Boots is a love bug. Boots is a sweetheart. Boots is a marshmallow.
We already know all of this.
But what we didn’t know until this month is that Boots is also a wild and crazy guy.
It was an ordinary morning at Tabby’s Place (well, as much as it’s ever “ordinary” around 100 cats). All of a sudden, there arose such a mighty scream from the lobby that all the residents of Ringoes (all 14 of them) surely heard it.
Sometimes we hear a scream, but find no clues as to the cause at the scene of the scream. Suffice to say this was not such a time.
The crime scene was crystal clear. Up on the registration desk, Polly (the town crier of the Tabby’s Place lobby) shrieked her head off. Down below stood a screaming Boots. Actually, it’s pretty impressive that Boots was screaming at all…given that he had a mouthful of grey fur.
The victim? None other than Mr. Grey, the saddest-looking member of this loud triumvirate. Boots’ grey victim lay on his side, staring up at his human rescuers…and peeing freely all the while.
It was not exactly a scene for National Geographic.
Fortunately, Mr. Grey is just fine (and Polly was pretty much uninvolved in the whole melee – she just wanted us to know about it). But, really, who in the universe would have guessed that Boots (Boots!) had it in him?!
Of course, our lap-lover has shown no such wildness with his human companions. Continuing his reign as Ultimate Lap Fungus, Boots enjoys taking possession of any and every lap that arrives. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve walked out into the lobby to find a startled-but-delighted visitor with a lapful of Boots, seconds after arriving.
Medically speaking, Boots has taken seriously his responsibility to keep things interesting. (Personally, I thought the whole Mr. Grey incident was plenty of “interesting” for one month, but Boots is clearly an overachiever.) Just when all seemed stable and okay with his heart, our snuggler had to start having dental drama.
Our team noted this month that Boots’ mouth seemed painful when he was receiving his medication. Granted, Boots does not appreciate receiving medication in general…but still, this was a stronger reaction than usual.
Since Boots has stomatitis, an auto-immune condition in which he’s allergic to the plaque on his own teeth, it’s no surprise that his teeth and gums are causing him some grief. For most cats with this condition, we’d go ahead and remove some or all of those annoying teeth. (It’s amazing how well a cat can get along – and, yes, even eat dry cat food – without teeth. Jasper, Desi and Larry are among our “toothless and lovin’ it” contingent.)
But therein comes the all-too-“interesting” piece. Boots’ teeth should really come out…but Boots’ teeth absolutely can’t come out.
Alas, anesthesia is not an option for any cat with such serious heart disease as our snuggle-bug (and there’s no removing teeth without anesthesia). So, we’re taking another strategy for Boots. Generous doses of pain medication seem to be doing the trick in keeping our boy’s mouth comfortable (comfortable enough to bite Mr. Grey, anyway ;-)). If, at some point, this isn’t enough, we will add in steroid medication to calm down the inflammation in Boots’ mouth.
Suffice to say we’d do just about anything for this little love. He has fast become the sweetheart of the lobby, and, if love has anything to say about it, his heart will be happy and healthy for a long time to come. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for loving him so well. Have a blessed May.