Dogs or cats?
Norie is now just over sixteen years old, the equivalent of an eighty year old human. She keeps me company but likes to spend time on the screened in porch in the sun, sleeping.
Norie showed how intelligent she was after my second son and his wife gave her to me. After being spayed, she had to wear a plastic collar called a cone to keep her from bothering her stitches.
Before she had the cone on her neck, she was able to jump up on the countertops in my kitchen. With the cone/collar around her neck, she tried to jump up on the counter, but the first two times, she landed back on the floor on her feet.
The next time she jumped to the counter top, with the cone on, she raised her head further back and jumped, landing quite gracefully on the counter!
The next trial with the cone was how to get the dry food to her mouth. She scooped up dry food with the cone and leaned her head back, and the food went right to her mouth!
Then, there was trouble with drinking water with the cone on her neck, keeping her mouth away from the water. She, with great cleverness, just placed the inner rim of the cone on the outer side of the bowl and leaned in to lap up the water.
She amazes me still with her cleverness.
joyful2beeblogs 
that’s amazing !
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She is a wonderful companion. I love her so very much.
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Sixteen is an amazing age!
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Thank you. She is an indoor cat, which means she could live 4 or 6 more years. She has asthma and gets an inhaler twice a day. She also has some arthritis in her lower back and hind legs. I give her a subcutaneous injection every 7 days, which helps lubricate her joints. She sleeps a lot but I am just glad to have her with me.
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Wow, what’s she like with injections? I know that Louis Catorze would say a firm NON to them.
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I give the medicine with a very short little needle. I pull up the loose skin between the shoulder blades, making a tent, and quickly slip the needle into the “tent,” quickly inject less than half of a milliliter and pull out the needle. If she’s eating, she doesn’t even pay attention to it. It truly helps the joints to not be painful. I was a nurse for 37 years. Now I’m my cat’s nurse.😊
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Sounds as if you have the technique just right! I swear that Louis Catorze can smell my nerves when I need to medicate him, and I have to Act Normal for as long as possible before pouncing as the element of surprise is a valuable weapon. Sometimes he just knows.
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They can read us like a book!
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Same with an impending vet visit: trying to Act Normal prior to the visit is surprisingly hard work!
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I know what you mean! They’re psychic?!
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💕
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Thank you, “Wakingup.”
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I love this !
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Anna, I will begin sharing photos and more stories about Norie very soon. She had another female cat, who she played with. Watch for Joyful2beeblogs.com on my Facebook page: Melodie Elaine Estes.
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Will do , I can’t wait!
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I will start tomorrow, Anna.
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Oh my goodness, what a beautiful tribute to Norie! 🥹 Sixteen years is such a gift, and I love how you’ve captured her intelligence and personality so vividly. It’s incredible how animals adapt and overcome challenges—her problem-solving with the cone had me smiling the whole way through. What a clever, resilient girl. It’s clear she’s deeply loved and has brought so much joy and companionship into your life. Thank you for sharing her story—it was such a sweet reminder of how special our furry companions truly are. 💛
– Tamara
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Tamara, I am so tickled that you enjoyed my post about her. I will start reposting the posts about soon on my website, Joyful2bee@gmail.com. I have stories about her and a second cat named Sister. I have lots of photos that I took of them both. Norie is very dear to me.
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