New Food

 I have reclaimed my platform.  Emma was up here in this exact spot just a minute ago.  Mom went to get the camera and by the time she got back, I was up here and Emma was in her favorite chair. We finally got about an hour of open windows yesterday.  That's why we both wanted up here.

Emma:  Herman chased me off the platform, so I came back to my chair.  It is in the cross breeze from the living room window to the kitchen window.  I am still scratching on the furniture and Herman interrupted my scratching for a treat lesson.  Mom saw me scratching on the couch again and picked me up and put me on the base of the scratching post and moved my paws in a scratching motion and offered me a treat.  Herman butted in, trying to get the treat.  We whapped at each other and I got him on the paw, but then I jumped back up on the couch and did my scratching there.

Karen Jo:  I put the treat back in the bag.  I certainly wasn't going to give it to Herman and I couldn't give it to Emma after she scratched the couch again without giving her the wrong idea.

Mom went through with her threat to get us new healthy food.  We had almost finished the Fancy Feast Filet Mignon, so Mom put the new stuff in that bowl and put the rest of the Fancy Feast on top of it.  We have eaten up almost every morsel of the Fancy Feast and now just the new stuff is left in the bowl.  We haven't tried it yet. Now we are eating the Purina One.

Karen Jo:  Go ahead and enjoy your Purina One while you can.  When it runs out, you will have only grain free dry food.  You are eating some of the grain free kitten food, so I know that it can't taste all that bad to you. The new food has turkey, salmon and duck in it.

I guess we will try it eventually, but you not only got grain free food, you got the weight control version. Diet food, yuck!

Karen Jo:  You don't know that it's yuck; you haven't even tried it yet.  You might even like it.

I just hope that you aren't planning on messing with our Stinky Goodness or Medley.

Karen Jo:  Not for a long time yet.  I will give the grain free a couple of months at least to see if that change is enough to get the extra weight off you.  If you would play more, it might go faster.

I play enough.  I chase Emma and Emma chases me.  I just don't see the fun in jumping around after Da Bird like Emma does.

Emma: Da Bird is the most fun.  When Mom gets home, I can hardly wait for play time.

Mancat Monday

Do you like our new header?  Sammy and Andy and Shelly's Mom made it for us.  Thank you so much.

This is my new favorite early afternoon nap spot.  My hammick in the sunspot is too hot now, especially since we don't get any fresh air.

Karen Jo:  I want to open the windows, Herman.  I do open them for at least a while whenever the temperature gets up to 60.  They stayed closed today because it stayed in the 50s and that's just too cold for open windows.

You put the last of the Fancy Feast Filet Mignon in out dish today.  So when does the new stuff appear?

Karen Jo:  I will find your new food on Tuesday.

That's days away.  What if we run out?

Karen Jo:  You have plenty of other food.  You have your new kitten kibble, your Purina One and your Green Pea and Duck along with your Stinky Goodness and Medley.

But I have always had four choices of dry food.

Karen Jo:  Not always.  You only had three until I got the Green Pea and Duck for you.  If you must have four choices, there is some of the I/D kibble left.

Thanks, but no thanks.  I wouldn't eat that stuff before, remember?

Karen Jo:  I remember that you ate it up when it was new, but got tired of it very quickly.

I hope the new stuff is at least decent tasting.  I know you want the best for me, but this lose weight thing is icky.  I wish I could just sent off the extra pounds to the kitties who want them.

Emma is getting sort of feisty with me.  You were brushing me today by the chair that she likes best and when I rolled over to let you brush my tummy, she reached down a paw like she was going to whap me.

Karen Jo:  She was only teasing you.  Her paw couldn't reach you.

I know, but it ruined the nice brushing mood.  I couldn't lie there and let you brush me with that going on. She sat in my place to wait for the Medley this morning, too.  I had to make do with the Stinky Goodness.

Karen Jo:  She didn't eat all the Medley, just most of it.  You got to finish it.  Emma chased you down the hall again tonight.

Yeah, she did.  I like that part of her getting feisty.  Playing chase with her is lots of fun.

Bad Mom

 Here I am in the stroller, all ready to go to the vet's.  Mom has been really bad.  She hasn't blogged or visited in nearly a week.

Karen Jo:  I know.  I have been really busy and/or tired.  I will try to do much better.

I didn't go to the vet's on Tuesday after all.

Karen Jo:  It was beautiful Tuesday morning and I went for my mammogram (all normal) and walked home and enjoyed it very much.  By the time I fixed and ate lunch, the wind had blown in some clouds and it got really nasty.  I did manage to get to the vet's to pick up your medicine and weigh the stroller, but I didn't enjoy it at all. Thursday was pretty nice, though.

Off I went to the vet's on Thursday afternoon.  I didn't enjoy it at all.  I meowed all the way there and all the way home.  I even tapped at the little window in the back with my paw to let Mom know that I wanted out of that contraption.

Karen Jo:  I didn't much enjoy the results.  You actually gained a pound.  On the way home Tuesday, I picked up a new bag of healthy kitten kibble, confidant that you had lost weight and you had actually gained.  I found it hard to believe.  You are more active and jumping up on things again, which you weren't doing when you first gained the extra two pounds.  I, and two of my friends, who also live with cats, think that you have converted some of the fat to muscle, which explains the gain, yet improved jumping ability.  You get to keep the kitten kibble, but I am changing your other kibble to healthier versions, as you run out of what you have now.  We will see what that does.

That healthy kitten kibble doesn't taste as good as the Kitten Chow.

Emma:  I agree.  We aren't eating as much of the new stuff.

Karen Jo:  It's Now kitten kibble and it has no grains or gluten in it, so it's better for you.  I think it's a good thing that you aren't eating as much of it.  I am going to see it Now makes a kibble for overweight kitties and use that to replace your other dry food.  You get to keep the Green Pea and Duck, though.

Big deal.  Neither one of us eats much of the Green Pea and Duck. What if we don't like the food for overweight kitties?

Karen Jo:  Then you won't eat much of it and maybe you will lose those pounds.  If you do eat it, it's better for you than what you are eating now, so maybe you will lose weight.  We all win, either way.

That doesn't sound like much of a win to me.

Emma:  Not to me, either.  I don't have to lose weight.  Why do I have to suffer because Herman is a fatty?

Karen Jo:  Because there is no place I could feed you that Herman couldn't get to, except the high window sill and I can't see the food staying there without getting knocked off and making a mess.  I guess I should monitor your weight as well, to make sure that you don't start losing weight.

Can't we keep the Fancy Feast Filet Mignon dry food?  You said that it doesn't have much bad stuff in it.

Karen Jo:  No.  I want the weight to come off.  After you lose the three pounds that you need to lose, maybe you can have it back.

You are not only a bad blogger, you are getting mean.

Emma:  I am enjoying the view of the bird feeder from the big pillow on the table in the living room.  This has become my favorite place in the early afternoon.  Lots of birds show up just after Mom puts out new food and water.  I even nap up here.  We have been getting a little fresh air through the windows, but not much.

Karen Jo:  I am sad about that, too.  I also want the windows open, but it is just too cold still.

Mancat Monday

I am just being a good kitty, watching Mom crawl around on the floor with the camera, trying to get good pictures of us.  Mom, you didn't do a Mother's Day post, so we could wish you a Happy Mother's Day.  It's all we could give you, because we don't have any green papers and aren't allowed to leave the house, anyway.

Karen Jo:  You gave me a much better Mother's Day gift than you know.  Neither of you was being a cranky kitty today.  There was lots of playing, with chase and tag being the main games.  Last night you both came to bed with me and let me pet each of you with one hand, with no jealousy.  Herman, you even let me weigh you without any fuss.  The best present of all it that it looks like you have lost a pound.  I would like to take you to the vet's and use their scale to make it official on Tuesday.

I don't want to go to the vet's.

Karen Jo:  It will just be a nice ride in the stroller, into the vet's, up on the scale, and home again. I will take the stroller in empty earlier, so I can subtract that weight.

I still don't want to go.

Karen Jo:  If you have lost a pound, then you get to keep your kitten dry food, which you like.  If you haven't lost that pound, I will have to stop giving it to you.

Hmmm, a trip to the vet's doesn't sound so bad now.  That was a nice game we played tonight.

Karen Jo:  I enjoyed it, too.  I know that you don't enjoy Da Bird nearly as much as Emma does, so after I played Da Bird with her for a while, I got out your mousie wand toy and moved it back and forth between you and Emma.  Both of you took turns catching it.  Oddly enough, Emma got tired of the game before you did.  You are usually the first one to stop playing.

I think Emma got hungry or thirsty.  She headed into the kitchen. We are almost out of Stinky Goodness.

Karen Jo:  Not any more.  I brought you home 48 cans tonight.

When are you going to start eating something good for lunch again?

Karen Jo:  As soon as I find something that I want to cook.  It's about time for chicken again, unless some good beef is on special.

It sounds good to me, as long as you don't cook pot roast.

Cranky Caturday

 I like to sort of hide behind the new scratcher, so Emma can't see me watching her.  It's easier to ambush her this way.

Emma:  I just finished playing with the Wooly Bully and now I am relaxing a bit.

Karen Jo:  I think both of you need to relax a bit more.  You have both been very cranky kitties this week.  What has been bothering you so much?

I want more open windows.  The house smells stale, but you hardly ever open the windows.

Karen Jo:  It has still been windy and cold.  I did open up a few windows for an hour or two before I went to work today.

Emma:  I want more food.  You feed us breakfast early, but then we don't get any more until you are nearly ready to leave for work and you don't come home and feed us again for hours and hours.

Karen Jo:  You don't need any more food.  Herman is already too fat and you are getting a little pudgy tummy.  There is plenty of dry food available all the time.  If Herman doesn't start losing some weight soon, I may have to cut down on the dry food.

Herman and Emma:  Nooo!

Karen Jo:  Now what is bothering you about each other?  Herman, the other night I was playing ball with you while I was waving Da Bird for Emma.  Everything seemed to be going so well, but you stopped playing ball and soon pounced Emma, making her squeal and hide.

When she is lying on her back and waving her paws around, sometimes I just can't help but want to pounce her.  Besides, when you play with me I want you to only play with me and not play with Emma at the same time.

Karen Jo:  Emma, you were especially grouchy yesterday.  I was doing the laundry and I knew that both of you were near my feet, so I shuffled my foot instead of taking a step, but I pinched Herman's toe anyway.  Herman yelled and both of you ran as fast as you could to the living room.  I started petting Herman to apologize for hurting him and you started making angry noises and hissing at him.  I had to move to the couch to calm you down, then go back to Herman to make sure that he wasn't hurt.  What was that all about?

Emma:  When we ran to the living room, Herman was chasing me as hard as he could.  He scared me.

I wasn't chasing you.  I was trying to get away from Mom's clumsy feet.

Karen Jo:  Later, it was furmination time.  Emma, you let me give you a light going over before you started biting the furminator so that I couldn't continue.  Herman, you were more cooperative, but just barely.  I know that you would rather just be brushed, but the brush won't keep the mats away.  I started to go under your chin and you let out a yell and scratched me.  Emma, you jumped up on your carrier, then pounced on Herman's head, which caused quite a ruckus.

I had a mat under my chin and I didn't want it getting caught in the furminator.  I didn't really hurt you much.

Emma:  Herman gave out an attack cry and I was trying to protect you, Mom.

Karen Jo:  I appreciate the thought, Emma, but I really don't need protecting from Herman.  I understand about the mat, Herman.  I am glad that you let me get it with the scissors.  It's great that you aren't so afraid of the scissors now.  Both of you seemed to be in much better moods tonight, so maybe we won't have such grumpy kitties now.

Tattletale Tuxie Tuesday

 Here's my tummy shot for the contest that the OKcats are having.

Emma:  And here's mine.  I have tales to tell.  Last night Mom was bad.  She didn't give us our play time and she forgot Herman's pill.  Then she didn't even blog for us.  She made Herman miss Mancat Monday.

Karen Jo:  I apologize.  It snowed all day yesterday, which kind of depressed me.  I know that we need all the moisture we can get, but I am sooo tired of being cold.  Things were hectic at work.  By the time I got home I was tired and cold and I wanted to watch the news.  Important things happened.

Emma:  More important than Herman's pill?

Karen Jo:  No, I promise not to let it happen again.

I didn't mind missing my pill.  Those things taste terrible.

Emma:  This morning Herman hurt Mom.

I didn't mean to.  I was bunny kicking her arm and forgot to keep my claws tucked in.

Karen Jo:  I know that you didn't mean to hurt me, Herman.  You stopped when I started saying "OW!"  You hadn't played the bunny kicking game with me in a long time and you just forgot.

I could tell some stories on Emma.

Emma:  Yeah?  Like what?

You always scratch the furniture instead of the scratching posts and pads.  If you don't stop it, Mom is going to put you in the Naughty Kitty Club.  I'm in the Good Kitty Club.

Emma:  Mom?  Is that true?

Karen Jo:  No, Emma.  Just scratching the furniture isn't enough to get you into the Naughty Kitty Club.

Emma:  Whew!  I don't want to be in the Naughty Kitty Club.  I want to be in the Good Kitty Club like Herman.

Good kitties don't scratch the furniture.

Karen Jo:  That's true, but that's the only naughty thing that Emma does, so maybe she could get into the Good Kitty Club after all.

Emma:  I hope so.

Remembrance Weekend

Today we are remembering all our friends who have gone to the Rainbow Bridge.  I will just list the ones who come to mind.  I am sure there are more.  Sweet Praline, Luxor, Mickey, Opus, Emil, Anastasia, Rascal, Mr. Tigger, Rocky the Gutter Cat, Mia, CatZee (who may still be alive, but she went out and never came home), Patches, Bow, Gatsbi, Fat Eric, Forest, Snickers, Dakota and all the rest whose names just aren't coming to me.  We will remember you fondly.