[Magdalen] chomp

[Marion Thompson]

I wonder how his teeth are now.

Marion, a pilgrim
On 11/22/2014 1:40 PM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford wrote:
> Max, our oldest cat, is also quite remarkable.  He came to us with such
> terrible teeth that we had to have several of his teeth removed.  There was
> a very strong odor, probably from necrosis, when he got in our lap.  He
> also would give us kisses, and then seemed to get carried away and would
> give us bites.  His fangs were intact, and he sometimes drew blood.  We
> both knew that he didn't mean any harm. For one thing, if he actually
> wanted to, he could easily rip a chunk of flesh out, and his bites were
> generally "pulled punches".  He would go after my beard and would give it a
> good munching and sometimes would pull some hair out. I would let him know
> if he was hurting me, and he was sensitive enough to stop, but it seems so
> instinctive that he cannot unlearn this behavior.  We do not want to swat
> him, and the feeling is it would just upset him and he still would not
> stop, so we just try to fuss over him whenever he's doing appropriate stuff.
> Then he lost some of his fangs, and his bite seems a lot less severe, and
> he seems to do it a lot less.
>
> Still, I wonder if I could do something to improve his quality of life in
> some way.  He often seems to cry as if he were hungry, but his food and
> water are intact, and he isn't interested in playing.
>
> How these little fellows work their ways into our hearts.
>
> Today I put food out for him (regular feeding time) and he looked at it,
> but in a few moments he was in my lap, butting my head with his, touching
> his paw to my face. Then, chomp. Then he seemed to pull back, a la "oops,
> not supposed to do that, eh, Dad?"  I took down the pull toy, which
> sometimes interests him, but he paid no attention.
>
> He seemed to want something, but I don't know what it might be. That I
> can't understand what he needs upsets me greatly.
>
> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
> *“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better
> for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your time
> on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente
>