Who is White Thunder, and who are her friends?
Hello!
Welcome to my blog! I am the proud pet parent of four furry critters, and this is a blog about their lives and the crazy shenanigans they get into.
In a sea of pet personalities, I thought we'd dip our paws in, as these four have taught me so much, and bring me a lot of joy. I thought it'd be great to share them with you! To start, I will have a series of introductory posts, telling you more about White Thunder and her Friends and how they found their way into our lives. I will also share more about how we take care of them, what stuff they like, and more.
I am a Registered Veterinary Technician, and I will also share tips and tricks for vet visits, pet care, and things to look out for that may indicate your pet is sick. I hope you find this blog enjoyable, and without further ado, let's get bloggin!
I'll start with the inspiration for this blog, Opal, a.k.a. White Thunder. Opal entered our lives August 2015, a little stray kitty with no place to call home. Although she had called a place home at some point, she found herself lost. One evening when I was out with our dog Blue, who would later become the love of her life and who I will introduce in another post, we found Opal behind our townhome. As Blue adores cats, she wanted to go see Opal, her size was probably a bit intimidating and Opal jumped up onto a nearby tree to get away. I heard a bell jingle and immediately realised that she wasn't just a stray, but a lost cat. Ushering Blue back inside, much to her disappointment and much complaining, I went back to where Opal was and scooped her up.
She was skinny, had a potty (swollen) belly, had fleas and was very dirty with some scabs on her face. She was wearing a pink collar with a little bell, but to my disappointment, there were no tags. As I worked at a vet clinic at the time, I decided to take her to work and get her scanned for a microchip. Unfortunately, she didn't have one. Which meant there was only one place to go, the Ottawa Humane Society.
Now I know what you're thinking, "Why didn't you just keep her!" Trust me, I wanted to. At the time we had two cats; Hope and Knight Night, as well as our dog Blue and my other cat Felix, was living with my parents. So, I wasn't quite in the market for another pet. As this is a blog about Opal and her friends, it's obvious we did eventually adopt her, but Opal did spend a short stint at the Humane Society. What was it about Opal though, that made us adopt her? A couple of things; Knight Night, who you will get to know, is our pure black domestic short hair kitty and Opal is pure white, a nice little Yin and Yang sorta vibe. Opal is also what is known as a "Polydactyl Cat" or a "Hemmingway Cat", which means she has extra toes. Opal has so many toes, in fact, that she has almost an entire second paw on each front foot. Her front feet have two extra toes plus a second paw pad. Her back feet have one extra toe each bringing her total toe count to 24, not quite record breaking as the cat with the most toes is Jake, who has 28 toes as per the Guinness Book of World Records. I've always wanted a polydactyl kitty. She was also quite sweet and seemed well tempered.
After a short discussion, my boyfriend and I decided to adopt Opal and she spent a grand total of 10 days at the Ottawa Humane Society where she received fantastic care, was spayed, micro chipped and caught up with her vaccines, all for a really really really reasonable adoption fee. I'd gladly pay that fee again and again when we're ready for another pet.
Since then Opal has come out of her shell, has shown us that her previous life might have been a bit traumatic, but has healed from that trauma, and has proven to be one of the most unique cats I've ever had the pleasure of being the guardian for. The name, "White Thunder" comes from the fact that in the first year of her living with us, it was not uncommon to see a flash of white and the crash or bang of an object, item, or running feet throughout our house. It happened so many times, that it was almost as if she had a second personality that came out when she was playing, and so "White Thunder" was born.
Opal has certainly added a lot of comedy to our lives. She lives hard, plays hard, loves hard, and does so with a silent grace; which is honestly quite contradictory to her nickname. The thing I find funny is how a cat who rarely meows can be so noisy.
Stay tuned, as I introduce the rest of Opal's friends. If you want more White Thunder and Friends, check out our social media pages. Opal also likes to make new friends, so please feel free to share your critters with us and like us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat (OpalEtAl).
Happy Saturday!
~Opals Mom
Welcome to my blog! I am the proud pet parent of four furry critters, and this is a blog about their lives and the crazy shenanigans they get into.
In a sea of pet personalities, I thought we'd dip our paws in, as these four have taught me so much, and bring me a lot of joy. I thought it'd be great to share them with you! To start, I will have a series of introductory posts, telling you more about White Thunder and her Friends and how they found their way into our lives. I will also share more about how we take care of them, what stuff they like, and more.
I am a Registered Veterinary Technician, and I will also share tips and tricks for vet visits, pet care, and things to look out for that may indicate your pet is sick. I hope you find this blog enjoyable, and without further ado, let's get bloggin!
I'll start with the inspiration for this blog, Opal, a.k.a. White Thunder. Opal entered our lives August 2015, a little stray kitty with no place to call home. Although she had called a place home at some point, she found herself lost. One evening when I was out with our dog Blue, who would later become the love of her life and who I will introduce in another post, we found Opal behind our townhome. As Blue adores cats, she wanted to go see Opal, her size was probably a bit intimidating and Opal jumped up onto a nearby tree to get away. I heard a bell jingle and immediately realised that she wasn't just a stray, but a lost cat. Ushering Blue back inside, much to her disappointment and much complaining, I went back to where Opal was and scooped her up.
She was skinny, had a potty (swollen) belly, had fleas and was very dirty with some scabs on her face. She was wearing a pink collar with a little bell, but to my disappointment, there were no tags. As I worked at a vet clinic at the time, I decided to take her to work and get her scanned for a microchip. Unfortunately, she didn't have one. Which meant there was only one place to go, the Ottawa Humane Society.
Now I know what you're thinking, "Why didn't you just keep her!" Trust me, I wanted to. At the time we had two cats; Hope and Knight Night, as well as our dog Blue and my other cat Felix, was living with my parents. So, I wasn't quite in the market for another pet. As this is a blog about Opal and her friends, it's obvious we did eventually adopt her, but Opal did spend a short stint at the Humane Society. What was it about Opal though, that made us adopt her? A couple of things; Knight Night, who you will get to know, is our pure black domestic short hair kitty and Opal is pure white, a nice little Yin and Yang sorta vibe. Opal is also what is known as a "Polydactyl Cat" or a "Hemmingway Cat", which means she has extra toes. Opal has so many toes, in fact, that she has almost an entire second paw on each front foot. Her front feet have two extra toes plus a second paw pad. Her back feet have one extra toe each bringing her total toe count to 24, not quite record breaking as the cat with the most toes is Jake, who has 28 toes as per the Guinness Book of World Records. I've always wanted a polydactyl kitty. She was also quite sweet and seemed well tempered.
After a short discussion, my boyfriend and I decided to adopt Opal and she spent a grand total of 10 days at the Ottawa Humane Society where she received fantastic care, was spayed, micro chipped and caught up with her vaccines, all for a really really really reasonable adoption fee. I'd gladly pay that fee again and again when we're ready for another pet.
Since then Opal has come out of her shell, has shown us that her previous life might have been a bit traumatic, but has healed from that trauma, and has proven to be one of the most unique cats I've ever had the pleasure of being the guardian for. The name, "White Thunder" comes from the fact that in the first year of her living with us, it was not uncommon to see a flash of white and the crash or bang of an object, item, or running feet throughout our house. It happened so many times, that it was almost as if she had a second personality that came out when she was playing, and so "White Thunder" was born.
Opal has certainly added a lot of comedy to our lives. She lives hard, plays hard, loves hard, and does so with a silent grace; which is honestly quite contradictory to her nickname. The thing I find funny is how a cat who rarely meows can be so noisy.
Stay tuned, as I introduce the rest of Opal's friends. If you want more White Thunder and Friends, check out our social media pages. Opal also likes to make new friends, so please feel free to share your critters with us and like us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat (OpalEtAl).
Happy Saturday!
~Opals Mom
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