Speaking of spaying – my spayed female (3 yo, from shelter, was spayed long before shelter) is acting like she’s in heat and my neutered male agrees. This is crazy & has been going on for a week. She’s been to the vet, she has a spay scar, she is going back for a 2nd spay next week. Any sympathy, similar experiences, imaginary kittens stories to share? Is it possible this is psychological and she is actually completely spayed? She’s a female orange tabby, which I understand makes her a little odd genetically. I’m wondering how odd.
If a small piece of ovary is left inside, it can cause them to go into heat even though they lack a uterus. I bet that when your vet opens her up, that’s what they’ll find (but please let us know what does happen, I’ll be curious to know whether I’m right or not!)
Then Chanter asked: I once knew a gray tabby boy who, despite having been neutered, still behaved like an unfixed male. At the time, I half-jokingly speculated ‘I think the vet missed a few pieces.’ Could that have actually been the case? If a female cat with a small portion of an ovary left can go into heat, could a small piece of… something, I don’t care to speculate on what, cause a male to act like he’s still fully intact? I still wince remembering poor Grady’s cagemate at the shelter; she growled up a storm at him a few times there, volunteers separated them more than once, and that’s all I’ll say on that subject. Ick!
That is an excellent question – and I don’t know! I bet someone out there does. Anyone? Spill! We wanna know!
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Norbert bears a startling resemblance to Benedict Cumberbatch. And this otter.
You know what? HE TOTALLY DOES! How freaky is that?
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Omg I love love norbert, I’m still tickled that he was accepted into the dragon brood! Btw Robyn I just wanted to share this quick pic with you. Our kitty Molly girl loves flowers and my wife got this pic of her really taking in the scent. It’s so funny I had to share!
I LOVE how she’s going for the deep sniff. “These flowers are FABULOUS, they smell like SPRING!”
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Congrats to Robyn and the 214 kitties who were saved by her (does that mean just the kittens or does it include the occasional mama cat?)
It includes every one of them – the kittens, the mamas, the occasional adult. One day I’m going to have a page where you can go and see a picture of each and every foster cat and kitten we’ve had, by the number. That… won’t be today, though. Soon, though. Promise! (Okay, “soon” is a lie. But one day!)
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Yikes! The size of Scorch’s head made me think of this clip from the Simpsons. REST YOUR GIANT HEAD.
Haaaaaaa! I will not flip the kitten, I will not flip the kitten…
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Loved the videos today & I really don’t know how you handle all the cute everyday. One comment though… while watching the Royals video I couldn’t help but notice how those poor little kittens have absolutely nothing to play with. It must be awful to be so toy-deprived. An outrage I tell you. Only 15 or 20 toys per kitten isn’t nearly enough. Shame on you Robyn.
I KNOW. I need to go toy shopping, DON’T I!
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How big is Sheriff Mama? She looks very much like my Leia, but I can’t tell if they are the same size. Leia is about 8 pounds.
She’s about 8 1/2 pounds. Well, that’s how much she weighed in December, she’s probably closer to 8 pounds now (she goes up in the winter, then back down in the spring.) She’s actually our smallest cat – she, Miz Poo, and Maxi are the only ones who weigh under 10 pounds. (Newt’s our biggest, at 14 pounds.)
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I’ve been curious – since we haven’t had a Crooked Acres update in a while, are you getting any little piggies this year?
No, no Crooked Acres pigs this year; we’re taking a year off because we kept an entire pig from the last pigs, and that’s an awful lot of pork.
We’re also not having a garden this year – it’s almost June, we’ve still got standing water all over the property, and nothing we planted in the garden (before the last round of rain) has sprouted. So no pigs and no garden – I’ll be buying my veggies from the farmer’s market this year.
(Also, I’m hoping to get a Crooked Acres post put up this week!)
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I just have a question I thought you might be able to answer. It’s nearly winter here in Australia, and I have a suspicion that my cat is more hungry than usual. It feels like she is always bothering me for food. Someone said she might be fattening up for winter – do you notice your cats doing that?
I actually do notice several of them putting on weight as winter draws near, and then they take it off again in the spring. It’s more noticeable with Newt and Maxi (the ones who spend more time outside), but I see it happen with Sugarbutt, Tommy, and Kara, too. I’m pretty sure it’s normal.
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Here’s a question I’m hoping the L&H community can give me their wisdom and experience about: Do you buy pet insurance for your cats?
I am looking at the ASPCA policies, which are the first I’ve come across that will insure senior pets (if they enroll before age 13, I think it is). Since I’ve had three cats die in the past two years, and had to let two of them go without much treatment because of the expense and then spent several thousand on the third before she also passed, it’s made me think that maybe insurance IS something that would be good to have.
However, insuring the one cat that is eligible (because she’s not hit age 13 yet) would run about $500/year if I include all the things that I think are worthwhile to have (that is, I don’t think the bare-bones policy is worth the money because I can pay out of pocket for the stuff the bare-bones policy would cover …) Anyway, I’d really love to hear what others have done….
We don’t have insurance on our cats (or on George and Gracie), but Ali had a great response to this question – you can read it here. If anyone else has words of wisdom to share, please do!
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The picture of Kate doing some Looning, directly under it, Jareth is pulling some loon of his own!
He certainly is!
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*sigh* the royals are going to be leaving us soon aren’t they??
Well, soon…ish. Since they can’t have their rabies shot ’til they’re three months old, I’ll take them to be spayed/neutered, id chipped, and rabies shot(ted) in mid-June (probably the week of the 16th), and then it all depends on how much room there is at Petsmart. So even if there’s immediate room at Petsmart, we’ve still got another 3 1/2 weeks or so to enjoy them!
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Elayne left a hilarious comment (and HOW did she know all my names?! I had no idea anyone knew that my whole name is actually Robyn Louise Mandalynne Destynee Ann Olga Anderson!) and I’ll direct you to go read it in its entirety, but she mentioned the camera and the noise it makes when it’s focusing, and I’ve been meaning to tell y’all that I HATE that that camera makes so much noise when it’s focusing. I used to use my smaller digital camera, but it’s suddenly started putting a LINE in the middle of the picture when I use it to shoot video (grrrr) and my STUPID Flip Video camera (which I LOVED) died several months ago, so I’m stuck with the DSLR as video camera for now.
HOWEVER, I do want to get a better (less noisy) camera and the Flip Videos have apparently become really expensive since I bought mine a couple of years ago, so I’m looking for recommendations. I need a simple, small video camera, do y’all have any suggestions?
Although now that I’ve gone over to look at the Flip Video cameras on Amazon, I see that you can buy them used. I could do that – but in the meantime, while I’m dithering about that, if you have a video camera suggestion, I’m all ears!
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Hey Robyn, have you seen this cat toy before? A friend works for a local drug store chain and they’re going to start carrying it – he tested it out on his own cat! He said they have to put it away out of sight or the cat would play with it 24×7!
I have seen that – I actually had one, and the kittens managed to keep breaking the “arm” off – or just sitting on the toy so that it would stop moving. I’ve still got it around here somewhere, I believe, I just need to find it and get it out.
Also, GD emailed me earlier this week to let me know that I can get a replacement wand on Amazon – I may have to stock up on those!
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This was Leia’s reaction when she came face to face with Miz Poo (well, “face to face” is relative – Miz Poo was about five feet away.)
And this.
She was already floofed, but when Fred reached into the hallway to turn on the light, she floofed a little more.
Jake gets the old ::sniffSNIFF:: from Jareth.
As you can see, he was really stressed out by it.
Jareth and Charming followed Jake around a little bit, and Jake was just like “Um, okay. WhatEVer, guys.”
Then Jareth went up the cat tree. Stinkerbelle was pleased by this turn of events, clearly.
“I KEEL YOU,” she said.
“I keel you dead,” she promised.
Lower on the cat tree, Leia ignored the shenanigans.
And Jareth determined that he had places (other than the top of the cat tree) to be.
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“Mama! I want out!” said Puff.
“Ehn! EHN!” said Puff.
“MAMA!” Puff yelled.
But Mama was busy eating.
“I am but a wee sad kitten who wants only to explore the world,” Puff said sadly.
He pointed his Ears of Annoyance at the floor, hoping to intimidate the floor into getting closer. The floor was not impressed.
“WHAT DOON, GIANT HEAD?” asked Ember.
“TRYING to get out of this stupid crate!” Puff huffed.
“You gots a big giant head,” reminded Ember. “That’s why that lady calls you Gigantor. Because you gots a big head.”
“It holds my big brain in place,” said Puff.
“I should just face facts. I’m going to be stuck in this crate FOREVER,” said Puff sadly.
“Oooo, lookit that ceiling fan. It’s BEEYOOTIFUL,” cooed Ember.
As Ember toddled off to take a nap, Puff stared at the wall and tried to devise a plan to get out of the crate. He wasn’t able to think of anything… this time.
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Oh, Corbie Corbs. Corbanzo Beans. You are the most beautiful boy, you really are. Pay no attention to those kittens on the bed.
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Previously
2012: “WE NEED COOKIE!”
2011: “Dorfy sweepy too. I can haz a snuggle?”
2010: (Hint: SHE is the boss.)
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Aren’t I nice, taking toys away from our cats for the foster kitties to play with?