We lost Fleurp and Twee within two weeks of each other (and pretty major TFK news)

 

This post is breaking my heart.. If your heart is too sensitive for Fleurp and Twee's story, you can scroll down to the last paragraph where it says "Major News" which I put in bold.

Fleurp:
Earlier this year, Fleurp was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, so we were giving her medication twice a day to help with that. Her levels weren't going down well so we had a medication increase. She is not an easy cat to tend to as she had many opinions and all of them told her that she absolutely positively did not need my help. She hated when I shaved her each spring to help manage her anemia and she hated it when I started giving her fluids every other week or so as she was old and her kidneys could use the help.. She would react like I was biting her and fight to get away. Even trimming her claws was often an exercise in how much I could do before she lost her patience with me.. (most of the time I got them all done, but not always)

She changed when we moved out of Maine. She was a social cat before, but in the years since moving here she separated herself from us most of the time. In the first house we moved to, she almost never left the mud room/kitchen. She rarely came down the hall to go to bed with us.. Her world became very small.  When we moved into our current house, 90% of her life was the kitchen or living room windows (the two rooms are barely separated with a double door arch way).  She seemed happy and totally content. She liked it when we catered to her desires and gave her "candy bars" often standing on the island demanding them.

She spent 10 years becoming anemic once or twice a year. Mostly in the spring but occasionally in the fall. We aren't sure why but she would have a very dramatic shed from winter to summer and I know a lot of fur can impact nutrient absorption (which is why we did what we could to shave her so she consumed less) but it wasn't perfect. She still had issues.  I knew she would most likely not make it to 20+ years, but I never guessed that her thyroid levels would damage her heart.

It started with diarrhea that was gross and smelly, she stopped eating. I took her in for an exam and tests and more bloodwork. Her liver was seriously compromised. My vet suspected her heart was an issue. I took her home to try to fix what we could but we couldn't. I took her back to the vet (on July 11th), thinking there was more that we could do to pull her though this, but after an exam, it was clear she was suffering. We considered taking her to a specialist for further diagnostics in hopes of finding more answers that we could treat, but knowing Fleurp's willingness to bite, her hatred of traveling and being poked and prodded, and the only slim chance there was a better answer, we opted to let her go.

Was it the "right" call? I have no idea.. but it was one made with a whole lot of love.. we wanted to do right by her.. and we felt it was the right decision at the time, and that is what matters, that is what I hold on to.

Twee: 
Twee does not do well with changes to The Crew. Her first loss was Emmy. She was a young girl then and hardier, and there were many other cats for her to hang out with, but you could tell she spent some time being lost. She and Ollie never really got along (he was far too grumpy for her simple nature) so his passing wasn't as hard. He had been the ruler of The Crew so everyone was a bit lost when he left us, but we didn't notice anything specific with her. When Jack passed, Twee became quite despondent. She ate, but not nearly enough and we almost lost her too. We ended up taking her to an emergency facility, where she spent the weekend (and a lot of money) before she was well enough to come home. 

When Fleurp passed, I had been saying for years that Twee wasn't going to be with us much longer. She was 18, 19, 20 years old and had stage two and then three kidney disease. Before Fleurp started with the diarrhea I noticed that Twee was losing weight and I really didn't like how she was looking so I took her to the vet for some bloodwork to see if there was anything else that might be done. I was kinda hoping it was her thyroid.. but it wasn't. Her kidneys just couldn't do their job and she was feeling miserable.  I tried antinausea and appetite stimulant but it didn't really help all that much. (Sadly, pilling her diminished her quality of life.. with the fluids I know that this life style wasn't that sustainable) and I tried to prep my husband for her eventual end. He was in complete denial. I'm not sure which was worse, Twee at 20 or Kit at 9..  When Fleurp passed, Twee really started to go down hill. I pulled out every single thing I could think of.. 

He wanted to try more things, but I had given it my last ditch effort. I said we could try for a second opinion and he glommed on to that so hard but I explained the chances were that we would put her through more stress to potentially get a short amount of time with her. In the end, he realized that it was time. Thankfully my vet lives right near by and was willing to come to the house.

While we both appreciate not being serenaded by Twee singing opera at 11pm and 3am on a regular basis, they are both missed terribly.  Not only did we lose both cats within two weeks of each other, but going from five cats to three was quite dramatic. 

And to top it all off, we are in the midst of a major life change. The Catman is being transferred from VT to NC. This is something that has been bandied about for a couple of months. What is horrible is that we were so incredibly worried when we moved from ME to this area because Kit was absolutely horrible at traveling by car.. even a 10 minute ride would make her drool horribly for hours. She was a tiny cat and it was really worrisome. When she developed cancer and passed away within a week of diagnosis, part of me was relieved that we didn't have that added stress. Her situation was clear cut. She had a cancerous growth that was incompatible with life. Her inability to travel hindered our ability to get her additional care. I worried about such a huge move with two elderly and medically fragile kitties and wondered what we were going to do.  Part of me yells at myself for "giving up too easily" because of the real potential of moving 12 hours away and not wanting to put either of them through that.  I am sure in time I will forgive myself for making two pretty clearly correct decisions because on another level I'm relieved I don't have that added stress of moving them, but I don't think it will be any time soon.

Major news:
We are going to Raleigh NC for about six months while he is in training, so we are looking for a place to live. We are going to rent a place while he is getting up to speed and then we are going to look for a home and move to Charlotte where his work wants him. This means some serious down sizing and renting a storage unit so we don't have to get rid of EVERYTHING and have to rebuy it in a few months. I am downsizing a lot of my crafting supplies and what not.. it is very very painful for me. I am getting rid of a LOT of my foster supplies since I won't be fostering next year unless he trains quickly and we get into a home faster.  I'm getting rid of a lot of my own cat things because I own far fewer cats and don't see us adding any for at least a year (see the last unless).  A twelve hour move to a two bedroom apartment is a far cry from a 2 hour move to a three (plus) house with a full basement and huge amount of storage (first house - second house had more of both things).  As someone who has attached a lot of emotions to the things I have chosen to own, letting so much go is a really painful process. I am working on giving away what I can't sell, sell what I can, and hopefully it will pare us down enough to be comfortable. but going from an 11 room house to a two bedroom apartment.. yeah.. ouch

Casa de Gato updates - Twee

Tweedle was born in July of 04 which makes her *calculates* ugh, way too old..  14.5ish. She still has the mindset of a kitten. She has always been "touched" in the head but she is incredibly sweet and an amazing hunter. She loves playing with fishing pole toys and always grabs the toy and holds on to it for dear life.

For those of you new to the blog, Twee recently ended up in emergency care for hepatic lipidosis. She stopped eating after Jack died. We noticed it initially but she hadn't lost any weight and I was feeling a bit paranoid so I didn't check in with her again until it was almost too late. I tried force feeding her, and while that went well enough, her personality disappeared and she seemed to be getting worse so we made the appointment to euthanize her. At the appointment, my husband couldn't go through it without throwing a hail mary, so we brought her to an emergency clinic out of state for a few days of care and several thousand dollars later she's doing much better.  She was slow to eat when she came home. She has never ever been food motivated so I was fearful that I wouldn't get her to eat well without more medical help. As a last ditch attempt, I offered her some dry food and she ate it! I'm telling you, that stuff is addicting..

After recovering her weight and getting a clean bill of health, she's been a bit of a pain in the tushie. She can't seem to stop harassing Eli which bothers me but I can't seem to break her of it. It is not every day, but it is enough that I feel bad for Eli. I don't know why he doesn't stand up to her.

Twee is still very much my husband's kitty, always hanging out with him or is cuddled up to him. I'll do if he isn't around, but she misses him when he goes away and greets him happily when he comes home.

Our Christmas Tree 2018

Guess what time it is..

Yup, it is that time of year that I raid Muffin's stash of toys and stick them on the tree we erect in our living area.. This confuses Muffin to no end, but everyone else seems to like it.

Guess who was the first one to take a toy off the tree.

That toy was NOT allowed on the tree, according to Fleurp it must be on the floor. Once she put it on the floor she immediately lost interest in it and started to walk away so I picked it up and put it back on the tree so Fleurp turned around and batted it off again. When the Catman showed up I shared this trick with him and she told us both that this toy belongs on the ground.. so on the ground, it stays.

Unfortunately, we lost a number of toys this year as something got in the basket and started consuming them. The feathers were stripped down to the spines and other natural fiber toys had holes in them. Whatever it was set off my allergies something fierce so I had to stop going through the basket halfway through and stuck it in the garage I fear we are going to lose a great number of toys once we go through it. Ah well, a good excuse to buy more.

If you would like a Christmas card from us you can send me your address, fill out the postable form Previous trees:

• 2008
• 2011
• 2012
• 2015
• 2016
• 2017

A Twee Update

Twee playing

For anyone not following me on Facebook, Twee is doing very well. I am guardedly optimistic that we are going to pull her out of this.

After a short time of force feeding her, her quality of life declined dramatically. She did not fight me or give me any indication that she hated the feeding (well except when the food was too liquid) so my husband and I both started believing that whatever was wrong was getting worse. She was avoiding and isolating.

We had a discussion of what we can do and what we should do. The vet recommended an ultrasound to see what we were dealing with. There was no one local who could do it quickly so we were looking at having to travel an hour or two to find one. Twee travels okay but we weren't thrilled with the idea of traveling hours on end to only find that she was at the end of her life and having to put her down there. Most of the treatment for the issues we were facing included sedation which Twee has never handled well - to put it mildly. She stopped breathing the last time we sedated her, so we ran the risk of attempting to fix what was going on and having her die on the table or in recovery. Neither one of us liked the idea of not being with her until the end.

We looked at Twee and what she was telling us. We looked at our options and came to the conclusion that this was most likely a life ending event and we would be kind and be with her and let her go with love and care.

We got to the clinic and Twee perked right up. She investigated the entire room, jumped up on the couch and snuggled with my husband who later said "she told me she was not ready to go". The vet was incredibly kind and worked with us to help us make the next few decisions. She told us, and I knew full well, that this could be an adrenaline rush or just the end of life rally, but my husband no longer agreed that this was her time. I had the vet examine her to see if she was painful and she appeared not to be, so we made the decision to go down to Angell to get an ultrasound.

We did have a few other options, but we were looking at going to Massachusetts anyway, and we have friends in Boston, so we opted for that.

We got there at three in the afternoon and were not seen until after five. An intern talked to us for a short while, looked over the notes from her previous exam and blood work and said they would have to admit her. I was not happy. My husband was okay with this so this is what we did.

They kept her overnight on fluids and did not force feed her despite my informing them she had not eaten since last night and my asking that they feed her.

The intern called us to give us an update in the morning and told us that they still had not force fed her but assured me that she was getting nutrition through the fluids. They called me that afternoon and told me that the ultrasound showed inflammation in her liver, gallbladder and pancreas. She talked at me, not to me. When I asked questions beyond what was on the script of what she told me originally, she just reiterated what she had originally said and would not speculate or said that is for the other vet to determine.

She eventually started eating on her own. She vomited initially but continued to eat and kept it all down. It was recommended that she stay until Monday but both of us work and my husband was going to be four hours away from Boston that morning and that was going to be a lot of driving for him. We asked if it would be okay if we picked her up that night (Sunday) and the vet didn't say it would be a bad idea, so we went and got her. We got down there at eight pm and were told to wait in the lobby for someone to go over the discharge instructions and get us the meds.

Well, *sigh* they sent out a tech who was unfamiliar with her case who simply read the discharge instructions back to me. I looked at the bill and saw a double charge and mentioned it and she didn't believe it was possible so I had her check and I was right. Then she went over the meds - most of which were liquids, which I had mentioned on intake that she didn't do well with because force feeding her ruined her quality of life. I didn't think to refuse them and ask for pills because I was emotionally and physically exhausted, the pharmacy was closed and the tech didn't ask if liquid was okay. I should probably make it clear that we were in the lobby.. we didn't get to go into a room and have a serious talk with anyone.. I couldn't even really hug her when she finally got to us because we were in the lobby and taking her out of the carrier was a very bad idea. Whoever decided this is their protocol... well, it is a very bad idea for cats..

I was given a pain medicine despite no one mentioning she was in pain. (remember the exam at the vet up here didn't show a pain response) and two antibiotics despite not being told that they showed an obvious sign of infection or a reason for them. I asked if they meant to have two antibiotics and the tech that released her to us simply said yes, she didn't ask for clarification from anyone. Let me remind you that we already had an error on the bill.. I admit that having several organs inflamed must be uncomfortable, but painful? *shrug* I mean I accept that is a serious possibility and most likely in a lot of cases, but Twee isn't a statistic, she is a cat dealing with a health issue.. did *she* need pain meds??

I am angry with myself that I didn't challenge more. I am angry that I didn't demand to talk to someone who dealt with her, but it was late on a Sunday and who knew who was still there, who knew if it was an option. and I was exhausted..

I refused to take the meds I already had (again, they didn't talk to me about what she needed just dispensed it) and took everything else and came home.

Twee was so happy to be home. I gave her the pill that needed to be given on an empty stomach (why they didn't give it at the clinic, I have no idea) and we needed to wait an hour to feed her. She sat by the food plates looking like she was waiting for dinner, which killed me. We decided to engage her in play and she was incredibly playful! It made us so happy.

I pulled out a few food options and made her a tasting plate and set her up in the guest room. When we were ready to feed her I pulled out the liquid med for that evening and gave it to her and she hated it.. she became depressed. My husband slept in the guest room with her to see how she did and he reported she did well but didn't jump on the bed and snuggle with him. Her food of choice? Dry food *smh* but she didn't start eating until much later in the evening.

In the morning, I had the three liquid meds to give her. It was horrible. She took them well enough but started drooling and avoiding me and wouldn't even let me wipe the drool off her face. My heart and my spirit broke. I talked to my local vet and we talked about what I was giving her and what options we had. There were pill forms and injectable forms for everything she was on and the vet felt the same way as I did about two antibiotics and said she most likely would have only rx'd one but both wasn't a bad idea, and obviously it was my call.

My husband was due to come home before the vet closed, so I waited for him to see what he wanted to do. Twee is very much his kitty and I wanted him to make the final call. He was scared that all the medication was going to ruin her quality of life and the stress of it all was going to be worse than the medication. He decided to forgo both of the antibiotics and pain meds. I reluctantly agreed. I abhor stopping antibiotics before the course as you seriously risk making super bugs, but she only got one dose as far as I could tell. Not to mention that there was a chance that infection started this or an infection resulted from it we wouldn't be treating the cause.. I could only cross my fingers that we wouldn't wake up in the morning to seriously regret the decision. It was a very long and hard night for me.

Tuesday morning came and she was bright and happy and eating and put on some weight. I gave her some fluids. I offered her more food and watched her try to eat the small kibbles of the dry food I had on hand for the foster kittens. It was such a production that I had to go out and buy a bag of dry for her *shudder*. I had a feeling that as soon as I did she would start eating the raw with The Crew (and wouldn't you know it she did) but honestly, I was okay with that because I can give the rest of the bag to the fosters.

I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Not following the vet's instructions on a situation I really knew nothing about scared me. All I knew for sure was what I was told during the calls and my own intuition. I think the inflammation started from her not eating and the stress of losing Jack. It was my belief all along that if we could just get enough calories in her and rehydrate her that she would bounce back. What rational reason did I have for that? none. Not a single one. I'm not a vet, I don't play one on the internet or in real life. I only know what I felt, what I saw, and what I know about her..

So this is what we are doing. I am giving her the "liver protectent" that they recommended because I really liked the idea of giving milk thistle and this medication is derived from that. I probably would have preferred to give her actual milk thistle, but I own this now so I am giving it. I am giving her the appetite stimulate for a few more days and when I was snuggling her this afternoon her stomach was gurgling a little so I thought what the heck I have Cerenia I will give that too on the off chance she is nauseous, which Angell rx'd but I had on hand from Jack, despite not seeing any indications of that other than the initial vomit which the intern who called me said was most likely from eating too fast. I'm also giving CBD since that involves two drops instead of the huge amount of liquid that the other pain meds required.

So, either we are making the biggest mistake ever and things are going to go horribly wrong or she is going to continue to improve. Since she is up over nine pounds tonight (her original fighting weight is nine and a half pounds and her weight when we took her to the vet was eight and a half) I am cautiously optimistic.

I did receive a call from Angell today about her B levels and was told her folate levels were low.. the vet who called said the vet in charge of her case would like to see her in a couple of weeks for a follow up and I told her - since the information never seems to make it to anyone - that I was two hours away and that was unlikely. She replied with an "oh, two hours away..". I continued with "and I was so unhappy with the service I received and the lack of communication (because the notes that my vet got said IBD and intestinal issues despite no one mentioning that to me among a few other things) and the woman could not get off the phone with me fast enough.

Angell's reputation is very good but I felt like I was not a pet owner or pet parent just the human that came along with the case who had to be dealt with. I did not once felt they cared about me or even Twee (although they did make it a point to tell me she was incredibly sweet) and that it was just a "case" - I am not sure I am explaining it well, but basically it felt like they have removed all emotion from the situation and they might as well have been working on a toaster.

So I have become that owner that isn't compliant.. but it isn't because I don't care or it is "too hard".. it is because I honestly believe it is in her best interest. If we lose her over it I believe we are both okay with that. We will probably do the "what ifs" but I am checking in with her every hour or two while I'm awake to make sure I don't miss anything and while she is still a little tired, she is a darn site closer to 'normal' then she has been in a long while. If she shows ANY sign of back sliding I will run her to the vet and we can revisit the antibiotics and pain meds. If she continues to improve we will do a recheck in a week or so (they recommend two weeks and that was from this weekend) and I'll have them recheck her folate levels to see if we are dealing with malabsorption. I think if her levels are low I'll have them check Skippy's levels too to see if it isn't an issue with the recipe I'm using. I'm inclined to believe that the low level is from not eating for a long period of time, but I have no rational reason for believing that either. Time and more blood tests will tell.

I am beyond tired. I barely have had time to recover from moving and frankly I still have boxes laying around the house. I am so drained that I am having issues with my allergies so they are waking me up in the night.. Some serious self care is going to be called for her once we have the follow up and we have good news and I can stop worrying so much (ha ha ha) about things going south.. for now I have to settle for huffing kittens.. (update about the kittens tomorrow)

When not eating goes bad - Twee

As you know, we recently lost our oldest cat, Jack. Since his death, things have been very wonky here which happened when we lost our last oldest, Ollie, and the time before with Em. There is always an "okay, so now what" questions and posturing. Who is going to be 'in charge' and what not.  Eli has become incredibly vocal and there has been a lot of squabbling. Everyone stopped eating for several days - in fact, they still aren't eating well.

I took Eli and Muffin in for blood work because they are old and they were due for senior panels. I was actually hoping for thyroid issues with Eli because it would explain his being vocal - but no such luck.  He is as healthy as one can expect of a sixteen-year-old kitty.

The CatMan noticed that Twee was being "poopy" so I immediately weighed her. Her weight was normal so I didn't worry about it too much. I was still grieving Jack and to some extent Graham, I was dealing with Eli being incredibly vocal and demanding, I was dealing with Muffin needing fluids more often for her kidney issues. Twee is more of my husband's cat, so I kinda relied on him to watch over her.

When he mentioned yesterday that he thought she was still being poopy, I immediately plopped her on the scale and my heart dropped. I had just weighed her a few days ago - maybe a week before - and now she was a pound less than she was. I immediately thought of an appetite stimulant but I didn't have any on hand. I decided it was going to be better to bring her in and it turns out she has some liver impairment. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking it is hepatic lipidosis from not eating but right now we still don't know.

Twee has never been an easy eater. We had to teach her to eat and even to this day she is basically afraid of treats and any special foods. If we offer her something yummy she turns around and runs away. Force feeding her has not been fun for either of us, but it has to be done. She seems a little brighter this afternoon then she did this morning, but I might be projecting.

I am hoping we can pull her through this.. because she is and always shall be our little girl.

Thankful Thursday with Twee

Twee is very thankful for sunpuddles on couches.

Twee is such a task master

Look at all of this paperwork!!

Can I play in it?

Let Sleeping Cats Lie #lifewithcats

I walked in on this the other day and I decided to go find someplace else to sit so they could continue their nap.

Catification

When we were looking for a house, we had a few requirements. We were spoiled at Casa de Gato having three bathrooms and we wanted a house with a master with a bathroom. This house has one, but it is in dire need of being remodeled as we can not use the shower as the previous owners installed a walk in tub where the shower should be.

One of the downsides of this house is the master isn't really big enough for a king bed.  It is long and narrow. The bed fits on the sides, the one side that has the door into the room so the wall is short and it doesn't fit our nightstands and the other side has the windows so the bed will block the windows and the nightstands made for perches for the cats to look out the window - which negates being able to put anything on them.  We initially put the bed on the short wall, but we had no time to find new smaller nightstands so we quickly decided to move the bed in front of the windows. This depressed me because laying in bed and watching the snow fall was nice, so we moved the bed back last week.

To give the cats somewhere other than our nightstands to sit on, we put a cat tree and made some space in the shelving units for them to hang out.

Muffin can't get into the bed without the stairs, but the placement of the stairs at the edge of the bed allows her to get up on the at tree and then she climbs over into the basket.. she is THRILLED with this because I think it reminds her of days when her joints didn't hurt as much and she could climb into things like this.

If you notice on the top of the shelving unit we placed a cat bed. This is Eli's new favorite spot. 16 years old and he gets up there like he is four. Once we get someone in here to fix the bathroom I'm thinking I'll put a few floating shelves over the bathroom door and down to the dresser that is on the wall to the left. But we also have plans to put a master upstairs with a really elaborate bathroom with a dressing area so we might end up moving up there long before I get to it.

(and in case you were wondering, they are still sitting on the nightstands and it is super annoying)

Pay attention to me!!

Because of my lipedema, I need to spend time on a vibration plate. The other day when I was 'just standing there" Jack decided he needed some attention.

Muffin was all "whatever, I have nip." Jack wasn't getting the attention he wanted so he went off and got a toy. He usually carries it to me, crying out pitifully, until I see him doing it at which point he drops it - which makes it very hard to get a photo of it. As soon as we make eye contact he leaves it where he is and comes to me for praise. This time it was halfway up the stairs.

Yes, Jack, you are a good boy.

Twee's dental

So last week we took Twee back to Maine to have a dental at my previous vet. I like my previous vet and trust him - no small feat for someone with my history - and with her history, I wanted to feel comfortable.

I was sure that they had done a dental on her before, but according to their records, they didn't. We did pre-anesthetic blood work and everything looked good so we went ahead with the procedure.

Twee had quite a bit of tartar buildup and her breath smelled and her eyes were watering really bad so it seemed like a dental was really important. I discussed Twee with the vet on duty - which unfortunately was not the vet I like. I totally understand why vet clinics do this, but I so wish that they would understand that if I am driving two hours to see the vet, that I'd like to see the vet. *sigh*

Anyway. she seemed nice and competent and she kept me in the loop at every step. I received a call when the blood work came back okay, and another call when she was about to go into surgery.

Unfortunately, I received another call when she was done. She said she did the procedure instead of a tech to try to get it done faster because of her history and everything went well and no extractions were necessary, but after they extubated her, she stopped breathing. They reacted quickly and as soon as they opened her mouth to put a tube back down her throat to help her breathe she started breathing again. She was without oxygen for a very short period of time. I thanked her for letting me know and told her she was free to do what was necessary. The vet said she would like to watch her for a while and that was okay with us because we had appointments to get to.

The vet called back a little while later. She said that she was worried because Twee didn't care about things that were being done to her (which is totally Twee, as long as you don't smell like a dog she will love you no matter what) until she started 'messing around' on her back end. I am not sure what that entailed because I didn't ask because the vet said that she was still purring and head-butting the staff. Yup, that's my clueless girl.

When we went to pick her up, she was still worn out from everything going on. We packed her up and headed home. I just wanted to hold her, but I knew that she would NOT sit still on the ride so I did the next best thing which was put her carrier on my lap and I would occasionally reach in and rub her ear.  She was fairly silent for about an hour and I could tell almost immediately when she 'woke up' because she became annoyed at being in the carrier and wanted out. I had the feeling she needed to go pee, but she didn't run right to the box when we got home, so I don't know if that was the case.

She got home, ate a full and healthy dinner, we had a little play time, and she is doing just fine. She gave the CatMan a bit of a scare the next morning when she went to sleep in the closet and he couldn't find her, but she was happy and active when I found her.

The vet recommends she never go under anesthesia again. I've known this. I really want to find her old records from her first issues and see what medications might match up to see what we should stay away from, but I haven't done it yet. I usually think of it late at night and I'm tired and heading to bed. One of these days I'll do it. It will be interesting to see if there is a medication that matches up.

I am not looking forward to the idea of owning a fourteen-year-old cat who has had three dentals already never being able to have another one. I'm trying to be good about brushing her teeth, but we all know how that goes. Chances are she is going to start avoiding me (so far, *knock wood* she isn't) and if that is the case I am just going to have to let this go and deal with the consequences.

She is dealing with an allergic reaction of some sort as she has lost all the fur in front of one ear from rubbing it. It is starting to improve, so I am not sure why what happened happened. I'm hoping it just clears up and I don't have to deal with it.

Art of Paws - Heated Pet Mat Product Review

I was recently contacted by Art of Paws to see if I would be interested in doing a review of their Heated Pet Mat if they sent me one for free. After checking out their website, I immediately replied yes. I was kinda hoping they would throw in a few of their cat shelves too, but it looks like I'll have to buy those on my own 🐱

Anyway, back to the heated bed. I had all kinds of ideas when Maya offered to send it to me. I was told it would fit two regular sized cats, so I thought I would put it on the guest bed for Eli and Skippy who tend to hang out on that bed more than our bed. When it arrived I didn't think it would fit two regular cats as it is 23 x 17 inches. I put it on the guest room bed, but no one was interested.

So then I moved it to the office.

What kitty doesn't love a heated bed. And as I suspected, it appeared to be the right size for one cat.. but then:

Muffin decided she wanted to be the new spokeskitty for Art of Paws and did her best to flirt her way into a good photo.

I didn't tell her that the mat wasn't made specifically for her, so she has totally claimed that to be the truth and she is loving having a nice warm soft place next to me to nap while I work. Just don't tell her that when she wanders off to make sure the house is still in one piece that someone else uses it.

Now usually when I do reviews, I tell you what I don't like about a product... the most negative thing I can say about this is I don't have a good plug to plug it in. Thankfully it comes with a six and a half foot cord so it reaches to the plug on the other side of the room. I like that it has bite protection from the switch to the mat and that the fleece cover is removable and washable. My cats like everything about it. When I forget to turn it on (I turn it off when I'm done working because my cats don't hang out in my office when I am not working) they still use it. It uses very little electricity according to their website - only 10w. Bonus: it comes with a three-year 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Thank you to Art of Paws for the opportunity and for the mat.
If you would like to check them out you can go to their website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

Hanging with the Catman

My husband has come down with a cold so there is a whole lot of this going on.

In case you can't tell, the Catman is back there covered in blankets and then cats. I'm sure he'll be better right quick, but it is always fun to remember that cats really want to hang out with you when you aren't feeling well.

Bestest Christmas EVA!!

Dudes! Let me tell you the story of the bestest Christmas gift EVA! I don't know how momma got it for us without knowing it was in the house, because she was rather annoyed when we got it.. Maybe Santa Paws is real after all..

She was laying in bed and heard Twee scratching at something behind her nightstand. She thought that Twee was just after one of her toys that she had previously stashed back there (Twee has a habit of pushing her toys into places she can't get to them) but when Fleurp got involved and the action moved a bit, she started to investigates what we haz'd.

She knew something was up.. this was no ordinary toy. This was the bestest toy EVA!!

Momma initially thought it was dead, and for a split second thought about letting us dispose of it*, but then she saw it move and sprung into action. Daddy was quite confused and didn't know what to do so Momma had to explain everythings and made him get a box to trap it in.

We tired that mouse right out, so Momma had no problem getting it into a container but she was a little confused as to what to do next. She knew that if she just put it outside the mouse would come back in. With all the snow out there, she was a little sad to let it out thinking she would just be making a mouse-icle. She gave the mousie a little cheese (which it was too traumatized to eat) and drove it down the street and tried to at least put it near a tree. She failed miserably and still fears she made a mouse-icle, but she did the kindest thing she could think of.

Now, we are all on high alert for additional gifties from Santa Paws.. We know that there must be more out there..

* If I wasn't worried about my neighbors using mouse poisons, I would be inclined to let my cats eat a mouse they legitimately killed. But I am worried, and they didn't kill it, and I just couldn't let it suffer.

Right after we moved into this house I found some mouse poop, but I hoped that it was from a previous invasion that was already taken care of. We had already bought the house so it wasn't like we could force anyone to fix anything, and I was avoiding the whole thing hoping that it wasn't a thing - or if it was the smell of six cats in the house would make them flee. Now that I know that it is totally a thing, getting someone in here to take care of this is going to be a high priority.

Our Christmas Tree 2017

With everything going on here I didn't know if we were going to be able to get any decorating done. My husband decided we at least should get the tree up this year so he did that a few days ago.

If you have been visiting this blog for any length of time you know we decorate our tree with cat toys instead of ornaments. I have boxes and boxes of ornaments but a few years ago I couldn't face unpacking them all only to pack them all back up a few weeks later (we were late in decorating) so I just threw cat toys on the tree and I loved it so much that we have done it every year since.

One reason we were late in getting the tree up - despite our horribly busy schedules - is the fact that our nine-foot tree doesn't fit inside the house, so we ended up putting it up in the enclosed porch - that and we couldn't find a few of the boxes of cat toys..

There are six cat nip stockings on the tree. Someone had the brilliant idea of buying cheap decorative stockings and stick nip in them and sew them shut. I swear one of these years I am going to buy a ton of these after Christmas and make a bunch to donate for the next holiday.

This post was not brought to you by Traditional Medicinals Holiday Teas, but it totally could have been 😸 I will be having some Nighty Night before Christmas tea tonight..

And in case you were wondering which ornament was the first one off the tree.. Any guesses as to which one of my little angels caused this?

Previous trees:

• 2008
• 2011
• 2012
• 2015
• 2016

A cat tree forest

Our new house comes with a bonus room that the previous owners put on the back of their house where there would usually be a deck. When we were moving in we ended up putting all of the cat trees out there until we could figure out the best place to put them for maximum use. We have moved a few out into the house, but we still have to move a few more (obviously)

FYI, we have eleven cat trees. Yes.. eleven.. In my defense, we used to have eight cats, so you know.. that totally justifies having almost twice as many cat trees than I have cats.. especially since two of them can't climb them anymore..

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My holiday cards should be here on Friday. If you would like one, fill out your address on my Postable account and I will send one out to you. Since my blog has been so quiet lately, I only ordered 100 of them. If for some reason I get more requests than that I will order some more but that means it will take a little longer for you to receive it. I hope you don't mind. 🐱

and if you want to send me a card my new address is
PO Box 554
Grantham, NH 03753

Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon

I found this quote from A.A. Milne a long time ago and knew that I needed to connect it up with this series of photos I have from 2004-2005. I have been looking, quite unsuccessfully, for their original electronic versions (I haven't used film for photos since 2003) but I recently put my hands on some printed versions I have.

Now be kind, because digital photography was questionable for the average consumer back in 2004. I still have one of my early cameras that took pictures in KB.. lol. The poor thing doesn't even have a removable storage device. I wanted to try to pull any old photos off of it, but I can't find the power cord and batteries no longer charge it up.

These are back when my babies were truly just babies..