Spoiled - Unique way of begging

Yes, I had a very spoiled kitty.  I'd buy her anything and end up disappointed if she didn't like it.  The story isn't about material things, it about her being spoiled when she begged for food.

She had a very unique way of begging. 364 days a year I'd sit in the living room on the floor with the coffee table before me, eating my dinner while either reading a book, or watching TV.  Sheba would sit on the couch behind me waiting impatiently.  She would tap me on the shoulder three times to get my attention., she would wait for a minute and do it again until I take a little piece and hold it out for her to eat.

She loved everything except fruit.  I'd feed her cookies, ice cream, meat, it didn't matter what the food was or how spicy the food was. I would not give her chocolate , though, that would have been toxic to her.

She was my little Chinese, Italian, and Mexican kitty.  

Sheba - Dec 2009 - Loves Italian salad dressing!

Yes, I spoiled her.  That is the undeniable truth, I admit it.

Trampoline Kitty

This happened in the last year or two of Sheba's life.

Sheba - Dec 2010

Sheba always wanted to help me make the bed.

When we were making the bed she would beg us to put her up on the bed.  When we got to the fluffing the top sheet, she stood right in the middle.  We lifted the sheet carefully and moved it up and down.  While I was watch her, her eyes were enlarged, but when we laid the sheet on the bed, she would brace her feet on the bed, and give me a look, as if saying "do it again, come on do it again".  You would have had to be there to see this expression on her face.

She did this a few times more, until her hyper thyroid flared up again.

Pillow Case Diving

When Sheba was a few months old, she and her sister Cody enjoyed helping me make my bed, by either hiding under the sheets or pouncing on imaginary critters under them.

One day when I was shaking out the pillow cases, Sheba and Cody ran at me and jumped into the pillowcase. I took them out of the pillowcase and called Alice to hopefully show her what they did.  When I started to shake the pillowcase, they jumped into the pillowcase.

 
This was the start of pillowcase diving. Sheba continued this for several years.

Smart Cat

I've only had two smart cats in my life.  Midnight, who I had for a year in my teens. Who I taught how to open any door in our house, and Sheba, was was to smart for her own good.


The last 10 years of her we constantly battle with her life.

Sheba was a obese cat in her early years, weighing in at 14 pounds. When she was nine we noticed that she was not able to keep her food down, and losing weight.  When I took her to her new Vet. She was diagnosed with a heart murmur and a hyper thyroid.

The last 10 years of her I had a constant battle of giving Sheba her hyper thyroid medicine.

Sheba 2008

Let me count the ways.

1.  restrain her,  tossing the pill down her throat.
2.  crush the pill, mix with soft cat food.
3.  Insert pill in the third piece of steak I was sharing with her.
4.  Pill pockets
5.  crush the pill, mix with baby food





I constantly had to come up with creative ways and change these tactics every 6 months or less to get the medicine in her.

The first tactic, I crushed the pill and mixed it with her food - I did this for a year.

I quickly learned that Sheba figured out what "pill" meant, just like she knew what "vet" meant.

The second tactic I started to give her the pill in "Pill Pockets" - lasted 6 months.

She figured out that she could eat the "pill pocket" and spit out the pill.

The next tactic I tried was giving her steak or chicken I chewed for her, but I would insert the pill in the second or third piece.

She figured out that she could eat the "meat" and spit out the pill.

I crushed the pill and mixed it with baby food or gravy. She would figure out it was in there and just walk away.

I even tried to force it down her, but she figured how to hide it, and spit it out.

                                                          ********************

Now to tell you how smart she was.

1.  I could never Vet, Doctor, Meds, or Pill, She knew what they meant.  I had to spell them out.
2.  She would hide if you say vet.
3.  If you said pill, she knew it was in the food, she would get finicky with what she ate and walk away.
    ~  With soft cat food, and baby food she would walk away with her nose in the air
    ~  When giving the steak she would eat the steak and spit out the pill
    ~  When given the pill pocket she would eat the pocket and spit out the pill

Toward the end of her life, we resorted to liquid medicine and an eye dropper, and still had to battle with her on the giving it to her.  

When I made the decision to put her to sleep she was under 9 pounds, her heart was enlarged from her battle with the hyper thyroid.

I didn't want her to suffer any longer! :(