well.. We made the trip to the vets yesterday.. Was an interesting time, that's for certian. I brought the carriers up early, jack ran right in one and sat down.. that boy loves to travel. I then got out the treats to ensure that Em and Ollie didn't run away. I think they knew something was coming, but the treat is a powerful thing, so they continued to hang out on the bed. When the hubby came home, they were still there, and he was amazed. I took Em, and he took Ollie, who made a mad dash for it, but we caught him (ha ha ha) When Em saw the carriers she started to whine. The hubby stuffed Ollie in his carrier, then had to grab him again as Ol made a mad dash to get out. Getting him in wasn't nearly as hard as shutting the door. Ollie kept sticking his paws out the side, so we'd have to push them back in or risk pinching them. Em wasn't too keen to get in hers either, but at least once she was in she just sat there mewing pathetically.
Jack was once again in his carrier. I went for Eli, who was fine till I went to pick him up, then he jumped (like when you startle someone) and tried to get away. I was too quick for him though *grin* and we put him in the larger carrier with Jack. Then had to track down muffin.. which was easier than I thought it would be. Getting her in the carrier with jack and eli though wasn't a pretty site, cause eli wanted to get out. But we eventually got them all in and we were off.
And of course Em was howling the whole way down there. We found that if we don't talk during the car ride she stops crying. I guess she thinks we aren't there? No.. cause last time she could see me the whole way. The vet visit was pretty uneventful. Everyone looks good. The doc did a swab on eli's ear.. pulled out a huge gob of gunk. *sigh* She thinks its still just getting clean from the bad case of ear mites though. Im going to clean them often and if they don't clear up I'll take him back and discuss other options.
Jack is still positive for lukemia. *sigh* Poor boy doesn't know how to fail at anything.. Em weighs 16.1 lbs Ollie weighs 9.8 Jack 9.5 Eli 9.3 Muffin 7.8 (she was five lbs five weeks ago.. she's a little weed that one) Ollie definately needs to put on a bit more weight.. maine coon's are supposed to weigh around 15lbs.. Im sure in time he will.
I woke up a little early this morning. Immediatly had muffin there wanting some attention. Then Jack. Then Em, then Ollie. Was 9 am before I got out of bed... when I did I found that they had found the bag of feathers again. grrr.. man those kitties are determined.
Ive decided today Im going to find all of their kitty balls. or at least as many as possible. They are amazing when it comes to hiding things. There are at least 15 jingly balls and 6 ping pong balls in this house somewhere. I am not a big surprised though. this group of kitties hid balls in my tiny - no closet - kitten room, that i have STILL not found.
well I fixed the cat toy I made the other day. If I could figure out how to make the string stick to the stick with out using a huge gob of hot glue, I could actually sell these things. Jack still LOVES it. He's such a great cat toy tester. :) I also made another toy.. the other half of the stick, some strechy bead cording, a big green pom pom, and some hot glue. That one wasn't as big of a hit as the feather toy.. maybe I should stick a few feathers on it.
Poor ollie. He's trying so hard, but he's just not getting it. The kittens and I were playing in the kitchen.. he wanted to play too, so I occasionally ran the toy in front of him. he would go after it.. which was a great sign that he's trying.. but when it would eventually get away, another kitty would go after it. then if that kitty got to close to ollie, ollie would hiss and swat at the kitty that encroached on his territory. *sigh* Well if that's the type of kitty he is, that's the type of kitty he is.. will keep working on him for a while, but I might just have to accept the fact that he's not into sharing.
well I left the kitty toy making supplies on the floor last night.. stupid connie. Now there are feathers all over the place.. :)
I woke up this morning as the hubby was leaving for work, and I realized I had most of the kitties in bed with me. I eventually got up and came out here, and poof, now they are all out here with me. They are skattered about the room, but they are here. They are like this pretty much every day. I love that they are so people orientated. Man I make good kittens. :) What's my secret? Acclimating them to the things while they are young. spending lots of time holding them and cuddling them. touching them on areas that most cats don't like when they are older, paws, tummies. Extend their claws when patting them.. get them used to things they will have to endure for the rest of their life so that its just second nature to them.
I really need to get that FAQ up and running. I started one, but I really didnt like the format. I feel so helpless when I view my stats for this page, and see people looking for answers to questions they have about their little ones. What kinds of foods do they like, questions about snotty noses, what to do when they aren't eating.. I should also redo my foster kitten webpage.. a lot of the photos are way too big, and the bandwith is exceeded if you try to view all the images in one go round.. Im considering getting my own domain and host for that as well. Everyone loves kitten pictures (ok well not everyone, but we just aren't going to go there today)
I decided I wanted to try my hand at making a few cat toys.. I bought a long thin piece of wood, some wooden beads, some rexlace (plastic lacing) and some craft feathers (also got some pom poms and some stretch beading plasticy stuff, along with some other nick nacks, but those don't fit in this story).
I wrapped the lacing around the dowel, used the beads as a handle, and attached some feathers to the end of the lacing.. Jack IMMEDIATELY laid claim to the thing, and let everyone know in no uncertain terms that it was HIS (Hiss spit hiss.. grab and run) He's leaping after it with absolutely no concern for his own safety, (as the back flip into the cupboards will attest) When I had to repair the feathers, he was almost distraught that I took it away..
I finally had to put it away, cause frankly I was laughing way too hard.. Can't wait till the hubby comes home so I can show him what I did today..
went to the movies tonight. on the ride home I saw something lying on the side of the road that very much looked like a cat. I tried to convince myself it wasn't. It reminded me of the time the hubby and I were traveling through NH, and we rounded a corner of a three lane road, and saw a cat in the middle of the road. I made him stop, turn around, and go back so I could pull it out of the middle of the road. It was beyond dead, but I couldn't stand the thought of leaving it there so some idiot could see it there, and aim for it cause he would think it would be cool (yes.. there are people who do that) I felt unbelievably foolish doing it, but Im sure the owners of the cat would be grateful if they knew. and yes.. I cried the whole time..
Also reminded me of the statistic that an outdoor cat has an average lifespan of about two years. Someone once said that their outdoor cat lived till 20. I wanted to jump up and down and tell them how lucky they were that he did. its not an AVERAGE life span for nothing. I lost my first cat Tigger at age 8. As much as I tried to make that boy an indoor only cat, he wasn't having anything to do with that. He was on the feral side of life when we adopted him from the local humane society. I had a devil of a time taking care of him and patting him because he had a very hard time trusting people. The one thing I had going for me was when you patted his chin he'd go catatonic with happiness. :) as time passed, he'd get closer and closer to us. He loved playing games like chase the stick and tag. (yes.. he actually played tag) He used to sleep under the covers in the small of my back. That kitty had personality to spare. Sadly he just didn't come home one day. It was a few months after we moved into the house we built out in the middle of nowhere. He had lived his whole live "in the city" (not much here in maine you can call a real city.. but his biggest problems were cars and dogs). Guess the wildlife out here was just too much for him.
My sister recently lost her outdoor cat as well. He too didn't come home one day.
Yes. an indoor only cat is more work. There is litter, and toys, and cat trees, and stuff.. but the trade off of the increase of the average life span from 2 years to 22 years is so worth it.
