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.