Remembering Herman

 Karen Jo: This is Herman's birthday and I try to do a post like this at least once a year, so new posters who come across this blog will know what's going on here.  A new reader might wonder: "Who's Herman and why is this blog still named after him if he's gone over the Rainbow Bridge?" The main reason that this blog is still named Herman's Hideaway and always will be is that I can't bear to change it.  It is also a tribute to Herman, the founder of my present houseful of kitties.  Without him, this wouldn't be the home of FeLV+ kitties.  This is an early photo of Herman, taken shortly after he arrived.

Let me start at the beginning.  I have always loved cats, but could never have one because my mother was extremely allergic to them.  After my mother died, I decided to get the house the way I wanted it and get rid of the cat unfriendly stuff and get a cat.  It didn't work out that way.  I saw a poster with that face on it saying that Herman really needed a home, but he was FIV+ and FeLV+ so he had to be an inside only only cat.  I went home and looked up the diseases and decided that I could live with the limitations and called to say I was interested in adopting him.  First I had to pass an interview and meet Herman to see if he liked me.  He did.  His foster mother said that he had reacted more positively to me than he had to any one else who had come to see him.  A few days later, Herman moved in and stole my heart completely.

 This is a much later picture of Herman taken after he had put on his weight.  He got really sick a few months after he moved in and lost a lot of weight and almost died.  After he recovered he put on quite a bit of weight and ended up at 14 pounds, as you see him here.  His ideal weight was 12 pounds.  He was a big cat.  He is  in full floof here.  He used to get the most awful matts and had to get a summer haircut every year.  Once I had adopted Herman, I could only adopt other FeLV+ cats.  Herman let me know that he wanted some feline company so he wouldn't get so lonely while I was working, so I brought home Emma one day.  That didn't work out.  Herman liked her, but she was a tiny little thing and never got over being terrified of him.  This made him unhappy and he started bullying her by backing her up against the bathtub and just staring at her.  She would scream and I would go break it up.  He also wanted her to know that he didn't appreciate her trying to take his place in the bed at bedtime.  Emma ran off to the Rainbow Bridge after only 8 months of living with us.  Then something wonderful happened.  Spyro moved in.

 Spyro:  I didn't want anything to do with the safe room when Mom brought me home.  I demanded that she open the door and I ran into the living room to meet Herman.  We sniffed each other over and were buddies from then on.  He was my rasslin' buddy and my nap buddy and my everything else buddy.  Here we are rasslin' in the living room.  I am very grateful to Herman, because without him, Mom would never have adopted me.  A few months after I arrived, Oja moved in.

Oja:  It took me a month to get the nerve to come out of the safe room and get to know Herman and Spyro.  I had already met them, as they would sneak into my room almost every day, but I would hiss at them and Mom would eject them.  Once I got over being scared of Herman, we became cuddle buddies.  I would groom him until he was sopping wet and he would groom me, too.  This is the last good picture Mom took of Herman.  I am very grateful to Herman, also, because without him, Mom wouldn't have adopted me, either.  Herman is the reason that Karen Jo's house is the home of the FeLV+ kitties.

After the Ball Is Over

 Oja:  I want to thank everycat for coming to my soiree yesterday evening and night.  Almost everything went perfectly.  I did wonder why so many of my guests, especially the gentleman cats went out to the patio for a breath of fresh air and came back smiling.  We did have the windows closed, as the evening got rather chilly, so maybe it got a little hot and stuffy in the living room.  The gopher hunting must have gone really well, because I saw Bambino going all crazy pants in the back yard.  I'm really glad I sent his silly self outside during my dignified party, because he doesn't even know how to act dignified.  The only fly in the ointment was my Mom.  Halfway through the evening, just after she got all the trays refilled with canapes and sushi, she said she needed to sit down for a minute.  She sat down in the easy chair by the window and promptly fell asleep.  I was so embarrassed.  At least she didn't snore.  I nearly had to go out to the patio for some fresh air myself at that point, but Jose and I had to get busy passing the trays of snacks around.

Spyro and Rocio:  Whew!

Oja:  What was that?

Spyro:  Nothing Oja.

Oja:  I didn't see you or Rocio all evening.  What were you up to?

Rocio:  We were outside, keeping an eye on Bambino and the younger kitties.

 Spyro:  Psst, Rocio, is Oja out of earshot?

Rocio:  I think so.  We got away with it, didn't we?

Spyro:  We sure did. High five, bro!

 Rocio:  Spyro and I really enjoyed putting one over on Oja.  She still hisses and growls and yowls at me.

Karen Jo:  She wouldn't if you didn't keep smacking her with your paw.

Rocio:  She insists on sitting in the chair I want.

Karen Jo:  This house is full of chairs.  I think you just enjoy annoying Oja.

Rocio:  That could very well be the case.

 Bambino:  I sure had fun in the back yard last night.  Spyro and Rocio let me have just a little niptini.  I'm not that much underage.  I will be a mancat next month, I think.  The younger kitties and I played chase and sniffed the gopher holes and chased moths, though there weren't many of those.

Karen Jo:  That's because I don't have any flowers for them.  One or two of the peony buds opened, but the rest of them turned brown.  I don't know if it was lack of water (probably) or some bugs got them.

Jose:  I enjoyed the soiree very much.  I had never been to a dignified party before.  Oja and I danced together, then we danced with the other guests.  That is until the Mom fell asleep and we had to take over her duties of seeing that everyone got canapes, sushi, shrimp and catmint tea.

Karen Jo:  I apologize.  Throwing two parties in three days tired me out.

Karen Jo:  Now I want to bring up another subject.  Last summer, Spyro loved going outside in his harness and leash.  I think I spoiled it for him this year.  We had a warm day in April and I put his harness on him, but it had been a long time and I forgot how it went.  I got it on him wrong, took him outside and something spooked him.  He pulled strongly on the harness and got out of it and ran to the back door to be let back inside, then hid.  In late April, I tried it again, getting the harness on him right, this time.  Again something spooked him and he jerked the leash right out of my hand.  I opened the door for him and he ran, still wearing the harness and dragging the leash and hid.  I thought he was under the bed and that I would take his harness off of him when he calmed down enough to come out.  I heard a big meow from him and when I went to investigate, I found him in the hall without his harness.  He had gone into Oja's hideyhole, where there isn't much room, gotten the leash caught and managed to wiggle out of the harness.  I tried taking him out on his leash twice more, once in  May and once again today and he lets me put the harness on him, but as soon as he gets outside, he wants right back inside again.  Have I ruined his enjoyment of his harness and leash forever?

TCC News

 Rocio:  See this ratty-looking scratching post?  If I scratch on it, I get a treat.  I am trying to decide if it is worth the trouble.  Bambino, Jose and I are all exceited.  Mom finally put in our applications to join the Tabby Cat Club and Gracie said we could consider ourselves unofficial members until her computer comes home from the computer hospital.  Yay!

 Bambino:  I am trying to decide if I want to give Jose a whap for trying to take my sparkle ball that was dipped in nip.  See my raised paw?  I am the only full tabby cat here.  The rest of you are tuxie-tabbies or Russian Blue tabby.

 Jose:  Mom has been trying and trying to get a picture of me full face with my eyes open, so you can see what she calls my Egyptian eyes.  This is as close as she has come so far.  My eyes are a light green and with  my brown eye-liner I look quite exotic.

 Oja:  Ha!  I have you all beat.  Everyone should go right over to the Tabby Cat Club and look at the wallpaper.  That's me!  Right there!

Spyro:  All this excitement!  I was the first to join and tuxie-tabbies are just as tabby as full tabbies.  No that is not a smudge of Stinky Goodness under my nose.  That is just part of my markings.  I am getting screen door whiffies and trying to figure out how I can get outside without my harness.  Mom is getting too fast for me and I hardly escape at all any more.

Karen Jo:  Thank you all for the good advice on calming things down between Rocio and Oja.  I have been basically letting them work it out, until Oja yowls.  I don't want a full-fledged fight.  Until the Feliway arrives, which will probably be a waste, because it is finally open window season here and the sockets where I could plug it in are right under the windows, I have tried Brian's suggestion of acting the MomCat.  Rocio got Oja cornered in the litter box room last night, so I got behind him down on all fours and hissed at him and chased him into the bathtub.  This morning, he tried it in the computer room and got I down beside Oja, facing Rocio and hissed at him again.  He ran away and hasn't been a pest to Oja since.  I don't think this means that the problem is solved, but it is working.

Where Did the Time Go?

 See how high up I am?  Isn't it awesome?  Mom is keeping some storage boxes for her friend and they are stacked up on an end table.  I am taller than Mom now.  Mom was really surprised to find me up here, because I have never gotten up this high before, though there are places in the house where I could do it, like the bookcase in Oja's room and the top of the file cabinet.  Now maybe Mom will get me a cat tree to climb.    Mom really let the time go by between posts this time.  Wow!  It's been almost a month.  She has been busy, so I guess we will forgive her this time, as long as she promises never to to it again.  Lots of things have happened around here since our last post.

 Spyro:  I wanna put a nose print on the camera lens.  Just get a little closer.  I wanna cat tree, too.  Know what?  The forbidden room isn't forbidden any more.  Mom cleaned it all up and now we can go in there all the time.  The bed in there got made up with pillows and everything and I like to lie on it.  I tried to get on the   window sill, but all I managed to do was bring down the sheer curtains.  Mom heard the noise and came in and saw me pawing the material.  I should have run away, then she wouldn't have known which cat did it.

Karen Jo:  I would have known anyway.  You are my teenager cat, always getting into mischief and trouble.

Oja:  See me chillaxing in the living room?  I spend most of my time in here with the other kitties now.  I love to play with all the toys.  I found out what the big Turbo Track does and I like it.  Spyro and I both play with it, sometimes at the same time.  I love the balls that look like cages with a jingle bell inside.  I chase them all over the house.  I even started napping in the ham-micks.  They are great!  Spyro and I rassle all the time and sometimes Spyro rassles with Herman.  I don't rassle with Herman, though.  He's too big for me.

Karen Jo:  We can see your ample tummy, too.

Oja:  It's good to have a little extra weight.  The food has gotten a bit boring, though.

Karen Jo:  Some kitty has a bit of diarrhea and I think it's probably you.  Everykitty is on Classic Fancy Feast now.  If it doesn't clear up in a week or so, I will have to make a vet appointment or two.  I did take Herman in to weigh him and he has gained two-tenths of a pound.  It's time to put everykitty on the diet kibble, as soon as the new bag of the regular runs out.

Karen Jo:  I have so much stuff in my top two drawers that I can't close them.  Spyro loves to get up in them and dig in my socks.  Now I am finding socks in odd places, like the entrance hall and behind the TV.  I wonder who is doing that?

Spyro:  I don't have the slightest idea.  You closed all the windows and we can't get whiffies any more.

Karen Jo:  It got cold Friday night and it hasn't warmed up enough to open the windows again.  If you are lucky, you will get a few more days of open windows before the cold weather sets in for the duration.

Spyro:  You haven't been taking me outside in my harness and leash much lately.

Karen Jo:  No, I haven't.  I have been really busy with stuff and the weather hasn't been cooperating.  I will try to take you our more before it gets too cold.  I guess I can look forward to the kitties getting the fall friskies.  What that will do to Spyro is beyond my imagination.  He is all over the place, getting into everything now.  I love it, even though I complain about it sometimes.  I am way behind in my newspaper reading, because Spyro always jumps up on the paper almost as soon as I start to read.  I must say that petting Spyro is more interesting than reading the paper.

Oja Comes Out!

Karen Jo:  First off I would like to thank Ann of Zoolatry very much for the new header.  I love the old one, but Spyro and Oja deserve a place on the header, too.

I am watching Spyro play and deciding whether or not I want to pounce him.  In the end, all I did was bat his tail once.  He was too occupied to notice.  Mom wouldn't take us out Sunday, but we got to go out for a long time today.  Spyro got to go first, but I didn't mind too much.

Karen Jo:  As soon as you discovered that we were out you started meowing that you wanted out.

I don't get all spastic like Spyro does.  I had a lovely time exploring the front yard and the neighbor's front yard and the back yard.

Karen Jo:  I carried you from the neighbor's front yard to our back yard.  You were getting a bit to nosy about their carport.

I got to chew on grass and watch ravens fly overhead.  I checked out a couple of gopher holes, but didn't find them all that interesting.  Mostly I just walked around on the grass and looked all around.

 Spyro: Mom got out a nip ball.  I had never seen it before.  Boy, do I love it.  I batted it and smelled it and licked it and rubbed all over it and even tried to bunny-kick it.  I am holding it in my paws in the picture.  Mean Mom wouldn't let me out yesterday, even though I meowed and meowed about it.

Karen Jo:  I thought there was enough going on yesterday.  Besides, I had a ton of paperwork to get through.

Spyro:  Mom took my out early this evening.  It had been cloudy all day and even rained a tiny bit, so it was nice and cool.  I still move with my belly low to the ground, but I go much faster now.  I chewed on the grass and rolled on the concrete and sniffed the spiderwebs.  Mom let me go wherever I wanted until I tried to step in the street.  Suddenly, I couldn't move forward.

Karen Jo:  That's what the leash is for.  You are not going into the street, ever.

Spyro:  I was sad when Mom took my back in.  Then she took Herman out and I cried and cried and jumped up on the screen door and tried to get out, but I couldn't.

Karen Jo:  I wish I had had the camera with me.  You had your front feet looped over the top bar on the screen door and your hind feet on the bottom bar.  I am really glad that the door has a hook-and-eye for when I leave it open all day.  The handle is just a pull-down type and you could pull it down with your acrobatics.  I might have to close the back door to keep you from opening the screen door when I take Herman out.

Oja:  Enough of the mancats!  The big news is about ME!  This is probably the last photo you will see of me in my room.  Sunday I decided that I didn't want to stay in my room any more and I came out and stayed out.

Karen Jo:  You came out when I got your breakfast, but went back in to eat.  When I left the door open for you to get your lunch and fresh water and litter box scooped, you came out and went into both my room and the litter box room.  You didn't go back into your room when you ran into Spyro; you chased him down the hall.

Oja:  Hahaha!  I chased Spyro all over the place.  By the end of the day I had been in every room in the house, except the one with the closed door.  I still go into my room to look out of my window and to eat and drink, but mostly I am in Mom's room or exploring.  Last night I got Mom all to myself.

Karen Jo:  Poor Spyro.  After I went to bed, he jumped up on the bed like he usually does and you chased him off.

Oja:  You are MY Mom and I want to sleep with you.  I claim my room and your room as MY territory.

Karen Jo:  I hope you learn to share more.  Herman and Spyro are used to sharing the bed with me.

Oja:  We'll see.  Right now I hiss and growl at the mancats almost every time I see them.

Karen Jo:  I have noticed that it's tapered off just a little bit, not much, but a little.

Happy Independence Day!

 Happy Independence Day!  We are all going to tell you how we are celebrating our freedom today.  I am celebrating my freedom from hot heavy fur by running and playing with Spyro.  I am also celebrating my freedom to move my head whenever Mom snaps a picture.

 Spyro:  I am celebrating my freedom to go outside with my harness and leash by making the most of it.  I mostly stayed in the carport because Mom took me out in the hot part of the day.  I did see a butterfly, but it was too high up to even try to catch.  I did investigate a big bush and sniff a lot of spider webs.

Karen Jo:  That was a mistake on my part, Spyro.  Yesterday I took you out in the evening and you enjoyed it much more.

Oja:  I am celebrating my freedom from scary mancats by staying in my room.  I also greatly enjoy my freedom to climb all over my Mom and get loved on.  Mom is spending more time with me.  She even got that yucky Intereferon in me.

Karen Jo:  That's because you have stopped being up in my face so much, so being with you is more enjoyable.  Your Interferon is not yucky.  It has no taste at all.  I am not so sure that you are so scared by the mancats.  You didn't seem scared last night.  While I was visiting blogs last night, it began to rain.  It brought the temperature right down and it felt so good that I thought I had to share it with Oja.  I went into her room and left the door open, so she could feel the cool breeze and sat down so she would come out for petting.

Oja:  What neither of us noticed was that Spyro sneaked into my room and went into my hidey-hole under the corner table.  When I had enough petting, I jumped down and went to get a bite to eat.  I sensed Spyro behind me.  Well, I was having none of that.  I dashed around the easy chair and into my hidey-hole and chased him right out of my room.  Then I sat in my doorway and growled at him.

Karen Jo:  I don't know how Oja know Spyro was in her hidey-hole.  She moved faster than I had ever seen her move before.  Spyro sped out of  the hidey-hole like a fury was after him.  I couldn't close the door until Oja moved away from the doorway.  She growled at Spyro and I think she may have growled at Herman when he showed up to find out what was going on.  Oja certainly knows how to defend her territory.

Karen Jo:  I am celebrating my freedom from going to work by watching A Capitol Fourth on PBS.  I haven't been able to watch it since 2002, as I was always at work.  We will have no fireworks locally because of the fire danger.  I am also being thankful for all my other freedoms.  I am very fortunate as I have freedom from want, hunger and fear.

Turn Your Face Away

 Hahaha!  All three of us turned our heads just as Mom pushed the button on the camera today.  I don't know why Mom makes such a big deal out of Spyro and Oja having froot-bats.  I certainly don't have them.

Karen Jo:  I think your ears are really cute, Herman.  I also like froot-bats. Spyro really has them and Oja sort of has them, too.  What was the deal with waking me up at O-dark-thirty this morning?  You walked all over me, patted my face with your paw and when I kept telling you that it wasn't anywhere near time for breakfast, you started nipping my toes.  When I finally got out of bed and followed you down the hall, asking you to show me what you wanted, you headed into the kitchen.  I turned on the light and you dived right into the kibble.

I just wanted some light and company for my early morning snack.

Karen Jo:  You used to do that when I first adopted you, but you haven't done it in over a year now.

So?  I can do whatever I want.  I'm king of the house.

 Spyro:  When Herman left this spot in the kitchen doorway, I grabbed it.  It's right in the breezeway and it's a favorite resting spot around here.  I got Mom up at dawn for breakfast.  That's usually Herman's job, but he thought that Mom might be a little ticked off at him, so I did it.  Mom thought she would fool me by grabbing the mail right after she gave us lunch, but I still got halfway out the door before she caught me.

Karen Jo:  You are amazing.  Sometimes I look all around and you are nowhere in sight.  I start to open the screen door, and there you are, trying to get out.  I am going to have to start putting you out of the kitchen and closing the door before I take anything outside.

Spyro:  Spoilsport!

Oja:  I was looking right up at Mom when she pressed the button, honest.  You can see my tail in full curl in this picture.  I had another adventure today.  Mom opened the door to get me fresh water and left it open to clean all the litter boxes, so I could get some fresh air.  I went out to explore Mom's bedroom again, but didn't stay.

Karen Jo:  I saw you heading back to your room from mine as I came out of the litter box room on my way to clean the box in the entry hall.  I don't know if you didn't stay in my room longer because Spyro was up on my windowsill watching the road work or because Herman was starting to walk down the hall.

Oja:  Herman kept coming closer to me, so I hissed and growled at him, but Mom didn't come.

Karen Jo:  I heard you, but I decided to finish cleaning the box in the entry hall before I came to your rescue.  I would have come running if I had heard anything out of the ordinary.  When I got to your doorway, you were standing in front of the door, glaring at Herman and he was just standing there, watching you.  Herman retreated and I started cleaning your box.

Oja:  I ran for my hidey-hole and that Herman actually had the gall to come into my room!

Karen Jo:  I was right there to prevent anything bad from happening.  Herman just wanted to sniff the places you had been sitting and lying down.  He needs to get used to your scent, just as you need to get used to his.

Oja:  He can sniff me under the door, as Spyro does.  Anyway, Mom took away my fishie and gave me a different toy yesterday.  I didn't touch it.  She gave me back my fishie today and I played with it.  I hope she has learned that I only want to play with my fishie.

Karen Jo:  You really like your silver vine fish. I think I better order some more of them.

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.

Mancat Monday

I have been spending a lot of time in my ham-mick lately.  It's warm in the winter and cool in the  summer.  We finally got some window-whiffing time yesterday and just a little bit today.

Karen Jo:  I wanted to give you a whole day of window-whiffing today, but it has been too windy.

You have been a really bad blogger again.

Karen Jo:  Sorry, I have both been busy and feeling so overwhelmed with all that I have to do that I got down in the dumps again and didn't feel like doing much of anything.  It's like I am all full-steam ahead or just sitting on the couch reading.

At least you are back to it again.  I did get some corned beef and it was really yummy.  I got a little bite whenever Mom took a bite until it was all gone.  Mom has been trying to get a photo of a raven, so you can all see how big they are.  No way would I tangle with one of those, even if I got to go outside, which I don't.

Karen Jo:  I framed a shot through the window, but couldn't get the right perspective.  If I go out, they fly away.  Maybe one day I will just go outside with the camera and sit still, hoping they will get used to me and come where I can get a good picture.  They are still helping empty the suet feeder every day, but now the starlings and the flickers get a chance at it, too.  Yes, the flickers have shown up. There are signs of Spring everywhere now.  Some fruit trees are blooming, along with some forsythia bushes.  I saw a daffodil today.  The peonies are coming up and so are the iris.  There is only a tiny patch of snow left in the front yard. Even the beleaguered lilac bush is putting forth some leaves.  The gophers didn't manage to completely kill it after all.

I have gotten a bit friskier and am running around the house in the evenings and nights again.  I am even playing with some of my toys.  I am tossing my little mice all over the place.  I even play with Mom a little bit.  The problem is that all this activity makes me hungry and Mom is being really stingy with my food, especially at lunch time.  I had to get her up twice this morning: once at dawn for my canned food and again when it was high time she was up to refill my dry food.

Karen Jo:  You know what the vet told me about your weight and what to do about it.  I want you to be as healthy as possible.  Another sign of Spring is that you are getting little mats in your chest fur.

I don't like the way you get rid of them.  You pull on my fur until you get it out.

Karen Jo:  It isn't as bad as all that.  I separate your fur into smaller and smaller clumps until I can separate the mat out.  It only pulls a little bit at the end.

That's what you think.  I find the whole process uncomfortable.

Karen Jo:  Would you rather I let it get bad until you have to have your chest shaved again?

No!

Karen Jo:  Do you want me to use the scissors on your mats?

No!  I hate scissors.

Karen Jo:  Then stop complaining and let me brush you more.

That pulls, too.  I know, it only pulls what the brush finds some loose fur caught in the rest of the coat, but I still don't like it.  I only like it when it feels like petting.

Karen Jo:  It's so tough being you.  You still get more food than you generally eat; you have more toys than you can play with; you have a full-time live-in human servant and you get all the petting you can handle at bedtime.

Put that way, I guess I am a very lucky kitty.

Gaining Weight

See my white mousie? I have two white canvas mousies. Mom had gotten the other one out for me to play with today, but I wasn't interested. I went over to the toy basket and fished this one out myself. Dudes, when Mom gets re-energized, she really goes to town. Today it was literally. She was in and out of the house all day long.

Karen Jo: I had a lot of errands to run, as a result of my resting earlier this week.

I got a lot of new kinds of treats out of it.

Karen Jo: Thank you, Sparkle and House of Cats, for suggesting that I try other soft treats to put Herman's medicine in. Unfortunately, none of the ones I could find around here are soft enough to put his pill in. Whisker Lickin's came closest, but the treat crumbled when I tried to put in the pill. Herman certainly isn't complaining about his new treat collection, though.

When Mom wasn't going in and out, we played a lot. She got my wand toys out again and I played with my mousie. I grabbed it and bit it and smacked it around in the air. We also played soccer with my nip ball. I have found that if I try to scratch the pole part of my new scratching post, it tips, but I scratch on the base of it and get a treat.

Karen Jo: I am hoping that getting treats for scratching on your new scratcher and your platform and getting called a bad kitty and not getting treats for scratching on the couch will convince you that scratching on the couch is a bad idea. You had stopped scratching the couch before you got really sick, but now you are back to doing it again.

Hey, a fellow's got to scratch somewhere. One of the times Mom went out, she took my new PTU with my towel inside with her. I was hoping she wouldn't bring it back, but she did. Then she opened it up and put some of my new treats inside. I really like the new treats, but I wasn't falling for that trick this time. Besides, I was much too comfortable on the couch. Then she put the PTU on the couch beside me, picked me up and in I went. Then we went out the door and down the street. It was a novel experience. It was warm and there was a nice breeze blowing with lots of interesting smells. I didn't particularly like the swaying motion though, and started shifting around in my PTU and meowing, but not very loud. After a very long time (10 minutes) we arrived at the v-e-t. I started meowing in earnest then, but in we went. Mom just set me down for a little bit then we came home again. I don't know what it was all about, but I was really glad to get out of the PTU.

Karen Jo: The vet's office said I could bring you in and weigh you. First I just took the PTU to weigh it and make sure that bringing you in just to use the scale was all right. Then I took you down to be weighed in your PTU. I am very happy with the results. You kept moving around inside your PTU and that made the scale fluctuate a little bit, but even using the lower number is good news. To recap: When I took you in because I couldn't stop your poop puddles on March 2nd, you weighed 12.4 pounds. Then your weight started dropping and at your sickest on April 28th, you weighed 8.6 pounds. You had dropped 3.8 pounds or nearly a fourth of your body weight in a little less than two months. I was really worried that you were packing your bags for the Rainbow Bridge. Today you weigh in at 10.4 pounds, a gain of 1.8 pounds or nearly half of what you had lost and you did it in just three weeks. You weigh just 0.35 pounds less that you did when I adopted you. I am simply thrilled. Keep up the good eating and we'll have you back to what you were before you got sick in another month or two.

Are you going to keep taking me to the v-e-t to get weighed?

Karen Jo: No. I will be satisfied with the approximate weight I can get on the bathroom scale or I will look around for a baby scale like Daisy uses. I will only take you back to the vet if you start getting bony again.

Thank goodness for that. We had open windows all day today and they are still open. I am loving it. Mom did something else weird today. I have two litter boxes and Mom keeps switching them off, because I dribble poop down the sides sometimes. Today one time when she came back, she took my clean litter box to the litter box room and started pouring something into it. I came and watched, then had to check it out. It feels like litter, but it doesn't smell the same as my litter.

Karen Jo: I got you some Arm and Hammer corn litter to see if you will be willing to make the switch. I scooped out your old litter and changed the pee pads, then put your new litter nearby. Tomorrow, I will see which one has the most stuff in it. I hope you decide that you like the new litter, because it will be better for both of us -- less dust, hopefully less tracking and lots less weight for your poor old Mom to drag home from the store.

Weird Mom

This is how our soccer games usually end. Mom hits the ball back to me and I keep it. I think I might have been getting a bit drowsy. Mom has been acting really weird lately. She just stays home and lies around the house most of the day. She's not forgetful though. She feeds me and gives me my treats and my medicine. I don't know what's going on, but I like having her around all the time.

Karen Jo: I am on staycation. I have been so tired that I have just been resting up instead of doing all the work that I had planned to do. At least today the weather finally warmed up nicely and it really felt like Spring for the first time. That seemed to energize me a bit and I got a bit of work done.

We got open windows for most of the day. Yay! I complained when Mom shut the window I was lying in front of when it got dark.

Karen Jo: The temperature was dropping and it was getting cold, for me, anyway. You seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit.

I have a nice thick fur coat. It felt great to me. I hope we get lots more open windows. I really like the fresh air and I can hear the birdies better.

Karen Jo: It's supposed to stay nice for the next few days at least.

Great. I am doing very well. My poop is staying thick, but not getting any more toward normal, so I keep getting my medicine. I have stopped fighting it so much, as it isn't as nasty as the antibiotic. Mom thinks I am gaining weight. I am eating up most of my Medley and some of my Stinky Goodness and nibbling on my crunchies. I have decided that the green pea and duck stuff is pretty good. I feel like playing more and more. I knocked my squeaky mouse around today. Mom brought me home a scratching post with a furry thing on a spring on top. I like attacking it. I got so energetic that I nearly knocked the whole thing over. I like sleeping on the base of it, too.

Karen Jo: I think you have started smacking the furry thing on a string attached to the kitchen door, too. I keep finding it flung up over the doorknob and I don't really think it is the breeze doing that. I tried weighing you again today, but you got so squirmy in my arms that it was really hard to read the dial on the scale. It does look like you have gained back two pounds, though. That would put you back to where you were when I adopted you. I know that I can't feel your bones so easily through your fur now. Your shoulders still feel a bit bony, but your breast bone isn't sticking out any more and I can't feel your spine when I pet you. I am tempted to call the vet and see if I can just take you down and weigh you. We could try out your new PTU.

I don't want to go to the vet, even just to get weighed. I've seen that new PTU and I don't want to try it out.

Karen Jo: If the weather's nice, I could walk you down to the vet. You could sniff lots of fresh air and see the sights from inside your PTU. That wouldn't be so bad, would it? I really would like to know how much you weigh now.