# Hey There...over 20 years around cats and still learning..that hard way



## Zerafian (Feb 19, 2013)

Hey everyone,

My names Lee and both me and my girl friend love cats, we treat them like our children. We are probably 1 or 2 steps away from creating FB accounts for our cats haha.

Me and my girl friend have two cats, one which we recently had to put down. We picked them both up from a no kill shelter in June of 2011. Orion, the one we had to put down, got ahold of a lily pedal and we found out to late, along with us both never knowing lilies were deadly to them and we had been around cats since we were small children, Im 28 now. He was like our son and its been a month and I still miss his quirky and lovable personality.

We now have only his sister and are in search of a new companion for her and lovable cat for me since I work from home. His sister samantha loves to play but isnt much of a lap cat nor does she crave attention, shes a tortoiseshell. She loves feet though...its really weird 

Heres a pic of Orion, our boy we had to put down, only 1.5 years old and 15lbs. *Any help with what breed he is would be greatly appreciated.*








Heres a pic of his sister samantha, obviously not blood kin.










Im happy that I joined this site, I hope to get a lot more helpful info and continue learning about how to keep cats healthy and happy.


----------



## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Welcome, Lee,

I'm so sorry for your loss. 

Gorgeous cats, both lovely DSH (domestic short hair) cats. Orion was a tabby and Samantha a tortoiseshell. (I _think_, not really an expert on coats like Orion's.)


----------



## Zerafian (Feb 19, 2013)

Thanks . Yeah I hate being picky by since we lost Orion iv been wanting to find a young cat/ kitten that has similar features as him. Iv looked on many adoption sites and not a single cat has a similar color and design as him. I figured he as a tabby, domestic short hair. I'm just hoping the next male kitten we get is as goofy and loving as he was.


----------



## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Have you looked on Petfinder?


----------



## Zerafian (Feb 19, 2013)

Yeah, a little. I usually need a break from looking because I get all mopey lookin at all the cats that need homes. I'm also trying keep to a young male cat under 6 months old for the sake of our young female cat. I want to make sure she isn't threatened by a larger cat. This way a kitten can be source of play for her since they are so spastic at a young age.


----------



## maggie23 (Mar 10, 2012)

i am so sorry about your beautiful Orion. atback i unfortunately understand about the constant learning process, too, but there is no way for us to know everything right away. i just keep reading as much as i can to prevent whatever is possible, and this forum is an incredible source of info for that!

i hope you can maybe find a sweetie pie at you local shelter actually. there's nothing like meeting them in person and bringing home the one you make an instant connection with. 

i've discovered that it's very easy for me to fall in love with every cat i spend any length of time with even if i didn't make an instant connection. they all have grown on me. if i took every one of them home, i'd have 15 cats. as it is, i have gone from 1 to 3 cats in just the last few months.


----------



## grrawritsjordi (Dec 29, 2012)

I am so sorry for your loss. It is always hard to lose a furbaby, especially one that is a part of the family.

Welcome to the forum!

I have had cats since I was little, but I didn't know about a lot of things until I joined the forum. This is a great support system of people who care for animals and each other!


----------



## Mylita (Jan 23, 2013)

I am so sorry for your loss! There are a number of plants that can kill cats, but I would not have known that one would be fatal either.

I hope you find a new kitty soon, but I'm sure it is hard to choose a new one. Especially when you want one that looks like Orion and has a similar personality. At 6 months, a kitten will not have their full personalities yet, so it will be a while before you can judge it's personality. Perhaps you will find one that you connect with or that chooses you. Good luck with your search!! 

Mylita


----------



## Arianwen (Jun 3, 2012)

He looks very much my Oz (one of the three on my avatar). I've never aimed to recapture a "look" because it can end up being so disappointing - let a cat connect with you instead and if he / she has a similar look so much the better.


----------



## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

I attended a talk by a local greenhouse telling about which plants are harmful to cats, and there was almost an hour devoted to lilies, and lily relatives. It was confusing to me because there were some that were in the lily family that weren't toxic and vice versa. But the advice I ended up taking home is if there is any question whether a lily is or isn't toxic, don't keep it where the cats can get to it.

Lily Poisoning in Cats | petMD


----------



## Zerafian (Feb 19, 2013)

Thanks everyone  for the support

Lilies are CRAZY poisonous(specific ones are and I believe there are a few that arent but I will just avoid them all together. Even the pollen is deadly), you have a 16-20 hour window to get them to the hospital and started on an IV. After that many sites say its to late and all you can do is put them down because the poison has reached their kidneys and started destroying them. Essentially what happened is his kidneys failed and he couldnt process fluids through his body. He ended up around 18-20lbs at the end because theres was so much water retention. The vet said if we continued to let him live the fluid would reach his lungs and he would, for lack of a better word, he would drown.

I believe we got him in there about 36-48 hours after it happened. It was like a nightmare, 24 hours from bringing him in to it ending. Knowing it had to happen we got it done jsut like we wanted.

We kept him on our laps for 2 hours before they came in to have him calm and happy, it was like we were on the couch watching TV and we kept him on our laps when they did it.

The crazy thing is they had caution signs on the cage saying he would bite and scratch and that he was so aggressive. The minute I would come in to get him out of the cage he wasnt afraid at all. He let me pick him up and carry him where ever we had to go. He melted in our arms when we were with him. He knew exactly who we were when we were there. I tell people that who are dog lovers and they dont believe me. Its like, cats get attached and recognize their owners just like dogs do. Thats what made it so much worse.


As for the new cat, me and my girlfriend want a loving cat that craves attention all the time. Thats definitely what we will look for first...I guess it might be to soon. Im still attached to the idea of having another cat just like him.


----------



## Luvmyfurbabies (Jun 25, 2012)

I'm so sorry for your loss, truly. I know this feeling all too well. I remember when my sweet Mr. Sophie was at the emergency vet. They had him in the oxygen tank and he was hooked up to a heart monitor and it was going all over the place. As soon as I walked in the room and put my hand in the tank to rub his little head; his heart rate settled down. Everyone would always tell me when I had to go to the vet after leaving him there for some time, ( poor guy had many, many health issues ). That he absolutely knew me. 
I'll never forget those golden eyes looking back at me from inside that tank as if to say, "I'm so glad your here.". So yes, I know exactly what you mean. Our babies do know us and love us because we are their family.
Take your time finding your baby, search your shelters, pet finders, or whatever avenue you choose and read their stories. Your heart will lead you to the right one.


----------



## Annabel (Feb 25, 2013)

Hi I've just joined so this message may not get to you straight away. Your cats are both gorgeous.

I have had two cats who look very similar to Orion. Totally different personalities, though, in fact, George fell in love with the next door neighbours and I eventually graciously admitted defeat !

Alfie, my current silver shorthair tabby, is the most beautiful, soft, goofy boy and thank God for him, frankly, because I lost his sister this week to a road accident so know how awful it is to lose your beautiful furry baby.

Also, agree overall with what another post said about connecting with the cat - as my experience shows, cats can look very similar but personalities can really vary.

Good luck with it.

Annabel x


----------

