It’s only been a few days since Ambush past and the kitties seem to be adjusting. Kiesha periodically walks around the house yowling. When she’s called, she meows lightly and trots in for pettings. Stella has also yowled a little, but, being mostly deaf, she doesn’t hear it when I call her. Instead I find her, and she does her little “purr-ip” and trots up to me.

After Saturday, the kitties started doing something odd: they wouldn’t eat the food they shared with Ambush. Even fresh Innova Evo from the bag was untouched. The wet food flavor the kitties have eaten for the past 8 months stays in the bowl all day. Stella and Kiesha are eating the new salmon flavor Innova Evo samples I brought home. They ate all of the different flavors of wet cat food I had for Stella. But none of the flavors they ate when Ambush was here.

Kitty food selection for Stella and Kiesha, March 2010

All of the kitty beds are washed. Both kitties have stood on the beds, sniffed them, and curled up in other locations.

The odd thing is that Stella has been eating more wet food so she looks like she has gained weight. Her fur looks a little rough, so she’ll go back for fluids this week.

They both seem to be adapting to one less kitty in the house. She and Kiesha have been playing every night: galloping through the apartment like a miniature herd of elephants.

One of the things I loved about Ambush were his antics. He had to explore every where: not to necessarily get out but to just see what was on the other side.

In August 2009, Ambush decided that he was going to go on a walkabout. I had had dinner with a friend, got home kinda late, and took a shower before going to bed. It must have been about 1:00 AM or so. Just as I was about to get into bed, none of the kitties were in my room. Most nights, as soon as I walk into the bedroom the kitties are on the bed ready to cuddle. I could hear the cricket noises from outside even though all of the windows were closed.

I walked into the living room and found the front door open! Yikes! As I moved towards the front door, I checked each room. I’ve watched too many B movies to just open the door or close it without checking. My purse and computer equipment were still here. All of the kitties were out on the landing, lead by Stella (the fearless one) who was standing on the stairs. Ambush and Kiesha weren’t far away from the door. They all looked very guilty and came in as soon as they saw me.

I checked the apartment for intruders again and locked the door. I must not have closed it completely and Ambush opened it while I was in the shower. Talk about an adrenaline rush. I was up for another hour and half after that watching TV until my nerves calmed down.

It’s funny now, imagining him prying open the door and then Stella marching out like she owned everything. He always wanted to see what was out there. Seeing was usually enough. He would watch the snow fall on the porch but wouldn’t venture out into it.

He had one experience with snow. He was maybe three or four and we had the first snow with a few inches. He sat next to the glass sliding doors watching the snow flakes come down. He looked rather miffed when the door was opened and the cold air hit him. He was gently picked up and plopped in the middle of the snow. His tail puffed completely out and he shot back inside, shaking his paws while running full tilt.

He used to get on my dresser and pull out all of the hair bands so he could chase them around the house. When he was a kitten he chased balls made out of crumpled aluminum foil. Toss it down the hall, and he would carry it back in his mouth. As he got older, he only carried about half way back, and then something else would grab his attention. He would drop the ball and trot off after something else.

Probably the funniest thing about him was that he loved to have his belly rubbed. Push him lightly on his back and he would flop onto the ground. Rub his belly and scratch between his front paws and he would kneed the air with his paws. (He also let me clip his claws when he was on his back like that.)

Stella and Ambush had lots of quality time with the vets today. Stella got fluids and a urine test. Ambush had a urine test, spot glucose test, and blood pulled for a blood panel. The vet did preliminary urine analysis on both kitties and they both came back with UTIs.

Ambush and Stella both got antibioitics injected. Stella is very difficult to give pills to and any liquid antibiotics cause her to froth at the mouth. Ambush gets the runs from clavamox pills. Kiesha gets to go in on Saturday morning to see if she also has a UTI. Chances are she does. Last June, all three of the kitties came up with UTIs.

The vet said something interesting. Apparently when a set of kitties are well bonded and one of them gets sick, the other kitties can pick upon this and the walls of their bladders can become inflamed. Not sure if it’s a stress hormone release or what.

Stella is curled up on my lap right now, purring. Kiesha is at my feet. Ambush is some where.

I have been very lucky for the past few months. While Isis has been having trouble this year, the kitties have been healthy this fall and winter. Stella has been doing very well, even though I have not been good about getting to the vet for her fluids. Ambush still seems to be doing well on his low insulin dose and steady diet. (He is using the litter a lot — I’m going through 18 pounds of litter in about 10 days).

Kiesha has been playing with Stella every night. Both of them canter through the house and play tag. Tonight Stella played with a piece of paper on the carpet: tossed it up in the air, caught it, skittered after it across the bamboo carpet. Yup, she’s 20 going on 3.

I have the kitty beds around the desk now: Ambush on the floor to my right, square bed on the boxes to my left, and the special heated (water proof in case Stella leaks) bed on the floor near the plug. Keisha is on the square bed and Stella is on the heated bed. Ambush’s paws are twitching right now. Cute.

I’m going to Mom’s for Christmas and bringing Ambush with me. He is usually good about the drive up and doesn’t get too stressed. I’m leaving Stella and Kiesha behind in the care of my sister. Stella gets stressed when I’m not here and doesn’t eat, so I can’t be gone too long. Poor kitten. She never does well, but it would be much harder on her traveling to Mom’s and dealing with being stuck in a room with Ambush and smelling dogs that she doesn’t know.