Adventures in cat sitting and a changeup in the kitten room

I received a message from Stephanie asking if she could come and get her kittens on Saturday night instead of Sunday as originally planned. Since I know that feeling of missing your kitties when you travel, I readily agreed.

Before she arrived, I was able to get the last of the mats off of Trixie, which I am quite proud of. I also had guests come over Saturday afternoon. Our friends Laurie and Peter stopped by to help celebrate the CatMan's birthday which is officially on Tuesday. Peter took a couple of wonderful slow motion videos of Nancy playing and I was able to get a copy and I edited it to the best parts.

I also want to thank Nancy for attempting to save me from the spider.

Then this happened..

Yes, I received an email and yes, I jumped at it.

My husband picked them up for me and found out they are from Mississippi. There is a girl (the solid tiger kitten) and a boy (the one with white) and are named Trina and Max, which I'm pretty sure I'll change. I was told they were in good health, and except for a few loose stools, things are going really well. They had to spend the first night in my bathroom because the girls were still in the basement. I found out rather quickly that they have a *LOT* to say about things. They woke me several times making suggestions about the accommodations (which was yet another reason I was okay with the girls going home a day early). They were very happy to move into the kitten room - warning, there is a bit of complaining at the beginning of the video.

Adventures in Cat Sitting - part three

Yesterday was almost all about fun. I spent a little time holding each kitty until they asked to be put down and then we played.

These girls like to fly.

Their dynamic is very interesting. They have never been apart and the only other instance of siblings I know of is my own Muff and Eli who have a very contentious relationship because he loves to push her buttons and goat her into wrestling and she does not like it.

Trixie won't play if Nancy is on the playing field and Nancy won't play if Trixie is. Occasionally, they will but they are very cautious of one another, not wanting to start sparks which can happen if they both go after it at the same time. It is nice that they are respectful of one another.

I've been working on trying to capture just how orange the girls' eyes are, they are still light in these photos. I'm hopeful I can do it before they leave on Sunday.

Adventures in Cat Sitting - part two

The girls are much more comfortable with me now. They really like playing with the mouse on a string toy and that makes up for a lot. Unfortunately, they aren't really food motivated, and they are free fed dry food so I'm not all that exciting when I show up.

Trixie still has some rather large mats on her hind end and she is still not all that interested in letting me take them off. I've gotten two and I was working on the third last night when she told me that she had more than enough of my shenanigans. I keep trying to tell her she'll feel better but she is not buying it. We ate dinner in the kitten room last night and my husband tried to offer them a little bit of his meat and no one wanted it. He didn't believe me when I told him they wouldn't be. A few minutes later we found Trixie investigating his plate.

Nancy likes to fly through the air. Unfortunately, her landings aren't always the most graceful. I'm hoping to catch a recording of it, but since she gets up to three feet in the air, she'll most likely jump right out of the viewing range

They are here until Sunday morning. I am hopeful that before they go they climb up into my lap for a little cuddle time, but if not, that is okay too.

Former Foster Friday - guess who came for dinner

I reached out to Nancy and Trixie's mom to see if I could stop by and take some photos of her girls (formerly known as Wryn and Sprite)

They are just over a year old and are coming up on their "Gotcha Day" and I was hoping to invite myself over to get some photos. When I asked about stopping by I was met with a question "Do you know a good cat sitter?"

Do I know a good cat sitter? 😃

I offered to take care of the girls, but the more I thought about it the more I realized they might have more attention if they boarded at Casa de Gato. Since I have a spare room at the moment, it worked out nicely.

They are here until next Sunday morning.

Initially, everything went far better than I was expecting. They were both out and about and investigating and being social. Nancy became a little overwhelmed with the new scents and everything going on so she started growling at things. It was interesting because she was still rubbing on me while growling - it reminded me of Lemon - their mom who used to growl at the weirdest things.

It is easy to engage Nancy in play, which is a very good sign, but she seems disturbed by her sister, and I wonder if that might not be a scent thing, but her sister is giving her a wide berth. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being everything is awesome and I'm giving belly rubs and 1 is I'm worried about bloodshed, I think we are at a 7. I gave her a little Rescue Remedy and I'm fairly certain things will be calmer in the morning. If I am wrong and this goes downhill, I can always bring them back to their home and stop by twice a day to check on them.

The webcams are on if you want to check on them.

The love of a Twee for her Bunny

Tweedle will do ANYTHING for Bri.. Right before this picture was taken, there was some mutual grooming going on, which made the scene all that much more amusing, since Twee is sitting in a take out box..



And then the promised pictures of Gypsy...



and Teddy (he's growing like a weed)

Update on Em

Em is still STARVING all the time. Every time I look at her, I see these big huge "I haven't eaten in SOOO LONG" eyes, and it is heartbreaking. I called the vet, and he wanted to see her, so we went in this afternoon.

She's "unremarkable" (his word for in good shape) but definitely down in the weight department. She had gained when she first went on thyroid meds, but has since lost some of it.

He took some blood to double check her thyroid, but suggested we go up to 7.5 mg instead of 5 BID. Good thing she can take cosequin twice a day, cause giving a pill and a half isn't going to be easy. But I can slip them in the capsules and just shove them in.

Her anal glands were full again. It happens from time to time on her. Pretty bad from his description of things.. I wasn't looking too closely.

Teddy and his new sister Gypsy were here over Christmas. It was a lot of fun. Gypsy isn't all that into having a little brother, so I would let him out and let Tweedle play with him. She LOVED it. Kept pouncing on him, following him around, and just generally having fun. Gypsy liked having the "free" time as well. She's a little love bug, and we spent quite a few hours cuddled up watching TV. She's a tabby like Emerald, but with some Torbie in her so she was full of attitude. Did NOT like having her nails trimmed :) I took a few pictures of them, I'll post them when the camera makes it back near the computer.

I agreed to board my husband's Aunt's cat at the end of the Jan into Feb. He's adorable, it should be fun. Hopefully, he can mingle with my own cats nicely but if not, that's ok too.

I should go medicate Em and make sure she's got some food.