Caturday

 Oja: The vet visit went fine.  I was just weighed and got my chest felt.  I lost two pounds since December 1st!  I am down to 11.7 pounds.  The vet lady said that I should weigh 9-10 pounds, so I only have one more pound to go, then no more diet for me.  Mom decided not to stay in bed all day today after all, so we should be able to do some visiting, which we haven't been doing for such a long time.

Karen Jo:  Mom is getting thoroughly sick of bed.  I went to bed right after supper last night and got restless almost immediately.  I made myself stay there, though and got lots of rest for my ribs.  The news from my doctor was worse than I was expecting.  I fractured four, maybe five, ribs but there was only a tiny bit of displacement, so no treatment other than bed rest was necessary.  I get to have them x-rayed again in a couple of weeks.  I am going to try staying up and using the computer, but no housework and see how I do. If I start aching, it's back to bed.

Oja:  I wouldn't care if you went back to bed right now.  I love cuddling with you.

 Spyro:  Mom's been taking more pictures of us than she used to, so she will be using whatever one she likes for the post.  This is over a month old, when we had sunshine.  I scared the heck out of Oja this morning.  Since Oja has lost weight, she has been going places she didn't used to go.  I have gotten used to having the area around the computer desk pretty much to myself.  I darted behind the desk and Oja gave me the "rip your ears off" yell.  I didn't even know she was back there; she never has been before.  I came tearing out from under the desk at top speed.

Oja:  Sorry about the yell.  It's a dead end back there and I had no place to go if you decided that you wanted a rumble.  I hate feeling trapped by another cat.

 Austin: I just love all this knitted stuff.  It is sooo comfy.

Rocio:  When I say that I check out ALL the napping places, I mean it.  I don't quite fit here, but I just had to try it.

Karen Jo:  I have seen other kitties sit in that little box, but you are the very first one to nap there.  All the kitties have been having a great time.  Oja hardly hisses at any cat now.  All three boys rassle with each other and Oja rassles with Spyro.  Austin tried to start a rasslin' match with Oja this morning, but she growled at him and he backed off.  When I put Oja in her PTU, all the other kitties acted very concerned.  Rocio pulled at the bars to get her out; Spyro purred at her and Austin tried to make a game of it by playing footsie between the bars.  Oja didn't like that last move at all.  I think Rocio licked Oja's head last night, but Oja trotted away from him so quickly that I couldn't be sure.

Spyro:  I really like the computer room.  I jump up and help Mom with the computer all the time.

Karen Jo: I have discovered one tiny drawback to having a nice big computer desk with room for everything: there is also room for kitties.  My old arrangement was so crowded that only Oja could fit in my lap and there was no room on the desk at all.  Now there is room for any of the kitties to walk all around the desk and get between me and the monitor and walk on the keyboard.  I don't mind, really.  It's kind of cool to watch Spyro watch the cards when I play card games.  Oja has more room to be lap kitty while I compute and Rocio has room to be a lap kitty, too.

Fun Friday

 Spyro:  Can you tell where I am?  I'm in the cube.  Mom has never seen a kitty napping in here before.  Having the Boys move in has changed all sorts of things.  Herman, Oja and I always just ignored the cube.  The Boys showed me how to play cube wars with it and I became interested in it.  The Boys have discovered the ham-micks and one is sleeping in Oja's ham-mick right now.

Karen Jo:  Hissy Boy just doesn't fit as a nickname any more, so I am going to call him Loverboy because he loves to sit on or next to me.  He is the one in the ham-mick at present.

Oja:  At least my bed has been safe from stinky boycats so far.  I still hiss at them a little, but not much.

Karen Jo:  I think maybe Oja hisses and growls just a little less each day.  During the night, there was one point where Spyro, Oja and Loverboy were all in bed with me at the same time, though spread out from each other.  I tried some toys on elastics today instead of the wand toys and they weren't any where nearly as popular.  The toys as a whole are very popular.  At least one bucket of toys gets dumped over every day.  Loverboy loves the rattly mice to death.  Really, he rips their faces off then goes for the rest of the skin, but first he rips their tails off.  I am not complaining.  I can easily afford to get them new rattly mice.  Cool Dude loves the door hanger on an elastic on the kitchen door, especially at dawn.  I am finding a few teeny-tiny disadvantages to three boycats who get along: THoE at 0 dark-thirty every night, lots of stuff gets knocked over during the wild chases and they don't settle down in bed.  They are likely to climb all over me at any hour.  Oh, well, I am enjoying having a houseful very much.

 Karen Jo: Spyro's food is no longer safe.  Loverboy found it and was helping himself to it this morning.  It's just turnabout is fair play.  Spyro was eating the Boys' food a little earlier this morning.  Oja hisses at any cat who comes near her food bowl, if she sees him, but they still nosh on her kibble.  I ordered some Lysine treats for Spyro and Oja, as the cats from Fuzzy Tales suggested.  I was going to thank them for the information in their comments, but I got a private blog notification when I hit the link on my list.  I'll double check to make sure I have the right URL for them.


UPDATE:  I now have permission to blog about the Boys.  I will let them introduce themselves.

Austin:  I am Austin, aka Cool Dude.  I was the first one to fit in around here, but I'm still not too sure about Oja.  Spyro and I love playing THoE up and down the hall in the middle of the night.

Rocio:  My name is Rocio, pronounced Rocky-oh.  I am really glad I won't be called Hissy Boy any more.  I haven't hissed in days.  These ham-micks are great.  I actually touched Oja the day before yesterday and she had to think about it for a second before she hissed at me.  We will be friends yet.

We are available for adoption through Felines and Friends New Mexico in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  We would love to be adopted together, as we are closely bonded.  We both have Feline Leukemia, but we are very healthy otherwise.

Almost Back to Normal

 Spyro:  Mom waited until nap time to take our pictures.  That's the only time we are still.

Oja:  It's nice to feel safe enough to nap wherever I want again.  I still hiss at them a little and try to smack them with my paw if they get too close.

Karen Jo:  Oja is back to moving around the house to all her usual places again.  She was in bed with me when I woke up this morning for the first time since the Boys moved in.  I think she might want to get to know the Boys, but she has a strange way of doing it.  She will sneak up on one of them from behind and sniff the very tip end of his tail very carefully, then hiss.  The situation is looking a lot better though.  Oja has become a lap cat and will sit in my lap while I  sit on the couch and read.  I found out last night that Hissy Boy is also a lap cat.  I was checking out all three computers to make sure they were working and playing games that I hadn't played in a long time when Hissy Boy jumped up in my lap and made himself right at home.  I'm taking a lazy day today and was reading on the couch with Oja in my lap.  Hissy Boy jumped up on the couch and slowly approached until he and Oja were only two inches apart from being nose to nose.  Oja didn't hiss until he turned and moved like he was going to get in my lap, too.  Hissy Boy jumped down, walked around to my other side, jumped up on the couch and cuddled up next to my  thigh.  Oja didn't mind that.  When I look my nap pictures today, all four cats were in the living room, sleeping peacefully.

Oja:  Spyro and I had a grooming session in my bed this morning for the first time since the Boycats moved in.  I feel like playing again.  Mom got out Da Bird and Kragonfly and Spyro and the Boys were really playing.  I came running up and grabbed Da Bird right out of the air.  That surprised those Boys!

Karen Jo:  It surprised and delighted me, too.  Oja played with Da Bird for quite some time, while the Boys played with Kragonfly and Spyro watched.  Then Cool Dude came flying through the air and grabbed Da Bird.  Oja hissed at him and walked over to her ham-mick and got in.  She wasn't through playing, though.  I flipped Kragonfly over to her while the Boys played with Da Bird and she really got into it.  She lay on her back and grabbed at Kragonfly with her paws, caught it and chewed on it, then let it go for more.

Oja:  I also played with my jingle-ball and the TurboTrack.  The only thing that's really wrong now is that every other cat wants to eat my food.  I don't have to compete with the Boys for my Stinky Goodness any more, thank goodness, but Spyro will wolf his down and try to help me eat mine.  Mom usually chases him off.  Then Spyro and both Boys want to help me eat my dry food.  Spyro won't eat his dry food, only mine.

Karen Jo:  That's why I have started taking some kibble from his bowl and putting it in yours.  I have no way of stopping any of them from eating your dry food, because anywhere you can go, they can go.  Maybe you should go sample their kibble.

Oja:  Maybe.  I haven't been in my old room since the Boys took it over.

Things Are Getting Better

 I have spending a lot of time up off the floor since Oja came out of her room.  She doesn't hassle me when I am up here or on the couch or on a chair.  Mom finally has a good excuse for not blogging.

Karen Jo:  That's right.  My computer developed a persistent hard-drive glitch right after I finished blogging and visiting the last time.  I have been very busy setting up the new computer and installing software and downloading stuff.  I can do almost anything now, but use my e-mail.  I have spent hours trying this and that, but nothing works.  My ISP rejects my sign-in every time.

Oja has stolen my spot on the bed next to Mom.  I fought with Emma over that, but I am not fighting with Oja about it, at least not yet.  I have been able to sleep on Mom's feet while Oja has my spot.

Karen Jo:  Oja usually seems content to stay up by my chest while you and Spyro sleep at my feet.  Every once in a while, she snarls and charges, though.

Do you know how I got some attention from Mom yesterday?  I got up in her lap and demanded that she pet me.  I stayed for about 20 minutes.

Karen Jo:  I was amazed.  You have never done anything more than walk across my lap to get from the computer chair to the bed before.

 Spyro:  I think Oja and I may eventually become friends.  She will stay in the same room with me without getting snarly about it.  Mean Mom won't take my outside any more.  I wanna go outside!

Karen Jo:  I am sorry Spyro, but I have been really busy trying to get my new computer set up. Besides that, it has been raining almost every evening.  I would have taken you out tonight after supper, but it was pouring down rain.

Spyro: Bah!

Oja:  This is Mom's computer chair.  It has become my favorite nap spot since I came out of my room.  If I don't want to be disturbed, I still go to my room and get up on the high bookshelf or go into my hidey-hole.  I am getting used to the mancats.  I don't hiss at them any more.  I only snarl at them if I think they are crowding me.

Karen Jo:  Right.  You smacked Herman for walking under the computer chair.

Oja:  He got too close to me.  I don't tolerate Herman as well as I tolerate Spyro.  The other day I let Spyro into my room to play with my toys.

Karen Jo:  I tried to get a picture of the both of you playing with your toys in your room, but you chased him out just as I got back with the camera.

Oja:  He got too close to me.  I found out that the Turbo Track is fun to play with.

Karen Jo:  I suspected that you were playing with it, because the ball was in a different position in the track every time I came into your room, but the other day I actually saw you bat the ball around the track.

Oja:  Mom doesn't get mad at me for eating the food in the kitchen any more.

Karen Jo:  That's because Spyro does go into your room and eat your food.  I probably won't do much visiting tonight.  There are still things to be installed on the new computer.  I will try to get back to regular blogging and visiting very soon

Rain!

We almost didn't get our pictures taken today.  When Mom got up it was all cloudy and looked like rain, so she went to get her allergy shot as soon as she could.  She said it rained on her all the way home, which was great.  We haven't had rain in such a long time.  It really cooled things off and it smelled great.  Once the rain was over and the sun came out, Mom went for her camera, but she couldn't find us.

Karen Jo:  Once I had good light for photos, all of you had gone to your shady hidey-holes for a nap.  Herman was under the couch; Spyro was under a chair in the living room and Oja was in her hidey-hole under the corner table.  I waited until I was afraid that I would lose the light and decided to just take a picture of Spyro under the chair.  It looked like there was just enough light for that.

Spyro:  It's really comfy here and it stays fairly cool.

Karen Jo:  Then I decided to visit Oja and put on my sweat shirt, since it was a bit cooler, to see if she would come out for a visit, taking the camera with me.  I waited for quite a while, but finally Oja came out, yawning and stretching.  I was in the easy chair and she jumped up in my lap.

Oja:  I mostly stayed in Mom's lap, though I did smear some cat drool on her face.  I even stayed still long enough for a picture.

Karen Jo:  Looking at this picture, I wonder if you qualify for the froot-bat club.  It looks like it to me.  After my visit with Oja, I walked back to the living room and Herman had come out and was stretched out in the light, so I got a picture of him, too.

Oja:  I want to tell about my adventure today.

Karen Jo:  You did have quite an adventure.  I always leave Oja's door open while I go to get her fresh water, so I don't have to open the door while holding her water dish.

Oja:  Spyro started peeking around the door jamb as soon as Mom left.  I watched him but he didn't bother me, so I didn't hiss at him.  When Mom got back with my water, Herman was following her.  He stood in the doorway, but didn't come in, so that didn't bother me either.  In fact, I walked a little closer to him, then hissed at him.  He didn't do anything; he just stood there in the doorway, swinging his tail slowly back and forth.

Karen Jo:  That is Herman's way of expressing interest.

Oja:  I went a little closer to him and growled at him.  He meowed softly to me and that intrigued me, so I walked right up to him and we touched noses and introduced ourselves.  Then I got a little spooked and backed up and hissed and growled at him again.  This is when Mom usually closes the door.

Karen Jo:  I couldn't close the door.  You were standing right in front of it.

Oja:  I finally walked away from him and Mom left, closing the door behind her.

Karen Jo:  I am really pleased with this development.  Herman was the perfect gentlecat.  He never moved any closer to Oja, letting her decide how much contact she wanted.  Oja didn't arch her back or poof out her tail, just hissed and growled.  Oja hasn't shown any more interest in leaving her room, but this evening Herman followed me a little way into her room when I went in to tell her good night.  Oja's reaction to that was her little "I don't like this" meow, but she didn't hiss at him.  I shooed Herman out and closed the door.  I am beginning to think that things may work out after all and Oja may eventually leave her room and really join the family.

Herman Goes Nekkid!

 Mom did it!  She went and got me a full lion cut.  She took this picture the day I got shaved, but I look pretty much the same now.  I didn't enjoy having it done at all, but I am glad she did it.  I don't have any more mats and I feel much cooler.  Before the shave, I was just lying around all day, not doing much of anything.  Now I have my energy back and I'm playing with Spyro again.  I even spent some nights snuggled up next to Mom, which I hadn't been doing because it has been so hot.  It's been too hot lately to do that any more, at least not for the whole night.

Karen Jo:  I am glad that you are enjoying your cooler lion cut, Herman.  I love it when you sleep next to me at night, but I really understand why you are doing it so seldom now.  It's been in the 90s everyday for a couple of weeks now.  I have been a really bad blogger and I apologize, but the heat got me down.  I will just have to make myself do it.  It's not that I don't enjoy it once I get started, it just seems like too much work in the heat.  I know that 90 isn't so hot for a lot of you, but it used to be rare up here in the mountains and I'm not used to it.

 Spyro:  I am sleeping under the kitchen table on one of the chairs.  I like this one because it has a soft cover on it.  It's cooler here where I can catch the breeze that blows from the kitchen window to the living room window.  I still play a lot, usually in the mornings and evenings.  Herman and I both sleep a lot in the afternoon.  Know what I discovered?  When Mom opens the screen door just wide enough to stick her arm out and grab the mail, I can slip outside.  I got out three times today.

Karen Jo:  It amazes me how small an opening you need to slip out.  Luckily, you never go anywhere.  Once you are out, you just stop and look around and it's really easy to get you back in.  Once I just told you to get your furry little butt back inside and you obeyed.  I am either going to have to figure out how to get the trash cans out without your getting out, too, or shut the kitchen door to the living room before I open the screen door.

Oja:  Can you believe it?  Mom finally got a decent photo of me.  You can see both my beautiful eyes and my curly tail.  There has been some progress since the last post.  A couple of days ago, Mom left my door open for about 15 minutes and when she came back, I wasn't in my room.  I decided to explore Mom's bedroom, or at least under her bed.

Karen Jo:  When I didn't see you in my room, I went back to your room and you let out a "Merp!" and ran back into your room and into your hidey-hole under the corner table.  Later I came and got you and put you down a few feet away from Spyro (Herman was nowhere to be seen at the time).  You hissed at him, so I took you back to your room

Oja:  I can't help it.  Those big kitties are scary.  Mom left something interesting in my room.  I have been moving it around.

Karen Jo:  It's a silver vine-stuffed fish that I got from Nip and Bones.  Herman and Spyro weren't that interested in it, so I brought it to you.  It's the first toy that I have found moved from where I put it on the floor.  I think you like it and I hope that you are playing with it and not just kicking it with your feet as you move around the room.  I think I will switch it around with some other toys and see if you will play with them, too.

Karen Jo:  I have solved the problem with getting so many claw-pricks when I visit Oja.  I can't believe it took me so long to figure it out.  All I have to do is put on a sweat-shirt.  Oja occasionally gets a paw down the neck of the sweat-shirt and I get pricked, but it doesn't happen often.  We spent the longest time together ever tonight.  I was with her for over half and hour.  She has settled down some, which is really nice.  She used to be all over my face all the time and it would get rather unpleasant. First she would rub my face with hers, cheek to cheek, which was rather nice.  Then she would turn around and we would be cheek to cheek the other way, which wasn't so nice, especially when she whapped my face with her tail.  That short, curly tail is really strong.  I would get fur up my nose and in my mouth and kitty drool all over my face.  Oja drools, usually out of the left side of her mouth.  Ten to fifteen minutes of that was all I could take.  Tonight we did the face to face and butt to face bit for a little while, then she moved down to my chest and just looked up at me and let me pet her.  After a bit, she moved down to my lap and just enjoyed the petting for a long time.  I pet her until she decided that she wanted back up on the bookshelf beside the window.  It's cooler up there and it's where she spends the night.

Oja:  I want more sessions like tonight's.  I really liked it.

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.

Caturday

Here I am on my big pillow, catching some rays.  Mom took this picture two weeks ago and is just now getting around to posting it.  She keeps promising to be a better blogger, then she lets me down again.  Sheesh!

Karen Jo:  I am really sorry, Herman.  I just keep getting caught up in other things that I do.

Like leaving me here all alone.  You did that four nights in a row this week.

Karen Jo:  While I was working, I was at work nights and weekends.  That left me with no social life.  I am making up for it now.  It does play havoc with my blogging time, though.

At least you are blogging now.  I did get my meatloaf all to myself, but I didn't eat much of it. When it was fresh out of the oven and cooled off enough to eat, I loved it and ate little bite after little bite.  What was left was leftovers and I don't like them nearly as much.  I ate very little of it after that and Mom ended up giving it to the ravens.  They ate it all up.  Since then I have had a little chicken and some roast beef, which I didn't like as much as usual, and some steak, which I like a lot.  I ate as much as I could, then licked the last bite so Mom couldn't have it back.

Mom has been trying to bribe me with catnip.  She wants me to play with her.  She has been putting my little furry balls in a plastic bag with catnip and leaving them there for about a week, then giving them to me.  I can't resist playing with them for a little while.  She even gave me a pinch of catnip on a piece of paper to make me more playful.  I ate some of the catnip, then took a nap.  I do play a little bit.  We played bat the mousie a few days ago and I am up for a little soccer a couple of times a week.  Mostly I just want to be fed and petted.

Karen Jo:  You have started using my leg for a scratching post while I am sitting in my rocking chair and reading.  I thought you wanted to be a lap cat and lifted you into my lap.  You didn't stay long.

That's because I didn't want to be a lap cat.  I wanted you to get up and feed me.

Karen Jo:  I thought of that, too, but it wasn't anywhere near time to eat.

It's time to eat now, so hurry up and post this, so you can feed me.