$30,000.00 cat

During the great forest fire, we evacuated to a friend's farm. Our friend kindly provided us with a whole room for the 11 cats we had at the time. Joining our group was a small black & white kitten named Oreo. Betty was concerned he wasn't getting enough food, so we brought him to the kitchen to feed him away from the others. He found his way to the dog food bowl, and I caught him standing on the edge of it looking like something from the Lion King.  The pose said it all.

Oreo came with us after we returned home, and we soon learned he was ... different. Other kittens didn't like to play with him.  It seems he didn't know the difference between playing, and fighting claws out to the death. They'd run from him as he approached, but instead of chasing them, he'd stalk on over to them at his own speed.  They'd run from him again, and he'd simply turn and stalk in their direction once more. 

As we continued fostering, we learned that Oreo had another little twist in his personality.  He liked kittens.  Not in a good way.  I caught him trying to drag Dartmouth out the cat door one day, and later, with a glint in his eye, packing Brighton across the dining room table.  Both times a bellow from me made him spit the kitten out.  We've always thought if he were human, he'd be a serial killer.

Oreo had a big medical issue. He had diarrhea and could barely control it. Whenever the feeling hit, he'd "go". Rather than finding things around the house in the morning, I started taking him to bed with me. His tummy rumbling would wake me and the race to the litter pan would be on. I could never decide if I should hold him close to me, then change clothes, or away from me, and clean carpets.

Multiple visits to various vets who each tried different medications, proved fruitless. As he grew his control was better, but he still had the problem, and was horribly underweight. When an episode hit, the pain was so great that he'd try to kill anything within 10 feet. Worse, his tummy and back end became so sensitive that vets attempting to take his temperature risked losing a limb. During one visit, a vet left the room to check on something. Oreo climbed on top of his crate and before I could do anything (not that I could do anything), he let fly.  "Need a sample?" I asked when the vet ground to a halt at the door.

Our main vet suggested a diet of yams mixed with tuna, with some raw meat on the side. For the next couple of years I dutifully cooked and froze yams. I mixed this with a can of tuna and oreo was fed on the kitchen counter to prevent the others from bothering him. He also went through a steak a day.  When I'd hit the sales at the grocery store, the cashiers would shake their heads at the stack of two for one steaks for the cat, and the loaf of bread for the humans.

Oreo developed severe gingivitis, and had all but his K9s removed. He was then put on steroid shots every three months, which at last solved his painful diarrhea problems. I was later able to move him onto a regular cat food diet. Because steroids can lead to other problems, it was suggested I switch him to a Prednisone cream which was applied to the inside of his ear daily. The cream was specially made at a pharmacy 2 Provinces away, and shipped to us under Oreo's name. I thought this was kind of cool, but I'm sure the Postal workers wondered.

With his medical issues now under control, Oreo became a very happy cat.  Well, at least in his world.  While he was quite loving with us, his serial killer attitude would occasionally rise if one of the other cats was occupying a spot he considered 'his'.

I had been setting aside money in my Will for the care of the critters, and attempted to calculate how much each cat would cost if they lived to 20.  With his meds replacing the price of his steaks, I figured Oreo would cost about $30,000.   Good job he was cute.