The Mighty Mail Hunter

Background: I like toss to kitty treats to the mighty hunters for them to chase and eat.

An online conversation ...

K:
A kitty treat tosser was silly.
Someone landed one in one of the bins of the mail sorter on the hall table.


Needless to say, Billy was intrigued...

A:
how
loud
was
the
CRASH?

K:
Not too.


He was gently tossing one item at a time on the floor when I found him.


floppies, mail, CD...

Wholesale destruction might have allowed the prey to escape, so he was being relatively gentle.

Relatively.

Boring is good

No weight change for the boys this week. They both come in at 13 lbs, 7 oz.

We're gradually switching them over to c/d food for urinary tract health. The vet warned me that it has fairly high fat content, so we may need to cut back on portion sizes as we make the switch. All the more reason to be diligent with the weigh-ins.

Photo Friday: A New Era in Self Storing Cats

Katherine has said that we are lucky that the boys lack thumbs. My response is usually that since they each have four paws and fangs, it's mental more than physical -- their gifts lie in places other than tool use.

It sucks to be (mostly) right. Even lacking thumbs, they sometimes can play against type and figure out mechanical devices.

Because of this cleverness, we're in trouble. The boys have figured to how to open the standard model of the built in cabinets in the Kitten Farm West, and by standard I mean every kitchen and bathroom cabinet, from under the sinks to over the refrigerator. Which opens up the exploring of places with fragile glass, nasty chemicals, and kitty treats.

Rubber bands have been placed across the knobs of the most critical cabinets. Magnet latches have also been purchased. If the latches don't provide enough resistance, we'll go to child-proof latches.

Weigh-in

We've been weighing the boys regularly, but have been somewhat inconsistent about actually posting the weights. We'll try to do better, honest!

In any case, they don't seem to have suffered too much in their recent digestive adventures. Billy came in at 13 lbs 7 oz, Whitey at 13 lbs 7.5 oz.

Found on the Net

Drew feels very bad when he bumps into one of the boys by mistake. So bad that he feels compelled to apologize with kitty treats. I've always suspected that the boys know this, and throw themselves in his path deliberately.

It turns out that this phenomenon is well-documented among those who study cat physics:
Henry’s Law of Refrigerator Observation: If a cat watches a refrigerator long enough, someone will come along and take out something good to eat.

Revised Henry’s Law of Kitchen Appliance Observation: If a cat watches a refrigerator, a stove, a kitchen cupboard or a microwave oven long enough, someone will come along and take out something good to eat.

Partington’s Addition to Revised Henry’s Laws of Kitchen Appliance Observation: If a cat stands directly behind a human in the kitchen, its tail will be trodden on; the human will then offer the cat something good to eat by way of apology.

Is our nightmare over?

Thursday, in the middle of Whitey's health crisis, Billy came down with vomiting and a nasty bout of diarrhea, then quit eating. Since, as previously documented, Billy will eat anything, this was worrisome. We guessed it was probably because we switched over to the c/d food too quickly. Whitey was unaffected because he wasn't eating at all in this period, but Billy was getting double portions.

We switched both boys back to Iams, figuring we'd start the switch over again once things stabilized. By yesterday, both were pretty much back to their normal selves, but we scheduled an appointment this morning just to double check. Both boys got clean bills of health, although with a touch of gingivitis. We'll worry about that some other time...

Bootsies, the Mighty Hunter

It would appear the the boys understand windows better than their Bluegrass Niece Bootsies does, in particular as it applies to hunting.