Finally Posting Again

 Karen Jo:  I really apologize for not blogging for so long.  My only excuse is that I had no idea what I was taking on when I adopted two 8-month old kittens when I already had an 8-month old kitten in the house.  You know what happens when you do that? Chaos!  Within four days of adopting Brody and Cissy I had a kitten gang four strong terrorizing the house.  Brody, Cissy and Julius hit it right off and they invited Bambino (who still thinks like a kitten) in within a day.  There has been THoE around here like never before and some of it ends in CRASH!  There have been many mountain climbing expeditions and they often end in CRASH, too.  Nothing is getting broken, just falling down.  I have coffee table books that won't stay on the coffee table.  I have paperbacks that won't stay on the shelves.  Sometimes the cat food cans rain down from the counter.  When I opened the screen door to go outside, I was getting rushed by 5 kitties:  Spyro, Horus, Oja, Brody and Cissy.  Now I have to clear the kitchen of kitties and close the kitchen door before I can leave the house.

Spyro:  That was so cool.  There was no way Mom could stop 5 of us from escaping.  Mom always grabbed the kittens first, then Oja or Horus and me last, because I always go to the same place in the yard and stay there.  Sometimes when she would catch the last kitty before me, I would walk in with her.  Now none of us can get out,  unless we manage to hide in the kitchen long enough for Mom to open the door.

 Oja:  I never thought getting two more kittens in the house would be good for me, but it has been.  When they first moved in, I did my usual thing and moved into the computer room and seldom left it.  The kittens would come in to visit and they never really bothered me.  Cissy and I would hiss at each other, but that was it, so I got used to them.  I started coming out to the living room again and watching those kittens play made me more lively.  I am playing more, both with toys and with Spyro.  I started escaping the house, which I had never done before.  I started jumping up on things where I had never been before.  I'm up on the spy tower, where Mom has seen me only once before.  I have been up on top of the file cabinet in up in the bathroom sink.  I even run occasionally.

 Bambino:  It has been so exciting around here.  Brody and I rassle every morning before breakfast and whenever else we feel like it.  I play THoE with Spyro, Brody, Cissy, Julian and Rocio.  Man, do we make a racket!  Nothing is safe from us.  We even knock the phone off the kitchen counter.

 Horus:  I don't like all the changes around here.  It's all those kittens' fault; I know it.  I bully them to make them stop whatever it is that they're doing to change things, but they keep right on doing it.  Now Bambino ambushes me from behind and boxes with me to stop my bullying.  Even Oja has started hissing at me sometimes.  I'm the grumpy cat of the house now.

 Rocio and Julius:  Cissy and Brody have only strengthened the bond between us.  We rassle with each other and groom each other and nap together.  Of course Julius play with the kittens and Rocio plays with Bambino and Spyro, but we sure do like hanging out together.

 Brody:  There is so much to do around here! Mountainous bookshelves to climb, closets to explore and climb up the clothes and knock stuff off the shelves.  Kitties to play with, except that mean Horus.  I have a scratch on my nose and he has one on his whisker-hump and Mom is wondering if they happened at the same time.  Oja has stopped hissing at me.

Cissy:  I like to do all the things that Brody does, except rassle with Bambino.  I rassle with Brody only, but I think the time is coming soon when I will rassle Julius.  I still hiss at Oja sometimes, but she never hisses back any more.  Horus is mean.  He backs me up against a wall and stalks me and I hiss and snarl at him until he backs off or Mom makes him stop.  I don't like him at all.

Super Sunday

 Bambino:  I have some great news: I'm well!

Karen Jo:  I'd say 99% well.

Bambino:  Why only 99%?

Karen Jo:  The Prince of Pounce isn't back yet, but I'm sure he will be.

Bambino:  I got a little better every day and the night before last I played with Mom's shoe laces and the sleeve of her pajamas.  Today I rassled with Julius and napped with him.  I can do my mighty leaps again and I eat up all my treats and food.  Yesterday, even the kitten food disappeared.  I say I'm all well.

Karen Jo:  You are certainly well enough not to have to go back to the vet tomorrow.

Bambino: YAY!  I want to thank everyone for purring for me.  It worked!

 Spyro:  It is Sunday and most of us are taking our Easy.  I'm in the blue bed by the heat vent, keeping warm.

 Oja:  I'm up on the tall scratcher, catching some rays.  Mean Mom says she isn't going to take any more pictures of me.

Karen Jo:  That's not what I said.  I said I wasn't going to take any more pictures of you in your cushioned chair under the kitchen table or in your chair in the computer room.  It's too dark and the pictures don't come out well.  I am going to concentrate on getting the camera out when I see you out, so there will be new pictures of you.

Oja:  Oh, that's ok then.

 Rocio:  I'm up on the big pillow in a great big sun puddle.  It's so bright I have to cover my eyes to nap.  Mom says that I've been a bad boy.  I've been annoying Oja again, once in the computer room and once in the kitchen.  She is such a lay-about that I've just been trying to get her up for some exercise, but she doesn't like it one bit.

 Horus:  The trouble with sun puddles is that they move.  When I started my nap I was right in the middle of the bigger one.  At least my tail is getting some rays.

Julius:  I'm glad that Bambino is well again.  I missed playing with him.  I'm getting my rays up on the table.  I still won't let the Lady get close to me with the clicky box.  I did let her pet me while she was giving out treats, but I run from her the rest of the time.

Caturday

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 Spyro:  Getting Mom down on the floor to take my picture was so much fun the other day that I decided to do it again.  It's so funny watching her get up again.  I haven't been doing much since yesterday.  I know where Mom has stashed all those new treats she bought yesterday, but I can't get at them.  I did knock the laundry basket over onto the floor trying to get at them.

 Oja:  Mom is so lame.  The picture she took of me in my chair was too blurry to use, so I have to appear in a repeat.  Now that I have accepted Julius as part of the family I am back to lounging around in all my usual spots instead of hiding from him.  He is the most polite kitten I have ever met.  He never pounces unless he is already playing with the cat he pounces.  I had to give Mom the stink eye today.  I was so comfy cozy on her lap, then she told me she had to get up, so I moved to my chair.  When she came back, Horus jumped up on her lap and she was petting and praising him just like she had been doing with me.  The nerve!

 Rocio:  See that purple fish by the scratcher?  It's stuffed with silvervine like the green one.  I rubbed it all over my face and now I'm playing with the blurpy's blocks and enjoying my sun puddle.  Julius is so great.  Just before Mom got out the camera we were snuggling and grooming and rasslin' just like I used to do with Austin.

 Bambino:  We have great sun puddles today.  I am just lounging around and soaking up rays. It feels so good.

 Horus:  I am up on the watch tower making sure that the other kitties behave themselves.  I have started eating treats more often.  I used to just ignore them when Mom would give me some, but now I eat them at least sometimes.

Julius:  Spyro had so much fun under here that I decided to try it, too.  He's right.  It is fun watching the Lady trying to get up again.  Last night when she went to bed I followed her and jumped up on the bed.  There were no other kitties up there, though, so I jumped down again.  I don't trust the Lady enough to be alone with her.  I did the same thing this morning after she woke up.

Closer and Closer

 Spyro:  You see that green fish I am sort of lying on?  It's stuffed with silvervine and I just got a bit high on it and now I'm rolling around and playing with anything I can reach.  Mom gets these fish from Nip and Bones and they are wonderful.

 Oja:  I have stopped hiding from Julius.  I've decided that he isn't a little orange monster after all.  He mostly leaves me alone, but I still hiss at him if he gets within two feet of me.  I love hanging out on top of this scratcher.  The top is curved and fits my body perfectly.  I even scratch on it for treats sometimes.

 Rocio:  Mom took a terrible picture of me.  I show up better on the photo of Julius she posted at the Tabby Cat Club.  I am having fun with Julius, but Oja got all hissy with me again today.  I wasn't doing anything to her, honest.  Horus has stopped hissing at me, though.

 Bambino:  I am thinking about scratching for treats on our new scratcher.  Mom got it for us just before Julius arrived and it's really fun.  We tore our last inclined scratcher all to bits.  Julius and I rassled a little bit more today.

 I'm napping to catch my breath again.  Julius and I rassled this morning, then the blurp showed up.  She's been coming over more frequently.  I must say that she's more fun now.  She has gotten the hang of using the wand toy and I love it.  She is also pretty generous about giving out treats, which the other kitties really enjoy.  Even Julius came out once, but she scared him.

Julius:  See how close I let the Lady come to me with the clicky box?  I turned my head just as it clicked, so I'm a little blurry.  I have been having an exciting time.  Yesterday afternoon I actually pounced Spyro's head and we rassled until he ran away.  At night the other kitties tend to disappear and last night I decided to find out where they were going.  I walked down the hall and at the end I saw a room with a big stripy thing in it and there were Spyro, Rocio and Bambino.  I jumped up and there was the Lady, too.  That scared me a little, so I just stayed at the very end and watched for a while, then left.  I jumped up again this morning because Spyro and Bambino were there and the Lady was still there, too, so I stayed at the very end again, then left.

Karen Jo:  My bedroom is at the end of the hall and I have a striped bedspread.  I was glad that Julius jumped up on the bed.  Maybe he will get braver about getting close to me as he sees the other cats lying beside and on top of me.  I petted Julius a little today.

Braver and Braver

 Spyro:  Mom is being just a little bit mean with her picture taking today.  She was gone most of the day and was hours late  in giving us our fresh water and dry food.  So, of course we were hungry.  We get the same boring dry food everyday, but Julius got a brand new bag of something we never had before, so we are checking it out.  It smells delicious.

Rocio:  Nom, nom, nom.

 Horus:  I want to try the new food, too, but the new scratcher has fresh catnip on it, so I'm torn.

Rocio:  Nom, nom, nom.

 Horus:  This catnip smells wonderful.

Bambio:  I wanna get some nip, too.

 Oja:  Silly mancats.  All the really good food is in the kitchen and it's mine. Hahaha!

Julius:  Where is everycat?  I'm in the living room all alone.  I am getting braver about the Lady. I let her get a little closer to me to take my picture.  Last night she was giving out treats and I actually sniffed her fingers.  You know what happened next?  She petted me and I liked it.  Spyro scratched for treats before breakfast and I let her pet me again.  This afternoon I wouldn't let her pet me, but I walked up and sniffed her shoe.  I ran when she reached down for me, though.  No way am I letting her pick me up.  I'm not sure those mancats know what they are talking about when they tell me Oja is harmless.  I walked toward her down the hall this morning and she not only hissed at me, she charged me.  I ran like the wind and she couldn't catch me.

Bambino:  She didn't hurt you or even try to smack you, did she?

Julius:  No, she just charged.  That was scary enough.

Bambino:  I still say she won't hurt you.  She's all noise and bluff.

Julius:  We'll see.  Thanks for playing with me in this net thing.  That was fun.

Bambino:  That's a playpen.  My foster Mom kept me in one when I was littler than you.  I like rasslin', too.

Julius:  No one can keep me in it.  I can jump in and out all by myself.

Who's the Alpha?

Karen Jo:  Here is Angel Herman, as he looked exactly a year ago.  His lion cut was growing out, but he wasn't in full floof yet.  I have been thinking about him a lot lately and he fits right into the subject of this post.  I thought I understood about alpha cats, but I don't think I really do.  Do all groups of cats have an alpha?  I never had this many cats before and I don't think I really know which one is the alpha in my house.  I read up on feral cat colonies and how the alpha cat is almost always the oldest healthy female.  That would be Oja in this house, but I don't really think she is the alpha.  Things were simpler when Herman was here.  He was the alpha cat from the minute he figured out that he was staying with me.  With no other cats to boss around, he bossed me around.  He woke me up for breakfast, told me where he wanted his food bowls and water bowl, let me know that the litter I was using was unacceptable and that I better change it fast, told me when it was playtime and scolded me from the bed if he thought I was staying up too late on the computer.  Emma, Spyro and Oja all acknowledged him as the head cat without any fuss.  Well, Emma fussed, but that was because she was terrified of him.  After Herman ran off to the Rainbow Bridge, Spyro and Oja basically treated each other as equals, though Spyro would eat Oja's dry food.  I felt sorry for Oja because she was on her diet and I moved Spyro's food station to up on the counter, so she couldn't eat his food.  At bedtime if all of Oja's dry food was gone, but Spyro's wasn't, I would put Spyro's food at Oja's food station.  The diet worked anyway and Oja lost two pounds.  Then came the parade of new kitties.

 Spyro is friends with all the other cats.  He is the only one that I have seen grooming each of the other four.  Here he is hanging out with Rocio.  By the way, Rocio's hissy fit was just that. Everything is totally back to normal today.  Rocio and Bambino were having a big rasslin' match and Rocio gave Bambino a soft hiss.  I think he was daring Bambino to pounce him again.  Bambino took him up on it and the match continued.  They were having a great time together.  Rocio is friends with Spyro and Bambino.  I have seen him grooming both of them.  He used to tease Oja and chase her off her favorite chair in the computer room, but he doesn't do that any more.  Maybe it's because Horus is teasing Rocio now.

 Oja is only friends with Spyro and Horus.  She wont let Rocio or Bambino get close enough to her for any mutual grooming.

 Bambino wants to be friends with all the other cats, but Oja won't let him be friends with her.  I have never seen Bambino groom another cat, though I have seen Rocio and Spyro grooming him.

Horus is the newest addition.  He is friends with Spyro, Oja and Bambino.  He has been a bit mean to Rocio and I have never seen the two of them rasslin'.  This could be because Horus is the kitty least likely to be seen in a rassin' match.  I have seen him rassle Spyro and Bambino, but he would rather play THoE any day.

So who is the alpha cat here?  I can rule out Bamino and Rocio immediately because I have seen them defer to the older cats.  Herman commanded the respect of the other cats and no cat messed with him.  That lets Oja out, as Rocio was certainly messing with her.  On the other hand, maybe Rocio stopped messing with her because she convinced him that she was the boss.  Horus defers to Oja and Spyro, though not to Bambino or Rocio.  Neither Spyro nor Oja defer to any of the others.  I did see one thing that makes me think that Spyro may be the alpha.  Spyro was eating Oja's dry food and Oja whapped him one between the ears.  Spyro looked at her and went on eating, so she whapped him again.  He still went on eating, so she whapped him a third time.  When that didn't make him leave, Oja went off to find another food bowl.

Who do you think is the alpha or is there one?  I am just curious.  It won't change anything around here, I would just like to know.

World Cat Day

 Happy World Cat Day!  I thought I would celebrate the day by carrying my camera around with me and taking pictures of how having cats in my life has made things more interesting.

 Spyro helped me make up my bed.

 Rocio helped me with my email this morning.  Sorry about the poor quality of the photo.  My hands must have shaken more than the anti-shake stabilizer could handle.

 Oja helped me pick which mah jong puzzle to work on this evening.  Sorry it's too dark to see her properly.

 Bambino inspected my breakfast to make sure it was good enough for me.

 Spyro loves to help me read the newspaper.

 Opening the screen door is always and adventure.  Spyro is looking out to see that there are no vishus deer or bears waiting for me.

 Anyone can have regular tp.  I have lacy tp thanks to Rocio.

 I never know what will be waiting for me in the hall.  This time it was Bambino and Horus rasslin'.

 Rocio helped me fold my laundry.

 Spyro made sure that the towels were folded and put away just right, with Rocio snoopervising.

 Horus led me on an inspection of my now gopher-free yard.  The gophers just got to be too much, so the whole block got together and called in the exterminator.  I don't like killing creatures, but these gophers ate my sage, leeks, cilantro, chives, daisies, California poppies, nearly killed my lilac bush and made big bald spots in the grass.  Spyro watched Horus go out on the harness and leash and made piteous meows, but wouldn't let me put the harness on him.  I have ordered Spyro a new and different type of harness, so maybe he will get to go out again.

One of the best times of the day is relaxing before dinner time.  Horus just loves Da Bird.  That's Spyro in the play pen.  Rocio joined in after a while.  Bambino and Spyro just watched.  Oja was in the computer room, where she spends most of her time.  I hope you enjoyed seeing what my day with cats is like.

Togetherness

 Spyro: Mom thinks we have been talking too much lately about which cats whap which cats, so here are some pictures of us being together.  Oja and I are having a mutual grooming session.  These seldom end in rasslin' matches any more for some reason.

Bambino:  Here I am with Jose, who wouldn't hold still for me to lick his ear.  This one ended up in a game of THoE with me chasing Jose.  Oh, and it turns out that I am NOT the smallest cat in the house any more.  I grew and now I am taller than Oja, but she still weighs more.  That's because Oja is . . .

Oja:  Watch it, Bambino!

Bambino:  The floofiest cat in the house.  Her fur is just a little bit longer than ours.

Oja:  You just missed a date with my whapping paw.

Jose:  Speaking of whapping, I got Rocio good a few times yesterday.  He was on the kitchen table and I was in the chair underneath the table and I would reach up and get him.  It was fun.  The infamous whapper gets whapped.

Rocio:  It wasn't fair.  I couldn't see you to whap you back.

Karen Jo:  We are supposed to be talking about togetherness today.

Bambino:  Oja and I get up on the big bed together at bedtime.  We don't get too close together, but we both get to be next to Mom.  It's too hot to stay snuggled up to Mom for long, though.

Rocio:  Spyro and I lie in the same ham-mick together sometimes, but it's too hot to do that except in the middle of the night now.

Jose:  Spyro and I get together to rush the screen door when Mom opens it.  I got out twice today while Mom was holding Spyro back.

Karen Jo:  That kind of togetherness I could do without.  Luckily you don't go far, just around the yard and you don't fight me when I pick you up to bring you back inside.  Don't make me have to start closing you up on the safe room every time I need to go outside for a little while.

Jose:  I don't like the sound of that.

Spyro:  It's no fun.  Mom does it to me whenever she decides to take all the trash out at the same time, which means she is in and out several times.