens died, others were getting sick and began eating less and less. I force fed as much as I could, and even gave them water, but it did no good. More and more died. and I could do nothing but become hysterical. I just can't bare to watch these kind of things happen to animals, ESPECIALLY little kittens!

I called the vet again, told him what was happening. He told me to hold on the phone, while he talked to another vet that worked with him. He came back and told me he thought the kittens had probably contracted a form of Herpes, possibly spread from sharing the kittens with different mothers. He said one of the two Mother cats was most likely infected as well, and should be displaying the symptoms as well. He said he'd treat the Mother, whichever one she was. As for the kittens, they were far too small for medication. He also forewarned me, any other cats I had would easily contract it as well, as Herpes spreads easily.

What I couldn't figure out, was neither Mother ever displayed symptoms, nor any other cat I have.

THIS IS THE PART THAT STARTS TO GET WORSE, SO PLEASE, BE READY TO STOP IF YOU MUST, PLEASE!!!

Anyways, now it was up to the strong to survive. Out of 15 kittens I was sadly left with 8. These last 8 were not to live their lives as normal happy kittens should get to. They were cursed with torture. The first kitten this happened to, I named her Baby. Every time I looked at her face I would tell her, "Oh you poor little Baby, I wish it were me instead." I felt so badly, I couldn't help but call her Baby.

I continued to do the Q-tip swab but with only warm water. I didn't like putting the Vasoline in they're eyes. I had began to notice when I cleaned their eyes out all I saw when I opened the eye was white. I couldn't see the eyeball itself or even what color they were. Slowly, and I mean very slowly, their eyes began to bulge and become bigger and bigger. It looked as if they had small gumballs on the outside of their head where they're eyes would be seen. I had no idea what was going on, and I told my vet once again. However, they were far too small to travel, and he advised me there wasn't much he could do because they were too small for surgery as well. After a few months, my dad had figured out that their eyes were coming out of the sockets. Its not as though it looked like you are imagining. It was all scabby and pussy looking. I never saw the eyeball itself come out of their head. However, I recall the first time one kitten lost their eye without a doubt. One night while I was getting their food prepared for them, I accidentally collided with Baby. She ran straight into my leg, and her eye did come out onto the floor. It didn't resemble an eye though, but just a round brown ball. I don't know if you can imagine the guilt I felt for having that happen, but the best way I can explain it...I just wanted to die. I felt like I hurt her, and even worse. My dad told me she probably never felt anything though. It didn't hardly bleed, and she actually seemed quite relieved a few days later. She began playing and acting normal, except that she ran into walls and our feet A LOT. Well, not only did Baby run into things, all the blinding kittens did. We had to make sure we didn't step on them, they couldn't see us, and were far to small to master their blind senses. Well, over months and months they all lost their eyeballs, except for one. One kitten, whom is the spiting image of her Mother, Lil' Bit, only lost one eye. The rest lost both. All together, Baby lost both her eyes, another I call Shrimp lost both his, his brother I call Artie lost both of his, an the last, Luna, lost the one eye.

So, what we have now are three and a half blind cats without eyes in their heads. Having gone through this horrid ordeal with my precious babies, it doesn't bother me to look at their empty eyes. But, sometimes when I do, I can't help but wonder why in god it had to happen.

Out of all of them Artie had the worst time. His eye sockets were stuck with his eyes poking out for months at a time. He had the most honorific time dealing with it, and as you might expect, I treasure him most dearly to my heart, he is indefeasibly my baby, yet they ALL are!. He is by far the most intelligent creature I will ever see too. You cannot hide anything from that cu-t-pie! It can be quite trying at ties to deal with some of these little guys, as they don't always find their litter boxes, even though I never move them. The boys also find their way around perfectly well enough to mark their territories, if you know what I mean.

Together, (pardon the expression)we have been through hell and back. Nothing or no one can ever replace the love I have for these kittens. There's nothing more dear to me in this world.

A few months back I researched on the internet a bit about Herpes. I couldn't help but wonder if they have Herpes, why don't they occasionally get outbreaks, and why didn't their Mother's have it. Or even why none of my other cats ever caught it. What I did discover was a parasite contracted from birth called roundworm, can eat the optic nerve from a cats head. Some cats have been recorded to lose their sight in as little as 24 hours. I can't say for certain this was the cause of their ailment either, since it did say it can cause them to lose their sight, but not their eyes. However, some of the kittens did begin to display symptoms of having this parasite later on. So I now treat them monthly for it with proper medication. Had I only but known in the beginning, I may have been able to someway save their precious sight, if this is what caused it.

And pssst, I understand what you mean about the germs and superbugs.

I am so glad Jo is as healthy as she is at her age. My mom has a cat that will be 17 in January. Things can get quite difficult for them when they get older. Actually though, my moms cat, (his name is Buddie) seems to have an increased appetite at his age. Though he has quite a hard time gaining weight though, and also getting around at times.

Well pergamjee, I can't thank you enough for sticking through this to the end if you have. You are very brave to have read my story. You are the first person who asked about my blind kittens, and the first I told my story to.

I genuinely thank you pergamjee for your interest and time. Bless you, and precious Jo, for causing us to meet. I am glad to have met someone with a similar problem.

Thank you, thank you, thank you my dear!!!

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pergamjee In reply to SerenaAndMina [2012-12-19 14:45:11 +0000 UTC]

I cried.
I cried for the pain that the kittens and you had to go through.
It is a nightmarish ordeal that I wouldn't wish on even my worst enemy.

I felt your pain, your desperation, your despair; but I also felt your devotion, your compassion, your courage.
This is a horrendous story, but also a moving and inspiring one.
Baby, Shrimp, Artie and Luna are lucky they have you as their human, someone who would give 110% of themselves.

I asked my younger sis to read your story, and she's all choked up now.
She agrees that nothing we have experienced in our years of looking after kitties can even come close to what you had to go through. Nothing. We have had moments of desperation, moments of despair, watching our kitties die from old age, illnesses, accidents, etc., but this ….

Don't beat yourself up over 'what I should have done' … this is something we all do with the benefit of hindsight … you did the best you could at that time. Introducing orphaned or abandoned baby animals to foster mothers is a very much accepted methodology in all kinds of animal conservation/care … you did the right thing to put Mommy-Kit's little ones with Tinker's and Lil Bit's. You couldn't have known that there was a problem waiting to erupt. Even if you had known about the roundworm issue, you would not have been able to treat them with the medication … as the vet said, the kitties were too young.

Yes, we do rant at the powers that be, questioning why innocent kitties have to suffer what they have to. I don't suppose we are ever going to get any answers to our questions. All we can do, is to apply what we have learnt from looking after each kitty, for the benefit of those that come after. We owe that to those that have died, so that they would not have died in vain. In our moments of sadness and loss, the knowledge that there are still many living kitties depending on us give us the strength to go on.

Do you have any pics of your kitties? I would love to see them.

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SerenaAndMina In reply to pergamjee [2012-12-23 13:02:21 +0000 UTC]

Hello pergamjee.
I just wanted to let you know I am typing another story to you,but it will take me a few more days as I have been quite busy and I also type very slowly.
As well, little Artie has been feeling poorly, so I've been busy babying him.
I wish you and your precious Jo a very safe, warm, and happy Meowy-Catmas love.

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pergamjee In reply to SerenaAndMina [2012-12-31 03:22:28 +0000 UTC]

Yes, I have read your note, and I have replied!

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pergamjee In reply to Solrac333 [2012-08-05 21:37:38 +0000 UTC]

Surprising, she manages very well ... she can even climb staircases, goes outdoors to enjoy the sunshine, etc. And even when the human forgets and leaves a 'new' object in her path, she somehow manages to avoid it ... we think she must be using some other senses to help her sense the presence of things in her environment! The only times she actually runs into things are when there's a sudden loud noise somewhere near when she's out in the garden ... then, in her panic dash into the house and safety, she would sometimes run into things.

We try to keep her room a safe and 'unchanging' place for her so that she can feel secure in it ... every piece of furniture and object, including toilet tray and water bowls, have a designated spot; after each cleaning session, every piece is put back in its designated spot.

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Solrac333 In reply to pergamjee [2012-08-05 23:41:10 +0000 UTC]

The whiskers help them sense things.

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pergamjee In reply to neurotype-on-discord [2012-01-13 00:30:01 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for stopping by with your lovely comments, and for sharing in my cats' stories!

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pergamjee In reply to Seishiku [2011-11-30 21:12:43 +0000 UTC]

Jo was our first blind cat (our 20-year-old Eki is getting blind with old age now), so it was a fascinating learning experience for us.

The nicest thing about sharing our cat experiences on dA is that we get to know of others' similar experiences.
shares her experiences with two old slowy going blind cats, and say "I never saw any of them running into anything even if we stupid humans inadvertently put something in their usual way." That seems to support our hypothesis that cats rely on other senses to compensate for a loss in vision.

Yes, I shall get that journal out before the weekend ... I would be interested in knowing if others have similar experiences with their blind cats! ^^

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Seishiku In reply to pergamjee [2011-12-01 05:35:04 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much. Being able to share experiences with others is truly a wonderful aspect of the internet and one of the reasons I created our group. I very much enjoyed reading your blog. It was truly heartwarming. ^_^

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pergamjee In reply to MyLoveForYouEternity [2011-11-24 14:09:13 +0000 UTC]

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pergamjee In reply to BobToth [2011-11-24 14:09:38 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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