Douggie's Personality Explained
February 2005
My sister gave our kitten the name Douglas Fir. Iris was called "Precious" by my mother until she came to us, which thankfully saved her from a tree name. The rest of the litter were Maple, Birch, and Larch.
Here is baby Doug cuddling with sister Iris and "Aunt" Sera, and baby Doug with two littermates and Chestnut, who was from another litter but somehow still ended up with a tree name.
The entire litter had upper respiratory infections when Anne found them at the shelter on their way to the "blue room" of doom. Anne was able to save four of them, although Larch (the black and white one from the photo above) did not make it. Iris was sick for several months after we got her, and Douggie never fully recovered. We eventually stopped his medication, and now he's doing "fine" most of the time. His breathing problems have never seemed to bother him. Here he is at five or so weeks old with a bad infection on his face. Anne had to shave all the fur off his head before it healed.
Douggie's fur took a long time to grow back, and Iris took good care of him the whole time. Douggie was a lot nicer to her when he was sick. There was a lot more kitty cuddly-time back then.
When Douggie was about four months old, he developed a large abscess on his forehead. I made an appointment to have it taken care of by my vet but he scratched it open the night before and a friend had to squeeze it out for me while I tried to hold my kitten and my stomach. Ewwww! I had it surgically cleaned up the next day, and it healed up nicely.
Two years later, while Ryan and I were on our (belated) honeymoon in the Caribbean, Douggie got another abscess in the same place. Anne, who was kitty-sitting and conveniently working at a vet clinic, brought Doug to her office. The vet there drained the abscess and examined the stuff under a microscope. Anne said it was neon orange with little purple crystals floating in it - nasties that shouldn't be in a kitty's head - and her vet is pretty sure there is a tumor in Douggie's forehead. He said that it caused the abscesses and may continue to cause problems in the future. He said it was unusual and wanted to operate and see if it was something he could remove - and benefit from the learning experience. However, since Douggie seems perfectly happy with himself, I think I'll pass on the kitty brain surgery for now.
On a lighter note, a tumor causing brain damage to Douggie's frontal lobe sure would explain his outgoing social personality and lack of normal kitty inhibitions! If we decided to operate and he was "cured" and became a normal cat... well, then, what would happen to our Douggie?
© 2006 Cathe McDevitt / mcdevitt@gmail.com / The Cast