a birthday and a gotcha day

Well, once again, the mom can't be relied on to get the dates right.

A certain torbie princess turned 8 YEARS OLD on Monday......

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY IVY!!!

And a certain head mancat is celebrating 11 years gotcha years here....

Happy Gotcha Day Tommy!!

We are missing Tim today a little bit more than normal since it is his gotcha day too. We hope he is getting extra treats and some nip over The Bridge

Maestro up in the corner, Tommy and Tim

Happy Birthday Tim and Tom

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM and TOM!!!

Their paperwork when mom adopted them said they were two years old, so that makes them 12!!! Our resident old mancats.  MOL

For those who don't know the story, they were surrendered together. They were adopted once but brought back after 3 days for not coming out from under the bed (grrr). A couple weeks after that, mom got excited thinking they had been adopted again as they were no longer in the open cat room at the shelter. No such luck - there had been a cat fight and someone accused Tommy of starting the fight. At that point the shelter was trying to determine their options. They wanted to leave the boys together but the larger space wasn't a possibility (mom believes that it is more likely someone went after Tim and Tom fought back to defend him, but whatever). The shelter wouldn't stick the boys in one small cage together which meant it was likely they would be separated. Mom asked about putting them in a special program that existed at the time. What she didn't realize is that they took that as mom offering to foster the boys with us. At the time it was just 3 cats here....shocking right??

Tim and Tom were actually our first foster cats. Mom took them to events for about 4 months before realizing they were such a good fit into our life and decided to make them official members of the family.

Both boys can be lap cats when they want - Tim more than Tom. While they are independent, they are often found in the general area of each other when sleeping. 

scratcher review

**as part of the Blogger Influence Group, we get a free product once a month to review for Chewy.com but that does not influence our opinions. The product review is our honest opinions. Chewy.com is not responsible for the content of this review.

This time around we were offered several things but decided to give a new toy a try since mom says we don't need more treats (whatever). We got the Catit Bench Scratcher and LOVE IT.

We had solely been using vertical posts until one momma cat refused to use those and insisted on using the carpet to sharpen her nails. Mom decided to get one over on her and bought a cardboard scratching pad for her. Not only did the momma cat like it, but the rest of us did too. We beat the daylights out of the last one, so it was good timing when we were offered this one.

As head mancat, Tommy was the first to check it out. Snoopervised by Topeka of course....

hmmmm.....what is it??

(keep in mind no catnip was used....we don't get that much here

due to a certain head mancat being a mean drunk)

Tim decided it makes a wonderful throne.

Notice Nashville balancing on one end.

This would be one drawback to this particular bench....

when an adult walks on it, they tend to avoid the ends so big problem.

The kittens tend to step on the edges and make the whole thing pop up.

Except in this case - he must not weigh enough. MOL

also good as a head rest

or a sleeping bench

If you look closely, you will notice some of the red paper missing. A certain 1 year old kitten (*cough*Daiquiri*cough*) decided that is didn't meet with her approval for some reason and has taken to removing the paper. Which of course leads to pieces of red paper all over the condo. But it isn't a very big deal and mom says she can live with it.

We have had it out now for over a week and considering the number of cats using it, it has held up to the abuse quite well. Mom has to order us more food and did notice that Catit makes bench that doesn't have legs and she may order a couple for us with our next food order.

Altogether, we give it paws up!!

Tim and Tom Gotcha Day

11 years??? Wow - times flies.  :)  You can ready about how they ended up with us (the abbreviated version) here.

Tim is affectionately known around here as "Uncle Tim" - he is probably the most willing to put up with kitten shenanigans. He had to have most of his teeth pulled a couple of years ago due to stomatitis and will more than likely have to lose his fangs sometime soon.

Tommy is the fun police - unless he is the one having fun. He tolerates the kittens but will happily put them in their place. Though he has been busted a couple of times cleaning them....just don't tell anyone we told you. He is getting a little leaner as he gets older, but he is still head mancat around here.

weekend wrapup

Holy moly it is COLD here. Thankfully we aren't getting the snow that some people are, but got finally got UP to freezing on Sunday. brrrrr

Mom spent most of the weekend around. here. She said it was just too dang cold to be outside. She did go out Saturday night to spend time with her best friend and then there was an adoption event on Sunday. Otherwise, we cranked up the heat in the condo and did this:

The cover seems to be doing a good job on the couch. However, mom wants to find a way to keep some of the sides down as some cats are trying to get under the cover. Good luck mom  :)

Look what we got

Mom is a big fan of water fountains for us. But some are seriously expensive. We got a Drinkwell from PetSafe but the darn thing broke - twice - and their customer service was terrible, so that went back. Then mom found one on sale at Petco and got that. And Tim broke out something terrible from the plastic dish. (we had no idea - mom switched to ceramic dishes many years ago - before Tim came here)

However, our friend Amy Shojai hooked up with a new online pet store, we thought we would give it a try.

It was super easy to set up and came with a mat for the floor. Basically - put water in the holder and plug it in. It comes with a container for water but mom went ahead and bought the bigger one they offer since there are more than a few of us here.

This fountain is plastic, but it has a UV light where the water comes out to kill bacteria....see that blue light??  Mom is hoping that this will keep Tim from breaking out. It just came last night, so she will give it some time to see what happens. But there is a 30 day guarantee, so we can get our money back if he does have a reaction.

Everyone was pretty excited. Mo and Tommy were checking it out before mom even got water in it.

Oh and someone has decided it makes a good toy too.....

Belated Birthday Wishes

 Tim and Tom turned 11 years old yesterday. Mom can't seem to get it together. :)

Hard to believe what our house would be like if these boys weren't here......

Belated Birthday and a Gotcha Day

Mom is so going to get fired!!!

 OMC!!! Mom forgot my BIRTHDAY!!!!

Sorry Princess.... I didn't mean it. How about some extra treats???

Ivy is 6 years old. While she is our only girl, she seems to certainly enjoy being the Princess around here. She came to us as a foster with her mom and sisters. Our mom says she didn't intend to keep Ivy, but apparently our girl had other plans.  MOL

 And today is Tim and Tom's Gotcha Day.....

They were our first fosters...and the first failures. To think mom had a 100% failure rate right out of the box. MOL  After fostering them for 4 months, mom couldn't imagine them not being here. They fit right in like it was meant to be. And besides, how would we raise foster kittens without Uncle Tim to help???

NOT thankful Thursday....

Oh man....it was that time of year again. The v-e-t showed up - AT THE HOUSE!!!

She comes twice a year and this time up was Tim, Tom and Ivy. Cod help us.

Tommy was weighed and vaccinated. He has lost over 1 1/2 pounds in a year which concerns the vet and mom. So the v-e-t did her vampire routine and we should have some results in a couple of days. Mom isn't too concerned as Tommy hasn't acted any different. Mom has cut back on food around here to help the Princess but has decided to put out a little more at meal time as everyone around here (except that darned Princess) doesn't need to loose weight.

Speaking of the Princess. She knew something was up and mom was unable to catch her to get her in the bathroom before the v-e-t arrived. She wedged herself behind the sofa. But the tech has some serious wrangling skills. So she grabbed the Ivy and wrapped her in a towel. There was some screaming (by the cat - not the mom or the tech) but she actually was pretty quiet in the bathroom (that's a first). And she lost.....  0.1 pounds. Mom just sighed.

Tim was caught too and was the first contestant. The v-e-t has some concerns about his front teeth (if you remember he lost most of his teeth 12/12 due to stomatitis.....his fangs look a little inflamed...but we are going to keep an eye on him for now.

Seems the number of the night was 12: Tim weighs 12 pounds, Tommy weighs 12.01 pounds (they checked twice cause that just seems wrong) and Ivy weighs 12 pounds also. Maestro was weighed too (though mom can't remember the number) and has lost some too....but that is more likely due to his age. Again....we see more breakfast and dinner in our futures (guess that makes up for the v-e-t).

Mozart was out wandering around. He rubbed on the v-e-t's coat and tried to knock stuff off the table. Amelia came out and supervised for a little bit. No one ever saw Junior, Spud, Cumin or Saffron. MOL

**update - the v-e-t called Wednesday afternoon (after mom wrote this). She said that most of the result of Tommy's blood work are good. But his albumen numbers are the low side of normal and his globulen numbers are high. Which to her indicates a gut issue. So she is sending a dose of panacur (start simple) and mom is gonna lock up Tommy and take a stool sample to be tested (the lab is local and mom can drop it off). In the meantime mom put out a little more food this am but while most of it was eaten, there was some leftovers (mid-morning snack). Mom asked Dr T about adding some canned food to our diet as well, so that will be coming. YAY!! (mom: cause my cat food budget needs that...I gotta find a friend with a card to Costco or Sam's) Dr T said it may end up being IBD and she would suggest starting with diet change and go from there. Mom needs to do some research and we need to wait for some more tests. But Dr T didn't seem seriously concerned. She said let's start with this, weigh him in a month and see what happens.

wordless Wednesday

whiskerhumps

Something different and interesting....

A while ago, our friends at Glogirly did a review of a interview they had with a pet psychic.  We left a comment that mom often wonder what some of us were thinking.

Well then out of the blue we got an email from Sunny saying she had seen our comment and asking if we would be interested in a reading and review it here. We were going to talk to Nancy from Psychic Source.  Mom mainly worries about the three youngest ones here and how they get along with each other, so she sent a picture of Ivy, Spud and Junior.

Last Friday night mom settled into her chair with these two:

And then she dialed in to talk to Nancy. We will let mom take it from here:

I will be honest - I wasn't sure what to think going in. Like many others, I am kind of skeptical about this sort of thing. Now, I do believe there are things going on out there that I don't understand, but someone "reading" my cats from far away based on a picture? Not so sure about that. But I was curious and willing to give it a shot. I was most curious about the youngest three as their dynamic is the one that makes me the most crazy. None of them seem to get along and there are days I am sure Spud and Junior are going to start a death match.

As I started speaking to Nancy, she asked about Ivy first. It was interesting as Ivy was sleeping across the room on the floor vent (no, my house is not that cold but whatever). Nancy said that Ivy is very self confident (check), very calm (most of the time) and very comfortable. At this point I burst out laughing cause I am not sure Nancy meant literally comfortable, but as she said it, Ivy had rolled over onto her back and was heating up her other side on the vent. Nancy went on to say that Ivy views herself as the queen of the household and gets annoyed with the younger boys when they don't treat her with the respect she believes she deserves. But she said that Ivy is peaceful and content and knows she is living with us for a reason. I found that interesting since of all the cats, especially the foster-failures, she is the one that I can never give people a good reason for adopting. She needed to come back.

We then went on to talk about Junior. Now, if you have been following us for a while, you know that Junior was live-trapped at just over 3 months old as a kitten and came to us from a feral colony. I am fairly certain based on kittens we caught the following summer that one of the girls we trapped then was his mom as well. However, Nancy wouldn't have known that based on the picture. She said that he is afraid of people due to being kicked as a kitten by a young boy. Which is interesting....I am not certain anyone could have gotten that close to these kittens, though a couple of the memorial day kittens were pretty friendly once we caught them. Nancy also said that Junior is a big kid and that is part of the issue with Spud. Junior thinks he should be number one and is struggling a little to find his place. She did say that given some more time (maybe a couple of years), he will learn to trust me and our relationship will blossom. OK, I have waited this long, I am willing to give it more time. I told her this is his home no matter what.

And then on to Spud....Nancy said it felt like he was healing from something. I told her that he hadn't been injured or had surgery or anything. But then I told her about how I decided to keep him and have felt guilty that I was trying to replace Tigg (that is a whole other story). She said it could be emotional healing but that he is balanced and centered and looking for peaceful coexistence.

Nancy went on to say that Spud and Junior may never be best friends but as Junior settles into his place, they will learn to get along.

At this point, Junior came walking out from behind my chair and went over to lay down (seen above) next to Tommy. I would have sworn he was in the back bedroom as I knew that Spud was under the end table behind my chair. Junior had been in the room the entire time.  :)  I have to say that it is definitely the dynamic between him and Spud since Junior is visibly relaxed with the older cats - and will seek affection from them as well (Tommy had been grooming Junior's head just prior to the picture).

Ivy on her floor vent - warming her buns

At this point she asked if I had any questions and we went through the rest of the crew. She didn't have pictures, so I described them and gave her their ages.

Maestro: peaceful (he was sleeping on the arm of the chair next to me - his favorite spot). He sees himself as the center of my world.

Mozart: Nancy saw him as "religious" and an "emporer" (we may not want to discuss that part in front of him). She said that he is relatively undisturbed by the other adults in the house as he sees their mysteries and understands them.

Tim and Tom: she said they are very bonded and peaceful and happy.

I did ask if there was any sense that they were unhappy about the foster kittens that are constantly coming and going in the house. I have often wondered. They seem ok with it but....  Nancy said that they really are fine with the kittens. They see themselves as mentors and playmates and helping me help the kittens.

Then she said she had a couple of things about me. She said that I love what I do with the cats and the rescue and that I was meant to be doing this work. And here is the scary part: she said that in 2014 she sees a yellow male cat coming into my life that is meant to stay here.  YIKES!!!  :)

Overall, I was impressed. Sure, the cynic in me could say that she used a lot of generalities and could have learned some of the things if she read the blog before the call. But....I don't often discuss the "bad" dynamic in the house, so someone would have to do some digging to find all that. As for the other part of me, it was interesting to get the perspective of someone who has never met the cats and yet got a similar impression of them that I do. It was reassuring to know that they seem ok with the constant changes and are really ok with each other for the most part. And that maybe, just maybe, there is an end in sight for the conflict with the younger part of the crew. It was a very interesting phone call and I enjoyed talking to Nancy.

*We didn't pay for the interview but all opinions are our own.

Random Fridays.....and a BIRTHDAY

This is Gryff. He lives at the vet our rescue uses. There are 3 cats that live there....Gryff, McGee (a solid gray male) and Raven (short hair black male). Not sure how Gryff and McGee got there, but Raven showed up one day and let himself in. They are "sorta" looking for a home for Raven. Gryff though cracks mom up.....he is a BIG boy - all 26 pounds of him. Mom asked the tech if it is hard to talk to clients about overweight cats when Gryff is sleeping in the lobby. He laughed.
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It really is too bad that Elwood can't learn to relax.  He sleeps on the top level of the cat tree most nights and mom laughs when she discovers parts sticking over the edge (the other night she thought his head was hanging off but it was his back feet).
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM AND TOM!!!!

The boys are 10 years old....and don't act like it at all!!!

This was the first pair of siblings in the hosue and it has been interesting to see their relationship. Mom has said all along that kittens are better in pairs, but she can now tell people that siblings keep their close relationship (they have lived with us for 8 years).

Wordless Wednesday....

This was last Friday night....mom laughed like mad

(left to right: Tim, Maestro and Tommy)

Thankful Thursday.....

Two things from yesterday: Triscuit is NOT joining the permanent crew. Just staying a little longer to be sure she doesn't get sick.  And mom tried to get pictures of her with the beer kittens....they move WAY too fast. MOL
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Mom says she doesn't tell us enough how thankful she is to have us in her life. We couldn't agree more. MOL

Junior: resident charmer. Mom says she is glad he is

so nice to the foster kittens and willing to play with them.

Mozart: resident housepanther. Our family greeter of all

who come to visit and constantly looking for love.

Ivy: resident princess. Mom loves your sweet face and

the way you fall over looking for love.

Spud: resident chick-hen. Mom says she is glad you are

getting more friendly with her.

Maestro: resident old mancat. Mom loves your sweet disposition -

even when the foster kittens invade your space.

Tommy: resident head mancat. Mom says she is glad you

are such a nice boy and are the kitten "enforcer".

Tim: residence mancat sidekick. Mom says she loves your sweet

face and that you are willing to help her socialize kittens.

(ok, for treats, but still)

Mom says she is still amazed at what we put up with around here (for the most part). Kittens in and kittens out. Even those momma cats that can sometimes get ornery. But most of all she says that she loves having us in the house and part of her life. awww.....