Muffin has been having veterinary problems lately. She will be 14 years old around the beginning of July. Her litter mate brother, shown with her in this photo from several years ago, died almost exactly one year ago.
Born in Alameda, where there used to be a Naval Air Station, her birthday has been celebrated on the 4th of July although the exact date is not known. They were born around the beginning of July, and I got them as rescue kittens.
I got some blood work back on her today. While not conclusive, it seems most likely that she has inflammatory bowel disease, one of the common problems in geriatric cats. So we are beginning a process of changing her diet and other treatment. She was young and spry until fairly recently, and losing her litter mate brother and the kitten who followed him clearly took a toll on her.
So with my thoughts on Muffin today, I thought I would do a kitty post. When she and Matty Bear were kittens, I had to look at their paws to tell them apart. They would spook maintenance people, who would think they saw the cat run one direction and then they thought they saw the same cat right behind them. Age made Matty Bear much larger than her. Still, they were often side by side like this picture, closely bonded from the time they were small feral kittens, snatched out of the bushes together and bottle fed.
Favorite color: Purple. As a kitten, she showed a strong preference for purple toys. That is one of a few colors within the range that cats can see. Unlike dogs, they can see a range including blue and purple and green, with everything else seen in shades of gray. Matty preferred the blue toys, but for Muffin it was always the purple ones that were her first choice.
Favorite movie: Crimson Tide. The first time it was on TV, still fairly new, she sat on the edge of the coffee table staring at the screen while Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman argued over whether to fire nuclear weapons. She could not have possibly understood what they were talking about. But she was so intent that her little butt moved up and down as she stood up on her back paws and settled down again, and then up again, staring at the screen. I thought the actors should have had Oscars for that movie if for no other reason than that the emotional intensity was enough to fool a cat. A few years later, I saw it on TV again, and she did the same thing at the same scene, so it was not just a coincidence. Something about the intensity of that scene just fascinates her.
Favorite people food: She wouldn't touch the stuff except once. The only people food Muffin ever liked was fresh crab, the time I brought a live crab home from the grocery store and put it in the pot with its legs still wriggling. Both cats meowed the whole time it was cooking, and I let them have a share. It was the only form of people food she ever liked.
Retirement hobby: Becoming a lap cat, something she was too active to do when she was younger.
Favorite TV show: Every now and then she will show an interest in Dog Town or the Dog Whisperer on Friday night. (I think she studies how Cesar makes the doggies be good.)
That's about it. We're getting older together, so my thoughts are much with her right now.
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