Shiva Lullaby weighs efficiency of new furnace

 

I haven't written about Shiva Lullaby for awhile and this video I took last week will serve as an update. She is, um...shall we say, a big girl. Her annual exam and shots are due in March, at which time she will be weighed. A ballpark guess is that Shiva must weigh about 17 pounds. Since she shares the same food bowls as Feather (who is only 6.5 pounds at age 15) and Willow it is difficult to adjust her diet. I do feed them mostly Science Diet Light. It is just that Shiva spends much more time at the food bowl than the others. Obviously, I will discuss the problem of her obesity with the vet because it can lead to all sorts of future problems that I want to avoid. She is so unique and extremely special, and we want her around for a long, long time. 

In this clip she is in the same spot as she was when I took her sleeping-kitten-portrait (there is also a shot of her at one-year-old at the link). Our old heat exchanger recently gave way, requiring our purchase of a new furnace. It is more efficient than the old one, by far. The heated forced air coming out of the vent is powerful and as you can see it is a big hit with Shiva.....

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cool cats chillin' on a sizzling weekend

 

When it is 95 degrees outside and you are an inside cat what's fun is to sleep in a sunbeam on the floor upstairs for awhile and then, when you get good and toasty, to head downstairs where the air conditioning is working superbly.

Here they are: Willow on top showing off her wispy tiny beard, Shiva Lullaby being...well..Shiva, and Feather -- seemingly lit from within -- who has experienced so many summers that she cuddles into my grandmother's wool afghan whenever I'm in the office...day or night, summer or winter.

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Meanwhile, here is a mini-video that shows some adults who should be fined for not stopping this future sociopath from tossing a cat in the pool and risking the safety of both child and cat. I hope kitty kept on running until well out of the neighborhood where it found a safe, cool, loving home. There's not much hope for that kid unless a good foster family is in the future.





Video via Tiny.pic


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Shiva Lullaby has a birthday

What is the source of the love she bears me? ... She has the modesty that belongs to perfect lovers, and their dread of too insistent contacts. I shall not say much more about her. All the rest is silence, faithfulness, impacts of soul, the shadow of an azure shape on the blue paper that receives everything I write, the silent passage of paws silvered with moisture.

Colette (1873-1954)
French Novelist

What a blessing she is in my life, and a blessing to Mike also. Shiva Lullaby is the softest cat I've ever had, and the most demonstrative cuddler. She announces her intentions and needs with a tiny mew that sounds like she's saying blrip. Playful with the other cats, she is gentle and snuggly with the dogs. Her shape is not like any other cat I've known, either, as nearly all her 8 lbs. are concentrated in her tummy. When we pick her up she goes all dead-weight and it feels like hefting a beanbag instead of a cat. She is indeed a bit overweight and I need to address that, but there's something in the way she goes limp while being lifted that makes her very vulnerable as she gives herself over to the experience. She displays a similar offering of self by appearing out of nowhere and plopping herself on her side near my feet. I'm getting used to looking for her before I take a step, lest that step land on her tail or paw, in which case she doesn't move but registers her complaint with a series of staccato nya-nya-nyas that sound more like a miniature goat than a kitty.

I'm smitten with this kitten who is no longer a kitten now but a year-old cat. Not smitten, I'm in love. As I told Shiva's vet: think of her as the 20-year cat and make all health care decisions accordingly.


(More about Shiva Lullaby: this is a link to a short video of her first night home with us, and post explaining her double name. The clip doesn't always load and I can't figure out why.)

Shiva Lullaby's first night home

This short clip shows our new kitten sleeping on my lap her first night with us in August 2007. She had been rescued by the little girls next door after they saw a woman down the street throwing her out of the house from the porch. The two older girls named her Vullaby before their mom said that she had to go (five kids there, step-father Iraq war vet just left for good). They spent a full day in front of a local grocery store attempting to tempt, then knocked at our door late in the afternoon to see if we wanted a kitten. We have one indoor cat, Feather, very pampered, and three others who sleep in warm beds in the garage - former strays now living a pretty good life. I asked the girls to keep the kitten in the box they prepared outside for one more night and to bring her to me the next morning. I wanted to reward them for caring. It was my intention to have her tested the next day at our vet clinic, and if she was cleared of feline leukemia to then have her first rounds of shots. The idea was that the girls would have an easier time finding her a home.

Before we arrived at the vet I named her Shiva, why I don't exactly know because Shiva is the male Hindi god of death (but also of renewal), but that is the name that came to me. My husband, who was driving, knew about then that we probably had another cat. She tested healthy, albeit laden with fleas, so had her shots and came home with us.

I am in love with Shiva! I lost my favorite cat, Bleecker, age 16, in December 2006 but hadn't lost the sorrow, and Shiva has some special quality that provided the healing I needed.

The girls visited often to see "Vullaby" and said she now looked like a "princess cat." One Friday night a few weeks ago a fire truck and ambulance pulled up in front of our two houses, and we saw the two girls wrapped in blankets, sobbing on the front porch. I walked across the yard to see what had happened to find EMT workers performing valiantly inside to save their mother's life. She was whisked away, breathing but unconscious. One of the EMTs stopped to tell the girls that their mom would be ok. We learned the next day that the mother had indeed made a nearly-successful attempt at suicide with a load of pills.

The youngest girl (10 years old, let's call her Ali) took my offer to stay the night with us, while her sister and the other siblings went to be with their grandmother. I made dinner for her and then Mike bundled her up in front of the fire while I made up the couch in the living room. Along came Shiva to snuggle up with our sad little guest and she followed Ali under the covers on the couch, where she didn't leave her side all night. Ali called her Shiva Lullaby, a variation on the name her sisters gave the kitten. It seemed just right to describe this cuddly, soft, gray consoler. The next day Ali and I ordered a new tag for the kitten with the name Shiva Lullaby.

Last week the family moved to another house not far away. I spoke with the girls on the phone but we haven't seen them since they moved. Reports are that the mother received special counseling in the hospital's suicide unit and the kids were assigned a case worker before authorities approved the family remaining together.