A New Kitten

Hi! Dis is Spyder!

I was sitting on my yellow pillow taday next to Miss E, when that little cell box starts playing that loud music, "Jump, Jump" Well, I dint feel like jumping. But, Miss E shut it up by opining da lid. It was the Monk was callin' He say he found a little calico kitten at da vet office in San Carlos where he deliver da Fedex boxis of medicines for pets. I knows Miss E and the Monk been looking for a Calico a long time, ebber since I can member. I don't knows dat I want another cat in did house. We gots enuff! Ninja agree wiff me. But, Queen Bambi, she say she LOVE kitten and want one badly so she can lick and kiss it and sleep wiff it in her Boudoir. And since dis one da Monk call about is a Calico, dat mean it gotta bee a widdle girl kitten and dat mean it gonna be Queen Bambi's Princess! If dat da case, den I shood be da Prince.

Miss E call up da Vet office in San Carlos. She was gonna drive so far far to go get dat calico kitten. But, when she talk to dem, dey tell her no, she cant's adopt da calico kitten cos dat kitten has a kitty cancer, called feline leukemia. Now dat is weerd dontcha fink. Here we is working on da LIVESTRONG event for cancer, and here is dis widdle girl calico kitten and she already gots cancer when she is a baby! Dat is so sad. Now I wish I dint say she couldn't live wiff us. And Ninja say we needs ta unnderstand dat some fings were meant to be and we cant knows da whole mysteries. All dat sound mix up to me. But, Bambi say she agree.

Don't I look spiffy sittin'g on my yellow pillow? I'm doing this to get ready for LIVESTRONG event on October 2. 

Bambi's Lament

I know our dear readers like to follow our blog because of the fun and interesting things we do. And of course, to adore your Queen... me!

I know no one wants to think of disturbing things willingly. Sometimes it can bring on such sadness to contemplate. As Queen, it's a big responsibility to take care of my realm and the sadness is overwhelming for me. But, I have to stop and take a moment to consider  if I am going to allow myself to continue being depressed by the sufferings of the world.

Ninja says life has a balance of both disturbing things and wonderful things. If we ignore the disturbing, we aren't fully experiencing life. I think he is correct because by ignoring cancer, which has been on my mind a lot lately, we will do nothing to stop it. So it is important to shine light onto it.

I've been thinking about the upcoming LIVESTRONG event and decided to do my part by wrapping up in my yellow blanket today. I want to support the effort to rid the world of Cancer. Yellow is a great color. Don't you think? Yellow represents hope, warmth, victory, and so many things.

One may think that cancer fund raising by humans would not affect cancer in Cats, but it does. As mentioned in our previous posting cats and dogs do get cancer. All animals get cancer. Did you know that? Many of them volunteer their lives to helping researchers discover new ways of understanding and treating cancer, including cats!

The other day I told you about Miss E's dog and cat friends who had cancer. Many of you wanted to know more about the bone cancers we can get, so here is a link that tells all about it.

Kitty Cat Purse

Dis is da ol friend of Keli Cat
Keli was the Dowager Queen who started dis blog.
Now Keli is our Guardian Angel Cat
Dis ol friend of Keli, her name is Cinnamon.
Her don't comes around ta see us.
But we know she sleept on Miss E's purse one time,
cos we founded da pitchur.
We made a LOL cat wiv it!

Cancer in Cats

Did you know that Cats can get cancer? They can get different kinds of cancer. They can get bone cancer. They can even get the rarest bone cancer called Chondrosarcoma. Miss E knows about that. She once met a cat named Gabe who had Chondrosarcoma.

That's Gabe's picture before he got the cancer. Isn't he an intelligent looking fellow?

There was no chemo or radiation that could help Gabe. So, his foreleg had to be amputated. But, you know what? That took care of the cancer. It never came back.

Unfortunately, that is not always the outcome for every cat with cancer, I'm sure you know.

Miss E also knew some dogs with the Chondrosarcoma. They didn't do so well.

There was Shoob, a well loved Golden Retriever from Pennsylvania. Shoob loved to go geocaching right up until the week before he left. That's Shoob in the picture with his girlfriend, Sheeb. Shoob had Chondrosarcoma in the skull right under his eye and it had to be removed. He went to the best Vets at Cornell University, too. But they couldn't save him. Wouldn't it be nice if we could kill cancer instead of cancer killing us?



Then there was Ling-Ling a four year old Shi Tzu.

Ninja says one of his Spiritual Training Masters was a Shi Tzu. He is sad to know that Ling Ling had to leave this world in the prime of her doggie life.

She had Chondrosarcoma in her head like Shoob, but hers did not affect her eye. Ling Ling was not able to have surgery and had to be Euthanized. At least Ling Ling's purrson was there to hold her as she went to sleep. I'm sure that comforted them both. I'm glad Ling Ling did not have to suffer needlessly.

There is something good to say about euthanasia, isn't there?

We wish there were a cure for Chondrosarcoma. We wish there were a cure for all cancers, in animals as well as humans!

We are joining our friends Milo and Alfie who live in England, in the event held on October 2 by the LIVESTRONG Foundation. We are going to wear yellow to bring awareness. Ninja already wears yellow on his collar tag. Plus he an I both have amber eyes. That counts as yellow, of course. Spyder only has one yellow eye. The other is blue. But, I'm sure Miss E will help us all have lots of yellow to help the LIVESTRONG event.

Check it out and decide what you would like to do.

Ninja Eyes

Cats Climb Walls as Well as Trees

Ninja always telling me he can climb walls, he can sneak acroos scary places, he can leap from low to high. He always tell me to teach me. But he never show me. But I still does pretty good on my flying to the top of the room lessons. It helps a lot if ya have a curtain or two ta claw into when ya gets there. Notice the tail curl on the side, there. Pretty good trick, I thinks!

But, I sure would lykes ta see Ninja does these kind of ninja cat tricks. I know if I get owtside, I might could do them. Ain't these guys cool cats???

Kitty Kubes

We got da bestest present from Miss E and the Monk yestiday! They brot us some Kitty Kubes! They is hard ta come by. Miss E say she looks for them a long time.

Queen Bambi has had one since furever. She always calls it her Boodwah, but lately Ninja has been takin it over.

Miss E was away all day to the big city people Vet, so she didn't take no pictures of our noo kubes, but we can show ya da one Bambi has.

Cat Insectophilia

Royalty such as I should not have to face the common indignities as others. Yet, apparently it is unavoidable.

You know, of course, about my continued research in the field of entomology. I am quite the expert. I assure you. Even at my youthful age, I am more experienced than my two companions, Ninja, and Spyder. The younger is interested as a pastime. The elder couldn't be bothered.

Just the same my days and evenings, especially in these summer months revolve around observing my prey... I mean, potential specimens. We have a great variety of them in the lovely state of California along the Central Coast where my Kingdom lies.

Since my youth, before I learned of my royal position, I ran loose in the fields as an autodidacticist, learning the ways of all sorts of flying and crawling arthropods. Though I was never able to acquire much of a true collection since living outdoors gives no security for such.

Therefore when living here in my forever home with Miss E, imagine my delight in discovering I could maintain quite a large collection of dried specimens. All I had to do was wait in any window and they would come to me. For some reason they preferred the window high over the bathtub. It is a challenging leap for any cat, I'm sure and especially more-so for one of my dainty demeanor!

But, as an accomplished leaper and clever hanger-on-ner I am able to leap from the edge of the tub to the edge of the window. However there are slippery tiles there and I must catch my claws into the screen or I would miss my mark. Just the same the rewards are great and I have amassed a very large collection of dried bugs this year I have been here.

Imagine my horror when I discovered my dear Miss E hosing my stash, I mean, collection all down the drain, forever lost!!!

I am not speaking to her anymore! I am not going to lie await for her on top of her pillow anymore!

She doesn't deserve my keeping her bedsheets warm for her!

I'm not going to cuddle her anymore while she sleeps and hold her down so she doesn't float away!

Her armpit is comfy, and smells sufficiently rank, but I am not going to miss it!

You can read Miss E's posting on this in her blog HERE.

Cat Philosphy

Purring would seem to be, in her case, an automatic safety-valve device for dealing with happiness overflow.

~~~Monica Edwards

English Writer