It's official. I'm cursed.

[Saydrah]

You know, I thought of another possibility. It's a popular superstition in many cultures that cats are closer to the supernatural/spirit world than humans. If your place indeed is cursed, it might not be that whatever it is hates cats, it might be really malicious and the cats are serving the "canary in the coal mine" role after their curiousity and extra senses drive them to investigate whatever malicious presence is there. Maybe the older kitty is just not very curious and has decided to avoid it.

I am again not usually one to be alarmist or believe in curses, but if my wacko theory is anywhere close to the truth, YOU might be in danger. I only even speculate this remembering Powerboy's (yes now I remember it was Powerboy not Pedersen, sorry to both) ghost hunting leader having a strange one-car accident, and also when I was in high school I found out about a student who was into paranormal investigation being found dead for no apparent reason at a site alleged to be haunted in the mountains-- I don't think any explanation was ever found.

Seriously, whatever person in your life you consider to be a religious/spiritual leader if any, needs to check out your house. Better to be perceived as off your rocker than to be in danger and ignoring it.

[Kyree]

My older cat is weird as cats go, so it wouldn't surprise me. She has absolutely no curiousity about anything. The problem is, I'm not religious, at all. I don't know anyone around here that would be into things like that. How would I go about finding someone that's 'real', if you know what I'm saying?

[Saydrah]

Toughie. Probably out of my depth answering that one. PM Powerboy for advice finding someone legit?

[jedimaster91]

So sorry to hear about your kitties. I had a string like that with my birds. One we had for several years and she got a vitamin deficiency we caught too late. The next bird, we think had a bowel obstruction since he never pooed. Next bird we accidentally poisoned by Lysoling the cage thinking maybe there was some kind of bug making the birds sick. Once we realized it was the Lysol, we got bird number four into a travel cage and he's been fine ever since. Personally, I think Oscar's too onery and stubborn to croak, which is fine with me. I'm rather fond of the little guy, even if my husband isn't.

Hope you figure out what's going on with your place so you can keep your kitties.

[Kyree]

I know I made this post forever ago, (and I doubt anyone cares anymore :P) but a few nights ago I learned something about the apartment.

So, I had just gotten home from work, gotten into my pj's (I get off at 10pm), and sat down at the computer. It's nice and quiet.... and then *WHEE WHEE WHEE WHEE WHEE*

You know those fire alarms at school that sound like a cross between the noise a scoreboard makes when someone scored in a game in the gym, and giant grass hoppers? Well, apparently my apartment building has that same one. I open my door and see all the fire exits shutting and the lights flashing. So I grab the carriers, get my cats in them, and run downstairs to the stairwell exit. No way was I going outside, it was below zero. And I had not seen or smelled fire.

Well, a few other people had gathered there too. None had seen or heard or smelled any scent of flames, but no one wanted to go back to their apartments just in case. So we were all sitting around making small talk. And lo and behold, one of them had lived there when the fire that had burned my apartment out happened.

Apparently there /was/ a death. Just not human. The apartments above, below, and to the sides of mine were severely damaged. In one of them was a cat, who had died from inhaling too much smoke.

Now that I've gotten over the death's of my kitties, I find it an interesting coincidence. Maybe Ghost kitty didn't like mine except for the old cranky one?

Whether it's Ghost-cat or coincidence, thankfully my cat luck is back to normal. Neighbors of mine had to move somewhere that didn't allow cats, so they begged me to take in their 12 year old kitty, otherwise it would go to a shelter. And not many people adopt 12 year old cats. 3 1/2 months later, he's still here! (My other ones lasted two months at most)

[Evil Queen]

Congrats on being able to keep the kitties alive!

Have you considered burning Sage in your apartment? Lupo did it after her apartment was broken into earlier this year to make the bad vibes go away. Maybe it'll help keep the bad vibes from your apartment and/or make the Ghost Kitty go away?

[Kyree]

If Ghost kitty is real, he's not bothering anyone here right now, so I'll let him be

And we're moving as soon as possible. In the process of buying a house~

[Evil Queen]

ooo! A House! I'm looking into getting one myself for when I move.

[Kyree]

To Minnesota, where you'll start your new hotel right?

[Evil Queen]

Sure, you'll fund my first hotel purchase, right?

[Kyree]

Er....um....uh..... LOOK COOKIES! *Points and runs*

[tropicsgoddess]

So sorry to hear that. I would definitely move, seems like there's some seriously bad vibes there.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

After reading this, I'm glad that your karma-cat problems appeared to have cleared up.

I was going to suggest leaving some catnip for the spirit (if you believe in that sort of thing)...

[RootedPhoenix]

I'm sorry to hear about you losing your cats like that. I'm glad though, that things are looking better, and good luck with the house.

[Kyree]

Another boring update:

Thank you everyone for your condolences about the kitties.

For the last month I've been battling with my cat luck again. This time I was the winner!

The 12 year old cat I had adopted in November, Spaldo, started acting weird one day. Me, being paranoid, brought him to the vet. After many tests, x-rays, and an ultrasound we found a mass in his stomach. We couldn't figure out what it was though. The vets kept him for the rest of the day, gave him something called Buriem (sp?) (it lights up on x-rays, so they can watch it pass through his system. And tends to break stuff down.). Well, the Buriem (sp?) worked, the mass disappeared completely.

But Spaldo hates the vet, hates going out of the apartment, so of course, Spaldo was not happy when we brought him home. He had been poked, prodded, given shots, even got his anal glands poked at. (He was really pissed about that one.)

So, he's being cranky and sulky. What does my other cat do? She walks up and starts hissing at him. Cue cat fight. In the 30 seconds it took my boyfriend to break the fight up, he had bitten her ear, nose, and cheek a few times. She had ran him head first into a cupboard and got a few bites in herself. Of course, another trip to the vet, which finds them both scratched and bloody, but okay.

A week later (the total incident has been about 3 weeks at this point), Spaldo is still not getting better. He's laying in one spot, barely eating, and has stopped going to the bathroom. He's lost 3 pounds by this point. Every morning I wake up to him having peed on himself. I have people telling me that it's "Old cat syndrome and I should start think about putting him down."

More tests, medicines, and waiting, the vet still can't figure out what's going on.

I start sleeping on the couch with him in his kitty bed next to me, starting to believe what my friends and parents were telling me, and wasn't a very happy person.

Then, a new symptom developed. His tail started hanging down, like it hurt him to hold it up. He wouldn't sit right. If you touched his tail, or anything on his back end, he'd cry. I called the vet and managed to get a same day appointment. Sometime since the last appointment a week ago, his entire back end had become infected. More tests. Vet gives me news. It's either a tumor or an abcess.

They give me Clavamox, the best anti-biotic they have for an abcess, hoping it's that. They tell me to give it 5 days, and if it's an abcess, he'll start feeling better.

By the night of day 4, nothing had really changed. I was giving him his medicine, and I felt something warm on my leg. Thinking he peed on me, I lift him up and find it to be pinkish-brown, with a small hole a few inches away from the base of his tail.

I'm freaking out. It's a sunday night. All of the e-vets I knew of at that point weren't open 24-hours, and it was about 1 in the morning. I'm trying to google for any that would be open that late, when my boyfriend says. "Kyree, look!"

I look over, and there's Spaldo. He's in the litter box, going to the bathroom. Then goes over to chow some food down...then comes over to us and meows. None of which he had done in the past month or so. He was acting like he felt better

Vet visit numero I have no idea: It was an abcess. And it "abcessed out." which is good news. There's no more pressure on his back end anymore, which means he can go to the bathroom, and sit down. Within three days, he was back to his old self.

Turns out that when my cats got into that fight, my cranky girl cat bit him in the back end, got one tooth to break the skin, and it infected. No one could see it because it was tiny, there was no blood, and his fur on his legs is so fluffy you couldn't tell he even got bit.

So now, for the next week or two, I have a cat with two butts and a cone on his head, but he's gonna be just fine.