Oh, and how cute is that cardboard cat head/scratching…bed?…basket?…Mary’s car?
Isn’t that adorable? (It makes another appearance in today’s pictures, this time with Caroline in it.) I picked it up at Petco a while back when it was on deep discount, and the kittens really seem to like it. (I can’t find that exact scratcher online anywhere, but this is the same idea.)
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Of course you have the ideal situation with no carpets and many spare rooms, but here when we close off a room, our cat claws up the carpet and I mean CLAWS it up to the point where we now have holes and need to replace it.
If I have my choice, I will never ever ever live in a house with carpet. Cats can trash a carpet like nothing else (well okay, I imagine dogs could do a pretty good job of it, too.) Caroline is so fond of sticking her paws under the foster room door and rattling the door (in a clear attempt to drive me stark raving mad) that Fred had to cut a piece of PVC pipe the width of the door so that she couldn’t fit her paw through that gap (we use weights to hold the PVC against the bottom of the door.)
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Is it a problem to keep Khal free of knots and mats??
Nope, he loves being brushed, and gets brushed once or twice a week by Fred while we’re watching TV.
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Is the straw in the little houses better than cat beds or newspaper as an insulator? I remember reading somewhere not to use fabric but shredded newspapers were ok.
I’ve never used shredded newspaper, but the straw works really well. The cats will hang out in the cat houses during the day in the coldest of weather (and the warmest of weather too), and seem to be pretty snug and warm.
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I like how you have the handles of the tub tied off. I imagine there is a story behind that.
The story is that at this point I’ve gotten pretty good at imagining worst-case scenarios, so once the kittens started jumping into the tub, I worried that they’d turn the water on and push the drain stopper down (it’s the type that you just push on it to close it) and then not be able to get out. I use a couple of stretchy hairbands to tie the faucet handles so that if they do get bumped, a little water will come out, but the handles will go right back to “off.” (Of course, I COULD just shut the door to the bathroom, but Charles likes to sit there and look out the big window, so. You know how it is around here.)
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Have you ever tried this with the kittens?
I haven’t, but I ought to!
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Um. Wow. I LOVE your sheets – cat head silhouettes! (Why yes, I did notice that. Cat Ladies know other Cat Ladies. It’s like being in an Order of the Water Buffalo Lodge and knowing a fellow secret member by a handshake or a special piece of clothing. We just know.)
Nap time! Do Charles and Caroline join in during nap time?
I love those sheets, and I will confess that I bought them specifically for the guest bed because I know the cats like to sleep there (when we don’t have guests) and it seemed appropriate. (I got them from Target, here, and they apparently also come in mint green!)
Charles often joins in nap time, but Caroline almost always finds a quiet spot away from the kittens and naps alone.
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Oh, I’m being so bad….could Laura wear a harness?
I suppose she could, but why would she? (I’m not sure whether that was a rhetorical question or a request!)
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Guess who was spayed yesterday, thus ensuring that she will never ever ever have to raise another litter of kittens? This girl right here!
Guess who was absolutely inconsolable when I left with his true love in a carrier and didn’t come right back? This guy right here!
If I didn’t already know that they were a bonded pair, I’d certainly have figured it out yesterday.
Fred said Charles started howling as soon as I left with Caroline, and he hardly stopped the entire time we were gone. But of course once I got back with Caroline, she smelled like the vet and not like herself, so he just keeeeept on howlin’ before he finally settled down for a nap. Caroline snoozed for a couple of hours, but by bedtime was pretty much back to herself. I considered keeping her in my room with me for the night, but she didn’t want that, so into the foster room she went.
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Getting the side eye from Almanzo.
Albert (left) and Willie, posing for me.
Willie snoozing and Albert smiling.
Albert and Mary holdin’ paws. Awww.
I put the Fruitasan on the desk in the kitten room so they couldn’t get to it without supervision, not taking into consideration that kittens grow and figure out things like how to get up where they couldn’t when they were smaller, then I walked into the room and Mary was like “What? Is comfy!”
“Hi, innernets. HI!” (Almanzo)
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Newt’s favorite part of spring – the regrowth of the catnip!
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Previously
2018: “You know what you did.”
2017: Is he not just the muffin-est muffin ever?
2016: So. Very. Floofy.
2015: Jake, of course, came along and said “HI I UNDERSTAND THERE ARE TREATS?”
2014: No entry.
2013: I call this one “Leia and the eye boogers.”
2012: “O joy, it’s my second-favorite human!”
2011: “Hey, you guys, I haz THREE FEET, and you don’t got none! Ha ha ha!”
2010: “How YOU doin’?”
2009: Maximum occupancy: four kittens.
2008: Hissing babies.
2007: “This dressing looks odd,” I said to myself. “I wonder if it’s out of date?”
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
I have GOT to get a disco ball! One of my adult cats is a dedicated chaser of light and will lose his mind over that!
poor Charles – you stole his lady love (bet Fred got LOTS of work done that day)
Yay for Caroline! No more babies, now she can get on with her well- deserved life of leisure. She can be proud of this little bunch, that’s for sure.
I’m very, very fortunate that I live with my best friend – we’ve been friends for over 42 years and always said we would live together with a bunch of animals one day (ok – not a bunch, but 3 – my Malcolm, Bella’s 8-month old kitten Olive (who Malcolm LOVES), and her cockatiel Newman (yes, named after the Seinfeld character)). Yes, Olive has tried to off Newmie twice now, but we’re working on that little bump in the road.
Anyhoo, where was I going with this? Oh right! So, it turns out there *may* be a cat nest in the back yard! If that is the case, we’ll be contacting a rescue, and make sure Mom, when trapped and checked for a microchip, is spayed.
Did Newt melt?
Laura and harness business….we travel/camp and boat a lot. All of our “children” goes with us so they need to be leash or harness trained.
Sam passed in December so I am waiting for our next family member to come and find us…
p.s. Both dog and cats ride on golf cart