March 25, 2020
Hi everyone, welcome to my “For the Love of Cats” page. In 2006 I started a home based passion business called Krazy Kat Lady Studio and Gallery. Of course I love all animals but I have always had a very special spot in my heart for cats both domestic and wild.
I love the fact that there is a duality to cats. They are so beautiful, soft and warm and make you feel comforted and relaxed as they kneed you while they sit on your lap and purr. Then on the other hand they are strong, limber and lightning fast with razor sharp claws that make them one of the most efficient killing machines on the planet!
On this page I will post all things cat. I will introduce you to our fur babies whom we have in our life now as well as the fur babies whom we’ve shared our lives with but have now entered their tenth life.
I will share cat trivia and photos and videos of our fur babies and their antics. I will show you the kennel that David built for our cats that we call the Catatorium. We don’t allow our cats to run at large but they access to a very nice outdoor space between our shop/gallery and home that we can also share with them.
I would also like to share how we care for our fur babies and some of the products that we like to use for their health and wellbeing as well as food etc.
So I will start off by introducing you to our fur babies….
On the right is our beautiful cat Bastet aka Boom Boom. Bastet is a Manx Maine Coon mix and joined our family in December 2006. My parents had a stray cat staying in their car port (Bastet’s brother). My dad fell in love with him and started feeding him and gave him a box to sleep in up in the rafters of the car port. Not long after mum told me that two Manx Maine Coon cats were up for adoption via the local paper. I said that sounds like the cat you have in your car port. Turns out the house was just down the street from my parents place. We went there and I saw Bastet and fell in love and took her home right away. The people got rid of the cats they got a new baby. I didn’t think that was very nice but we got two awesome cats because of their choice. In June of this year Bastet will be eighteen years old. I will post a picture of her brother Max later.
To the left is our beautiful Autumn aka Moo Moo. On September 26th in 2010 we were watching something on the computer and we had the living room window open and could hear meowing. We went outside and Autumn was at our back door. She was so afraid we couldn’t get near her. So we opened the kennel door and put out some warmish milk with a bit of wet food in it. No we don’t normally give milk to cats but she was a very small kitten at the time and we needed to coax her into the kennel. We told her if you come into the kennel you will be part of our family. So she did…
To the right is our latest addition to our feline family Storm aka poop poop whom we brought home from a local pet adoption agency in September of 2018. We brought Storm home from PAWS, Creston’s Pet Adoption and Wellness Society. David suggested getting a third cat because Bastet was being a bit aggressive towards Autumn and stressing her out. Mum and I went to PAWS to look for a cat, my mum also got herself a kitten because she had to put Max down earlier that year due to a chronic illness that he had. They asked me what sort of cat I was looking for and I said the cat will let me know. Sure enough Storm warmed up to me and she has been a delight. She was only a few months old when we brought her home. Because of her friendly, playful and gentle nature Bastet stopped being aggressive towards Autumn and they all three live together quite well.
May 26th 2020
It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of our beautiful Manx/Maine Coon cat Bastet. Over the past month we noticed she was peeing outside of her litter box. Then we noticed that she was walking with her body twisted to one side. She always did this a little when she ran but not as bad as this was. So we decided to take her to the vet but sadly it was via emergency. After the vet looked her over and ran some tests it was discovered that she had a tumour that was located right beside her bladder that was about half the size of her bladder and it was causing urine to back up into her kidneys.
Our poor little girl… The vet said there was nothing that could be done especially since she was seventeen years old. He said it was most likely cancerous and there could have been more in her body. We were devastated but didn’t want our beloved fur baby to suffer. So right there and then we had to say goodbye to Bastet. When she took her last breath she let out a big sigh. She passed away peacefully in our arms.
We had Bastet in our lives for almost 14 wonderful years. She had a very strong personality and she is going to be missed. She crossed over the rainbow bridge on May 23rd and we brought her cremains home on the 25th. I know her beautiful little spirit is out in the cosmos and her ashes were put in a place of honour in my studio where she spent many evenings with me while I did my artwork.
Fond Memories:
In November of 2008 my dad was killed by a careless driver. It was devastating. My dad and I were very close. I cried all night and one thing I remember was that Bastet laid on her back all night at the foot of my bed and purred. Every time I woke up, it didn’t matter what time it was, she was on her back purring. I would place my face in her warm, soft fluffy tummy and cry. I will never forget that she did that just for me.
We do not allow our cats to run at large. We have a nice outdoor kennel for them that is between our home, shop and gallery. It has a clear roof on one side and doubles as our outside living room in the summer, so we spend a lot of time with our cats out there in the warm weather. Twice we thought that Bastet had gone missing. The first time was after we had some customers at our gallery we noticed that she was gone. We looked and looked and couldn’t find her anywhere. Several hours had past and it was starting to get dark. Bast loved sitting out back with us when we would light up our outdoor wood stove. We would have a cat body harness on her and long leash. David thought if we make a fire she might see it and come back. So we made the fire and of course we hear vehicle tires squealing and dogs barking and we are thinking the worst. David goes inside my gallery and he thought he heard something. He checked again and heard Bastet but she sounded far away. He listened carefully and discovered that she was hiding in our customer counter. I didn’t notice her in there and had closed the sliding door. She hid when the customers where there. She was in there for eight hours. Probably slept for a lot of it but then started to want to be let out. Oh I was so so so happy when David carried her out to the back yard.
The second time we thought she was missing was when she somehow got into one of the drawers that are under our platform bed. Again we couldn’t find her anywhere and finally went to bed. I was crying so hard thinking I would never see her again or something bad would happen to her and I would never know. Then in the middle of the night I hear scratching. I listened and discovered that she is in the drawer. I woke up David and was so happy and Basty laid in my arms and purred until I fell asleep. Bast doesn’t usually lay in my arms, she prefers to lay at my feet so I know she was comforting me because she heard me crying so hard.
I don’t understand how people can just let their cats run at large. To me our cats are our family and their well being and safety are a priority for us.
We are going to miss our beautiful Bastet and are happy that she spent so many years with us.
Regarding the tumour
When I first got Bastet she was in a shed laying in a box of rags and she smelled like oil – lets just say they were not clean. The people said I could take her home right away and I was happy to do that. The first thing I did was to give her a bath. I don’t normally believe in bathing a cat but she smelled of feces and motor oil so I wanted her to be clean and happy. We got Bastet when she was four years old and her brother Max was three. My parents took him. I know that things like motor oil are carcinogenic and I have no idea how much Bastet was exposed to, so I wonder if her tumours were because she was exposed to motor oil? We will never know for sure. Other then the tumour she was a healthy cat? Kind of made me sad because we take such good care of our cats.
So please do not expose your cats to motor oil or anything like that or lawn and garden spray or chemical fertilizers. It is not good for their health and may not kill them right away but could be responsible for shortening their lives.
RIP beautiful Bastet. Mummy and daddy are gonna miss you very much. Thank you for the years of joy and sometimes challenges you shared with us! 🙂
On the left below is my mums cat Kenji aka The Roo. Mum got Kenji at PAWS at the same time I got Storm. One of the people who worked there said that her dog was going crazy and could hear something out in the bush. He apparently searched for hours until he found a very small kitten. When they took this kitten to PAWS they named him Kenji which means brave and strong.
On the right is my parents cat Max aka MAXimum Cuteness. He is Bastet’s younger brother. Mum and dad got him the same time we got Bastet. The owners didn’t want him or his sister anymore. I am glad because dad would take Max for walks via a leash and harness daily. Max was fantastic company for my dad until my dad was killed in November of 2008 by a careless driver. After this happened Max almost died from loneliness and depression. Mum took Max to the vet and the vet said there was nothing wrong with the poor boy and that he just missed my dad so much, as we all did. So mum put dad’s pillow on the bed and Max would sleep on it and eventually Max got better and he was a great companion to my mum until April 2019, when she had to put him down due to a chronic health condition. It was a sad time..
All The Cats I’ve Loved Before
I would like to introduce you to the cats who lived with us before who have now crossed over the rainbow bridge. We enjoyed our fur babies for many years and they are very missed.
This was our beautiful cat Karmen aka Karmkarm. She was the first fur baby that David and I added to our family in 1997. David named her after Carmen by Bizet. Karmen certainly was a cat with her own mind. She was brilliant and loved to walk on the treadmill. We would here her walking in the middle of the night. I will add a photo of her waking on the treadmill when I find one. Karmen was one year old when we got her from a friend who had to go into a retirement home. Karmen lived with us for 14 years and passed away peacefully at home. Our cat Bastet has a personality very similar to Karmen’s.
This blue-eyed beauty is our cat Mandu aka Dodo. Yes named after Kathmandu :). She was a very sweet tempered easy going cat. I think she was part Rag Doll. She was a bit older when David surprised me and brought her home. She was such a joy to have and when David would sit on the sofa she would poke him with one claw. For a few years when we first got her she had a habit of pacing a specific path around our house at night. This drove our cat Karmen absolutely crazy and every time she would go by Karmen, Karmen would hiss at her. Fortunately she eventually stopped doing this. Mandu lived to be a ripe old age of eighteen before she crossed the rainbow bridge. It was very difficult to lose Mandu. She broke both David and my hearts.
Here is our little quintessential Halloween cat Luna aka Lunika. Luna was named after the lunacy associated with the full moon. She was a cat that spooked easy and was friendly but timid. I remember one time David was removing snow from our sunroom roof and inadvertently scared Luna. The poor little thing hid in our bedroom closet for two days before we could get her to come out. She was an amazing cat and would lay beside me at night. She got along with the other cats really well and didn’t mind if you dressed her up a little to take a pic of her. Sadly Luna left us early due to a blockage that was inoperable, she was only eleven years old. I think she was a very stressed cat, even though we did everything we could to help her to be calm. We were sad when she crossed the rainbow bridge. She was a joy to share our lives with.
Finally, I would like to introduce you to Shadow aka Shaddy. I believe Shadow was about three years old when we got her. Shadow’s humans were friends of my parents and they moved into town and were afraid that Shadow would get hit by a vehicle because their home was very close to the road. Shadow was a true Halloween beauty. Strong and aggressive but sadly not an indoor cat. We have a large outdoor kennel but after about a year it just wasn’t enough for Shadow and she started getting territorial and not getting along so well with the other cats. This was sad, she was a very friendly cat but just did not like being confined. Fortunately her original human’s moved back to their country home so we returned her to them. Oh she was so happy and lived with them until the end of her beautiful life!
