Daddy's Little Helpers

 There are 2 things I can do that will get the attention of every cat in the house. Then they come running, I don't even have to call them, they just suddenly appear. First anything having to do with food. If I bring groceries into the house they will ignore me (not all of them Lil' Bit always has to check out the shopping), but if there is cat food in the bags everyone is there. I don't know how they know it but they do. If I move a can of cat food they can hear it. Open a new bag of dry... well you can see in the photos.

Getting a new bag ready.

Can not wait for it to be put in the bowls. 

The second thing is make the bed. The can hear the movement of the sheets when I pull them off, even if I am just folding the sheets they come running. No matter how quite I try to be they still hear it, even when I can not hear anything. Then as you can see from the photos they try to help. I will toss the old sheets on the floor while I am putting the clean sheets on. Those that are over taxed from helping will use them to take a nap.  

Putting clean sheets on they make sure they are placed properly.

Mittens under the sheet.

Almost done

Just finished.

                                     

Ugly resting.

Pretty's turn for a much needed rest.

As you can see they were all very helpful.

Playing Favorites



Girl & Tom sharing a feast.



Girl being my first kitty (after many years without a pet), as well as being the oldest (10 or 11) gets preferential treatment. Being somewhat concerned about recent changes in her fur, as well as appearing to lose weight, I decided to buy her can food to eat. All of them have been on a dry food only diet for the past several months. While Girl likes and eats the dry she is missing most of her teeth. When she first showed up most of her back teeth were bad and on the first vet visit it was decided to have them removed.



The crowd gathers around.



Being shy and timid she will not eat with the others, instead will hide when the others come around while she is eating. In fact most of the time she spends away from the others. I have always been a bit worried about her eating enough. I have decided to feed her a can a day to see if it helps. I have to close her in the bedroom to keep the others away. Also to encourage Tom to come around more I have been giving him her left overs (after she has had a couple of hours to eat it). This time I gave him his own can. Girl does not mind him being around ( I told you all the girls go crazy over him). If anything is left then the others get it.

Hour later, still there.

With me in the room and the door closed the others gather around. You can see them after I walked over to get the camera. Mittens and TJ moved when I walked out. About an hour later they were still there wanting in. This started when I bought a bag of dry that had a coupon for a free can. Twelve cats only one can, who gets it. My favorite of course, she does get other special treatment. Such as me keeping the others away, extra attention, etc.  
 
      

Odds 'n' Ends



Squirrel on the counter.

 First I want to thank everyone for the comments about Squirrel. I wont tell her though because it will just go straight to her head. She already acts like a movie star. LOL

I wanted to post a movie and see how well it works. I just ran across it the other day. I took this a couple of years ago, when I first got my camera. It is just a still camera (8 megapixel), I noticed it had a film option. I tried it out to catch Girl in action. Milk is a finger food, as you can see. She eats milk with her paws (she is left pawed). That is the only thing she does that way, although once I did see her drink it like water. This was taken when she was still deathly afraid of Squirrel. If she knew Squirrel was on the bed she would have run and hid. I think if I had more light (my place is so dark inside) it would be less grainy.



Eating milk from a glass.



I want to get one with her and a tall empty glass of milk. She will delicately place her paw in the glass to get the last drops at the bottom. Or if I have a full one in the coffee table she will stand up with one paw on the table the other to eat with.



Dinner Time.



Well the kitties are not sure what is exactly going on. I think that they may be a little frustrated with me right now. I have switched them to a dry food only diet. I still have not found a job and am just about out of funds. So I had to cut back on costs, they still get their nutrients but this is cheaper. They are used to me opening 3-4 cans in the mornings when I wake up. Each morning they still gather around the food bowels expecting it.



Before, see how skinny.



The Martian used to eat 3-4 cans a day by himself. When I first started feeding him regularly he looked to be about half starved. You can see the difference in the two photos. What my cats would not eat from the cans the outside ones would finish off. I was going through 8 cans or more a day before the Martian showed up. Maybe the fat ones will get back into shape this way. If they do I might just keep them on dry food.



After, much healthier.



Pretty has started staying in nights, joining me in bed along with her twin Ugly. Both sleeping at the foot of the bed now that Martian has joined me. He sleeps with his head on my pillow, laying down after nuzzling and giving me a kiss. I will have to do a progress post on him soon, he has come a long ways.



Outside wanting in.



Mizz Purrzzy walked in a couple minutes ago meowing for me to play with her. I put her in my lap but she wont lay down or sit still. So I type a few words pet her a couple min back and forth between typing and petting. Of course this was just right after Lil' Bit jumped down. She joined me when I first started typing.

Mizz Purzzy says
Phbbt... to me.

I saved the biggest news for last. (Cat change Lil' Bit is back in my lap) Girl jumped at Lil' Bit. You know how a kitten will leap 2-3 feet to attack another one, trying to get them to play. Well night before last Girl did that, she leapt from the arm of the couch to the recliner to chase Lil' Bit. I had thought Girl had chased her before but this was the first time I actually got to see it. As usual that was the extent of her play 15-30 seconds before getting scared and stopping. Still it is a major leap forward for Girl. I told “M” and she asked if I had a heart attack when I saw it. It was so surprising and made me feel so happy and proud for Girl. I had to reward her and immediately gave her some treats.

 

Girl ignores the Martian.

Like I said just a few odds 'n' ends to update everyone on whats happening here.

  

More Chores:

Buying Kitty Food



Click on GIF to see animation.



I buy all of their food at Pet Smart, normally getting several cases of wet and a couple of bags of dry at one time. (I find it is cheaper this way, buying it on sale) I use old plastic buckets, that their litter came in to store their dry food. I washed them out with a mild dish soap before using them. When I go to fill them everyone comes by to supervise and get a little taste test. I think they are checking up on me to make sure I bought them the good stuff. The first pic shows them helping me and getting a little taste. That is Lil' Bit reaching deep in to grab some (Click on pic to animate gif: Lil' Bit it the gray one). As you can see it is quite the crowd pleaser, everyone gathers around. How many cats can you count?

This is even better than using catnip to get their attention. Sometimes it is kinda of hard to walk around without tripping over a cat or three. This is a grand ceremony for them with everyone in the house showing up except Girl, who is usually as far away from the others as she can get. Once everything settles down they will all decide that it is time for a nap and lay down around the bucket.



Click on GIF to see animation.



Putting away the canned cat food is even more fun, once I get around to it that is. In the second photo I decided to eat before putting it away. Mittens and Lil' Bit decided to remind me it was time to put their food away. I will open each case and then stack the cans alternating between all the flavors in each stack. Once I spread the cases out on the floor the cats will go back and forth between cases checking out which flavors I bought this time. Then Squirrel will get in the cupboard making sure there is a place to put it all. Very helpful this, as she is normally standing right where I am trying to work.



Click on GIF to see animation.



What to do once it is all put away??? Make forts of course! You can see in this picture I can make a couple of forts for them . Which they will quickly camp out in, and use to attack each other from. Soon there are pieces of fort all over the kitchen. I will rebuild them several times, until I get tired. They never seem to get tired of it. After a couple of hours of boxes all over the house I will pick them up and put them away. I do keep a couple around the house as the cats will use them as beds.

Lets not forgot about cleaning the litter box, I know Mittens won't let me. If she thinks that I have neglected it she has a subtle way to remind me. She will walk up to me and be very loving, then walk away back and forth until I get up to see what she wants. If she walks past the food and into the bathroom I know it is time to clean the litter box. (When she wants fed she will go to the food) I have four litter-boxes, the extra large one is in the spare bathroom. I use scoop-able litter cleaning them out everyday filling as needed with a complete change every so often. Mittens will stand by the door watching me, supervising unless it is urgent then she is right next to the box. Once I finish she will test it out, making sure I did a good job. If it is not her testing it out as soon as it is cleaned then it is Squirrel. It doesn't matter if they had just went before I started, they still have to try it out.

I think that covers all the chores, no matter what I do they are right there. Whether it is to help out or just to supervise, one or more of them will be close by, making sure I do it to their satisfaction. Even if they are a hindrance sometimes, at leas they believe that they are helping.