RIP Monty :(

It is with great sadness that I announce Monty died last thursday.  Sometime in early september, I can't remember which day, he had escaped got into a fight with a stray cat.  Miraculously he somehow managed to escape that altercation without ANY bites or scratches from the stray cat.  He did have numerous abrasions on him, but that was from him running into various things trying to get out of the confined space he found himself in.  After bring him into the house after the altercation, his relationship seemed to have changed with Priscilla.  She declared him public enemy number one hissing, spitting and slapped him if he came too close to her or if he made eye contact with her, making it clear she was displeased with him but she never seriously hurt him other than his feelings I guess.

Brothers

Boy's Club

This traumatic event, unfortunately, did nothing to teach him to stay away from the front door or to not want to run outside again.  Last week, he ran out the door at 630 in the morning as I was on my way to work.  I didn't even see him as it was pitch black that time of the day and our outside light had burnt out.  Unbeknownst to me, he spent the entire day outside.  My Mom later told me she heard raccoons snarling and growling outside on and off throughout the day but she didn't think much of it.  When we got home and noticed he was nowhere to be found inside, we began to search for him outside.  I had a feeling he would be in the same area where he was attacked by the stray cat since there were lots of spots for him to hide in.  Sure enough, he had managed to hole himself deep into a spot beside the house where the raccoons must have repeatedly hit his face over and over again because he face was barely recognizable.  Amazingly, no raccoon bites or scratches on him, just a lot of swelling and redness.  Other than pain medications and antibiotics there was not much else the vet could do for him - nothing broken and he had already had his necessary shots and was up to date on everything.

Zilla & Monty

Hide & Seek

As I mentioned, since the first time he got out of the house, Priscilla had been chasing him and smacking him around, but nothing dangerous.  She would later even sleep with him....provided he didn't make eye contact and growl at her.  Anyhow, the following tuesday after the raccoon incident, my husband came home to find that our living room looked like a tornado had hit it and he found Monty on the floor, pinned down by an "x-pen" that had been folded up and set off to the side.  He said Monty was ice cold and he thought he was dead until Monty slowly opened his eyes.  After getting a sweater on him and putting him on a heating pad to warm him up he had improved quite a bit.  We figured he was a bit hypothermic as he was laying on cold tile floors (all day?).  By bed time that night he was up and walking around (although he had a bit of a limp).  We decided to take him into the vet the next day, but the next morning, wednesday, it was a miracle.  He was climbing up the kitty castle, jumping down, eating and drinking as normal and even playing with the Orion and Moley.  After describing what had happened to the vet and Monty's quick progress, it was decided that we would bring him in the next day, thursday, after I had gotten off of work.  Had I not have just started a new job, I would have taken the day off to take him in sooner, but that was not an option.  Since my husband hasn't been getting regular work he didn't want to turn down the one day of work that he had lined up for himself.  Besides, the vet figured he would be ok for one more day anyhow, so I wasn't overly worried.  I was actually thinking of re-naming him "Lucky" considering all that he'd been through the past several weeks.

However, it was not to be - Monty's luck finally seemed to have run out.  When my husband got home on thursday, Monty was dead.  Already in rigor mortis, "exuding gases", hubby later told me.  Monty was laying in his favorite spot on the kitty castle where he used to watch the birds outside of the large double windows in our living room.  By the time I got home, my hubby had already buried Monty just outside the widow where he loved to sit.  

Such a pretty boy

After discussions, the general consensus was that he died from an internal bleed of sorts.  Perhaps there was a slow bleed that was missed after the raccoon incident?  Or the obvious, that he had a slow internal bleed, developed whilst being pinned underneath the x-pen that had fallen onto him.  But then to see him recover so quickly....it makes no sense at all.  Either way, we're not entirely sure of anything other than this is just so tremendously heartbreaking.

Only 8 months ago I had to put my soul kitty, Rupert, to sleep from FIV and now, my kitty Monty has died from some stupid, stupid freak accident or a combination of stupid accidents.  None of it makes sense, no matter how many times I mull it through in my hand.  I just can't believe this has happened and I feel like the WORST cat mom ever.  Both of the little boys that chose me have died of some freak thing, first a disease and now from an accident.  It's just so heartbreaking.....and devastating......and numbing.  I don't want any more sphynx's, this is just too painful to cope with.  Two, in 8 months, from freak-show shit.  It is just so beyond my understanding.  It kills me to see how much of an impact this has had on my husband.  Over the past several months, Monty and my hubby developed quite the bond and to see my husband's eyes full of tears and pain, JUST KILLS ME.  On top of this, Rupert's death has been re-hashed for me and this combination of Rupert and Monty's passing is a pain that is just so deep and so visceral, no amount of pain killers can take away the pain.  I am so utterly sad and devastated.....AGAIN  :(

A favorite picture of mine.  This is the coveted spot in the house as you can watch the birds from this view and see what they are up to.  I was so thrilled to find all of them laying together, from left to right: Monty, Priscilla (sitting up), Moley and Orion's head peeking out from underneath, he was sooooo squashed but he wasn't giving up his spot.  

How could you not love this face?

My "pride" of Sphynx, another favorite picture

What the 'kids have been up to.....

Priscilla made Monty her minion boyfriend...

Then she kissed Moley and broke Monty's heart (in the background).

Later, I found the nekkid boys passed out after they shared their stories of Priscilla's "ways".

She denies everything....

Moley decides to play.

While Orion surveys their territory from up high.....

and from down low.

Taking a moment to check himself out......

Just before Monty shows up to play!

What seems to be some sort of tag.

Orion's ready for action.....

Monty sat in front of me and watched....

Just before looking up at me and bounding off to go and play.

Monty seyz, "boooo-yaaaahhh-kaaaaaaaaaaaahhh"

Then jumps up into Orion's face and they exchanged looks.

Monty, he's so photogenic

Priscilla helped me cook dinner.

Orion is stalking....

All eyez on the boyz as they play

A quick shot of the elusive Moley

Monty and the cheese wedge.

Monty licking his lips, for the mouse down below?

He is such a "pretty-boy".

Our furred King, "Old Man Dex-atrim/terd/tose"

Priscilla seconds after getting "the crazies"

A rare moment between Dex and Priscilla, I wonder what they were talking about?

A Few Videos To Enjoy

Monty the Meerkat - I can't believe how long he manages to stand up on his hind legs! 

Orion LOVES to be brushed with a firm brush so much that we jokingly call him a "brush slut". 

2 Week Update

Dex showing off his "man fruit"

Temptations feeding frenzy!!!!

All is very well 2 weeks after the boys have arrived.  Everyone is playing together now, which means Priscilla has stopped being a total spaz to being a just sometimes spaz.  Today all of the nekkids were blazing through the house, chirping and calling out to each other, it was f-awesome.  Dex chose to lay back and watch the action while he showed off what's left of his "man fruit".   I introduced "kitty crack", aka Temptations, a few days ago and was nearly mobbed to death and ended up having to toss them on the floor.  They were just too rabid, like sharks on a corpse, for me to hand feed them, LOL.  The dogs came over to check out what was going on and were nearly taken down like wildebeast at a watering hole gone wrong.  Dex really likes his Temptations apparently - who would have thought?

Priscilla 

Priscilla & Orion

Snapped these two pictures of Priscilla and Orion first thing in the morning..."wakey-wakey".  I was a little surprised to find them together as she has been a tad pissy with everyone the past few weeks and has only recently warmed up to Monty & Moley.  This is a very good sign to see that she is settling in to her normal routine again, although she hasn't been seeing me before bedtime since the boys arrived.  She used to come every night to make "muffins" on my tummy and then fall asleep - I miss that.


Bought a laser pointer and everyone nearly went ape-shit trying to get.  I ran them all hard, almost to the point of exhaustion, and stopped because I though that their hearts were going to burst before they decided that they would stop.  Afterwards, I caught this picture of Moley passed out on Monty, half sitting up, half laying down.  Awwwwww, soooo cute!

Montey passed out on Moley after a long day of playing

Arrrrrr, its mine!!!!  Moley playing with a feather teaser. 

WELCOME MONTY & MOLEY

First one out of the crate, Moley

Monty decided to wait awhile

The boys have been home for a week now and I am quite surprised at how quickly they have settled in and become accustomed to everything and everyone.  The first day home we let them have a short greeting with everyone else, then they camped out in our room for a few days and by thursday they were ready to get out of the room and explore.  These two are the most affectionate kittens I have ever met.  They purr as soon as you touch them, follow us around the house like dogs, and want to be picked up.  They are really so adorable.  I am so glad that we got two of them.  It's nice that they have each other, besides, two is better than one!  LOL

Here comes the welcoming committee 

Moley looking at me

Orion checking things out

Monty

Why is this locked?  I NEED to get in here and inspect!  

Having a look around

Moley is not sure about 'Zilla

I am really impressed at the quality of WERUVA, in fact, if for some reason I ever had to stop feeding raw, I would feed them WERUVA canned food.  This food, IMHO, is the next best thing to feed raw.  The meat is chunky, smelly (in a good way) and is processed in a facility that processes human grade food.  This food never gets left behind, bowls are licked clean and I swear that they purr sometimes as they are eating it.  Check it out if you haven't already  http://www.weruva.com/

Tracking the bird

Diva wants to be friends

Moley, not so much

Monty snuggled up in front of my laptop

Monty's kinked tail  <3

I have come to the conclusion that Dexter used to be a hen in a past life.  He is more interested in grooming and watching over them more than anything.  Orion is really good with them as well as tries to initiate play, but he still isn't 100% sure about them, he's being a little bit of a scaredy-cat towards them, but at least he's not disgruntled.....like Priscilla is - was.  She was really, really NOT happy at all when she first met them.  Lots of growling, hissing and tantrums, running out of the room growling, snarling and hissing.  She got over that though.  Now she is fine with being in the same space as them, her terms of course, and only hisses and slaps them when they are playing and one of them bumps into her.  The dogs seem to be indifferent to Monty and Moley, although the boys don't seem to like them so much, however, there's progress in this area too!  Now, the boys don't do anything when the dogs come near them, it's just when one of the dogs (usually our village idiot Diva) gets in too close for some nose smelling that results in a hiss and a smack upside the head.  It's been really neat to see the all the boys tearing through the house playing some sort of kitty tag.  Priscilla doesn't play along, but she may decide to in time.

Focused....

Almost got it!

Action shot

Moley got it  

Arrrrr, it's mine

Nom-nom-nom-nom-nom

Monty told me he wanted the birdie....

Diva coming over, again, wanting to be friends

Moley seyz "no"

Monty wanted to lay on the windowsill with 'Zilla.....

She said "F*&k no, you gross pooh-face boy!!!"

Other words were exchanged, but I can't repeat them

Her words traumatized him   :(