We Got An Award Nomination

Wow we were given an award from our friends over at Celestial Kitties. Go visit them they have a great blog, I have been following them as long as I have been part of the blogosphere. It is called the “Versatile Blogger Award”. Thank you for thinking of us, much appreciated.

Well there are 5 rules to the award.

1. Nominate 5 fellow bloggers who are relatively new to blogging.
2. Let the nominated bloggers know they have been nominated for the award.
3. Share 7 random facts about yourself.
4. Thank the blogger who has nominated you.
5. Add the Versatile picture to your post.

I guess should start with the 7 random facts.

1. Lil' Bit does not like anything to be closed off from her. She will open the cabinets in the bathroom, I have tried unsuccessfully to block the closet door in the back bedroom. She will still open the bi-fold doors. She even pulls up the foot rest on the recliner to get under it, but does not go just wants access.
2. I am a reading addict and news junkie. My mind is full of useless junk from countless news articles I have read. In conversations I will bring up something I have read and no one will believe me that it is true because they never read it. With it not being major news
3. Squirrels favorite junk foods: Raw bacon, Cheetos Puffs, Nacho Cheese Doritos. I will let her have maybe one chip or puff out of a bag once every 3 to 4 months. Bacon twice a month.
4. When Lil' Bit wants some loving she will just suddenly appear in my lap no warning. Pop and she is there from out of no where.
5. When Mizz Purrzzy wants to play she will come up all loving wanting in my lap, then jumps down again. Over and over until I get up and play with her.
6. Every one wants to join me when I am bathing. Ever have 5 or 6 cats in a small bathroom at the same time?
7. I am not really a big chocolate fan, at least not in candy bars. In a cake or cupcake sure but that is about it. Shocking I know.

Now to nominate 5 others. I am not sure how new each of these are but I do enjoy their blogs. I am not really good at commentary or descriptions so listed in no particular order they are...

1. Musings of my life and being covered in cat fur.
2. Devoted to Willow.
3. Kat's Kats.
4. Spitty Speaks.
5. Life with Fae.

Sadly so many come and go, some of my favorites have stopped posting. A few do not post as often as they used to. Please give these folks a visit and if you like what you see follow them.

Next post more cat pics, plus news about KWF. What is it and what are your thoughts about it.  

  

Disappointed Again

Ever have something that you just felted you need to share. Well here it goes. Last night I was watching a new episode of a TV series that recently started its second season here in the states. It is called “Rizzoli and Isles”, where Rizzoli is a police detective and Isles is the corner. Both good friends, and yes being male I think both are attractive (even if a bit too skinny and lacking in curves). While not surprised I am a bit disappointed at what happened in one of the side stories of last night's episode. I have 2 main bones of contention with what happened, and some minor ones.




Girl Kitty.



Part of the side story was that the detectives brother came home, just released from prison. In one scene it was brought up that her dog had been constantly licking its paws. She was not at all concerned with its behavior but her brother was (at least someone noticed). He wanted to take it to the vet to get checked, she could hardly be bothered. I felt that the pet owners lack of concern was bad.

Later in the show she received a call and had to run to intervene with what happened. Her brother had taken the dog to the vet. There being a bit of a hot head he was arguing with the vet, one issue was the price of the check up. After stopping the fight she offered to pay asking how much. When told $300 she started yelling at the vet.

There is several very good reasons why it costs so much. First being a litigious society here in the states, every one wants to sue. The new American dream get rich by suing some one, any idea of what malpractice rates are. Second school ain't cheap they have earned their degree like any other professional more so than some. Third pets are part of the family now, the care and equipment borders on what a human gets. When I took Girl in for her first visit she desperately needed to have several teeth removed. It cost me just over $600, they had to put her under. A charge for EKG (they have to pay for the machine somehow), anesthesiologist, and so on. Just the same as if I was put under for surgery. Disappointment # 1 no support for the fine veterinarians taking care of our loved ones.



Very rare moment. Girl at play.



The other part of the argument carried on through out the rest of the show. According to the brother the doctor called the dog crazy. He wanted to put it on Prozac for depression. They both thought it stupid that the dog might have emotional issues. Again a serious subject treated lightly. The only voice of reason, other than the vet was Isles the medical examiner. She brought up information and statistics on the issue.

 

Making a public appearance.

This is something I am very familiar with. Animals can have emotional issues, due to stress, neglect etc. Over grooming and other symptoms can be either physical or emotional and not to be taken lightly. Again I turn to Girl as my example. Girl is my special needs kitty. After listing to me describe the problem and a routine exam my vet agreed with me. We believe that Girl is having issues with stress. We both feel that is why she only uses the litter box to poo. I have found a way to deal with it, providing her with the help and support she needs.

This was disappointment # 2, that this common problem was taken so lightly. As I mentioned before the subject was mentioned a few more times through out the remainder of the show. Finally at the end, during a gathering of family and friends, another officer noticed that Rizzoli's mother was feeding the dog chicken. He asked if it was constantly licking its paws, then informed them that some smaller breeds have allergies to chicken.

Now while the dogs health issues were resolved, they missed out on the greater good that could have been achieved. A lot of animals are abused, abandoned and put down due to such issues. Many healthy pets that could be happy with the right care, treatment and love. Ones such as Girl who pees outside of the box, needs her own place to eat and who spends a lot of time hiding away from the others. Still she has lots of love to give. I just wish there was some way I could get this message to those involved with the show. At least I was able to get it off of my chest and share with you. Thank you for listening to me rant.



Room for me in the middle, sometimes.



On a different note something else I just have to share. During the night if I have to get up for any reason before I can get back into bed I have to turn on the light for a second. The reason for this is to make sure I do not lay down on top of a cat while I crawl back into bed. Sometimes they shift positions while I am gone. Last night when I did it this is what I saw. Normally I will have 3 maybe 4 in bed with me. What made this special is not only is Girl in bed but also Squirrel has joined us. With the usual 3 Pretty, Ugly, Martian already there TJ also joined in making 6 total. I just had to stumble out and find the camera. I know the bed is a mess etc, etc, what do ya want I am a bachelor after all.
 
 
     

Intro PT 4

I figured that they had moved and taken Twinkie with them. Now though I had a new problem to deal with. Three cats is my limit, one could get lonely by herself during the day. Two or three would have someone to play with, especially with Girl always hiding. But I was not quite ready for a new cat. Due to some recent purchases I was running a little short on money and Mittens was pregnant. The Humane Society charged $65 to spay $20 if knocked up and $10 a shot, running a little over $120 to spay her. But only $35 to drop off a cat, I managed to scrap up the money and with a heavy hart abandoned Mittens to her fate. She had not been around enough to show her personality and had not gotten her named but with white paws I gave them that name for her. I then went home and told the other two that from now on they were indoor kitties only. It was getting hard to lose cats, Twinkie had just disappeared 2 weeks before. I was going to start to wean off the strays from coming around feeding them every other day and getting longer between feedings.
I was able to keep an eye on Mittens at their web site (http://www.hssaz.org/) to see if she got adopted. This was August of 2008, the following month they had a special on adoptions of older cats (over 5 months) less than half price $25. At the end of September I brought her back home. She has been here since, although I don't think she has totally forgiven me for leaving her. From the second day she showed up she slept with me and was affectionate. Used to purr regularly and loudly, only meowing for food. I have yet heard her purr after I brought her back, and she rarely sleeps with me now.

As I said before she likes to be in the middle of everything, when SK would start playing with her favorite toy MK (Mitten Kitten) would jump right in. SK would back off and leave, eventually losing interest altogether. This is when SK started stalking Girl regularly. I would constantly have to chase MK away, also every time I would open a can of food she would be right there. I would have to chase her out of the bedroom so Girl could eat. As soon as Girl is done and I open the door MK is right there seeing what was in the can. She has to eat some out of every one that is opened. It seemed she was always in trouble for one thing or another. I noticed she likes paper, one day I had put a bill down on the floor and she tore it apart. My personal shredder.
So a lot of time was spent working on getting Girl to open up and SK to stop chasing her. Mittens no longer slept with me, I don't know if it was because she was not allowed out or upset because I abandoned her or because I had to constantly discipline her. Either telling her no or after a while I started using a squirt bottle with water. She is just a big dumb brute, but I love her. When I come in the house I have to almost step on her to get her to move, most times wind up having to push her out of the way. She is stubborn, I pick her up take her to the next room to get her to leave Girl alone and she goes right back. My problem child

Introduction

Well here it goes, allow me to introduce my babies in order of appearance. First there is Girl Kitty; Girl is a Tortoise Shell, she is very shy, timid and reserved. If you look up “Sacredly Cat” in the dictionary you will see a picture of her. Next is Squirrel Kitty; she is mixed grays and white in coloration, a domestic medium haired cat. Squirrel Girl is cute and she knows it, she is quite the little diva, and my vets favorite of the bunch. She also wants to be number one frequently picking on Girl (a big no no). Then there is Mitten Kitten; my black and white, a domestic medium haired. The big bruiser, fat cat, and bully. Mittens does not know she is a bully, she just wants to be involved in everything always getting in the middle when pay attention to the others. Which intimidates the others, she is unaware just oblivious and stubborn. Finally there is Lil' Bit; the smallest and youngest of the lot. I am not sure if she is part Russian Blue or Chateaux I am leaning more towards the latter. The whole world is just one giant playground to her and everything in it is her toy she has lots of energy. Lil' Bits is very loving and spends a fair amount of time in my lap.
I guess I should give a brief history of how I wound up a proud parent of these four. Several years ago when I moved in to where I now live, the owner had a no pet policy. While there was some wild life, lizards and such I thought I would put out some bird seed. I would regularly have birds around but they were not the same as a pet. Besides I am not much one for birds. This went on for over a year then I noticed some cats starting to hang around my yard. They looked to be complete strays and half fed so I started to put some food out for them. They stayed around and would let me pet them. I could always clam I was just feeding the strays and still did not have pets.
Well some would come and go, a few hung around spending most of the day here on weekends (I did not know about throughout the week). So I started to name them. I had a pair of black and whites and a yellow and white that were always together. The yellow one looked petty ragged, I forgot what I named him (you will see why in a min). One of the B&W's I called Kong because it would chase the yellow one from the food anytime he ate, the other would just walk up and push him away from the food so I had to separate them so that the yellow one could eat. After a cat would stick around for a month or so I would name it. Most would shortly disappear, then the 2 B&W's disappeared after being around for several months. By that time due to the summer rains I had started feeding them inside leaving my back door cracked open so they all could come and go at leisure. The yellow one would sleep in my bed most nights.
After the 2 disappeared I stopped naming cats, it seemed they would disappear shortly after I named them. Having reason to believe that the yellow and white cat had fleas, I bought a flea collar for him. A couple days later he came back with “Hello, my name is Twinkie” written in pink ink on it. I found out from my neighbor that the 3 cats belonged to the grand children of the people across the alley. The daughter had moved out taking both B&W's the yellow belonged to different granddaughter. Twinkie would hang around for a long while almost 2 years. I did not mind him staying around so much as he did not appear to be taken care of or fed. It is because of him that I have such a large family. I do miss him and hope that they are taking better care of him than they use to.