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I had a 3-kitty household consisting
of The Beautiful Panyan Pou, MeCoon and The Pets. I do not like
prime numbers. While attending a local CFA
cat show, I was talking with Tia,
The Pets' breeder, and was drawn to an adorable Persian kitten she
had for sale. She was beautiful, with pumpkin colored fur. I immediately
knew that she was my Pumpkin.
Pumpkie is one the sweetest kitty I
have ever met. She is a Mewster of the Pumpkie variety. She loves
to be held and petted, and is blessed with a nonstop purr. As she
grew, she developed a long beautiful silky coat. I have not been
able to take a photo which does justice to Pumpkie's beauty.
Despite her sweetness and even disposition,
Pumpkie is a red head and is subject to red headed bouts of temper.
When she was a kitten, MeCoon would bully her by hissing and swatting
whenever Pumpkie walked past her. However, the day came when Pumpkie,
at 10.5 pounds, decided she did not have to take MeCoon's guff any
more. In retaliation to MeCoon's swat, Pumpkie pounced. It was over
in 30 seconds. There were tufts of MeCoon fuzz on the floor, MeCoon
was cowering in the corner, and Pumpkie was sitting in the middle
of the floor with new stature in the household.
Cat treats are referred to as nums in
our house. The process of giving treats to kitties is called numming.
Pumpkie loves her nums! She sits up like a little prairie dog and
patiently waits for a num to be placed in her mouth. We do not num
our cats often. The numming sessions do not occur frequent enough
for Pumpkie. When working in the kitchen, my husband and I often
feel a soft tap on the leg. When we look down, there's Pumpkie in
her prairie dog stance reminding us that it has been a long time
since she has had a num.
Pumpkie has firmly established her territory
in the kitchen. I had 2 oak chairs custom made for my counter. One
of those chairs is Pumpkie's.
The other is the guest chair. Any humans who sit in Pumpkie's chair
are subjected to the Pumpkie stare. If this does not serve to remove
the offending human butt, Pumpkie gives them a polite tap on the
leg. At this point, all but the densest humans cede the chair to
its rightful owner.
Pumpkie has had more than her share
of health problems. The worst of these is the eye infections. The
Persians' have big beautiful eyes and because of this they are subject
to corneal abrasions. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way.
Pumpkie developed an abrasion which I thought was another eye infection.
I treated it with Terramycin which I keep on hand. Her eye infections
had always responded quickly to this treatment. After a few days,
when there was no improvement, I took her to Dr. Giles. To make
a long story somewhat shorter, we cleared up the infection but a
dark pigmented scar was left across the cornea. Left untreated,
this condition can worsen and lead to blindness. We were referred
to a veterinarian specializing opthalmology, and Pumpkie underwent
eye surgery. Pumpkie now has a small cloudy area on the cornea of
that eye. However, her vision has been saved. In 2005, Pumpkie suffered
a dramatic weight loss. After an endoscopic procedure, she was diagnosed
with irritable bowel disease. She is supposed to be on
a special diet. However, in typical kitty fashion, she prefers non-sick
kitty food while all the other cats feign headaches, cough and weeze
in an attempt to convince me they need special food.
Pumpkie Mew has settled into the role
of matriarch of the household. Boo! and Patches treat Pumpkie with
reverence and respect, sleeping beside her and rubbing against her.
She is the only kitty in the household not subjected to the frequent
bouts of booing. The occasional bouts of booing bring out the red
head.
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