kitties

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Feline Friday

A tower of kitties

A tower of kitties

For as long as I’ve lived with cats I’ve wanted to get them a kitty tower but for one reason or another (cost of even a small one, ripping out carpet and having a handy-ish husband to make one) I’ve never provide this magical monstrosity. Until recently.

On a recent trip to that wonderland of shopping that is Costco, I saw several people carting out kitty towers and upon seeing the price decided my kitties no longer needed to suffer without a tower of their own. As I carted this one out (thank you to the gentleman who upon seeing me struggle to get this nearly six foot tower into my cart, helped me) several people told me how much my cats would love their new toy as long as they are still young enough to climb it.

Therein lies the obstacle. Jae is pretty spry, but nearly 13 years old and Miko is still under 10 years but well over that in pounds. I’ve seen them both in the lower branches, and have been luring them with treats, but so far, they still like the large box that I set next to the tower as a stepping stool.

Go figure.

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Feline Friday

I recently was able to participate in a Bottle and Botega fundraiser to benefit the Allen County SPCA called Paint your Pet.
If you ever get the opportunity to do one of these, I highly recommend it. I debated on which dog or cat to paint and even considered a shelter dog but I somehow decided that cats would be easier to paint than dogs, so after some consideration, I chose to paint our recently departed Boo Kitty.

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I stared at the blank canvas for what felt like eons, took a deep breath, and dove in. I’m certainly no artist, but I’d be lying if I didn’t confess to being pleased with the result which is meant to be a combination of the photo at the bottom and another photo I have of her in a tree.
I may even decide to display it somewhere in the house…in a very low traffic spot.

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Slumber Party

One day my kitty was checking out my blanket and he mentioned to me in his whiney little voice that my big furry blanket should be his but it’s ok, because he sleeps with Mommy every night and I don’t!  He said that sometimes all three of the kitties sleep with Mommy and Daddy and that they can do that whenever they want. 
“Well,” I said to him, “I get to sleep with my monkey and I get night-night treats, so I am a lucky boy, too.”  But that got me wondering if I was missing out on something?  Why was my whiney kitty acting so smug?  I decided to lay around and ponder this fact.

I decided that maybe I was missing out, and I was going to talk to Mommy about this sitch-u-ashun.  After all, I’m a very good napping buddy.
But just as Iwas about to tell her about this, she said that since Daddy is out of town and it was a weekend night, we were going to have a slumber party!  I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I felt very happy!

Turns out that it means we got a big pile of fluffy blankets and pillows and went night-night together…without kitties!

The next morning Mommy said it was a good thing she didn’t have to get up early for work because I am a “bed hog.”  I think that means that we slept really good because I was so comfy.

And even though Mommy was there, I still had my other best friend with me.
‘Cuz you gotta stick with your buddies.

Darn it, Mom, you said I could post this entry! ~Ray-Ray.

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Feline Friday-Don’t Mess With Jae’s Mama

One of the thousand many things we are working on with Ray is to “leave it” the kitties.  So far, I’d say 35% of the time and climbing, this is working while the rest of the time?  Not so much.  Now that we are trying to expand the horizons upon which Ray can tread by removing the baby gate from the kitchen to the hallway we have to be extra vigilant when he spies a kitty coming downstairs to eat.  Jae is still the only one who will enter the kitchen or family room while Ray is mobile, but he is usually fairly careful upon entrance to know how far away Ray is and how fast he needs to move.
Another behavior we are working on is a gentle mouth.  This as well shows remarkable improvement, but still has miles to go.  I do still use the “ow” yelp as well as removing the fun (myself) from the situation until he calms a little, but after reading this, decided to maybe incorporate a pretend cry if the mouthing got a little too rough too fast.  After all, Ray has begun teething and I think the mouthing, while more controlled is sometimes a little too hard.
The original mama’s boy.
Well, one morning Ray and I were near the fireplace which is on the far side of the room and he got a little to rowdy so I decided to fake crying to see what would happen.  The only problem with my plan was that I’m pretty hormonal right now so the fake cry turned into a real, live crying jag.  As soon as he heard a distress sound coming from his mommy, Jae started meowing and raising a ruckus.  We watched in amazement as Jae walked through the kitchen, across the family room floor, up onto the sofa and across to the coffee table where he sat and got right in Ray’s face to scold him.  I think Ray was stunned into stillness. 
No one messes with Jae’s mama.
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Feline Friday-A Peaceabull Truce

Although Boo Kitty is the matriarch of the animal world in our home and her main goal in life is to settle on a comfy cushion and enjoy her retirement but her plans are often thwarted by the boys.  Miko “owns” everything in the house and as the self appointed inspector, he is tasked with making sure all things go according to his plan.  Ray was definitely not a part of Miko’s plans.  While his curiosity is starting to get the better of him and he is spending more time peeking at Ray from behind the safety of the gate, he is not really close to “making  friends”  like Jae is.
Miko guards things.  Given the fact that he is double the size of Boo makes him the default BIG DEAL kitty in the house.  He hides near the litter box like a troll guarding a bridge, he positions himself in doorways to hinder entrance by the others and he makes sure he is always the first to sprint to the food bowls in the morning.  Most of the time, if he is near Boo, it seems to be to intimidate her by his presence.  Boo’s reprieve is that she can sit on the front porch snuggled on the cushions and bask in the warmth of the solitude and sunshine.

Boo Kitty quite possibly may never budge from her distain for Ray.  Maybe she will, since I would classify her initial feelings as hate and now is merely disdainful of the puppy perhaps we are moving in a more positive direction.  Last night, however, while we were watching TV, she developed a routine formulated to ensure her dislike for the puppy was understood.  She’d walk into the middle of the room, stop and bitch at meow at the dog, walk out of the room, reenter, meow, exit, repeat. 
I believe the only thing Boo and Miko like less than each other is Ray and this mutual dislike seems to be bonding them together a little more.  For now, they seem to be forming a Peace-a-bull truce.
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Feline Friday-Miko Baby

I mentioned that I, as well as the rest of the family, figured Miko would be the first to “make friends” with Ray or at least show the most curiosity.  Not only has he been slow to do so, but another strange habit he’s developed is that he likes to sit in the vanity while I apply my make-up in the mornings. I’m sure a lot of this just stems from him wanting some more one on one attention, which is very sweet. 

All in all, twenty pounds or not, he is my little lap kitty and he loves some snuggle time. 
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Feline Friday

One of the best things, I think, about our kitties is their willingness to snuggle on a lap and watch TV, especially when I’m cold.  Kitties make great lap blankets.  Conversely, I don’t really like to be that warm when I sleep and having up to three kitties in bed with us sometimes makes it hard to drift off to dreamland.
The all seem to have their set place in bed as well.  Boo Kitty sleeps square in the middle of the bed between us, on top of the covers.  She is warm but not always the heating pad that Jae can be.  Jae, is our most nocturnal cat.  He patrols the house and bedrooms all night long in the same path and when he does sleep he tends to lie  on my pillow using my head as his own pillow.  Or he sleeps next to me.  Or next to Kevin.  Or in the middle of Asia’s bed.  Or he is making his rounds.  Miko tends to like the bottom corner of the bed.  He picks a spot and there he stays all night.  He is the least frequent visitor in any bedroom as he is often just as happy to sleep in some secret place on his own.
Lately, Miko has taken to crawling in between the sheets in our bed after we’ve gotten up.  Walking into the room to get dressed, one might here a little squeak followed by the contented buzz of the little purr box.  I don’t know why he has after three years begun to enjoy life in the blankets, but it is certainly cute.
Have a happy weekend!
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Feline Friday-The Great "Outdoors"

Both Jae and Miko are basically inside only cats.  By basically, I mean Jae loves to go outside but his trips are always closely supervised and confined to the patio.  He is a grass eater and consequently a grass puker so as soon as he heads for the tasty green blades, he is relegated back to the safety of the house.  Miko, on the other hand, has absolutely no desire to go out of those doors and onto the patio.  He loves to lay in a warm pool of sunshine on the soft carpet but if the door is opened he scampers away as if he’s about to be tortured.  I imagine whatever time he spent wandering the mean streets of Fort Wayne before being picked up by ACC have cured him of ever wanting to leave the house.

There is, however, a type of “outside” that the boys are allowed to enjoy with relatively little supervision and that is the garage.  The boys will typically stand at the door and meow to “go out.”  They don’t explore out there as much as they spend time lounging from the hoods or roofs of our vehicles.  Being that we have a pick up and an SUV, they are able to reign from some altitude.  In the winter months they gravitate toward the most recently driven vehicle or the top of the freezer, which must be warmer for them.  I like being able to give them some adventure time in a place where they are still safe.  I know the garage might not seem like a safe place to some, but we don’t typically keep anything in there that the boys could get into and get sick on. 

It has recently become a nice haven from you-know-who as well.
We hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather and whatever makes you happy!
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Ray’s Ladies

Naturally, every boy’s first love is his mama.  I don’t have brothers that I grew up close with, I don’t have a son, I didn’t even grow up with close boy cousins but the gals at work have sons and told me when we found out Asia was expecting that boys always love their mamas.
Does that translate in the animal world?  I think so.  Before we brought Ray home, Jae and Miko were mama’s boys and BooKitty was daddy’s girl.  All three loved Asia mostly because she is quiet and catlike, so I believe they viewed her as one of them.  Granted, she is the only one of them with opposable thumbs, enabling her to dispense treats.
Ray loves all the family members but as you may have guessed is very much mama’s boy.  That certainly can’t come as much of a shock to anyone, but what came as a bit if a shock to me was that he gave his first pittie smile this weekend.  And it wasn’t for me.  I wasn’t there and didn’t even get to see it.  It wasn’t for Asia, who brings him delicious treats and wears an ankle bracelet with bells, though she did get to see it.  It was for his new love, his midday walker, Asia’s friend Becca.  Becca stopped by to visit with Asia over the weekend and apparently Ray never left her side.  She got him to go potty when Asia couldn’t and as a reward, she earned the big pittie smile.  Oh, they grow so fast.
On another note, Ray also ventured over to Van Wert for a mani/pedi at Emme Lu’s where he was pretty liberally handing out puppy kisses to Heather and he scored some new tasty treats for training.  I found that he gets bored with his treats pretty quickly so I like to have a variety available.  As we head into Tuesday and class, or as I’m beginning to call it, “Ray’s crazyville,”  I know I’m going to need the tastiest and most tempting treats I can get.  At least I can take satisfaction in that he does his proper behaviors well at home, we just need to help him flip the super excited switch off.
What’s on tap for your week?
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Feline Friday-Sneaky Miko

I’m a little surprised that Miko has not attempted a closer peak at Ray.  Miko is my nosey cat.  He is the one who has to sign off on anything new or any changes in the house.  He is the one who supervises any home improvements and any workers in the house.  He is the only one who came to greet foster-for-a-night, Cloudy.

He might just be afraid that if he gets close to another dog his eyes will turn pemanantly into lasers.  Maybe he knows that unlike Jae, he can’t run as fast or jump the gate in a single bound as easily.  I don’t know exactly what his reasoning is but he tends to sit on the other side of the doggie gate and peak at the puppy.

Recently, however, we had all the gates down in preparation for an open house and Miko took that opportunity to sneak into the kitchen to make sure Ray’s water was the same as what the cats are given.

Here he is hoping no one sees him.
And here he is about to get his kitty card revoked.
We were really hoping that these two would get to be better friends.  At 19 pounds, Miko needs someone to run his butt up and down a little bit.  Time will tell, I’m sure.