Croak

One of my cats, the ever-so-handsome Mr. Stanley Manley, talks to me every day.  Whenever I see him I say, "Stanley!"  And he says "Rowr-row".  It's always two syllables with him when he answers the Stan-ley call.

And it doesn't matter if I do it once, "Stan-ley!" Or he answers and we go back and forth 20 times.  He says the exact same thing "Rowr-row".

But if I ask him something else, he has a different answer.  He is very specific that way.

The day before yesterday, I said something to him and he didn't answer.  Just looked at me.  It was odd enough behavior that I noticed it.  Then yesterday, I was gone the whole day with back-to-back scheduling and didn't get home till about 8:30 p.m. and was greeting everyone and when I got to Stanley, I did my usual "Stan-ley!".

And you know what he did?

*croak*


I yelled at Mr. Big Ed and Sparky to come check this out.  We all talked to him and he responded each time with a very soft and weird sounding little  *croak*.  wtf does that mean?

Can you go to a vet and say your cat has lost his voice?  Do cats get laryngitis?  What can they prescribe for this?  Will Stanley in fact gargle if need be?

I only have a few minutes before I have to head out for an appointment but I am going to have to see if there is a webM.D. for cats and check this out.  So far, this seems to be his only symptom.  He is acting fine, he is eating, lap-sitting, all the usual things that he does.

This is how Stanley Manley spends about half of his time.  Sitting in a hammocky thing next to the window so that he can chatter and call the birds to him.

Here he is one day when he got demoted to the lower shelf.

Did I tell y'all that Stanley has a friend?  Stanley is always out making friends and bringing them home.  We call them his posse.  That's how we got stuck with those wee little MacPhee brothers.  Stanley brought them home and looked up at me with his one green eyeball and his other blue eyeball, and said, "Please, mom, can I keep them?  Look how they worship me and adore me?"

And I looked back at Stanley with his one blue eye and his one green eye and the really cute little black freckle on his pink nose and  . . . .

Oh Please!  You know I totally caved.

Sorry, I got side-tracked there.  Back to Stanley having a friend.  His latest friend is one that each of us has seen but never been near.  Stanley with his white fur and black spot on his side, black hat on his head and black tail sits out front by the oak trees with . . . .

wait for it . . . . .

a skunk!

Yes indeedy, a skunk.  A big, fat, waddling skunk.  It is mostly black with a white stripe down the middle as I guess most skunks do.  So he and Stanley are opposites in color.  Any time we go outside the fat skunk friend waddles off very quickly though.  Stanley is not a racist.  Or a species-ist.

Let me know if you have ever heard of cats being hoarse or anything like this.

More later!