Bella first made an appearance on the blog in Dec. 2011.
We'd been making "eye contact" for a while - talking to each other across the street.
I could tell that this beautiful kitteh was starving - for affection and for food - very skinny -
Why do people dump their cats out in the country - "Oh, look honey - here's a place with a barn - there must be lots of mice there"
Dump, out goes the cat.
Well, pretty soon, I had named the cat Bella - and was feeding her outside on the back porch - but it was winter and getting kind of slippery on the back porch - after I about took a header into the flower bed, I decided that Bella should get her meals in the utility room -But with two other kitties, feeding one in the utility room and two in the kitchen soon became kind of unmanageable - so pretty soon, Bella's food dish moved into the kitchen with George & Gracie's dishes.
And her sleeping spots - well, where ever she wanted, as a matter of fact -
On the plant table in the corner of the kitchen
On top of the deep freeze.
Oh, she worked very hard and took an inordinate amount of interest in the sheep. (to get in this spot, she had to jump three feet, straight up, land on a 2 inch ledge and grab hold of the panel at the same time - she's an extraordinary athlete)
"Hey, whatcha doin' in there?"
She loves being up high - on the top of the car, on the top of the house, on the top of the cupboards in the kitchen - where ever she can see what's going on.
And :Snoopervisor" is her middle name.
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| Bella - July 2012 |
In fact, when the kitties came in for dinner on last Thursday night, Bella leaped from the lawn over the planter on the edge of the deck, easily a leap of 6 feet or so. Like I said, she is very athletic.
So I was very surprised,when I got home on Friday night that she was laying by the side of our driveway - and made no effort to get up to come in to have her dinner - I had to go out and pick her up and carry her to the house - and wouldn't eat. Very unusual behavior - Saturday morning I mixed up some pate cat food with water and she ate that - giving her extra hydration and nutrition - (I was having flashbacks to Sinda's behavior before she went to The Bridge) I called my V.E.T. and they didn't have any openings until Monday - so I made an appointment since she was doing a little better after eating the pate "gruel" - and continued to get a little better over the weekend.
So, "What's the conundrum?" you ask. - It was actually the first time that I had taken Bella to the V.E.T. - We have been trying to get our friend how has a mobile vet service out to do shots, etc, but for one reason or another, it just hadn't happened.
Actually, she did a lot better than I expected - rode in the PTU (prisoner transport unit) very calmly, and was very polite to Dr. Perry - didn't even snarl when he put the thermometer, "you know where" -
But the most surprising thing, and my conundrum? - Well, Bella is a FELLA !! (neutered, of course) All this time, her actions had been telling me that she was a girl kitty - the way she interacted with George & Gracie - her little bitty meow - to name a few things -and s/he is a VERY fluffy/furry kitty - I "felt around" - I really did - and I was certain that Bella was a girl -
So now, I have to decide - how do I think of Bella as a "him" - do I treat him/her differently - or maybe decide that actually Bella is a hip Transgendered kitty and continue to treat her/him as a girl?
I don't know - it's too much to comprehend. I think I'll go spin some of my Tour de Fleece project and think about it some more.
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