Wordy Wednesday: Our New House!!!

We've lived in our new house for just over a week now, and are starting to get used to it and find all the fun things about it! There's a fireplace (a thing we've never seen before), lots of windows to look out, heaters in the floor in every room that we stand over and wait until the warm air blows through our fur, and a room with nothing in it! Plus something called a garage that we can't go into but Mommy and Daddy can. That's where the laundry lives.

Here's our individual takes on the move:

Rori writes:

It took me a long time to get used to the new house. At first, I was scared. When we moved, Daddy stuck me in the green crate with Uncle Carbon, who pees on everything when he travels. So I got peed on! Yuck!!!

This is how we moved to our new home. Carbon and I in one crate, and Starla in a soft carrier, then Tabby, Skylar, and Spooky on harness & leash in the front. Plus all our things. You can see our kitty tree on the left, and our scratching post.

Can you see me hiding in these two pictures? I was really scared. I didn't know what was going on! Spooky hid with me in the pony closet, but he was on the bottom shelf so he doesn't show up in the picture.
Mommy carried me out of the closet and showed me the house. I clung to her like I did when I was a kitten. She put me down in the living room and I made a beeline for the bookcase/entertainment center, hiding underneath it. I ran back into the kitty room/office after everyone was asleep. After a couple days, I ventured into the bedroom and hid in the closet there. Then, while Mommy was napping, I timidly explored the rest of the house. When she woke up from her nap, I chirped at her to follow me and showed her the house proudly! I'm now Big Kitty in a bigger house!!!

Skylar writes:

Moving again? Okay by me! I was totally unconcerned with the moving process. When it was time for us kitties to move, our purrents put my harness on and carried me out to our friends' Expedition that they let us borrow.

They had to stop at the store to get new litter boxes and some food for us, so Tabby and I waited in the driver's seat until Daddy came back. Then I sat on Daddy's lap the whole time while he drove.

Once we got there, Starla and I shared a room and the others shared another room. Tabby and Starla still need to be separated, so they figured that was best for us. Once we were all allowed out, I saw my chair had arrived so I hopped up into it and settled right down.

As long as I have my chair, I'm fine! Spooky and Starla like it, too. :)

Carbon writes:

I do not like this thing called "moving"! I peed in the carrier going over, on myself and the blanket and on Rori. :( I had no idea what was going on, and I was so scared that I was shivering and stress purring.

I hid in a teepee (no pun intended) of chart paper for a day, then started to explore the house. Mommy and Daddy were so proud of me when I made it into the living room! Now, I run all over and play with all our toys happily! I love the sliding glass door in the dining room.

Tabby writes:

Moving is fun! What an adventure! I didn't know what to think when everything started being packed up and the furniture and boxes kept disappearing.

Where did the dvd shelves go? I didn't know all our toys were hidden under here!

There were so many interesting smells and fun things to investigate! When we got put in harness, I thought maybe I was going to go visiting but then the others were put in harness and carriers so I thought maybe not. I loved the car ride, and watched out the windows most of the time. At one point, I climbed into the back and rode in the big kitty tree behind Mommy's seat, watching out the window. I rode on the sewing basket as well. Fun stuff!

I was not at all sure about this thing called a "fireplace". What did it do? Mommy said I'd find out. Then Daddy put wood in it, then flame, and it burned but it stayed caged. What was it?

No, really, what was it??? I investigate the heater vents in each room, too. I stand over them with my nose to them and wait for the warm air to fluff my fur. Then I look at Mommy.

This is our dining room. We're getting a drop-leaf table once we put some of this stuff away. I was guarding Mommy's purse.

Once the bed moved in, Skylar and I took a long nap on it. :)

Starla writes:

Moving is scary! I did it once before, and I was kind of scared that it would be the same this time, that my new purrents would abandon me. Everyone else said no, so once Daddy put me in the carrier I settled down. I rode in the back, next to Carbon & Rori's crate. Once there, I was put in the same room as Skylar, because Tabby and I still aren't getting along.

I saw the chair was there, so I ran to it and looked for my little table. It wasn't there! Why wasn't it there? It always is by this chair! Once the living room got put together, my table appeared. I spend a lot of time under it or under the big chair, but I go investigate things too. I also snuggle in bed with Mommy and Daddy. I love doing that!

Fireplaces are kind of scary, but interesting. You may need to biggify this picture to see my reaction to the fireplace, and there wasn't even anything in it!

Spooky writes:

Fun!!! I got to be on harness for the first time, and ride in a car!

Foster Mommy and Foster Daddy were so proud of me and impressed with my car-riding skills. I sat on Foster Mommy's lap the whole way and purred!

I didn't know what a fireplace or a fire was before I came here. I've only tried to climb the screen once, and that was when there wasn't anything inside. I talk to Foster Mommy and Foster Daddy about the fire, and am mesmerized by the whole thing.

I love the wide open spaces and dash from room to room. Foster Mommy throws my jingle balls down the long hallway, and I run after them happily.

Shadow writes:

I'm not quite sure what's going on. The people in the green house haven't been around as much as usual. A few days ago, they were trying to get me to eat out of this big green box, so I did. Not too bad, same food. Then yesterday, as I was letting the lady pet me and was purring for her, she took the back of my neck and lifted me up, then tried to put me in the green box! I realized I was inside it when I was halfway in, stretched out my legs, and the lady was caught off-guard. She didn't close the door quickly enough, and I scratched her on the way out. I didn't mean to scratch, and I was very gentle, but I did leave marks. I just was so scared, and ran toward the back fence.

The lady said she was sorry and said she'd be back to pet me again in a few days. I love her, and love her petting me, but I wasn't at all sure what was going on today!

Spongebob (my friend cat who lives across the street from the green house) said the people in the green house may be moving. He went inside their house yesterday, and called for their kitties to come out, but there were no other kitties inside anymore! The lady said they had all moved to their new house! She told Sponge that they want me to move with them. Maybe that's why she wanted me in that box?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us!
We are mostly moved into our new home, and enjoying the big rooms, hallway, and our first fireplace.
We hope the new year is filled with blessings for you and your families!

Love, the PDX pride:
Rori, Skylar, Carbon, Tabby, Starla, foster kitten Spooky,
and feral (yet to be caught and brought over) Shadow.

PhotoHunt: Undesirable

Baths are very undesirable!

Especially for long-haired cats!

Lydia looks absolutely shocked at Carbon's post-bath fur!

Lydia, even my tail's drenched and dripping!

*glares at Mommy* Why did you have to do this???

Not a happy camper! Carbon, October 2007.

PhotoHunt

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.

Tabby's Halloween Costume!

I want to dress up for Halloween, but how will I choose an outfit? Mommy laid out all my outfits for me, then I hopped up to examine them. Some of them fit me still, but others were from when I was a kitten so they don't fit as well anymore.

Mommy, help me choose? I can't decide!

I'm going to the Halloween party at the pet store as a hippie!

I also have entered the Cat's Meow costume contest and the World's Coolest Dog & Cat Show over on Catster.

Our new kitty jungle gym!

Mommy found this for us at Goodwill for $13! She couldn't believe what she was seeing; that there actually was a kitty tree there! We love it!

Happy birthday to Skylar!!!

Skylar writes:

It's my 10th birthday today! :) I'm celebrating by snuggling on top of my best friend in the house: Starla. She's kind of glaring at me, but allowing me to sit on her, MOL!

Sorry I haven't written in my diary, but being an uncle to 6 foster kittens plus Little Bit took all my energy this summer! They loved to play tails with me, climb on me and over me, jump at me, ambush me, and snuggle with me! Playing and snuggling with the very young ones has kept me semi-healthy and very happy. :)

Sis, I love you and wish you were still here to celebrate our birthday. Miss you, Lydia!

Unhappy Therapy Cat

Tabby writes:

Last Friday, Mommy and I went visiting at the nursing home. I hadn't been for a month, because we'd had the tiny kittens and then Daddy had been sick. But I was all excited to go on Friday to see my friends again! I did my rounds, hopping out of the stroller at each room and walking in on my leash.

When I walked in to see E.M., someone I don't visit regularly but who is on the floor I visit, she asked if it was a dog on the leash. The people I visit are the ones who need the most care, so some of them have Alzheimer's or other major disorders/illnesses. When Mommy explained that I was a cat and asked her if she'd like to visit with me, I walked right up to her chair. She kicked me! I sidestepped, then looked at Mommy with a horrified expression on my face. No one had ever kicked me before!!! Mommy called me over, picked me up, and we walked into the hallway. She put me down on the floor and gave me cuddles and pets, telling me that I was a good girl and that she was sorry that the lady had done that. After a few minutes, she could tell I was ok to go on to the next room.

I watched feet and wheels really closely after that, the whole visit! I was also growly, but Mommy understood why.

We won't be visiting with that lady ever again. Mommy made sure to tell our contact person about that, and asked that we not visit that lady. The contact person totally understood.

I went to Mommy's Norwegian class that evening, and charmed all the students, so the day ended on a happy note.

Happy National Feral Cat Day!!! :)

This last year has been a year of drastic changes in our feral colony: some bad, mostly good. Shadow (pictured above) has been coming to our back porch bowl for a few years now, and is now letting me (Karen) pet her most times! She also enthusiastically headbutts Tabby (who follows me out of the house to go say hi).

Outdoor Fluffy Buddy, pictured here in late January, hasn't been seen since March or April. He may still be around, just have found other hunting grounds for the moment.


Tux hadn't been seen for over a year, but now makes regular appearances again! We're so glad he's doing well.

Little Bit and Starla are now both inside cats, and Little Bit's kittens all have wonderful homes. Starla is getting socialized more and more every day, and now comes out on her own most days to sit with my husband and snuggle when he gets home from work.

The little shelter we built on the porch hasn't been used, because all the ferals now prefer the basement/laundry room. We're glad they feel comfortable inside there.

Marble came and visited us for a few months, but hasn't been seen since we brought Little Bit inside. We do have a new grey kitty who comes around, who is comfortable with humans but hasn't let us pet him yet.

Happy National Feral Cat Day to one and all!