Baby Lana

I am having some rather rotten luck lately. I do not mean this as a pity post, but after all your nice remarks about Mittens... seems like I have to play on sympathies again. I posted pictures of kittens, which to me is just cats that are still in the single digits. Well, the little gray one, Lana, is really sick. I kitty-sat her, as I am not with her other owner anymore (ex-boyfriend), but we are trying to still be friends (which is going relatively well), and I still get to see the kittens. I brought the three cats to my house on the weekend because it is easier, and Lana entered and hissed at the dog. Very Lana-like. By the time I brought her back to her house on Tuesday, she was very lethargic and not acting herself at all. I was worried, but Tom was away, so I waited to see if it was maybe my imagination. I really wish it was... I managed to get Lana into the vet today, and she is a very sick little cat.

She looks to have a blood disorder, and as a result has a heart murmur and liver troubles. I will tell you all, she was just at the vet where they gave her a clean bill of health. She has actually been sick for a while, and it is very sad. There is a slight chance she might recover from this, but as it looks right now, she is likely to not. I am still hopeful because she is only three, and I would really like to have her around for many more years. Mittens was bad, yes, but he was 14 and had lived a long life. I was sad, but this is much worse. I was expecting my old cats to go soon, not the little ones. So, this is all rather shocking. As it stands right now, she is not suffering, so we are adjusting to all of this and will make a decision about what we are going to do on Tuesday. The vet says she either will get better, or will not live the weekend. She will just close her eyes and not wake back up. I am not looking forward to that.

Anyways, just because I can, I am going to fill you in on Lana. Me and Lana have a love/hate relationship. She is more Tom's cat than mine, but we have our moments. I think she is a great cat, she just doesn't always see me as a great owner. She was a stray, my friend found her at my old high school with what we assume was her mother. Me and Tom went to see this cat, and it was love at first sight. (For Tom and Lana, I had four cats at the time). She is the most amazing cat. I have had my share of cats, and seen loads more, and she has the most amazing personality. She stayed at my house when she was little, and she was sooo cute! It had been a while since I had a kitten in my house, so I was thrilled. I got pretty attached, I actually *ahem* cried when I had to give her up to Tom. That was really the only real time Lana was more my cat than Tom's.

So, Lana moved in with Tom. We have had rocky roads with her in the past. When she was about 6 months old, we got her fixed. That was bad. Her heart stopped during it, and they didn't warn us that the cat might go blind! Here I was with this cat staying at my house, and she was going CRAZY! She couldn't see. I was so mad. We called the vet and another vet answered our call and did a whole: "Didn't the other vet tell you thing"? We switched vets. It was terrible, and while she can see now, she still has limits. There are good memories, too, though. For example, she plays fetch better than my dog. She gets so excited by big elastic bands that she has this strange little meow that she makes for you to throw them. You say: "Are you ready?" and she replies. She gets very into the activitiy. She can play forever. It doesn't have to be elastic bands, but those are her favourite. She jumps in the air and everything. Does flips and stuff. Lana loves to play... something that she is unable to do right now and that breaks my heart.

I mentioned a love/hate relationship. The truth is Lana is not super fond of people. She only really gets along well with Tom. I think most people are scared of her; she uses her claws a lot. But, I pick her up anyways. Sometimes she is nice, and to show me that she does not totally despise me, she will let me pat her under the chin. I am the only one that ever can do that, she gets really mad if anyone else tries. She is really not scared of anything, except my dog. I remember the day they met. Sandy grew up with cats, she really doesn't care, but she moved too fast and scared Lana to death. Lana has never forgiven her, and she illustrates that every chance she gets. Of all the cats I own (up until last Christmas I had seven), Lana is truly the best. She is just not like other cats. I think she thinks she is a dog, and does a better job of it than the dog I have.

I have to stop, because one this is a VERY long post and two, I made myself cry. I am glad that we gave Lana a better life than she was born into, but I wish she could stick around a bit longer. She makes her presence known, and there will be a big void if she doesn't make it through this. Thanks for reading, if anyone even did. And, I am sorry for lots of things. Hardly posting and not sending people the books I owe them. It just seems like one thing after another lately.