Pearl the Pocket Persian

What the...!?

I work with cats.  Lots of cats.  I have worked with cats 5 days a week for the past 4 years...but I love coming home to MY cats!  They are the best.  They truly are.


Every day when I come home from work and open the front door, Pearl is right there.  Cam says that around 4:30pm she gets up from her nap and waits for me.  You would think I would be sick of cats, but when I walk in and see her I can't help but squeal "She's so cute!"!




I'm glad we gave Pearl a "second chance".  It's hard to say what her life was like before us, but when we first got her she would eat like there was no tomorrow and pretty much just do her own thing.  Even though it blows my mind, I think she was living on the streets hustling for food.  She liked us, but she preferred her independence.  At bedtime Slim and Stan would snuggle under the covers, and Blue would assume his spot on the pillow by my head, but Pearl would be nowhere to be found.  We wanted to make a mock video of Kurt Cobain's song "Where did you sleep last night" because we could never find her.  Now she enjoys being a part of the family and even started sleeping with us at the foot of the bed. Occasionally she'll cozy up under the covers!

Pearl's a great cat!  She's a typical persian who's easy going and aloof, but she's so much fun!  She tolerates her weekly tubby time, is a trooper about being dressed up in clothes, and even takes bike rides with us to grab a pint at the bar.  Pearl don't care! She needs help eating, needs help grooming (thanks Blue!), and doesn't cover her poop but we love her.  She's the perfect addition to our weird little clan and I'm impressed with how well they all get along.   It was hard at first (see earlier ringworm post), but she was worth it.  She is worth  it.  All creatures deserve the chance to be pampered and loved, and in return they make us SMILE and realize that even though we weren't the ones rescued, we are the lucky ones.

P.S.  Pearl has an instagram account.  You should follow her at pearl_the_pocket_persian  She's not a professional photographer but her dad is...so sometimes you get a decent picture!

pretty girl

Size Comparison!!!

Pearl don't care.

cleaned up and purrrty

Chillin' at the bar

Tubby Time

Where to next?

Dirty Girl Pearl

Gained a pound since we adopted her!

Soldier in her pocket!

Trimming down!

TBT to when we first brought her home.  Ringworm and all..

The Fungus Amongus

Last Saturday when I got home from work and took off my clothes, I found a perfectly circular scaly red patch on my arm and thought "Oh no, RINGWORM"!  It's not unusual in my line of work to find it ever so often but it's never fun.  Since we were fostering Pearl I was especially worrisome because persian cats are more prone to the fungus.  The next day I did a butt load of laundry, deep cleaned the house, took the dogs for a walk and sat down on the couch and saw the back of Pearls head...and her two patches of circular hairloss on her ears.  It must of literally fell out while we were on our walk!

The following day I brought Pearl in to be looked at by a vet, and after they gowned up they turned off the lights and checked her with a woodslamp.  Pretty much her whole body fluoresced which equals ringworm.  Luckily we have a really nice Rinworm quarantine at my job where we successfully treat it.  I cried a little, gave her a sulfur lyme dip bath then went home to enjoy the rest of my day off (and by that I mean deep cleaning and doing loads of laundry again!).

The very next day was great!  We went and saw a Blazers game with my pops, and they won!  Got home to crawl into bed for my 6am shift the following day and when I went to give Stan a belly rub there it was.  Yup, you guessed it...ringworm :(  I freaked out, I cried, then I brought Stan to bed. 

I took a personal day off on Thursday to go to the vet  for antifungal meds and my own Lime Sulfer dip and the vet counted 9 ringworm lesions on Stan.  Poor Stan the Man looked so itchy and uncomfortable.  When I got home all 3 of the kids got a medicated bath leaving the house smelling like rotten eggs.  I put anything made of fabric (blankets, beds, rugs, curtains, dog toys) into a garbage bag and brought 8 loads to the laundromat to make certain everything got washed in hot water.  I deep cleaned the house (again) but this time had a lint roller, swiffers, and bleach to try and get every single ringworm spore either gone or killed!  Lots of work!.  Since I can't quarantine Stan (we tried), he's basically quarantined in the tiled floor living room.  He gets meds every day for 2 weeks, and Blue and Slim get bathes twice a week at the same time Stan gets them.  Every blanket that they touch is washed every day, and the Swiffer has become our daily friend. 

Tomorrow will be 1 week full week of treatment, and we're already starting to see improvement in Stan.  His lesions appear to be drying up, and even though it's a lot of work the daily cleaning rituals are becoming routine!  I come in contact with ringworm a LOT, but this strain that Pearl has is something else!  Not only do me, Pearl and Stan have it but my coworker got it at the same time as I did, and brought it home to her dog! 

Pearl the Persian should be renamed Pearl the Ringworm Spore!

Wish us a speedy recovery and a ringworm free home!!

Pearl the Persian

I've been working in the Cattery at the Oregon Humane Society for just under 4 years - and I've seen a LOT of cats.  Big ones, small ones, fat ones, skinny ones, cute ones and ugly ones.  But I'd never seen any thing like Pearl the Persian before!  She came to us as a transfer from another shelter, and naturally everyone was super excited that we were getting a fancy Persian!  I've never been a fan of the siamese or persian kitties so I just went about my day and didn't join in the fuss.

When the transfer arrived everyone was looking in the Persians carrier (her name was Dumpling!) but I just sat at the computer typing up some paperwork.  Finally a coworker said "Melissa, look at this!" and handed me one of the cutest things I've ever seen.   Dumpling was a full grown, 2 year old cat that weighed in at 4lbs!  She had been found as a stray severely matted and covered in fleas, so not only was she tiny and grumpy looking but she was shaved and had a lion cut! And she was being sooooo nice, purring and being so sweet                                                            that my eyes welled up with tears.  

The pictures of this cat don't do her justice...you HAVE to see her in real life to fully understand what she is!  I sent a picture of her to my husband Cameron and he was cracking up, but I just had to show her him in real life. Lucky for everyone she needed foster for a week so she came home with us, and after a day we knew we weren't bringing her back. Within 2 hours of bringing her home Cam had set up all of his camera equipment and did a photo shoot with her.  Check out his blog: Cat and Gremlin Photography

It's not easy picking out a name for a critter, especially not for us!  I mean, we have an Italian Greyhound named Slim, a blue cat named Blue, and hen named Baby Bird.  After tossing a couple ideas around, the obvious ones just weren't sticking (Gizmo, Smalls, Biggie).  Cam called her a blue oyster the first night, and as we were watching TV I heard the word "oyster" and thought of the name Pearl.  It was purrrrr-fect for her, She looks roughed up on the outside, but she's a sweet little treasure.  The official dictionary definition is "a precious thing; the finest example of something". 

Ultimately it was Slim, Stan and Blue who had the final say on adding her to the family, and they think she's pretty rad too!  We don't think that Slim has ever seen anything smaller than him so she's been an ego boost for him and he's been a great big brother by sharing the fireplace warmth with her!