Tina Furlong

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In memory of Onyx - Saturday 6/14/97 to 3/25/2001 5:00am

We've known that the litter she came from had a history of epilepsy. We found her at the Largo SPCA the same saturday we got Rascal. The story is, we went to the SPCA to look for a companion for Peaches, and found her. We know one other person who got a black kitten at the same shelter, the same weekend we did, and hers has seizures at least once a month. She gives hers valium for the pain.

As for Onyx, about a year ago, she had a really bad seizure, and we thought she was going to die THEN. She howled like a banshee, and went stiff as a board. We had to rush her to the emergency room, and they gave her shot of Valium, to calm her until the fit passed. Thankfully, she got thru that episode with no worse than a gimpy right rear leg.

This time, none of us were nearly so lucky. We had gone to see my parents that day, and several hours after we got home, Onyx started throwing up. She did this several times, was very weak, and didn't move around much. But after the last of the three events, she seemed to rouse, looked around, and purred at us.

Tina bedded her down on some towels and afghans on the floor at the foot of our bed, and later on, Onyx had an 'accident' on the towels. Tina cleaned it up, and we didn't think much of it, since she'd done this before when she had her first BAD seizure, and she'd survived that. We figured that she'd be fine in the morning, after it passed.

Tina was still concerned, so she sat up with Onyx, while I tried to get some sleep. Sadly our little black baby didn't survive, this time, and passed away around 5am.

She's now resting peacefully in our back yard, and we'll miss her company VERY MUCH.

*sobs*

Here's some more photos of Shai and Onyx, laying around on the living room floor.
	And here was the two of them in their favorite hiding place. Curled up on top of some clothes in the bottom of Tina's closet..

Here's Onyx, Shai and Rascal all digging in Tina's Lunchbox. (Rascal's still alive, thankfully)

In memory of Shai

We'd had two cats for a long time, Peaches and Onyx, and Peaches died about five months after we got Onyx. Well. about two months after that, we decided we needed a replacement for the orange terror, so we ran down to the society office just off of McMullen Booth road, and looked.

Shai's 'blotter' said she was a 'problem cat' etc, etc. But we decided we liked her anyhow, and took her. It took us nearly four months to get her to settle down, and quit being so scared of everyone and everything. She was just an A.D.D. little tortoise shell kitty that simply cant sit still. She had one of the LOUDEST meows and purrs I've ever heard, and bugged us (and company at our house) for petting and affection.

Sadly, Two weeks after Stripes died, Shai ran away. She's ALWAYS tried to escape the house; we knew when we adopted her that her previous owners had let her outside. After our experience with Peaches, we preferred to keep our cats inside, but Shai didn't agree, and kept trying to do a 'Shawshank Redemption' on us.

She'd done this many times before, and never been gone more than a few hours; she was usually home in time for dinner or bed.

This time, she was gone for nearly a week, and we thought we'd lost her for good. Both of Tina and I broke down and cried, and thought that was it. Then Shai straggled back one night, surprizing us no end.

Then about three weeks later, she did it again.this time it seems permanent, as she hasn't returned. We can only home she's found another good home, and not had an accident, somewhere.

In memory of Stripes - 5/29/2000 to 12/26/2000 7:15pm

We figured he had a belly-ache or some such, and tried to keep an eye on him, with the idea of getting him the vet if it got more serious.

Last night, it did. When I got home from work, he was hiding, and Tina couldn't find him. We turned the house upside down, and finally located him under one of the living room chairs. We he got up, he was staggering around, breathing hard, and whimpering. So we packed the little guy up, and took him to the all night pet emergency room, where we got some really bad news.

X-Rays revealed he a had an enlarged heart.it was nearly double normal size; kidneys that were less than half the size they should have been for a cat his age; and water on the lungs. He couldn't breathe well or eat because the water on his lungs had his chest so full of fluid that his chest was nearly rigid.

The doctor said there was little she could do.the water could have been aspirated, etc, etc, but it would have been just prolonging the inevitable, and he'd have been suffering the whole time. So even though we hated to lose him, Tina and I felt it wasn't fair for us to be selfish and make him suffer, just so we could have his presence. making that choice really really hurt. :(

Some history:
Stripes was the only male cat in a houseful of females. We wouldn't have had him at all save for one fact.

Before Tina had brought Nikky and her kittens home from her friend's house, we'd agreed she could have ONE kitten.we were intending to keep just one, and pass the rest of the felines on to friends.

Two nights after we got them, Stripes chose to curl up on my chest, and go to sleep, when I was lying on the couch.

After that, I had to keep the little stinker.*grins*

You could hold him upside down in your arms like a baby, and he'd LOOK at you with this aggravated expression, and 'whuff' at you, until you put him down.

Anyhow, as to his problem.

He'd always been a stocky little tomcat, and after he was several months old, he began to hide under furniture a lot, to avoid being handled, and now we know why. (I just hope he wasn't in pain very long) :(

I'm going to miss the little fellow.

Here's some pictures of Stripes, and his sister, Lillan. Stripes is the darker of the two kittens.
kittens1.jpg  kittens3.jpg

Here's Stripes laying on top of a cushion in our bay window.
kittens4.jpg

Sadly, on Monday, 8/25/97, we received a phone call telling us that our 'fixed' male Ginger cat named 'Peaches', was no more.. He'd managed to stray several miles from home, and while on county road 95, had been hit by a car, and killed instantly.

The fellow who found him, checked his collar, and after burying our furry friend near the radio station where he was found, Wally called us.

The saddest thing is, that Tina brought Peaches with her from Canada when we got married, and had raised him from a sickly baby kitten to robust orneryness.

The picture here shows him trying valiantly to escape his household confinement and being ornery about it.

We'll miss Peaches tremendously, even his running around like a mad thing, bumping into the walls, and chasing our feet.