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The Story of Kristen

Almost six years ago, a precious little tabby kitten ran into the school I was teaching at. Our principal grabbed her and took her to the front office. Since I LOVE cats, I went to the office later that day to see this little kitten. The office staff convinced me that I needed this cat. I was single and lived by myself. I jumped at the idea. I took the cat to my art classroom and she made her home in a big box of yarn. When I left school that day I took her to the vet to make sure she was healthy and would make a good pet. A class in my school had been feeding her and her siblings for about two months. They lived under a tin shed. She seemed VERY wild, but was really fun and entertaining. I named her Kristen because I have always LOVED that name. At the time, I did not think I would ever find Mr. Right or have children so I wanted to name her something that I would consider for a child. Plus, every time I would think about a cat named Kristen I would fall out laughing. So, part of it was to be funny.
That same night, Kelly, Hillary and Megan came over to see my new pet. They all thought she was nuts. She was cornering them and charging towards them. (my first sign) The next day or two, she stopped eating and was throwing up. Took her to the vet, paid a bunch of money and he diagnosed her with a "mass of infection" in her gut. I was sooooooo upset. I had gotten attached very quickly to her. She got fine after about 3 nights at the vet and then a few weeks later I was petting her and felt a small knot in her side. Went to the vet, paid a bunch of money and he discovered she had been shot by a pellet gun. He said it would not hurt her. A few weeks later I took her to be fixed and she bleed too much and had to stay longer. Brought her home and she pulled the stitches out of her stomach. Took her back, paid a lot of money and she had to be sewn up and take antibiotics and then come home wearing an E collar. She hated it and walked backwards for two weeks trying to "back out of it."
Then.....I started dating Steve. He was not and IS not fond of her. While we were dating she got some sort of infection on her neck and had to wear the E collar AGAIN. Right after I got pregnant with Emily, Kristen enjoyed playing with a rubber lizard that I had taken from a boy at school. She would bat it all over the house and stalk it. I noticed she began eating the lizard over several days. I noticed an arm missing and part of the tail, etc. I realized I needed to supervise her playing so she would not choke on the fake lizard. We came home from church one night and found a small bit of the lizard on our bedroom floor and Kristen could not be found. After a few minutes of searching, we found her in the corner of the living room, eyes dilated, and unresponsive. Yep, I had forgotten to put up the lizard before we left for church. Kind Steve took her to the E.R. vet that night. (I have a good husband) We did not think she would live, but she recovered.
Two months before Emily was born we had her declawed. She did not do well. It became a horrible ordeal. We were going to the vet everyday or two for about 2 weeks. Then, when we thought the declawing was finally on the mend, she had a terrible seizure late one night and my wonderful husband took her to the E.R. vet. We spent weeks trying to figure out what was wrong. I saw several vets in our area trying to find an answer. She would stay under our guest bed comforter 24 hours a day and would have a seizure if we took the cover off of her. It was the craziest thing yet. After TONS of MONEY. The vets decided she had a mental disorder and my lovely cat takes amatryptalin(sp) and Phenobarbitol. These help her and calm her.
NOW..........she is pulling her fur out. We have seen the vet about this too. It is from nerves and stress.
Emily does NOT like Kristen and Kristen does NOT like her. Kristen pops Emily when she gets to close. "Close" can be all the way across the room. She pops me when I talk too loud on the phone or to Steve and also I get popped when I laugh too loud. I know it is NUTS!!!!!!!!
There are only two people that like her- Me and my good friend, Kim Oliver. (Bless you Kim) And...my mother in law is nice to her but does not like her. I actually love Kristen. Call me crazy. Soooo sweet when she sleeps. There have been many more vet visits with Kristen , but I am drawing a blank right now.


Steve loves to fish! He took E with him today. She had a great time!
E wears some sort of princess dress every day. SK has discovered crayons.

Comments

Sara Campbell said…
Oh Laurie, I just love you. You are about the only person this could happen to b/c it makes it all the more funny.
I am sorry for all of Kristen's problems, but I started laughing about halfway through this just visualizing Steve at the ER vet! I realized I'd never seen Kristen at your house - company must be stressful for her. I'm glad she found a good home.
Oh Laurie . . . you sound like my husband who loved our crazy cat Daisy! She had mental issues also. She would hiss and stalk anyone who came over, she would head butt the door for hours if you tried to shut her away from people in another room, she swatted at my oldest son Owen all the time when he would just walk by her, and we basically started living in a reign of terror in our own home from a cat. My husband LOVED the cat, and we did drugs for her stress and all the same stuff. Finally, she began to get even more violent and attacked by two year old and lunged at his face. We tried to put her outside and make her stay in our yard, but she howled for hours and tore up our window screens since she'd been an inside cat for eight years. Finally, when I was pregnant with #2, we had to make the hard decision to put her to sleep. She was not adoptable due to her agression, and I couldn't find anyone (after trying for months) who would take her and try to rehabilitate her. The stress of my children was too much on her, and I was scared for my kids' safety. It was soooo hard on my husband to put her to sleep, and he still gets sad about it. But overall, it completely changed our family life, and we could just feel the weight of stress leave our house after she was gone.
Lauren said…
Awww, poor Kristen, it sounds like she's been more through her little cat life then I think any other cat will! Those pictures are precious!!!
Jamie said…
Wow, what a cat!!! :) This is too funny!
Megan said…
Your poor kitty cat. I love cats, too. In fact, we have two. I really hope Kristen gets to feeling better and can get along with the family.
Guy and Julie said…
Kristen needs you, and I'm so glad you have taken such good care of her. You especially know how I feel about people giving their pets away for no good reason! Although you have stuck it out with her even when you would have been justified... She's definitely had a hard life-poor kitty. I'm laughing too at the image of poor Steve sitting at the vet's in the middle of the night with a crazy cat who hates him!
Kim said…
Kristen is a "lemon" but I still love her! As I was reading your post I kept thinking...has something happened to Kristen? Then I remembered you and I are the only ones who love her. So, you would call me if something happened! I still laugh myself silly when I think of all she has put you through.
I laugh a little when I think of Kristen as a cat name...but, I laugh even more when I think of Lisa the cat! :)
I do want to see you guys this week. I'll email ya'll.
Tell Kristen Auntie Kim is coming to visit.
Kelly said…
This is the funniest thing I've ever read in my life. Oh that CRAZY cat.
The best part of this whole post is the completely random ending in that last sentence.
But I loved it!
Hillary said…
I must have missed the part where you mentioned she is demon possessed. Oh well...she has given us lots of laughs over the years and not it is time to get rid of her. :)
Jennifer said…
I was laughing so hard at this I almost cried!

It makes me think of my grandma's cat, Sandy. She was 16 when she somehow got stuck behind the dryer at my grandma's and died. I think my grandma put her back there. When my grandpa died,Sandy would hid under the couch and when people visiting my grandma would walk by, Sandy would stick he paw out a slap them, then put it back under the couch. My mom sat and watched people get slapped all night and they never could figure out who or what was doing it!
Sitesx6 said…
Oh I'm so happy you have loved Kristen and cared for her above the call of duty. It breaks my heart to think of some horrible person shooting the poor thing with a BB gun!!!!! Curse them!
I'm a huge pet lover and we have 4 cats. When we had 3 cats, this beautiful stray cat came to our house, and was sooooo sick. I spent a gazillion dollars at the vet, ridding her of infections, worms, and spaying her. It seemed we were ALWAYS at the vet.

Then she started to lose her fur, she looked so pathetic.

She is wonderful and healthy now,and she is our BEST cat. She is so loving and kisses us all the time and sleeps right at my head each night. I think she knows we cared for her, and now she has a very happy life. :)

Good job!
Kelly in Michigan (fellow cat lover)
Twice as Nice said…
Oh, my goodness! What a life you have had with your cat. You must really love her. Bless your hubby for pitching in. She is very lucky to have you. Someone else would of gave up a long time ago. God had a hand in this one :o)
Jennifer said…
Laurie, that is hysterical!!! And it was good seeing you at W.M. too! Glad I can keep up with you on your blog!
Unknown said…
Hi Laurie! I read your blog through Kelly's and I have a male tabby cat- Ally (we thought he was a girl at first) and he looks JUST LIKE Kristen! We had to spend a bunch of money on him too when we first got him, but I love that cat! I have an 18 month old boy and his first word was Ally!
Amy
Unknown said…
I checked the paint colors and there are two used in the house- Hopsack and Latte. They are made by Kwal paint. I don't know where to buy it, but I'd assume Lowes or Home Depot would have it. I do have some leftover paint that we use for touch up's if you'd like to see a sample of it. I really do love the colors- they are just the perfect "neutral"!
Mary Avery said…
I'm laughing so hard right now! Oh my gosh, I can't breathe! I mean, it's not funny that she has some mental problems and seizures but the rest of the story is HO-larious! Ha! Steve IS good to put up with a crazy cat! Hopefully she'll stop pulling her hair out. Having two little ones in the house probably isn't helping her!
Beth Colbert said…
Laurie,
Crazy Kristen stories I haven't heard in a long time.
I can't believe she hasn't used up her nine or 99 lives.
Hope all is well.
Beth Colbert said…
Laurie,
Crazy Kristen stories I haven't heard in a long time.
I can't believe she hasn't used up her nine or 99 lives.
Hope all is well.
Ashley said…
Isn't it crazy the things we do for our animals?! Crazy!! So happy to find your blog through Kelly's. You seem like such a sweet person!
Katy said…
I can't tell you how happy I am to have read your post and know that there might be a cat that is just a hair crazier than my own out there!

Have you seen the book Every Cat has Asbergers?

Thanks for sharing. i don't feel quite so bad now and my husband will be glad to know she has a soul mate in craziness out there!!

~Kate
MiMi Magnolia said…
I found your blog from Kelly's blog *which I lurk at frequently :)
I had to comment on this- as a kid I had a "crazy cat" as well. The kind that batted everyone as they walked by, except me. She would pull her fur out every summer when it got too hot outside. Don't as me why...but when it got colder she would stop. She passed away my junior year of college and I had had her since kindergarten. Reading about your Kirsten brought back funny memories!

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