Snowbelle photos continued...

Snowbelle at 3 months old

Snowbelle at 3 months surveying her new kingdom.

It's been over a month now since I had to say goodbye to Snowbelle. Every where I look in the house I see her. It'll take awhile before I can let go. It took me months before I finally let go of Flaky. I have been looking through the photos of my cats trying to find ones of Snowbelle to share with you. I found a couple of her when she was just three months old. She was so tiny and had these HUGE ears. LOL  Her foster family called her Gizmo but that simply didn't suit her. I named her Snowbelle after the cat in Stuart Little. It didn't take her long to rule the roost. She may have been the youngest cat but she had all the others, including Sweetie Pie, towing the line. :)

Am I cute or what?

When I went to the Humane Society to get another cat after my Flaky passed away, my husband told me that he wanted a white cat, with amber eyes and it was to be male...well I got two out of the three correct. :)  I simply couldn't resist her. She was behind the glass kneading into it and by then it was to late, she had me wrapped round her little paw. How can you refuse that face?

She was't all white either, if you look closely at the top photo you can see a little black smudge on the top of her head. Flaky had that same smudge when he was a kitten but it disappeared when he got older. Perhaps they were related because that black smudge disappeared as she grew older. :)

When she was younger she used to like to lay on my chest as I watched Television. I think she was watching some cat antics on Animal Planet in this photo. :)

One of her favorite past times was chasing a laser light. She always tried to catch it, but she never could quite do it. :) Sometimes I felt rather sorry for her, I mean, you keep pouncing on it but it disappears only to re-appear somewhere else, usually on the ceiling where you can't get to it. :)

Queen of all she surveys

I have to say I did have hours and hours of fun watching her try to catch the little red dot. She didn't like it much when it would travel up her legs or across her body.

Another thing that she liked to do is sit in front of my keyboard when I was using my desk top. She made it very difficult to type never mind use the mouse. We didn't run the house, she did. LOL

She's caught the mouse!

I really miss her antics. She would invariably, for no reason I could ascertain, tip over the water bowls. I'm not sure if she was trying to see if their was water in it or if she just liked to see it move. She had this thing with playing with water when it came out of the tap, She'd try to "catch it" with her paw or turn her head to the side and catch it with her mouth. I miss her doing that, just like I miss Flaky catching his dry food.

Sneaking up on Chance

Her other favorite past time was terrorizing poor Chance. I never could figure out why, unless it's because he tends to leave "gifts" around the house. He simply doesn't have any control over that part of his body after he went through surgery to repair his broken pelvis. There was one day when Chance and I were chillin' in the bedroom when Snowbelle jumped on the bed, causally walked across it, bopped Chance on the head with her paw and walked away. It was the funniest thing and I wish I had caught it on video. Chance looked so puzzled; the expression on his face was priceless!

I also miss her bugging me to be pet. She'd come over to me and put her paws on my waist when I was doing anything at my net book and want me to lift her up into my lap and give her some loving. She would then proceed to knead into my arm. While this is usually soothing, when her claws got to long...not so much.

Getting her daily fiber

She also disliked me keeping her claws clipped. I'd have to have my husband come in and distract her while I gave her a manicure. There were days when she'd behave, but for the most part it was always a struggle and a couple of times she did bite me but not deep enough to draw blood. I think she had a little bit of both Flaky and Snowball in her. Snowball disliked her claws clipped as well and it was always a struggle to do it. I usually had to put a towel over Snowballs head so that she wouldn't bite me. At least with Snowbelle I never had to resort to such tactics.

I think every corner in my house has her teeth marks in it. For some reason she'd always gnaw on the corner of the coffee table, the corner of the counter, the corner of a chair, my wallet, and I'm not sure why she did it. Unless she was weened way to early. For whatever reason she did it, I miss her doing it now. I know she's out of pain and in a much better place but that doesn't stop me missing  her physical presence. She left an indelible mark on my life and my heart.

IN MEMORY OF SNOWBELLE 6/1/2005 to 6/9/12

IN MEMORY OF A WONDERFUL CAT

Snowbelle sunning herself 6/8/12

6/8/12 Age 7

6/8/12 Getting a little sun

Today was a very difficult day for me. I had to put down Snowbelle because she had fluid on her lungs and though the vets at Sunburst Animal Hospital tried six times to do so, they were unable to because the fluid was so thick. The Vet said that, though it couldn't be proven without tests, that she most likely had cancer and there was a mass that they couldn't see due to all the fluid in her system. It was not a sudden thing, but had been developing for years. It would explain WHY she was always sensitive around her ribs. Without us knowing it we'd been hurting her. The vet also informed me that even if I'd brought her in for a check-up, and I had been doing that for years as well, it still would have gone undetected because her heart sounded fine, her gums were pink, and her temperature was normal. Except today..it was below normal...95 degrees. I had thought her sensitive sides were caused by being "ticklish" not realizing that a more serious condition existed. She'd been sensitive around her ribs for as long as we've had her. She'd visited the vet numerous times over the 7 years she'd been with us and they never detected anything wrong with her. It wasn't until Thursday (6/7/12) that she showed signs of distress. The vet informed me that it wan'ts my fault that she'd gotten sick because I'd been trying to save electricity by turning the A/C off during the day and running it at 68 during the night but it had acerbated the condition. It would have eventually manifested itself, my running the A/C as I had been doing just sped up the process. It doesn't make me feel all that much better since I can't help feeling if I'd just run the A/C as I normally did at 78 to 80 during the Summer months, perhaps we would have had her for a few more years. So this edition of my blog is dedicated to her. The reason why she was so "fat" was due to the fluid around her chest NOT because she'd actually put on weight in a day. Up until Thursday the "fat" on her side DID NOT hang over the window sill as it does in the video and last photos I took of her. If only I'd known....

6/8/12

This photo was taken last night. I was optimistic that she was going to be okay. She seemed to be alert at times, then lethargic. I wish I'd taken more photos of her last night but perhaps it is for the best that I didn't. She wasn't looking her best and it's always difficult for me to watch a cat suffer, and she was suffering. To watch her breathing and not be able to help her except through the meds she was given was extremely hard. To find out that it was all for naught was even more difficult. Still I did all I could for her, and I KNOW that but it doesn't ease the fact that this evening, when I feed the other cats, she won't be among them begging to be fed.

The rest of this blog will be photos of her. I'm having to much trouble writing this without crying.

Father and daughter...

Her favorite place to chill out

On the hunt!

Chillin in the bathtub

Her vampire impression

This is actually HER tree. I bought it for her in
2005 when I first brought her home from the
Humane society. She  was the one who used it
the most. I shall sorely miss seeing her in it. :(

MY DEAREST LITTLE SNOWBELLE


Snowbelle, my dearest little one
I shall miss all your funny little quirks,
How you'd try to drink water out of the faucet,
Putting your whole head under neath
The way catnip would drive you crazy,
The struggle to clip the nails on your feet. 


I shall miss your purring  
As you sat in my lap, 
Kneading into my arm,
How you wormed your way into our hearts
With all of your sweat charm. 


You were always the queen of the house,
Keeping the other cats in line
You loved to bat around your mouse,
And had a grand old time.
             
Now you are gone and my heart is sad
I only wish you hadn't felt so bad.
I'd always imagined you to be our very last cat,
Growing old with us and all of that. 


                                        Snowbelle...gone but by no means forgotten

                                                            ALOHA

One ill Kitty

Snowbelle age 6

I'm starting this edition of my blog differently. I had a scare recently...my cat, pictured on the left, Snowbelle, was having trouble breathing. You know how a person with asthma has trouble catching their breath? Well that was Snowbelle. She'd never behaved like that before. Lately I've been leaving my Air conditioner off during the heat of the day in the attempt to conserve energy. While 84 degrees isn't hot to me, it is probably uncomfortable for a cat, after all, unless they are hairless, she's covered in fur and I'm sure wearing a fur coat in the Arizona heat can't be comfortable.
My husband and I took her to the Vet yesterday (although we really didn't have the money for the extra expense) and they presume it's asthma but aren't sure due to the fact that we couldn't afford to pay for the x-rays which would have been $200.00. In order to have the x-rays we would have had to pay for the visit up front, and we simply didn't have the funds. It's really hard to get blood out of a turnip but we still had to have her looked at. I didn't want her to die, and I do know an animal can die from lack of oxygen. And being an asthmatic myself, I know how it feels not being able to breath.

What's the password?

We were able to make payment arrangements, but what worried me the most was the medication we needed to give her. Come to find out she needed it IMMEDIATELY, otherwise we would have waited until today to get her prescription filled. So my poor husband had to forgo his wrestling to ride his bike up to Walgreens in order to get her prescription filled. He wasn't happy about it but he went any way knowing our "baby" needed her medication. Well, after going the couple of miles, his trip turned out to be fruitless because they didn't have either of her meds in stock and wouldn't be able to get it until Monday. He also went to Fry's pharmacy but they were already closed. I was finally able to get a friend of mine, through Facebook, to give me a lift over to a CVS over on 19th Ave off Indian School Road where they had both her medications in stock AND they were able to give me a discount. It would have cost me $32.00 but ended up costing me $15.00.
After giving her the medication and staying up with her all evening, she was breathing easier, although you could tell she was still breathing hard. She ate, drank some water and went to the litter box, which was a relief. So I am hoping that with the medication she's been given that it is asthma and we can get her breathing back to normal. So far the medicine seems to be helping and I'm leaving the air conditioning on until I know her breathing is under control. On a side note, she DID bite me when I tried to give her her pills. She bit down on my first finger when I tried to get the second pill (the most important one as it helps her breath) into her. Can't really blame her though. Would YOU like having someone trying to get a pill down YOUR throat? :)

I've started another Cartland entitled Wish For Love. The time period is 1818 and is about Mariota who's family is hard up due to her Grandfather spending the family fortune. And although they still have the house, most of it is closed up because they can't afford to hire servants to help it.  The house is run by Mariota who does the majority of cleaning and cooking. Her brother Jeremy wants better clothes and just funds to live comfortably and comes up with the brilliant scheme to become a Highwayman in order to get the money necessary to live as he would like them to. Mariota is against this idea but ends up helping him anyway because she doesn't want to see him hurt or hung and accompanies him. In the process they end up wounding an Earl after robbing a carriage that contained his sister who was visiting one of the local gentry.

Map from Wikipedia

I've gotten to the section where the Earl they wounded (he doesn't know that her and her brother were the ones who robbed his sister) has professed his love for Mariota but can't marry her because he's already said he'd marry someone else BEFORE he met her. Being a gentleman he can't go back on his word or break the engagement.The story itself takes place in Worcestershire.

Today's paper doll is another Boots from June 8th, 1952. I like how they added the scenery in the background but it just doesn't seem to go with the gowns. I suppose she could be taking a drive and crossing the old covered bridge. Very romantic if you are in a horse and buggy. My favorite of the two is the red gown although I think it would be more elegant if it didn't have the extra drapery on the side of her hip.


For my paper doll design, there is Little Bo Peep. Done in the early 1980's I've rearranged the pages thanks to Photoshop. I sell the set on Ebay. She has a total of four pages, with 8 outfits, 10 accessories, one sheep, and two extra faces. I'm not going to revise the doll or clothes but want to do a different border.

Aloha for now. I leave you with a beautiful view of  majestic Diamond Head as seen from Ala Moana Beach Park.

Diamond Head March 2007