It was swift...Papi has died

Papa's final night on this realm

For the past 24 hours, I knew Papi was not himself. He was eating and drinking normally, but he seemed...out of sorts, in small ways that only I who knows his habits would notice. Papi is not a cuddly guy, and while he likes to have his neck scratched, it is always on his terms. He has never liked having his mid back and body touched, probably because of the issues he had when he was first brought to the shelter [urinary issues, that led him to have his penis amputated as it had gone on so long and he had tried to chew it off].

So when I sat with him a day+ ago, I talked to him, and tried to comb out more matts that had formed on his back. I had been working on them a few months, slowly getting them out. And on this day, he let me work on them, without his usual vocalizing. When Papi didn't want you to touch him, he had clear vocalization that told you so. The fact he wasn't doing this, led me to believe he just wasn't himself. That same day, I picked him up to put him on a table to examine him, and he did not fight it, also unusual. When I picked him up, he just seemed...like his energy had left.

Still that day, he got up and moved around and I kept my eye on him, but he was eating and drinking.

Last night, he was in his wood cradle, and I spent a long time with him. I knew he was dying. He just had lost strength, and his eyes were in the pre death vapid look. I talked to him a lot. He was calm and in no agitated state.

I knew this morning he might be gone, and he was. He had retuned to his other favorite place to sleep, on the sheep wool under the benches. He was lying in a comfortable pose, and by the state of his body I think he died within an hour or two.

Papi is lying in state so the elders can see him. Although they knew last night, so did I.

I also noticed last night, as I crouched on the floor to be with Papi, in the dark room since I had no lights on, there was a light presence above me. It was pure white bodied Noritsue, sitting up on the freezer to my side. He was looking down on me, like an angel, his white body visible in the semi dark room.

The other thing happened this morning when I found Papi. I had placed a towel over his body, but his head was showing. I started to do feedings, and I was to his right about five feet. I was opening canned food, and I saw something move to my left, where Papi was, I swung my head to the left and I swear I saw his head rise a bit. It was not like gas leaving his body, it was more like it was lifting. I went over had touched him, and kissed him, and I thought...did he wait for me somehow, and now he really left?

Papi will be missed. He was The President of The Old Kitty Knitty Club. He was a voice in our fundraising efforts. How appropriate Papi left the day I started our final yearly fundraiser, it is a vote of confidence for me, that he knew I could do it. Papi was a strong energied cat, he was his own cat. Much like Sir Tigger, he wanted things on his own terms, he saw no need to be held a lot or interact like some of the other cats. He got to go out quickly, and in a place he knew he was safe. For that I'm grateful.

But I will miss his huge presence in the elder cat suite. He was a great cat.

Papi has an important announcement!

We don't want to let down Papi. As President of The Old Kitty Knitty Club and well, er, the largest member of the elder cat suite, he has a very persuasive look when he needs more cat food, don't you think?

Thanks to the good people who go to our Wish List and send us food directly, we have helped put weight on all the elders, even our latest and oldest arrival, Gilda, who is turning 21 soon and gained a half pound, and when you only weigh five pounds that is a lot!

When you send items for the Wish list directly, it helps keep money in our fund for the other animal needs. Cat food is expensive, especially the special urinary food we must feed, so we all raise our paws to you.

Visit the Wish List, and our greatest need is the canned food, the first three on the list. We also use the dried food daily, so never turn it down. I'm just running low on the wet food.

NOTE: It is helpful to me and Papi when you purchase from the list, to send your name with the order, so Papi can send his special message to you. Otherwise, I don't know who is sending the item.

We celebrate Papi!

Papi turned a year older and we celebrated with him this week. Papi is one of the youngish elders in the Elder Cat Suite, turning 10. When the shelter took him in he had such bad case of urinary issues that he had chewed his penis off. Surgery was done to help what was left, poor chap.

If you have met Papi you know he is not one we have to worry about keeping weight on! The opposite. He is a portly fellow but what is funny is he is always the one to sit back and let everyone else eat first, so I try to give him as little wet food as possible. But on his birthday, we did not measure his intake.

Everyone needs a day off from counting calories, I told him.

{If you are one of the I-Love-Papi-Club people, feel free to send him a donation, or cat food [of course the latter will be hidden in a locked safe}

It's a Cat with a Hat, of course

A cat with a hat

sits on a shelf.

A cat with a hat is

all by himself.

Or he is?

No, because 

he is a cat

with a hat.

Paco the Poet wants you to know he did not write this poem, I did.

Papi is terrified he might lose weight

Shout out to all the Apifera Cat Angels out there- we are very low on cat food for the Elder Cat Suite. The last cat food call was so successful I have not done one for many months, so thank you to all who have helped in the past.

The Apifera Wish List is where you can buy the food for us. It's always nice if you leave your name when you shop, so I know who sent it [Papi keeps a journal of Cat Angels].

Papa was terrified he might lose weight if we run out of food, I promised him that would not happen. We can't let Papi lose his beautiful figure.

We use both the urinary tract canned food, and the dried Science Diet. I also accept the Purina cheaper food, because Anna seems to do well on that.

The cats are all doing well. I keep thinking I need to have some Cat Drawing Days, to bring people into the farm and mingle with the cats and draw. I will. The barn project is keeping us very busy and there are only so many things I can do at once. My art days have fallen to the wayside, but they will return!

Old cat ballet

The sun comes in the elder cat suite in a vibrant way. They have panoramic views of The Wood. They all love to gather, and sun.

There is something so beautiful about the way a cat can sit, and sit, and sit, and then make a slight adjustment to his stance and it creates another beautiful pose, or gesture of emotion, like ballet.

{If you like our Elder Cat Suite, please consider a donation or visit the Apifera Farm Wish List too. Thank you}.

The President of The Old Kitty Knitty Club calls order

Anna turns eleven today. She is considered a youngster in the Elder Cat Suite. I'm so glad we could bring her home. She came to Apifera along with Sir Tigger, and Yume and they were the first elders we adopted when we arrived in Maine. Anna is the one who scratches the inside of the suite door when she hears me doing morning feedings, and she has a spot that only she is allowed to eat, up by the bird houses.


"The celebration will come to order!" said Papi.

Being president of The Old Kitty Knitty Club has allowed Papi to grow confidence in his organizational and leadership skills. I guess he is like a cat version of The Head Troll.

I said, "The celebration will come to order!" Papa repeated sternly.

Sir tigger stretched, Noritsu yawned, Yume hid, Miss Spring stared at him, and Anna jumped off her perch.

"Listen to Papi!" Anna said.

Sir Tigger stretched again, Noritsu cleaned his face, Yume hid, and Miss Spring still stared.

Papi is learning that sometimes inspiring others is a difficult job.

{We graciously accept donations for our non profit to help animals and elder people.}

And so it begins...The Old Kitty Knitty Club

A post shared by Katherine Dunn / Apifera Farm (@katherinedunnapiferafarm) on Feb 7, 2018 at 10:37am PST

As you know if you've been following me over the years, I get many brilliant ideas, some of which fizzle, and some that go on to have a life of their own, like the time I thought it would be fun if people sent my donkeys aprons-we know how that took on a life of its own.

And I have an inkling that the Old Kitty Knitty Club is not going to fizzle out soon. We had our first small gathering yesterday, just three of us...always good to start small....it makes it more intimate too. And I had never had a group of people in the cat suite so needed to see how that went. The room and table are perfect for 3-4 people so I think that is a good choice right now. We really had fun too.

The idea behind The Old Kitty Knitty Club was that I wanted to find a way to bring people into the cat room to socialize with them, but also bring some good out of the room. And I love knitted wrist warmers. And I want to do more knitting but actually MAKE something. And I wanted something to give back to my elder friends Opie and I visit. See how my mind works? We will be gathering and knitting wrist warmers, and at the end of the year or whenever we have enough, I will gift the wrist warmers to our various elder homes we visit.

I would also love to be using our fiber from our CVM sheep. I have about 8# of washed CVM fiber [uncarded/uncombed] and another 7# of Assumpta's beautiful Blue Leister washed fiber. I am also open to having someone spin the fiber for me and give me yarn back in exchange for keeping some themselves, and then I could make wrist warmers. I'm afraid doing all the spinning and such through a facility is going to be cost prohibitive-but it's so gorgeous, I refuse to waste the wool. If I can't make that work, I might just hand felt it into wrist warmers. We'll see. I also use the wool to make Bird Balls, or bed warmers if needed for the animals-so fear not, it is not wasted.

I was really interested to see how the cats would react. As I suspected, Papi was all about it! And so was Noritsu who I have to tell you is such a wonderful guy they all are-but Noritsu clearly had a home and was loved, and really likes to have people around. He's not a lap sitter, at least not yet, but he approaches newcomers and when I am in the room, he is interested in being loved. So Noritsu and papa thought we had created this party just for them. I guess maybe Papi is now the President of The Old Kitty Knitty Club and Noritsu is Social Secretary. I will have to have some wool ball protectors next time! Yume acted like I knew she would, slinking off to a cubby-BUT! nothing like when she arrived, and what pleased me is she went to be in the cubby with Tig, and she didn't try to bury herself in a blanket like when she arrived. Anna sat up on a ledge observing everything, completely in control of her space.

People have asked how they can become members of The Old Kitty Knitty Club from afar:

• Knit some wrist warmers, make a hand tag with your name/location and mail them to Papi, President of the Old Kitty Knitty Club, Apifera Farm, 315 Waldoboro RD, Bremen, ME 04551 and they will be given as a gift to one of our elder friends when Opie and I visit
• If you harvest your own fiber, you can donate small quantities of wool for wrist warmers
• Visit the Pinterest board I've started for knitted wrist warmers

So stay tuned, we will be having another get together in the coming weeks. 

Noritsu really likes this idea

The elder cats preparing for guests

Introducing two more elder arrivals

Noritsu, a beautiful pure white cat who had a face that embedded in my mind, and heart, has arrived at Apifera. His background is a mystery, and having known him now for two days, I would say he himself has many mysteries deep inside of him. Perhaps in time they will be revealed.

After our birthday celebration with our elder friends, Opie and I drove to the shelter to get Noritsu. I was pretty much minding my own business, waiting for the shelter helper to get done with a phone call, and I wandered into the needy cat room. I had remembered another cat I had seen some months ago, a black and white who had a face that also struck me. And there he was.

As I listened to his story, I knew I would be taking him home. This cat had gone through a horrible ordeal. He suffered from calcium blockage/urinary issues-prevelant in many cats- and it was so bad, and so painful for him, that he chewed his penis off. The vet then did a surgery on him that basically made 'him' a 'her'. He also had a growth on his tail removed which I guess is why his tail is short.

So there I was, with a goat in the car, and two old cats. I got them to the Elder Cat Suite and they got right down to introductions which went perfectly. Of course Anna had to let them know she was ticked off, but she'll get over it. The challenge is feeding the b/w his special urinary food, which he has to be on for life. I was worried about it because he is a huge cat, as in very overweight with a belly that graces the ground almost as he walks. But he ate his food, and the others ate theirs and as long as I wait in the room to make sure the non urinary food gets eaten up, all is well. I did ponder the fact this urinary food is pricey, and the fact if he needs more medical help it will be pricey. But I felt the cat angels Apifera has found as of this date will come through-and I will continue to be open to universal magic and the power of kindness being spread by many. I just felt Noritsu needed to be here, I was pulled by him in the last months-and when I met the b/w and heard his story...I could not leave him. It's a fine balancing act of taking in the needy, and still being realistic about financial commitments to the animal...but I feel it will be okay.

I sat with them all this morning for some time. I'm very pleased the b/w chap likes my evolving hay twine chair-a project I started years ago out West and never finished. Maybe it was because it was really meant to happen here, in a room full of old cats.

The memory of The Magnificent Maurice Mittens was on my mind today. I have an innate knack for opening myself up-ofen-to the ones that are ready to find a soft spot to lay their heads, and die. In some ways, I'm proud of this history, that many of them feel or sense I am a safe entity where they can let their guard down, let it all out, and perhaps heal...or die. So I hope these guys will be around for many months or years. Noritsu is almost 15. The b/w is ten but with his health issues he might have a lot of wear and tear.

I love having a herd of cats again. We are going to be working on the upper loft this winter, where the cats will be able to free range, and I plan to have cat days, drawing days, workshops and gatherings of some kind, and let the ads mingle. I am excited for that.

And last night, Martyn heard a cat on the porch, and went to look-there was a grey cat, she ran away, but we put food out which disappeared. I guess the word is getting out.

{Please consider a year end donation or a cat food donation [right now the urinary food is most important]}.