Daily lack of stench

We hope. The recent litterbox misses seem to have been Emily's not-too-subtle way of telling us that she really doesn't like covered litterboxes. We took the covers off, and the problem went away. Of course, with four boxes in the house you would think she could find a suitable one, but who am I to argue with Her Emilyness.

The boxes were covered in the first place because of overspray by the boys. That problem seems (we hope) to have been taken care of by moving the box away from vertical surfaces. Thereby tripling the amount of lost floor space, but never mind.

Yes, that fur does make you look fat...

Billy is not getting thinner. If anything he's filling out so his tubbo butt is matched by his torso.

When he looks in proportion, he does not seem overly fat, but he's still just plain big. Thus, we have another title for him: Catzilla!

Tummy Trouble

Someone (I think Emily) threw up this morning in the bedroom just before 8 am feeding. Because it was before breakfast, it was basically a pile of spit. No big deal to clean up, but we want our little fiends young and old to be healthy ...

All a matter of perspective

I think an entire web site devoted to cats watching pictures of other cats is a sign that someone has way too much time on their hands. The cats, of course, are delighted to see such a noble use of the internet, and want to know when I'm planning to send their pictures in.

(Warning: Eye-bleeding 90s-style white on black site design.)

Stepping In

The problem with having the litterbox in the hall is you never know what you'll find on the way to the bathroom at 4:30 AM.

My foot found a cat pile this morning. There was also a lake, no extra charge, but I didn't step in that.

I knew I need to wear my bathroom slippers if I get up in the middle of the night, but I got lazy.

Maintenance Mayhem

This weekend the cats were not using up their nine lives, but the humans were living dangerously.

First I went to refill the water fountain, the tank for which has a self sealing cap with a weight and a little plunger. This reduces leaks as you flip it over to insert into the fountain. When the tank is fully seated, the fountain base pushes the plunger up, and water flows as needed, like a normal water cooler. Well, I managed to break off the plunger. The tank was still usable, but now one best only flip it over into the bowl and seat it promptly.

Then Katherine took the water pitcher downstairs for me, along with Emily's lunch dish. I got on the web to look for replacement tank parts, and I heard a BOOM. Katherine had slipped on the stairs in her socks ... there was dry cat food over all the stairs.

It was time to find the vacuum before the boys decided they wanted a change of diet...

(Katherine is fine, thank you for asking.)

What's Mine is Mine ...

It's picture Friday!

Aeron Chairs are not cheap, but the boys think that quality is worth it for them. That Katherine can't work at her desk when a cat wants a nap is only a minor issue.

Anyone speak calico?

Yesterday afternoon, Emily left a lake outside the upstairs covered litterbox. Today, she did the same thing outside the one downstairs. She's clearly trying to make a point, but I have no idea what it is. Sigh...

Tigers and tigers and tigers, oh my!

The boys just want to thank their Aunt Catherine for linking to the Louisville Zoo's three Sumatran tiger cubs. They were devastated when I explained that Mohan, Jai, and Leela would be more likely to eat them than to play with them.

Saturday afternoon kitten pile

The boys like naps. So we've posted napping kitten piles before. Still, this one was especially cute, and shows how much they've grown. They can now just barely squeeze into the top level of the cat condo.



Naps can degenerate into Cat Fu at any moment, usually when one brother wakes up and starts licking the other one.

Tummy woes

Emily threw up again this morning. This looked like she ate her breakfast too fast and it came back up, but still worrisome. She seems otherwise okay, but we'll want to keep an eye on her for the next few days.

He really is tubby!

In the more-or-less monthly weigh-in, Billy tips the scales at 10 pounds, up 1.5 since last month. Whitey, meanwhile, put on a 2 pound growth spurt in August, and now weighs 8 pounds. Emily remains stable at 7.0 pounds.

A Home (Office) of My Own

Yesterday, Katherine booted the litterbox out of my office into the upstairs hall to clean the floor under it. She suggested I move it back, and my response was "why?".

Her valid reason was to avoid tripping over it, but I pointed I never really planned on a litterbox in my office in the first place. We moved a small wicker stool out of the hall (actually into my office) and declared the litterbox's new home the hall for now.

Pavlov promptly started playing with the liner from outside the box; I pointed out to him what he was playing with by picking up him and setting him into the box. He promptly did the right thing and christened the box in its new home.

Happily, overnight no one decided to use the blank floor in my office where the box used to be.

Now if we could just reclaim Katherine's closet ....

Daily Stench

Emily both has a mildly loose stool, and she threw up today. The latter had no solids, but may have been an attempt to cough up a hairball.

Guess we can try the anti-hairball formula food we bought her by mistake after all.

Just call me Gulliver

Billy and Whitey have both decided that one of their favorite places to curl up is between Drew and I, in the middle of the bed. One of Emily's favorite places to curl up is next to me, on the outside edge of the bed. This results in nearly twenty pounds of cat weighing down the sheets that I'm trying to sleep under.

At the beginning of Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver regains consciousness to find himself tied down by the Lilliputians. It's sort of like that, only I also need baby blue UN Peacekeeping pajamas to help me keep the two mutually hostile armies of Lilliputians apart.

The Fine Art of Surfacing (Dining Room Department)

Katherine came downstairs last night to toss an apple core and found the dining room table occupied ... by Emily. That's twice this week, after she had shown no interest in it for her first three months with us. The Hiss of Doom announced to Emily that she didn't really want to be there.

Of course, Billy has to keep up with Emily, so on Katherine's next pass through the dining room he was up on the table.

We need one of those road signs that announce strong traffic enforcement for the dining room. We also need a full time cop for the dining room and kitchen.

FRAP Triple Feature

We may not be exercising the boys enough, they decided now that the weather is cool again that they went to be on the bed at night and, oh by the way, Cat Fu is fun at 3 AM. They got booted twice, three times if you count the time I tossed them just for being more awake than me at 6 AM.

Emily (who wasn't really FRAP at all) took over then. Walking around the bed, she lapped Katherine enough times that Katherine The Traffic Cop put a hand in Emily's face, which Emily promptly nipped at.

Does this fur make me look fat?

Billy's current most popular nickname: Tub-O.

Someone may be working on fat feline butt. Katherine alternatively calls him Tub-O and then defends him saying he's not overweight, it's just powerful hind legs and his particular coloring.

I mostly comment on that Whitey doesn't go back for seconds and thirds at the dinner dish.

The argument rages on.

[Later ... see Katherine's comment. She thinks it's actually spelled Tubbo.]