Re: [pyrnet] Your cat?

["Tracy Bassett" <espinay@dynamite.com.au>]

<<Tracy, are you saying your cats are 21 & 23 people years? How do they live
this long? I know pyr list but that really caught my attention. >>Jodi

Yes, they are that old, although that can not be 'proved' as the records
were lost in 'the flood' (I mean that literally too, we had a huge flood
early on in their life that was responsible for the whole contents of the
vet clinic - including all the records, washing away!)

We never set out for them to live that long - it just happened.  They are
domestic shorthair cats (unrelated although both tortoiseshell in colour) -
the older one from a farm and the younger one 'just turned up' near my
sister's school and came to stay.  They live on a 5 acre property surrounded
by native bush and farmland (chemicals rarely used and low pollution).  They
were excellent hunters (though we tried to keep them inside at night for the
most part - but they still hunted very regularly!), they do eat some
commercial food but also raw meat (more raw meat mostly later in their
life), they have been vaccinated on a very limited schedule (every couple of
years) and hardly ever as they got older (they probably only went to a
cattery twice in their life and apart from vet visits, never left 'home').
They are wormed regularly.  Whether that ws the recipe for success, I don't
know.  It is just how it has been for them.

They have had their share of troubles as they matured (Pokey, the oldest was
on a hormone replacer for a while when around 15 I think - you could tell
when she needed it as she got all wild eyed and came after you to give it to
her! LOL!).  Pokey is also now mostly deaf and blind and has arthritis.  She
is also somewhat incontinent.  I guess this has to be expected with a cat of
this age, but it is only in about the last three or four years that she has
really aged.  She can however, smell a roast cooking in the oven very well
thank you! LOL!

The Kitten ( Kit Kat - younger one) broke her leg badly about a year or so
ago when she upset the woodpile and that has not really healed correctly, so
she has a limp.  Up till then she was not really showing her age that much.

They are much loved pets and my parents pamper them ;-).  They get lifted up
and down from the bed each night, or sleep on a rug on the floor beside my
mother.  Pokey's favourite spot is in the ironing basket on top of the
freshly ironed clothes.  Kit Kat's current spot is in the box from the new
vaccum cleaner.  The box has lived in the dining room for the last couple of
weeks as they don't want to deprive her of it!  They come and go freely
through the cat door during the day but in their old age, don't generally
venture further than a daily stroll around the garden.

My folks have always had dogs too, but when their last dog died a few years
ago, they didn't get another in case it upset the' old biddies'.  I have no
idea what they will do when the girls finally decide it is time to go.  My
father has talked about a Mini Poodle.  He would like a small, 'smart' dog.
While the choice is probably a very good one for them at this point in their
life, if you knew my father you would realise how strange this choice
sounds.  For a tough, down to earth country bloke like him, I never really
expected him to look past a 'ruff-n-tuff' farm type dog.  Thats the type I
grew up with - Kelpie's Australian Cattle Dogs and working type cross-bred
mutts.  Maybe he has been listening after all to some of my rantings about
getting a breed to suit your needs :-).

Tracy Bassett
Canberra, Australia
espinay@dynamite.com.au
visit my webpage at http://members.dynamite.com.au/espinay/index.htm