The cats wonder when I'm going back to work

I took a couple of vacation days last week and then with only a half day of work on Friday, the weekend and then the snow day on Monday, I feel like it has been forever since I've been at work. I will say the rest was completely needed as I was feeling kind of burnt out and run down. Life is kinda harsh without kittens you know 😉

Snow. Yes, we received a bit of snow..

These images were taken at about nine am, and it didn't stop snowing until nearly 6 pm, so we received a couple more inches. Yes, the snow got inside the storm door.  The back deck was clear of snow last Wednesday, we received about a foot of snow last Thursday, and then this. The last photo is of the mailbox (and the neighbor's on the far right) Husband spent nearly three hours snow blowing the driveway once it was all over.. and we are slated to get two more feet on Thursday.. fun fun.. not.

Fleurp started showing signs of anemia. Her gums are still pink so I know her RBC hasn't dropped too far, but she started licking the mirror and her weight had dropped several ounces.

Fleurp's weight is normally around 11 lbs 10 oz. Any more than that and she really starts looking like a basketball with feet. Anything above 11 lbs 8 oz I consider good and 'safe'. Anything under 11 lbs 3 oz I consider a serious need to take her to the vet. She was eleven five. I weighed her the next morning just to be sure and she was eleven four and a half, so I started her on prednisolone. She hovered between four and a half to three and a half and I was starting to panic because I wasn't sure what else they could do for her. I started giving her liqui-tinic to boost her iron intake. But it was only when I started supplementing her with canned food that her weight started coming back up. I am fairly convinced that when her body is attacking its red blood cells she stops wanting to eat raw food. I have no idea why, but I think her early weight loss is the result of not eating.  She happily eats canned food and put the weight back on. I will continue to give her whatever she wants until she is stable again.  Last year it was once her coat was shed.

To help that along, I decided to help by shaving off some of the longer furs on her belly and some of her mane. She was not too amused by my attempts despite my attempts to make this as stress-free as possible. I fear that she had some traumatic events in the past with a vet I'm no longer going to which makes her fear the clippers because she associates it with blood draws. Anyway, I did my best, I went a little longer than I should have (and ended up with a warning bite on my arm for my troubles) but I was able to take off a good chunk..

She is not amused.. I'll probably try furminating her again later this week - Thursday if we have another snow day for sure.

Skippy hopes you have a lovely holiday

Snow Day with Cats

Living in Maine I am in the middle of a huge storm as I write this. We are projected to get up to two feet of snow. It started just after noon time on Sunday and it is projected to go at least 24 hours. We even received an automated phone call telling us to stay off the roads.

So we do what any sane cat loving people do, we spent the day lounging around with the kitties watching Doctor Who.

Then I thought it would be fun to watch Doctor Who and assemble the Lego TARDIS I found in a clearance bin the other day.

Jack was horribly impressed..

Today's Post cancelled on account of a snow day

Today's get up and go got up and went and the order of the day was one great big snugglefest.. I decided to play along to keep the natives from becoming restless..

Cats and Snow

Yes, the snow on the deck is up over the cat's head.. in some spots it is about four feet high.. no, I am not thrilled by this in the least, but it does bring about one of the cat's favorite activities.. watching the snow for possible rodent tunneling. One year we had something small tunneling into the snow and hanging out right by the glass.. The cats LOVED it.. I once again wasn't thrilled but it didn't do any damage so I just let it go..

I don't think we have a rodent in there now but darn it if they won't stop looking..

and just as an FYI this is why my world looked like BEFORE we got the last foot of snow that came in yesterday..



Did you know February is Pet Dental Health Month? On Tuesday, February 3, we’re gonna be participating in the Twitter #BlogPawsChat sponsored by PetSmart to talk about pet dental health. Join us from 8 – 10pm EST and use the hashtag #BlogpawsChat so you can be entered to win a $25 gift card to PetSmart. To be eligible to win, BlogPaws would like you to RSVP for the event. Click HERE to RSVP. We hope to see you there!

Nemo visits Casa de Gato

So as you all know Nemo made a pit stop in NE this past weekend.  Oh what fun.. a blizzard.  who doesn't need one of those right??

It was due in on Friday.  I started the morning off not feeling well at all.  I had joked with my co-workers that no matter what I was going to take the day off (because the last 'big storm' we were threatened with never showed up) either it was going to be a snow day or I was taking a sick day.  Teach me to joke about such things.  I was fortunate that work was closed as the snow had started early.

We actually got several inches from the one storm before the two merged.  Most of my 'before' photos are from after the snow started but before Nemo actually formed.

I joked that Nemo wanted in.. 

our back deck

We live on a secondary road and we lose power at pretty much any storm that causes schools to close, so I prepared.  I made sure we had all of our flash lights out in a central location.  I ate a good protein rich breakfast on Friday, had food that I would enjoy eating cold (pop tarts, doughnuts, you know, that stuff you tend not to eat on a regular basis) and I even filled up the bath tubs (because we are on a well so with out power we have no additional water) and I sat and I waited for the power to go out.  Then I thought, I should charge up my old laptop so I could watch movies if need be.  So I charged that up, along with a few other battery powered toys, and got to working on my email.  When Nemo started, I was ready.

Some how we kept power all night.  Winds buffeted the house, and still we had power.  Finally I got tired and I gave up the electronic ghost and went to bed, figuring that any minute we would lose it.

The morning came, and we still had power!!  I was SHOCKED.. (actually that should be in a font way larger than that to try to begin to convey how shocked I was) but so pleased.  I played some more on the computer thinking that any minute it would go out.  We had a hot breakfast and watched movies as the wind howled.  Later on in the day we got up to look out and see what was going on to see that the house across the way (that is sitting empty as it is in the process of being sold) had snow over half way up the garage.  Our back deck had several feet of snow..

And then I noticed just what the wind did with all the snow..

This is my "garden turtle".. he's several feet off the ground

I was so glad that the snow wasn't packed against the house like it was the neighbor's.  It really was quite dramatic.  The snow was very light and fluffy which is probably why we still had power. but being so it has the ability to do this..

Apparently Nemo really did want in

By late Saturday afternoon the snow had stopped and the wind had started to die down, so my husband went to snow blow the driveway, just enough to get out if we needed, but neither of us needed.  So we had a nice warm dinner and watched another movie and called it a night.

Sunday brought a beautiful sunny day and more revelations..

That bump in the middle of the yard in the 'frame' of the porch is the garden turtle

three foot snow bank next to bare ground

Owen checking out the build up on the outside of the window

I was quite surprised that three of the four sides of our house have bare ground.  We probably could walk around the house if need be.  The fourth side didn't get that much extra either, so I am very impressed with the situation of the house on the lot.  I did see a roof tile on the side of our house in one of the bare spots, I had no idea where it came from and since our house is pretty new I didn't even consider it could be ours.  However on Saturday afternoon I saw this..

This is the wall in front of the chimney.  It is also on the leeward side of the chimney - the one side of the house that isn't bare of snow.  We have builders coming tomorrow so we will hopefully get someone to look at what is going on.  There is actually almost no snow on our roof which is nice.  Going out on Sunday afternoon I saw quite a few people on their roofs shoveling feet of snow off them.

So all in all I have to say we got off pretty lucky.  but I reserve the right to revise that once someone gets up on the roof..

If you want to see a really amazing time lapse video of Nemo that someone else made, check out this.  It is on facebook, but you should be able to see it even with out an account.. (if you can't, please tell me)

Happy Saturday

Another five cat morning. It really is amazing that they come together to share so well while I'm sleeping. 

catching up on Twitter this morning,  Catladyland linked to Cat vs Human and a really cute cartoon about dog vs cats in emergencies.  in that Claire commented "Cat to the face cures many ailments, sadly not chronic laziness."

It made me giggle pretty hard seeing how many kitties I had to the face this morning, and how it made me really not want to get out of bed.

Fleurp thought she'd bring me a toy this morning. Was really funny to watch her drag it in.  She did drag it in last night, but as soon as she got it into the bedroom she dragged it right back out.  not sure if it was because Twee was following her around enjoying the movment of the toy or not.  (while I was writing this post, Twee grabbed the stick part of the toy and ran out of the bedroom with it followed by Skippy)

But then we opened the blinds, and once again Fleurp is facinated by the falling snow.  She loved it last year, and it looks like this year is going to be no different.  I'm quite curious what she'd think of it if she could get her paw in it.  Maybe one day I'll let her out on the enclosed porch while it is snowing and see.. maybe not as I don't much like the cold.

Jack got annoyed that Twee and Fleurp was getting all the attention, so I let him play model for a while, he was very appreciative.

Kit came and joined in on the snow watching.