8-16-13

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A question for L&H readers: my dear friends over at Cult of Otis just found out that beloved Otis has degenerative muscle weakness (pretty much muscular dystrophy in cats). They have been to neurologists and specialty vets and it seems they are at the end of the road and out of options. I wondered if any of your wise readers had any advice or recommendations for the Guardians. They are amazing people, caring for their own cats as well as the 10+ “shadow” cats that hang around in their neighborhood. If anyone deserves a miracle, it’s these two. Surely someone out there in the L&H nation has had experience with this.

I honestly had no idea that cats could get muscular dystrophy. If anyone out there has any experience/thoughts/suggestions, please chime in!

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Robyn! I need the Tubby Meh picture and I can’t find it! Where’s Tubby’s pictures?

OK – I guess I can’t IM the picture to my co-worker as a response to her Meh reply. Tubby may be gone, but he’s never forgotten.

Good ol’ Tubby. In January he’ll have been gone for 10 years, and there are people who still remember him. I think that is really awesome!

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Can we get details on the tube things in Selena’s videos? I’m thinking my cats would either love or hate them – it could go either way, but it’s worth a shot…

Sherri said: That is the ToyShoppe Pop-up Play Tunnel and Cube. I have the tunnel and a cube on each end. My 5 & 6 month old kittens love it. My boyfriend teases me that we’ll have to buy a new house if we keep adding to that tunnel (there are velcro fasteners on all ends, so that you can add multiple tunnels). They are on sale at PetSmart right now!

Thanks, Sherri!

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So I have to ask, what did Scorch do to get evicted besides general hissiness and an excess of drama? The last update we get is that he goes into the closet with Jon Snow and then next thing you know, he’s out of the foster room. Inquiring minds want to know!

He was sniffing around the litter boxes, and I thought he should go use one of the numerous litter boxes in the rest of the house instead of befouling the litter boxes of those wee babies. Usually only two things get an older kitten kicked out of the room of a smaller kitten: if they get too wound up and need some time to calm down, and if they start acting like they’re going to use the litter box. There’s no need for that rudeness!

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Is it just me or is Ember about the same size as the Starks? Scorch seemed significantly bigger but not Ember. And is Ember softer/sleeker than the Starks, or is that just me too? 🙂

Ember weighed in at 3 pounds, 4 ounces a couple of days ago, and the largest of the Starks (Jon Snow) is 2 pounds, 9 ounces as of yesterday. So there’s not much of a size difference between them – Ember’s bigger, but she’s all ears and legs and she’s not THAT much bigger to start with.

All of the Dragons have very soft, sleek, silky fur, whereas the Starks are kind of rumpled and have cottony fur.

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OK so Robyn, you might think I have better things to do with my life than demo the “Yoda?/Bunny!” game, but I do not. Here it is!

YouTube link.

The boys look like they’re having a blast. Don’t they? DON’T THEY?? 🙂

Thought you might like it and after all the videos you share with us, I figured I could go outside my comfort zone and share my voice…

I LOVE it! Those poor boys, they’re so abused. 😉

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I missed it, when did Stefan become an indoor cat? I thought he was still doing the mysterious loner who comes and goes by his own agenda?

Oh, it’s been a few months. I initially said (in the comments) that it was a slow process, but actually it really wasn’t. Once he let Fred pet him, he must have decided we were okay, because within a couple of weeks he was rushing the door, obviously very much wanting to come inside. Fred let him in, and once he checked out the house, he’s been coming inside pretty much ever since. At this point, if he wants inside and we aren’t quick enough to open the door, he climbs the fence into the back yard and comes into the house through the cat door. He still occasionally wants to go out and hang out in the side yard, and he hasn’t spent the night inside, but I think that he’s going to end up being like Newt: more inside than out, and happy with that.

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Thought I might ask here – but does anyone have a cat that does or has done this? I have a female cat – she either has to be on me, or if she can’t be on me she will jump from the floor to the top of a door and then balance on the door. The problem is she falls asleep on top of the door, forgets she’s on a door and falls off – she then scrambles to catch herself – which she’s gotten pretty good at. I am just waiting for her to land on her head or injure herself though but I’m not sure how to break her of it.

This is a really good question, and I have no helpful advice! If she was jumping to the top of a door from the top of a dresser or a chair or something, then you could figure a way to stop her from doing that (move the furniture or put a training mat on the furniture to keep her off), but since she’s jumping from the floor, that’s not an option. And I’m assuming that keeping the doors closed isn’t an option either, of course.

I’m at a loss on this one – readers! I know someone out there has a really good suggestion that will make me think to myself “Wow, that’s a good suggestion!” Don’t keep it to yourself, please share!

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OMG Robyn, you have totally got to get one of these slides!!!

Too cute! Isn’t it kind of amazing, how much stuff that’s meant for human babies are also great toys for kittens too? (You can find an elephant slide on Amazon, for the record, and I suspect that stores like Toys R Us and Target would have them, too.)

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So, is that a cat bed or does Fred’s chair have a purple with black kitties cushion on it just for him??

That is a cat bed. I don’t remember how it ended up there, but Fred reports that it makes his chair more comfortable. And when it isn’t making the chair more comfortable for his butt, it’s making it more comfortable for whichever cat or kitten decides to hang out there!

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A little fun Feline Pine is having… look who’s on the front of the bag.

How funny! (But come on. Nothin’ can control Hodor!)

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I wanted to comment/ask about the diatomaceous earth. You mentioned it about a week ago when you used it to get rid of some ants. I am owned by several cats and I’m trying to battle a mild summer flea infestation. I have and will use chemical treatments rather than let them suffer, but I would love to find greener ways to combat the pests. Through a lot of internet research, it seems that food grade DTE is a good way to keep the pests down. I’ve read that you can brush it into your carpet and even dust the cats with it to kill the fleas. Apparently, you can even put a little into your cat’s food on a daily basis to help kill worms.

I am always cautious with my beloved furballs, and from everything I’ve read this seems like judicious use in the house could be a great long term way to keep the fleas from ever getting too bad. I am curious if anyone in the community has tried it and if so, how did it work? The one drawback I have read about putting it into the cats’ fur is that it can dry their skin, but for short term relief, I am still tempted. I recently moved from Florida to Pennsylvania and the fleas up here are making some of the cats have small hot spots/bald patches. Also, both for combating the dry skin in this scenario and just for improving their skin condition overall, I’ve been trying to look into feeding them fish oils and/or brewer’s yeast. If anyone has advice, I’d love to hear it. Thanks!

Kelly said: I have used DE in the past in an attempt to deal with a flea issue that my fosters brought into the house. It was not exceptionally successful in eradicating the whole problem. It seemed dirtier than I was willing to put up with for the slight benefit I might have received from it. But then again, perhaps the conditions weren’t right in my house at the time either. It’s certainly worth a try (and safe, if you’re worried).

Connie said: There is also concern that DE is harmful to lungs if perchance it is inhaled.

Before I say anything about Diatomaceous Earth, let me make sure that everyone reading knows to ALWAYS use FOOD-GRADE Diatomaceous Earth.

I’ll be honest that I don’t know that I’d use DE for fleas. It is really very drying, and like Connie said, there’s a possibility that if your kitties inhale it, it could cause issues. I don’t usually sprinkle it around the baseboards in the kitten room, but decided to give it a try this time for the ants who were finding their way into the room and across the floor to the bowls of kitten food. It worked for the ants, but there weren’t that many ants and they were coming in from outside rather than existing in the house already.

You can read more about using DE for fleas at the Wolf Creek Ranch page (which is where I first read about DE). And anyone who has used DE for fleas, please chime in!

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I had used a commercial orange spray when Oreo peed on the loveseats a while back but had never heard of lemon juice. I would be afraid it would bleach fabric though. Anyway, I also ended up using a mixture of diluted vinegar (water) and just a drop or two of BLUE Dawn dish soap. That stuff apparently cleans EVERYTHING (even lice out of hair but that’s another story). So as a cheap alternative your readers may want to use it. The orange cleaner did not work very well for me really.

The blue (original) Dawn is just THE BOMB!

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The question crossed my mind as to what do they put as eye color on the drivers license for people with different colored eyes….?

Now, THAT is a really good question!!!

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Fred said:

Corbie in that picture:

Gotta love that Emo Corbs!

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Oh, that Hodor. I swear I could spend all day every day kissing his sweet little face.

Was I waving something over their heads so they’d look up, you think?

The curved whiskers kill me dead.

Sleepy girl. After being washed several times, that basket just refuses to sit up straight. Not that the kittens care; they still hang out in it and play on it.

Who is the sweetest, friendliest, least fearful kitten ever? Why, that would be little Arya, who ain’t skeered o’ nothin’.

I love that blotch of color under her chin.

“Hey, Jon Snow! I climbed the wall before you even knew it was a wall! Ha! Ha!”

Hodor, keepin’ it clean.

“Hodor!”

I shoved a bunch of flattened boxes into a bigger box, intending to carry the whole shebang out to the garage. But then the kittens discovered it and thought it was AWESOME. What’m I gonna do? I can’t take the best toy ever away! Ember likes to play King of the Mountain. She’s checking to make sure that Miz Poo knows how amazing she is.

Arya, exploring. Ember, watching.

Norbie, watchin’ birds.

“What?”

Here’s a fun fact about Norbert: when you pick him up, he twists his body around so that he’s facing you. He LOVES to be held on his back like a baby. All the Dragons like it, but Norbie loves it the most.

Scorch and Brandon, eyeballing each other.

Hodor (on the stairs) and Brandon (over there to the left, in the bathroom doorway), watching Norbert play with a toy mouse.

Arya, in the bedroom doorway, also watching.

Arya couldn’t help herself, she ran out and swatted at the mouse, too. Norbie was like “Sure, you can play. The more, the merrier!”

Dragons, stretched out on my desk.

I love how you can see just the tip of her tongue. Silly girl.

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Oh, Corbs. THE most beautiful kitty EVER.

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Previously
2012: “Where our snack, George? Where it at? It not on the ground.”
2011: Harlan gets his butt kicked while the Kong bird looks on, unconcerned.
2010: Miz Poo’s all “Do you SEE what I have to put up with?!”
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.

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