Busy Again, Sigh

 Big sigh.  My Mom is so unreliable.  She said she would blog for us, but went and got busy AGAIN!  Luckily she has finished a bunch of stuff, so maybe we can get back to blogging more regularly.  I hope so.  She hasn't even taken new pictures of us, so here are some old ones that she hasn't used yet.  This is Mom's "new" computer chair for the study she is setting up in the once-forbidden room.  We kitties have taken it over.  If my position looks a little odd it is because I am grooming myself.  I made Mom promise not to take any embarrassing pictures of me when she started this blog, so I made her wait until I put my leg down to take the picture.  I have been snarling and hissing at Spyro whenever he tries to rassle with me.  Remember that last rasslin' match I told you about, when Mom found Spyro fur on my chin?  He stuck me with his claws and that's why I bit him.  He's too rough for me.

Karen Jo:  I found what might be tiny scabs on the back of Herman's neck and this is what I think happened to put Herman off rasslin' with Spyro.  Spyro just looks hurt and confused when Herman hisses at him, but he backs off and goes to do something else.  Oja still pounces Spyro for rasslin'.

 Spyro:  I am going into the kitchen to see if there is anything to eat.  Mom was putting out some kibble that none of us like very much, but luckily the old kibble is back again.

Karen Jo:  I put in an order for a 16-pound bag of your kibble, but you finished what you had before it came in and the store didn't have any small bags of it, so I had to get something else to fill in.  I can put in regular orders for the big bags now, so you should never run out again.

Spyro:  I don't know why Herman doesn't like me any more.  I still like him.

Karen Jo:  I think you hurt him the last time you rassled with him.  You have very sharp claws.  I always have puncture marks somewhere on my body from you.

Spyro:  Oja still plays with me.  In fact, she usually starts it.

Oja:  I am right at the start of the hall, just staring at Mom.  Now I go almost everywhere the big kitties go:  up on the platform, in the ham-micks, in Herman's bed, up on the couch, in the chairs.  The only place I haven't been is Spyro's favorite spot on top of the boxes.  That would be quite a jump for me.  I play with all the toys.  I have to giggle.  Mom was afraid that Spyro would hide one of his new balls with feathers somewhere she would step on it.  Well, he did and she did.  She didn't break it though, just dented it so it rolls funny.  I don't understand why Herman got so upset with Spyro.  Spyro and I rassle all the time.  I cuddle with Herman now and he doesn't mind.  We even groom each other.  Spyro and I groom each other, too, but we usually end up rasslin'.  Herman and I don't ever rassle.  When Herman has had enough grooming, he just gets up and walks away.

I hope Mom takes some new pictures of us soon.  My handsome fur has almost all grown back now and Mom is chasing me around with the brush again.  I will have to get used to it all over again.  She even brushes Spyro and Oja a little bit.

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.

Mancat Monday

I am looking at all the toys Mom got out for me to play with today.  It's kind of hard to see, but there is a ball with feathers right in front of me.  I picked it up and smelled it right after Mom snapped the picture.

Karen Jo:  I don't know if Herman was interested in the ball with feathers for itself, or if it still has a slight aroma of Emma on it.  She used to play with it a lot.  He just picked it up, sniffed it and put it down again.  He hasn't been interested in playing at all today yet, but that is not unusual.  He prefers to play in the early evening, just before sundown.

I got Mom up again this morning.  It was just before dawn this time.  I wanted breakfast, but she wasn't ready to give it to me yet.

Karen Jo:  If I feed you that early in the morning, then you want lunch early, too, then dinner.  It's much better if I feed you later in the morning.  I did give you your breakfast the second time you woke me up.  I am feeling much better today.  I am almost back to normal.  All I have left of the cold is a stuffy nose.  Some of that could be my allergies.

We have nice sun puddles for me to lie in today.  Mom didn't go out and feed the birdies, though.

Karen Jo:  The sun is shining, but it is very cold outside and we have had some wicked wind. I only went out there to do what I absolutely had to do.  The wind knocked over the recycle bin and I had to go out and set it upright again and put some more stuff in it, so it wouldn't get knocked over again.

Mom had tomato soup with cheese shreds last night and I got some cheese shreds.  I love cheese shreds.

Karen Jo:  I am getting really sick of soup.  I think I will get some cheesy chicken out of the freezer for supper tonight.

Yay!  Mom got some real milk for the tomato soup and she gave me the milk ring to play with in the kitchen.  I watched it spin across the floor, but did nothing with it while Mom was watching.  As soon as she went back to her cooking, I started playing with it.  When I noticed that Mom was watching me again, I stopped playing with it.

Karen Jo:  I don't know why you don't like my watching you play.  It gives me a lot of pleasure.

I don't know, either.  It's just something I do.  Mom gave me a good brushing this morning.  I loved it.  She hasn't been brushing me as much since she's been sick.

Tuxie Tuesday

I am just chillaxing on the carpet.  Not much has been going on around here.  Mom fell asleep watching TV last night, so that's why we didn't blog.  I keep getting up on my platform to watch the birdies, but they mostly don't show up.  That big snow we were supposed to have didn't come down.  We just got a light dusting.

Karen Jo:  It looked more like a heavy frost than a snowfall to me.  You are getting me up for breakfast before dawn again.

I get hungry.

Karen Jo:  Then why don't you eat the food that is in your dish already?

By just before dawn it's all dried up and yucky.  I want fresh.

Karen Jo:   I guess I can't blame you for that.  I think I got some about to form mats out with the Furminator yesterday.

I don't really like that.  It pulls.

Karen Jo:  It's better than getting mats.

I guess so.  You sure are stingy with the treats.  You opened a new bag of my catnip treats yesterday and so far I have only gotten two of them.

Karen Jo:  I alternate back and forth with the Temptations.  You only get one treat at a time now because you are supposed to lose weight.

Poop on that.  I want more.

Karen Jo:  Sorry, that's the way it is.

Tuxie Tuesday

I'm just chillaxing with my toys.  Mom keeps trying to get me to play and I keep ignoring her.  I do play while she is at work, some.  Most of the time most of my toys are still right where she tossed them before she went to work.  Mom guesses I spend most of the time she is gone just napping and eating.  Mom sneaked up on me while I was eating the treats I get in my little PTU for taking my morning pill and brushed the little bits out of my pantaloons.  Sneaky Mom!  I couldn't go forward to get away from her and I wouldn't back up into the brush.  I protested, but she did it anyway.

Karen Jo:  There is still a lot to do.  A friend of mine told me about a product called Earth Bath, which is a spray on foam for kitties with klingons.  I will be getting some tomorrow.

I don't think I am going to like this.  Mom had sushi again today and I wasn't in the least bit interested.  I didn't even go into the kitchen to see what she was eating.

Karen Jo:  I guess you don't smell food when I just take it out of the refrigerator.  It was just California roll, anyway, with fake crab.

Why would I want fake crab?

Karen Jo:  Fake crab is made out of real fish.

Fake fish made out of real fish?  Humans are really weird.  Bring on the chicken.

Karen Jo:  The chicken is coming up tomorrow.  I still haven't decided how I am going to cook it, but I don't think I will put it in the slow cooker after all.  I am thinking of making something Oriental out of some of it and just baking the rest of it.

I like baked chicken.  Mom has been petting me a whole lot when she goes to bed.  She even works out some of the fur tangles that are showing up on my chest.  I guess I am starting my Spring shed, just a little.  The vet said last year is what happens is that my undercoat starts to shed and gets stuck in my top coat. Every Thursday, Mom holds me down and furminates me as much as I will tolerate.  She got a huge handful of fur out the last two weeks.  I don't really like it, but Mom says it will save me from getting shaved.

Karen Jo:  I don't want to have to get you shaved again.  You always look and act so embarrassed about it.  I will do everything I can to keep that from happening again.