Purrchance To Dream

Thank you everyone for the comments and messages about Spooker.  We appreciate the outpouring of prayers and purrs for her, and the messages of condolence.
We will always remember her so fondly and with love.
Thank you,
Morgen & Eyad
and The Purries of Purrchance To Dream

Recently, I thought Spooker was quietly passing over to the Rainbow Bridge.  She'd stopped eating and was so weak she could no longer climb the stairs to get onto the bed.  I set up a blanket for her under the bed, with her own food and water, and shut the bedroom door so no one could bother her.
I said my good-byes to her, and let her know that if it was her time, I just wanted her to go peacefully.
After several days of just sleeping, she started getting back up to drink water and use her pee pads.
Now, I want to share with you that Spooker has had yet another miracle bounce-back. Her fourth since last New Year's Eve.  She's lost a great deal of weight since this picture above was taken, but I want to have memories like this of when she was healthier.  She doesn't seem to be suffering or in pain.
I believe she's on her tenth life now. Every time she bounces back, she's a bit weaker, but I never expected her to do any recovery this time. The past two nights, she's been back up on the bed with me, purring and demanding Temptations whenever I get up to go to the loo.  Every minute with her is a gift, and I am thankful that she seems to be making the most of her Tenth Life.

A few years ago, it was Doodle Week in the blogosphere the same week as Halloween.  I came across this doodle of Spooker, and thought it was still bewitching.  Hoping everyone has a safe & happy Halloween season!
~ NTM

Many Mother's Days ago, Spooker came into my life.
She's nineteen this year, and she's had several health scares this past year.  I know in my heart that she may not be here with me in this life this day next year, but I also know that she will also be in my heart forever.

  I know she's never forgiven me for bringing  the rest of the Purries into our home,  but she knows she'll always be my #1.

Happy Gotcha Day Spooker Marie!  Love, Not The Mama

Since Spooker has recovered from almost leaving us over the holidays, she has an appetite again.  I am so thankful for this.  I try to give her a bit of extra food that the other Purries don't get every night, and each time I go into the bedroom, she gets up off her heated bed (which is next to my pillow) and she begs for a treat.  I give her a Temptation each time, and then she goes down the steps from the bed to her water bowl and drinks.  Since this act involves some exercise for her, and hydration, I can't feel too bad about the extra treats.  I'm guessing about four to five extra treats per day, in addition to what she gets at our regular treats time.
I've tried more healthy treats for her than Temptations, but she won't eat them.  Chloe loved the treats-trial phase, because inevitably she was the one getting the spurned-by-Spooker treats.  I know that Temptations are probably like human candy, but for a cat her age, does it really matter how many she gets?
A cat age calculator I found online compares a cat her age to a 92 year old human.  If I live to be 92, I better damn well be able to eat as many Reese's peanut butter cups I want every day!  So I don't really worry too much about giving her what she wants.  I mean, every day with her is a gift, so why not treat her like she wants, right?

A few weeks ago, I honestly thought the next post about Spooker here would be her obituary.
A bit of background - she is our oldest kitty; she'll be nineteen this coming Mother's Day.  If you're not familiar with her, you can read more about her by clicking here.
She was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure two years ago, and was given about two months to live by the vet who gave the diagnosis.  We've switched vets since then and our current vet says that with her overall health, she could live for several years.  This latest diagnosis was after she'd been on Renavast for about a year.  She's now on probiotics that we get from 1-800-PetMeds, and for over a year was very stable and her health was steady.  You can click here to see the probiotics that we use.
Then, right around New Years Eve, she suddenly stopped eating and was cold and wanted to hide.  She also had stopped grooming herself, and was looking ragged, and occasionally needed a wipe down below, and one day we had to cut off a big dingleberry.  She meowed loudly when I would try and touch her, and I really thought that her time had come to move on to the Bridge.  We plugged in  her heated bed for her, and tried to make her as comfortable as possible.
However, she was still using her litter box on her own and still drinking water regularly.  When she stopped eating even treats, we had a discussion about what we should do, ethically for her.  We didn't want to see our old girl suffer in any way, but weren't ready to give up on her, either.  Since she still drinking water on her own and able to get up and around, we decided to try syringe feeding her for a few days to see what happened.  To say she did NOT like the syringe feeding is to put it mildly, but I'm pretty good at squirting thinned-out stinky goodness down a cat's throat once I could get the syringe between her clenched teeth.
After three days of this, I told her, if you want me to stop, you're going to have to start eating on your own again!  That evening, she ate half a Temptation, and the next day, three on her own!  Who knew you could cry Happy Tears from someone eating Temptations?
Since then, she has started eating regularly on her own again, and has gotten stronger.  She never stopped using the litter box, and drinks a lot - which I guess is common for some kitties with CRF.  She had mostly stabilized, but I could tell she'd lost weight, and had no interest in grooming herself anymore, so she had that aged, unkempt kitty look.  Over the last few days, we could tell that her strength had returned more because every time either of us entered the bedroom, she would get off her heated bed, which is between our pillows and the bedroom wall, and march down to the foot of the bed to demand Temptations.  We couldn't refuse her, so we had to start keeping a secret stash (away from the other Purries) just for her, and giving her one every time she asked.  After one Temptation, she usually used her stairs to go down to her own special water bowl in our bathroom and drink water, so we knew she was staying hydrated.  I was brushing her, and checking out her hind area to see if it needed a cleanup, but she really had no interest in grooming herself.  Until last night in the middle of the night, I heard lick lick lick - now, sometimes the crazy old girl will lick the bedroom wall, so that's what I thought it was at first, until I saw by the light of the night light that she had her hind leg up in the yoga position and was cleaning herself down there.  This morning, she was doing her typical over-grooming of the tip of her tail.  She's a crazy old girl, but I love her so.  And am so thrilled that she'd decided she has one more of her nine lives yet to spend with us.
Her iDaddy left yesterday for school in London again, and this time he'll be gone for six months.  When he left and said good-bye to her, I wondered if it would be the last time he'd see her.  But with her grooming of herself last night and this morning, I am much more hopeful that she will stick around til June, to beg her iDaddy for treats again!

Eyad took this picture of Spooker yesterday.  We think he really captured part of her essence, her wisdom, and the magic in her eyes.
We are very blessed that she is still with us, and think that he took a great portrait of our grande dame.

NTM has been playing with the Instagram app this week, and here are the first five Instagrammed pictures of us that he posted to his facebook.
From left to right: Spooker, Peter, Little Isis, Daphne, and Chloe.
The collage was created on PicMonkey's new collage feature.

Thanks to everyone who wished Daphne, Chloe, and Spooker Happy Gotcha Days this past week.
We greatly appreciate your visits to our blog and leaving us a comment!
Thank you!

Seventeen Mother's Days ago, Spooker came into my life.  I know she's never forgiven me for bringing the rest of the Purries into our home, but she knows she'll always be my #1.

Happy Gotcha DaySpooker Marie! Love,Not The Mama

spooker, a photo by morgen1967 on Flickr.

Tomorrow is Spooker's 17th Gotcha Day!
Be sure to come back and say HELLO!

After all the green from yesterday, thought we could use a little something blue.
Spooker's a Russian Blue and she's looking particularly blue in this picture, don't you think?
Hope YOU aren't too blue today - or green around the gills from too much green beer from yesterday!
Hope the skies are blue where you are, and that you have a wonderful Sunday!