Random Fridays

May your weekend be

peaceful

OR

playful

Whatever works. Unfortunately the hots are coming back here, so the windows have been closed and the a/c turned back on. Sigh.... Guess we should be glad we even GOT some open window time during June. Mom says her wallet is probably happy the a/c was turned off for a few days.

We hope you have a very nice weekend....and if you are in the US, that the banging fireworks don't start TOO early or go off TOO close.

Thanks for the feedback on the pictures. We will keep putting in the larger ones then. :)

Oh - and on the collar front: mom found Harlow's stuck to the curtains on Wednesday morning. And on Thursday morning found Bogart and Bacall's collars in the same place. Not sure what is going on...attack of the curtains??  MOL  Mom is thinking now about cutting down the collars and seeing if that helps. Otherwise we are back to square one. 

review #ChewyInfluencer

 

We got the product from free from Chewy.com for our honest review. 

Receiving the product doesn't influence our views and opinions are our own.

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sorry - fuzzy picture

Strength by Wapiti Labs

Available at Chewy.com

Tommy - our old man cat at almost 14 years old

Mozart - our second oldest cat at almost 11 years old

Tommy has definitely been slowing down the last year or so. Mom noticed this along with him losing weight and had the vet run a senior blood panel on him. Everything came back normal, but he is still pretty skinny and was slowing down.

Mozart has ALWAYS been skinny but was showing his age as well. Mom hasn't had his senior bloodwork done yet, but he is getting up there and mom worries about him as well.

So when the items came out for review from Chewy for June and mom saw this supplement, she got interested. Her original intent had been to start when she got it and give you the full 30 day review. Then life happened and we had kittens, and a big adoption event, and kittens, and delivering Cupcake, and did we mention kittens? So the boys have been taking this now for just over 10 days. The product website says you should notice results in 7-10 days, so at least mom knows she should be noticing something.

Which she has....both Tommy and Mozart seem a little more active and alert. Mozart has started back bringing a toy to mom each night when she goes to bed...while she could do without the howling "look I killed it for you" song, she does smile that he is back to being his mighty hunter self. Tommy seems more confident when jumping on the bed and not quite so creaky. Both boys are still skinny so we suspect it doesn't affect weight (they are both eating like normal, so no worries there).

Fortunately, Tommy and Mo are easy to "medicate". This comes in a liquid form and you just give them one dropper amount twice per day. Mom isn't sure what it tastes like (you want to know, YOU can try it), but both boys let her give it to him and Mo has been seem smacking him lips.

So we have to give this one 4 paws up. The bottle says it is a 30 day supply, but we suspect that is for 1 cat. That said, after 10 days there is plenty left in the bottle.

Thanks to Chewy and Wapiti Labs for letting us try this one. 

rat pack update

Mom found some light weight velcro collars and decided enough was enough and those kittens were going to wear them so she can tell them apart. Plus she got her chart right so it actually has 6 DIFFERENT kittens on it. MOL  Mom couldn't decide if she wanted to cut the collars or not (still a possibility) so far now they are just around a couple of times. The whole thing is velco so it sticks to itself all the way around.

inspector Rooney wants to be sure the chart is correct

Bogart and Harlow

nice....open sliding door and some fresh air

Harlow

Flynn

Rooney

Bogart

They are a social bunch of kittens and climb all over mom whenever she is in the room. Once they get over the colds and can be spayed/neutered, we hope they get adopted pretty quickly. They are still fairly snotty though so it may be a few weeks. Fortunately Panache's kittens are still a ways away from needing room to run around so there hopefully won't be much overlap.
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There were a couple of comments yesterday about Panache being protective of her kittens. She actually isn't....she is fine with mom picking up the kittens and holding them. She just loves to pull them close and snuggle.

Oh - and we have a question for all of you. If you notice in this post, the pictures are different sizes. Do you like the bigger ones, the smaller ones, all the same or are you ok with them being different sometimes???

an adventure

Since the adoption of Cupcake (aka Dior) was being kept under wraps, mom couldn't tell you about the other fun things she did with Miss Julie while the kitten was being delivered.

Thursday afternoon they went to the Orlando Cat Cafe and got to hang out with the adoptable cats there. It is a VERY nice set up and while mom couldn't get too many cats to give her any love, it was nice to see them in a "home" setting.

that door leads to a back room where there

are litter boxes and they can be away from the public

mom can't remember this cat's name, but he was very sweet

On Friday night they went to see the Acro Cats and the Rock Cats. If you ever get a chance to go, mom recommends it. Samantha Martin and her helpers do such a great job of showing what you can do working with cats to keep them social and using their brains. Do all the "tricks" work all of the time? No, but it is still fun. This time they still had a foster kitten with them that was adoptable and already learning some tricks. She wobbled on one of the jumps and the lady next to mom let out this scream....has she never been around cats? sheesh.... It was all good - the kitten stuck the landing and no cats freaked out due to screams. MOL

Pudge is a "pet me" cat at the end of the show. 

Everything is under purple lights, so the gray cat appears purple. MOL

Jax on a skull

Yep - he is a one trick wonder 

(other than wandering through the crowd)

Mom and Miss Julie spoke at length about keeping up with Cupcake's social skills. The goal is to keep taking her places and expose her to different things. Cupcake was wonderful the couple of times they took her out while mom was there and Miss Julie is going to try to keep up with it and keep taking Cupcake on adventures. On Saturday before mom left to come home, they stopped at a couple of pet stores (to find Cupcake a harness - though that wasn't all they bought) and then saw the Ben and Jerry's ice cream store in the same strip. So of course there had to be ice cream. Cupcake sat on the table and watched people go by and chattered at the birds. Be sure to follow Sometimes Cats Herd You on facebook to watch her continued adventures. 

weekend report

Holy cats it was nice this weekend. It was in the 70s (F) and mom opened the windows and sliding door. Fortunately the kittens behaved and only climbed the screen a couple of times before deciding to find other things to entertain themselves.

The rat pack kittens and Chanel are all still pretty snotty and just not feeling great. Some are bouncing back faster than others, but it is slow going for the moment.

Panache is doing well and is being a great mom. She isn't overly in-your-face friendly, but she doesn't mind affection from mom and loves the petting. The kittens continue to grow and do very well - they were a week old on Friday.

little girl loves her momma

check it out - an eyeball

these are mine

Mom did invest in some light weight collars for the smaller kittens. Plus there is now a chart in the foster room. (the kitten on the far left is Chanel)

Cat World Domination Day

Summer at Sparkle Cat is once again leading the charge for Cat World Domination Day.

We would like to participate, but it is HOT here and we just can't seem to get motivated.....

adoption story

When mom takes kittens to events like Blog Paws, she doesn't expect adoptions. These are places where people with pets congregate - and most are not looking to add to their families. Would it be nice for one of our kittens to be adopted by one of our online friends? Sure...but we never expect it.

Do you recognize this cat??

Well...about 2 weeks after mom got back from Blog Paws, she got a message from Miss Connie of Tails From the Foster Kittens (aka the kitten pusher) telling her to message Miss Julie from Sometimes Cats Herd You saying that mom would be willing to drive to Florida.

Ummm....OK.

But why? (plus mom says Florida is too far to drive....but she may be willing to fly)

Turns out that Miss Julie (aka the head peep) had fallen in love with a certain small black and white kitten while rooming with mom at Blog Paws. They went back and forth about adopting and transport and how the current residents would react to a new kitten. Mom will say every time - no matter what the people think, the feline residents get the final say. Mom and Miss Julie worked out a plan and last Thursday morning (before the crack of dawn), mom and that kitten flew the friendly skies and landed in Florida. Despite mom's worries, the flying thing went very well. The kitten in question only got chatty when she was in motion - and about half way through the flight when we suspect she got bored. Mom says it was a little funny to watch people try to locate the source of the meeping.

What???

No one was quite sure how things would go....would everyone freak out? Would it go smoothly?

Turns out that the kitten was the least concerned of everyone - she came out of her carrier and made herself right at home almost immediately. OK - that kitten she kept seeing in the mirror was a little weird. It did take over 24 hours and a v-e-t visit to get her to eat (though she was drinking and playing like mad so everyone suspects it may have just been the stress of surgery then a long travel day and new surroundings). While it may not have been love at first sight for the resident cats, the kitten was smart enough to back down and submit when she was hissed or growled at and was (mostly) respectful of their space. She has decided this Sleepypod (seen below) now belongs to her and she may not surrender it however.

That said, it is with much appreciation to the head peep and the man peep and the kitten pusher (haha), that we can announce that Dior has been adopted:

Meet Cupcake 

(formerly known as Dior)

Panache

Panache (per the Merriam Webster dictionary): dash or flamboyance in style or action

OK - so we may have to see if she lives up to her name, but the story behind it is interesting.

Mom ran up to the adoption center Sunday to see if the design kittens had been adopted. Everyone was gone from the adoption side, so she wandered through the intake side (and found Chanel who is currently in with the rat pack kittens and being sneezy) and saw a mom with tiny kittens. The head of the rescue said no one had stepped up to take her and mom offered - that family needed to be somewhere quiet.

She got them home and then got a text from the head of the rescue saying mom cat had been tested (negative for FeLV and FIV) and was on doxy for upper respiratory and needed two more doses of panacur for intestinal issues. Mom texted back that we have a supply of both of those. Except her phone auto corrected to say we have "panache and foxy". This of course cracked her up and then lended itself to a good name for mom. The babies are so very tiny that mom will hold off on names for them until she knows gender (though if you would like to make suggestions, we are all for it).

Their back story: there was a hoarding case discovered in a nearby county with over 100 cats in a house. Our rescue stepped up and offered to take 20 cats - we suggested female so we could get them in and spayed faster than the humane society handling the case. That was on Friday. That night, Panache gave birth to her 3 kittens. One other of the 20 turned out to be a neutered male cat (oops - haha). From the sounds of it, the situation was VERY bad and most of the cats weren't healthy - upper respiratory issues, eye issues, etc. There is nothing on the humane society's facebook page and it didn't make the news so mom is relying on second hand information.

Panache is doing....OK. She isn't eating a lot though the babies are doing well. Mom combed her out and got lots of scabs off of her neck. It breaks mom's heart that Panache flinches every time mom reaches out near her head but Panache does seem to enjoy the petting once it starts. But she is fine with the petting and loved the comb. As for kittens, mom thinks the brown tabby is a girl and the black and the black and white brown tabby and white (looks like we are going to break the tuxedo streak) are both males.

Wordless Wednesday

names....maybe

Mom made another attempt to get pictures of everyone...and she may have it this time. Or not.... We suspect there is a distinct possibility of collars in their future.

Anyhow, in no particular order.... Oh - and if you think she screwed it up, feel free to let us know that.

Romero - male

Harlow - female

Flynn - male

sibling tails - best toy ever

breakfast time

(that is Chanel at the water bowl in the back)

Rooney - male

Bacall - female

Bogart - male

Mom has a chart she is going to put up on the wall at the house. Right now the only one she can tell on sight is Bogart. After that, it is going to take some studying on her part. MOL  The challenge will be did she get it right and get every kitten on her chart. Stay tuned....

They are all SO very friendly and outgoing. Not a shy kitten in the bunch. A couple have goopy eyes and there is a little sneezing, but nothing too serious. It is now just about getting some weight on them and then getting them ready to go.

adoption report

Almost all the Design Kittens were adopted. If you remember, they went back last Tuesday.

Armani was adopted Tuesday night.

 

 He went home with a single lady who has a young child and a 10 year old cat. 

We know he will charm them all.

Versace and Gucci were adopted Friday night.

Gucci was adopted by a young lady working as a nanny and living with her parents.

No other pets which means he can soak up all the love.

Versace was adopted by a couple with 2 cats (9 and 17) and lots

of other pets. The youngest cat is 1 year old, so he will have a playmate.

Dior was adopted on Saturday. That's a teaser....check back on Friday for THAT story.

Chanel unfortunately got a cold so she is back here and hanging with the rat pack kittens.