Terre Pruitt's Blog

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Archive for the ‘Teagan and Nessa’ Category

Posts about our current cats. Two sisters, Teagan (FKA Smokey) the beautiful black one and Nessa (FKA Esmeralda) the Ambitious and fierce Tortie. We originally were going to keep their names, but after a year, I found ones we liked better.

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Now, Not The Future

Posted by terrepruitt on August 1, 2015

I admit, I am challenged with living in the NOW.  I have posted about it before in my Still Practicing Living in the Moment post.  It is a constant practice.  The idea of multi-tasking does not help.  It takes the focus off of what you are doing because your attention is split, and I talked about that in my post “Multitasking”.  There are so many things that remind me to live in the present.  There are always memes showing up on my Facebook Newsfeed.  There are even Bible verses.  Nia used to stand for Now I Am, which I was taught meant to focus on the present, to move and dance in the moment.  But still, I often don’t pay attention to the moment.  When I am not living in the moment sometimes it causes me to worry or feel anxious.  When I have a lot to do, a lot to get done, that is when I am most thinking about doing the next thing.  I am especially anxious for the future right now.  It is like when you have a vacation planned and you can’t wait for it to get here.  I can’t wait for our cats isolation period to be over with.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo, Nia TechniqueWe brought them home on Saturday, July 4, 2015.  For a day or two Smokey was fine but then we noticed her starting to rub her ears a lot.  She was rubbing and scratching them bloody.  Then I noticed Esmeralda had scabby ears.  As I mentioned in my other post it didn’t really hit us that we needed to go to the vet until a Saturday.  We couldn’t get in to a vet (I called five) until Monday (July 13th).  The culture wasn’t back until Tuesday, the 21st.  John was wonderful and picked up the meds that evening on his way home from work.  So we could start administering right away.

It was on the 13th that we locked them in one room.  Now we have to give them meds until the August 19th.  We have an appointment with the vet on August 10th.  The vet will take samples at that time.  While we are waiting for the culture to come back (10 to 14 days) we will be finishing up the 30 days of medication.

We are excitedly waiting for the 19ths when we will be done with 30 days of medication.  But what if the culture doesn’t come back negative? OH MAN!  What if we have to go more isolation time and more culture time and expense? AHHHH!  What if ONE culture is negative and the other one positive?  What if we go bat guano crazy before the 19th?

So I am having a difficult time living in the now.  I have a ton of stuff to do and I feel as if I can’t really concentrate or enjoy (whatever should apply) because I am so wanting this whole thing to be over.  I want the cats to be able to free, plus I really just want to get back to living our regular lives.  This whole process is a pain in the ass.

I know I need to just focus on the moment.  It really does make things better.  It allows me to get more out of what I am doing.  I allows me to enjoy the present.  It helps me to not worry and be anxious.  But damn it is a challenge!

Can you share a story of a situation when you were looking forward to the end and anxious about it at the same time?  Have you ever had this happen where you are not living in the moment? 

Posted in Cats, Misc, Teagan and Nessa | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

We Brought More Than Two Cats Home

Posted by terrepruitt on July 25, 2015

You may have seen my post about us getting cats.  We were thinking about it for a bit.  I always thought I wanted a kitten, but then I met these two cats.  They are about a year and two months.  We were very excited bringing them home.  The caretaker thought they might be hiding for weeks, and advised us to keep them in one room.  We did the first night, but then the next day we opened the door and they came right out.  After that they were in the bow window, that was their spot.  One of them is a tiny cat.  She is soooooo little.  She is so little I was confused as to why her feet were so big.  So I started to look at them.  One, I want them to get used to me touching their feet so I can clip their claws.  And two, I was checking out why her feet were so big when she is so little.  Turns out one of her toes is a little deformed making her foot look big and there was dried skin around the toe.  Plus she had dried stuff on her ears.  Her sister was losing all the hair in front of her ears and itching.  The internet, God bless it, led me to believe they had ringworm.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo, Nia TechniqueNotice I said ringworm and not ringwormS.  Ringworm is not worms at all.  It is a fungus akin to athlete’s foot.  Often times it presents as raised circles on the skin that look like worms so that is where the name came from.  I know animals are not perfect, but when there is something that doesn’t look right to me it indicates something is wrong.  I think Esmeralda has had this for a long time and that is why she is so skinny and her toe is deformed.  She is so skinny when I scratch her from tail to head my fingers catch on her ribs.  She is tiny and skinny.

We had them for a week when I internet-diagnosed them.  Of course, this realization came on a Saturday and I will tell you that unless you already have an appointment on Saturday, you are not going to get your cat in for one.  I would imagine vets would take an emergency, but contrary to what the internet says ringworm is not that common – so I don’t think the vets we called (all five of them) even believed that the cats had ringworm.  Our Dr. said he had only seen it once.  But the internet says it is very common.  Anyway . . . it took two more days for us to get an appointment.  All the while I am reading things on the internet that have me convinced that if it is really ringworm we have to burn the house down.

They have a few ways to diagnose ringworm.  One is a Wood’s Lamp, they say the fungus will fluoresce.  Our vet used the lamp and it didn’t really fluoresce.  They can look at a skin sample under a microscope, but it is really hard to tell if it is or isn’t with this method.  Another method is a sample of scabby stuff and they culture it, which takes 7-14 days.  Then once they diagnose it, the treatment is for thirty days.  Then you have to keep treating until you get a negative culture.  They can also biopsy skin.

Meantime you have to keep the animals locked up in order to keep the fungus from spreading everywhere in the house.  I think the information on the internet that was sounding so dire was for houses with multiple animals, shelters, or catteries.  We were fortunate because we had just got the cats.  So they hadn’t really made themselves at home and been ALL over.  We had even been shutting some rooms off just so they could get used to the house a little bit at a time.  They spent most of their time in a window, as I said.

But still, the spores can be airborne so it is recommended you use a diluted bleach solution to clean everything.  Whatever can’t tolerate the bleach solution gets disinfected with white vinegar.  Everything that can be laundered gets laundered.  Everything that can be moved out into the sun to bake for the day gets put outside.  Our backyard constantly looks like a yard sale.

The cats have been confined to a room since July 13th.  They have endured twice daily topical medication for 9 days.  Then we stopped doing it twice a day when we got the oral medication.  The oral med only comes in pill form.  Thank God that is only once a day.  My hubby has given them both two baths.  These poor animals probably think they we are big meanies!  Sometimes we feel like it.  We have to keep telling each other that is it for the best.  We just want to let them out so they can be free and happy.  We have few days yet.  (Twenty-six days!)

They are very sweet cats.  My hubby and I spend as much time as we can in the room with them.  It is not a big room and it has a lot of furniture in it, but we manage to get those cat wands flying so the girls can chase the feather back and forth.  They are little enough that they can run a bit and jump allowing them some exercise.

So, this is a time-consuming situation . . . but we know that this is just a little speck in time and hope that once we are done with this our babies will forget all about it in the years of fun that we have to come.  These cats are so sweet and so special that we are doing what we can to get through this.  We feel bad for them, but it will all be ok.

This is me sharing and documenting . . . .you know I like to do that.

Have you ever had any experience with ringworm?

Posted in Cats, Teagan and Nessa | Tagged: , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Sisterly Love

Posted by terrepruitt on July 7, 2015

I have not decided to turn this blog into a cat blog.  But I have been very much preoccupied with the cats.  Not that they need a lot of attention.  They are very mellow girls.  I just LIKE giving them a lot of attention.  Plus I spent a lot of time at The Dancing Cat last week so my brain is still on cats.  I want to continue to talk about The Dancing Cat because having a place where you can go meet your potential pet is the greatest thing.  I went there to meet a particular cat that had been posted on The Dancing Cat’s Facebook page.  The second I walked in I wanted to scoop her up and run.  She was so tiny and so cute, just a beautiful girl.  But after watching her for a while I realized that our home would probably not be the best place for her.  She is a very active cat.  She is still young and might mellow out a bit, but she is still more active than we were looking for.  Her being active is not a bad thing at all.  And me recognizing that her level of activity is more than we want is not bad either.  It is EXACTLY what a cat cafe is for.  Well, one of the things.  It is also there to allow people to visit with cats, but its highest purpose it to match people with pets.  I didn’t want two cats.  And I still don’t.  I want the sister we have.  They are still adjusting to their new home.  It is a learning process for all of us.  But so far, my hubby and I are very happy.  We are enamoured with the girls.  We feel extremely blessed.  We are grateful to The Dancing Cat.

Since I have never had two cats, I am learning how to do it.  I never know which one to pet first.  And I always feel as if I have to give them equal time.  Which is probably not true at all because Smokey seems to like her pets in small doses.  But, as I said, we are all learning.  One thing that comes with two cats is their interaction.  I recorded a bit of their little bath session today.  I could have stood there all day, but I only got a couple of minutes because I decided I could leave them alone.  Smokey first bathed Esmeralda, then they switched.

I know for many this is not a big deal.  Happens all the time.  I know I will get accustomed to it, too.  But for now, this just amazes me.  Sister love.

The black cat is Smokey and the tortie is Esmeralda.  On the way home with them in the car my husband and I decided to keep their names.  She doesn’t really seem like an Esmeralda to me.  I looked up the name Esmeralda and it translates to emerald.  The tendency with Esmeralda is to call her Ezzy/Essy.  Don’t like.  She really doesn’t seem like an Ezzy to me.  But as the case is with pets there always seems to be a nickname.  Going along with the emerald idea, I have been calling her Emmy!  When I said that my husband said, “Like the award?”  And I said, “No, like short for the precious gem!  An Emerald.”Ahh, we will see.

My Facebook friends have been very kind and understanding about all the pictures I have posted.  I hope you understand, too.

Posted in Cats, Teagan and Nessa | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Fourth Of July 2015

Posted by terrepruitt on July 4, 2015

I hope, for those of you that celebrate, you had a very wonderful and safe Fourth of July.  I have been a bit preoccupied with family things.  So I forgot about Thursday’s post as well as today’s post.  But, it is good stuff, additions not subtractions.  Saving lives, not losing lives.  Remembering those that we were honored and blessed to have as part of our lives.  Sharing the love we are bursting with.  Sharing what we work hard for and the blessings we have.  Just brace yourself because this might turn into a blog about cats.

There were cats, friends, food, fireworks, and lots of love.  I give a shout out to my hubby who helped make it all happen and sacrificed his desires because of my needs.  The cats came home to a comfortable and clean space which took me a bit to achieve.  But they are home.

Thanks for reading.  Thanks for understanding.

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Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo, Nia Technique

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo, Nia Technique

Posted in Cats, Teagan and Nessa | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

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