At 33 you are almost there-----MLB

Hi RPCA. Here is the story of my dear kitty Jasper. We actually call him
Dudley, but it doesn't really matter what we call him since he is deaf!
(and blind!)

Last year, DH and I went to a funeral. A friend of the family's elderly
mother passed away. She had 2 cats that needed to be rehomed. They were
not a bonded pair, however. So, we went to the funeral and came home
with a cat.

Here he is on his first day with us! :)
http://public.fotki.com/kitkatluna/miscellaneous/random/jasper.html

We kept him quarantined until he could be checked by the vet since I
have another cat, Luna. We werent even sure if Jasper and Luna would
work out, since Luna has a history of hating all other cats. We figured
we would take Jasper and if he didnt work out with us, we'd take on the
responsibility of rehoming him so that the friend of the family could
deal with other matters. By the way, when we went to see him the day of
the funeral, it took me about 3.2 seconds to say to DH "WE MUST GET HIM
OUT OF HERE!!!" He looked so sad sitting on his meowmie's hospice bed,
hoping and praying for her return. :(

Anyway, we fell in love with Jasper. And other than some rotting teeth,
he *seemed* to be in good shape. We also didn't understand at the time
that rotting teeth could cause all kinds of other problems, so we did
not take care of that right away. This was all last August! (one year
anniversary coming up soon!) Within a day or three of having him, we
realized that he was blind and deaf as sh.t! But, he liked to lay on his
tummy and have it rubbed, just like a dog. He would knead his paws into
the air, making him look like he was swimming. And his purr...what an
engine he had!!! Can you tell how enamored we were with him?

In February JasperDuds got real sick. He had pancreatitis and stopped
eating. He had a fever and was a bit jaundiced. We took him to the
emergency vet on a Sunday after a weekend of him declining. He spent the
night there and saw a specialist the next day. He had an ultrasound
which confirmed the pancreatitis. He was a TERRIBLE patient at the vet.
Can you imagine being deaf and blind and swept off in a cage to a
strange place where nothing smelled familiar and everyone seemed to be
poking and prodding at you, sometimes with needles?! When I went to
visit him, there was a sign on his cage: "WILL BITE! MUZZLE MAKES IT
WORSE!" I remember thinking to myself "Jasper? Bite?!?! You a.sholes are
putting a MUZZLE on my damn cat!!!" Anyway, to make a long story even
longer, he did recuperate and did get to come home to us after 2 nites
at the emergency vet and like a jillion dollars spent. ;)

Jasper's triumphant return home! Complete with baby food diet!!
(temporary of course)
http://public.fotki.com/kitkatluna/miscellaneous/jasper_dudley/homecoming2.html

DH is SO glad Jasper is home, even though we fought over vet bills, etc.
http://public.fotki.com/kitkatluna/miscellaneous/jasper_dudley/homecoming5.html

The plan, after he healed up from the bout with pancreatitis was to have
a dental done. We knew he needed some teeth pulled and I really wanted
to take care of it. However, at the end of March, I began my own
rollercoaster ride with health problems (thyroid cancer!!) and Jasper's
teeth simply had to take a backseat. I felt guilty about it, too. After
reading so much on RPCHB, I knew how important it was to get Jasper's
mouth cleared up! Finally, at the beginning of June, as soon as school
let out and I could be with him (im a teacher!), we set up the dental
and J-Duds had 4 teeth pulled. Now, all he has left are his little front
fangs (they really are fangs-quite hilarious!) but he seems to be happy
as a clam. I was really worried about the dental because I was terrified
to put him under anesthetic, but he came thru like a champ!!!

http://public.fotki.com/kitkatluna/miscellaneous/jasper_dudley/dscf0065.html
http://public.fotki.com/kitkatluna/miscellaneous/jasper_dudley/dscf0030.html
http://public.fotki.com/kitkatluna/miscellaneous/jasper_dudley/dscf8.html

One last pic. Here is Jaspie in his youth. We are not sure of his age in
the pic, but DH got it from our friend. Look how much lighter he was!!!

http://public.fotki.com/kitkatluna/miscellaneous/jasper_dudley/young-dudley.html

We cracked up because that is the same position we still find him
in...ALL the time!

Last tidbit for now: Jasper's previous two mommies were old ladies who
passed away. I am hoping to reverse this trend and outlive my beautiful
boy, who will turn 13 this fall. :-)

And that is Jasper's story! :)
Happy Thursday,
Pam