On one other note I made use of “boxing day” here in the uk to turn boxes in to a cat tank. I’m not sure they fully approve yet but my cats will one day turn against me and use the tank. Hope you like it! Its not as good as a shop bought one but gave me hours of fun making it.
©jiva
I LOVE IT! I also love that you spent hours making it, because that sounds exactly like something I would do.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Opie’s triangle marking on his face reminds me of Tubby.
Several people have mentioned that. Tubby, for those of you who didn’t have the pleasure of knowing him, was our great big 20+ pound cat. I believe he was our first adoption from Challenger’s House, we got him in the summer of 1997. He was a bit of an odd duck, but was loaded with personality and always cracked us up. He was very vocal when food was involved.
Here’s Tubby:
And Tubby side by side with Opie:
It’s funny just how similar their nose splotches are, isn’t it? Of course, there are more differences than similarities between the two – Tubby was white except for his tail and his nose splotch, whereas Opie is a Tuxie and approximately half black. Their personalities aren’t similar (that I can tell – Opie might very well turn more Tubby-like as he grows up, who knows?), but Tubby had a favorite sitting position that Opie came pretty close to replicating the other day:
So in summary, yeah, y’all are not alone. I see the resemblance, too!
And as a bonus, some Tubby videos (with awful quality; hard to believe that was THE BOMB ten years ago, ain’t it?)
And Tubby and Mister Boogers (back when Mister Boogers was a kitten and we were calling him Stanley The Bean), fighting.
Also, when we first got him, we named him “Snoopy” because we had decided to go with an “s” naming theme for the cats. He grew into his name a few years later. (Ha.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Warning: profanity. Nothing funnier than a swearing cat, though, if you ask me.
Don’t say I never gave you anything. And why is everything always funnier with a British accent?
God but I love that video. That’s EXACTLY what I’m like when I’m fighting with my computer or the printer. Only with more profanity and less of a British accent.
I could totally listen to a Brit swearing up a storm all day long. It’s the accent – it’s funny to listen to dirty words in that accent, I’m telling you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Robyn, don’t show this to Fred or he’ll DEFINITELY will want a goat:
(I can see them now, Fred and his goat. Canoeing together. Taking rides in the truck. Napping on the couch.)
You know, they’re really NOT much bigger than George and Gracie, surely we could –
Oh, wait. George and Gracie don’t get to come in the house. Nevermind. (Fred only wants goats inasfar as I don’t. When I tell him to get a goat and shut up about it, he suddenly isn’t that interested in goat herding. His current desperate want is for a goose. I LOATHE geese, ever since I was feeding geese at the UAH pond and one bit me on the butt.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I have 2 cats, one is almost 13 and one is almost 6, both girls. Abby, the older, has always been more affectionate, but lately, she will plop herself down on my lap very often when I’m sitting. Sometimes she does it right as I’m about to get up and do something and I can’t always put it off. How do you get anything done with as many cats as you have, and do you ever feel guilty/bad for moving someone to accomplish things around the house?
I think I’m at a disadvantage since I work at home and often have to stop cleaning etc to sit down and take a call.
Oh, I never hesitate to put a cat down because I have to go do something. They know that when I’m sitting at my desk, they can get all the love and head scritching they want, but if I suddenly remember that I have to get up and do something, they’ll be moved aside so I can do so. (I do feel a tiny bit bad about it, but then I get over it. Because stuff’s got to get done!)
Probably it helps that I’ve spent 12 years with Miz Poo, the neediest cat on earth. If I would just sit there and pet her 24 hours a day, she’d love it. But then stuff doesn’t get done, does it? STUFF’S GOTTA GET DONE. I should cross-stitch that and hang it over my desk and when I get the sad eyes I can point to the cross-stitch picture and shrug. STUFF’S GOTTA GET DONE, YO.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I don’t like when you mention Tommy and Sugarbutt’s ages because I was reading for a few years BEFORE you adopted them, so now it makes me feel like a crazy stalker. I certainly hope you don’t get bored and stop blogging because even though you have a tendency to discuss litterbox content while I am trying to eat, I still love reading you and seeing all the kitty pictures:)
I wish I had a disgusting litter box story to share here, but sadly I do not so I’ll settle for sharing, once again, my favorite picture from when Tommy and Sugarbutt and their sister and brother were fosters.
That’s Tommy in the air, of course (back then he was named Barrett and Sugarbutt was Sad Eyes)(I did not name them), Sugarbutt on the ground calling out encouragement, and their sister Callie lying back there observing. I really think this might be one of my top five favorite pictures of all time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Tommy and Sugarbutt look like my 2 newest kittens, Trixie (black) and Tiffany Jr. – “TJ” (orange). Which is why I’m writing. They came from the shelter, they’re chipped, tested and feleuk negative, will be spayed soon, all for a token $85 to the shelter. They got a clean bill of health when they came home to us on Dec 8th including “fecal – negative” which I thought meant no worms/parasites? DOES IT?
TJ and Trixie follow me all around asking for canned food unless we’re playing with them elsewhere or they’re asleep. They also eat up all their dry food. They will eat our other 2 cats’ special diet(s) food too, if we aren’t watching and don’t quickly move it out of their reach. The kitten chow (Iams) cans say 1 can per day per pound, and they are both right at 1.5 pounds (so 3 cans/day total) but they would eat all day if they could. They are otherwise alert, healthy, loving, playful, mischevous, very smart, and wonderful! Not skinny or fat, still kitten-y, not at that slender teenager cat stage yet.
They’re getting fixed late next week and we are going to ask that vet about it then. Just wondered everyone’s experiences since this is the first time we have had such ravenous little piglets ever and we’ve owned cats since we were both little kids.
To answer the question as to whether “fecal – negative” means they’re parasite free, I have to say that’s not necessarily the case. It’s possible for them to have parasites that don’t show up in a single fecal test, especially if they’re recently, um, infested with one parasite or another (wow, that makes zero sense, right?) I’ve had fosters’ fecal tests initially show negative for something, only to find out a few weeks down the road that they have (insert your parasite of choice here. I particularly enjoy finding out that they have tapeworms, because UGH.)
A better indication of how they’re doing is to check out their litter box. Is everything as mostly-solid as it should be? If there’s diarrhea, especially bloody diarrhea (hey, look, there’s that litter box talk I was looking for! Were you eating breakfast?), then there might be a parasite issue.
It’s not uncommon for kittens to claim they’re dying of starvation around here, especially if I’m standing in the kitchen, and even though we free feed. You might want to increase their food a little, since they’re still little guys and growing. Also, do you know what their story is before they ended up at the shelter? Our dear departed Spot was never a big eater, but due to living on “the streets” before he showed up at Fred’s doorstep, it made him extremely nervous not to have food available to him at all times and even if he could see the bottom of the bowl, he’d howl the house down. If TJ and Trixie were street kittens for a bit, they could think that they need to eat when they can.
I know that there are readers out there with opinions or words of advice – please jump in here, I’d love to hear what the rest of you have to say.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I love Tig! I especially like how he seems to have little white ears inside his little black ears… I’m not explaining that very well but it shows in the photos… He’s going to be a charming grownup cat.
I see exactly what you mean – I hadn’t noticed that at all. How neat! Maybe it was his twin, and he absorbed it in utero, and that’s why Tig has the personality of two kittens! 🙂
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I’m fed up with living with roommates and am downsizing (from a 3ish bedroom duplex) soon. I’m looking at a studio apartment that is only 220 sq feet- I’m a big fan of Apartmenttherapy.com so its kinda a fun challenge- but I’m worried about if my cats will be able to deal. Yes, plural, cats. Two, who get along very well, and have few behavioral problems. Is 220 sq feet too small for two cats?
Man, I hesitate to answer this, because I really don’t know. That sounds awfully small to me, but I think it depends on how active they are, and how willing and able you are to provide vertical space for them. If they’re older cats and not terribly active, and you can provide cat trees and/ or walkways for them up off the ground, then you may be able to make it work. But if they’re really active young cats, I think you’re going to have a problem because they’re going to run around and in a space that size, they’re going to run across your face sooner or later. Trust me, my face gets tromped across regularly. I’m surprised I haven’t lost an eye yet.
Readers, jump in here? Anyone out there with a similar amount of space now or in the past, who can offer some advice?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Do you have any that just don’t get into the catnip? I have one that runs away from it and a couple of others that are like, eh… whatever.
Yeah, I think Tommy, Maxi, Newt, and Kara are not really into catnip. Joe Bob doesn’t seem to care for it either, now that I think about it. Miz Poo used to watch the other cats like they were nuts, but in her old age she’s gotten a taste for it. The kittens are usually like “What is going ON?!” when there’s a nipfest. Most of them, though, like it. They like it in different ways – Spanky will walk in, eat a pile of catnip, and move along, some of them roll around in the catnip and then lay there with their eyes twirling.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This is duck-related and it QUACKS me up (groan):
Hee! SO CUTE!!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Okay, I’ll be leaving in a bit to take Charlie and Patty to Petsmart. I like to drop them off as early in the day as I can so that they have all day to acclimate to the cage and people walking by. I expect Patty at least will head straight into the litter box, and Charlie will likely join her, at least at first.
We’re not requiring that they be adopted together, but did put a note in their description that it would be nice if they could. I actually think they’ll be fine even if they’re not adopted together, as long as there are other cats in the home.
In response to someone’s question, I am not bringing Everett, Sally, and Lucy home with me. But if they’re still there in a few more weeks, when the Sons have been neutered and are ready to go, I may see about switching out the Sons for the remaining big Peppers, to give the big Peppers a break from the cage for a few weeks.
I’m sorry that your last sight of Charlie and Patty has to be when they’re so stressed out. What can I say? They’re just naturally high strung.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This weekend, we start giving the Sons a bit of freedom. It’s definitely time – they’ve started all four rushing the door, which is usually okay unless I’m carrying something into the room. And then it’s (heh) anarchy!
Poor Jax. Who will ever adopt such an ugly boy?
Whatcha doin’ there, Opie, that has you looking so guilty?
“Nuttin’.”
::chomp::
Mr. Innocent.
They like to sit on top of the kitty condo and look out the window.
Couldn’t you just smooch his little face?
Opie, keeping an eye on something. Probably Jax’s tail. (Andrea pointed out that when the Sons are let out into Gen Pop, they’re going to go nuts with all the tails available for the swattin’. SO true. Charlie and Patty go nuts with batting at the big cats’ tails, and they have their own tails!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Edited to add: Oops! I uploaded these to Flickr, but forgot to link them here. I would never want y’all to go without your weekly dose of GORGEOUS!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2011: No entry.
2010: (2) We DO NOT need any more cats! (Now that I’ve said that, we’ll probably have, like, six more before the end of the year!)
2009: Girl kitties on the bed.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: “Oh. Were you gone?”
2005: No entry.
Yes, I could just smooch their little faces all day. And while Jax is certainly my Main Man – OH.EM.GEE. where is my Corbie this Friday?!!
Tubby AND Baby Boogs??? What a way to start the day!!
Oh Corbie! *sigh* There you are!
THAT DOES IT! I’m on my way down there for Tig. I MUST HAVE HIM! (I seriously WISH I could take him.) I adore his “soul patch” and his tail-less-ness. 😀
I nearly died laughing at “Who would adopt such an ugly boy?” and snickered at the anarchy joke. Also I love when you tell the cats to CHILL OUT! 😀 Your perm.residents and fosters sure have it rough! You make my day, Robyn.
I, for one, always swear in an English accent. 🙂
Thank you for this morning’s video laughfest. I love the way that Mama Duck turns around a looks at her ducklings like “What the %@&* is the matter with you??!?!” (not unlike the reactions I give my own children in the mall or the grocery store…) until she too gets blown over. Then once everyone is upright again, she just gives her feathers a shake and keeps walking… “Move along, nothing to see here.”
I, too, am guilty of swearing at the printer like a cat (That’s it, no more swearing like a sailor… the phrase is now swearing like a cat. I am all too certain my cats swear regularly. And in British accents too!) But shouldn’t that cat have a *female* British accent?
My tubby Simba (not to be confused with your tubby Tubby), got up and ran to the kitchen while I was watching the Tubby video. Guess he thought a second breakfast was being ordered up. 😉
Happy lives, Peppers. Here’s hoping forever homes for five fabulous kittens open up this weekend.
Thank you! Golly gosh. Really did not expect to see my picture top of your post. Still loving what you do.
I’d also like to add for the person wanting a smaller apartment, get lots of shelves, caves and places the cats can get away from eachother. Should make it easier for them to cope with less space.
Back in the mid-80s I lived in a Studio apartment that was one room, a kitchenette, a walk-in closet and bathroom. I don’t know the square footage but it was pretty small. I had one cat going in and adopted a second, a kitten and they did all right. Neither were crazy active cats, and I built some home-made shelves that they could clamber up and down. They also liked the windowsills for resting spots.
Even now with a much larger place the cats tend to hang out near me nearly all of the time as I move about, so I would think that you could draw a 220 ft2 circle around me and find all three in it 80 percent of the time.
Plus cats are pretty practical. If you are happier in your owns space, they will be too.
my sons live in small flats and have had 2 cats and no problems 🙂
Look at those feet on Jax! I think he’s gonna’ be a big boy.
That’s the first thing I thought when I saw that picture of Jax. GIANT FEET. Like Harlan and his feet.
Sweet sweet Corbiliciousness… My Friday is complete.
Oh my dear Charlie and Patty, I will miss you both SO MUCH and will wish every hour with my eyes closed that you are adopted together. You sweet kittens deserve the best home after living under that trashy lady’s trailer. <3
I think maybe Tubby is re-visiting in Opie. Because I think weird thoughts like that.
That cat/printer video is f#@$ing hilarious.
And Mr. Corbie in the leaves is beautiful.
I just rewatched the cat/printer video and I’m crying. At work.
Last year I had to unexpectedly move back to my hometown. For the first few months, my two cats and I were confined to two rooms in my mom’s basement, and then I moved to a one-room efficiency for about six months after that. Both cats were active and while the basement situation was obviously not ideal, they did absolutely fine in both. The efficiency was better as it was more space and had an entire wall of windows which provided endless amounts of entertainment. I’m currently in a 990-square-foot house, and like the commenter above me said, both cats are always within three feet of me. If you’re happy and less stressed out, and you pay the same amount of attention to your cats, they’ll be fine.
That printer video is fabulous. And since you think nothing is funnier than a swearing cat, I assume you’ve met Sylvester: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjZrUn03kXI&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=SPF72C3E0A45E3093C
While cats can live in a bedroom (I have two in there) I highly suggest getting an apartment with at least a separate bedroom, if you possible can. That’s because there are times when you may really need to lock out the cats – that includes if your recovering from surgery (or illness), have company or even need to keep a cat segregated do to a brief illness or injury. It also means you can lock up kitties with their toys while your cooking something they really want to help mommy with (and might not be good for them) or laying out a sewing pattern etc.
If it simply isn’t affordable, I’ve lived with up to three cats in a one room apartment but I was very happy to move to one with a bedroom when the time came. At the moment, we have one cat that lives totally in my office (she loves me, hates all other cats -Main Coon) two that live in the bedroom and two currently in a tiny bathroom. The old, now deaf and retired head barn cat (former tom) and he was so lonely we moved the half-blind younger kitty in to be his pal until his new person gets an apartment that allows cats. They are very cute, and perhaps because of the deaf-elderly cat/nearly blind younger cat they seem happy enough in the small space.
Regarding the always-hungry kitties, I currently have two six-month-old fosters who would gladly eat all the food in the world, if it was available to them. I think it may be because they were ferals before they came into the rescue network – A woman was feeding their colony twice a day, and they probably had to gobble as fast as they could before the older ferals pushed them out of the way.
They were really overweight when I got them – now I just limit their food, while still allowing for the fact that they are growing kittens, and they don’t look like sumo wrestlers anymore. (Nothing funny about an obese kitten.) I don’t know if they’ll ever outgrow the eat-all-the-food syndrome, though.
Aloha from the land of Surfing Goat Dairy –
Truly… not making this up. www. surfinggoatdairy. com
Happy weekend to all ~
Geese! Don’t get me started…. You do NOT want geese… Ducks are cute, chickens are… chickens. But Geese! nothing but mean covered in feathers! We hand raised two geese… hand raised! and they were still the meanest things on earth! One died because he couldn’t stop chasing trucks! and we could never go to school without carrying broomsticks so we could get out of the yard! Geese…. *shudder* Fred’s crazy….
Gosh, I have so much to comment on that I had to make some notes!
1) I have never ‘met’ Tubby before. He was a big boy! My Harley Jane is 21 pounds, and I’m trying to take a few pounds off her. She was a feral, probably about a year and a half old, when I got her about 9 years ago. I think the reason she eats so much is that food was pretty scarce when she was living in the feral colony (which is maybe the problem with the always-hungry kittens, too).
2) My dad grew up during the Great Depression, and his family was desperately poor. There were always cats around, because they could mostly fend for themselves and keep down the mouse population, but they didn’t have dogs, because there was no ‘job’ for a dog. However, for a few years, they had a pet goat — it’s even in a couple of pictures of the kids! My aunt had all sorts of stories about it — it was certainly her pet. It pulled a wagon when they went for groceries, etc., since they didn’t have a car. I guess that was its job!
3) Geese are mean. And the duck video scared me a little — I didn’t think you would post it if they were injured, but think how scared the ducklings must have been…
4) I sure hope that Charlie and Patty get adopted together!
We adopted a pair of sibling kittens, a male and female, who lived their first 3 years in a very large apartment with us. We decided to move into a loft with no walls. This was very difficult for my little girl kitty because she was very much a loner-type cat. Due to the drastic change in her environment and habits, she got extremely depressed and stopped eating and grooming herself. We took her to the vet and they ran some tests and kept her for several days to force-feed her. Due to the costs, we had to take her home and force-feed her on our own. However, it was really difficult since we had to leave everyday and go to work. She eventually passed one day while we were at work. I could tell something was wrong as soon as I came home because her brother looked super stressed and worried. It was heart-breaking and I wish she could have adapted to her new home. I also wish I had the strength to put her down, rather than prolong her suffering further.
I’m not saying that this will happen to all cats, but it really depends on their habits and personality. She loved to sit on the front window sill or hide in nooks. Didn’t like to be held at all, but would come by and plop onto the floor whenever she wanted attention. She was overall a hands off cat. I still miss her to this day.
Re the ever-hungry kittens — my first cat had been a stray and retained the belief that every meal was her last for the next 16 years. After allowing her to get too tubby (well, watching cats eat is FUN). I learned to be very careful. She never had free-standing food and I was vigilant about limiting her meals (four small ones a day). My second cat, who came from a family that left her starving and pregnant, is also food-obsessed, whereas her companion is not. (They get fed in separate rooms!) Anyway, I implore the reader to find the right amount of nosh for her charges and not to leave any dry food food out. Like us, food-motivated pussycats don’t need any more temptations… Robyn, I’m keeping everything crossed for the Peppers, and I can’t wait to hear how the sons are taking to their increase in territory!