Last Updated: 9/2/24

Photos and Videos
Story

Photos and Videos

Photos and videos are listed from newest to oldest.

Emmy hopped up on the step stool I use while cleaning the turtle, Tator's, tank on 6/3/17:
Emmy
Emmy

Emmy on 11/27/15.

Three cats on 10/22/15; from left to right, Barney, Emmy, and Tinkie.

Emmy on 11/8/14.

From 8/20/14:
Emmy playing with King Tut on the chair.
Emmy playing and Tinkie watching.

Emmy on 8/15/14.

Barney, Tinkie, and Emmy from left to right on 6/7/14 playing with a laser toy.

I have bookend cats!
Emmy and Tinkie on 6/6/14.

On 4/17/14, Emmy tried to go down a hole in my office/storage room and got stuck. All I could see was her rear. It took her a whilte to back out.
Emmy's Rear

On 1/25/14, I had my two rabbits out together, and Emmy and Tinkie showed up to check them out.
Emmy is at the bottom of this photo:
Rabbits and Cats
Emmy is in the upper right of both of these photos:
Rabbits and Cats
Rabbits and Cats

Emmy on 1/11/14.

On 9/29/13, I was taking photos of the 1800 gallon pond when I noticed Emmy in the window.
Emmy inside, watching me take photos.

Emmy and Tinkie on 9/14/13.

From 8/24/13:
Emmy, Barney, and Tinkie
Emmy, Barney, and Tinkie - Barney is yawning.
Emmy, Barney, and Tinkie - Emmy is stretching.

Emmy on 7/13/13.

Emmy on 7/4/13.

Emmy on 6/30/13.

Emmy on 4/26/13.

On 2/4/13, Emmy went up on the beam in the living room. No other cat had done that except for Gino when he was young. Ironically, Gino died on 2/1/13 just a few days earlier. Gino used to jump up the tv to get on top of the furniture there about 7 feet straight up and then jump 2 feet to the side and a foot higher to get to the beam. Emmy cheated because she jumped up from the cat tree that you can see in the first photo.
Emmy on the beam from a distance.
Emmy on the beam
Emmy on the beam
Emmy on the beam
Emmy on the beam
Emmy on the beam
Emmy on the beam trying to get to the window; this is an awesome photo!
Emmy on the beam
Emmy on the beam
Gino and Emmy on the beam at different times; a collage.

Emmy in bed on 1/25/13.

I wanted to get some photos of Emmy's face but she just does not sit still! Here are two photos of her looking out the window at squirrels and birds on 1/23/13.
Emmy
Emmy

Tinkie and Emmy in the crib on 11/7/12.

On 10/15/12, I was playing with all four indoor cats (although I did not get photos of Tinkie with the others who was standing nearby). Emmy is the calico.
Gino and Emmy
Barney, Gino, and Emmy
Gino and Emmy
Gino and Emmy
Gino and Emmy

Video of Barney, Emmy, Gino, and Tinkerbelle playing on 10/15/12.

Emmy on Pigtopia (guinea pig cage) on 10/6/12.

Emmy - turning over while sleeping, 10/1/12.

From 9/26/12:
Emmy - laying on the sofa
Emmy - close up of her face (from a diffferent photo)

From 9/23/12:
Emmy on top of Pigtopia (guinea pig cage)
Emmy's face on top of Pigtopia

These photos are from 9/10/12:
Emmy - playing
Emmy - scratching
Emmy - scratching
Emmy - playing
Emmy - I love this photo
Emmy - playing
Emmy - playing
Emmy - playing
Emmy - playing

This video is from 9/10/12:
Emmy playing

This video is from 9/9/12:
Emmy playing - listen to her purr at the end!

These photos are from the day we got Emmy on 9/8/12. I took a lot to be sure I got some good ones!
Emmy
Emmy
Emmy - in bed
Emmy
Emmy - in bed; you can see her spay scar
Emmy - in bed
Emmy - in bed
Emmy
Emmy - in bed
Emmy
Emmy
Emmy
Emmy - eating
Emmy - eating
Emmy - eating

Emmy - photo taken at the rescue sometime between 9/2/12 and 9/7/12. I found it when on the Home Again site after she got her microchip.

Story

My longhaired cat, Doodally, died on 7/6/12. My mother said we should get a new cat, and it should especially be longhaired. It had always been my dream to have another longhaired calico like my first cat Bootsy. We looked for a few months, and every time there was a longhair, something prevented us from getting her. On 9/7/12, at night, my mother spoke to the woman who runs the local cat rescue. She said that they had a longhaired calico kitten and someone reneged on getting her. So, first thing when they opened, first one in the door, we were there on 9/8/12. The kitten was small, beautiful, a big sickly but my dream kitten. Her papers said "Paid in Full." The woman my mother had spoken to said someone picked her late the night before. I knew I could/would never have my dream kitten. I love all cats though so once we looked at the others, you knew I was a goner. There was a kitten there who was perfect aside from being short haired. So, we adopted her. They called her "Cherry" but I named her Emmybelle, Emmy for short.

Emmy has the most colors and patterns that I have ever seen on one cat. She has white, black, gray, light orange, dark orange, and brown. Her patterns include calico, gray tabby, mackerel gray tabby, and orange tabby. She has some solid patches of orange, black, and white as well as the tabbied areas. Her underside and face are mostly white. She is the biggest mix up of colors and patterns and very unique.

The rescue got her in on 9/2/12 as an "owner give up" of three kittens. Her sister we also saw, and she was a dark tortoiseshell. On that date, they gave her a distemper shot and said her fecal was negative for worms. On 9/7/12, they did a physical exam, tested her for feline leukemia and feline AIDS (both negative), put Advantage on her to kill fleas, and spayed her. She cost $135. They had no idea how old she was. My guess was 12 weeks. The papers say she is 3 pounds and 4 ounces but that seems pretty heavy!

I brought Emmy home and set her up in the bathroom with litter pan, food, water, donut bed, tunnel bed, scratching post, and half a dozen toys. She was very active despite having been spayed the day before. Her incision was slightly open but not enough for me to be concerned. I have seen a lot of animals though surgeries. She loves to eat. She is not much of a biter which is good but loves to do her nails on anything she can find. Surprisingly, her nails were already trimmed! They must have done that when she had surgery. Her feet were dirty but I cannot bathe her since she just had surgery. I ran some wipes over her body though to try to mask the scent a tiny bit. Emmy loves to run around and tries to escape. The other cats have seen her. There was hissing but nothing unexpected. Emmy is going to the vet on 9/10/12 to find out more but will remain in quarantine for a while depending on what the vet says. The rescue gave me a dewormer to give her on 9/16/12 even though she was negative on 9/2/12.

On 9/9/12, I saw a single young flea on Emmy but was unable to catch it. I did a more thorough checking for fleas a few hours later and saw no fleas or flea dirt (feces). I hope that little flea bit her and died from the Advantage which was supposed to cause 100% mortality of fleas in 24 hours.

Emmy purrs like a motor boat and loves attention.

Emmy went to the vet on 9/10/12. She is 3.3 pounds. The vet agrees that she is about 11 to 12 weeks old. He did not find anything new on the exam. He thought the incision area was okay. He sent her feces off for a lab fecal. They look for not only various worms and their eggs but things like giardia and coccidiosis for which the rescue did not look. The vet gave me an Advantage Multi but she cannot have it for a month since she just had regular Advantage. He said that she should have had the Multi since it not only kills fleas but various worms and ear mites (not that he saw any sign of those). When I asked about viruses, he said it would take 4 days to 2 weeks before symptoms would appear. I do not think we can keep her quarantined that long. At the same time, he said the other cats probably would not get sick even if she did. For now though, she shows no signs of a virus.

Emmy's fecal came back positive for coccidiosis. Now, she has to be quarantined for two weeks! She is already bouncing off the walls, and now she must be confined even longer. I am giving her Albon every night for 13 treatments. It prevents the protozoans from replicating but does not kill the mature ones so it takes a long time.

I had her feces re-tested on 9/21/12. We got the negative results the next morning around 11 am so I let her out after squirting bleach solution all over the bathroom she was in and washing her beds. Tinkie and Barney stalked her and hissed at her as they followed her around as she expolored. Tinkie slapped her a few times but, otherwise, no fighting. Emmy ran around for hours before sleeping for an hour under the aquarium cabinet. Gino, who had surgery and has on an e-collar, decided to come upstairs. Emmy went right over to him and kept hissing at him. Gino thought, "Not you too!" as Tinkie and Barney are petrified of him. Emmy has a secret weapon, horribly smelly flatulence. I ordered some Bene-Bac which has beneficial bacteria so, hopefully, that will stop the diarrhea and smelly expulsions (she just did one again as she is next to me!).

Emmy has been on Bene-Bac for a week now (10/4/12), and she is still gassy and has some diarrhea. I am not sure what else to try. She has two favorite toys. One is a little mouse that came with her adoption. The other is a dog toy, a stuffing-less fox, that she drags all over! It is her best friend. All four house cats are getting along with still an occasional hiss here and there. There has not been any mutual licking or sleeping together as of yet but at least they are getting along.

Emmy got a distemper shot and a microchip at the cat rescue on 10/5/12. She screamed and writhed when she got the chip. The woman who runs the place and used to be a vet tech said, "It's because she's a calico. They feel all their shots." WHAT?! That's ridiculous. It's because it hurts! Later that day, I heard her scream, the worst cat scream ever. I thought one of the other cats was murdering her. She had gotten her leg stuck in the chair and was hanging from it. I tried to lift her up but she was biting and crazy so I had to scruff her (grab by the back of the neck) in order to raise her up and free her.

I gave Emmy the Advantage Multi on 10/7/12 per the vet but I am pretty sure that she has no fleas, ear mites, or worms.

Emmy went to the rescue and got distemper and rabies shots on 11/3/12. She is still gaseous. I got some expensive treats that said they would cure smelly waste (which she has too). Neither she nor the other three cats will eat the things! Emmy likes to play, eat treats, purr, chew on hair, step in your food and help herself while you are eating, and so on. Unlike my other cats when they were young, she has no interest in jumping up high and seems to have trouble doing it. She is also a growler and hates to be held which is sad. She also growls at the other cats if they get near her treats or food. She and Tinkie sometimes sleep in the crib together. I have also seen Tinkie groom Emmy's head once. If Emmy is tired enough, she will sleep in your lap. Tinkie and Barney seem to be teaching her to be quiet as she rarely meows. Gino, on the other hand, is on me know purring, meowing, and being lovey dovey. Feel free to blame any spelling mistakes (literal faux pas) on him.

Emmy's diarrhea from the day I got her never went away. My mother was sure that she in fact still had coccidiosis so she made me take her back to the vet on 11/21/12 (even though I have zero income). Emmy was up to 7.3 pounds. The fecal test was negative for worms and coccidiosis. The vet said that she did not know what was wrong. She did not think that Emmy's diet was the problem (eating the added corn from the other cats' vet diets). She said that Emmy might have giardia since it will not always show up in the fecal. She gave us Flagyl (metronidazole) to give Emmy for a week. It will help if it is giardia. It will also help if the problem is just a proliferation of bad bacteria. Even though I gave Emmy good bacteria for weeks, the vet said that if the bad bacteria got a foot hold when Emmy was sick, the balance may never had shifted from bad to good. The vet said that she could also have feline trichomoniasis. It is hard to diagnose, there is no approved treatment, and it normally goes away in two years! I later looked on-line, and metronidazole is also used to treat trichomoniasis although the cure rate is less than 90%. I do not want her to make smelly diarrhea and gas for two more years. I am giving her the Flagyl in the morning mixed in baby food. She flipped out (bit and scratched) when I tried to just squirt the stuff in her mouth; it must taste horrible. At night, I am giving her more BeneBac, put inside a pill pocket. I hope she gets better. I am worried now that she could have something contagious which would mean that the other cats have it too now.

Emmy got her last dose of Flagyl on 11/27/12. I thought her feces were becoming more formed but she made a very liquidy one the next day. She has, however, stopped farting her brains out. In fact, we barely notice that problem now so I guess that part is okay for now. We will see how she does after the medication is out of her system. If it was something contagious, she should regain it from the other cats to whom she would have given it.

Emmy's diarrhea and flatulence has improved by 2013 so that it is not all the time. She has a fixation for chewing on hair and stealing my hair bands. I mostly call her Beans. When she is affectionate, she becomes Dr. Beans, acupuncturist.

Emmy had her yearly check up on 11/12/13. She was up to 11.6 pounds! She got an exam, three-year distemper shot, and a new one-year rabies shot. It costs $36 for the year instead of the $24 of the regular rabies shot that lasts three years so it is a lot more expensive. Apparently, the old shot causes a lot of cancerous tumors so I had to pay the extra money as I do not want her getting injection tumors.

Emmy got her checkup on 11/17/14. She got a rabies shot. She was still 11.6 pounds (unless they did not update her printout).

When I was trimming Emmy's nails on 1/24/15, and she was growling and wiggling as usual, I discovered that she has an extra half nail on her left front foot. It is growing out of the toe pad on the toe closest to her "thumb." I cannot believe that I never saw it before! If she were cooperative, and let me touch her, I would have noticed years ago. I have to trim it as needed and be sure it does not become infected.

Emmy had her yearly checkup on 11/17/15 and got a rabies shot. She was up to 12.5 pounds. Too many treats! She is a begger!

Emmy has had problems with diarrhea and flatulence her entire life but in October of 2016, it was getting worse. It smelled bad. She was smearing feces on my bedspread and the floors. Her rectum looked inflammed. I took her to the vet on 10/25/16. Her weight was up to 14 pounds. As her yearly checkup was due soon after, the appointment included a checkup and rabies and distemper shots. The vet listed a few dozen things that could be wrong with her. I had her express her anal glands but she said they were not bad. I mentioned that Emmy has a lot of debris under her chin; she said it was acne due to food allergies and gave me a lecture that cats only eat mice in the wild, and that I should avoid giving her a variety of foods like I do. They do not sell canned mice but they really should. I do love mice though; my pet mouse Regina died the day before; she was so sweet. At the vet's suggestion, we sent out the following tests: comprehensive fecal (to recheck that coccidiosis and giardia; negative twice as a kitten), urinalysis, feline leukemia and FIV test (negative at the rescue as a kitten), regular blood profile, and a pancreatic function blood test. Poor Emmy, like me, was a "hard stick" so they had to stab her multiple times to get blood. Total cost: $691.50. Of course, all the test results came back 100% normal. The vet thinks she has a food allergy. It could be hundreds of things. Doing a food trial with other cats and all the problems in my life is not really possible at this time. She said a course of metronidazole may help at least temporarily.

I picked up the $40+ metronidazole on 11/1/16. That night, I put 0.5 mL of it in her mouth. She scratched me, starting foaming at the mouth, running around crazy, spitting it all out. She could not stand it. The next morning, I mixed it with her favorite treats. She would not even touch them. That night, I mixed that 0.5 mL of medicine with like 10 grams of tuna for people. She smelled it and would not take a single lick or bite. Now what? That medicine sat in the refrigerator almost a year before I tossed it out.

Emmy had a check up on 10/26/17. Her weight was 13.7 pounds. The vet suggested a grain-free diet because both her digestive issues and chin acne may be related to various food intolerances. I think she has irritable bowel syndrome. The vet heard a heart murmur (new issue) so she suggested a blood test for heart enzymes (called "NT Pro BNP snap test). It was negative so she does not have to see a cardiologist.

Emmy's check up was on 11/1/18. She gained more weight. She was 14.4 pounds. Her heart murmur was the same. She got a rabies shot. She grumbled, growled, and hissed while there but did not bite. She is all talk.

Emmy had her check up on 11/5/19. Her heart murmur was the same. She got a rabies and distemper shot. The helper removed the dried poop on her rear. Emmy was growling and hissing a lot per usual but did not bite. She was up to 15.5 pounds, and the vet admonished me for "trying to kill her." As such, I am working on changing her diet and phasing out dry food and reducing treats. This will nearly double the cost of feeding the cats since canned food is so expensive! And, I have to get the good stuff of course. I will run out of money sooner!

Emmy had her yearly check up on 11/5/20. She was not as grumpy as last year but still grumpy. Her heart murmur was the same. She got a rabies shot. She was down a little to 15.37 pounds. I had basic blood work taken to just check as she pees a lot. I never see her drink though which is odd. The vet finally left a message, actually two messages on my answering machine on 11/11/20. One told me "Emily's" results were good and another telling me that "Emmy's" results were good an hour later. I have to wonder about the vet's cognition!

In July of 2021, Emmy had a spate of diarrhea. The vet tested her waste for a lot of money, and the fecal test showed nothing. I have cut out all foods with any kind of wheat, corn, glutens, etc. because I think her gut cannot tolerate grains.

Emmy had her yearly checkup on 11/9/21. She grumbled a lot. Her weight was down to 14.6 pounds. She got a rabies shot. Her expensive exam was cursory but the vet did find her bottom left canine tooth is broken in half. I said I figured that the pulp was below that but the vet said no. She said Emmy needs to have the tooth removed, or it will become infected. I had to pay money for blood work which came back normal. Emmy will get a dental cleaning and tooth removal on 11/23/21 which will cost me 1.5 weeks pay!

Emmy had her dental cleaning and tooth removed on 11/23/21. They did not start her surgery until 3 pm so I picked her up at 7 pm. She was loopy from morphine the vet said. They cut her gum, removed the tooth, and sewed it up. She got a Convenia (antibiotic) shot to prevent infection, and I have to give her pills for pain for three days which I crush in to her food. I kept her in the bathroom the first night where she made a mess with litter and poo. Once released, Tinkerbelle hates her and hisses because of the bad smells now on Emmy. Hopefully, that will lessen over time. Emmy can only have pureed food for two weeks when she will get a recheck.

Once Emmy's pain meds wore off on 11/27/21, she felt pain and was grumpy. She would only lick pate food but she was not getting enough to eat. I special ordered some lickables which arrived on 12/2/21. She loves those! Emmy had a recheck on 12/7/21, and the vet said her hole where her tooth was was "beautiful." Her weight did go down a little to 14.21 pounds but not as much as I expected considering her bowl was usually full in the morning. Anyway, she should be able to eat anything now but she is not quite up to it yet.

Emmy had a yearly checkup on 11/9/22. She was down to 13.71 pounds (89% of her highest weight) and almost a pound less than last year. The vet gave her a distemper shot and a rabies shot. She looked at her teeth since I said Emmy hits the microchip feeder like 20 times a day and eats just a little each time. She said her teeth were okay. Her heart sounded okay. They took blood, and the results were all fine.

Emmy's yearly checkup was on 11/7/23. She was up to 14 pounds. The vet gave her a rabies shot. She again said her teeth were okay. This was a different vet than last year, and this vet heard the heart murmur. They drew blood for analysis. This vet told me to reduce the amount of food Emmy is getting even further.

The vet calls and says all Emmy's results are perfect but I request a report because reality does not match what she says. The following blood test results were not within range from Emmy's 11/7/23 blood draw: Albumin 4.1 (normal 2.5-3.9 g/dL), white blood count 3,100 (normal 3,500-16,000 cells/uL), platelets 189,000 (normal 200,000-500,000 cells per uL, platelets clumped), monocytes 5 (normal 1-4%), absolute neutrophils 1612 (normal 2500-8500 per uL), and absolute lymphocytes 992 (normal 1200-8000 per uL).

On 12/16/23, I noticed Emmy laying on a couch that I had never seen her use before. Then, I saw her chewing on herself. I flipped her over to find she had chewed herself raw around her left breast (second from the bottom). It was bleeding slightly and very irritated. Of course, these things happen on the weekend, and it was a somewhat emergency but not to the ER kind of emergency. I got her in on 12/19/23 at 9 am to the regular vet. They said they think she chewed herself due to a food allergy. She also had some red spots below her ears that looks like irritation. They wanted to give her a shot of antibiotic (Convenia) and steriod (depo-medrol). Of course, the steroid required blood work. She had just had blood work a month before but not the heart enzyme (bnp snap test) so I had to pay for that and a glucose test in house which meant waiting another 30 min so I was later for work. The bloodwork was fine, and she got the shots, and she is doing better a week later. She goes back on 1/4/24 for a re-check. Once the drugs wear off, then she may have reactions again to something she is eating. The vet, of course, wants her on vet food which is normally pig lard and gluten. Emmy gets diarrhea and gas when she eats corn, wheat, or gluten so that is a big no from me! I wish some company made "simple" canned food that was just ground up meat from a single species of animal with added vitamins and minerals. That way, we could find out if Emmy cannot tolerate a certain species of animal meat. Most of the cans I buy use multiple species in each can.

On 1/4/24, at the recheck, she was down a little to 13.68 pounds but her boo boos were healed.

Emmy healed for a few months, and then it all came back. She chewed on one nipple and around it and then another. I started spraying the areas with hot spot treatment, and it did not seem to make it better. Instead, Emmy learned to always run from me lest she get sprayed. She then scratched her bottom right lip bloody raw and blood in her right ear. Instead of spending a ton of money at the vet and putting her on super expensive hydrolyzed protein diet that is just gross, I started her on an elimation diet. Starting on 4/6/2024, she went on canned food with only rabbit, peas, vitamins, and minerals. I found two treats where the only animal protein was rabbit as well although one of them does have some fruits and vegetables. Now, I wait to see if her booboos clear up or not! If they do, then I will add another animal protein and so on. I will report back.

As of 5/3/24, her damaged areas have been clearing up but they are not fully healed. I am anxious to add limited ingredient turkey and freeze dried turkey to her rabbit diet but do not want to do it too early so I cannot easily tell if her hot spots get better or worse. I went ahead and added turkey on 5/4/24 because she keeps nagging me for her old treats and is tired of bunny rabbit. At first though, the new turkey canned food and treats were not eaten by her! It took her a few days to get used to less bunny rabbit which apparently she prefers!

So, on 6/1/24, I added tuna to Emmy's list of meats. Her booboos are almost completely gone now. I am thinking maybe her reaction was to one of the additives in the treats she was getting but I'm adding one meat per month and avoiding foods with lots of other ingredients.

On 7/6/24, I added salmon to Emmy's foods. It was delayed because I was in the hospital and could not walk for almost a week. My brother was feeding her.

I added chicken to Emmy's food list on 8/4/24. What is left? Egg, beef, sardines, shrimp, crab?

So, I decided on 9/2/24 to just give Emmy any protein source at this point. Her tummy irritation was severe so it would not have been caused by a protein source that I almost never used. It has not come back. I can only assume it was the result of one of the treats that I was giving her. I have not resumed giving her those treats. She has different treats now. It could also have been a new brand of cat food that I bought that Emmy had not eaten before. It is a pet store brand that costs less but the ingredients look great. But, sometimes they add something that a cat cannot tolerate.

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