the Jungle: B, E and M.

The Late great Boo kitty aka The Extraordinaire
It's time to talk about the Jungle, how it has changed. We begin with my man Boo here, who, as you might have guessed that he is 'Late,' is no longer with us. But he is mighty important as I learned what loving a pet was all about, from start to finish, from taking care of him. I got this guy from the local shelter when he was 3 months old, I was so green I didn't even have a carrier for him and he crawled all over me with his sharpo nails all the way home. I was 16 at the time, just got out of my first time in a mental hospital and I was dead set on having a kitty. Maybe that's what made it so special, I don't know. He was gorgeous as you can see, with an underlying crankster attitude. And he got to be big, up to 17 pounds at one point. I am proud, because I took care of everything even the last year or so of his life, giving him a pill each night because of his Thyroid condition and finding ways around his kidney issues when he was peeing 'outside the box' and was threatened with euthanasia. I held him when the time came as our whole family blubbered while the vet stopped his heart.
Emma the pug came in the last few years of Boo's life. I knew the end was coming and I was buffering it for myself. She is the first dog I have owned and she has turned out great, especially because we did the Petsmart classes. It's worth it so you don't have a little Napoleon dog thinking she rules everything. And she heels. If she feels like it.
A few months after Boo passed last February, a family member offered her cat to me (fiance allergic to him). So I checked him out, just watching him and could see what a wonderful feline guy he was. That is how Myles came home with me. Two weeks ago, we had the shock of our life when Myles experienced sudden death right before my eyes. He just stretched out really long and let out a terrible yowl, began panting heavily and LEFT us. My husband tried to give him mouth to mouth recusitation and it was actually too late, he was limp. I took Myles' body to an emergency vet and had them do an autopsy, because I was going to live the rest of my life thinking that I had just rubbed the little guy's chest and boom, he was gone. That was worth it too, because we found out he had hypertrophic cardiomegaly - an enlarged heart. At his tender age of just 1 and half it is considered a genetic condition. I had no idea and I really don't know if he had symptoms. He seemed to spend a lot of time alone, but he was a CAT, ya know!? I feel kind of special that I saw it happen, as really it could have happened at any time, and while there really wasn't any way to say goodbye, somehow it gives me some closure. I will publish pictures of his better days when I get them off of my camera.
Now some people may not understand this, but I have started looking for a new cat right away. I am not trying to replace Myles, that cannot be done. In the short amount of time we had with him we got attached to all the nutty things that he would do and loved to have a kitty on the bed at night. I have a had a feline in my life for a long time and there is a void without one. I don't call some of my life a jungle for nothing. You can judge me all you want but I don't have kids and these creatures really are that for me in many ways. For those of you who do have children, yes there are problems for people like me, and one them that sucks the most is getting judged by the 'mommies' in the world. That's a beef I have in general because I have paid my dues in mental pain in this world and the years that would have been prime for procreation (the 20') were not so conducive for me, why should I be seen as less responsible or be the source of someone's numnut jealousy. That whole subject deserves its own rant. Anyhow, here is the Jungle B,E and M.