The Gieskens Family
Our cats
Our cats
We had four cats of whom two are still alive. We never planned to have four, but Daniel had two (Jackie and Pino) and Melanie had one (Xina) before they met. So, together we had three when we moved in together. When Melanie had to visit the vet with Jackie a few times they were looking for a home for an abandoned kitten. Melanie fell in love with it and so we adopter her (Zazu), and we never had any regrets.
Jackie (March 1993 - 31 December 2006)
Daniel got Jackie as a 6 weeks old kitten from a farm. Over the years Daniel and Jackie developed a strong bond. Of all the cats we have seen Jackie was also the most intelligent one. Unfortunately, she got Cushing's dissease, a tumor in the hypophysis deregulating her hormones and effectively giving her diabetes. We didn't know it at first and the vet diagnosed diabetes. We treated this for years until she showed other symptoms (hair that didn't grow back). Then she was diagnosed with Cushing's dissease. Unfortunately, at that time the tumor was too big (and irregular shaped) to operate (with a 50% chance of not surviving the operation). In december 2006 she died of a side effect of this dissease (a hypo and severely deregulated hormone system causing her kidneys to fail).
Pino (May 1993 - April 2009)
Daniel got Pino from a different farm about 2 months after he got Jackie. Pino and Jackie grew up together and were very close. Pino was almost like a teddy bear; she looked cute and loved to be cuddled. She didn't go outdoors very much, but when other cats dared to come into our garden, Pino would chase them until the end of the street. Pino got a very aggressive tumor in her mouth and had to be 'put to sleep' in April 2009.
Xina
Xina is the daughter of Jean-Paul's (Melanie's uncle) cat, Poemi. Someone stepped on Xina when she was very young, which turned her into a coward. Whenever visitors come to the house or when Kyrah runs around a bit fast, Xina runs outside. Once she gets to know you however, she loves to cuddle with you.
Zazu
As explained above, we adopted Zazu as a 4 week old abandoned kitten. She was a fighter; small as she was, she would try to bite your hand and even managed to bite (the otherwise fully in control) vet. We mamaged to turn her in a very social cat who would never bite or scratch (other than accidentally) any person. She was also the first of our cats who accepted Kyrah as a family member and, even though Kyrah was much bigger than Zazu, treated her as a child: when Kyrah in her eagerness would pull Zazu too hard, Zazu would give her a small flick with her paw with her nails retracted, effectively scaring Kyrah without hurting her.
21 January 1900 00:00
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