Monday, April 30, 2018

weekend report

The rescue had a kitten shower on Saturday and mom went over to help for a couple of hours. It was chilly, but there was a good turnout and there were lots of donations made too.
The girls basically spent the weekend doing this.

Sparta - keeping it clean.

Veria makes sure everyone knows the dish is EMPTY!

Mom met with families interested in Olympia and Sparta. Since she knows the clinic fills up quick, she had already called and gotten everyone on the schedule for mid-May.

Everyone is doing well and getting bigger. It is fun to watch them now that they are 6 weeks old and able to get around more and play more as well.

Friday, April 27, 2018

traveling with Chanel

Here are some things mom learned traveling with Chanel last week:

1. The Sleepypod carrier is great, but crate was a good idea. Mom put up a small wire crate in the backseat of the Escape. It gave Chanel a little more room to stretch out, access to water and a litter box, and allowed her to see out more.

2. Water Faucets: mom keeps the bathroom door shut here at the house. It started when that was where the foster kittens were kept, now it is just habit and allows mom to leave stuff laying around that she doesn't want us getting into. So she had NO idea that Chanel was into water.

3. Litterbox location is more important than you think. The last couple of conferences, the cabinet in the bathroom was far enough from the floor that the boxes fit UNDER the cabinet. Not so much in this hotel, so we needed a new configuration. The picture below seemed fine....until you realize that the tub faucet had a slow drip....and both tuxedo kittens liked to play in the tub..... (the clay litter got moved to the other side by day 2). (and yes, we left a very nice tip for housekeeping)

4. More space is better: we knew that re-introducing Chanel and Cupcake could go either way. Fortunately, there was some hissing but nothing much further than that. And on Tuesday, Aunt Dee (who adopted Calais from us) showed up and was in the adjoining room. The doors were left open and having a little more space cut down on some of the name calling at 2am.

5. That dumb stroller is handy. Keep in mind that mom hadn't used it much before leaving for the conference. Turns out that Chanel LIKES having her own ride....and it certainly made it much easier to take her around the hotel and conference (plus there was room to put stuff underneath).

7. Adding to your list is OK, though remembering before you leave is better. After some thought, a pheromone diffuser might have come in handy. And while mom actually BOUGHT a night light in Nashville, she forgot to pack one. If she is going to leave the plastic box packed with some basic essentials, she needs to get one for the box.

8. Start using a blanket for trips and bring it with you. Cupcake has a blanket that she takes to Starbucks and that Miss Julie brought on the trip. It gave her a safe landing place both in the hotel room and out in the hotel.

Overall, it really was a good trip. Mom made sure to bring a scratcher for Chanel since she not only uses them but likes to lounge on them. The Sleepypod was a nice safe space to have in the room as well. More than once mom came back to the room and Cupcake was asleep on her blanket on the bed and Chanel was in the Sleepypod.



Thursday, April 26, 2018

bathing a cat

Disclosure: We received this product free to try out in exchange for our honest review. This did not influence our opinions at all. We will always give our fair and honest opinion of products and we will only share information that we feel is relevant to our readers. Chewy.com is not responsible for the contents of this post and the opinions expressed are based on product testing by us.

Don't need a bath - I am self cleaning, thanks

When mom saw this Burt's Bees Apple and Honey waterless shampoo on the list to test this month, she was pretty interested. Don't get us wrong, she says she really won't try to give one of us adults a bath unless it becomes desperate. She HAS given kittens a bath before, but they are slightly easier to manage.
However, with Chanel traveling to Blog Paws and a certain princess having some occasional dandruff issues, mom thought she would give this a try.

Word of warning - the sound of the spray made every cat disappear!! She ended up spraying it on the brush and using it that way.
Once she figured that part out, it worked pretty well. It helped pull out some loose hair from Chanel, and Miss Julie even used it in the hotel on a certain OTHER tuxedo cat after she was rolling in the clean litter box. Even Ivy didn't mind it (too much). It smells nice too...but not over powering enough that any cats were put off.

One word of marketing note - could companies SERIOUSLY stop putting dog bones on cat products???

But, we like this one and mom will keep it around - maybe even throwing it in Chanel's backpack for travel purposes.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Blog Paws

OK - so there was a little cheating going on while mom was gone. She got to meet Stillwell and his siblings (who were less interested in getting their pictures taken).

As many of your know, our friend Miss Julie adopted Dior, now Cupcake, who is Chanel's sister. Mom and Chanel roomed with them this year and it was pretty interesting. No one was sure how things would go since we knew the sisters wouldn't remember each other. There was some name calling and hissing, but it went fairly well all things considered. It helped that our Aunt Dee arrived on Tuesday and had the adjoining hotel room so the doors could be opened and everyone had a little more space.

And of course there were cupcakes:

Some liked them more than others.

Cupcake in the cat lounge

Kylo Ren from Kitty Cat Chronicles

There were several cats there this year - though apparently mom didn't get as many pictures as she normally would since she was with Chanel and making sure things went smoothly for her.

We got a swag bag that mom has YET to bring up from the car. Plus some of our friends gave us some of their stuff so they didn't have to ship it back, so we will be donating that to our rescue. THANKS to everyone - the food will come in handy as we head into kitten season.

Chanel did great and mom was impressed. If you follow us on Instagram, you would have seen the #backseatdriver jokes as mom was traveling. Considering Chanel has never ridden that far in a car and has never attended an event like this, she did great. Blog Paws next year is in Florida and depending on dates and everything else, mom is hoping Chanel can make that trip (especially since mom won a ticket to the conference using a picture of Chanel....seems only fair).

Monday, April 23, 2018

weekend report

Mom got back from Blog Paws late on Saturday and slept like the dead. Sunday was a few chores, a nice nap and playing with the kittens. They seem so much bigger after a week of being gone. They are very active and have started eating kitten food and using the boxes. They were 5 weeks old this past Saturday....time flies.


Friday, April 20, 2018

Water faucets

The bathroom at the house is usually closed so open doors at Blog Paws has been interesting. Someone discovered water from the faucets:




Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Blog Paws

Our posting this week may be a little sporadic. However, be sure to follow our links to facebook or instagram and you can see mom and Chanel over there. That's right - mom took Chanel with her to Blog Paws!!


Good think mom has that new bigger car....geez between her stuff and cat stuff, the back of the Escape was pretty full. Chanel traveled in her Sleepypod for the first hour and then mom moved her to the crate in the back seat. It was a long trip....made longer by a bad accident in Indiana that stopped traffic and then just slowed it down. Mom wasn't sure how Chanel would do for that long in the car but she did very well. She was a little chatty for the first 30 minutes but then settled in for the haul.

Mom also wasn't sure how she would do in the hotel room. Mom got everything to the room and then set up the stuff in the bathroom before letting Chanel out of her carrier. She climbed right out and wandered around checking everything out. She found the food and the counters and the bed and the hotel window. What a good girl.

Monday, April 16, 2018

four weeks old

Poor Sparta - coordination is hard

Argos is looking for trouble
(yes, his eyes are still a little goopy)

introoder alert

Delphi and Olympia

seriously??

Hard to believe they are already a month old. When did that happen?? They are learning to walk and pounce - though they don't often land on what (or whom) they are aiming for when they take off. They were all weighed last Friday - everyone except Veria (the calico) is over 1 pound now. There is food out and kitten sized litter boxes but they haven't used anything yet.

Friday, April 13, 2018

Random Fridays

Mom took the recycling out on Wednesday and there was a black cat sitting across from the garage. She tried to get a picture but it took off. And based on the quick glance, it was NOT Allie. Guess what mom will be up to soon???
~~~~~~~~~~~




The kittens are doing well. For some reason during the day they are over in the corner where mom can't see them on the camera (brats). But in the evenings they tend to wander around more. They are getting mobile though certainly aren't very steady all the time. Veria (the dilute calico) is still having some eye issues so mom is medicating her 2-3 times per day. Everyone else seems to be doing fine.

It is supposed to warm up here tomorrow, so paws crossed maybe mom will crack a window or two.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

rearranging

This is the space at the top of our entry stairs. It did have a table sitting there - basically collecting "stuff". Mom never did like it but hadn't come up with a better solution.

However, she also didn't like the cabinet in the foster room so much. It blocks sunshine, it is just too open....it seemed OK when she bought it but not so much anymore.


Well, with new storage coming in, the tall cabinet is now by the landing. The door to the closet will still open, though in all honesty, mom doesn't use that closet that much.

(yes, the stuff in the box on the floor will eventually go on the shelves)

And the replacement storage?? Mom had been looking for a while and just couldn't find something she liked. She wanted closed drawers or doors. Not too tall. Most everything she found was raised off the ground on legs - which is just an invitation for kittens to go under and take a nap.

Then she started looking at Ikea. There is a store that opened up here about a year ago and dang if she didn't find something she liked. Check this out: 


Mom didn't want it to be ALL white, so she opted to buy the containers in different colors. They slide right in and are working really well. We do suspect some kitten may decide to get in the corners by the containers, but hopefully by then they will be too big to fit. Someone did suggest getting carpet squares for the tops of the cabinet and mom will look into that.

Word of warning - that thing is well built but DANG it was heavy. Mom ended up taking the pieces out of the box and bringing them upstairs that way. She was able to just back up to the store to buy it, but everything is kind of self service so thankfully there was a very nice man in the parking lot that helped mom get it off the cart and into her car. Plus it took her a couple of hours to put the whole thing together. But we think it was worth it.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

food review





We got this product from Chewy.com for free for our review. Getting the product does not affect our thoughts or opinions. All opinions in this post are our own.


This month mom decided to review the Weruva "Cats in the Kitchen" variety pack. Mom likes to have different things in the foster room cupboard just in case we have kittens or a momma cat that decide they only like certain things. 


When mom went into the foster kitten room, this is what she found:

Mom sat on the floor and opened the pouch of food. She will say this - the pouches are nice for storage but they are danged hard to get everything OUT of the pouch. 

Anyhow, she put the dish on the tray where the other food and water dish are located. And got....nothing. Hmmmm

So mom moved it a little closer to where Delphi was laying. It took about 15 seconds....Delphi's nose twitched and she was out of there. Kittens be darned - it was dinner time!!
Delphi gives this 2 paws up. The bowl was licked clean....

The nice part is this is a variety pack, so there are different things mom can try if Delphi decides she doesn't like a certain flavor. Two of them do have pumpkin added so those may be at the end of the list of things mom gives Delphi.

Thanks to Chewy and Weruva for the food - Delphi is feeding a growing family and certain appreciates the gooshy stuff!!

gratuitous kitten picture

Monday, April 9, 2018

weekend report

Well, the kittens are 3 weeks old now. They are getting more mobile...and have picked a spot to snooze where mom can't see them on the web camera. They are wandering around when mom is there too.

Mom also realized she may have been using Veria and Olympia's names haphazardly. Veria was originally the calico and Olympia the gray. She has made a note....

She did weight them and everyone is gaining:
  Veria  13 7/8 ounces
  Olympia  15 3/8 ounces
  Argos  15 3/4 ounces
  Sparta  14 3/8 ounces

Mom moved some stuff around and put this end table under the window. Seems that it also gives Ivy better access to the floor vent.


Friday, April 6, 2018

Random Fridays

HALP!!


Ivy and Daiquiri had vet appointments on Monday. Daiquiri just needed a check up, Ivy needed the works. Vaccines and a senior blood panel. She was NOT pleased with all of this. Ivy weighs about 13 pounds and need to lose some. Daiq weighs about 11 pounds and escaped with no comments about her weight. However, her teeth are nasty looking, so next step is a dental for her.

*sorry this went out late - mom is a dork

Thursday, April 5, 2018

family pics

momma cat - Delphi

the girls
Veria and Olympia

the boys
Argos and Sparta

We had some storms here the other night and Delphi moved the kittens into a corner. When mom checked on them a little later, Delphi had been abandoned for the heated bed. MOL