Mini Mancat Monday

Spooky writes:

Hi, everyone! I came by to chow down at the back porch food bowl yesterday morning, and wanted in. I'm very hungry, very attention-starved, quite a talker and a big purrer. The people are calling me Spooky, after the foster kitten they had two years ago. I guess I look and act very much like him! I'm between 6-8 months old, and un-neutered. They're trying to find my home, but if they can't do that they will adopt me out to a good home of my own. I was almost inhaling my food, and very thirsty, so they think I've been out for at least a few days on my own. I may be a Thanksgiving outdoor cat, or I may be a waif. They've put up ads on the major websites and checked for lost pets there too. We'll just have to see.

Exciting news! Exciting news! Exciting news!

We are moving to a new house in mid-December! We'll probably have everything moved by Christmas!!! We're not moving very far; our new house is in Vancouver, Washington, USA, just one city north (and still in the same metropolitan area). Tabby will keep her therapy job, Mommy and Daddy will keep their jobs, and we will be able to see most of our friends still.

We will have to leave our outside friends, though, and we're furry sad about that! We'll miss them! Shadow may get to go with us, but our purrents need to ask the other people who have also been feeding her (Spongebob's people), to see if they consider her to be their pet. If they don't, then she comes with us! The others will be fed and watched over by a neighbor.

The house we're moving to has polished wood floors (as opposed to our beat-up, painted-on ones), three large bedrooms, a dining room, a large living room, a fireplace (!), one bathroom, lots of closets, a good-sized kitchen, a sliding glass door from the dining room out to a deck, and a garage that can't be used for cars but can be used for storage/pantry/laundry/possibly made into two more rooms as well! Also, the back part of the large yard is wetlands, plus there's wetlands to the side, so lots of birdie-watching for us!

We are soooooo excited!!! When Mommy and Daddy came home from the auction last weekend, they were jumping up and down and so happy, so we started running around so happy as well! Then they told us the news, and we've all been excited ever since!

:) :) :) :) :)

Feral Friday by the Trailer Kitties

Food bowl rollcall:

Shadow, Spongebob, Orange-head kitty, Grey Kitty, Siamese from the next street over.

Shadow absolutely LOVES to be petted now! She asks to be petted every time she sees the lady, and she purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsssss!!!!!!!!! Grey Kitty also likes being petted, but isn't as sure of it as Shadow.

The lady across the street in the house where Dot & Tux were born is taking care of Precious.

You may not hear from us ferals after a few more weeks, and we'll be sad. We're staying in the neighborhood, and are going to be ok. The people in the green house are moving, but we'll let them tell more about that. The lady across the street is going to take care of us and feed us.

Shadow may get to move with the green house people, but we're not sure yet. They need to try to find the other people who are feeding her and ask them first if they consider her to be their pet.

Thankful for Silliness on Thursday

Skylar writes:

Silly, silly day! First, I didn't get my medicine on time. Mommy and Daddy said that Dr. Bob didn't want me to have it! I kept begging for it, but I didn't get it. Then, finally, I got it when I was supposed to get my next dose. They completely skipped one of my doses!

Then, while I was begging for part of Daddy's hamburger, he was teasing me! See that picture above? What doesn't belong? I'll give you the answer at the bottom of this blog entry. Daddy said it helped relieve some of the stress of my blood work results from Tuesday's vet appointment.

I have anemia (17% red blood cell count) and my creatinine levels are elevated considerably. Dr. Bob told my purrents that this may be caused by too much methimazole in my system (my medicine for hyperthyroidism), but that it doesn't usually present in that way. It also may be a sign that the hyper-T was masking kidney disease.

Mommy and Daddy are both very sad about that, even though they knew that there might be something majorly wrong (which is why they took me in to the vet in the first place). The first course of action is to decrease my meds to twice a day, which is why they wouldn't let me have one of my doses today. They're hoping that it will do the trick and help everything within a week. If not, then it's more serious than just a response to my meds.

I go back in for retesting of my blood in two weeks, regardless of if I'm feeling better by then. If it is kidney disease, I won't be doing better by then and my creatinine levels will still be elevated, Dr. Bob says. Mommy and Daddy are praying that it's not kidney disease, because if it is then they say that it will be time for me to join my sister at the Bridge, because they wouldn't want me to suffer more (and for it to show up it would need to have been diseased for some time already).

So that's why we're having a silly time right now. It's so stressful around here, we need the laughter and smiles!

Did you figure out the silliness in the picture yet?

Mixed-up Monday

Starla writes:

Nope, this isn't how the bedroom usually looks! Mommy decided that she would have to start blocking off the dresser (the far, brown, one) so I couldn't hide under there all day every day and use it as a litterbox. She said I need to start being more social, and the only way to do that is to force me to be out. Not all the time, but a lot of the time. Last night, she cleaned under the dresser and super-soaked it with Nature's Miracle. Then she put this obstruction there so I couldn't get back in! I was very confused for a while, then settled down on the far blue container to spend the night.

Tabby rushes in, and gets growled at.

No, I really have something important to say! I won Baby Patches' costume contest! That's probably old news to most kits reading this blog, but Mommy hadn't gotten around to checking on it yet but got an e-mail from Baby Patches telling us. Yay!!!

Tabby runs off, thinking about what to spend the gift card on.

Mommy's Annual Purrrrrrformance Review!

The PDX pride writes:

First of all, thank you to Zoolatry for sending out the purrformance review form. Now, on to the good stuff!

Review of Mommy, also known as Karen Thompson.
Date: 11/08/2009
Reviewed by: Rori, Skylar, Carbon, Tabby, Starla, and the Trailer Kitties.

1. Quantity of Output
The quantity of output varies from day to day. She could do better, as most weeks we only get two or three posts. We'll give her two paws on this one.

2. Quality of Output
We're very happy with the quality of our blog! It tells the story of most of the happenings around here, including each of us inside kitties, the outside kitties (Trailer Kitties), and our fosters (now former fosters). Each of us gets a chance to meow about what's important in our lives. We'll give her four paws on this one.

3. Client Pawticipation
We get some comments on our blog, which is really good. We love reading the comments! She also just put up a Facebook page for Tabby that will chronicle just her modeling and therapy cat work. You can see that here. However, we don't get that much time to visit our friends in the Cat Blogosphere. In fact, we haven't been to see our other cat friends' blogs for over two months now! So she's been very lax on that! We'll give her two swats on this one.

4. Pawticipation (Part II)
We have been able to pawticipate in most of the Cat Blogosphere special events since we joined, and so we're very happy about that! We'll give her four paws on this one.

5. Client Satisfaction
Everyone who comments seems to like our blog. We sometimes get differing opinions, but that's part of the fun of a blog! We love to discuss things! We'll give her four paws on this one.

6. Overall Rating & Suggestions for Improvement
Mommy's overall rating is 2.8 paws. She could improve a lot by just letting us visit our friends' bloggies! We also need to post every day or almost every day.

We love you anyway, Mommy!

-- Rori, Skylar, Carbon, Tabby, Starla, Shadow, Grey Kitty, and all the rest of the PDX pride.

Easy on Sunday Morning

Skylar & Starla write:

After Daddy goes to work in the morning, we take over the chair! It's so comfy! We snuggle with Daddy when he takes naps in it, but then we like to take it over and snuggle with each other after he leaves.

Skylar says:

When I'm not feeling the greatest, as I am now, it helps to snuggle with my best friend Starla. It makes me feel so much better that I start purrrrrrrrrrrring away. Mom's going to take me in to the vet on Tuesday, because I've been drooling excessively and some of it was tinged with blood. I'm also having way more confused days than I was.

Starla writes:

After snuggling for a bit in the chair, I wriggle around so Mommy knows that I want to go back into the bedroom. I still won't run in there by myself if Tabby or Carbon is in the way, because Tabby will chase and I'm afraid that Carbon will (even though he's over that now). Mommy comes and gets me from the chair, takes me in to use the box if I need to, then brings me into the bedroom so I can dive under the dresser again. They're thinking of blocking off the dresser, though, so I will need to find another place to hide if that happens. They hope that by blocking it off, I will explore more of the house and not just automatically go for that one spot. Also, I pee under there if Carbon's in the bedroom. I'm just afraid that if I go to use the box, he'll come get me! Mommy says he's past that now, but I still wonder about him.

Former Foster Friday

Little Bit and all her kittens have finally found good homes! We are pleased to report that, although Squishy is still having poopy problems, he has found a home with people who are willing and able to care for him and pay his vet bills so that he gets consistent medication (which stops the problem). Little Guy has changed his name to Tiger, and is living with a neighbor of our friend Erin. His new daddy also had taken Squishy, but couldn't provide the needed care after he started squishing again, although he was also the one who found the new home for Mr. Squishers. Tiger will do just fine being an only cat, and Squishy will adjust all right to being an only cat once he figures out no one else is there. Tiger loves to watch tv, and sits with Erin's son when she comes over to clean the apartment.

Cloud has grown to be a big guy! He still has his bobcat-like face, but has almost grown into his paws. He loves snuggling and playing with his mommy, and running around the upstairs when he gets the kitten crazies. He is starting to get used to downstairs as well, and treats the carpeted steps more normally.

Kai is doing great in his home, and had his neuter surgery just fine. Boo and Michelle are still charming their family, and are scheduled for their spays soon.

Little Bit is living with her sister Smokey, her new mommy Erin, and human brother Jarek. It took about a week for Smokey to figure out that Little Bit wasn't going to challenge her right to be alpha cat, but after Erin went on vacation for a day and left them by themselves in the apartment they sorted things out and have been pals again ever since. Little Bit is going to have her spay soon, when we can schedule it. It may not be until the beginning of the year. We're going to help Erin out with that. Little Bit still loves to talk, and comes rubbing up and purring to Erin whenever she sits down for a second. Most of the time when I talk with Erin on the phone, Little Bit's trying to get in the conversation as well!

So, kitten season's over, and a good one it was this year! Have great lives at your new homes, everyone! We'll have periodic updates on Smokey, Little Bit, and maybe Tiger.