Godspeed Rosa (2005 - 2019)

Yesterday morning Rosa left this earthly plane to be reunited with her mom Mamacita and her brother Manny at the Rainbow Bridge at the young age of 14.

A recent shot showing her weight loss.

Rosa's appetite had been off for a couple of weeks so last week we had the mobile vet look at her.  Her urine showed bacteria in it and her blood work was a bit wonky probably due to an infection.  She was put on antibiotics but did not improve so the vet stopped by on Monday to take an x-ray of her tummy and organs.  She had fluid in her abdomen but no noticeable masses. Her belly had increased quite a bit in size since last week. The vet took a sample of her belly fluid when he drained it, sending it off to the lab.  The results were inconclusive but with her symptoms he assumed it was cancer. The past week she was incontinent, not eating or drinking on her own and the last night she gagged when I tried to feed her.  When she began to have trouble breathing  we made an appointment for the vet to come on Friday.

Don and I spent her last morning with her, telling her how much we loved her and what a wonderful girl she was.  I asked the spirits of Mamacita and Manny to be with us to comfort and guide Rosa in her passing.  The vet sedated Rosa as she lay on the sofa next to me. She purred while I gave her Reiki and she seemed to let go before the last injection was given.  Rosa is buried next to Only and Sweetpea in our pet cemetery with wildflowers marking her spot until I order her gravestone. Rosa was the last of our black cats.

We caught Rosa back in 2005 as a tiny kitten along with her brother Manny and mom Mamacita.  The two kittens were living in a rickety old shed on our neighbors land,  Both little ones had severe URI's. I knew they had to be caught and treated or would not survive the infections.  The little family lived in our bathroom for several weeks while I administered the eye ointment and antibiotics to the kittens.  

Rosa is in the center between Manny right and Mamacita left.

I knew they were getting better when while playing they accidentally turned on the bathtub facet and got all the bedding in there wet!  They were so wild!  We got them spayed and neutered and moved them to our kitty room in the house.  (Manny later died in 2007 from complications due to a urinary infection and blockage.)

Rosa with Angel Georgie

Rosa was a shy quiet little girl who grew up to be a plus sized ladycat like her mom. She was a big girl with a tiny meow!  As a youngster. Rosa gradually made friends with the white kitties who were a year younger than her.  Once we moved to our present house, she became more attached to her mom, never leaving her side for the first few years.

Hiding form guests.

They were the kitties no one ever saw since they ran and hid when we had company.Both remained quite feral even thought we had them for over a dozen years. We could pet them but not handle them to pick up or carry.

Rosa and her mom

Rosa and her mom would cuddle and groom each other gently but then the emotions would become too intense and a scuffle would ensue with both cats in a swatting battle!  Poor Mamacita never got a break from Rosa.

Rosa making biscuits on Mamacita the lazy way

Rosa loved to be toasty warm, sitting in the sun, looking out the window or getting fresh air on the porch. Her favorite place in the winter was right on our Monitor heater!

On the screen porch

On the heater!

Christmas was a fun time for her and she would sit next to the tree and stare into the lights. 

 Rosa and her mom preferred to sit on the same chair in the living room.  Often Rosa would hang her front paws of the chair arm to watch golf on TV with Don.

Watching golf!

As all cats, Rosa enjoyed napping in the pile of fresh from the dryer laundry before I put it away.  problem was she got black furs all over it all!

When Mamacita passed

last June I was worried that Rosa would not adapt but she became more social with the others, especially Woody and Tabitha and sought us out when we were in the living room.  Don was the first to get up in the mornings and often Rosa would sit on the sofa with him, enjoying her one on one time..  Soon all the others would pile on there too, getting in on the loving.

With Tabitha and Woody

 

With the gang in the mornings

We took special care to make sure Rosa was included in everything as much as she felt comfy with.  At meal times, I would call her name and she would pop up out of her napping spot to answer me. I would fix her a plate of food and bring it to her.  If she wanted another flavor, she would sniff and back up a bit. It was my cue to try something else.  When she was ready to eat but not in that spot, she would run over to her chair or her nook under the counter and wait for me to bring the plate over.  She had us well trained!

We will miss her quiet gentle presence in our home. I know that Rosa and her little family are together once again and watching over all of us until we meet again.

I leave you with a sweet video of Rosa...

or go here...

Caturday Art

Sweet Rosa posing in just a hint of light.  I processed this like a watercolor and liked the result.  Black cats are difficult to photograph at best.

Wishing everyone in the states a wonderful holiday weekend.  

For more Caturday Art - visit Athena and Marie.

Femme Friday - Midnight with a Touch of White

Here are some more gorgeous ladycats in hats by Judi of Sammy and Andy's Place! Thanks Judi for doing such a wonderful job!

Mamacita looks very sophisticated in her silver hat.  She is one of our chubby cats - big rotund body, round face, no neck and short legs. When she and her daughter Rosa play, the thuds and bangs sound like huge Sumo wrestlers going at it on the mat!  She loves to be petted and sit on Mom's lap or next to her but is still very skittish and will run away to hide if things get too loud or hectic in the house.  She loves Joey and you will find Mamacita, Joey and Rosa smushed together on the chair sleeping.

Our second ladycat is also a house panther - Rosa, Mamacita's daughter.  Rosa has come out of her shell more these days but does spend a lot of time during the days under the bed or sofa.  Mom calls her our vampire cat cuz she prefers to come out at night!  She is also a plus size girl and is very close to her mom Mamacita.  They are usually together, napping, cleaning each other and just hanging out.

Doesn't Smidge look lovely and so feminine?  She is another tomboy cat who is the sister to Only, Two Spot and Tabitha.  Mom thought she was a boy and didn't find out for sure until she got her back from being neutered...um uh spayed!  Smidge is a rough and tumble cat who likes her food and will growl and chase anyone away from her plate even tho she is a slim and tiny girl. She lets the boys know what they can do and not do. She has softened up a bit and enjoys it when Mom and Pop love her up.  She is usually with her Mom Lily or by herself - very independent!

We would like to remind everyone that Moosie is still looking for a forever home for Christmas - we need to keep putting her name out here and purring for a miracle for her.  Click here to read about Moosie. Don't forget to help out the homeless cats and dogs this holiday season by donating time, money or supplies.

We are all doing well - it has been very cold here nights in the teens and days in the 20s but we are safe and snug in our cat room and the house, napping and watching bird/pony/goat TV! . Mom is going to take a few days off this blog to work on adding more great things to sell on her Wildcat Woods Vintage Treasures blog - we are donating 20% of our income in December to help Chrystal and her rescue organization.  Deb is also holding and auction to help Chrystal too so check out the great deals at Deb's Emergency Auction site.Please stop by and feel free to pass these blog sites on to other folks who might want to help out Chrystal and our feral cats.  Have a good week and see ya in a few days!

Gotcha Day and Blog Celebration

First of all thank you for your concern over our Yoko girl.  She is doing better after two does of the antibiotic and is out of jail!  We have left the dog kennel set up and Yoko and Chica are enjoying the comfy spot on the blankets I put n top!

Monday is the 5th Gotcha Day for both Mamacita and Rosa.  With all the posts last week about adopting less adoptable pets, we wanted to give you a brief recount of how we came to have both these beautiful house panthers.  Here goes......

Mom was still feeding Ivy, the last of our feral cats living outdoors, when she noticed a skinny little cat sneaking up to the deck to eat the leftovers,and then running off across the street.  Mom could tell she had just had kittens and started to leave a bigger portion of food out for her all the time. Mom followed her but could not see where the kittens were.  She named her Mamacita cuz she was such a little cat to be a momcat - hardly 5-6 months herself.  Before long, Mamcita moved her two black kittens over to our neighbor's storage shed.  Mom put the food bowl over there so they could eat when they were old enough.

One day she noticed the kittens sneezing and coughing with runny eyes and that scared her.  Kittens can die of upper respiratory infections if they don't get medication. That's when she decided to catch them and bring them indoors even tho we already had plenty of cats.  She used a dog kennel cage and put a string on the door so she could pull it when they went inside.  She left food in there and hoped for the best.  Meanwhile Mom put some homeopathic remedies in the food but it was not enough and the kittens were getting sicker.  Finally it happened and all three of them went inside the cage and Mom caught them.  The kittens' faces were so swollen with infection.  Her vet gave her eye ointment and oral antibiotics to give them.  She kept them in a small room with Mamacita.

Unfortunately their first taste of people and being indoors was to get eye ointment put in both eyes and pills popped down their throats but they did get better.  They were very timid and scared of everything.  Mamacita was doing much better than they were but she was not sick. She gots lots of attention and treats not medication.  All three were moved to a larger room and they were spayed and neutered (not an easy thing to catch them!!!) at a clinic. We named the kittens Rosa and Manny and they got big and healthy. 

We lost Manny in 2007 to a severe urinary blockage and some vet errors He was only two and we still miss him.

Mamacita loves to eat, play with the laser toy and cuddle with Mom on the sofa or bed while she reads.  Rosa is still more aloof and hides in quiet spots most of the day coming out at night to join in the activities.  It will take more time for her to relax and be one of the gang but each day is a little better. They are inseparable and groom each other and snuggle together.

It is also our 300th post (actually last Friday) so in celebration we want to give away a brand new copy of the paperback version of  Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper - about another house panther who is blind.  Gwen had spoken to Blind Cat Rescue in North Carolina before she wrote the book and promised 10% of her royalties.  Well, she gave them a $10,000 check last week!  Isn't that great?  So if you don't win this drawing, go out and buy a copy so Blind Cat Rescue will get even more money!

To enter the drawing just leave a comment and tell me you want in on the give away. It is open to all readers!  We will run this give away for the week. Please help yourself to goodies and nip and have fun!

We will be hosting a Mr Linky on Oct. 2 for Livestrong Day so do stop by and link up. We set it up to share Mr Linky on your blog too so join in on this day of cancer awareness.

NEWSFLASH For those of you stopping by late, we just found out Huffle's friend Diamond is having his 14th birthday on Tues Sept 28. Please do stop by.

Suspended Anticipation

For more wordless photos visit Wordless Wednesday! Be sure to stop by Thursday for Chica's 19th birthday bash!

Kitty Pig Pile on Wordless Wednesday

For more wordless shots...visit Wordless Wednesday!

Mom wants to thank all of you who left sympathy messages..she will stop by to thank you personally.

Photo Hunt - Black

We joined in on the Photo Hunt today and this one was sooo easy...the word is black!

We have 5 black cats living in our house..... This is Ivy when she still lived outside. It is hard to take photos of black cat indoors since they don't show up well unless you use a flash and then you get red eyes or eyes closed cuz of the flash!

This is tiny Sweetpea, our long haired petite cat. She is 10 this year.

Lovely Minnie has deep green eyes and fur like velvet but it is so hard to capture them in photos.

Mamacita is a younger kitty rescued with two kittens from our yard. Both kittens had severe respiratory illness when we brought them in.

Our senior Chica is a black tortoiseshell and very much the boss cat in the house.

Rosa is Mamacita's baby girl cat. We lost her brother Manny to urinary blockage when he was only 2.

If you want to play Photo Hunt too visit Tnchick for the details. We also joined in on Camera Critters and Pet Pride today too. Happy Caturady!

Happy May Day too! Mom did a post on her other blog about this old fashioned holiday and the flowers in our yard! Go see.

New VSquillion Adopted

We just adopted a new Angel VSquillion in memory of our beloved Manny.

Manny was Mamacita's baby and Rosa's brother. He was only 2 1/2 when he went to the Bridge. He had a UTI and got a blocked urethra before Mom could help him and the vet accidentally tore his urethra putting the catheter in - it is a hard procedure to do and he was young and fairly new as a vet. He wanted to do surgery to correct this but he was slammed that day and had to wait until morning to do it. Manny died overnight before the vet could do surgery. Mom had brought him home in case this happened so he was with all of us when he went to the Bridge. Mom is still very sad that this happened.

Manny and Rosa were very sick kitties when Mom trapped them and brought them inside. Manny is the one on the right in this early photo. He loved to chase after the red dot from the laser toy and would growl at anyone who messed with him while he was playing with it. He was so sweet otherwise - only the laser toy brought out this side of him! He was very shy but loved his momcat Mamacita and followed her everywhere. We miss you so much Manny and think of you every day!



Don't forget to stop by on Wed. the 17th for the big St Pat's/Darby Gotcha Day celebration! Everything will be green...it should be cool. Mom is still feeling poorly so bear with us while we try to catch up - we still need to pick up some awards and post them! She is getting so behind - we may need to hire a substitute to replace her if we want to keep up to date with our blogging!

Easy Sunday

This is me, Joe, and I am all snuggled up in the cube with Rosa. Mom and Pop both are sick with the flu thingy - Pop got it last week and Mom came down with it too. So... we haven't been able to blog much.

Boy with the computer virus and the bean virus - what is going on with the "bug" around our house? Before I forget...just want to tell you all that we are having a big celebration for St. Pat's Day and Darby's Gotcha Day on Wed. the 17th this week. Come on by to join in the festivities!

Happy Sunday - we will be napping big time and taking care of the beans! Mom will be by to visit you all when she feels a bit better!

Wordless Wednesday - Staying Warm!

Click here to join in on more Wordless Wednesday!

Fatigued Friday!

Al, our special boy - too pooped to pop today!

Two Spot crashed in a basket.

After Al's big Gotcha Day party on Thursday, we are all hung over and full of ham and pizza, ice cream and cake! We are all napping today so see ya on Saturday! Thanks for coming to party with us.

Mamacita and Rosa sleeping it off.

Joey and Yoko in their favorite spot.

Give - away!
To continue to celebrate Albert's 5th Gotcha Day, Mom is giving away a free year's subscription to Cat Fancy Magazine - all you have to do is to leave a comment telling us that you want in on a chance for a free cat magazine and on Monday October 26 she will randomly pick a winner. Good luck everyone.!