Nezumi – Mindflight

We have a new Webmistress in the making

As any longtime reader knows, our Webmistress and Site Mascot, Nezumi, is now Eternal. She passed from the mortal realm last year. I am happy, however, to let you all know that we have a new Webmistress in the making – she was born on April 13th and she has already stolen my heart. She is the product of my friend’s cat, a wily calico who managed to slip out while they were looking for a vet to spay her.

This little girl, and her black furred sibling, will come home to us when they are old enough. Together with Shinji, they are likely to reign supreme for many years to come.

I’m pleased to share her very first picture. In this image, she’s only 3 days old! I had a dream about her before she was even born. Somehow I just knew there would be a calico and a black kitten in this litter, and if there were, I would stop at nothing to adopt them. Interestingly, there is a black marking on her left shoulder, just like the one Nezumi had, in the same spot. So I’ve kept my promise. My spouse and I are welcoming them into our home, just as soon as they are old enough to safely adopt. I can’t wait to get to know her and her sibling!

calico

A note about naming: My spouse and I are coming up with a list of names we like but ultimately our new kits are going to name themselves. It always works best that way!

We’re going to be giving these kittens top quality care, as we have not always been able to do at times when we were poorer. These little bundles of joy are going to be on a grain free, high protein, high nutrition diet, with a brand new humongous cat tree for them to scratch and play with climb on, a great vet, and lots of love. Shinji of course will get lots of love and assistance with getting used to two young, energetic, furry menaces, but he likes other cats so I anticipate a fairly smooth transition. I’ll also be sharing pictures as they grow and develop. I think Nezumi and Orion would approve.

As we near Obon, her presence remains

Thoughts About Life

Katzenworld recently featured a tribute to Nezumi, Honored Eternal Webmistress of this blog, and Queen of my heart. When in flesh, she was a delightful calico girl who was one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.

Her ashes lie in a smooth, polished black box with he name on it, with her pawprint and a picture near.

And yet, her spirit isn’t gone. Her spiritual father, Orion, of whom I have also written, still walks on the bed even though he left his flesh behind nearly ten years ago.

As for Nezumi, our other cat Shinji will sometimes stare at the empty air – or at the shelf where her ashes are kept.

Every once in a while I’ll feel her fur against my ankles or see an orange, black and white shadow flit by.

Neither has left me, and they both have my eternal loyalty, as I (apparently do) and it makes me feel peaceful.

I used to wonder if ghosts existed – I began to doubt it seriously – and then it was proven to me by my own cat-friends. They made their presence impossible to ignore and they show themselves to both my spouse and I. They are neither harmful nor destructive, and they come and go as they please. Our bond is far from broken! I personally think cats make great ghosts – mine did as they pleased when they were alive, so why not do the same once freed of their flesh?

I told Nezumi as that she could go or stay as she pleased, and that I would love her unceasingly. It was the last thing she heard me say.

I still miss her – but I’m so glad she, and Orion, still choose to visit me.

So that’s why she’s Eternal Webmistress, the same way that Tama, the Japanese train stationmistress who just happened to be a calico, became Eternal Stationmistress upon her death.

In Japan, some celebrate Obon, (the festival of the dead) in mid-July, and some in mid-August, but in either case it’s a joyous chance to reunite with beloved family members who have passed from mortal life. It’s not a somber occasion but a time to celebrate and have fun. So I think often of my two well-loved cats as that festival nears.

When it comes time, I’ll light two lanterns for them and watch them floating in the pool and meditate on the fact that we are more than our bodies, we are luminous beings, not just crude matter.

The passing of Nezumi

Thoughts About Life

Our longtime site mascot, Nezumi, has passed from the mortal realm.

In other stories about her, I’ve told how she found us as a tiny injured kitten who was driven away by her mother. I’ve told how she grew into a fine figure of a queen cat, nurtured by the loyal Orion. I’ve also told of how we lost Orion and how she carried on with us. She even wrote a few blog entries on this site. She was a wonderful girl, a staunch family member, often hilarious, and always lovable. Lately, her health has been failing and we’ve finally lost our final battle.

It started a few months ago when she started becoming even pickier than usual and we thought there was a problem with her mouth. She started drooling and rubbing her mouth on things, so it made sense. We also wondered if she had a hairball that wouldn’t come up.

The vet found a mass near her intestines, but since it wasn’t blocking anything we thought she might be okay. Perhaps the mass would be benign, perhaps we could encourage her to eat, perhaps we could control the swelling with steroids and find out it was just IBD. We did blood work, got good news on her organ function.

We got a bit of a reprieve – for a time she seemed to be getting better. Then she took a turn for the worse. Back to the vet. The news was bad. So we changed our strategy and just focused on keeping her comfortable. A couple weeks passed. Her normal meow changed to a little squawk, she lost her coordination, but she still loved attention and would ask to be picked up so she could be near us. I still saw a soul behind her eyes. Normally so gentle, she covered my arms with inadvertent scratches and I find now that I want to rub ink into them so I can wear them forever. Her sweet face and personality created instant love from the first moment I saw her as a tiny waiflike kitten.

That was why it was so hard to have to schedule her end – however, we both agreed that she should go when she still had some dignity left, instead of us selfishly trying to eke the last drops of life out until she passed away in pain and terror. I also scheduled an appointment with a crematorium for shortly after her last vet visit.

I had to take a Benadryl last night so I could sleep, and still sat up petting her. My tears were a river that has still not run dry. In the morning I gave her some brushing, which she loves, and offered her broth for breakfast – which she wouldn’t touch. She kept patting me and looking into my eyes. When it was time we took her to our vet. The assistant laid her on a blue and white Southwestern blanket to make her comfortable. The vet gave her one more exam to make sure nothing had improved, and then we said goodbye. Shortly after, Nezumi was gone. I felt a cool wind blow through me, around that time, though for the life of me I can’t remember exactly when.

The people at Tucson Pet Cemetery were very kind. The office lady was quiet yet compassionate, neither adding nor detracting from our grief. The office cat, a fat, bob-tailed Cymric cat, offered cuddles, headbonks, and purring. She went over the options with us, not trying to upsell but just responding to our questions. We placed Nezumi on a sort of table under a window, in a shaded room with comfortable chairs so we could say our final farewells.

I find that as sad as this all was, I couldn’t ask for a better end myself. I hope that when the time for my end comes, I can meet it in peace, with my family around me. We’ll make a place in the yard for her ashes and set up a cat statue in her memory. I know that she’s beyond all pain now, and I hope she’s met up with Orion so he can show her the ropes of being a spirit being.

For now, we’ll comfort Shinji as he’s an only cat, yet again. He’s seen a lot of people die and so we want to be gentle with him.

when I feel you’re gone,

my heart pours out misogi

waterfall of tears.

Update on Nezumi

Healthy Living

Recently I wrote an article on Katzenworld about how to tempt older cats to eat. I was inspired to do this because I’m going through my own struggles with a 13 year old cat who has recently stopped acting kittenish, turned her calico nose up at food, and decided to open account at the local veterinary clinic.

Her blood test just acme back and the good news is that her kidneys, liver and thyroid are operating just fine. According to the last visit she is also not feverish or dehydrated. Eyes, ears, teeth and elimination habits fine. But she’s also just under 7 pounds when she should be at least 10.

Anyway, the vet found a mass in her intestinal area, they think it’s likely lymphoma. I think it’s likely a slow growing form of lymphoma, quite pragmatically because she’s still here, and though her decline has taken a few months, she’s still bright eyed and with us. They started her on metoclopramide to help with her digestion and tomorrow I’ll fill her first prescription of prednisolone topical, something to rub on her ear flap, to help shrink the mass. I’m glad about that one, she hates taking anything by mouth.

The pharmacist was amusing, by the way, when I went to pick up her medicine. It’s a liquid, vanilla flavored if Nezumi cares about that, and I had to tell them I didn’t know her birth date because she’s a cat! They understood but there was a slightly awkward pause when the older, white coated gentleman would have normally started to launch into a litany of possible side effects.

“Well, I suppose there could be drowsiness,” he said.

“It’s okay, I’ll be checking the usual veterinary databases,” I said, and wished him a good day.

It’s easier to think of it as a mass… rather than cancer, which is what it really is, even if it’s a slow growing one… and I hope it doesn’t grow in a direction that would block anything important. There’s lots of hope here, partly because I need to stay functional, but also because she picks up on my every mood. So does my spouse, and I don’t want to add to her already great burden of worry. She has her own health issues, after all, the wages of doing hard and toxic jobs when she was younger. Non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis isn’t fun, and neither is rheumatoid arthritis. She and our slightly arthritic little feline understand each other quite well.

So I talk to Nezumi and I pet her and I protect her waifish nibbling self from the sturdy scoffer who is a proud 17 years of age and is used to eating very rapidly. And I tell her she’s going to feel better soon, and I brush her and tell her she’s beautiful. One way or another, it’s all absolutely true.

Feline Inscrutability

Jokes and Humor

It is I, Nezumi!

The Moms are off shopping, it’s the weekend after all. Littledog out back is making all the noise he can, scratching at his door, and I’m glad there’s a fence between him and me. Out front, there is Bigdog. He’s as big as some two leggeds. Sometimes he comes up to the window in front and we look at each other. Good thing I can’t smell him through the glass. He hardly ever barks or makes noise.

Newcat, I mean Shinji, is pretty fast moving for an old man. There’s something else about him, though. He’s inscrutable. I can’t tell if he’s going to hiss at me or run or just go lie down somewhere, because with those stripes on his face it’s confusing.

I think maybe it’s because his ancestors came from Thailand. They guarded both temples and palaces. Now, he’s got a fair dash of tabby mixed in, but he also has the long body and blue eyes. I’m still getting used to those. Before that, the only one who had blue eyes was Mom. But Shinji’s are even bluer than hers!

Shinji seems happier than he was. He’s even gained weight. I guess that’s okay, since I still get the same amount of pettings and nobody makes me share my Gooshy food, or my beds. He’s so quiet. Except at mealtime. Then he’s loud! His feelings are very obvious then. But the rest of the time he’s inscrutable.

Here he is, meditating. Or possibly, just avoiding a photo.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/inscrutable/

Meet Shinji, Mindflight’s droll new co-mascot.

Photography

Nezumi here. Mom’s busy working the camera and trying to get decent photos. Something about “darn autofocus,” whatever that means. I have bad news. Very, very bad.

There’s a new cat in the house. Do you hear me? A NEW CAT. For the first day or two I hissed at him all the time just to let him know who’s boss. Then I eased up a little and just stole his food, and gave him the Demon Eyes when I saw him. Then I just hissed at him when he meowed too much.

He’s something called a Siamese. He looks funny, with stripes and pale patches and blue eyes and stuff. He’s kinda small too, especially for a boy, and the Moms keep calling him “Minimeez” or “Permakitty.” It’s a good thing they are both giving me treats and petting me a lot, or I’d have to evict him.

The other day, Mom laughed at me hissing at him, and said “remember when Orion used to hiss at you, back when you were a kitten?” She thought that was pretty droll. Orion was my best friend. I still miss him. It’s hard to imagine being hissed at by my adoptive dad!

The Moms told me all about Shinji. He’s an old man! He could be as much as fourteen years old, and I’m only eleven! But he looks and acts like he’s three or so. The Moms said I should be nice to him because his two legged mother died, and then his two cat friends, and he was living in a backyard, and he needs a loving home.

I might be nice to him. Later. After all, he is pretty good at ankle-winding, and the Moms like that. For now I’ll just not growl at him. Much.

He’s not very good at having his picture taken yet, is he? Oh well. I’ll teach him everything I know. Eventually. Anyway, here’s me, the great Nezumi, signing off. All this blogging has made me tired.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/droll/

Peeking Feline

Photography

Nezumi Prepper 1000

Do I peek through the supplies and canned goods at Nezumi-chan?

Prepper Nezui 1200

Or does Nezumi-chan peek back at me?

olive base 3 1000

Here’s a hole in my backyard I like to peek through… lizards often live there.

pines-and-mountains-1000

Speaking of backyards, here’s a peek at the mountains through pine trees…

quail-4-1100

I peeked through my zoom lens to capture this avian kerfluffle from across the parking lot.

quail-1-1000

Here they are again as I peek under this truck.

quail-1000

This is what they look like when I’m not peeking quite so much.

It seems that for me, at least, peeking leads to lower quality pictures but still I find them interesting to look at.

(Guitar Update: Guitar Sensei has me working on some basic finger patterns on the fretboard. I’m still at the getting-to-know-you stage. I have the self assigned task of learn to get from C to G chord and back again. My fingers are a lot tougher than they were. I can do scales pretty well too. I’m still settling down to my favorite kind of pick, and I find practicing standing up easier than practicing sitting down.)

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/peek/

The Transmogrification Begins

Jokes and Humor

A perfectly ordinary housecat as she dreams of being a unicorn.

Slowly the ear begins to center itself on her head, ready to turn into a horn.

What next? I think she’s going to meditate on being a samurai.

Now she’s dreaming of being a writer – I think she’s going to write her adventures down!

via Photo Challenge: Transmogrify

https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/27030/posts/1203750290

Guest Post: Tips for the Cat-Owned

Jokes and Humor

Hi. I’m Nezumi, the Technical Supervisor and Mascot of this blog.

This blog is about improving yourself and enjoying life, and a lot of other things too, but I notice that the two-legged authoress has missed a few topics. She writes about health, and nature, and thoughts, and all manner of things. She writes about cooking, but has she ever written about the wonders of canned food? How about pillows, petting gloves, or other things of interest to we Cats?

I don’t think so. So I”m going to fix that!

Get a blender

I’ll have you know that for Cats with sore teeth, like I sometimes have, a great thing to do for your four legged monarch is to use a blender. It softens up the food, mixes it nicely, and makes it easy for us to eat. We also really like Kibble Stew, which is what you get when you pour water over kibble. Bonus points are in order if you put some crunchy treats in there too, to soften up nicely.

Try lettuce

If your fluffy queen or king likes grass but keeps eating all of their wheat grass, perhaps you should use your thumbs to get into the refrigerator and get them a nice leaf of Romaine lettuce. It tastes a lot like our favorite grasses, doesn’t make us puke, and lets us chew to our hearts content.

MORE PETTINGS!

Also, many of us are tickled or irritated by brushes. So how about a petting glove? They make it feel even more like Mom is grooming us, and helps get rid of loose hair while we enjoy a full body massage. Every two legged should have at least three petting gloves.

Better pillows

I need to remember to tell my two legged that she needs to let me sleep on the keyboard more often. Or at least let me rest my head on the edge. The part where the control key is makes a good pillow. And computers are warm, just right for snuggling against on a cold day. But two leggeds should clean out the fans frequently, because my lovely hair clogs up computer vents and makes them overheat. People with thumbs can get rid of this easily.

Remember your history

In Egypt, Cats were sometimes worshipped as gods and goddesses. Even when we weren’t, we were still valued members of the family. In old Persia, we were highly regarded. In Thailand, we are still known as temple Cats. People have made us mayors, train stationmistresses, security officers, and even police. So when you meet a Cat, treat them with respect!

What’s the password?

I might write more tips for people who are cat-owned, if I can figure out my two legged’s password. I’m sure she’s about to change it!

How to make your Human move off your chair

Jokes and Humor

When your human is sitting in your chair and you want to sleep in it, it cna be difficult to get them to move. Luckily, there is a strategy. As a good and cunning cat, here’s what you do.

1. Meow, look at them cutely, ask for pettings.

2. Meow some more, move over to the couch. Gesture at them to follow.

3. When human moves to couch, meow and accept pettings. It’s best to reward your human for good behavior.

4. Hop up on your chair while it’s still warm, and fall asleep. Your human will be fine on the couch.