Getzger's World

I got a boa for Christmas!

2010-12-27T17:38:00.001-06:00

My wonderful bean friend Rebbie gave me a luscious feather boa for Christmas. It was really nice and it kept my face warm during my sleep.

Impressive Belly

2010-10-20T17:43:00.000-05:00

Gary took my picture while I was busy grooming my impressive belly. My tongue got tired so I looked up and then there was Gary with the camera and everyone was laughing and so I tried to see what was so funny but I must have missed something. Honestly, Gary's not all that funny.

Poor Little Blue Kitty

2009-07-22T10:35:00.001-05:00

See what happened at our howse today. Poor Blue Kitty. I'll have to reassure her that everything will be fine.

25 Things about Me

2009-07-09T19:27:00.001-05:00

1. I am a purebred Abyssinian, blue in color. That means grey. And I'm that way because I carry a recessive gene for "dilute".

2. I was born August 20, 2002 in the Davis kitchen. My mother's name was Jesse and there were six kittens in my litter.

3. I was born to be sold, but they wouldn't take me because I had a bump on my leg that was from a healed break. That was weird, because nobody ever saw that I'd had a broken leg. I'm fine now. You can't even see where it was.

4. I am obese. Abyssinians are supposed to be slightly built cats. But I'm hefty. And I'm fat on top of that. I weigh about 15 lbs. A surprising amount of that is muscle. I am very, very strong.

5. My first name was Ace. As in Ace Ventura, Detective Pet. But it just didn't fit me. So thanks to some kid silliness, I gradually became known as Getzger. It seems to fit me a lot better.

6. In addition to having a facebook page, I have my very own gmail account, a blog, I'm on twitter, and I have my own group on Flickr.

7. I have an eating disorder. Abys are known for being very busy and very habitual cats. So it's just part of what I do. I patrol the house many times a day and every time I go into the kitchen, I have to stop and eat. It's just the way it is. It's a habit. It's the same thing that causes me to jump into the bathtub every time I follow someone into the bathroom. Oh, and lick the soap. I don't know why I do it. I just do.

8. I'm kind of afraid of the cat door. So when I go through it I have to test it repeatedly with my head and paws. A lot.

9. If you google my name, it comes up with lots of things about me. Oh, and some guy has parked the domain so I can't buy it. I've tried. I think Getzger.com would be nifty.

10. As you may be aware, I love to ride in the car. When someone gets their keys and bag, I know it's my chance. I beg at the door, meowing loudly. Then I dash into the garage and wait for someone to open the car door. Then I jump inside, scratch the back of the seat, then jump into the back seat. I meow a lot when we drive. And look out the windows. People never wave at me, oddly enough. I guess people aren't surprised to see at cat in a car.

11. I've been on TV. I was at church, getting my annual blessing from Father Ken, and the local TV news covered the event. My blessing was on the news!

12. My belly is so fat that Gary calls in an udder.

13. Gary also calls me "Duallies" because my middle and back end is larger than my front end. So from the rear, I look like a truck with duallies.

14. I am not a lap cat. I don't sit ON people. But I love to love them. I'm a really good lover. I put my forehead on them and stand there purring. I also do hair. I purr a lot. I've been told I have a very calming purr.

15. I love visitors! When people come to the house I'm first to greet them. I talk to them and purr at them and jump on the table to get closer to them so they can pet me.

16. I'm a good watch-cat. If there's a strange noise outside or if someone strange is in the driveway, it makes me growl. I can growl really good. Sometimes it even makes Sprinky growl.

17. My favorite human is Alek. I like to follow him to bed and sleep under the covers alongside him. But after a while I get bored (I get bored a lot) and I often spend the night sleeping on the couch. Once in a while I sleep with Ginger and Gary. Though Tubby always has the best spot already taken.

18. I've trained the family to leave the kitchen tap dripping for me. If I hear someone turn on the water, I come running as fast as I can. I knock things over sometimes, but someone always fixes it.

19. To combat my eating problem, Ginger has been researching cat doors with access collars. So they can lock me out of food. That is so mean.

20. I really, really love to go outside. I used to be addicted to hunting snakes. But they don't let me outside anymore, even supervised. Last fall I got really, really sick and almost died. Ginger doesn't want to risk that happening again. So I stand at the door and hope.

21. I've been to the drive through bank, the drive through pharmacy, to McDonald's and Andy's. One time they offered me a "Kitty Cone". It wasn't. It had ice cream in it. Yuck.

22. Though I do like ice cream when it's left sitting in a bowl. When Ginger is eating something and gets to the end of the bowl, I can always tell she's almost done and so I come stand near her and wait, loudly. Then when she puts the bowl down, I lick it clean.

23. I spend my time doing three things, in about equal measure. 1) Sleeping...duh. 2) Looking out the window. 3) Patrolling my home and investigating the status of everything.

24. I also play with things. I love to play fetch. Note that I said play. It means I beg, you throw, I chase, then I stand there looking lost. I used to know how to fetch. I sorta forgot. I do that a lot.

25. When we had an aquarium I had a problem eating the fish out of it. Nothing worked to teach me to stay away. So Ginger beat me. Seriously. It hurt really bad. I cried. But I never went near it again. Not even close. I might be a dumb cat, but I'm not THAT stupid.

Slacker

2009-06-17T20:04:00.003-05:00

You know what the most common thing posted on a blog is? It's where the blog writer apologizes for not attending his blog and getting behind on informing the webspace all about his life. I'm not gonna do that.

You see. I am a cat. And I have no sense of time. Every day is just another day. Every minute is right now. I don't think about yesterday or tomorrow. I have no guilt. I just am. I don't care that I'm fat. I don't care that the food bowl is grubby or that some fool cat just left barf on the bed. I live each moment in the here and now and I continually seek whatever pleases me at that moment. There is freedom in that.

Humans get so caught up in what they ought to do, are supposed to do, shouldn't have done, etc. What's the point? Live. Live and be happy. Spend more time in sunbeams or curled up on the bed. Or watching squirrels play. Or wandering aimlessly through the house in search of fun. But don't feel bad about what is in the past or has yet to come.

So...no apologies for slacking on my blog posting. I had better things to do. And when I have something important that I want to say, I'll be back. Until then...purrs and head-bonks.

The car

2008-11-11T22:36:00.001-06:00

I like to ride in the car. I think that most cats don't like it much because everyone makes such a big deal out of it when the find this out. When Ginger gets her purse from her room and I can hear the keys jangle, it means that she's going somewhere. And that makes me excited! I want to go! I really lose my head and act stupid, too. I wind around her feet, meowing and crying loudly, and I watch (very carefully) to see when she will actually head for the door. Because I don't want to miss it!

I paw at the door, I yell some more. I try very hard to tell her exactly how desperately I need to get into the car. Sometimes, when I'm very lucky and it's a very good day, she will say "okay!" and she'll open the door and let me into the garage. Then she walks to her door and opens the door. That's when I know I'm supposed to go into the car. And I DO! I love this part! I always stop and mark the car as MINE by clawing the seat. And then I go to the back seat and wait for the driving part. I look out the windows as we back out. It's really hard to stay standing up when the car changes direction. My feet are kinda small and not really made for all this side-to-side stuff. So I fall down a lot.

Soon we're on the road and I love this part! I put my front paws on the car door and my nose hits the glass. On every window there's a nice line of my nose prints! How wonderful! When I get tired of falling down, I jump to the back window. There's a nice place to lie down there, but when I raise my butt for happiness thoughts, the space gets too small and it makes me want to get out of there. It is nice, though, to sit there and watch the other cars. The people never look at me. They're busy. This confuses Ginger and she wonders if people truly don't notice or they just don't care that they see at cat in the window of the car ahead of them. I never see any other cat in cars when we're out. Never.

Sometimes when I get tired I sit in Lanie's carseat. It makes a nice chair to curl up in and it feels safe. She says she's leaving the seat in the car just for me, even though she's nine. It works very well...unless Ginger slams on the brakes hard. She laughed at me when I found myself flying through the air and whacking into the back of her seat.

I have been to all the kids' schools, the grocery store, the bank, to Walgreens, to Wendy's and even to get frozen custard at Andy's.

One time the nice people at Andy's asked Ginger if I wanted a "kitty cone". I said YES! but I was pretty upset to find that they meant a "kiddie cone" and it was yukky. There was even one time I pumped gas with Alek!

But mostly I am just a cat and I am always glad to be back home with my other cats and with the couch that smells good.

Friends!

2008-11-04T20:21:00.002-06:00

Gary made some mean comments about kitties on Facebook and that really made me mad. So I told him off and defended myself. His brother Ian was delighted to find that I am also on Facebook and he was quite pleased to be added as my friend. Really, it must have been the highlight of his week. I know that because he told his cat Cleo about it.

Well, Cleo is a very fine and modern cat (with very good taste in men) and she signed up right away for her very own Facebook account!

And then it was my turn to be happy because I found that Cleo is taking good care of Gary for us. She's doing the proper kitty duty of pillow purring and being a heavy lump on the foot of the bed.

So that's how I got two new friends yesterday. It's hard making friends when you're a housecat. I really need more, if possible. I like friends.

Home!

2008-09-17T21:32:00.001-05:00

I came home from the hospital today. I was tube fed a couple
of times and was given valium to stimulate me to eat. I was sent
home with a bag and some cans of green pea and duck food and
instructions that if I've not eaten by morning then Ginger should call and they'll start me on valium to keep me eating. Ginger has to give me my
pills still and the vet told her to cover it in Laxatone and push it down my throat with a pencil eraser as it's very bitter and I've been
resistant. I also have a probiotic powder to sprinkle on my food to
repopulate my gut flora. I even got a butt wash and a special
treatment with soothing cream to ease the sores I've licked there.

I'm also supposed to have free reign of the house and a normal world
so as not to freak me out and keep me from eating. So that means the
feeder now has green pea and duck in it too. Since I can't have
normal food for a while. And at $35 for an 8lb bag, Ginger says this better not be
a long term arrangement. I can see where we might have a problem if
this doesn't resolve. Though it would probably do Sprinky some good to
have such good food.

No idea what the problem is. Probably started out as simple diarrhea.
Then my gut became inflamed. Then the food caused a sensitivity. So I've got a bit of irritable bowl. So as long as food makes my gut
spasm, I'm not interested. I've had good food in me now and
hopefully the irritation will stop and I can start healing. If all
else fails, the vet can put a feeding tube in me and Ginger can syringe feed me. So
there are options. The food...green pea and duck...that's novel
proteins that my gut has not seen before and likely has no sensitivity
to. Once I eat normally, we can then experiment with getting me on something that doesn't bother me.

The irony of a fat cat's refusal to eat being a medical emergency is
not lost on anyone. As is the irony of giving an Abyssinian valium to make me eat. I'm so happy to be with his family. I just sidles up to people
and purr, head resting on them. Now I'm curled on Ginger's bed, happy as can
be.

The Trots

2008-09-15T22:59:00.001-05:00

I've been feeling kinda bad. Last week, Ginger says it was Tuesday, I kept having trouble with my tail end. It kept getting wet. She cleaned me up and put me in the bathroom and SHUT THE DOOR!! That was not acceptable. But there was a litter box and some water and my favorite bed...my carrier!!!

After a while in there, Ginger let me have some food. And boy did that taste good! But pretty soon my tummy didn't feel very good and there was lots of wet stuff coming out of me. Ginger kept petting me and she looked kinda worried. Soon she told me to get in the carrier and she got the keys!!! You know what that means don't you? I means a ride in the car!!! So off we went.

She took me to a place with wonderful smells and some very irritating dogs. Why do dogs bark? And there was another cat who wanted to play with my tail. I was not amused. My tail kinda hurt by that point. Pretty soon I got taken to a little room with a silver metal table. And nice women who petted me! But one of them but stuff in my bottom. And put stinky stuff on my nose. She said it was to stop me from purring. Why? What's wrong with purring? Especially when my tummy feels bad. It makes me feel good to purr. The nice lady said I had something called "colitis" and gave Ginger a green bottle that made noise when you shake it. That's an evil bottle, I tell you.

Ginger opened the green bottle and then that's when I knew it had pills in it. I don't like pills. I know that if I shut my throat really tight then the awful pill won't go down. I don't like that it makes my mouth really wet and that drips down my neck. But it's better than swallowing the pill. But I always end up swallowing it. Ginger is like that.

I kind of lost track of time because all I did was sleep and sit in the window. But one day Ginger put me in the laundry room. She said it was because Sprinky had "The Trots" now and needed the bathroom.

It's been almost a week and Ginger keeps coming to me to see if I've eaten my food and used my litterbox. I try not to. It makes me feel bad when I do.

Tonight she let me out. I'm still not eating much though. But a week being locked up makes me want to stop eating. I want to be with my people. I love my people. I even love Tubby. I let him lick me tonight. And I didn't even bite him back.

Hi!

2008-08-07T12:29:00.000-05:00

Well everyone else seems to have a blog, why not me? I'm quite happy to join you all. And besides, now I can talk to the meowers and leave a real name and ID.