#ping cat

YOU GUUUYYYYSSSSSS, PING CAT REMEMBERS ME (꒦ິ ^꒦ິ)

I was kinda worried that she wouldn’t bc I was sure my scent would’ve changed after chemo and my current prediabetic/perimenopausal state, plus the 8 years apart but she used to have a weird habit of jumping up into my lap while I was on the toilet (she wouldn’t do it to anyone else, just me for whatever inexplicable reason) and the first thing she did after I brought her home was jump into my lap when I sat down to pee

Was so friggin’ dehydrated at that moment but I dry sobbed over her tiny dumb lil head bc I was so skdnfnslaldnfjfjfjdkdm over having her back

The when I tried to get her off of my lap to wipe, she rabbit kicked my hand away and dug her claws into my legs (꒦ິ ^꒦ິ)

Absolutely lost hold of my emotions bc I honestly never expected to see her again. The reason why I haven’t seen her in 8 years is bc at the time of my car wreck, I’d been staying at my then bf’s house with Ping. After my car wreck, I moved back in with my parents to rehab and recuperate and Ping stayed at that guy’s house for the time being. About a year later, the guy and I separated after a rather tumultuous long distance situation that ended up in us parting ways. I was still unable to walk very far without having to rest and physically weak from the crash, with no real way to get a hold of Ping bc my parents don’t like animals and I was afraid they’d put her outside and she’d run off

Fast forward all the way to now, about a week ago, I get a call from the SPCA. They left a voicemail asking for me, stating that they’d trapped an 11 year old black and white tuxedo female cat registered to my name and number. I was utterly caught flat footed, dumbfounded, astonished at this news and frozen at an intersection of indecision bc I’m not quite recovered enough from chemo to drive a few states over and get her bc I no longer live in that area and haven’t since my car crash. I called one of my friends to tell her the news and as an insane lucky strike, she was flying in to my city this weekend and she was coming from visiting her parents, who just so happen to live in that very same state I used to live in with Ping. She made a quick change to her flight plans and added Ping to her flight ticket and immediately made a detour to the shelter to pick Ping up.

I honestly never would’ve expected this to happen and it doesn’t quite feel real to me yet, even though I got her back on Friday and she’s stubbornly refused to leave my side since. She spends as much time in my lap as possible sleeping

Was originally gonna slowly transition her into her new home by keeping her in my laundry room for 3 days for her to decompress and acclimate to all the new things after being a stray for who knows how long before being caught. Have decided to return Old Man Echo temporarily back to my partner’s father for the time being bc he has kidney issues and needs a special diet and while Ping is overall healthy and ok, she’s a lot thinner than she used to be so she’s been a stray for a bit—currently weighs at 5.8lbs when I remember her being between 7-8lbs. That, and when I pet her down her back, I can feel her entire spine all the way down to her tail. My plan is to leave high protein dry food out for her at all times and feed her 3 small wet meals mixed with a splash of water for hydration to help her slowly gain back the weight she’s lost. On the other hand, Old Man Echo’s having digestive issues and also doesn’t like his current diet very much bc he’s prone to kidney stones so he’s on a special kidney food that he abhors so it’s best that they be seperate for now bc he’d end up eating Ping’s food if it’s there

Her coat is also much thinner than it used to be and the backs of the tips of her ears are bald now? And there’s a small notch in her left ear that’s long healed, but didn’t used to be there, not like the TNR notch, more like something clawed or bit her ear and didn’t let go and dragged a chunk of it off. My partner says the bald ears are a sign that she’d gotten into fights with other cats quite often (꒦ິ ^꒦ິ)

I’ve had her for about 48 hours and she’s in my lap as often as she can be and just sleeps, when she’s not sleeping, she’s eating lil bites here and there off her plate of dry food and whenever I wake her up for her wet food

I’m thinking that I’ll start making some broth to add to her wet meals so once she gets to a healthy weight, I can taper her off of 3 wet meals a day by reducing the amount of food to broth ratio until it’s only broth—that way, I won’t have to disrupt the routine of 3 special meals a day and she gets to stay hydrated without gaining more weight than is healthy

I’m also making sure to immediately give her a Churro after returning home so she’s less likely to run out the front door bc she’ll know that it’s snack time and be anticipating that tube goop instead of thinking about exploring outside

Although, it may very well be that she absolutely doesn’t want to ever go back outside again, judging by how hard she’s been sleeping ever since I brought her home—if she’s not sleeping in my lap, she’s sleeping in the box springs of my mattress

Ah, I also named her Ping, after Disney’s animated Mulan’s fake army name bc she’s fearless and not skittish in the slightest and has always faced new situations with cautious curiosity instead of fear and panic.

No