8-9-13

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From Kelly:

I’m sure you already know far more spraying diversions than I do, but perhaps someone else can use this tip (or if it works for Joe Bob to have his house in the yard…yippee!)

When Norman died, Ruby had lost both him and Clara (to adoption) in a week and she was considerably stressed out. So stressed that she started using Charlie’s dog beds as litter boxes. Imagine my stress at trying to figure out what smelled until I saw her doing it… twice! I read that cats hate the smell of citrus and won’t pee where the smell is. So I washed the beds in vinegar to neutralize the pee smell and then again with a cup of lemon juice. She hasn’t used them since.

And Noelegy added:

You can buy concentrated orange oil on Amazon. When we were having a problem with inappropriate peeing on the floor, we washed the floors first with Spic & Span (safe for pets) and then rinsed with water with white vinegar and orange oil in it. Definitely helped the smell and seemed to help with preventing the pee-er from returning to the same spots. And the orange oil smells really good.

Thanks, Kelly and Noelegy!

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Did anyone ever tell you that there is a name for those pretty 2 colored eyes? My kitty has a different colored spot on one of hers so I looked it up on the internets.

If you scroll to the bottom there are some really neat pictures of eyes.

That is so cool! Thanks for the link!

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I saw this little kitten on the top banner today. SO CUTE. Who was it?

And did you ever find out who was spraying the side of Joe’s backyard house? I’ve never had experience a “sprayed” area before, but I imagine it would not be pleasant.

That’s Razzie from the Nominees, last April – you can see the post with that picture here. She was a character – and she sat at Petsmart forEVER last year before she was finally adopted (which still amazes me – she has a tiny little stub of a tail and was ADORABLE!) on her 6-month birthday.

I suspect it was either Sugarbutt or Tommy who was spraying Joe Bob’s house. They are not overly fond of poor Joe Bob, for some reason. Cat spray is awful – but as long as they keep it outside and don’t bring it inside, then I can handle it!

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My sister was telling me about a TV commercial she seen for a cat toy — some sort of round plastic toy, like the ones with holes in it and a ball inside. The one she saw had something resembling a rat’s tail that would go round the outside of the container, driving cats wild! Anyone know anything about that? Would love to buy one for my cats.

From Shakatany: Could this be it?

I was actually thinking it might be this toy. Cara, what say you? Are either of those the toy you’re looking for?

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How are the kitties at Petsmart? WHY have they been there so long? They’re so beautiful!

I was actually at Petsmart on Wednesday and peeked in at Leia, Buttercup, and Khaleesi. They are doing just fine (Leia gave me the Ears of Annoyance), and were all relaxed and looked happy. I don’t know why they’ve been there so long – all I can guess is that with the glut of cats and kittens available right now, and with adoptions being a bit slow, their forever families haven’t come along just yet. I know it’ll happen for them – I just wish it would happen sooner rather than later!

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My cat Lucky (8 years old) hasn’t been using the litter box and prefers to use the bathtub. She seems healthy in every other way…any thoughts or ideas on how to get her pissing in the proper place again?

My first thought is always to give Cat Attract litter a try. In addition to that, you could try adding another litter box to the existing one(s) she has, of a different type (if hers is covered, try an uncovered, or vice versa).

I am having a hard time concentrating right now, because Fred has the next 10 days off and he keeps walking through the room as I’m working on this post, so my mind is blank. I know there are other things to try! If you guys have other suggestions on this one, could you chime in? Thank you!

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HA! Sheriff Mama is in hot pursuit of a snack! Is that Corbie she almost ran down trying to get inside?

YouTube link.

That is, indeed, Corbie sitting by the bottom of the steps, wondering what’s going on as Kara zooms on by!

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Are we going to see some Dragons/Starks action soon?

Hopefully! First Scorch wasn’t feeling well, so I was afraid that whatever he had was contagious (apparently not, as none of the other Dragons got sick), and then Arya started sounding a bit snuffly, so I wanted to wait and be sure she was over that. At the moment, everyone seems healthy, so there might be some introductions going on in the days to come.

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One late-arriving comment on the banners… I didn’t realize some of them have the names on them until today. When Dorothy came up. Which happens to also be MY name. Robyn, at first I thought you were a technological genius who managed to code something to add the reader’s name to the banner! I know the calendar says Friday, but dang if it doesn’t still feel like Monday to me! 🙂

That made me laugh out loud! 🙂

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So Jake is weirdly obsessed with Maxi AND Stinkerbelle? Basically, any cats he doesn’t see very often?

Any cats he doesn’t see very often, who run from him. If Stinkerbelle and Maxi didn’t run (thus allowing him to chase them), he’d probably just head-butt them and go about his day.

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You’ve just blown my mind. Digital cameras used to take FLOPPY DISKS?!

Isn’t that crazy? I’m pretty sure this is the one we had. Please note that it took .3 megapixel pictures (that’s POINT THREE), and you could fit a whopping TEN pictures on each floppy disk.

We got that digital camera when Tubby was our new kitten, so it would have been sometime in 1997ish. I took this picture with that camera.

Not bad for a picture taken when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, is it?

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Where did you get those fantastic cat trees with hammocks? Seeing Ember looking so comfy makes me think we need one immediately.

The one in my bedroom, we got from Amazon – it’s this one – and the one in the front room, we got off of eBay.

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I was thinking of you yesterday, Robyn, when I heard a story on NPR about keeping chickens. The basic gist of the story was that people, particularly urban chicken-farmer wannabes, can rent a couple of hens for a while to see if chicken-keeping is for them. One woman (she may have even been in Alabama!) expressed her concern that chickens are a “gateway animal” to people keeping ducks, pigs, and — god forbid — goats.

(She may not have mentioned ducks and pigs. But she definitely mentioned goats!)

I love that there’s a place where you can rent hens! And they are CERTAINLY gateway animals. I doubt we’d have pigs or ducks if it wasn’t for the chickens. (And yes, we occasionally talk about getting goats, but neither of us really wants them.)(Hush, Richard!)

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I have a cat behavior question.

A few weeks ago, a friend had a cat scratch at her door demanding an in. Once inside, she proceeded to find a spot and have 5 kittens.
No one knows this cat in the neighbourhood.

How unusual is this because I’ve never heard of it before.

It’s unusual in that the cat seems to have targeted your friend’s house – she must have sensed that good people live there! – but I think it’s pretty common for non-feral pregnant cats to seek a safe place to have their babies. And if they’ve been around people and have been inside houses before, they probably won’t hesitate to go inside if they think they’ve found a safe place. Except for Emmy, all of my mama kitties were ones who showed up at someone’s house pregnant, super-friendly, and looking for a safe place.

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Reminder to other cat owners: if you have inside cats, leave your number with neighbors. My condo neighbor’s cat escaped unnoticed this morning, and now he’s sitting, yowling, outside her door. He won’t let me handle him (but suuuure, I can give him all the Temptations he can eat), so for now I have an open carrier with towel and a fresh litter box sitting in the hall with him. It’s an odd sight, but better than a cat pee incident! And I posted signs on the outside doors. The condo association is trying to contact her, but they have outdated info!

He’ll be fine, but let’s hope the condo president, Mr. Grumpypants, doesn’t have a fit!

That’s a good tip – and that kitty (and his owner!) are lucky to have to look out for him. 🙂

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Have I been posting a lot of pictures of Puff from this angle this week? I can’t help it – he’s such a pretty boy! Fred (who, I am sure I’ve mentioned, doesn’t learn the kittens’ names) refers to him as “Mr. Gorgeous.”

::wink::

Four of the five! I have no idea where Ember was.

::pbbbbbblt::

Norbie in the sun.

Another shot of four of the five. Scorch and Ruth are having a fight over who gets the box. Everyone always tries to kick Ruth out of the box, but she isn’t having it.

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All four Starks!

Oh, Hodor.

Stop showing off. No one’s paying attention to your silly disco moves.

Another shot of all four Starks!

Pretty (and smug) Miss Arya.

Jon Snow (and to answer the question, yes – I do think he’s going to keep the blue eyes.)

I love it when kittens carry toys around.

Jon Snow in profile.

Yesterday, I switched the rooms so that the Starks have the bigger room and the Dragons have the smaller room (the room where they were born, actually!) With the Dragons out in the house all day long, I thought it only fair to switch them so that the Starks have more room to run. The Starks thought that the big tree in their new room was AWESOME, and every time I went into the room, they were all four curled up in the condo, sound asleep. Arya likes to sit and watch the traffic go by.

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Corbie, in his favorite spot. That thing he’s got his head on is the base to a scratcher. If he’s not outside, he’s usually laying there, which makes him easy to find!

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Previously
2012: Meet Tony Rocky Horror Pickle.
2011: The many moods of Harlan Peppers.
2010: On vacation!
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: Yes, miss Maryanne has made herself at home here, but no – we’re not keeping her (I know y’all don’t believe me – but we’re not!).
2006: No entry.
2005: I think he might be all talk, though.

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