Welcome to the Chronicles of Ivan and Boo!

Welcome! I found myself telling stories about my two cats to friends and relatives so often, and eliciting laughs and smiles from them in the process, that I figured I should chronicle the cats' antics. What better way than via a blog?

They are extremely energetic guys, and they are not allowed outside, so we buy a lot of cat toys to play with them and to keep them entertained when my husband and I are away. So I may occasionally review cat toys and cat-related products here.

A little background on Ivan and Boo: In November of 2006 we had 20 year-old Ian, our black and white DSH (domestic shorthair) cat (that we'd had since the age of about 2), and 7 year-old Aggie, a marble tabby (came to us at about 6 months). They were hanging out and trucking along just fine until a trip to the vet to be boarded while we were out of town revealed Ian had lost some weight. So they ran a few tests and discovered he had lymphoma. However, he was still eating and not in any pain that we could detect, so he was put on oral Prednisone and occasional subcutaneous (via needle) fluids, and he did quite well. Left is a photo of Ian sleeping with his eyes covered. Below is Aggie with a hilarious expression.

The feral female longhair tortoiseshell cat at our farm (a few hours away from our city apartment) had had kittens a few months before, and she was now bringing them around to eat solid food with her. We began socializing them immediately. We named the black and white DSH "Ivan" ("Ian" with a "V") and his litter mate, a white and gray DLH (domestic longhair) "Boo". Boo's name takes some explaining. He has partial pigmentation of his nose, so that it is part pink, part brown, and a tiny bit is black. It reminded my Welsh husband of what we Americans so delicately call "a booger", so he promptly named the cat "Booger". Well, wishing to be even more delicate, I immediately shortened that to "Boo". Now he gets called "Booper" more often than "Boo".

We decided that we would adopt these sons of a feral mother and take them to our apartment in the city. We knew we would lose Ian eventually, and we figured they would make good playmates for Aggie. Unfortunately, that was not to be. In mid-January of 2007, Aggie suddenly stopped eating and sat staring at the floor. She had also developed anisocoria, one pupil markedly larger than the other (this is a sign in cats of a serious health problem, often feline AIDS, but it accompanies other disorders as well). Recognizing immediately that this was something serious, we took her to the vet. She had an advanced case of lymphoma, herself. It was in her lungs and other organs. She had been most adept at hiding it from us, as cats are wont to do. Plus, in having to attend to Ian, we may have missed some little signs from her. Sadly, her cancer was so advanced that she was unable to breathe without oxygen a couple of days later. She was euthanized. Ten days later, Ian had to be euthanized.

So now there are Ivan and Boo. And their antics. (Photograph above is Ivan (top) and Boo on their cat tree.)