In the Beginning...
Where do I start? There are so many things Giuseppe accomplished in his life. I did receive some pieces to his story before I adopted him, although it's a little faded. Here goes nothing: A neighbor of one of the foster moms found the litter of kittens underneith her air conditioning vent outside. They were only three weeks old. She kept them at her house for a few hours, at which time she took some pictures of Giuseppe. One, because he was soo tiny and two, she could not resist his large paws. She then passed them on to another foster mom who had an incubator and a mother cat who they could nurse the kittens onto. They were taken care of, given their shots, and they were all spayed and neutered. They had figured that Giuseppe would have died with them since he had to go through surgery and because he was so tiny. At 11 weeks old they were brought to the pet store I work at and they were put up for adoption.
I had to work Sunday the 5th of May. I opened my department so I was in an hour before the store opened. My fiance Rob had dropped me off at work, and for some reason he did not drive off right away. When I walked into work I noticed that the cat cages that hold all the adoptable animals was not where they normally were. So I walked over just to take a look at all the cats and kittens. In the bottom right hand corner was this littler of all orange tabbies. One little tabby jumped onto the cage bars when I walked up, I looked at him and petted him. Then I quickly ran back outside to tell Rob about this kitten. I told him that when he comes to pick me up he has to take a look at this kitten. And he was going to come in at that moment but I had to work and the store was not open yet. I went back to work but I left a note on the table for the organization to see. It said My name is Jennifer, I work here at this store, and I want to adopt Freddie. Freddie was the name he was given, it did not really suit him at all. He was the most outgoing of his siblings. Not to mention he was the favorite out of all of them by his foster mom and the workers there. He just wanted to love and every person he met he always gave an equal share of it. Imagine this kitten: big ears, wedge shaped head, long skinny body, long legs with a few extra toes on his front paws, a little bubble gum nose, bubble gum paws, and a long, long tail! All complete with an orange striped/spotted coat. Keep in mind Rob and I were looking for a black cat. So throughout the day, I talked to the representatives about adopting him, filled out the paperwork on my lunch and after being approved we got to take him home that night!
His Life With His New Family...
Giuseppe adjusted so well to a new environment. I don't think for one second he was nervous about anything, except maybe the dog. Rob was living with my mom at the time and that's where Giuseppe stayed for a few weeks. He was such a loving cat. He constantly needed someone with him at all times, he was very talkative and would speak his mind about whatever he disagreed with! At night instead of sleeping by your feet or by your head he would sleep stretched out over your neck! He loved to play, anything to him was game. And he never once scratched any of us. When he would wrestle with us, he never once unsheathed his claws. He always kept them in as if he knew that they could do a little damage accidentally. Even when he kneaded, he kept his claws inside. We would always joke about starting a business where Giuseppe owns and runs a massage parlor. He would jump up on our laps and start kneading with his eyes have closed, sitting there hunched over. And he would just sit there and knead for a good ten minutes. He was our kneady little monkey! He never once had an accident anywhere nor did he ever get sick on us. Kind of disappointing though, we had the camera at all times so we could document his first puke. And all the things he would eat: black olives, rice, green beans., muffins... The reason we named him Giuseppe brings up the time when Rob's best friends were thinking of a name for their baby when he arrived. Rob was looking through the baby name book and came across Giuseppe. He told them they should name their baby that, and they looked at him repulsed. I told Rob then that the first cat we get together shall be named Giuseppe
We moved into our first apartment the very beginning of June. Giuseppe moved from one place to another which such ease and minimal stress. He loved the fact that he wasn't cooped up in just the bedroom anymore, he had the whole place to himself. And no matter where you were in the apartment, if he was not by your side already, then he would come in to check on you every 5 minutes or so. You had to leave the bathroom door open because he would cry if he could not see you. When I would take baths, he would stand by the bathtub looking in crying. So, one day while I was taking a bath I grabbed him and sat him in the water next to me. He never once freaked out he just sat there, with a content look on his face purring away. I guess to him it didn't matter what he was doing, as long as he was with us. He must have known from the beginning how long he had to live, because he would always tell us he wanted us to pet him. He would wake us up around 4 to about 6 in the morning meowing all because he wanted his massage. This would happen every morning, and if you stopped moving your hand he would meow. So you had to keep petting him. If you were sitting down he had to be on your lap and he had to be petted. Now he was never rude, he just wanted to feel reassured that you loved him and that there was a bond between him and us. I looked online and seeing that he is of an oriental lineage, he is talkative, outgoing, and very loving. Giuseppe was an extremely intelligent cat. He found out how to open the bedroom door when it's completely shut. He taught this trick to Powdered Donut too. One night when Rob and I came home, we found our one rats cage, on the floor with the rat missing. Giuseppe had knocked it off the table and the rat was no where to be found. Rob and I showed Giuseppe we were upset and ignored him the rest of the night. The next day I was off from work and noticed that Giuseppe was looking under the couch. He found the rat! I guess he was ashamed for the trouble he caused and did not want us to feel that way about him anymore so he made up for it. When Rob came home I told him the story, and Rob said that Giuseppe must have felt devastated and felt he should at least try to improve the situation. That was the only time Giuseppe did anything to upset us, and I believe because of how we acted towards him after that he never knocked things off of tables or shelves anymore.
We would sometimes take Giuseppe down to visit his grandparents. Giuseppe was such a great traveler. He would just lay on my lap the whole trip, and keep in mind the trip was at least an hour long. He never argued, never got antsy about it, he just laid there and enjoyed every minute of it. Now he did not like the carrier we had to put him in to get to and from the car, but after that he would just purr his little heart out. And even in a completely different house with two older cats he had never met before, he still used his manners and acted relaxed about the situation. Always amazing us with how he treated life and everything around him.
We never wanted to get another cat on top of him because we were afraid that another cat meant he would spend less time with us and more with the other cat. We would lose that bond we had with him and we were a little scared of him being a shyer cat when he was older. But we had to make that decision to get one because we both worked a good portion of the day, and he was home by himself for at least eight hours a day almost every day. Another Sunday at work, I ran into a wonderful person who worked for another organization that stops up frequently to adopt out cats and kittens in need of loving homes. She had three kittens with her, all white with blue eyes, adorable little things. Throughout the day, two of the kittens found homes, but no one wanted the last one. The kitten left behind was deaf and everyone who thought for a second that they would take her turned her down because of her birth defect. It makes me wonder how many people would abort their babies if they knew beforehand it would be born differently. The foster mom said that she has had the kittens up her at least four times and no one wants her because of her deafness. I thought about it and called Rob to tell him about the kitten and he asked if I was calling to get his approval on adopting it. And I said no, that I just wanted him to come see her. I did not adopt her but I told her foster mom that if Rob and I made the decision we would call her and adopt her if no one else did in that time. Later on during that week, we made the call, stopped by the foster mom's house and adopted her. Her original name was Pinky, but we decided to call her Powdered Donut. It seemed to go good with Giuseppe. Her foster mom said she was a quiet kitten who behaved well, and slept most of the time. I guess in a house with about ten other cats you wouldn't notice it. The again she's just a kitten. She is a fireball, but that's another website. The first night was hell. Giuseppe did not approve of this new cat and constantly snuck up on her and pounced on her. And they would fight and one of the cats would cry. This went on all night! The next day things seem to improve between them, he would still sneak up on her, which was not that hard, and startle her. I was really regretting adopting her after the first night. Day three and they acted like they grew up together. She would walkover to him lick his forehead and then wrestle him. And from that point on they were inseparable. And what we worried about never happened. Giuseppe put forth the extra effort to spend time with us as well as with Powdered Donut. He spent his time with her when we were both working and when we came home he spent his time with us. Giuseppe was hard at work making sure he gave equal amounts of love to everyone in the family.
In July, we noticed the Giuseppe's ears were getting pretty gunked up and his eyes were red and irritated. I read online somewhere that if the ear infection is not treated right away if could get worse and cause a brain stem disorder. We rushed Giuseppe to an emergency vet and they treated him with ear mites and conjunctivitis. He was put on medication that he was not too thrilled about, but all that cleared up in a week and a half. The weird thing was that both of these diseases were contagious to other cats but Donut must have an extremely powerful immune system because she managed to avoid both of them. We treated her anyways just to make sure.
At one point we planned to toilet train Giuseppe and Donut. I got tired of cleaning the litter box and in such a small apartment the smell can become overwhelming. We got this kit that you place over the toilet seat, fill it with litter and coax them to use it. Both of them took to it in a matter of a day, except for one thing. Instead of sitting on the edge of the toilet they just sat in the tray that held the litter. I tried at several attempts of making the opening smaller to force them to sit on the side but Powdered Donut kept knocking it off so she could sit in the tray. I gave up on the concept because Donut crapped in the bathtub and peed all over our bed. Giuseppe had no problem with it, but we had to resort to the litter box once again.
Giuseppe and Donut loved to play together. We had one toy we got from the foster mom of Donut that they just cannot resist. It is called a cat dancer and it's a long wire with cardboard pieces on the end and when you bounce it around they go nuts and chase it everywhere. I have some photos of those two playing with it. They both have an endless supply of toys lying around the house. We have some furry mice and Giuseppe from time to time would pick one up and walk around with it. He would purposely walk around Donut with it trying to make her jealous. She would look at him and he would growl at her, not like it matter, she could not hear him. And he would do this all the time. She would try to jump on him to play and he would run off hissing at her. It was cute because we did get those toys originally for Giuseppe and it seems he wanted her to know that they were his.
Since Giuseppe was such a willing cat I was planning on teaching him to do basic tricks on command. It took about 5 minutes for him to learn sit and up. I just used a clicker to reinforce what I wanted him to do, and when he did it I would click the button and give him a treat. He had memorized by the next day, so when I told him to sit he would. I still have a list of all the tricks I was going to teach him, and we were on the way to learning more but then he got sick.
In the End...
Towards the very end of July, beginning of August we noticed that Giuseppe just wasn't himself. He slept most of the time and his ears, gums, and paw pads were pale. He started to eat a lot less and he was drinking more water. Rob and I got kind of worried so we took him to a vet on Saturday August 3rd. I looked at work through numerous books, and came up with a list of possibilities as to what he may have. On that list was feline leukemia, feline infectious peritonitis, anemia, heart disease, and that blood disease. There was a cat that was adopted out to someone at work and died a week later. After running blood tests they said it was a rare blood disease. We took Giuseppe in and although he was tested for feline leukemia before we ran another test just to be sure. The vet said he looked alright, he has some slight jaundice and she assumed there was an infection somewhere. He had a fever of 105. She gave us Clavamox, and said that by Monday if he does not improve to bring him back. He just kept getting worse. Monday I was at work, and my manager asked what was wrong, I wasn't feeling so great about everything and I guess I had a rather upset look on my face. He asked if it was about my cat and I said yes. He told me to leave my job and go home and take care of my cat. And I didn't want to leave because my other coworker had just come back from having her wisdom teeth pulled and she was feeling rather ill. But she said not to worry about it and I went home. I called my grandmother and asked her if she would give me a ride to the vet. She picked me up and we stopped on back with Giuseppe. The next vet, same place, looked over his blood work and said it could be one of three things. He said it could be a rare blood disease that he has not seen in over two years. I could have sworn he told me it was fatal. It could be Feline Infectious Peritonitis and that was fatal. Or it could be a congenital liver defect which Giuseppe would have been born with, and there is nothing you could do about that. He took Giuseppe's temperature again and it was still at 105. I asked him how long my cat had left to live and he kept avoiding the question. He gave me some Tetracycline to give to Giuseppe. If Giuseppe had the blood disease, Hemobartonella, it might be cured with the Tetracycline. He also gave us another drug that would prevent Giuseppe from having an upset stomach from all the medication. I was devastated. I had to go home and wait for Rob to get home and break the horrible news to him. I had called him earlier to tell him I was taking Giuseppe back to the vet. I just could not call him back and let him know at work, I don't think he would have made it through the day. Rob came home around 8:30pm, and I told him. He just kept saying its not fair, with tears running down his eyes.
After talking to several coworkers they recommended I take Giuseppe to another vet. The first vet did not want to run any of the tests to prove that he was right because he felt they were unnecessary and expensive. Wednesday night we took him to see everyone at my work and we took him to the Metroparks. We let him enjoy being outside for once, seeing as how he may never have the chance to otherwise. Thursday night we took him to another vet and she looked over the bloodwork from the previous vet, looked at Giuseppe, took his temperature and said it looks like its Hemobartonella. She ran one simple blood test that only cost twelve dollars. His blood cell count was going back up which means that the tetracycline was working. We were relieved! She mentioned he might have FIP but because he seems to be improving greatly it looks as though he'll fully recover. Rob and I went home happy as ever. Relieved knowing that we weren't going to lose him and that he can live a long and wonderful life. I told everyone at work and they said that all you had to do is think positive and everything will be okay.
Starting Sunday we both noticed that Giuseppe seemed to be off balance. Throughout that night I kept waking up because I would see him try to climb up on the dresser only to fall to the ground. And when he fell he would land in his side and just stay there. Monday we made an appointment to take him in Tuesday morning and then they would have him all day and we would pick him up later that night. I didn't really notice it until later but he stopped eating. He would just come up to us, look us in the eyes and meow. He looked so pitiful. We both went to bed early cause we were both tired and had to get up early that day. A little bit after 10 pm, we heard him crying. We jumped out of bed to look for him. We found him lying on the bathroom floor. He left out a cry and then he started to shake, as he threw himself around. This went on for about five minutes, during that time I grabbed the phone book and called an emergency vet. They picked up the phone and as I'm crying and screaming my cat is going into seizures. And then Rob said he's gone. And the vet asked me what was wrong and I told him the story about what the vet said he had, and I said I was sorry for calling and that it was too late. He had already passed away. At Approximately 10:14pm, August 12, 2002, Giuseppe left us, just mere hours before his birthday that we were planning on celebrating with him. He was buried the next day at his grandparents place. His grave is between two trees that when Rob was growing up he called it the Gateway.
Giuseppe will never be forgotten. Too much happened that went on in his short life to ever forget. He taught me so much about what it means to really love something. You never know when they're going to leave you, so every minute spent should be cherished. Every month wish them a happy birthday, its not going to hurt anything. Tell them how much you love them every day just to remind them. He was an incredible cat and I know there will never be another cat that could ever take the place of him. But there will be other cats that need homes that can teach us about everything else. I know it sounds corny, but this I believe. Every animal has a soul. If that animal can show love, give love, show feelings of being ashamed and proud, fear and pain, then it has a soul. And if every animal had a soul, then things would get crowded above. I know in another form maybe as our next cat or one later on, he'll come back to us. When the time is right, when the place is right, we'll see a cat and there will be something about that cat, not knowing what it could be, we'll take him home and give him as much love as we can. Giuseppe would have wanted it that way. I told Rob that when we adopted Giuseppe there was something special about him. I did not know what is was then, but I know now. Thanks Giuseppe! You were our Giuseppe Big Head, the Blonde Raccoon, the little wirey kid from the Bronx! You were an incredible cat with a wonderful love for life! We appreciate sharing our lives with you! Goodbye for now, we'll meet again! I know you'll be back!!
All our Love and Complete Devotion,
Jennifer, Rob and Powdered Donut
