Acton Christian Community Church
Norman (the NEW dog)
Norman arrived March 5th. Follow this link to view the six week puppy pictures!Follow this link to view the eight week puppy pictures! Here are somegreat pictures of Lydia and Norman playing together.Here is Norman at three months, and he is getting big!
Lydia (the dog)
Jeff & Cricket's (former) Cats
Cat names reference their namesakes elsewhere in the web.
Aristotle died May 11, 1993, apparently of "Feline Infectious Peritontis". He had just turned 7.
Aristotle was our favorite cat, the black and white one. He was the smartest of the three. He would often imitate the dog. He and Lydia (the dog) would often be found side by side, sitting the same way and watching the same things. I guess you could say the he taught the dog how to act like a cat. He is also the one that could fetch, and was taught to growl and hiss at his toys. (He would also often growl and hiss at people that came to visit, so many people think of him as our "mean" cat.)
According to our vet, "Feline Infectious Peritontis" is a viral infection that doesn't usually progress into a disease. However, depending on the cat's genetic make-up, what can happen is that the immune response is so severe that the immune response itself is what kills the cat. The symptoms are "vibrant production" of a highly protenatious inflammation. (This was not the "classic form", so there is some uncertainty in the diagnosis. It could be confirmed by further lab tests, but we didn't bother to pay to do that.) The X-ray showed something that looked like a tumor, but was actually the spleen, which was heavily damaged. The most likely immediate cause of death was that his spleen ruptured due to the extent of the damage.
Copernicus, a sickly little grey cat, died on June 28, 1996, most likely of heart attack or stroke.
Copernicus was never well. He had a heart problem that led to poor circulation. He experienced wheezing fits all his life, and we witnessed at least one previous heart attack. You will notice, in the picture, that his pupils are not the same size. He accommodated to his condition by staying small. (His tail to body ratio was amazing.) Despite his condition and his size, and being declawed in front, he could still catch mice and birds outside. In his post-mortum, the vet found lots of scar tissue around the heart, indicating that he had a series of past heart attacks. He died peacefully outside under our blue spruce.
Romanadvoratrelundar, died September 27, 1996, with cancer.
Romana was our first cat. Being our first companion in the house, she was named for Dr. Who's companion, Romana, from the TV show. As a kitten she was vicious, attacking to claw and bite even her owners. She was never a particularly active cat, and with age, she mellowed into a rather largish furry doorstop. She was a classic "sedate" cat. She died of some kind of feline cancer.