11-21-11

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Serious “climbing on my soapbox” moment here…

Re: heating pads. Having seen a number of cats over the years at the vet office who had burns, please be aware that older kitties and human heating pads DO NOT MIX. Never ever use a human heating pad with aging cats, or kittens so small they cannot move. Get a pad made especially for senior kitties, it MUST have a temperature LIMIT. Older kitties’ nerve endings aren’t as sensitive, and won’t notice that the heating pad is too hot. They will get burns. Last one treated was 50% burnt (all fur gone, massive bloody burns) from head to toe – one whole side of her body, so so so very painful and horrific. Please don’t let that happen to kitties! (Not you specifically, Oh Miss Provider of Corbie Photos, “you” as in “anyone reading this” heh) And I feel so strongly about this because of having had to deal, multiple times, with kitties who were seriously damaged by human heating pads.

Always use temperature-limited cat-specific heating pads.

And if any wires get cracked, or the plug starts falling apart, or it’s damaged in any major way, please remove it from use. I’ve seen damage from “oh it’s just one crack in the heating wire, big deal”, too. SIGH.

Thank you, Foo – I had never considered the dangers of heating pads on older (ie, MIZ POO) cats. I have enough small cat-specific warming pads that I haven’t used heating pads in a couple of years, luckily.

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So, would you recommend the cook books and if you only could get one, which would it be?

I’ve only leafed through them a few times, haven’t taken the time to seriously sit down and read them, but that said, if I could only get one, it would probably be Skinny Italian just because the recipes looked more appealing to me. That could change on a dime, though, so take that opinion with a grain of salt!

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OMG, have you seen these? I love the Sand Box one!!!

LOVE it!!!

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I used “fluff” instead of “fart” when TJ was little, mostly because he had an unstoppable need to yell at the top of his lungs, “MOMMY, I [whatever bodily function had just occurred] JUST NOW” in public, and he was a gassy little thing. A friend of mine said that her family had used “fluff” for as long as she could remember for exactly that purpose. Anyway, when he was about 3 we (me, him, and my parents) went out to breakfast one day and had a waitress who was trying to engage with TJ. He wanted pancakes, and she kept assuring him that he would really enjoy his delicious, fluffy pancakes. He wound up in tears, convinced that they were going to fart all over his food.

HEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Elayne, have I perhaps mentioned that you make me laugh out loud at least once a week?

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Being the crazy cat ladies that we are, we are interested in getting shelving like yours for the kitties. We currently have the tall cat condo (as opposed to the middle or short sized ones of course) next to the ledge we discovered the girls like to climb upon. As you can see in this picture, it’s an awkward setup, for us. Plus, this condo is on it’s way out (limbs won’t tighten). So, barring the cats crashing each time they want up, what shelving would you recommend and/or where did you get yours? We want to put it on that wall all the way to the left there.

Jenn, when I originally read this (and responded to your comment via email), I thought you meant you were looking for shelving like ours – the “steps” up to the platforms in the kitchen and front room (and the platforms themselves) were made by Fred. But now I’m thinking that maybe you just meant that you were wondering where we got our cat trees? So I’ll tell you where we got our cat trees, and then I’ll tell you what I think you should do, and then I’ll let everyone else give you advice, too. Sound like a plan?

We’ve ordered almost all of our cat trees off of eBay. They’re inexpensive and they work out for a while, generally a couple of years, but as you’ve probably noticed, they eventually get kind of loose and shaky and can’t be tightened. I think we could make our own cat tree fairly easily (I’ve looked at other homemade cat trees online), but I can’t seem to get Fred interested in my schemes. The cat trees you buy in the pet stores (well, I can really only say PetSmart for sure, but I suspect it’s the same at Petco and Pet Depot, etc) are sturdier and last longer – but are oh-so-expensive. It’s a trade-off, really, you pay less for a decent cat tree, but it doesn’t last as long – so then you buy another cheap one, etc etc.

I have to say that the ledge between the dining room and kitchen? I LOVE it. I think it would be neat if there were a set of “steps” up that wall on the left that the cats could go up, and then across the ledge, then a smaller set of steps down the other side. Of course, I’m not sure if you actually want to attach anything to your wall or not, but that’s one thought. There are a lot of cat shelf options out there. I really like the look of the Cat Clouds shelves, though they are raaather expensive. You can poke around on Moderncat, too, they always have neat stuff to look at (again, kind of expensive, though).

Okay, this is where I throw it out to the rest of you – give Jenn advice on what YOU think she should do, and where she can get decent-looking shelving and/ or cat trees/ condos that look good but won’t break the bank!

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What do you do yourself or recommend another person doing in regards to keeping your cats teeth clean? Do you honestly brush every single cats teeth in your household daily (including fosters?) Because that is what my vet has recommended in the past that we do for our cat and I’m just thinking “shyah right lady, I’d like to keep my face intact thank-you very much!” Or do you just rely on having a yearly professional teeth cleaning done for each cat? (I know they offer a free one with some pet insurance plans) I’m just curious what tips you have if any about this because I know that a cats dental health has a huge effect on how long they live and their quality of life. I have two cats and I just lost my 14yo cat this past Tuesday from an illness that blossomed from poor dental health that we were unfortunately unable to remedy before it was too late (we adopted her as an adult cat and by then the damage had apparently already been done) I’m worried for my other cat Thanks for any suggestions you or your readers may have for me 🙂

We rely on the yearly cleaning by the vet, because honestly if we were to brush our cats’ teeth every night (assuming they’d let us do that, and I can guarantee that old man Spanky would lose his MIND if we tried to brush his teeth), we’d be doing nothing but brushing cats’ teeth from dinner time to bed time. I’ve never brushed a cat’s teeth, and I don’t plan to start.

However, I’m throwing this out there – anyone got advice for how to keep your cat’s teeth clean? Leave it in the comments, and thank you!

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In case you missed it over at the Love & Hisses Facebook page, Molly got adopted this weekend! Yay!

She’s going to a home with two older Challenger’s House cats (neither of whom were my fosters), and a five year old boy who was apparently quite taken with sweet miss Molly Peppers. I am so glad to hear that she’s going to have her very own servant to love her and snuggle with her and obey her every demand!

This means that (I think – I haven’t heard back from the shelter manager yet to be sure) Everett will most likely be going to Petsmart tomorrow to take Molly’s place and be reacquainted with Harlan, Sally, and Lucy.

Adoptions have been slow lately, which I suspect is due to the upcoming holiday. Maybe once Thanksgiving is over adoptions will pick up.

Maybe this “Black Friday” will be a lucky Friday for the remaining Peppers!

Chuckles loves him some Tommy.

Luckily…

…the feeling…

… is mutual!

Charlie spent all day Friday snoozing on this grocery bag. He loves Publix as much as I do, clearly.

Everett (and in the background, Spanky), after snack time.

I note that that little stub of a white whisker on the left isn’t growing back in any too quickly.

Tandem slurping.

Alice was MINDING HER OWN BUSINESS in the cat bed (one of many) on the table, and Fred put Charlie in there with her. She fumed for a moment, then turned and gave him A LOOK.

“What’s HER problem?”

I’m pretty sure this picture is slated to be the October picture for next year’s Love & Hisses calendar.

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I actually bought this bed/ basket to put in the foster room. Laurie‘s always posting pictures of her fosters in this type of basket, and I love seeing them. Also, I had one similar to this several years ago, but eventually the kittens ripped a hole in the bottom and I lacked the skills to sew it back together, so out it went.

However, before I could get it upstairs to the foster room, it had to sit on the table for a couple of days (everything does ’til I get around to putting it away.) and in that time our two biggest cats, Elwood and Tommy, took turns sleeping in it. (That’s Elwood above.)

I’m thinking maybe I need to just buy another basket.

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Previously
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: Pet store kitties.
2007: “What IS it?!”
2006: Ten is TOO MANY.
2005: “Why, yes, we are. We ARE bad.”

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