Happy Meowloween!!!

Happy Meowloween from all of us at the PDX pride!  We'll be celebrating while being safely indoors.  Lana and Logan got a pumpkin, and Lana's going to carve it today.  We've already been investigating it, and Autumn can't wait to jump inside!  We don't get trick-or-treaters at our house, so Mommy is going over to Grammy's house to do a "haunted yard" and hand out treats while in costume.  Tabby isn't going with her, because it will probably be cold and rainy.

Stay safe and away from that scary door, and don't forget to paw the clocks back before you go to bed on Halloween night!

Daddy's a lifesaver!

Autumn writes:

We're so proud of our daddy!  We've been hearing little birdies cheeping in the fireplace for a few weeks now.  Our purrents said the birdies built a nest way up high in the chimney and the sounds were echoing down to us in the house.  Daddy put a big piece of cardboard across the opening so that we couldn't get to them and they couldn't get in the house itself, in case they came down that far.

A few days ago, I woke Daddy up trying to climb the fireplace screen to see if I could move that cardboard piece.  I could hear the birdies even clearer, and they made quite a racket!  Their nest fell down into the fireplace!  Our purrents put the junk mail in the fireplace instead of shredding it, but we haven't been able to light a fire for a while because of the nest.  That turned out to be very lucky for the little birdies!  There were four alive, and one that had been dead for a while.  The four live ones let Daddy pick them up (with gloves, of course) and put them in the cardboard base of a water bottle package.  They were flopping around and trying to fly, but couldn't yet.  Mommy says they'd just gotten their adult feathers but hadn't learned how to fly yet.  She said they looked like robins, and the nest was made of sticks.  I thought they looked like fun to play with, but Daddy said ikke (meaning no).

Daddy took them out and put them up on the top of the roof so the mama birdie could find them.  We heard them cheeping the next morning, so they survived until then and were calling for their mama.  We hope they're ok now and have learned to fly!  Please don't make anymore nests in our chimney, birdies!  Daddy's going to put a chimney cap on it so they can't get in.

Yummy Treats!

Little Bit:  Freya, what do you have there?
Freya:  They're some new treats that we got in the mail!  The nice folks at Chewy.com sent us these new Greenies to try!
Autumn:  Fun paper, Auntie Freya, can I play?
Freya:  Yes, Autumn, but don't spill the Greenies.
Little Bit:  She can't; they're resealable.  See the top of the bag?  That keeps them from falling out and keeps them safe from kitten paws.
Autumn:  But not kitten teeth!  Can we open them yet?
Freya:  Better let Mommy give you some, rather than trying to bite the packet.  You know she doesn't like when we help ourselves, because then we tend to eat too many at once!

Rori:  They sure smell good!  What flavor are they?
Mommy:  They're tuna-flavored and salmon-flavored.  The tuna flavor is the SmartBites Hairball Control formula and the salmon flavor is the Healthy Skin and Fur formula.
Rori:  Does this mean that they'll help with my matting?
Mommy:  Yes, but you still have to let me brush the shed fur before the mats start.
Rori:  Do I get these treats afterward?  Please?
Mommy:  I can do that!

Sherbet:  Are these even food?  They taste too good to be real food?
Mommy:  They're called treats, Sherbet.  They're special, not part of your regular food.
Sherbet:  I think I like treats!

Disclaimer:  We were given the Greenies by the people at Chewy.com in exchange for a review.
  All opinions are our own and not influenced by the sponsors.

Monday Movie: Easter Egg Roll 2015

Caring for Daddy

Daddy has the flu!  He's been sick for a week and a half now, so we've all been taking turns caring for him.  In this picture, Autumn is on the footrest and Panther is behind Daddy's back.  Autumn, Missy, and Starla have been Daddy's main nurses, with Freya and Panther also taking turns sometimes.  At one point, all three of his main nurses were snuggling at one time!  Daddy's getting a little better, but scared us all last night when he started to not breathe like normal.  He had to go to the emergency room, so Grandpa took him.  He's back home now with us and getting some more of our healing snuggles and purrs, and breathing better again.

Adoptable Autumn (and Happy Birthday to Little Bit)

We are pawticipating in the A to Z challenge this year!  This should be fun!  Today, our post is written by foster cat Autumn.

 Autumn writes:

Hi, everyone!  I'm the youngest here, and I'm about a year old.  I am a petite young lady, spayed, and current on all my shots.  I've been here for almost 6 months now, learning how to be a grown-up kitty in a family.  I'm very well-behaved, except for I think the bathtub is a place to pee.  One of the other kitties here, a special-needs cat named Starla, does that, so I've started doing it, too.  My foster parents are sure that I will learn how to use the box for pee when I'm in a home with a well-behaved older cat who would like an energetic playmate.

I'm looking for a new foster family or a forever family in the Portland, OR, USA, area.  I love this foster family, but I need a home where I have a consistent role-model for using the litter box.  I am an inside-only kitty who needs plenty of playtime and snuggle time.  I give hugs with both front paws and sleep hugging my foster daddy's tummy.  I love the laser pointer and feather toys, as well as milk rings and springs.  I also love running around with the other kitties here, and always jump on Tabby to try to get her to play!

I came from a backyard breeder on Craigslist and was sold to a young couple.  They thought I was a little boy!  I had a different name back then.  The couple broke up and the lady couldn't take care of me anymore, because she was going to live in the dorms, so she asked my foster parents to take me instead.  My foster parents named me Autumn, because my head looks like it has an orange autumn leaf on it!

If you would like to foster me or adopt me, please leave a comment on this blog with a link so that my foster parents can contact you.  You can also e-mail them by clicking on our profile in the sidebar, where it says "PDX pride".  Hope you have a great first day of April, and keep checking every day for more letter-themed posts!

Do you think I should wake up Little Bit to tell her happy birthday?  Nah, I think I'll let her sleep!  She'll have the rest of the day to pawty!

Feral Friday: Sherbet's Big Adventure!

Sherbet writes:

Hi, everyone!  I'm Panther's brother, and I normally live outside.  I was unmercifully tricked into this metal box on Tuesday, kept inside for a day, then rode in a car somewhere.  I was drugged then rode back home in another car.  I had a big adventure, and it's still continuing!   More on that later, though....

I never came inside when Panther did, because the humans didn't know about me then.  I started coming around after Tigress came back, once Panther was already inside.  He gets so excited when he sees me, and we have the same eyes and facial structure, so we must be related somehow.  That's why the humans call us brothers.  From the humans' estimation, we're the same age:  2 years old (just barely).

On Tuesday, the box appeared in my usual eating spot on the back porch.  I saw the human lady put it out there.  She talked softly to me, but I hid under the deck until she was done arranging the box.  She put food in it, but I didn't believe it was food for me.  I waited a while, then decided to try to eat it.  I went into the box, stepped over the trip plate with my front paws, and ate what I could of the dry food.  The lady put more food out, then some tuna.  I had to put my back feet on the trip plate to get at the yummy stuff, and that's when it happened.  I jumped so high I hit my head and back on the top of the trap and it jumped, too!  I didn't like that, so I didn't jump anymore.  I froze, even when the lady brought the trap inside.  I figured the others wouldn't see me if I didn't move, but they saw me anyway.  Once I was inside, my silly brother walked right up to the trap and swatted my behind through the wires!  I guess he wanted to play, but it surprised me.  I didn't do anything, though, and he got in trouble for it.

The others circled around me, walking in a line around the trap and sniffing me.  Once they completed three or four circles each, they settled into the formation in the picture above.  From left to right, it's Freya, Panther, Carbon, Tabby, Autumn, and then Little Bit is on the tote box under the table.  Heimdall also played, but had walked off into the living room before this picture was taken.  They are all really nice kitties, and my friend Tigress from outside is also in here.  I'm glad I have someone familiar!  The human man is nice, too, as well as the lady.  The human man told me that I was safe inside this house and that no one would hurt me or fight with me.  Autumn, the kitten, guarded me and hissed at anyone who dared to come right up to the trap to try to touch noses with me!

I was offered some wet food, but I didn't eat any of it.  Carbon got mad that I got wet food and he didn't, so he lay down on top of the trap!  The humans said that's a regular thing for him to do.  It didn't bother me, except it was confusing.  I kept looking up at him, but didn't move out from under where he was.  I peed in the trap after scrambling to get out, but the lady cleaned it up because there was a towel and a garbage sack under the trap.

Auntie Cai took the lady and me over to the clinic that the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon did and left me there!  I was such a good boy for both my car rides, and didn't make any sounds or anything!  I played teeter-totter with the trap while I was carried, though, walking from one end of it to the other.  Well, what did they expect?  I'm used to solid ground under my paws!  The people at FCCO neutered me, cleaned my ears, gave me ear mite medicine, flea medicine, and my vaccinations.  They thought I was a senior cat!  I don't know where they got that idea, but that's definitely not what I look like.  Maybe they thought my teeth were that old?  Auntie Shawnee came with the lady to pick me up again, and I played teeter-totter a little.  I was still very groggy from the anesthesia, though, so I didn't move around as much.

I spent a while longer at home in the trap, then I peed again.  The people at FCCO had put a piece of newspaper as a lining in the trap, so the lady opened the door a little to take the newspaper out.  I didn't want to let it go!  I rode the newspaper from the end of the trap almost to the door of it, then I bit the lady's finger and ran out of the trap!  To be fair, she had been holding her finger out for me to sniff, so I took that as an indication that it was something to bite.  I didn't bite hard, though, just a warning chomp.

I found this roll-top desk in the dining room and climbed it.  I stayed up there for about an hour, just watching everyone and taking in everything, trying to acclimatize to my new environment.  The man walked right up to the other end of the desk and talked softly to me, telling me no one would hurt me here, and then blinked really slowly at me to tell me he loves me.  I blinked back at him, so he blinked again.  I like it in here, so I stayed inside even when the lady offered me the open door!  After a while, I moved to the door but still didn't want to go out.  The lady started watching tv, so I cruised around the dining room and even the living room before being spooked by the magic picture box and flying down the hallway.  I found another desk in the far bedroom and hid there, hissing at a couple of the others when they came to find me.  After a while, I wandered into the next room and found a quiet spot under the big bed.

I stayed under the bed most of yesterday and will probably stay under here for today, too.  The lady put food and water in this room, but I don't trust anyone enough to go out to eat it or drink it yet.  The man and the lady have both been coming in to talk to me, and the lady looked at me from the middle of the room.  The others have been looking at me, too, but haven't really bothered me.  I'm glad that everyone's giving me space and time to get used to everyone and everything.  The lady put this odd thing called a Feliway diffuser on the wall, and that's helping to calm me down and make me feel more secure here.  I don't know whether I want to stay inside all the time, but it's a nice place to be right now, at least under this bed.

Spay Update!

Autumn writes:

I aced my spay!  Wait, what?  That's not how it's supposed to go?  Well, what do I know?  I'm just a 7-month-old kitten!  Foster Daddy picked me up yesterday afternoon and brought me back home.  I had just woken up and eaten a little, so I was still pretty groggy at first and barely talked at all in the car.  Foster Daddy watched me closely the first few hours, and the first thing I did was climb up the ladder to the loft bed!  He watched me really closely for that, and plucked me off there pretty quickly.

Foster Daddy wondered why I didn't snuggle with him right away, but then he realized that maybe I didn't feel good enough yet to hop up into the chair with him.  Foster Mommy picked me up and lifted me into the chair, so I ended up snuggling on Foster Daddy and getting pets from both of them!  I purred through the whole thing and tried to head-butt Foster Daddy's glasses like usual, so they knew I was feeling more like myself.

Aunties Dare, Rori, and Freya keep checking on me, and sometimes Aunties Tabby and Missy do, too.  I was playing with the mesh on the carrier, because I think it's funny to be able to see through it, and Auntie Freya came over to play.  She scared me, so I hissed at her.  She got a funny look and backed off, like she couldn't quite believe I was hissing this soon!

Feral and Foster Friday: In and Saturday Spay Day

Tigress writes:

I'm in!  I'm choosing to be inside more often, and for almost all the day and the night now!  A couple weeks ago, I surprised Mommy while she was working on the computer.  She felt me ask her and thought I wanted foot pets.  Nope!  I hopped up onto the computer desk like I've seen Uncle Heimdall and Auntie Rori do, and I wanted hand pets!

C'mon, Mommy!  You take too many pictures.  I'll just take a nap while you photograph me, then maybe I'll get some hand pets.  (I eventually did get my pets.)

Autumn writes:

I'm learning a lot about "in" this week!  First, we had a fire in the fireplace, which was exciting!  And, no, I did not want to be "in" there with it.  I liked watching it, though.

Foster Mommy wore her rain boots one of the days, and I had to check them to make sure Foster Mommy's legs were still in the boots.  I pulled down the top of one, because it comes up to her knee, and there was her leg!

I stuck my head in the cupholder on Tabby's stroller, then bounced onto the bed and climbed in the pocket that hangs from the bed to hold books and a cell phone.  Foster Mommy pulled me out, but I was very cozy in there!  Next, I found some bags of treats that were hidden in a bag on a chair.  Everyone loved those, especially Uncle Carbon!  Yum!

I'm at the vet waiting for my spay today.  What's a "spay", and will I like it?  I rode in a car in a carrier today.  Auntie Cai came over and picked Foster Mommy and me up to take us there, then took Foster Mommy to work.  Foster Daddy had a doctor's appointment (not a vet one) today, so that's why just Foster Mommy went with me.  I was good in the car, but talked a lot and really wanted out so I could watch everything through the window.  I like riding in someone's arms better, but I couldn't do that this time.  Foster Mommy said I'll come back home this afternoon sometime.  The vet gave me a snuggly gingerbread stuffed toy, and I promptly lay down with it under my belly.  I'm not sure I like this "vet" place, but I was content to be carried back to the waiting area and get in my cage to wait for my turn to be spayed.  I'll get my vaccinations today, too.  I'm 7 months old now!  I'm adoptable to a good home in the Portland, OR,/Vancouver, WA, area.

We hope you like this post.  Remember, the word of the week is IN!

Wordy Wednesday: What have we been up to?

Carbon writes:

Your furry investigative repurrter Carbon here, with the news about the household.  First of all, there has been an unexpected lull in our repurrting.  Please pardon the interruption of the news.  It couldn't have come at a worse time, when Auntie Lydia's Bridge Day Annifursary and National Feral Cat Day were upon us!  However, our paws just aren't the best for typing on the human keyboards, and our typist was out of commission.

She's ok, though, and we put her back to work pronto!  I watched out the window for any strange goings-on, like big dogs or sewer-sucky machines while she slept on the couch for a few days straight.  Doctors Tabby and Heimdall revved their purr motors up and alternated sleeping on the couch back or behind her knees.  Nurse Dare and Aide Autumn put their purring skills and super snuggling skills to good use on her legs.  All of us made sure to supervise her walking around the house and we all were extra-good to not get underfoot.

Daddy took good care of us while Mommy was resting and recuperating.  Daddy still will need to be the one in charge of us (and our food, water, and boxes) for about 6 weeks, because Mommy had gall bladder surgery.  Mommy showed us the owies so that we would know what to avoid.  Daddy made sure to tell us exactly how he expected us to behave.  We mostly followed his expectations so far, with some kitten antics and some hairballs, but that's to be expected as well.  Mommy will sleep on the couch for at least another week, maybe longer, which is just fine with us.  More room to snuggle!

Happy Birthday to Daddy!

Missy writes:

Today's Daddy's birthday!  We're not saying how old he is, but it has a 4 in it somewhere.  We're going to make sure he has LOTS of snuggles and purrs today, especially because he's got a cold so he needs our snuggles to warm him up.  That little Autumn has been hogging Daddy lately, but today she's allowed to if she wants, I guess.  Normally, his lap is my territory.  At least she let me use the box first this morning, hmph.

Foster Friday: Introducing Autumn

Autumn writes:

Oh, hi!  I didn't realize there were other humans and big cats here, reading what we write!  I'm Autumn, and I've been at this place for a week now.  I'm a foster kitten.  I'm about 4 1/2 months old, and I'm a double-fanged monster!  Rawr!  No, actually I'm a sweet baby who is teething right now, because I just got my adult teeth but still have my baby teeth.  That means I like to chomp on arms and legs, but I'm always careful not to break the skin.  I have very good manners!  I even use soft paws on my foster purrents, instead of clawing (at least most of the time).

I'm also very smart!  In a week, I've learned to ask for petting and for up, just like Tabby and Heimdall do!  I also know how to hop into the stroller for a nap, and I know the best sleep spots in the house.  I also do funny kitten stuff, like try to climb onto the desk by standing in the garbage can, spilling it over in the process.  After I did that, I walked around the house with a used tissue on my back for a few minutes before I shook it off!  Foster Mommy didn't have the camera handy at the moment, though!

My other people had to give me up.  My other mommy loves me very much, but she split up with my other daddy and couldn't take me to college with her.  I couldn't stay with my other daddy, either.  My other mommy is a student of Foster Mommy's, so she called Foster Mommy and arranged to bring me to this home.  At the time, my name was Doug and my other people thought I was a little boykit.  I guess they never checked to see once I got old enough!  My foster purrents quickly changed my name once they saw I was a little girlkit.

This is why I'm now named Autumn.  My orange spot looks just like a leaf landed on my little head!  Everyone loves my colors.  There is another kitty here who looks like me and her name is Missy.  She doesn't really like me much, because she thinks I'm taking Foster Daddy away from her.  No, I'm not!  I just like sitting with him and snuggling because I spent most of my first day here in his lap being petted.

At first, I was overwhelmed by all the big kitties here.  At my other home, I was an only kitten, so this was a complete change!  I hissed at everyone, but then I realized that they were only curious.  I was curious, too!  I saw something waving around, so I crouched low in the chair and tracked it.  Suddenly, I made up my mind to grab it, so I pounced!  One of the big cats turned to look at me and jerked the waving thing away.  It was Heimdall's tail!  Now, every time I see that tail, I go play with it.  It's the best toy in the world, and the big cat attached to it, Heimdall, doesn't even mind unless I try to bite!

I also like playing with Dare, who is my size even though she's older than I am.  I like playing chase up and down the hallway with her, even though I can't leap as high as she does.  She hops to the top of the roll-top desk, and I can't get that far even with an in-between jump.  I try to get Rori to play sometimes, and she played a little with me yesterday around a box, but then she swatted at me and I got scared.  She was confused because I ran off, so she apologized to me by touching noses with me later on to tell me she was sorry.  All these big cats are two to five times my size, except for Dare and Missy.  That's big!

I like my foster home, but I would really love a home of my own.  I'm very social, smart, and friendly to humans and other cats.  I'm up-to-date on all my shots, but still need to be spayed.  My foster purrents are going to make an appointment for that next week, probably.

I'm off to explore and play!  Meow at you later!