Hi,
I would like to introduce myself . My name is Betty and I live in Louisville, Ky--the home of the Kentucky Derby. I am not married but still hopeful. I have a lovely home that is small and cozy. I have posted pictures of a few of my flower gardens. My yard is pretty much wall to wall flowers . I have loved gardening since I was a 7 year old child and my Mom helped me with my first Marigold Garden. I plant marigolds each year in memory of Mom ,who died of cancer 7 years ago. Mom too loved gardening with a passion. I was born in Ghent, KY. a small town of 400 people. Mom had several gardens and would start working in her gardens at dawn and by the afternoon had changed clothes 3 or more times. I believe I inherited the love of gardening from her. I moved back home to care for Mom following the death of my Dad in 1989. Mom had severe osteoporosis and had 7 compression fractures in her spine in 11 years. She was in constant back pain, but few ever knew it, because she always had a smile on her face and a joke to tell to whomever would listen. Her hobby was telling jokes and she did it well. She lifted the spirits of many many people in the last few years of her life, telling jokes to many strangers. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer in Dec of 1999 and given 3 months to live. She lived 11 weeks. I lived with her at that time. Seeing her die before my eyes was the hardest thing I have ever lived through.
But her memory is still alive in my home as well as the memory of my Dad. I now have 2 Persian Cats that are three years old. They are named Scottie and Miss Goldie after my parents. I call them by name daily and this keeps the memories of my parents very much alive. Scottie is a Golden , from Dallas Texas. He is glad he is not living there this summer with all the rain, as he , along with Miss Goldie ,love to take walks in their kitty stroller. I posted a picture on the Pet Site of the kitties in their stroller. In that picture, Scottie is in the front and Rebecca, a White Persian is in the back. I only had Rebecca for 2 years. She died suddenly last Sept. during teeth cleaning. The vet said she probably had a heart condition we did not know about. Rebecca had breathing problems for the 2 years I had her.
Miss Goldie, my Silver Persian looks just like the Silver Persian on the Fancy Feast Commercial. Miss Goldie's Eyes are bigger though. My two cats love each other and keep each other company when I am at work. Miss Goldie's picture is posted under the Pet Sight also . One picture of her in her Red Bowl always makes me laugh and recall when I first laid eyes on her with those huge eyes. She came from Washington State and was shipped on two airplanes for a very long 8 hour day. She only weighed 2 and a half pounds when I got her and she was 12 weeks old. She is 5 and three fourth pounds now and is still very small and dainty. Her brother Scottie is larger and weighs 9 pounds. Scottie is my "Little Lion." It took almost two years for me to find Scottie. I wanted a Golden with Green eyes. Scottie's parents are both Silver Persians and Goldens were in the line and out he came by accident. The breeder told me she has only had 3 Goldens. I feel blessed she sold him to me. She told me he is now a show quality cat but she had promised to sell him to me as a pet quality and he cost $500.
For now I only have two cats. When I lived with Mom for the last 11 years of her life we had 3 Persians, Molly, Seppie and Sabrina Doll. All died of cancer or old age. They are buried in my backyard with Knockout Roses planted on their graves. I do believe there is a Kitty Heaven, and I do believe I will see all of them again one day.
I cannot imagine my life right now without my precious kitties. Wherever I am in the house---that is where they want to be. If I am outside gardening, then they are in the window, watching me constantly. What love and devotion!!!!
I have two older brothers and one younger sister, all married and with families of their own. I keep very busy with work and gardening and sewing and caring for my cats. The cats have been on a raw food diet for most of their lives. I prepare it myself and grind up the food and add the supplements. The food is all organic and I purchase it from Whole Foods. I started them as kittens on canned organic food and they were very allergic and scratched almost constantly. The vet suggested I try canned venison and I tried this for a couple of weeks and their allergies continued. I really did my homework on the best diet for my cats and I prayed about this also and came up with the raw food diet. They loved it from the start and the scratching stopped immediately. Silvers and Goldens have a very small gene pool and their immune system does not kick in for 2 years. So I put all of this together and decided to give the raw diet a try. The food is frozen so that kills anything that may cause problems and also cats have a very short intestine so anything goes through quickly.
Also, my White Persian cat Molly who died of cancer a few years ago---she was treated by a holistic vet in N.C. for the last few months of her life and that vet has promoted the raw food diet. But I would be hesitant to start an older cat on a raw food diet---if they had been on a cooked diet all their life. Anyway it has worked for my cats so far and they are very healthy and very active. They also get Ground Rabbit occasionally which I order on line from Pa.
I have loved being a member of DG so far and I know it can only get better for the future. I posted a picture of myself and my cat Molly on the membership page and I will post a picture of my Scottie and Miss Goldie now.
Thanks to all of you who have welcomed me into DG and replied to my pictures and posts. To me it is all so very exciting, and there is so much information on DG website and so much I am learning from others.
Betty
