The Secret Service Cat

2009-10-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

Why I asked for help from the Internet, and why I won't be in this situation again:

First; I'm a very proud person, and having to ask for help in this way is for me, the second worst thing I've ever had to do. The first worst was when I panicked in May and sat (in my scooter) outside of a local hardware store with a sign, selling $1 snuggles with my kitty because I was so scared of being evicted. That experience was humiliating and physically and emotionally exhausting.

Here's what happened:
I was on HUD subsidized assistance. I have since reapplied, and have already recieved a letter informing me I'm eligible and that I'm now on the waiting list for a housing voucher. There is approximately a year long wait for HUD. At the same time that I reapplied, I also applied for TBRA, or Tenant Based Renter's Assistance, in May. TBRA is an emergency program that helps those of us who need it make it through until we can get on HUD. It's like a rope bridge between the two lands of homelessness on one end, and HUD subsidization on the other. At that time there was an approximate 6-7 month wait for TBRA, and it will be 6 months for me in November.

Firstly, I'd like to state for the record that I screwed up, this is my fault and I take responsibility for it. But now I'm in over my head and I need help.

Here's what happened:
I have Spina Bifida, and I am partially paralyzed from the waist down, and since 1999 I have gotten around in an electric scooter, which had been prescribed to me because my joints are slowly degrading, and my doctors wished to delay their collapse as long as possible. Around 2006 the scooter, after several months of mechanical problems, and over the next few months it became clear that it had finally died to the point where it just wasn't logical to try to keep repairing it any more.

I have a manual wheelchair, but I don't know how to describe that over a period of two years of trying to get the scooter repaired, it slowly became apparent to me that I just didn't have the energy to force myself to get out of the house as much as I used to *in the wheelchair* as much as I used to when I was younger and stronger... and I slowly began slipping into a stronger and stronger depression.

Now, I am on Medical Coupons: Medicaid & Medicair, and I am eligible for a cookie-cutter scooter -- but one ONLY up to the value of $2000 (which is what they don't tell you in those "free scooter" ads; that if you need a better, stroneger model, you're going to have to cover that portion by your own means.) After talking it over with the local medical supply company who regularly repaired my scooter, we decided it'd be best to try to get a slightly more expensive, stronger, better model of a scooter. That scooter would cost at least $4500.

Last Fall, a kind friend of mine created a benefit account for me with one of the local banks, and then wrote a column in the local newspaper arguing that if many, many people donated just FIFTY CENTS, we could raise the money. It took only three months to raise that money, and I now ride around in the Scooter That Pullman Bought, and it warms me to just think about it. This is also why I'm only asking for a $1 each, because I have already learned what small steps and small increments can do.

Last Fall was the beginning in the lesson in what small mistakes can do, too.

I was so obsessed with trying to raise the money for the scooter, so obsessed with being free again. Those of us on HUD have to fill out paperwork each year proving that we're still eligible. I failed to get the paperwork for HUD in on time, and when I was dropped from HUD, I misplaced the notice warning me -- and critically -- warning me that I only had 60 days to appeal. I misunderstood the paperwork in the first place, and thought it was a different thing and that it would roll over to the next year without me doing anything. The rental company of my apartment became aware that I was no longer being subsidized, but assumed I was well aware of my own situation. With the letters misplaced, it became a simple but devastating case of, "out of sight, out of mind," and I continued to live in my apartment, blithely unaware that I was now paying only 1/3 of the rent. Obviously if I hadn't misplaced the letters I would have reread it when I was less tired than the day I got it, gone, "OH CRAP, THAT'S RIGHT!" and taken care of it as soon as I could.

Instead, the rental company, exasperated, finally sent me an eviction notice in late April.

I did what I could; going to the local Community Action Center and receiving some help, calling Churches, selling my hand made jewelry, and at that one point, begging at that hardware store. But as the entire country knows, we were all in the thick of the worst economy of at least my adulthood, and I learned the hard way that people haven't been donating to churches and other charitable organizations the way they usually do. I was turned down by the nearest St. Vincent dePaul, and started to become dejected.

In March, just weeks after I had received my new scooter and weeks before I got the first eviction notice, I took a look at my life and decided I was ready to change everything and get a job, so I wheeled into the local Division of Vocational Rehabilitation office and made an appointment to start the process of getting job training.

I still suffer from anxiety disorder, and having nothing to tell my manager during the summer, I stopped calling her and updating her. Pullman is a college town, and in the Summer, there are far fewer resources.

But working with Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and a local organization called Palouse Industries to get a temporary paid summer job that also doubled as an assessment of my skills as a worker. I was gleeful at getting high marks, and even though it was merely a retail job at a thrift store, I really, really loved it. At the end of my first day, I met an elderly woman who asked if I had been the woman from the newspaper, and when I said yes, she explained that she had donated to me. I explained that I wouldn't have had the job without the scooter. When she left, I cried with joy.

Working with DVR to improve my employability continues, but that process takes time, and time is something I just haven't had. I've learned in the last few months that in all likelyhood, I get depressed *because* I don't have a job: something meaningful to do with my life even if it's not my ultimate dream job of being a reporter and correspondent. I'm not entirely unemployable, BUT, in an emergency like this, I also can't realistically go out and get a higher paying manual labor job like construction work, and with a service animal, I can't go out and get a plentiful food service job. I'm smart and professional, but my options aqre annoyingly limited in some ways, and the jobs that have less limitations are going to take time to learn and get training in.

My apartment manager has been very, very patient with me and my avoidance during the summer DID NOT help, even though I have continued to make some progress with both DVR and jewelry selling, and her patience has worn out. I will not be given any more extensions after November 3rd.

I know that I screwed up. Right now I'm in intensive therapy 2-3 HOURS a week to help me learn coping skills to improve how I deal with my anxiety and to make better decisions. Through Twitter, I've managed to get a repeating paying odd job of posting event fliers around town. And now I have a phobia of turning paperwork late, rather than a phobia of the paperwork itself that I had before, which, while unnerving, will probably serve me in good stead for the rest of my life. Can I please turn that in early? I continue to work with DVR to improve my employability.

Even though right now my plan involves getting onto TBRA and eventually back onto HUD, my plan is to get a job (preferably a desk, secretarial job.) and improving my life so that I don't have to hang so far over the edge of poverty anymore.

This has been the worst, most traumatic, and most deeply humiliating experience of my life, and I don't care how depressed I get, or how bad the panic attack is, I will NEVER let this happen to me again. I'm also responsible for a life: Diamond. I can't let this happen to him because of my monumental screw up. Asking for money is humiliating, but if the alternative is homelessness, then I feel it's better that I swallow my pride and take the criticism I'm getting from strangers and live with it -- and deal with it in therapy later. I also think that if I can get back on track, I'm less of "a burden on the system" if I'm on HUD than if I'm homeless.

I admit my mistake. To quote my sister-in-law, "You screwed up, and I'm betting you won't do that again. [It's]all part of learning life." I'm asking for compassion so that my mistake doesn't land myself and my cat on the street.

And, yes, I do have family, and they're helping me all they can, but this is a very, very hard economy and I have a very large burden.

EDIT:
I forgot to write that I attended a job fair a couple of weeks ago, and learned that with my excellent writing skills, I *do* have the opportunity to learn technical writing and do technical writing for many interested employers. However, I need to develop that skill. To wit, if anyone has a copy of Microsoft Manual Of Style For Technical Publications that they aren't using, I would like to study it and begin to teach myself. If you would like to lend/give me a copy, please comment and we'll connect.

2009-10-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

Diamond and I are facing eviction.

My friend, Rebekah Ann Curtis, a musician from Seattle, wrote this for me:

"Nicole and her service animal, Diamond, are soon to be evicted from their apartment dwelling. When you first meet Nicole, you notice her scooter and a white cat that serves as her service animal. You also notice she is much shorter than average, caused by her severe condition of Spina Bifida. Shortly thereafter, you are soon enamored by her warm smile and fun personality. These days, she's not so happy and worried about being homeless.

"I don't want to see my Diamond (her cat) go hungry." she explains nervously.

Although she worries for her cat, that's the least of her concerns. Nicole's medical needs only start with Spina Bifida, she has a whole host of other medical complications relating to her existing condition. Being on the street would complicate her medical issues drastically."

How to help through FaceBook:
http://apps.facebook.com/ufundraise/fundraise.php?cid=280&_fb_fromhash=c6fa7742c23170cb67612dbff81fe0cf

I'm taking the (probably unusual) step of posting a copy of the actual eviction notice. This is STRICTLY so that IF you wish to donate, you can see that this is NOT a joke or a scam. The name of my manager, her signature, and my name and address have been intentionally blanked electronically because it's sensible. I decided to leave the P.O. Box of the rental company up. If you would feel more comfortable sending a check (checks only, please, no cash.) to the P.O. Box, that's fine, but please specify that it's for rental assistance for Ms. Nicole Rodovsky so that there's no confusion of why you are mailing them money. I DO NOT give ANYONE permission to send rude, harassing, or threatening letters to my apartment manager!!! And no, not even nice sweet begging ones. I need you to understand that other than this problem that ties both of our hands, we actually have a pretty good professional relationship, and I would LIKE to keep it that way for many years.

Thank you for your understanding.

2009-04-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

Fresh Diamond Videos! Now with Scooter!

2008-12-22T03:48:00.000-08:00

Diamond in the snow, 2008.

Those of you who read Heinlein know that cats believe we humans are directly in charge of the weather. Here's some video of Diamond inspecting my work and not finding it up to par.

2008-12-15T07:48:00.001-08:00

Training a kitten to use a scratching post.

If your kitten still has claws, the scratching post is almost as important as the litter box. If you have room in the house, you should even consider having more than one of both.

Whenever the kitten goes to scratch somewhere else, pick him up, talk to him gently while carrying him over to his scratching post, and set him there. As SOON as he "gets it" and starts scratching it, overreact with joy and pet him and tell him how good he is. It'll cause him to experience endorphins that he'll associate with the scratching post. Give him a treat for extra measure.

If after a week he's still not getting it, take his front paws in your thumb and index finger, press them GENTLY, causing his claws to pop out, and very gently drag them along his scratching post in a top-to-bottom motion. Do this four or five times with each paw slowly and gently, talking soothingly to the kitty, then let go. Then, pretend you're a kitty and scratch the post yourself, and make it clear you think you're having the time of your life doing it.

Remember: You're Mommy now, and the kitten will watch you for clues on what to do to grow up into a proper cat. When in doubt, show the cat how to do something manually.

I didn't have this problem with Diamond; his previous owners had him declawed. I personally don't believe in de-clawing cats, but it wouldn't stop me from adopting a given cat.

2008-12-15T02:28:00.001-08:00

Crossed Paws.

Does anyone else have cats who cross there paws when they're relaxed and hanging out? Diamond does this, I just haven't managed to capture it on camera before because he moves around a lot unless he's sleeping. I haven't posted a picture in a bit either, so it's about time. ;)

2008-12-15T02:18:00.000-08:00

In which Diamond and I get our grooves on!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/OlWMuvinZF7VQpCL3tMl

I don't have any extra money to actually buy this, but I'm very happy that this year we can actually purchase our creations if we want to!

A similar service, but I haven't been able to get Diamond's mouth to line up with the animated mouth properly yet:
http://www.petcentric.com/crittercarols/?DCMP=RAC-PETC-iChz-Carol08&HQS=PR+300x250+Hm

2008-12-12T13:20:00.000-08:00

Hi!

I have Spina Bifida Occulta and am partially paralysed from the waist down. Additionally, I have arthritus which makes getting around in cold weather even more difficult.

I'm trying to raise money for a new mobility scooter, since my old one broke down last February. This won't be for a teeny little scooter to get me just around the house or the block, but a heavy-duty beauty that will break down less easily than a lighter one, will have knobby snow-resistant tires, will travel up to 10 m.p.h., and will travel 35 miles between charges! This will definitely be an upgrade for me: My old scooter, though beloved, went 25 miles per charge, and only 4 m.p.h.

We've been working on this since October, and are quite close to our goal. We need to raise $600 more to get this scooter, and it could come as quickly as 10 days from now, which would bring it before Christmas -- in time for me to do my holiday travelling in safety and greatly reduced stress!

I will NOT have any personal access to this money: this button goes straight to the medical supply company, Deacon's Medical of Colfax, Washington, that is custom-ordering the scooter for me, and will pay for the scooter itself. Any funds that go over the goal of $600 will be used for future upkeep of the scooter itself -- which can add up to quite a bit, too.

ALL donations are welcome! This began with a call for just 50 cents per person, and we're already over $1500!

Merry Christmas, and God bless you whether you have the ability to donate or not!

2008-12-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

In which Diamond escapes the house

Originally written yesterday.

As I begin typing this, Diamond is proudly licking the rainwater and grass residue off of his paws and he is clearly enjoying it, much to my aggravation.

Then, I turned to him and pointed to his nose and started to chant my usual mantra when he misbehaves: "You're short, your belly sticks out, and you're a terrible burden on your mudder!" However before I could speak, he sniffed my finger, and then gently nommed on it, snuggled it, yawned, and walked away. Clearly, the effects of my disciplinary techniques upon him are waning.

The other night I was settling in to write some blog entries. It was about a quarter after midnight. In fact I was just about to start writing the first "how-to" entry of leash, harness, and lead-training a cat. Diamond started running band-and-forth from the bedroom windows to the dining room window that sits behind me, something he does with a fair amount of regularity; we have a lot of rabbits in the neighborhood. Sometimes I look outside to see who he's obsessing about and sometimes I don't. He was behind me in the window and began chattering softley, so I decided to take a look. To my vague surprise it was a cat and not a bunny.

I got up, opened the window, and talked to her a bit. She was a pretty grey and white little thing, and I was pleased and surprised when she responded to my voice, indeed she was more interested in me than she was in Diamond. I wanted to see if I could get her into the house to check her out and give her some food, so I opened the door slightly and started talking to her some more. Diamond jumped down from the window sill, but I didn't believe that he would actually run out. Meanwhile, the kitty was coming right up to the door, clearly happy at being about to get some loving. Suddenly, Diamond shot between my legs, out the door and after the kitty, who ran away to the front of my apartment.

I stood there in shock for several long moments, in part, listening for Diamond. I couldn't ask my next door neighbor for help; she's afraid of cats, and I couldn't get upstairs to my new upstairs neighbor. I have his phone number but in my shock I couldn't remember what his name was. I tried to call Dorrie, but she had turned her phone off. The terrain in the front of my apartment is such that I wouldn't be able to travel on it safely in my wheelchair, and I was at too much risk of slipping and falling in my crutches. Finally I ran across the parking lot to my one neighbor I could get to. I felt terrible for waking her up so late, but if Diamond got into the street and didn't hear a car coming up behind him, that would be worse. It took her a moment to wake up and get up to speed with me, but then she joined me within a couple of minutes. I turned on all of the lights in my apartment, hoping that the light would make Diamond more reflective. She went down to the street first. I went to my bedroom and opened the window, where we could talk to each other.

I suddenly spotted Diamond less than five feet away from my window, and my voice started the kitty, who ran away from my window and into the bushes. Diamond followed her more slowly, seeming to hesitate between following her and coming to me. I let my friend know where he was, and began pressing my hand against the window screen, making the stop-sign symbol that I had learned to train Diamond to recognise as "sit." The kitty seemed frightened by my friend, and ran away across the street. I was terrified that Diamnd would follow her, but it didn't happen. Diamond saw the hand, walked a couple of feet, chuffed in displeasure... and sat. Meanwhile, I guided my friend towards him. She was able to sneak up behind him and scoop him up. Diamond was surprised, but he also likes being carried by people who know how, and I clearly saw him make a contented face as she began to carry him around to the other side of the apartment.

She brought him in and we chatted a couple of minutes in which I thanked her profusely, and then she gratefully went back to bed. I posted briefly to LJ as you saw, ate some soup, and then crashed heavily in relief. Diamond doesn't appear to understand that he had done anything wrong at all. That'll be the last time for some time that I open the door to a strange animal without putting him on leash first, until he can show me that he isn't going to go gallavanting off without permission.

Sign language saves the day! ~Le flop.~

2008-12-02T20:23:00.000-08:00

In which Diamond rocks the Crimson and Gray!

Oh man, I completely failed to add this during the football season, and for that I apologize.

Enjoy!

2008-12-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

Originally written November 25th, 2008:

Irony...

About two years before I bought Diamond his cat-tower, I bought a decorative bird house and hung it up in my living room, largely because its red and goes with the living room decor.

Thank God Diamond doesn't realize what the bird house is supposed to be for. Moments go I just realized that the cat tower is about three feet below said bird house.

Picture forthcoming.

2008-12-02T20:15:00.000-08:00

Originally written November 28th, 2008:

Genius Cat, Straaaange Cat, Part III

"Lack of thumbs be darned!!!" ~Yaggie Diamond Simon Rodovsky

o.O You know, sometimes I sit and I wonder exactly how my cat's gigantic brain FITS into that itty bitty skull. I would need a miner's helmet with a 24/7 camera attached to catch all of the abnormal stuff he does.

I just caught my 13 lb. cat trying to drag the 30 lb canister of cat litter over to his litter box. o.O Of course the moment I arrived he poofed up in surprise, then scrambled out of the way so I could take over, leaving no chance for video evidence.

DIAMOND ARE NOT NORMAAAAAAL!!!

2008-12-02T20:14:00.001-08:00

Diamond, the Sleep Specialist.

You know, eight times, almost in a row, you'd think I'd learn. Every evening at 6 p.m., Diamond leads me into the bedroom, and I think he's going to beg for food, instead he gets me in bed for a cuddle. I lay down with him and every time I think, "Okay, just until he stops purring and falls asleep." Instead, *I* fall asleep first - and sleep through the night.

Most of the time I've been waking between 3-4 a.m., but for some reason this time I slept all of the way until 7:15 a.m. Either way, waking at 3:30 a.m. is MUCH better than not being able to sleep UNTIL 3:30 a.m. at the earliest!

Hmmm... now, how to bottle and package Diamond for other insomniacs. ;)

2008-09-05T15:56:00.000-07:00

GOOD Kitty!

Diamond is notoriously afraid of dogs, so today he down-right startled me by being gentle, calm, and quiet around a small 7 week-old Pekinese puppy. It wasn't because the puppy was quiet, once Diamond smacked an 8 week-old pug puppy. It was one of the few times I was thankful that Diamond is declawed, other than that I'm very against animal declawing. He showed some concern about the puppy's presence, but he absolutely behaved himself and didn't growl at all.

Only good can come of this. :)

2008-09-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

Diamond's Youtube Debut

I'm sorry that I've been neglecting this journal for so long. I had really spotty access to an Internet connection for a long time. I finally have dedicated Internet once more, and even better, now I have access to creating VIDEO!

Therefore, to celebrate the grand-reopening as it were, I present to you video of Diamond enjoying a car ride in segments:

Diamond, his leash now on, begs with his facial expressions to go out:

Diamond takes his time crawling up into the car:

Diamond carefully supervises Flea, the wheelchair, bieng stowed away:

The main event; Diamond enjoys riding in a car on a sunny day:

Diamond shows off his comedic timing and unpredictability:

We hope you enjoyed this! I don't know if you can make the viewing windows any smaller, but the videos are clearer if they're smaller.

2008-08-13T23:28:00.001-07:00

I apologize that I haven't been around in _forever._ No, I haven't closed or given up on this blog, I just didn't have consistent Internet access. I suggest you duck: LOTS and LOT of photos are coming this way! :D

2007-06-17T23:45:00.000-07:00

Rumors my dissappearance have been greatly exaggerated.

I've totally been forgetting to post about this, though I've been meaning to write about it.

About a couple of weeks ago, another woman's service cat went missing. Her friends got an add in the paper for her, and a couple of days after that a woman came up to me and said, "Oh, I'm so glad you got your service cat back!"

Of course since Diamond's never been missing, I replied with the ever eloquent, "Huh?"

So I was very surprised to find out at all that Diamond wasn't the only service cat in Pullman in the first place.

I can imagine the woman's stress. You would seriously have to hospitalize me if Diamond went missing. And by the way, you can microscip your animals, here in Pullman it's a very economical $35 at Diamond's vetrinary office, Alpine Animal Hospital.

But I digress. So I located a copy of the woman's add, and I called her. She's a very nice lady but she isn't able to get out of the house to look for her cat for herself. I'm going to call her tomorrow and find out if her service cat, Rambo, is still missing. If he is, I'm going to go search for him myself.

2007-06-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

How to leash and harness train a cat. Part 1.

Here's a topic I've been meaning to write about for weeks.

I get a lot of people who come up to me and express their surprise that Diamond is so willing to stay calmly on his harness and lead. They often tell me that they tried to leash-train their cat, but that it didn't work.

Leash and harness training a cat isn't that much harder than training a dog, it just takes longer and more patience. Also, while it is possible to train a dog with both a positibve and negative rewards system, in my own experience cats only seem to accept training with the positive rewards system. You can put a collar and lead onto a dog and the dog will accept it more quickly, I believe dogs have been with us longer and have had more time to get aquainted with the lead -- I think -- and that's why cat's don't automatically aclimate to the lead. Most people put the lead on their cat and give up in dismay after the first or second time after their cat throws a tantrum.

Diamond was physically in a harness when I adopted him, and seemed oblivious to its presence. He was only nine months old, so I must assume that he had been harness-trained long before he'd been put up for adoption. But I have personally trained other cats to accept harnesses and leads before Diamond.

The first point is that if at all possible, it is important to begin harness training when the kitten is as young as possible. The second point is that a collar is okay for a cat if you don't intend to leash-train the cat at all, but if you are, a harness with the lead is better for the cat, ergonomically. If you have an older cat it's okay and it is still possible to train him or her to accept a harness and lead, it's just going to take longer.

First, put a collar on the kitten or cat, if you haven't done so already. It needs to be the non-breakaway kind, so that the cat will get used to bieng ina device it can't get out of any time it wants to. If your cat's already used to a collar, you're ready to begin the real fun. ;)

First, I highly recommend that you bring the cat with you to the pet store or vet's office when choosing his or her first harness. This way a professional can help you choose the precise right size for your cat, and show you exactly how the harness is supposed to go onto the cat's body. Remember: You should always be able to fit two fingers in between the neck strap and the body strap, to allow for comfortable breathing, movement, and of course growth.

2007-06-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

Slayer of Evil Toilet paper Rolls!

OH HI!!! There once was an Evil Roll of Toilet paper here, but I have destroyed it for you. No need to be afraid anymore. I'm so proud of myself. Aren't you proud of me too?

Got anymore TP for me to kill!?

2007-04-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

SPRING TIME!!!

2007-04-17T22:54:00.000-07:00

Tap tap! Tap tap tap tap tap!

I've written before about how I learned from an Animal Planet BBC program called Barking Mad that I could teach Diamond sign language to better communicate with him.

Since I last wrote about that, I've taught Diamond through the use of the thumbs up signal and treats that if he politely taps me on the hand or arm, he'll get a treat. It's the sign language equivalent of "Please may I have a treat, Mommy?" and it works. It's MUCH more convenient for both of us than a random YOWL in a public place. X-D

He's also learned "sit." We're still working on "come," and he hasn't figured out "stay" yet.

2007-04-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

It's almost the end of the semester, and we've had one the worst shooting in American history this week.

The "NO TOUCH THE CAT!" rule is suspended until the day after WSU's graduation day.

Snuggle away, Boogah.

2007-04-05T22:34:00.001-07:00

Broccoli!

I've been rather text intensive for the last couple of posts, so its time for a picture!

Diamond says: "Stick with 'Natural Choice' cat food, mom! I'm not crazy about broccoli."

(Picture is an illusion created using tiny dots of wet food, LOL.)

2007-04-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

Feeding Domestic Pets Raw Meat.

I want to highlight some more knowledgeable perspectives than mine, here are a couple of informative comments I recieved in my last entry:

trixiefirecat said...
the people i've read so far highly recommend wellness wet food as well [human grade meat & no grain filler]. i transitioned my cats off kibble with it, adding a little water, and their coats got softer, thicker & shinier in the first week.

another nice thing you can do for your cat is get some wild salmon oil in gel caps [bottles of it go rancid quickly with air exposure] and squeeze them into their food. they love the smell & flavor, and it's really good for them [something added to all raw food diets].

Curt said...
We have a pack of 6 farm dogs and they all mean the world to our family. And we have fed a raw food diet for years.

But there are so many products out there that are supposed to be raw that aren't. And this craze of "cooking for your pet" is going to hurt alot of animals. You should NEVER cook meat meant for a dog.

Another thing I see being tossed around that is so incorrect is the idea that bones are bad for dogs. Again, absolutely incorrect. CooCooked bones are bad dogs. Raw bones are an essential factor for thier health.

We only feed Oma's Pride meats b/c they come from the same processing plant that produces human consumption products and everything is USDA inspected. We are in Houston so we order from http://www.thedinnerbowl.com but there are quality raw suppliers all over the country.

And really b/c we feed so much less raw (2.5% of the body a day) versus kibble (easily twice that to keep weight) it isn't that much more expensive. It gets expensive when people go to Kroger or some other retail grocery store or when they order from a distant vendor.

We love our animals and the small amount of time and pennie is well worth thier health.

However, there are dangers to be considered. A friend of mine who is in Veterinary school told me;

Raw food diets are typically bad for your pets. For one thing, they usually lack essential nutrients, like calcium. For another thing, they also expose your pet to all sorts of food born diseases and parasites, like salmonella. And even if your pet doesn't get sick, it can still be a carrier for the disease and can spread it to other people. In my nutrtion class we learned about one family in Germany (I think it was Germany) that fed their cat a raw food diet and she ended up spreading e.coli to their daughter. The daughter got very sick and had to be hospitalized.

As I said before, I won't be making home-made meals for Diamond, because I know I don't have the knowledge, time, money, and skills necessary. Furthermore, I've had e. coli in my kidneys TWICE in my life already without my own assistance, and can't possibly afford to do that to myself again.

Its important to get as much information as possible if you're serious about home-making your pets' meals.

2007-04-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

Food scare prompts pet owners to retreat to own kitchens.

Something someone posted in Live Journal:

hi, i feed my cats a raw meat diet. homemade cat & dog food is a great idea, i'm just here to tell you, there are things to know about their nutrition that make their diets a little more complicated than just cooking food at home. here's a good article about how cats need special supplements, please do a lot of research before starting your pets on homemade food. they have different needs than we do:
http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/catsaredif.html

and this woman is an excellent resource for raw food & holistic pet health:
http://www.catnutrition.org/index.html

As anyone else with a pet, I've been watching this pet food recall closely, doing research, et cetera. Diamond means the world to me... you'd have to hospitalize me if Diamond died any time in the near future. ...Perhaps someday if I married I could cope with such a loss without a temporary stay in a rubber room, but not now.

Anyway, I read (and hear, etc.) that a lot of people are resorting to home-cooking meals for their pets. Personally I couldn't POSSIBLY afford to do it right, so I'm not even going to try. By asking a local pet store, I've found out that a brand called Natural Choice doesn't contain any wheat gluten, or other glutens, so I'll probably be switching to that. Diamond's vet told me last month that Diamond should have wet food about once a week for his kidney health, so I've already bought some, and Diamond's tried the "Venison and green pea," and liked it a lot. (Then again,it was GUSHY FOODS, so he could be just grateful. But he did eat it cheefully.)

I listened to some guest on CNN speak disnmissively about how "its just too hard" for people to home cook for their pets. Now, I disagree with her dismissiveness and I don't think it's THAT hard for anyone who is willing to make an honest effort at it.

At the same time, I hope people are bieng VERY cautious if they do decide to get into the home pet food hobby for their beloved animals, I agree that it IS more involved that it would seem.

2007-03-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

Sorry I haven't been around in a while, my scooter was broken so I wasn't able to get to a computer that I could use to upload new photos. We're back now!

Diamond says Hi!

2006-10-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

Diamond's tomato obsession.

Last night I came home with half of a mushroom-swiss burger, and forgot to put it in the fridge.

I found it this morning, opened.

Diamond had pulled the to-go box out of the basket it was in, opened the box, flipped open the burger, IGNORED the beef, IGNORED the cheese, and ate the two slices of tomato.

I ask you. Is THIS a normal creature!?

2006-09-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

*Sigh.*

This has always been one of my favorite photos of Diamond. :)

2006-09-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

*Yawn.*

Your daily dose of Cute.

2006-09-09T17:49:00.000-07:00

Who DOES these kinds of things!?

I would have posted this after my photopost of last time, but I really didn't want to ruin such a lovely photopost with venting.

So Monday night at Safeway, I was at the end of an isle chatting with a friend I hadn't seen in a few months, and an older-teen-aged boy walks past us, and starts hissing, growling, and making clawing motions at Diamond.

Diamond reads lips surprisingly well, but of course THAT didn't translate. Diamond looked at him, then turned back to look at me like, "?No habla estupido."

I watched the kid in dumbfounded fascination until he walked out of site, commented, "Odd," and continued on with my conversation.

After I'd made my purchases, I chatted with a store manager, who informed me that Safeway has a 0 tolerance policy against harassment. It works like so:

If you're caught harassing someone in the store, they take your I.D. information and put it on file. If three such incidences are recorded against you, you are permanently trespassed from the store. By the police.

Niiiice.

It was an irritating thing to have happen, but I'm glad I learned so much from it.

To quote Hermione: "Honestly."

And finally, Here's a basic little reminder. (Of course I know I'm mostly just preaching to the choir, here.)

2006-09-04T23:16:00.000-07:00

Diamond: "Yaaay! Another adventure! Where we going tonight mom?"

Diamond: "Oooh, what a pretty evening!"

Diamond: "Shopping!? Eww, you know I hate grocery shopping, mom!"
Me: "And just where do you think we get your treats?"
Diamond: "Shopko! Which I like better!"
Me: *Sigh.*

Diamond: "Okay, now this is much better."

Diamond: "What a pretty night. *Yawn*" :)

Diamond: "Hey! I know this door!" :)

Diamond: "My kingdom for thumbs! Sorry that I can't help you with the doorknob, mom."

Diamond: "Okay, now let me help you because you know you can't do it unless I direct."
Me: "Yes, my liege." *sigh.*

2006-08-31T22:12:00.000-07:00

Eep!

I'm sorry. I forgot to acknowledge Diamond's sixth birthday this year (the 28th) because my father died wednesday before last and my mind has been on other things.

In other news, Diamond's been quite adorable lately. Photos to follow in the next update.

2006-07-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

Finally, a Photopost!

I haven't posted any images of Diamond lately because I had forgotten my photobucket password and couldn't get into the account for months, and worst of all, they have some new policy where you only have so many tries, which was crushing my attempts.

So anyway, finally, the photos will come back.

This one needs a bit of explanation. There's a large fishtank at The Bookie, and the fish always come to you because they think you're going to feed them... even if you're a cat! So here's Diamond, surrounded by hungry fish. ;)

From what I understand, the Bookie is going to be housed inside the CUB eventually, so this tranquil scene will be no more. *sighest...*

2006-07-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

I RULE.

July 26th, 2006.

Oh, and I am TEH ROCK for socializing kittens. All of the kittens, and the mother, are now all safely ensconced at the Humane Society, awaiting their appointment with the Vet tomorrow, and the director says they're all ready to be adopted out, behaviorally speaking.

I tell you, I have a magic touch. X-D

2006-07-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

Kittens Doing Well.
July 20th, 2006.

Hi!

I don't have homes for the kittens yet, but they're doing fairly well. One is actually with me, hidden in a cardboard box in the basket while Diamond rides on the floor of the scooter under my legs for shade. I had brought said kitten to Ric-O-Shay, but it turned out the person was only interested in female kittens. *sigh*

We're taking the bus home in order to keep cool.

I need to find a way to get them FIV tested.

(I used to be able to edit the dates I wanted a given post to appear in, I don't know what's gone wrong.)

2006-07-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

KITTENS!

July 17, 2006

There was a mother cat and four feral kittens on the side of one of our apartment units, so I dutifully called Animal Control, who came the next day, and we trapped them. Unfortunately it is kitten season, and the first kitten we caught that the AC Officer brought to the shelter was said to be too wild, and that we were to release them all.

I talked her into releasing them into my custody, and they are all now safely ensconced in my bathroom while they learn to adjust to humans. It turns out the mother is actually completely people friendly and comes to me for cuddles every time I join them. Two of the kittens have begun to accept cuddles, and the other two are slowly losing their shyness. They've been with me one week as of yesterday, and they're all gray tabbies. Two kittens are long-haired, and two are short-haired like the mother.

Eeek! I've gone from one cat to six! It's work but it's fun work!!

2006-07-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

Diamond's Reaction to all this.

You know, I totally forgot to write about how Diamond was taking all of that. Diamond was totally loving it! I was really shocked and pleased that he wasn't showing any agression or jealousy towards the other cats, but all he wanted to do was smell and meet them and hopefully play with them. He even tolerated bieng locked in the bedroom for his safety on days when I'd leave the bathroom door open to encourage Mamma and the kittens to explore. (Only one kitten ever did, though.)

MammaKitten (as I called her) wasn't having it about meeting Diamond, though. She hissed the two times that she met Diamond. Once, she escaped from the bathroom and ran under a small table I've got, where Diamond was already sitting, and sat down. She turned when Diamond said hello, hissed angrilly, and ran back to the safety of the bathroom. (Everyone else had a good laugh.)

The second time a few days later, we had to take everything off of the floor of the bathroom and clean everything because although they're all quite good about using the litterbox, they kick sand everywhere. I loaded everyone into Diamond's adult-cat carrier and set them in the hall, and MammaKitten and at least one kitten hissed at Diamond when he came tearing over to investigate.

So introductions didn't go so well. And the kittens had some pretty severe ear mite infections as it turned out, so Diamond's going to have to be checked at his next Vet appointment, *sarcasm* which I'm sure he'll love. ;)

So all in all, I'm terribly proud of Diamond. One of the kittens was decidedly unafraid of him, and I'm sure that totally helped in that lil guy's socialization process.

I'm crossing my fingers now that they'll all pass their FIV/FIL tests... I'm so worried that they'll have to be euthanized even after all the hard work. If everything turns out okay, I'll be sure to link their PetFinder.com profiles up here!

2006-03-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

Genius Cat!

I love my cat. He's getting so smart. :) Really, he's probably not any smarter than he's always been, but my ability to tap into it has improved and he's really rising to the challenge. Apparently he loves challenges! Early last month I started watching a show on Animal Planet which only plays very early in the morning, called Barking Mad. It's a British show that features a pet -- two pets per episode -- that has some kind of emotional or behavioral problem. They bring in experts, find the source of the problem, and then re-train both the human and the pet to modify the animal's frustrating behavior.

In one episode, they showcased a dalmation that was completely deaf. The owners weren't aware he was deaf, so he was sent in for vet tests that pinpointed the problem, and he was indeed deaf. Actually, I could tell from his bosy language that the dog was just as frustrated with the human owners as they were with him. and then they brought in a dog trainer to train the owners to teach the dog obedience lessons via sign language. The dog responded immediately, and he became much more relaxed, happy, and confident with the hand signals than without them, and of course the humans became the same because of his change in behavior.

I'm always on the lookout for new hand signals to train Diamond, so I was delighted to watch. I wish they'd provided more information to where I could learn more hand signals, because they only showed two or three, one of which (palm up for "sit,") I already knew.

In any event, they showed "thumbs up," as a way to say "Good job, now you get a treat!" and I began working on that one with Diamond that very morning.

Today, six weeks later, Diamond's showed me several times that he knows "Thumbs up!" perfectly. :)

I was sitting on the couch, and for some reason I got it into my head to show him numbers with my fingers. I went to show him "One," with my thumb, forgetting all about thumbs up which I hadn't done in a couple of weeks, and he immediately perked up, his ears pricked, and he looked at my empty hands, then looked around the room for his treat can, confused. I laughed my fool head off and snatched up the can, then gave him another thumbs up, by which time he had scampered up to me and had sat politely, waiting, and I gave him a treat.

Next we're going to work on "Come here!" Which is a large circular backwards waving of the hand towards myself. I think this one may be trickier.

I love my cat. :)

2006-02-21T12:43:00.000-08:00

An upcoming visit to the Vet

Diamond's going to be a VERY unhappy fuzzy butt in the beginning of March. I've got two of his vaccinations scheduled, PLUS, I'm having a microchip installed in him. Luckily for him, most likely there will probably only be two injections, as the first two will probably be combined. (I hope.) Still, it's going to be a noisy day at the clinic. *Giggle* At my clinic, the microchip ONLY costs $30!! That's SO awesome!!!!

For those of you who own pets.. you know what the microchip is, right? (I still meet people who don't know about it.) They inject this very small microchip in your cat or dog's shoulder, and from then on, vet clinics and pet shelters can scan the animal, and if your beloved pet ever gets lost, the chip tells them the animal's owner's address!! SWEET!! In some cases, they also tattoo the inside of the animal's ear so pet rescuers will know to scan for the chip. I'm gonna tease the hell out of Diamond if he has to get a tat. Haaa! I just about did backflips (Yes, I can actually backflip...) when I found out it was so cheap at Diamond's clinic. {{{{{Hugs Diamond's Vet Clinic}}}}}

Also, I've bit the bullet and checked with a local nursing home about having Diamond make regular "pet therapy session" visits with their clients. I'm one of those people who gets kind of wierded out at nursing homes... but when I took Diamond to see a particular client last year at the request of my previous physician, Diamond LOVED it, and ever since has taken to flirting madly with elderly people who walk up to him. When they walk away, he turns around, looks at me with pouting eyes, and chuffs. *Headstearinghandles* Gee, THANKS! So I couldn't take the pouting anymore and talked to a particular home's activities director a couple of weeks ago.

2005-12-25T10:57:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

Everybody.

Diamond: "Can I go now?? PLEASE!?"

2005-12-23T18:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, he really IS snow-white.

Here are a couple of adorable photos from a couple of years ago, of Diamond playing in the snow with a couple of little girls. I'll include full-shots as soon as I can remember how to resize photos, and get permission from their mother. ;-)

POOF!!! I've got THICK fur!!

Where's a BIGGER hill, ladies!?

2005-12-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas Wrapping

Here are some adorable shots from last year of Diamond helping me wrap the Christmas gifts. ;-D

My Kindom for Thumbs!

Too... many... friends...

Zzzz...

(Please Note: Diamond was NEVER left unattended with the scissors in the photographs.)

2005-11-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

APPLECUP, 2005

Some Diamond-as-Butch shots for luck. :-D

I cannot tell you how much I love how tolerant Diamond is of bieng photographed while dressed up. I wouldn't say that he's tolerant of bieng DRESSED, though. ;)

Having the SPACE NEEDLE painted in Cougar Colors and flying the WSU flag was a LOVELY birthday present. :D

2005-10-31T14:24:00.000-08:00

KITTENS OF THE CORN...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, KITTIES!!! MWAHAHAHAAAAAAAA! ;-D

2005-10-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

Whatever do you mean, I'm driving my cat batty? ;-)

Last year it occurred to me that it would be hilarious and fun to install one of those mechanical flying bats and let Diamond react as he wished. He's been a pound and a half over his optimum weight -- which REALLY adds up on a feline, particularly if you want them to live long, happy lives -- and I felt the excersize would be very good for him.

I had a very tall friend help me install it, and we turned it on while Diamond was eating. Eventually Diamond meandered into the hallway and spotted the flying bat.

DUN DUN DUN!!! He stared just long enough to detect something large MOVING in the air in his home and jetted straight at us. Unused to the bat's pattern and not yet realizing it'd have a predictable path, he followed the bat's circular flight path directly beneath it, occasionally springing up in the air but missing it wildly. (Thank goodness for that. I don't know what I would have done with a cat hanging for dear life on a flying bat...) He even dug his back claws into the nap of the carpet to get good traction so that he could keep up.

I think he followed the bat deparately for a good ten - twelve minutes, until his little lungs gave up and he had to stop, he head pointed straight up and spinning in time on his fully outstretched neck as he panted in exhaustion. My friends and I were equally exhausted from laughing ourselves into fits. ;-D He had run so much, so fast and so hard, that his back claws had actually dug a faint path in the nap of the carpet.

It took him a few days, but eventually he figured out that he could perch precariously on top of the easy chair and SWAT!!! the bat as it flew by. I took that opportunity to get some hilarious though usually blurred shots of his antics, which you now get to enjoy here. :)

2005-09-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

Genius cat, straaaange cat.

I just walked in on the wierdest thing.

So first I feel I need to explain the back story about Diamond's favorite collar and lead set:

About four or five months ago(?) H. and I were at this Moscow pet store called Pets Are People Too finishing up our purchases. This was back when we were still transporting the scooter in her van, so I was in the scooter and Diamond was in the basket. We were all up at the front register, but I had Diamond pointed away from the counter... I know I wasn't first in line but I can't remember why I wasn't pointed forward now.

Regardless, I happened to have him pointed towards this display of new collars and leashes that were all "glam" styled, stuff I'd expect Paris Hilton to have on her chihuahua. They were all in black, baby pink, or the exact shade of Diamond's blue eyes. Some had crystals hanging from them, and some had dyed... I can't remember if it was faux fur or feathers on them.

Anyway, I turn around from talking to H, and Diamond has just spotted this leash made of this sparkly blue metalic thread (in the exact color of his own eyes) and covered in these mini blue sequins. He leans forward out of the scooter, Snuuuuuuuugles it, and then lays his head backwards towards us and cocks his head and looks at me with this expression that's about TEN TIMES more pathetic than this:

WANT!

And about three times as pathetic as that face Puss in Boots makes in Shrek.

H. and I stop our conversation and go "Awwwwwwww!" at him in unison as our brains melt, and I reach over and take a leash and lead in his colors. Diamond watches all this very carefully. He looked very concerned when I handed them to the cashier, you should have seen the look of relief on his face when the cashier handed them back with the reciept... LOL.

You would think the following would be unrelated, but I assure you, its not. At least I don't think it is. So Diamond sees me put bracelets on, either using my fingers, or my fingers and my teeth, all of the time, particularly because I make a lot of beaded bracelets and other jewelry.

So anyway. Last night, Diamond wanted to wear his "special collar," so I put it on. After we got home from hanging out with H. and her husband M. I took it off so he wouldn't be itchy at night.

So before I came here in my office to post, I walked in on the wierdest thing.

Diamond was holding his collar over the wrist of his paw, with one end in his teeth, trying to flip the collar onto his neck.

*Eyetwitch twitch twitch twitch.*

I pick up the collar and ask him, "You want me to put it on?"
"Mrrr!!"
"Well allrighty then!" *Placing him on the chair so he's high enough for me, puts on collar*
*Snuuuuuuuggle!*

Okay, so explain that.

2005-09-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

Pet Emergency Preparedness.

The Red Cross sells a Pet First Aid Kit in their web store or at your local Red Cross office, so I've marked it down in my planner to buy one of those soon. You may not know it, but you can also purchase pet insurance, and that's on my list, too. First however, in October I'm going to have Diamond microchipped. (Boy is he going to be mad about THAT shot.) I found out in April that it only costs $25 at my vet clinic, and after everything I've seen this month, I'm getting it done.

I really, REALLY don't know what I'd do if I lost Diamond. Last week I read this blog post from Interdictor's accounts on Live Journal where one of the guys got his cat rescued and brought back to him, and in it he calls his cat, "My little man." It just about broke my heart because that's what I call Diamond, too.

I also need to drop by one of the local Fire Department and buy one of those shiny silver and red stickers you can put on your windows that reads "I have ___ cats in this home that need to be rescued in case of a fire!" as soon as I have the money. (Yes, of course they have one for dogs, too.) Not that Diamond's EVER home alone since he goes wherever I go, but I'd rather not risk it.

2005-09-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

Surprises!

I have strange friends. Then again, I do basically live out in the country. Today an old acquaintance came by and showed me her 7 week-old baby bunnies. They were all in a kennel with their mother, so we let Diamond meet them...

"What kind of cats are you!?"

This is "Gonzo."

Almost as teeny as a coffee coaster!

2005-09-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

Update on the Stray.

It appears as though she came by last night and ate! I checked the bowl at 9 a.m. (I had forgotten that I had planned to add egg last night) and it was empty. There weren't any crumbs lying around and there were no birds nearby, so it appeared she got to it before they did.

I've decided to call her Mika. :)

2005-09-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

WANT!!!

And its customizable, too! I bet even Coriolis could love this!

2005-09-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

Vaccuumable Cats!

As promised, here are some photos of Diamond willingly bieng vaccuumed. :-D Yep, sorry it is so image heavy, but there are not to be missed.

Here was our first attempt on the 14th...

He was a bit restless and playful after his teenaged human playmate had come by for a visit and jumped down and ran away after I got just this one shot.

Oh, yeah! That's the spot!

And now you know why I only have to wash him once a year...

Ahhhhh...

He looks like he's enjoying himself just too much... ;-D

A little down and to the right, please...

LOL! Looks at his fur!

2005-09-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

ARRRRRR!

Avast! Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day! Fortunately for you rabble, cats don't talk (for the most part, that is...), so there'll be none of that swill in this here journal. ;-)

2005-09-19T02:10:00.000-07:00

Mmmmmornin'. *Bleary-eyed look.*

Apparently it is that time of year again: stray cats. Diamond woke me up about 45 minutes ago HOWLING at the time of his lungs. I wandered into the dining room and he chatted with me from the dining room windowsill, but it was clear there wasn't anything out there at the moment, so I got comfortable and waited.

Sure enough, after several moments he went en pointe and chattered softly at an unseen visitor. I didn't get a photo because I want her to hang around us and get comfortable, and I can't do that by spooking her with flashing lights. I slowly walked up to the window and there she was: a small cat, female by her build, and partly Siamese by her markings. Actually, if there's such a thing as a mocha calico, that's what she'd be. So I jiggled the doorknob to see if she'd run to the door to get in out of the cold, or run for cover. She startled, so I left off on opening the door. She's feral, or is becoming feral.

She finally got spooked by who knows what, and ran away, causing Diamond to howl some more briefly, then settle down on the windowsill to wait for her return. I went into the kitchen and then to the small closet and got her a bowl of food, then put it outside, giving the bowl a little shake to make the yummy food rattle. I'm kind of a snob about Diamond: I don't buy food that comes in supermarkets any more because I want Diamond to be extremely healthy and live as long as he can. I admit it; I'm selfish. At least she'll be getting some good grubbins if she comes back tonight! ;-) Hopefully she does come back and eat, because the crows and magpies in the area have figured me out from previous stray cats and watch my doorstep for cat food, which they will steal in the morning.

Diamond actually met this cat a few nights ago as I was coming home around 11pm. She didn't really run away from us, she came towards us, scoped us out, but then kept going, even though I was tossing her treats. This is a good sign, I'm certain she'll be back. Tomorrow night I'll put out some food with some egg stirred in. The next night, tuna oil.

During the day (since it already IS tomorrow LOL) I'll call Feral Cats Solutions and ask them to bring a cage out here so we can get her checked out.

For the time bieng, Diamond has a new crush. ;-)

2005-09-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

The Cat Condo!

As promised, here's a photo of Diamond's new cat condo.

LOL, Condo, not tree. I had actually forgotten how big it was while I was paying it off. I wish I had had a video camera to capture his reaction, it was so precious it was almost... human. We got the condo into my bedroom, and then stomped on the floor to get him to come over. He saunters in, and he does this double take where he actually slows down and backs up half a step -- on four legs -- while his neck cranes to check it out. He didn't poof up in fear, he was just genuinly surprised. Then he got this look of genuine delight just before we picked him up and put him on the top.

He totally loves it. He's comfortable on all three levels (which is good because he's a LONG cat!) and he even knows to sharpen his imaginary claws on the slanted stabilizing boards and not other nearby furniture. :)

2005-09-12T02:22:00.000-07:00

Brevity

Diamond: "You know what mom?"
Me: "What hon?"
Diamond: "America could use a good laugh right about now."
Me: "Yes, yes it could."
Diamond: "Break out that one picture."
Me: "You got it sweety."

Diamond, imitating an old, old man, apparently a Cougar fan:

2005-09-06T00:26:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Katrina and Animals

The past seven or eight days have been, of course, a nightmare because of events down on the Gulf Coast.

I've been intentionally avoiding anything having to do with animals that don't involve my own cat, because if I focus on helping the local Red Cross I feel empowered, but if I think about those sweet, innocent animals, cats, dogs, whatever, I know I'll collapse into a blubbering mess. For me its just like if you took 10,000 newborn babies and filled the maternity ward where their incubators were with water and threatened to drown them. They're INNOCENTS. They can't help themselves or others, and it just breaks, I mean BREAKS my heart.

So here's a secure link for you:
Help pets Hurt by Katrina. Please donate to the Humane Society of the United States Disaster Rescue Teams today.

PLEASE HELP THEM.

2005-08-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

D'oh!

This blog will be taking a hiatus for about a week. :( See you when we get back!

2005-08-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIAMOND!!!

He's 5 years-old today!

Happy birthday to you,
You live in a zoo!
You LOOK LIKE A MONKEY,
And you smell like one too! ;-D

Friday we go pick up his new cat-tree. :)

2005-08-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

A feline health alert.

I don't have cable but I watch Animal Planet when I can on t.v.'s that do. I enjoy watching those "Animal Cops" shows where animal control authorities or the local ASPCA rescue animals from humans not tame enough to take care of them properly. I eventually checked out the show's web site, and signed up for these ASPCA e-mail alerts. Here's one I recieved today:

"FELINE HEALTH ALERT: MINOXIDIL CAN BE POISONOUS TO CATS
It may be used to promote hair growth in humans, but even minimal amounts of minoxidil can result in a serious or even fatal situation for companion felines."

Now there was something I definately didn't know, and was thankful to learn about.

2005-08-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

I love deaf cats.

You can vacuum them with the attachment with no fuss and no hissing.

As hilarious as that is, it is extremely practical because a medium-length hair cat can shed something fierce on an 85+ degree day. Vacuuming Diamond is like getting directly to the shedding before it hits the floor, (and my food, and the inside of my nose, and my dark clothing...) and Diamond starts purring like a machine and turning from side to side to give us more surface area to vacuum, anyway.

I promise, the next time we'll have photos; this time we were too busy laughing our heads off in the moment.

2005-08-11T22:15:00.000-07:00

There's currently a sign at the head of the Bill Chipman Trail that says there's a $500 reward for a lost wedding ring. H. and I decided to try our hand at looking for it. We even tried calling the phone number, and sure enough, the ring still hasn't been found.

It was a gorgeous day and the heat had let up a little bit. On the way down to the trail, I stopped across the street from the Professional Mall to let Diamond have a look at some reeds under a bridge where some sparrows were frolicking, and I thought I'd share the picture I captured:

I love his ears, they're so cute!

2005-08-08T12:05:00.000-07:00

Eeeek!!

Note to self: when blender is not in use, unplug it!!!

Diamond just about gave me gray hair Monday morning. I had the blender jug in the sink soaking. I walked into the kitchen to make the morning cup of tea, and found Diamond smelling the exposed components and his little paw right next to the puree button.

Bad human! Bad, bad!

2005-08-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

KITTY!!!

Every once in a while someone will see Diamond for the first time in their lives, and shout, "Kittyyyyyyyyyy!!!" in a very undignified manner and attract unnecessary attention abnd all that jazz. Once, Bekkah and I went out for two hours and we decided to count how many times we'd hear it. 47 times in two hours. 47!!! No wonder I go deaf to it. Well okay no, it isn't as bad as the time in late August 2001 when I was driving down Glenn Terrell Mall headed towards Murrow hall. Three girls were approaching me, all shoulder to shoulder, two blondes and one brunette. The brunette in the middle lights up, points and Diamond and says, "Oh look at the pup... KITTY!"

*Facepalm* I did my very best to keep a straight face and not stare back at them as we passed one another, but once I was far enough away I'm pretty sure I dragged my jaw on the sidewalk for a couple hundred feet, or laughed my butt off, or both. I'm sorry, but NO: if you can't tell a kitty from a puppy, you need to be exprelled from our fair University and re-apply. This ain't the U-Dubb, you know. ;-)

So yes, you guessed it from the previous post, you knew it was coming. Last spring, someone walked past me and said, "Kitty!" while I was with a group of at least three or four friends. Feeling particularly silly that afternoon, I muttered, "Chihuahua." under my breath. (It was actually the second or third time I had done it, but the first time while I was with friends.)

L: (LOUDLY) "Did you just call Diamond a chichuchua!?" All of my friends busted up into hysterical, shocked laughter. The next time someone said "Kitty!", H's husband said "Chihuahua," and it has stuck ever since.

I love the baffled looks I get. ;-)

2005-08-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

Chihuahua!

The following is most likely a typically American joke, I've heard and read that other countries are far more lax about allowing animals in their establishments.

Two men were walking their dogs down the sidewalk one afternoon. They were just passing a restaurant, and decided they were both hungry. However, they both had their dogs with them, and didn't want to go all the way home to put the dogs in. Finally the first guy gets an idea. "Look, I'm going to go in, and tell them he's my seeing-eye dog. If I don't come back after ten minutes, follow and say the same thing." They agree, and guy number one enters.

Ten minutes later he still hasn't come back out, so the second guy goes in. "I'm sorry sir, but you can't bring your dog into the restaurant," says the waitress."

"Oh, but I'm blind, and this is my seeing-eye dog!"

She pauses, shocked. "Sir, you have a chihuahua for your seeing-eye dog?" She asks skeptically.

He looks twice as shocked. "They gave me a chihuahua!?"

2005-08-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

The name of the journal, "Secret Service Cat," comes from an old joke. A couple of years ago a friend of mine, Bekah, lived here in Pullman. One of the jokes we developed about Diamond was based on dozens and dozens of people approaching me and asking, usually in a nervous voice, "Excuse me ma'am, but what does your service animal do?"

Usually when no one was around, (usually) we'd take turns asking each other that question and making up prank answers. One of my first ones was,

"Excuse me ma'am, but what does your service animal do?"
"Diamond is a member of the C.I.A. and is not at liberty to discuss his current assignment."

Plus, the great majority of people, particularly in a small town such as Pullman, WA, aren't accustomed to cats as service animals. I do believe there are more service felines in the bigger cities. Hence, the "secret" part.

You're welcome to play the game too in comments!

Excuse me, but what does your service animal do??

2005-08-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Diamond's Story.

I don't know very much at all for certain about Diamond's life before I adopted him, although I really would love to meet his original family. He's got a very unique personality and I strongly believe at least some of that has got to come from how he was raised.

From what I understand of what the Humane Society workers told me, he grew up in a family home, but they had had to move into a new home that didn't have room for him. I suspect that the mother of the family was a blonde, because he still sometimes perks up when he meets women with straight, bobbed blonde hair. He was also declawed, something I don't personally believe in doing to animals. His original name was "Yaggie," but since his medical records showed that he was deaf, I was sure he wouldn't mind if I changed it. I still call him "Yaggie" when he's in trouble anyway. ;-)

I ended up fostering him twice. I fostered him for a week, then dutifully returned him to the shelter. On the way back to the shelter though, he moaned and cried in his cat carrier, and I finally took pity on him. I took him out of the carrier, placed him in the basket, and tied a piece of rope to his harness. He loved it from the very first moment! To my shock, he was also perfectly well behaved. I was impressed, but I carried on with returning him to the shelter.

I let a week go by, and then went back to find another kitty to foster. However Yaggie was still there, so I decided to foster him "one last time" and then "NO MORE" so I "wouldn't get too attached." This time, we spent nearly that entire summer week getting out of the house and having fun seeing the city, with Yaggie perched jauntily in the basket and waving his little paws at whatever struck his fancy. I was utterly amazed... and didn't realize that I was getting more daylight out of the house than I had in years.

The last night I was to have him before I gave him back to the Humane Society, on a completely unrelated note I sat myself down and tried to figure out my financial situation. But I couldn't do it without getting upset, and I had another major panic attack. That's when the magic began.

I remember very clearly that I was "trapped" in my panic, sitting on the couch, and Diamond was enjoying running around the house at high speed. Suddenly he stopped in front of me, and watched me intently. I could see him out of my blurred vision, but I couldn't move. He suddenly leapt up onto me and began sniffing me intently. He began to paw at me, and then he began to give me little "love bites" for lack of a better description, on my lips.

I slowly extended my arms and began to pet him, and as I stroked him I felt like I could breathe again. He stayed with me and snuggled until I had loosed up completely. Then he looked me in the eyes intently, gave a chirp that seemed to say, "Well that's better now!" and ran off to play again like nothing had happened. But I bawled like a child. The next day, I purchased him.

A while later, I introduced him to my physician, who saw the dramatic change in my personality, and literally wrote a prescription of Diamond for me, thereby giving me the right to keep Diamond as a service animal in my home, and allowing me to take him in public and into businesses with me.

Later that year, Diamond and I met a wonderful local woman who trains service dogs, and she trained me to train Diamond to behave properly in public. The training process for any service animal is about two years, and I'd say it took about that long for Diamond to learn to be fully cooperative.

My theory is that because Diamond is deaf, he isn't threatened by the cacophony of everyday outdoor noises the way hearing cats are, and this calm allows him to focus on other things. Because he's deaf, he and I have a polygot of lip-reading and hand-signal commands, and even specific ways of petting him, that we understand completely between the two of us. For that reason in particular, I generally don't allow strangers to touch him. It kind of sucks when a stranger reaches out and grabs at him, unknowingly and annoyingly giving him the signal for "Jump out of the scooter and walk." *Sigh*

Here is a photo of Diamond and I from 2003:

Photo taken by Will Simpson.

Diamond will be five years-old on Auggust 28th!

2005-08-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Nicole's Story.

Hello, my name is Nicole I'm 30 years-old now, and I had a complicated story long before Diamond ever snuggled his way into my life.

Everywhere Diamond and I go, we get a lot of stares. Able-bodied people just aren't accustomed to seeing a woman in an electric scooter with a live cat riding in the front of the basket.

I was born with a fairly well known birth defect called Spina Bifida. I was also born with hydrocephallus, scoliosis, and clubbed feet. This added up to a great deal of surgery for me while I was growing up. I'm only partially paralyzed from the waist down though, so I can walk on my own inside the house. Outdoors I use crutches as needed.

I was adopted as an infant, and I grew up in an open adoption; which was rarer for my time than it is these days. I have full contact with my birth family and I love them as equally as my adoptive family. :)

I grew up using crutches to get around, but this was beginning to wear on my joints, and my physicians began to worry that I'd lose my ability to walk sooner than later. Around 1999, my physicians prescribed an electric scooter for me to delay the ravages of arthritus. I resisted getting the scooter for a very long time, because among some disabled people such as myself, there's a certain amount of pride in the physical abilities you do have and you don't want them to diminish. And I didn't want to gain weight. Eventually though, I let them talk me into it, because I want to be walking when I'm older.

I had an extremely hard time adjusting to the scooter. In my crutches, people just don't stare at me as much as they do as when I'm sitting in my scooter. While they're staring, people also just don't think about the looks on their faces, and dozens of people staring at you at a time, overtly and (they think) covertly, can feel so threatening sometimes.

Psychologically, I was born into a genetic shooting gallery. I had had symptoms of depression since my teens, but I just didn't know it. My birth mother has Unipolar, her twin sister has Bipolar, and their non-twin sister has Schizophrenia. Their brother is reputed to have clinical depression. I was first diagnosed with depression in the spring of 1998, and I took a year off from University to try to "find" myself again. But I think the introduction of the scooter in 1999 de-railed me even worse.

When I came back to WSU in early 2000, I moved into the dorms, but I didn't register for classes after the Spring semester. I had stopped leaving my dorm room very much at all except at night. I didn't truly realize it, but I had depression that aggravated into agoraphobia. (By the way, I'm not perfectly certain I have all of these dates entirely accurate, because my memory is sometimes fuzzy about the years I was depressed.)

I was finally evicted from the dormitories in January 2001, a move which seems harsh but may actually have saved my life. I found an apartment in the nick of time that was handicap accessible, two bedroom, covered by H.U.D., and had eight glorious windows. I spent the winter and spring letting glorious light back into my life, and I was beginning to heal. But I was unable to return to school because of the financial hold on my transcript, and I owed about $13,000, and had no way to pay it on a $520 per month income. I was still very depressed.

That summer, I decided I was a recluse, and if I was going to be a recluse, I may as well either have an animal or work with animals to have some company in my life. I knew my lease didn't allow pets, so my initial intention was to volunteer at the local Humane Society. I soon found out (In June 2001) that they had an overflow of cats, and were allowing people to foster animals in their homes. I decided that fostering a kitty for a week surely couldn't hurt my lease, and asked them to hand me any old cat.

They placed "Yaggie" in my arms, and I didn't know that my life was about to change...

2005-08-02T05:14:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the quality of most of the newer photos. *Chagrined look* I'm working from an older school digital camera and I'm sure it's just 1 megapixel at best. I can't afford anything better at the present time. :/ Most of the photos are thus retouched a bit to (hopefully) improve the quality. However I never alter what's actually going on in the photo, none of my photos of my cat are faked. And if they ever are, there will be an accompanying disclaimer letting you know.

Insomnia SUCKS! Time to get some nini!

2005-08-02T05:01:00.000-07:00

The Gaffaw of the Morning:

This photo is from this morning in Denny's. This is something Diamond does sometimes when he gets bored. He usually does it to communicate specifically that he would like to leave the current area and travel somewhere else. He also does this in the house when I haven't taken him out and driven him in the scooter "recently enough" in his not-so-humble opinion. Sometimes he'll even jump up there and leap back down before racing randomly around the house out of sheer high spirits, but no, in this photo he was indeed perched up there for several minutes trying to tell me, "Let's go Mom, I'm BORED!" We left soon afterward.

"LAND HO!"

2005-08-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

I didn't get anything written today, so I'll just share this adorable photo of Diamond from Sunday evening at the Pullman Denny's:

Laaaaa laa laaaa!!!!!!!!

2005-07-31T22:29:00.000-07:00

Who is this cat she's writing about, anyway?

Presenting Yaggie Diamond Simon Rodovsky!

He's just a little over a year and a half old in this picture. :)

2005-07-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

*Blaring of trumpets!*

Okay, before we really get going on this blog, I want to specify that Yaggie Diamond Simon Rodovsky, the cat which this blog is about, is not a member of the Secret Service of any nation. He does not work for, represent, or advertise the Secret Service of the U.S., or any other nation. The name "The Secret Service Cat" is intended as humor, a play on words, and a humorous reference to the fact that there are fewer service cats than there are service dogs or any other service animals.

So please, don't shoot, it is just a cute little white cat.

With that said, Welcome!