An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!

[lisarea]

Buddy went to the vet today!

When we took him in for his initial post-adoption checkup last year, he weighed about 23 pounds and was showing early stages of kidney disease.

This year, he weighs almost 26 pounds, and his kidney function is at exactly the same levels as it was last year, which the vet seemed astonished at. He also said he's just plain looking better all around. (He does seem like maybe he's actually put on a little muscle in his hind legs, probably from the arthritis supplements and all the walks and pit fights.)

So he's actually more active and seeming healthier now at 14 than he was at 13. GO BUDDY!

And as a side anecdote, you will probably all be shocked to learn that Zsa Zsa is an extremely enthusiastic greeter. She no longer has the issues with separation anxiety that she did when we first adopted her, but she is still just crazy overjoyed every time anyone comes home. I once timed her greeting to Matlock after work at about 20 minutes.

Today, though, when we left the house with Buddy, she freaked out really hard. Then, when we got home, she almost busted out the door to get to Buddy, then spent all her energy greeting him and barely acknowledging either of us dumb boring humangs.

Hooray for dogs!

[Adam]

lolpitfights

[BrotherMan]

ZZ isn't dumb. She knows what going to the V-E-T means.





It's bacon right?

[vremya]

Vivisectus - how's the kitten coming along?

[lisarea]

OH NO. We have a devastating new development.

So Zsa Zsa and I are both pretty fussy about our bedding. We both strongly prefer down pillows and clean, crisp sheets, and we really like it when the bed is all newly made up. In fact, I have to close the bedroom door when I change the sheets because she's always jumping the gun and luxuriating before I'm even done making the bed.

I pretty quickly got new king sized sheets when we bought our new bed, but we've only had one king sized blanket, and the rest of the time, we've been doing blankets Nazi-style, where each guy has their own blanket.

But then, I found a highly recommended but fairly inexpensive down blanket, so we went BALLS TO THE WALL and bought that blanket! It is a really nice blanket, and Matlock and I are both very happy with it so far.

Zsa Zsa, however, is very pointedly NOT. She'll jump up on it to get her bedtime cookies, but the whole time, she's mincing about like she's walking in mud or wet leaves or something, and as soon as she gets the cookies, she's out of there. Last night, she advanced the idea that maybe we could both move our heads off the bed so she could stretch out amongst the pillows, but when that proposal was rejected, she got down and made a sad little bed for herself ON THE FLOOR out of dirty sheets. LIKE A HOBO.

Then, when Matlock got out of bed this morning and turned back the covers, she jumped into the nice, blanketless spot he left and slept for hours and hours.

It's a down-filled blanket with a cotton cover, neither of which is anything that has ever bothered her before. The only thing I can think of is that it makes some very slight crinkling noises. Not like a bag of chips or anything, just a little crinkling. But she takes great umbrage at it for some reason.

I don't know what to do! Zsa Zsa loves her bed. During the day, she likes to lie on my side of the bed, with her head on the down pillow, and quietly watch the doggies on her Chumby. It's her "me time"! It's very important! And now this terrible blanket has come along and taken that away her only source of solace from her hectic schedule.

THIS NEW BLANKET IS TEARING OUR FAMILY APART!

[BrotherMan]

Sorry, pea. You have to burn the new devil blanket. It's obviously evil and will soon begin a slow possession of those around you, turning them against you in the most horrific ways imaginable. I'm talking underpants and polo shirted horrors here. Underpants made of polo shirts. Underpants with popped collars and little figures of polo guys or little crocodiles in inconvenient locations, drawing attention to things best left unattented (sic). Get rid of it now lest you become the very thing you have always feared.

Respectable.

[Ensign Steve]

Ripley has some kind of weird rash or something going on. Her fur is too thick to see what's going on with the skin, but the fur itself has huge lumps all over it, like she's broken out in giant hives underneath or something. It's mostly over her lower back and back legs.

She was home with the sitter for four days while we were out of town, so I have no idea if she got into some garbage or what the deal is. We're out of benadryl so I gave her a claratin, and she seems to be doing better. Either that or it was never that bad in the first place and I've gotten used to how it looks so it's not so shocking anymore.

Poor puppy!

[BrotherMan]

[livius drusus]

Did the sitter have anything to report?

[lisarea]

On the very strong recommendation of the lady who runs our bunny shelter, we've started Buddy, Battlecat, and my mom on a new cetyl myristoleate arthritis supplement. (The one we got also has glucosamine and chrondroitin, which Buddy has already been taking and having really good results with.)

It's only been a couple of days, but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone has any arthritis problems and wants to try it too. I'll also try to remember to report back on the results.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by lisarea

we've started Buddy, Battlecat, and my mom on a new cetyl myristoleate arthritis supplement.

Given the thread title, presumably Buddy goes Arf-Arf, Battlecat goes Meow-Meow and your mom goes E I E I O?

[Vivisectus]

We had a small spat this morning regarding the catbed-rights, as brownies attempt to reclaim it are not going to plan. Cupcake simply moves in next to him, much to Brownies dismay and disgust. Minor fisticuffs ensued.

So I closed to livingroom door so things can cool down a little bit. He likes ot hang out with me during the day anyway.

Apparently Molly thinks that since the cats can sleep in my room, so can she. Going upstairs to go to bed is rapidly becoming a bit of a ritual procession as we all troop upstairs to get settled in.

And now it is almost time to decorate for christmas. With 2 kittens in the house, and 2 rambunctious dogs. I give that tree three, maybe four days before it comes toppling down.

[curses]

If you put a tree up then the bottom 1/3 will be totally devoid of ornaments practically overnight.

[Vivisectus]

That is if no-one decides to run up it for a laugh. Mrs Sectus plans to ban all animals from the kitchen / livingroom area, and have them all restricted to the TV-room and the room-what-we-put-stuff-we-dont-use-a-lot-in. I guess she intends to spend christmas as the door police.

I intend to either accept the inevitable, unless Mrs Sectus will let me invest in a small battery pack and about 20 feet of electric fencing. A little kindness goes a long way, but a lot of cruelty works just as well.

[Vivisectus]

After hours of intense negotiations and multiple summits, a decision of earth-shattering political import has finally been reached, and both delegations have agreed to the new power-sharing structure. All agreed that from now on there are to be 3 distinct classes of society: the Can-opening and Poop-scooping classes, Smelly dumb four-leggers and the two members of the Master Race.

The Cat-bed is henceforth to be shared, as well as the Nice Spot In Front Of The Fire. All inter-cat violence is to be limited to minor play-scuffles. This has the advantages that they can now curl up together in the catbed for warmth and general adorableness (picture to follow, missed it last evening) and that they can both get that hard-to-reach spot on top of their heads groomed by experts.

As the god-anointed aristocatcy have made peace, so peace descends on the house, and the can-opening peasantry can enjoy the blessings of benign tyranny, each in their proper place according to their station.

[JoeP]

Disappointingly, only #3 in "inter-cat violence" - Google Search

[Vivisectus]

Here are the Lord and Lady of the manor, gracing me with a photo-op:



Nothing can relax like a cat.



And here, we have the "Caption My Cat" competition, for 500 Quatloos and a dead mans stereo:

[Vivisectus]

An interesting new development has emerged. The kittens like to roughhouse a bit together, and the little one is quite vocal. At first we thought she was getting beaten up on, as Brownie is the bigger and stronger of the two, but then we noticed that she chases after him and will attack him in the same manner afterwards, and also that every now and again she makes the same sound when engaging a small stuffed animal in close combat.

For a while, we would just break them up when it sounded too bad.

Now we do not have to do that any more. Molly has taken over the role of kitten playground police, and she is surprisingly good at it. Generally she just sticks her nose in to separate the two, but last night she actually picked one up by the scruff of its neck and put it down again a few feet away. The complaining, meowing sound attracts her every time.

I am curious to see how this will develop. She seems to have identified them as youngsters, and I have seen her attempt to correct them around her food bowl the way you would a puppy: they are tolerated and get a lot of license, but they are not allowed to be too intrusive or to go too far.

[BrotherMan]

I hereby declare that Molly should go on an (inter)national tour of ers to share her great wisdom, velvety judgement and general awesome adorableness.

[vremya]

Wow - look how big Brownie is!

ETA - Cupcake looks like Meep's twin -

[Vivisectus]

He is now a lean and sleek young tom. Amazing when you realize that when I found him, he looked like this:

[Watser?]

Careful with that! It turns human brains to mush!

[LadyShea]

Lana is not graceful. She is, in fact, a clumsy oaf. And she insists on hauling herself ungracefully onto your lap with much scrabbling of feet and sweeping of things off the table with her tail.

Good thing she is adorable.

[Vivisectus]

and now he looks like this:

[Watser?]

Obviously plotting to take over the world