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.