Stepping In

Emily may be clean on the urine misses around the litterboxes, but she's not problem free. Monday, Katherine found Emily had thrown up on the floor by Katherine's side of the bed. She cleaned it up, but then later stepped in the pool of cat cleaner solvent in her fuzzy slippers. Katherine was not happy.

Last night as I was going to bed, I managed a lovely variation on this. I went to push the bed up against the wall, and discovered Emily had thrown up on the floor at the foot of the bed. Unfortunately, I discovered this mess by touch with my bare foot.

Yeech.

We love Emily still, though.

Emily is in fact innocent

Emily is in fact innocent of at least some of the litterbox misses we've had. The latest happened at the downstairs box, while she was in her suite (formerly the master bedroom) behind a closed door. The culprit for this one seems to have been Whitey.

After almost two weeks of

After almost two weeks of regular Tagamet doses, Emily seems more active and hungrier, but is also very skittish around me. Especially in the morning and evening, her usual medication time. So I took yesterday and today off. I'd like to resume regular doses tomorrow and through next week, though. It really does seem to help.

Right now she is curled up on my desk, attempting to kick the keyboard into my lap. I guess that means I'm disturbing her nap.

And now for something completely different

Emily may be reading the blog over our shoulders. As soon as I wrote that she had a schedule, she changed it.

This morning, Emily got pointed the wrong way and missed the litterbox. Katherine saw this live and corrected her. No scolding of course, but Emily may have still been stressed by it. (Katherine wonders if the litterbox was too dirty for Emily to be happy.)

From the stress or whatever reason, Emily threw up in the middle of her breakfast. This is quite unique, because she virtually never has problem when she has freshly eaten. She then bolted from her suite to Tiger Tower ... where she calmly had more breakfast.

Weird.

At least she is in good spirits this morning.

Emily Dawn Patrol

Emily threw up again, right on schedule at 6:30 AM. (She seems to favor 5 AM or 6:30 AM).

Tagament got skipped a couple of mornings over the week, but the night time doses continue and she'll be dosed this morning.

We do think Katherine has kept with the Tagament long enough this time to have a positive effect on Emily, and will keep it up.

Photo Friday: Dangerous Expedition, Part 2

As noted last Photo Friday, while Emily was burrowed Whitey went exploring.

We caught the moment that Emily noticed Whitey, which automatically made it the moment Whitey stopped in his tracks and gave up.

A mentor!

Across Summerhill St. from my office window, there are two houses. The one on the left is higher, and a stone wall runs along the property line between them.

A little while ago, I looked out the window to see a white-faced cat (not Whitey) nestled under the shrubs on top of the wall. Not long after, a squirrel ran up the hill and into the shrubs at the base of the wall. A flurry of action ensued, and I saw the cat prancing back up the hill with a squirrel hanging from his mouth. (Or her mouth. For all I know she was taking lunch back to her kittens.)

Billy and Whitey were asleep and missed all this. Probably just as well. I'd rather the Mighty Hunters didn't develop a taste for fresh squirrel.

I don't know whether Emily was inspired by all this, or whether it's just coincidence that she went into Mighty Huntress mode soon after. She pounced on a Mylar crinkly and gleefully batted it around, even chasing it around the upstairs hall for a little bit. Of course she stopped as soon as she saw me watching. Oh well. Her secret is safe with me.

The Fine Form of the Flying Frap Brothers

We have cooler weather.

We have cats in frap mode, morning, noon, and night!

Daily Stench

One of the usual suspects missed the downstairs litterbox again.

One of regular landscapers came through and tried to bury the evidence.

Should Emily depart us for any length of time, I have this vision of her absence proving her innocent of all these litterbox misses when they continue with only the boys around.

On This Day in History

It was one year ago today that our founding felines joined the Summerhill Kitten Farm.

Maybe they know the date ... they were all pretty friendly this morning. Or maybe they just know we're trying to keep the farm comfortable, safe and happy for them.

I'm [pant] Ready, [pant] Coach! [pant]

With the recent heat, we're taking it easy on the boys when playing them and their teaser. We keep it out play periods shorter, and I don't encourage as much climbing in pursuit of feathers and pom-poms as I usually do.
Billy has still been panting several times, with his little tiger chest heaving. Always the Mighty Hunter, however, he'll let Whitey spell him for a couple of rounds and then jump back in the game.
Given that he jumps back in before he's actually properly recovered, we'll taken to calling the game before he keels over.

Monthly weigh-in

This month's weigh-in has Whitey and Billy both stable, at 13.5 and 15.5 pounds, respectively. That's a little high for Billy, so we may want to cut back his food a bit more.

The bad news, though, is that Emily has slipped down to just 6.0 pounds. She threw up again this morning, too, even after several doses of Tagamet (which she continues to hate). Sigh...

Photo Fridayish Extra: Feline Weather Report

Careful observation of your cats can provide lots of amusement and insight into their personalities. It's useful, too, giving a quick and easy estimate of current weather conditions.

Today's weather? Too darn hot.

Photo Friday: Dangerous Expedition, Part 1

I admit we can be terribly inconsistent, because we don't let the boys burrow under the bed covers nearly as much as Emily. We let her do it for three reasons:

• She seems to do it for warmth. (She may have low body temperature caused by her age and health.)
• She doesn't burrow very deep, so she won't suffocate (and we can find her),
• She doesn't pounce on human toes if she encounters them while spelunking.

And like the boys doing it, it's cute.

To be honest, we've been known to tuck Emily in when she needs it.

Back when it was cold enough for Emily to really snuggle under the flannel sheets, Whitey went exploring.

Daily Stench

Alas, Emily threw up again at 5 AM. Really just a little spittle, but it does mean her tummy remains in distress.

(It also means I was up again at 5 AM. yawn.)

Katherine tried to give Emily Tagament this morning, but got it mostly on Emily rather than in Emily.

I can be brave from here, can't I?

Part two of the great bathroom refurbishment is this week, with two fun-filled days of paint and wallpaper. Billy is being very brave, and has come out from under my office futon to sit in my office door and watch the proceedings. Or at least watch the closed bathroom door. Once the door opens and the scary contractor emerges, back under the futon he goes.

In other news, Emily has been acting like her stomach hurts for the last several days, and threw up this morning. Maybe time to get the Tagamet out again...

Photo Friday: Cave Cats

Because of Billy's bulk, we bought a plus size carrier just for him. But that doesn't mean he doesn't like our standard size carriers, especially if it means a snug little catten pile with his brother in the carrier cave.



I don't think we would want to zip the two of them into it though.

Wall crawler

Whitey has improved his skill set.

While he has jumped up to my file cabinet from the sun deck by the window sill many times, he never has tried the jump from the bare (closed) window sill. I presume he doesn't feel he can drive from the narrow space with both legs.

It turns out he's willing to compromise -- he's willing to jump up to the file cabinet from the (wider) open window sill. Which with summer finally here, I better either secure the file cabinet completely or make sure he has good landing zone.