ADVENTURES > MIRRE WITH RETIREMENT?
Last December was a turbulent month here in my house. Unexpected bad news which was followed by the death of a dear cat, luckily some good news too and then all the usual preparations for the closing of the year. During that December-month Mirre was neutered. After three very large, but above all very beautiful litters, I thought that Mirre had more than earned her retirement.
I brought Mirre with an empty stomach to the vet early in the morning. At the end of the morning I received a phone call from the vet's assistant that all had gone well and that I could pick up my girl mid-afternoon, but that the vet wanted to talk to me prior to that.
In the afternoon I went to the practice to pick up my girlie and to have a chat with the vet. What would be that all about? I soon found out. De vet wanted to impress me that Mirre needed to go on a diet urgently. She weighed an abundant 5 kilo's! She was way too heavy. From all that I had expected from the chat, that was about the last thing on my mind. I could only just prevent myself from laughing.
She didn't expect my reaction and was unsure what to think of it. Did I even take her serious? I could reassure her, of course I did. I knew that Mirre was too heavy, but I could also explain it. In August she had had a litter and one of her daughters was still in the house. So Mirre at all she could to provide her kids with plenty of nutritional milk. Even when it wasn't needed any more. After all she is a mother in heart and soul. To that one can add that a Burmese is heavier than it looks.
For years now all my neutered cats get an adjusted feeding pattern. They aren't really on a diet, but because their energy-household needs less calories, they just get a little less than they were used to. No problem. That was what I had intended to do with Mirre. During our conversation the vet and I noticed that we were on the same wavelength. Mirre would definitely loose weight.
So I got to take my girl home, after one last warning. The surgical wound was stitched under the skin. Only the knot was above the skin.. Both the vet and I knew Mirre's preference for cords, strings and knots. In the past that had delivered several urgent visits to the vet already. If the knot was bitten off and the stitch would loosen, so the wound stood open, I was to phone her as soon as possible. Then she would be able to fix it.
At home Mirre was just a little unstable on her paws, but very awake. She snuggled up on my lap or in a basket, when my lap wasn't available. At night she ate a bite, drank some water every now and again and for the rest remained quiet. In the basket she was surrounded by caring family members that kept her nice and warm and washed her carefully.
The next morning she was completely herself again. She greeted me with loud purrs and head-butting. After we all had our breakfast, I wanted to take a look at Mirre's tummy. She let herself be persuaded to role on her back, so I could have a proper look. Of course her tummy was shaven, the wound looked clean and nicely stitched. But I couldn't find a knot anywhere. The upper stitch had loosened a tiny bit, but that was hardly worth mentioning. Apparently we should have passed on the warning to the rest of the family.
The rest of her recovery went very well and the wound has healed beautifully. So now we could concentrate on her granddaughter Charo. She was next to visit a stud, as soon as her hormones had woken up. Since that seems to always go quite laborious for some reason, we just had to sit back and wait. That was all we could do, I thought. Until Mirre's hormones surprised me.
She is, and always will be, a supermom. Lovely, caring and – at times – strict (if she needed to be). Her oldest daughter of over 3,5 years old sometimes likes to act as a baby and tries to suckle with her mum. Her granddaughter of 21 months likes to do the same. Her youngest daughter of 7 months thinks that is a natural thing. Because of all that one could find Mirre sometimes with a suckling (grand-) child.
What did surprise me was....that at a certain moment she actually started producing milk. The girls didn't think twice. Mum / granny was pushed on her side regularly so that they all could drink as much as their hearts desired.
And then for a short up-date:
* Deeba has remained to live her (both to her and my satisfaction).
* Mirre weighs a neat 4,2 kilo's and the vet was very happy with that.
* Charo still isn't in heat, so we remain waiting still.
Until next time!
