Schuster's Bath

Well the time had come for Schewie's final bath.  I had been putting it off because I wasn't sure he was keeping up with the mess he was making.  For the past week or so I have just been wiping him down with a wet cloth, which took most of the new debris off, but some of the deep down caked on stuff just remained.  I don't think bathing a cat every day is a good idea.  I don't even think every other day is a good idea.  Cats are self cleaning for a reason and I don't like to mess with that too much if I don't have to.  (Not that I'm opposed to bathing cats or even kittens I just think too much can be an issue.

So late last week when I thought he had a handle on things I stopped helping him out to see.  Sure enough he didn't get any dirtier.  Sadly he wasn't able to tackle that deep down crud (I want to call it dirt, but I know full well it is food) and a bath was necessary.  I didn't take any pre-bath photos because I didn't want him to get any ideas about what was about to happen.

Not that he is bad with baths.. I scooped him up and brought him upstairs just wrapped in a towel and he was fine.  He was fine when I ran the water.  He said "ew ew ew ew ew" when I put him in the water, not wanting to put his front paws in, but not once did he fight it or even complain.  He took every opportunity to walk away - so I made sure he didn't have one.

When the bath was done I wrapped him up and brought him back down stairs to dry him off proper.  Well that is the part he would like to avoid the most and he squirmed and squirmed, so when he was towel dried I let him go.  You can see that I didn't get him completely clean.  I fear is bib is stained and will stay that color until his fur sheds and grows new ones.

stained bib

Henry helps groom him dry

Will a little sun and Dorian help?

Um, that doesn't look like Dorian is helping..

WRESTLEMANIA!!

Schu escapes to the warm windowsill

Look folks, he can actually groom himself!!

oh that was exhausting

Why yes, I am a handsome boy!

But I am a little sleepy, I think I'll stretch out

But look, clean toesies for Toesday!

Maybe I go play now

Maybe later, the sun feels so nice!

Simon's belly

I've actually lamented that I could not properly express to you just how big Simon's belly is.  When I tell you that after he eats he feels like a furry water balloon with legs, I don't think I am still properly conveying to you how out of proportion it is.  Photos certainly don't do it justice

So I broke out a tape measure.  Simon's neck is 5 inches.  His chest is 7.  his belly?  12

By comparison Agatha has a seven inch chest and a 9 inch belly..

Explaining "Day of Beauty"

I'm not quite sure I ever really explained what "Day of Beauty" is in my house and how it came to be called that.

Back when I had two cats my grooming for them was very minimal.  Tig went outside and took care of his claws on his own and he kept them sharp and lethal for climbing and hunting.  Em occasionally needed her claws trimmed because they would start to click on the floor, but that was about it.

Then as my clowder grew I would take the time every couple of weeks to trim claws that needed to be, but when the household hit eight cats it would be oh so time consuming not to mention confusing to not have a system about it.  I would forget who got trimmed and who didn't.  Things were over looked.  I felt horrible when I brought my cats in all their carriers in for a vet visit and the vet pointed out a wound I wasn't aware of..

Sadly "Day of Beauty" doesn't happen as regularly as I would like.  I would like it to happen weekly.  The Crew would like it to happen yearly.  We settle on about once a month.  If I could get it together I would schedule it, but alas I'm just not that organized (not to mention kittens usually have other ideas for my time.

I usually start with the claw and get those out of the way.. I prefer scissor clippers to guillotine type.  I've used bigger ones like this but I much prefer the smaller ones that look like scissors you might buy for a child to craft with.  They have that notch.  I bought them at the dollar store.  I've also found some more expensive ones at my local megamart.  I'm seriously considering seeing if I can buy a set or four like my vet uses.  They are a little longer and all steel.

Then I check their ears.  If need be I clean them out.  The outside of the ear gets wiped up with q-tips, my finger or a tissue.. if the debris is heavy I get out an ear cleaning solution.  I've currently got Epi-Otic as well as an enzyme based cleaner called Zymox.  Eli still has ear issues but not nearly as bad as he used to.  See his tear ducts are blocked due to several bad rounds with Calci and general URI and as a result his excess tears back up and drain into his ears. As a young cat they would cake up so bad it had to be painful.  Now at the ripe old age of 10 (OK 9 years 10 months) for the most part they are just a little dirty, but I like to keep up on it.  Hard since he so totally would be happy if I never look in his ears again.

I do my best to keep the loose fur at bay too.  I like grooming with a wide toothed comb like this one .  I recently got a fur-minator and I like how much fur it gets out, but my cats really do not enjoy the experience.  I try to limit using it to only those first few warm weeks/months when they shed out their winter fur.

Depending on the cat I will then brush teeth.  Some cats love the toothpaste and will sit there for it, some have decided that my fingers in the mouth is the last straw.    Which ever their "this is the last thing I will put up with mom!!" thing is, that is what goes last.  Some it is grooming, some it is the teeth.  There are lots of great videos on teeth brushing on YouTube.  You really shouldn't be intimidated to do it as it does have benefit to the cat.  It helped me realize that Jack had broken two of his teeth.  If I hadn't been in there looking around with my fingers I might never have noticed it until it caused a problem.

When all is finally done and the supplies are put away, the kitties get a treat and we have play time.

a good intentional once over to make sure there are no lumps or bumps or broken teeth or gooey ears or the such really does quite a bit of good in keeping your kitty as healthy over it's life time.


(full disclosure - this post was sponsored by mediarunsearch.co.uk and nutrecare.co.uk but the content is 100% my own.)

216 claws later

Everyone in the house hold has survived "Day of Beauty" - including me..

(Day of Beauty includes teeth brushing for the residents, a good once over, ear cleanings if necessary, combing and nail trims)

now for the clean up - and I have to find something to do with this basket of fur..

not sure there isn't a kitten in there :)

Shelter Carnival

So yesterday was the shelter carnival.  It was hot, high eighties to low nineties.  most of the activities were on the hot asphalt of the parking lot too, so there were quite a bit of trips inside to cool down for those manning the booths. 

One of the workers told me that it was really slow for the first hour and they were a little concerned.  By the time I got there things were hopping.  Could have been busier yes, but for their first time doing this type of event you couldn't be unhappy with the turn out!  (I remember the first kitten shower vividly)

They had staff in clown costumes.  Kind of impressive they stepped up to do that.  The "carnival" was mostly just 'games' improvised from a few purchased items and a lot of imagination... not to mention one particular game that was made with a re-purposed item from the agility class.

The way it worked was you purchased 'tickets' to play the games.  Then you won different tickets from playing then went inside to turn the tickets in for prizes or a chance at some raffle prizes.  Some of the raffle prizes were pretty impressive - but it seemed to me to be not really the right audience for them.  To counter that you could also purchase tickets to enter the raffle.. So they covered their bases

They also had puppies up for adoption and that always draws a big crowd.

Now for the picts.

The entrance

Staff member as a clown. He did a little jig for me

Puppies for adoption

just wore himself out meeting and greeting people

More staff

near a staffed table

dunk tank

bounce house

photo opportunity

Face Painting

ring toss

egg run

Duck Pond

Football throw and knock the cans down

another ring toss

Maybe this one is for the adults? :)

Beanbag toss

Making cotton candy

Food

Raffle and ticket prizes

some of the raffle prizes

Kittens in a basket

dog and cat finger puppets

animal silly band rings (highlighting kitty one)

Kittens up for adoption

Puppies already adopted

community cat room (small animal room beyond that and second cat room at end)

Kitty up for adoption

Emma up for adoption

This kitty was in the carnival spirit.

This one was a little overwhelmed. 
She came out to see me but then someone else came in the room and she ran and hid again

Puma Joe

Puma Joe close up

"Puma Joe" is just shy of 16 pounds of pure ManCat.  His tail was as thick as rope (not fluffy, he's a DSH) his body took up that at least 3 foot shelf and he didn't have room to completely stretch out.  What you can't see is he has the perfect view of the carnival where he sits and can see the puppies in the cage.  Puma Joe was much more interested in that then getting attention from me.    He liked attention but I was interfering with his "afternoon stories" or the really good TV show he was watching :)  I got to rub his chin, and it was longer then my four fingers (and I don't have small hands)  Lets just say I was gushing more then a little - kind of like I do over Dante. I did get him to stand up and come down to the next level, but after just a few quick pats he went back to 'his show' and gave the impression that while he really appreciated the love the 'show' was the most exciting thing that had happened to him in some time (I checked his cage card, he's only been at the shelter four days)

I went into the retail area of the shelter and bought a 'sun dress' for Kit.  Only someone else wanted to try it on first.  We laughed at the idea, but since there was such long velcro straps on it, there was a chance it would work.. and surprisingly it did.

I put it on her and she went right to the camera bag and sat down

Kit came over to tell her that dressing up was HER thing

Much better!

Daddy, Daddy, aren't I cute??