Caturday

 Spyro:  I found the best cat bed.  There are two big white boxes in the kitchen and this white basket full of nice soft stuff is up on top of one of them.

Karen Jo:  That's my laundry basket, Spyro.  I see that I will have to be better at folding my laundry once it is dry if I don't want cat hair all over my underwear, socks, towels and sheets.

I am just relaxing while Spyro is taking a nap in the laundry basket.  I just got brushed and Mom got a lot of fur off my tummy.  Spyro is great fun, but he can be exhausting.  He is always running and jumping and playing.  I am sharing everything with him.  He even got in my ham-mick and I just ignored it.

Karen Jo:  I was a little surprised at that.  There were two places that Emma never dared to go -- Herman's bed by the heat vent and his ham-mick. Spyro chased a toy under the ham-mick, then got up in the ham-mick to reach down and bat it around some more.  Herman kept his head turned the other way, but didn't do a thing.  I think I can safely say that there is absolutely no jealousy at all between Spyro and Herman.

There is some new food around here.

Karen Jo:  I took Spyro to the vet on Thursday just for an introductory visit.  It turns out that there is no statistically significant difference in the lifespans of cats who get Interferon from the time they are diagnosed and those who never get Interferon at all.  The vet assured me that it won't hurt him.  I will give it to him on the same schedule as I give it to Herman.  Spyro might just be in that statistically insignificant group that it helps.  The vet also emphasized the importance of giving Spyro high-quality food.  He has outgrown his need for kitten food, so I went to the pet store and got him some grain-free all natural kibble from the same company that makes Herman's weight control formula. While I was there, it struck me that Spyro might be persuaded to eat grain-free all natural canned food as well.  I got him several cans of Wellness.  When I opened the first can and served some to Spyro Thursday night, Herman dashed in, pushed Spyro out of the way and ate more than half of the serving. This might help explain why Spyro attacked the Temptations that night while I was out. Friday morning, Spyro just sniffed at the Wellness.  I wanted him to eat it, so I stuck a few Temptations into it.  That did the trick. Spyro ate almost all the Wellness. Now he wants Temptations on his food at every meal.  Spyro seems to know that the food in his room is his and the food in the kitchen is Herman's.  Spyro has sniffed at Herman's Medley and Fancy Feast and nibbled at his kibble, but he cleans the dish in his room.  That brings me to a slight mystery that I found this morning.

Karen Jo:  The following paragraph contains graphic descriptions of the stuff that comes out of kitty innards, so if that makes you squeamish, just skip this bit.  When I got up to feed the boys their breakfast this morning I found a long, thin line of yack, as if the kitty had backed up while yacking, right by Spyro's food.  Closer inspection allowed me to determine that the yack was mostly kibble and it was several hours old.  I went to the bathroom and found something long, thin and dark on the floor right next to the litter box.  I thought that some kitty had kicked some poop out of the box, but it turned out to be a hairball. The question is, who did the yacking?  Spyro is the kitty who gets up the most in the night and it was his food, but the hairball was very dark gray and a Spyro hairball would be lighter in color, I think.  On the other hand, Herman has a history of gorging himself on kibble, then yacking it back up.  The color of the hairball matches most of his coat and Herman has been grooming himself much more lately.  I think Herman did the yacking.  Now the question is should I try to keep Herman out of Spyro's kibble and if so, how?

Did you really have to bring all of that up?

Karen Jo:  You brought it up first

Yuck!  That Wellness is pretty good stuff.  I would help Spyro eat it if he would ever leave any.

Karen Jo:  I am glad to hear it.  You might just get switched over eventually. When you run out of Medley I am not buying you any more.

No more Medley!  That's mean!

Karen Jo: You need to lose weight.  If I don't get you any more Medley, that will cut down on the size of your meals.  You don't eat it half the time, anyway.

This diet business is really beginning to stink.

Karen Jo:  Chase Spyro around some more and you might get the weight off with exercise.

Froot Bat? Friday

Spyro:  The lady thinks I have froot bat ears.  What do you think?

She's not "the lady", Spyro.  She's the Mom.

Spyro:  But I thought that she was your Mom.

She is, but she is your Mom, too.  I am willing to share.

Spyro:  Thanks, bro'.

I am not sure I am ready for that yet.

Karen Jo:  You will be soon, Herman.  Herman really is willing to share me with Spyro.  When Spyro jumped up on the bed Wednesday night, I thought there would be trouble, but there wasn't.  Herman moved down near my feet to give Spyro room to crawl all over me and that's exactly what he did.  He just wouldn't settle down and kept waking me and Herman up.  Herman finally got up in disgust and went to sleep in the living room.

Spyro:  I was just excited to be in a new home with a new family.  I let everyone sleep last night.

Karen Jo:  That you did.  You slept on my pillow, leaning against my forehead and Herman slept next to my chest.  The two of you were less than an inch apart.

Spyro:  Mom took away that round thing with the ball that Herman wouldn't let me play with and replaced it with this:

 Karen Jo:  Herman had torn up the cardboard scratcher on the Turbo Scratcher something awful and Spyro wanted to chew on the cardboard.  I took it away and put together the two Turbo Tracks that I got for Herman's birthday.

 Spyro:  I really like it.  I started playing with the balls as soon as Mom put them in the track, even before she got the last piece in place.

Wait a minute!  You gave Spyro my birthday present?!?

Karen Jo:  Don't worry, Herman.  Your birthday isn't until June.  I will order you something else.  You won't get left out.  Now I have some questions.  What happened here?

 Spyro:  That's easy.  I was up on the table and jumped down on top of it.  I went right through.  It was an accident.

Karen Jo:  It's OK, Spyro.  You still have the purple one to play with.  Who tore open this new bag of Temptations?

Spyro:  Herman did it!  I saw him eating them.

Did not!

Karen Jo:  Spyro, I quite believe that you saw Herman eating some of the Temptations once the package had been torn open, but he has been living here for a long time and he has never done anything like this.  It was you, wasn't it?

Spyro:  Yeah, I guess so.  But they are so good and they were just sitting there in plain sight and easy to get to and you weren't here to ask for some.

Karen Jo:  It's all right.  I put them away in a drawer now, so you can't do it again.  What amazes me is that over half the bag was still in the bag.

We weren't hungry enough to eat the whole bag.

Introoder Alert!

We have had some excitement around here.  There I was all unsuspecting.  I had just swiped Mom's warm spot on the couch.

I had already played with my toys from Creme de la Cat that Cody sent us for his giveaway.  Thank you, Cody.  They are awesome.  I especially like the little candy-striped one and the square catnip pouch.  And the ball, of course.  The very next day Mom got a phone call, then made a phone call, then started messing around in Emma's room, then took my stroller out and came back with this:

I guess he is here to stay.  He escaped from Emma's room this morning and has been running around the house ever since.

Karen Jo:  His name is Spyro ( Spear-o) and he is around one year old.  He tested positive for feline leukemia and I am the only one listed with the Friends of the Shelter who is willing to take in FeLV+ cats. This is the first picture I could get of him, because he rarely stops moving.  He is listening to Herman talking just outside the door. I got him home about 4:00 yesterday and by 10:30 this morning he was ready to explore the house.  I won't say that he and Herman have hit it off, but there has been only a little soft hissing, mostly from Spyro.  Herman sometimes tries to tap him with his paw as Spyro runs by, but it isn't a serious attempt at a whap.  Herman and Emma used to play this game.

Spyro:  Hey!  I wanna tell my story.

Karen Jo: Go ahead, Spyro.

Spyro:  First I lived with some people.  They were nice to me, but one day they took me to this place and left me there.  I got put in a cage and poked and prodded and stabbed with needles and put to sleep and got a sore bottom.  Then I had to stay in that stupid cage forever and ever.

Karen Jo:  It was a little less than a month, Spyro.  They wanted to keep you long enough to get your boosters and completely heal from getting fixed.  Your first people never took you to a vet, so you had to get all your kitten shots.

Spyro:  Then this lady came and petted me and picked me up and put me in a cage on wheels and took me outside.  That was interesting, but I was tired of being in a cage, so I tried to push out the window thingy.  That didn't work, so I settled down and enjoyed the ride.  Pretty soon we went through a door and into a house and into a big room.  There was a great, big kitty in that room and he reared up to look at me.  I backed away from him, but I wasn't scairt of him.  The lady picked me up out of the cage on wheels and took me into a little room with food and water and a litter box and furniture and a high window I could look out of.  It was cool.  I was a little shy of the lady, but she went away and left me all alone.  I didn't like that.  Later she came back and sat down on some furniture and I jumped up and checked out her lap.  It was nice and warm and squishy.  I got lots of petting.  Then she went away again, but kept coming back every once in a while.  After it got dark, she went away for quite a while, but came back with more food.  Then she went away for a very long time.  Once it got light again, I heard her moving around so I meowed and meowed and she came and fed me again and petted me a little and went away again for a long time.  I wanted out.  When she finally came in again, that big kitty followed her in and I darted around and ran out.  This is a big house with lots of rooms and lots of toys.

This one is my favorite so far. There is a ball that flashes and goes around in a circle, but the big kitty charged me when I tried to play with it.  The lady made some fevvers fly around and I loved that, too.  Mostly the big cat just lies around and watches me play.  We have touched noses a couple of times and for some reason he likes to sniff my butt.  I think I am going to like it here.

Karen Jo:  I really hope that you do, Spyro.  There isn't the huge size difference between Spyro and Herman that here was between Emma and Herman. Spyro is wary of Herman, but isn't afraid of him.  I saw them lying on the living room carpet only about a foot apart just a little while ago. Spyro has already discovered that he can go places that Herman can't.  Herman chased Spyro down the hall and Spyro spent some time under my bed, but he was out again within an hour.  I hope to get a picture of Spyro's face soon, but he just moves around so much that I haven't been able to yet.

So he is going to stay.  I guess I can get used to him in time.

Karen Jo:  You can't fool me, Herman.  You are just as excited as I am to have a new kitty in the house.  You wanted to meet him up close as soon as he came in the house.

Yeah, I did.  I think he will be fun to chase.  We might even become friends.

Tuxie Tuesday

Mom has been a bad blogger again.  She really intended to make an Easter post and even took this picture of me with my bunny and duck.  Then she got "busy" again and didn't post.

Karen Jo:  I am sorry, Herman.  I have had a lot going on lately.  I did get my taxes checked and mailed in time.  I had to take care of you, too.

Take care of me?  You took me to the vet to be tortured.  Easter Sunday, Mom took away my food at ten o'clock in the evening.  That's dinner time.  She had given me my dinner at eight, but I didn't eat much of it.  I didn't know she was going to take it away.  I woke her up at 1:00 am demanding breakfast, but I didn't get it.  I woke her up again just before dawn and just after dawn and I still didn't get any food.  Then she got up way early for her and popped me in my stroller and whisked my off to the vet and left me.  They stole some of my blood and put me in a cage.  A little while later they came and got me and put something over my face and I went to sleep.  When I woke up, I was back in the cage and they had stolen one of my teeth and some fur on my foreleg and snipped off the tips of my nice, sharp claws.  I had to stay in that cage forever until Mom came and picked me up.  They did give me a little food, but it was yucky and I didn't eat much of it.

Karen Jo:  You needed to have your teeth cleaned.  They trimmed your claws because you are known to be a bit feisty.  They told me you got a little sassy with them.

Of course I did.  They were being very mean to me.

Karen Jo:  They told me to give you just a little bit of food when you got home, but you were starving, so I gave you your regular amount and you scarfed it all up.  They gave me some medicine for you, too.

I took the medicine without any trouble.  It was a liquid that Mom squirted into my mouth and it wasn't too nasty.  I got some treats for taking it, so it wasn't worth making a fuss over.  I didn't feel too good the rest of last Monday and most of Tuesday.

Karen Jo:  They told me you might be a bit groggy for a couple of days.  I wasn't surprised when you didn't come to bed with me on Monday, but you stayed away Tuesday night, too.  You didn't join me in bed until early Wednesday morning.

Your bed is way high and I didn't trust my jumping ability until then.  I practiced Tuesday by jumping up on the couch and Wednesday by jumping up on the table in the living room.

Karen Jo:  They also told me that you have a couple of cavities and you might have to go to the cat dentist in Santa Fe.  Your vet will do a follow-up check on your mouth next month and we'll see.

I don't want to go to any cat dentist.

Karen Jo:  Would you rather lose more teeth?

No.  Man, the stuff I have to go through to stay healthy.  Medicine, vets, brushing and mat pulling or shaving.  Sheesh!  I guess it's all worth it, though.

Karen Jo:  I think it is.  I want to keep you around for a loooong time.

Fabulous Friday

I just told Mom that I wanted a treat by scratching on my Alpine Scratcher.  I got one, too.  Mom and I think today is fabulous for different reasons.  I think it is fabulous because the weather warmed up and melted all the snow and it even got warm enough for window whiffing.  We had lots of birds at the feeder and I talked to them.

Karen Jo:  I think it is fabulous because I finished my income taxes, even with your help.  Why were you sitting on my tax papers?

You put some of your dumb papers on my cushion on the table and I wanted to watch the birds, so I sat on the papers you were working on until you moved the ones off my cushion.  Then I got on my cushion and started talking to the birds.

Karen Jo:  You make such an interesting little sound when you watch the birds.  You don't chitter, you go keck-keck.

The food around here has been pretty boring.  Mom keeps eating chicken that she put herbs all over.  I don't much like it.

Karen Jo:  I try to give you pieces of the inside where the herbs aren't, but you still don't want it.  Don't worry, it's almost steak time again.

Yay!  I've been playing with my toys while Mom isn't watching again.  It's fun to play by myself.  I have found out that if I sit by the kitchen sink and meow pitifully enough, Mom will pick me up and put me on the sink and give me a drink from the faucet.

Karen Jo:  I should make you jump every time.  You need the exercise.  That pitiful meow gets to me, though, and I pick you up.

Mom isn't picking at my fur as much.

Karen Jo:  I have gotten out most of the mats.  You still have some around your armpit, though.

Oooh, that's a tender spot.  I really don't like you pulling my fur there.

Karen Jo:  I know and I'm sorry, but it has to be done.  You did one the hard way yesterday.

I was up on the couch, resting my head on Mom's thigh and getting petted when she started in on the fur pulling.  I jumped down.

Karen Jo:  I was still holding onto the mat and it pulled out when you jumped.  I have decided not to do any more mat picking during our bedtime petting session.  You don't like it and it is our special time.

Thank goodness for that.

Karen Jo:  I was out and about quite a bit today, doing errands and I saw lots of bugs.  I hope you are going to be a better bug hunter this year.

I am choosy about which bugs I hunt.

Karen Jo:  I have noticed.  You just watch flies, but you hunt and eat moths.

Moths taste better.

Snow!

 Mom left me over the weekend.  A nice lady came in and fed me, but I missed my Mom.  She got home Sunday, but she was too tired to turn on the computer.  She was going to blog yesterday, but the first thing she saw was that Scooby from Little Cat Feet had run off suddenly to the Rainbow Bridge and she didn't feel like blogging any more.  Today she wrote a limerick for Scooby and found out that Daddy Mark from Kattonic Cats had passed away on that same awful Sunday.  Now she is finally going to blog for me.  Above is the picture that she was going to post yesterday.  See how big that raven is?  You can biggify the picture a little bit by clicking on it. No way would I tangle with one of those, even if I could go outside.

Karen Jo:  I missed you, too, Herman.  It was very hard to get to sleep without giving you your bedtime petting.  April 1st was one bad Sunday.  I'm glad that the raven picture came out.  I was afraid that it wouldn't, since I was shooting into the light.  Yesterday afternoon it started snowing.

 Karen Jo:  This is what I woke up to this morning.  Here is the forsythia bush.  It didn't get cold enough to kill the blossoms, for which I am very grateful.  The snow and the blossoms make for a very rare sight.

 Karen Jo:  This is the snow piled up on top of my trash can.  You can see how deep it got.

This is what I thought of the whole snow thing.  Mom got a big box from Nip and Bones while she was gone.  It came in really quickly.  Inside was a Plague Rat, which she gave to me and something else that she put in the room that always has the door closed.  She says that one is for my birthday.  The Plague Rat is really smelly.  I sniffed and sniffed it and rubbed the top of my head all over it.  Then I grabbed my Mom's hand and bunny-kicked her arm.

Karen Jo:  You are supposed to bunny-kick the rat, not me.

I might get around to that later.  I really like my new rat.  I sniff and sniff and bite its nose.  Then I run around the house and want to play with Mom.

Karen Jo:  I am glad that you like it. Baby Patches said that they have some freeze-dried treats that you might like.  They are low-fat.

I don't care if they are low-fat.  I just care if they taste good.

Karen Jo:  I will check them out.  If they are not raw, I will get you some.  You can't have raw meat because of your viruses.

Mom has really been pulling on my fur since she got home.

Karen Jo:  I got out five or six little mats.  You still have some left, so I will be doing it until I get them all.

You said that if I groomed more, I wouldn't get mats.  I am grooming more, but I still get them.

Karen Jo:  You are doing a good job of grooming yourself now.  You always take care of your klingons by yourself.  I guess that your fur is just the kind that mats.  Between the two of us, we are keeping it from getting bad, though.

I'm glad about that.