I <3 Jake the Cat

As you may or may not know, I have the best roommate in the world. He's very lovable, knows when to keep to himself and rarely messes up the house. He's also, black, white, furry and weighs about 9 pounds. :) I consider Jake the cat my child. My parents even call him the "grandcat".

When I adopted Jake, I was part of a "we" and so was he. In 1997, I lived with someone (ok, my ex-fiance) and had a cat named Joe. My fiance decided that Joe was lonely and needed a companion. I was strongly opposed. After all, I was a farm girl... and as a farm girl, I believed that cats belong outside. One was enough! But, in order to keep the peace, I begrudgingly agreed. We picked out a 3-month old black and white kitten from a litter of four and were told to come pick him up the next day after the vet removed his claws and his ummmmm.... "manhood". We walked in the vet's office and they brought him out to us and handed him directly to me. This little bundle of fur crawled up the front of me and started licking my face, practically pleading me to take him home. My heart melted and I fell in love with the kitten we would name Jake.

One year later, my engagement ended. My ex took Joe and I took Jake. Nothing against Joe, but I really got the better end of that deal! Jake and I moved into our own little apartment and quickly adjusted to being a new team. Sounds weird to think of it that way... but he was company and provided me with unconditional love, exactly what I needed at the time. He still provides all those things and more and has become my child.

So this month, Jake and I will celebrate being together for 11 years. He travels home to SE Iowa with me too (He views Mom and Dad's house the same way New Yorkers feel about the vacationing in the Hamptons!). He is such a good kitty!

About four weeks ago, I noticed that he was tilting his head when he ate to try and move the food to the other side of his mouth. Oh no. I priced out what it costs to have a cat's dental cleaning done. Oh. My. Word. It's not cheap people! But if you google what happens with poor feline dental hygiene, it will scare you right into paying it! It goes up in price too, if they are over 8 years old, because they have to put them on fluids and monitor them more closely while they are out. (Yep... cat anesthetic!) So I took him in and I was a wreck. I bawled on the way into work just at the thought of what they were going to do to my baby that day! They ended up pulling two teeth. They weren't "horrible"... but they were considered a Stage 1 and 2 for kitty cavities. Two weeks later we found ourselves back at the vet. Do you know when people get "dry sockets" after dental work? Jake had those AND they were infected. Oh. My. Word. Again, I bawled all the way to work thinking what was going on with Jake. Again he went under, they cleaned it all out and pulled another tooth for good measure. This time we had pain meds and antibiotics. (Side note: I had no idea how much Jake would love pain meds. Seriously, if he could have opened the bag and given them to himself, they would have all been gone by day two!) Then two days ago, Jake's eating had decreased and he started throwing up. Oh.My.Word. More tears, one more trip to the vet. This time the antibiotic was upsetting his tummy. Ugh. I felt like the worst Mom in the world, even though the vet told me I did nothing wrong. But I felt like I had tried to make it better and wound up making it worse.

Jake has finally started to feel better. I know this because he became onery again. :) My favorite example was this morning. I woke up to something furry crawling up my feet. Jake was working his way up through the covers to deliver a message. He got up by my face. I scrunched my eyes shut with some groggy idea that I would trick my cat into not believing I was not awake (don't judge me people ~ it was 2:30am). He got face to face with me and let out a little whisper of a "meow". I didn't move. This was a ploy to get me to get up and play. If I laid still ~ he'd leave me alone. A little louder ~ "meee-ow". I still kept quiet and still. Finally, he leaned in and stuck the coldest, wettest cat nose ever directly on my nose. I was now awake! He jumped down and walked out the bedroom door with his tail in the air as if to say.... "Ha ha... thanks for all the trips to the vet lady". Even at 2:30am I had to laugh. I love that cat! :)