|
PERSONAL STATISTICS
NAME: | Mitenza (Tenz) |
AGE: | 13 years |
EMAIL: | tenniepoo@techniguy.com |
FAVORTE URL: | Any site about dogs |
FAVORITE FOODS: | Chicken, Turkey, bacon, sausage and eggs |
FAVORITE PLACE: | At home |
FAVORITE ACTIVITY: | Sleeping and competing with that keyboard for Techniguy's lap |
FAVORITE TOY: | A walnut |
ACROPHONOLOGY FOR TENZ
Tenz is loving, sensitive and highly intuitive.
She is very emotional and responds positively to
music and water or sounds of water. She would
rather be home than anywhere else in the world.
She coexists exceptionally well with people and
other animals. This is an animal who is quite
intelligent and adaptable with a gentle nature.
Tenz is an affectionate, physically attractive
pet who responds to flattery and attention. This
animal has a pleasant disposition and enjoys the
company of pets of the opposite sex. She has a
highly developed sixth sense, especially when it
comes to home and family. This is a shy,
affectionate animal with a gentle soul. She is
best suited to a tension-free environment. She is
certainly never dull. She has a dualistic nature
being very communicative one minute and sullen
the next. She is an animal who is quite
intelligent and adaptable with a gentle nature.
She is very tenacious and intensely loyal. She
is a sensitive, psychic animal who intuitively
responds to your feelings and moods. She doesn't
like change, and knows how to manipulate and
control you when it serves her purpose.
I had been living in a somewhat small duplex at
the time with my girlfriend and my eight year old
German Shepherd dog who was my loyal companion.
We had just moved to a larger house and Patty
asked me if she could get a cat now that we had
more room. I agreed and she began looking at ads
for kittens. She found one ad that interested
her and we drove to Sun Valley to see the
kittens. I waited in my van while she went into
the house and five minutes later she came out
with the cutest little black and white kitten and
put her in the van asking me to hold her while
she went back inside. A few minutes later we
were on our way back home with our new family
member. On the way home, Patty told me the story
of the first two months of Tenz's life, still
called Muffin at that time. Neither of us wanted
to call her Muffin so after we arrived home we
began discussing names for the kitten. Patty
wanted to call her "Mittens" because she reminded
her of a cat she had as a child with that name.
I thought that name sounded a bit childish and
told her so. Although the kitten was technically
her cat she was open to suggestions for a name.
I really didn't have anything to suggest but
Patty, being very good at coming up with pet
names began playing with the pronunciation of
Mittens and came up with "Mitenza". That was
shortened to "Tenz" and it stuck. Her proper
name is still "Mitenza" but sometimes I call her
Tenniepoo"...LOL...and often just "Ten".
After we had arrived home and got settled in, we
noticed that Tenz was nowhere to be seen. We
began searching for her with no results until I
noticed my dog "Joe" sniffing at a pile of shoes
on a low shelf in the bedroom. When I took a
closer look, there was Tenz among the shoes
looking back at me.
As time went by, Tenz adapted well to her new
home and family and again, she had a dog as a
mentor and a friend. Joe was very gentle with
her and the first thing he did when we brought
Tenz home was to give her a bath in his doggy
way. The two of them became very close and were
like brother and sister to each other. Wherever
Joe went, Tenz would follow.
As time went by, it wasn't long before we noticed
our new kitty had a problem. Perhaps a cat food
diet might have helped but she would not eat it.
To try to get her to change her mind, we gave her
nothing but cat food for a week and she nearly
starved herself to death. One day I happened to
see her nibbling at Joe's dog food but she would
not go near the cat food. We finally gave in to
her and started cooking chicken for her every
night. In the morning she was satisfied with a
scrambled egg for breakfast. Today, if she can
have some bacon with her eggs that is just super
with her, hold the hash-browns and toast please.
I have found other things for her to eat over the
years but her mainstay is still chicken and eggs.
If you ask Tenz which came first, the chicken or
the egg? she will tell you it was definitely the
egg because she had that for breakfast! Well
getting back to the problem I started to tell you
about. She started becoming bloated and was
having difficulty passing her food through her
system. She would develop terrible stomach aches
and would stop eating. I found that massaging
her stomach would help to get things moving but
once it got to the end of the tract, she couldn't
eliminate it so it was off to Vet for an enema.
That usually helped but was very unpleasant and
painful for poor Tenz not to mention the Vet
bills.
When Tenz was six months old she went into heat
for the first time. We did our best to keep her
in the house but one night she got out and that
was all it took for her to become pregnant. We
were unaware of the pregnancy until later on when
she got really sick. Her digestive trouble along
with her pregnancy at too young an age was too
much for her and on top of that, she got a
urinary infection. The food in her digestive
system had been stuck in there too long and had
become toxic and was poisoning her. Patty and I
didn't know what was wrong with her at the time
and called the Vet to ask if we could bring her
in. Patty was on the phone with him and
describing Tenz's symptoms as Tenz lay on the
floor almost unable to move. Her eyes were
glassy and her mouth slightly open to help her
breathing. There was a slight discharge from her
genitals and she was obviously suffering with
great pain in her gut. The Vet was familiar with
Tenz from all the enemas and told Patty that she
was dying. Then he said we could not bring her
in because he had to leave for a meeting across
town and couldn't help us. Patty broke into
tears and I took the phone from her to plead with
him to help us but he would do nothing. Needless
to say I refused to pay his last bill and found
another Vet. A friend referred us to a small
animal hospital where he takes his cat and we
rushed Tenz in there fast. They performed
emergency surgery on her to save her life and we
had her spayed at the same time. That was when
we found out about the pregnancy and that she had
a pinched intestine causing the blockage in her
digestive system. The Vets there told us there
was nothing they could do about the intestine but
they seem to have relieved the problem without
knowing it because it cleared up after the
operation. Now the only problem left was her
difficulty in eliminating her stools and the need
for frequent enemas. I had to find a solution
for that because the Vet bills were becoming a
burden and the trips to the Vet, an
inconvenience. I tried using a baby enema kit,
it was suggested by the new Vet. It usually
saved the trip to the vet but it wasn't the final
answer. I did soon find the ultimate treatment
for the problem though. Upon recognizing her
need to use the cat box and being unsuccessful I
found I could assist her by squeezing properly
with my thumb and forefinger under her tail while
she pushed and together we forced the stools out.
I still use this technique to this day and Tenz
has not seen the vet since. If she has trouble
eliminating by herself she lets me know and we
take care of the problem right away. Today she
remains happy and healthy.
Who's cat is she anyway? Tenz was supposed to be
Patty's cat but she seemed to have her own ideas
about that. When we went to bed at night, Tenz
would join us after a few minutes, situation
permitting. She always positioned herself right
next to me, never next to Patty. On occasions,
Patty would make the comment "she thinks she's
your cat!" and I must admit I was becoming very
fond of her. One day Patty and I were playing on
the bed, having a little wrestling and tickling
match. She was on top of me and I began making
sounds of distress. Immediately, Tenz came
charging into the bedroom and attacked Patty with
her claws and teeth. She was viciously trying to
defend me not knowing that we were only playing.
We got her calmed down and she left the room.
Patty, with scratches on her arms, then asked "I
wonder if she would defend me too if I was on the
bottom being attacked?". We decided to find out
and took up the positions. When we each began
making our respective noises, again Tenz came
charging into the bedroom and again attacked
Patty even though she was under me. She had to
defend herself with a pillow to keep from getting
more scratches and bite marks on her arms and
hands and we had our answer to the question.
Tenz had made her choice about who she wanted to
be with and when Patty and I split up a few years
later, I convinced her to leave Tenz with me and
Joe. But it was not only me that Tenz cared
about. One day I took her and Joe to the park.
They were both on 20 foot leashes tied to my van
and enjoying the park when two dogs running loose
came over to visit. Joe was always very
aggressive with other dogs and when one of them
got too friendly with him a fight broke out.
Look out other dog, Joe has a friend. Right away
Tenz attacked the other dog trying to defend Joe.
He was a large dog like Joe but Tenz showed no
fear as she scratched, clawed, and bit at him.
That was all too much for the intruder and he and
his companion ran off leaving Joe and Tenz to
check each other over for any injuries and
comfort each other after the fight. Tenz is very
intuitive and when I am in pain or not feeling
well, she comes to check on me and I can see the
concern and sympathy in her expression.
Tenz thinks she's a dog. She doesn't know how to
be a cat. She has never been around other cats
except for a very short period of time. She has
always been a house cat and is never allowed
outside nor does she want to go outside. She is
perfectly content to be safe and secure and
comfortable in the house. "It's scary out there,
with all those fast cars racing by and all those
people walking around, and then there is those
strange little furry things with long tails that
seem to pop out of nowhere. One of them raped me
once so I think I'll just stay inside where it's
safe." That's pretty much the way Tenz feels
about the world. She may get a little lonely
when
I'm not home but she gives herself a sense of
security by sleeping in my place in the bed while
I'm away. Tenz does not like cats, she would
much
rather be in the company of dogs. She always
responds with a look of kinship when she hears a
dog bark. Although I have said that Tenz is
confined to the house it has not always been that
way all the time and she has had exposure to the
outdoors. There was a period of time when things
were not going well for me and I had to live in
my
van for a period of time. Not that I really
minded, it was an extra long one and I had
converted it for camping and had all the
conveniences from a toilet to a tv and could have
lived in there indefinitely though it was a
little
crowded with Joe and Tenz. The first day we
started out in the van, Tenz squeezed into the
corner of a lower shelf and meowed the whole time
the van was moving. The second day was the same.
On the third day as I was driving Tenz came out
of
her hiding place and hopped up on the platform
next to me and began looking out the windows.
Joe
usually sat in the passenger seat or would go lay
down in the back for a nap. Soon, Tenz was
enjoying the ride and spent a lot of the time
looking out the side windows or lying across the
dash board as we traveled. Joe was getting old
now and becoming disabled and eventually I had to
have him put to sleep to end his pain. Tenz
missed him very much for a while but we both got
over it in time and still had each other. She
assumed the role of my faithful companion at that
time. She responded to me the way a dog would
and
she still does. She knows what is expected of
her and follows the rules like a well trained
dog.
She comes when I call her, she stops what she is
doing when I say "NO" she licks my hand in return
for a petting and sleeps at the foot of my bed
but
always comes up to me to say good night before I
go
to sleep. To me she is an angel straight from
heaven and I consider her a gift from God.
Before meal times I ask her if she is
hungry and she always says "yeeaaaa". When we
were in the van I would often stop by McDonalds
to
buy her some chicken McNuggets for dinner. I
would ask her "do you want to go to Mcdonalds?"
and she would say "YEEAAAA". When we pulled up
to
the delivery window she would be standing in my
lap and leaning out the window waiting for her
order. She knows the meaning of many words now
and responds to them the way a dog would. She
doesn't like to get wet but every time I go to
the
sink to wash my hands she is right there talking
to me. Maybe she thinks I shouldn't get wet
either.
Tenz has been laying by my side the entire time I
have been writing this story. She is now 13
years old and is a happy and healthy cat but
don't tell her that for she still thinks she's a
dog.
It began in November of 1985 in a small suburb of
Los Angeles, California. The family house cat
was in labor and having a difficult time giving
birth to a litter of kittens. The strain was too
much for her and she did not live long enough to
see her babies, she died while delivering the
litter.
I don't know how many kittens were in the litter
but only two survived. One was a beautiful tom
cat and the other, his sister, is now my Tenz.
Her name was not always "Tenz". She was
originally named "Muffin" by the family in who's
house she was born. With her mother dead and
unable to give her milk Tenz found an alternative
in the sympathetic female family dog who nursed
her until she was able to eat food. Without her
mother to snuggle up to when she was sleepy she
found some comfort in sleeping in an old shoe.
At this early stage in her life she had not yet
established her identity as a cat and had adopted
a dog as her mother thus taking the first step
toward identifying with dogs. When she began to
eat food, she nearly starved to death due to a
total rejection of cat food. Dog food was better
but even that did not please her pallet, in fact,
the only things she would eat were chicken and
pop-corn but only if the pop-corn was buttered.