Obi's Tale

I'm Obi. That stands for Orange Boy. Am I not just the most gorgeous hunk of burnin' love you ever saw?

My tale is very long, but will give you some background on my siblings Sally, Reno, and Smokey as well.

We were born to a feral mama with Feline Herpes I, or Feline Rhinotracheitis Virus. Our eyes wouldn't open which is normal in kittens who contract herpes during birth.

A crazy cat lady who thinks she is a foster mom kept us in her garage in cages for the first 9 months of our lives because she didn't know what to do about our eyes. Then we all got really bad diarrhea except for Reno and she had to get rid of the 3 of us because her husband made her. So we went to another foster home where the lady didn't medicate us regularly. Then our Maw got us to her home and starting giving us NASTY Metronidazole (flagyl) and prescription food and Metamucil everyday for 3 months until our diarrhea finally stopped. Our good tummy flora was totally out of whack because we had had diarrhea for 6 months. When we came to our Maw and Paw's, we didn't know how to run or jump or climb since we lived in a cage during our formative months.

Once we got all better we had our vaccinations and even had our teeth cleaned because Herpes can kinda ulcerate the gums and our teeth were a mess although we were only a year and a half old. Then Maw put us up for adoption through the group she volunteered with and put us on Petfinder. The crazy cat lady had already had us neutered and spayed.

Everybody wanted to adopt me because I'm beautiful, but they didn't want to give me my L-lysine supplements for my Herpes, and my Metamucil which I take daily so I don't have squishee poops. So I didn't get adopted because nobody wanted a "special needs" cat.

Then my pee pee blocked. I was in the v-e-t hospital for a whole week with a catheter coming out and fluids going into me. Then I went to the North Texas Veterinary Referral Center and they did a perineal urethrostomy. So I'm a eunich in a very real sense of the word. I still get bladder infections and Maw has to watch me very carefully because when I start getting an infection, I hit every litter box in the house and leave a tiny spot. Then I have to start taking Prednisolone and antibiotics to reduce my bladder inflammation.

Every time I get sick, Maw always says that I would be so dead if I had been adopted because most people wouldn't go through what she and Paw have been through with me, or spent the tons of money on my surgery and such. So I consider myself very lucky to be here even if I REALLY hate Dorf and he picks on me all the time. And then I pee myself.

Here is a picture of me after my surgery when Maw temporarily took off my e-collar so I could bathe everything except my pee pee. Can you believe they even shaved my gorgeous tail???? How embarrasing!!!

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Oh, and Maw says that Crazy Cat Lady will end up being on the evening news one day when she's old and grey, after the health department comes out and finds 150 cats in her house with 50 dead ones and a foot of feces and urine piled up in the house and the neighbors complain of the smell.