Spider-cat: The Next Generation

Those who have followed our cats for any length of time knows that Whitey is the Spider-cat: he loves heights, and generally never falls off his chosen perch once ascended.  (We've chosen to ignore a certain unfortunate incident in 2014 -- at least he did execute a good landing that day.)

However, the younger generation does have its own spider-cat talents, doing something even Whitey has never tried:

Coach Penwiper ready to ride the exercise bike with me

My coach checks me on almost everyday I ride.  A few times when he's seemed interested I've boosted him up there, but usually only to where his hind paws are on the reading ledge of the front side of the console.  But I didn't help him today -- I wasn't even near the bike when he hoisted himself.

If that looks hard, it's because it is; that console is about an inch wide, and curved.  Without the paw on the handle bar, even he would tip over.

Self-Storing Nap Kitten

Last night, when I was putting clothes away before bed, Billy jumped up into the drawer for my Land's End shorts, and after poking at the drawer above it (it used to hold kitty treats, years ago), he settled in for a nap. I warned Katherine not to walk into the drawer when she came to bed, and crashed myself. He was still quietly curled up in the drawer at 2:30 AM when I got up to check why his brother Whitey was meowing (for no reason, it seems). At least one brother was cute overnight.

Best Toy Ever! (at least for 2016)

For years in the original Summer Kitten Farm, we had a Van Gogh reproduction hanging in our bedroom. After we moved to Kenmore in 2007, we meant to get it promptly unpacked and rehung.  Honest.

Today we got it unpacked:

Our finally unpacked Van Gogh reproduction

The boys don't care if we hang it, but they think it should have been unwrapped years ago, because the inner wrapping paper is fun!

Whitey checking out the Van Gogh reproduction wrapping paper, AKA his new blanket.

Whitey and his new blankie

And where is Billy in all this?  Very happy, thank you.

Billy nestled deep in the folds of the blankie.

Billy is actually nestled deeper than it appears in the photo -- the flash lit up his comfy cave.

Penwiper has also visited the paper, but Whitey reclaimed his ownership of it before I could get a picture.

We'll get the print hung later today.  I'm not exactly sure where the valets are sleeping tonight, since the boys do love their new present . . .

Kage, The Grey Mouser, Has Gone Over the Rainbow Bridge

We have sad news from +Erika Rice Scherpelz, valet to Kage, the Grey Mouser:

You and Katherine should know that Kage passed last week. We found out a few months ago that he was starting to have kidney issues, but we could not be very aggressive in treating it because the medication options conflicted with his heart medication. A couple weeks ago, we took him to the vet again because he had stopped eating. They kept him over the weekend, but when he came home, it was clear that he was failing. He died a couple of days later, with mommy cuddles.

We're still processing the loss. He's been such a good kitty, and we're so glad that you passed his care to us.

I had not seen The Grey Mouser since we delivered a cat tower to him at his new valets, and we were unaware of his heart condition. Yet even with the years having passed, I find myself sad at his passing.  As Erika said, he was such a good kitty, and he was still relatively young.

All four of our current overlords have been petted.

The Return of the Master to the Big Black Kitty Warmer

While Whitey has always loved warm spots around the house, but for some reason after we moved to the Kitten Farm West he gave up on using the Big Black Kitty Warmer.  For years, it's been of the domain of Billy, Penwiper, and Oscar, but never Whitey. 

Whitey on the Big Black Kitty Warmer (Mark I) in Stoneham, December 2006

Until today, that is.

I'm delighted to see Whitey reclaim his rightful spot this evening.   (This delight included misting Penwiper when he tried to commandeer it!)

And yes, through the years, Whitey has slept through AC/DC.

Whitey On the Big Black Kitty Warmer (Mark II), November 2015

Menu Changes at Le Cafe Matou

Whitey has been fickle about eating off and on all summer, and after the vet visit early this month he went turbo fickle mode, eating little or none of his kibble for multiple meals in a row.  So we tried to wake up his appetite by:

• spiking his food with hard kitty treats.
• begging and petting.
• spiking his food with Kitty Crack (http://bluebuffalo.com/product-finder/cat/?facets=cat_treats)
• giving him partial portions of wet food.
• giving him all wet food.
• giving him wet food spiked with Kitty Crack.

All this worked in varying degrees, and after several false starts for now he seems happy on a full diet of all wet food. This is not as good for his teeth, but we'd rather have a properly fed cat needing his teeth cleaned than a hungry cat with clean teeth.

However, all this wet food flying around has a spillover effect.  In particular, we need to also give consideration to the others in varying degrees:

• Oscar has never liked wet food, he'll walk away from kibble any where near wet food.  So we can and do feed him kibble as always.
• Penwiper wolfs wet food down mixed with his kibble, and clean up Whitey's bowl when allowed to after everyone else is done. So he needs a little reasonable restraint (to avoid premature clean up) to be a happy diner.
• Billy is now making us shake our heads:
• Traditionally, he likes wet food ...
• ... The smell excites him as we serve up the meal ...
• ... Once eating, the smell will drive him to abandon his own kibble meal half way through. Never mind that he is locked in the bathroom, he still has the nose of a cat ...
• ... but if we give Billy wet food, he doesn't eat it. This is a new development in the past week.

The solution to Billy (for this morning at least) was let him eat his chosen meal (kibble) with everyone else for the dining room.  He was a gentleman to Penwiper and Whitey (Oscar started and finished early enough to not be an issue), no one left more than crumbs, and everyone was happy.

Suffice to say it's all a fluid situation with the regulars at Le Cafe Matou.

The Fickle Felines Of Fate

An entire summer's worth of updates in one post ...

The Big Trip

We took to the road for 27 days drive across the country and back.   (Pictures and various other updates are over on https://www.facebook.com/swhobbit/photos if you care, but you'll have to friend +Katherine Derbyshire or I to see them.)

+Margaret Derbyshire and her son Ian were able substitute cat valets in our absence.   Oscar never did fully adjust to them, but he did chill enough to eat well.

Penwiper, love monger that he his, had Marg and Ian wanting to take him home to Syracuse with them.  Against our better judgement, we kept him.

Spa Day for Whitey and Oscar

All the cats have been to the vet over the summer, with Oscar & Whitey making a second visit on September second for teeth cleaning.

During the visit, Whitey also got a blood draw, and the results came back that his kidney and thyroid functions are both "high normal".   That means our quiet hunter doesn't need any treatment, but we need to keep a close on his drinking and litter box use, and of course annoy him next year with more blood work.

The sedation associated with the visit knocked them for a loop, as always, and PW hissed at the strange smelling cats as they staggered about the house.  But they bother recovered faster than previous visits.