Year in Review - Part 2

July
Miss Julie gave us a camper at Blog Paws and the rat pack kittens put it to the test. We got to know Panache and her kittens better. We talked about cat guys. It was not only the summer of tuxedo kittens, it was the summer of one eyed tuxedo kittens as Romero and Rooney lost one eye each to infection. The rat pack kittens got new collars so mom had a better chance of telling them apart in pictures. We got close up pictures of the #littlekittens Mallard, Foxy and Fish. Chanel went up to the adoption center but wasn't adopted.

August
We did a Q and A about FIV in cats. Bogart, Flynn and Romero went up to the adoption center. Panache and the kittens got new housing arrangements. We posted about the rat pack girls. It was our 9th year blogoversary. Romero got adopted. Mom took Rooney and Harlow to an adoption event - upon their return to the house they got free run and Panache and the kittens got moved to the foster room. Flynn and Bogart were adopted together. Bacall stuck around the house getting over a cold. There was a minor mystery in the foster room.

September
Bacall went up to the adoption center and got adopted the next day. Mom took Lark and the songbird kittens - unfortunately they were all pretty sick and after going back to the rescue, they passed away. We posted some pictures showing how remarkable how much like Panache that Mallard looks. Foxy got adopted. Mom played musical cats and Rooney got adopted. Fish got adopted as well. We picked up the #berrykittens as well. Mozart turned 11 years old.

October
Mom took a long weekend to visit family and they all took out a pontoon boat for a day. When she got home she picked up 4 kittens rescued from Houston after Hurricane Harvey (Bristol, Shiner, Amarillo and Marfa). Mom went to visit Chanel...and ended up bringing her home. On the 6th, our elder statesman Tommy passed away with mom's help at the vet. Unfortunately later that week, Cranberry of the berry kittens passed away as well. The Texas kittens got their names and continued to charm mom. Chanel got a harness and started making trips out in public with mom. Harlow got adopted. On the 25th mom had to make the decision to take Mozart to the vet to euthanize him after a cancer diagnosis.

November
We kicked off the month with some VERY good news - Millie, mom to the design kittens, was adopted. Blueberry and the Texas kittens got a cold so there was snot in the foster room.The Texas gangsters decided Blueberry was fun to pick fights with on a regular basis. Chanel continued to go out and about with mom and got to meet someone interesting one day. Blueberry was finally ready to go up to the adoption center. There was a Texas kitten update and mom posted about our new log cabin house. And after several weeks, the Texas kittens were packed off for surgery.

 

December
Mom had pictures taken of Chanel for Christmas at a fundraiser for a local rescue. We got more back story on the Texas kittens before they came up here after Hurricane Harvey. After surgery and a weekend of adoption events, the Texas kittens were supposed to head up to the adoption center to find their forever homes. Blueberry was adopted on the 6th. On the day the Texas kittens were to get set up at the adoption center, Amarillo started to drool and there was random sneezing, so back to the house. They went back into the foster room but managed to pull a Houdini and escaped....gaining them access to the house full time. However, after a few days Chanel wasn't very happy about all 4 kittens being out, so they headed back up to the adoption center since no one was acting sick. Sigourney and Weaver came to us as new fosters for the end of the year. All four Texas kittens were adopted pretty quickly. Weaver continued to charm mom and Ivy had a vet check for her ear. We got our Secret Paws box. Unfortunately the year ended on a sad note when mom got a call from the pet sitter that Weaver had passed away while mom was out of town.

Tommy

10/4/03 to 10/6/17

You can read our first post about Tim and Tom and their story of how they joined our family.

Mom woke up about 2am Friday morning and kind of knew something wasn't right. She sat with Tommy on the blanket on the bed for a while then curled up with him until the vet opened. She knew she didn't want to deal with the emergency vet and a million questions.

He was a little agitated but settled in to mom's arms and passed very peacefully. Our head mancat will be missed desperately.

We do take some solace in knowing that Tommy is reunited with his brother Tim over Rainbow Bridge.

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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. 

some things around the house

How mom does things to make life a little easier for us and her

When angel Maestro was young, he LOVED to play with the water dishes. Whap them with his paws, smack at the water....it never ended. Never failed either that water ended up ALL over the kitchen. Mom finally got frustrated one day and decided to make a serious change. She upgraded our dishes to large, heavy ceramic (dog) dishes and found a rubber mat with a lip to put on the floor.

Everything is dishwasher safe and the mat keeps the dishes from being shoved and water on the mat (for the most part). Plus there is only a need for a couple of bowls that mom cleans (once a day) and refills as needed (usually twice a day). She has noticed that the ceramic tends to keep the water a little cooler too.

Tommy enjoying a drink 

(yes, he drinks from the very FAR edge of the dish)

Mozart shows up the screens and our cat ladder

The other big thing in our house is the screen inserts into our windows. Several years ago Tommy fell out a window - and we live on the second floor. A friend found these inserts at the locally owned hardware store and bought mom a couple as a gift. Mom has since bought more and is looking for a couple more to have a complete set.

These sit in the track where the window goes up and down and keeps cats from laying IN the windowsill and potentially pushing the screens out and escaping (or falling). It allows air in and out but keeps everyone safe.

As for kittens, mom likes to try to keep them contained when they are tiny. This is a plastic storage container. Just the right size for containing kittens and allowing their momma in there to lay down and nurse.

At least until someone gets JUST big enough to figure out how to escape.

weekend report

Pretty quiet weekend here. It has gotten a little chilly again, so no open windows. Mom went a little nuts on Friday and got groceries, vacuumed, and did laundry. It worked out since Tommy had a v-e-t appointment on Saturday morning and then she met a friend for brunch and then another friend for dinner.

 Daiquiri surprised mom the other night. Daiquiri is head shy (no idea why) and not a lap cat. However, she will get up on the bed. The other night mom lifted the covers and Daiq climbed under. This has never happened before. And....she let mom pet her all over while she curled up next to mom. Daiq spent about 15 minutes under there before taking off.

 

Spud does love that ladder

Tommy has been snotty for a while. He gave it to Mozart (snot - the gift that keeps on giving). Mo's cleared up after a quick vet visit. Tommy had been on a couple of meds but his didn't clear up as well. Mom has been checking out another v-e-t and so he went there on Saturday. He is on a new drug and mom says he already sounds a little less snotty. However what made her laugh is she thought he might have made a break for it and stayed with the new v-e-t. She called him handsome, admired his purr and gave let him smell some catnip essence. Love that boy, but he is easy. MOL

medical reports

Dandelion has now been on the anti-viral med for almost 2 weeks. Mom was getting ready for bed the other night and thought (apparently too loudly) that she hadn't heard him sneeze in a while. And from the other room came a series of explosive sneezes. That will teach her. MOL Miss Bernadette was helping us with info about this medication and she says they go 21 days before deciding if it is working or not. So that is another week. That said, there has been a noticeable reduction is the amounts of green snot, so we are taking that as a favorable sign.

Tommy had a v-e-t visit a week ago. Annual checkup and all that. Plus old man cat blood work and a request for some antibiotics since he has been sneezing as well (happens about once a year). Well, Dr B called mom on Tuesday and everything looks good. Normal glucose, kidney and liver values and he isn't hyperthyroid. Mom and Dr B have some concerns cause his coat is getting that slightly unkempt look, though that may be due to the cold. More concerning is that he has lost 2 pounds in a year. His white blood cell count was a little high, but again that could be due to the cold. His meds are done today, so mom is going to see if he is better and if not ask for another week. And then the v-e-t wants to run another blood cell count just to be careful.

Mom wants to try to get Tommy and Mozart eating canned food at least once per day (we can't switch everyone cause BAD things happen when Spud eats canned food). Mom tried bringing the two boys into the bathroom one morning while she was getting ready and giving them some canned. Mo was all about it (though he still only eats a few bites and wanders off) and Tommy spent the entire time banging on the bathroom door trying to escape. Mom finally opened the door and Cass ran in under Tommy as he ran out. Sounds like mom is going to need a plan B....she is thinking short term she could put them both in the foster room to eat, but that isn't a good long term plan.

Next up the girls need an annual check up and vaccines and so does Mozart.

Cassis had her spay surgery on Wednesday and it went without a hitch. Mom did laugh as the vets at the clinic will put notes on the medical sheets. In our case, usually something we need to do (meds for snot, etc). In Cassis' case it read "had a couple of baby teeth fall out today".

So, she is spayed, vaccinated, microchipped and ready to go. If you are interested or know someone, drop us an email or message us on facebook. There is an adoption event this weekend on Saturday and Sunday and mom will be out at those with Cass and Dandelion. Then if she is still available, she will go up to the adoption center next Tuesday. *and holy smokes - she weighed in a 5 pounds!!!

She did come home from the clinic on Wednesday pretty hung over but wound up. She was running around and fell off the footstool, cat ladder and mom's lap. Mom finally gave up and got ready for bed and did some reading hoping Cass would come in and lay down - which is exactly what she did.

wordless Wednesday (almost)

*some cat (Tommy) was a little TOO helpful during the photo shoot for the review yesterday

wordless Wednesday

Random Fridays

HAPPY (belated) Birthday Tommy!!

and we are sure Tim got extra treats over the Bridge

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The brandy kittens were tested on Tuesday and are....NEGATIVE (in case you missed it on facebook). The plan for the weekend was to put Saldano and Wheat in a carrier, clean and move a couple of things in the foster space. Then....mom wanted to move Marilyn and all five kittens into the foster space with Wheat and Saldano.

However, mom decided that moving them Wednesday night was the better idea. She was going to be home to keep track of everyone...and honestly was getting tired of the bathroom being a disaster. The kittens are getting big enough that it is a whole different kind of adventure with them in there.

So Marilyn and the five kittens packed their bags and were hauled off to the foster kitten space.

Saldano isn't too sure about that bigger lady cat

Saldano and Russell give each other the floof suit reaction

Calvados took it all in stride....then found a new toy

Kirsch and Chambord were pretty jumpy about the changes

All in all, it went pretty well. Wheat and Monroe were about as laid back as they could be. Marilyn checked out the place, found the food and made herself at home. The brandy girls were a little jumpy. Calvados and Russell wandered around and checked everything out, only getting jumpy when a certain gray girl would get in their faces.

Saldano was just RUDE about all of it. She growled, she hissed, she floofed out. However, there was no smacking or anything like that.

By the time mom went to bed that night, everyone had settled in.

Mom did take a few minutes to weigh everyone Thursday morning before breakfast.
  Saldano  1 pound 13 1/2 ounces
  Wheat  1 pound 6 3/4 ounces
  Monroe  14 3/8 ounces (not good...mom is keeping on eye on him)
  Russell   1 pound 13 3/4 ounces
  Calvados  1 pound 3 1/8 ounces
  Kirsch   1 pound 2 3/8 ounces
  Chambord   1 pound 1 3/8 ounces

Wheat is mostly fluff. She had some minor snot going on that is clearing up now, but we suspect she wasn't eating as much due to that. We are glad to see all the brandy kittens over a pound. They are still tiny for their age, but considering where we were with them 2 weeks ago, this is great progress.  And Saldano and Russell are well on their way to 2 pounds. Best mom can figure the brandy kittens and Russell and Monroe are 9 weeks old this week. The brandy girls are getting big enough that mom may be able to get collars on them to be able to tell them apart....hopefully. 

not so wordless Wednesday

Both Tommy and Daiquiri like to get up and sit on top of the tower. Not sure if they like it because it is high or because it drives the patriot girls NUTS! Maybe the driving the kittens nuts part is just a bonus....who knows. As you can see, the girls know someone is up there and are trying to get Tommy's attention.