Speaking of squirrels, did you see this story?
and
or this one
I had seen the rescued baby squirrel article (and pictures – OMG, how freakin’ CUTE), but hadn’t seen the fainting squirrel video! What is up with that squirrel? Did he get into some fermented berries or something??
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As I watched these Cheetah videos, I kept mentally adding Robyn captions – “mom, i’m clean enough!” and “do you SEE what I have to put up with?”
Yep. Now I want a baby cheetah!
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Did this link work? this picture made the top of my head fall off. just thought I’d share.
It certainly did… and now I need a wee shopping cart. Y’all are really making my shopping list interesting!
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Melfi looks like she has freckles. I don’t know if it’s the base of the whiskers that are really dark or if it’s the fur near the base, but I love her little freckles!
Fred was just pointing out the other day that she has freckles. All of the brown tabby Sopranos do, but hers are definitely very well defined.
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Denise asked:
I have a problem I’m hoping you and the cat experts who read your site can help me with.
On Wednesday I had to put my 13 year old cat, Gracie, to sleep. She had tumors in and around her ears, and she had gotten bad enough that it was time. I miss her, but I know it was best for her. The problem now is that my 16 year old cat, Lucy, who was her best friend, is grieving and lonely. I need help pulling her out of it – not only because she needs to move on, but because every time she goes upstairs to the spot where she and Gracie used to curl up together to sleep every day, she howls, really loudly. It’s a heartbreaking sound, and my husband and I have been very patient and understanding about it. But she started it two weeks before Gracie had to be put to sleep, because that’s when Gracie started feeling bad enough that she stopped going upstairs. So for two and a half weeks, we’ve each been getting woken up out of a sound sleep by that horrible wailing from upstairs.
I finally put in a pair of ear plugs last night, and slept through her yowling, but my husband can’t bring himself to do that, and he works odd hours, which means sleeping odd hours and not getting enough sleep even without Lucy waking him up whenever she feels lonely.
What can I do to get Lucy to stop making that noise? What can I do to make her feel less lonely? (Aside from getting a new cat, which isn’t going to happen.) Any ideas? I tried putting a stuffed animal up there where she lays, hoping she’d curl up with it, but she ignores it. What else can I do to help her feel better and help us get full nights of sleep again?
Kar said: I know, it breaks your heart but you’ve got to let grief go through the normal process. It will pass in a few weeks but may never get over it.
Would suggest extra cudddles and when she’s in that spot, snuggle with her. Let her know that she’s still got people and family that love and treasure her.
Diddleymaz said: sorry but the only answer is another companion, older cats need re-homing too.
I’m with Kar on this, I think giving her as much extra attention as you can is the thing to do. I don’t think that bringing another cat home would necessarily help – she misses Gracie specifically, and might not bond with another cat, since another cat isn’t Gracie. (Of course, she also might bond immediately – it’s hard to know!)
Any other suggestions, y’all? Please chime in!
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The last picture – – BEFORE I put on my glasses I thought, “Oh, a picture Robyn and Fred’s Thanksgiving table, how nice.” (Preparing myself for the picture of the feast with all the side dishes, turkey, etc…) THEN, I put on my glasses…. whoa, uh, WHAT WAS I THINKING???? hehehe! A bountiful harvest of Felines – ya’ll grow the best felines at Crooked Acres!!! Happy Caturday!
Could someone please pass the bowl of Corbie?? 🙂
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I once found an injured squirrel lying on the yellow line – and as I had an online contact who was a squirrel rehabber (a true squirrel nut, pardon the pun) I began the process of helping this little female. She’d suffered a serious head injury, and needed time, peace and ready food to have a chance to heal and be released.
It turns out that squirrels are quite gentle in general. She allowed me to treat her wound and slowly improved until she was eating normally – and no longer showing signs of her injury. I kept her in a huge cage in a spare room (away from my kitties) and fed her copious amounts of squirrel favs. She didn’t resist being handled, but I kept it to a minimum as I hoped she could be free again.
One day I noticed she had a visitor – another squirrel who sat in the pear tree outside the window. They seemed to be communicating and my little girl squirrel really wanted to go. I set her free on my 43 acres along with two or three months supply of food. As squirrels are quite territorial, I released her out where fewer of her kind were resident. I’ve seen her a couple of times since – recognizable due to the large bald spot of her tail.
and
I saw your comment on last year’s post for this date when you said you thought a squirrel would be a fun pet and I have a great story for you. I was on vacation in Orange Beach several years ago and my friend Lisa and I had gone to dinner at Tacky Jack’s. I noticed Lisa was watching something behind me and asked her what it was and she said “I think that guy’s got a live animal”. I turned around and sure enough, a guy a few tables over had a squirrel, not full grown, more like a teenage squirrel I guess. Anyway, the squirrel was on his back but the waitress approached the table with a shot glass full of water, I hope, and set it down. Guy plucks the squirrel off his back and sets him on the table so he can get a drink. Then as we watch – okay to be honest we were openly staring by this point – he picks the squirrel up and puts him in his pants pocket. And I don’t mean some big ole cargo pants either, he was wearing khaki dockers. And we can see the squirrel moving around in his pocket and about that time, he looks up at us, nods his head and says “I’ve got a squirrel in my pocket.” And I can say this is one moment I was just sick I didn’t have my camera with me.
These stories are AWESOME! And also not making me want a pet squirrel any less, for the record.
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I have a kitty issue and if you have any suggestions I would appreciate it. My oldest, Felix, who will be 12 this month, has started overgrooming himself. He had a tooth extraction in August, and before that it was only above his eyes. 4 weeks after the surgery he had bald patches show up on his legs and his belly is completely bald. I have tried an allergy test (no allergens showed), 2 blood tests (perfect except for whatever measures inflammation), switching dry food and to grain free wet food (dear god was that a nightmare with 11 cats), and giving him amnitryptiline in case it’s an anxiety issue. NOTHING is helping.
Other than the bald patches, he seems really healthy and happy. With all the food switching, he’s dropped a few pounds and now is more active than he’s been since he was a kitten. He wants me to play with him all the time and he’s a lot more affectionate. He doesn’t seem stressed out by the other cats…maybe irritated by one or two, but not stressed. The medicine only seems to make him sleepy.
I’m probably going to drag him back to the vet in the next few weeks, but I really am at a loss as to what the problem is. I hate to give him steriod shots because of his age, and other than the fact that he’s overgrooming, he seems healthy and happy.
If you or anyone else have a suggestion or a thought, I would really appreciate it!
Sephy Cat said: Could Felix be allergic to a specific protein or proteins? We adopted out a very sweet cat named Sara who kept licking her foreleg pits. Took 8 months and a vet change but the new vet took a look and prescribed science diet z/d and Sara’s problem disappeared overnight.
Also somewhat relevantly, our Joey had all four of her back molars extracted at once when she was 8.5-ish, around Aug 4 years ago as she was having trouble eating and lost weight-she thinks she’s vegetarian and would eat only cookies, no icky flesh of any sort thank you. It seemed to start an avalanche of issues over the next months for her. Firstly was the post-op antibiotics which made her puke so badly she needed to have injectable doses. She also seemed to be in such pain pain-patches had to be applied on her neck. She lost weight and groomed herself silly-from her shoulder blades downwards wherever she could touch she lick, with vengence, all the way to her tail tip. She looked truly disreputable. She also started alternately lurching, limping, half dragging herself around. As if that was not enough, she also started bumping into things and being insecure, sneaking around instead of padding about in her usual way. We were so distressed by the drama and but we couldn’t have left her teeth to rot either. The vet was also perplexed. Everything that could be tried we tried-feliway, aroma therapy, meds, med changes, everything! And countless trips to the vet, some stays, batteries of tests and even 2nd opinions. All results came back great, except for her locomotion, which was diagnosed as arthritis (she is a big ginger dsh), and her clumsiness which was a degenerative eye condition the specialist had identified as common in siamese and dogs… neither of which she resembled. She just kept wasting away, lurching around nekkid. We thought we had to prepare to say goodbye. But about 11 months in, she suddenly went into reverse gear, padded on weight and fur, and at her next vet follow-up its as if she was never a problem kit, except for her missing molars, arthritis which required monthly catrophen shots, and her progressive blindness, which nothing could be done for. The vet and us concluded Joey’s issues were mostly stress-related. It was probably a perfect storm of her teeth-extraction and her sight loss coupled with her arthritis coming together. The vet comforted us by telling us we couldn’t have anticipated all those conditions or the way they manifested so close to each other. But thinking back we realise there were little clues like putting out her front paws onto bed and sofa edges before jumping up was not just a cute habit, she probably started doing it because her sight started to gradually fail sometime past her 3rd year. We can only live with the effects and be thankful Joey figured it out herself, although she sure took her time! Today she is thirteen and probably fully blind but her conditions are being monitored and she is healthy apart from her known issues. A few months back she did give us another scare when she dropped weight, first time since her year in trauma, suddenly. But after repeated vet stays and meds, she is back in the pink and look to be staying so *fingers crossed*
Hopefully, Felix’ problem is a simple one and I’m sure Michelle and her vet will do all they can for Felix but I hope my little ramble help some. Good luck to Michelle and Felix!
Thank you so much, Sephy Cat! If anyone else has suggestions or tips, please chime in in the comments!
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Paulie Walnuts makes a good decision.
See the Mo, back right down away from her. Good choice, Paulie!
Silvio approaches the Mo.
The Mo does not care for the approach.
“That was a little rude, Miss Mo.”
Mo: :::fume:::
“I understand that I should not have gotten all up in your face, Miss Mo. Please forgive me.”
Mo: :::fume:::
Melfi gives it a try, and gets the usual response.
Alice Mo, just NOT a fan of those kittens, it seems.
Melfi went to her thinkin’ spot to ponder the interaction with Alice Mo, but to her displeasure, Jake was already there doing his own thinkin’.
“I HATE YOU, YOU STUPID LOONY JAKE!” Melfi lashed out.
Jake pondered what Melfi had yelled at him, and to be honest, it hurt his loony feelings a little.
::WHAP:: said Jake.
“THAT WAS VERY RUDE AND I’M TELLING ON YOU AND I HATE YOU,” Melfi yelled.
“I AM THE JAKE AND THIS IS MY SPOT AND YOU GO AWAY RIGHT NOW, YOU LITTLE WHIPPERSNAPPER,” yelled Jake.
And she did.
Here are the last couple of pictures I have of Livia, from before she went to Petsmart. I stopped by Petsmart yesterday, and she was curled up in her bed, sound asleep. Not adopted yet – but not stressed out, it seems.
Silly girl.
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Oh, Corbie. You beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL boy. I just cannot stand how beautiful you are!
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Previously
2012: “PUT SNACK RIGHT HERE IN MY MOUTH RIGHT HERE!”
2011: For the Love of Cats review and giveaway.
2010: Bobby haz a complaint.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: I might as well go ahead and buy another six beds so there’s room for him IN THE FRICKIN’ HOUSE.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.