Time Disintegration

I have been working on teaching the kitties that they must sleep through the night as there will no longer be food left out for them and I will not get up to feed them in the middle of the night. This is mainly so that I can monitor Puff's intake as he must lose weight. Godiva isn't a problem as she's not overweight but she is a problem in that she apparently thinks she must have a few bites of kibble every 4 hours or so. As you can imagine, it's not so easy to teach 7 year old cats anything. I have managed to teach Puff not to holler during the night and that he can have a safe place on the bed but he must be quiet on the bed. This has worked out great. However, there is one problem with this in that he thinks I am the only one who has the power to enforce this "quiet at night and quiet on the bed" rule. When we are gone and my daughter takes care of the cats, he goes back to his old habit of wandering around at will and hollering.
We were doing fairly well with the training of sleeping through the night and no food bowls left out also. Daylight savings time did confuse them. I had gotten them to go to bed around 11 p.m. and not bother me until about 6 a.m. Daylight savings plan through them off key and they started bothering me about 5 a.m. This was still good though and a much improved time from the 2:30 and 3:30 a.m. feedings that Godiva, especially, used to insist upon getting. But again, it seems that I was the only one that could get them to "behave" during the night. I went away for a week and left them with my daughter, who dearly loves them also. BUT they somehow forgot all my hard work and started getting her up at 3:30 and 4 a.m. and demanding that they get food. She did not bend to their wishes but it made for a very short night of sleep for her.
When I got back, it seems that time has disintegrated for Godiva. She seems to be locked into the 4 a.m. time slot as her morning wake up call. She is not getting her breakfast until 6:30 a.m. but it still means that if she is awake at 4, then so am I. I am trying various techniques to overcome this and get her to stay quiet and asleep until around 6 but so far, no luck. Since we are currently and temporarily living in a one bedroom hotel room, there are a lot of factors that I cannot control, like the neighbor's alarm clock, the hallway noise, the cars passing, etc. I hope that these are contributing factors and eventually I will prevail over these small fuzzy animals with brains the size of walnuts. We shall see. In the meantime, I am getting a lot of stuff done on my computer in the early hours of the morning. Gotta look on the plus side for everything.

Cats and Bags and Lead Paint

Our Puff has recently decided that it is a great joy to lick bags. I am talking about the "green" bags that you get at different shops and stores so that you can bring them back to the store and thus avoid using plastic bags. Sometimes these "green" bags are plastic themselves and other times they are some sort of cheap cloth and will last through a good many trips to the store until they finally crumble away into component parts. I have several red ones that have come from Diver's Direct, a black one from a grocery store and several other plastic ones from grocery stores plus one that changes colors in the sun from Del Sol. Usually these bags are thrown on the floor as I empty them and then gathered to go back to the car. Since I am living out of a hotel room still, several of the larger red bags from Diver's Direct have been pressed into use as holding containers. Until a couple of days ago, they were sitting underneath the desk or underneath tables and such. There is no room in the minuscule hotel room for them to live in the closet.
I had noticed a week or so ago that Puff was spending an inordinate amount of time crouched next to one bag or another and licking the bag. He would dart off the minute I would holler at him to stop only to creep over to the bag again and start licking it again. Usually he could do this quietly so I often didn't catch him until all other noises would cease (hotel hall noises) and then I would hear the lick, lick, slurp, slurp as he lovingly laved the bag with his tongue. He's gotten a real oral fixation on these bags. He started doing it more and more until I decided it was a possible danger to him and finally found a perch above the television for the bags. I have no idea what attracted him to the bags and why he started licking them and progressively got more and more aggressive about it. My husband told me that he read somewhere that some of these "green" bags contain lead paint! Oh my gosh. I hope I have not inadvertently poisoned my kitty! I guess all that lead paint from ages ago has been sitting in warehouses waiting to be used for something. How ironic that it gets used in "green" bags. For now, Puff is unable to lick the bags. What will he find next?

Blink!

Those familiar with the British television program, Doctor Who, might recognize the title. If you are a fan and have watched the series, especially when David Tennant was Doctor Who, you will remember that this show featured stone angels who looked fine when you watched them but turned into evil beings who crept up upon you and killed you when you didn't watch them. So when you were in their presence, you had to look at them all the time and not even blink. These angels were also revisited in the current series with Matt Smith as Doctor Who.

My cats have developed these same sneaky feature, except the killing part, thank goodness. If I am watching them, they will sit across the room and gaze at me. Once I glance away or blink, they are closer the next time I look until finally, they are at my feet or about to get into my lap. It is amazing how fast they move and how silently they move and how close they can creep up to me without me noticing that they have done it. Since seeing the Doctor Who show with this feature, I always think about these angels whenever the cats are creeping. Don't Blink!!!

Mis-Understanding Daylight Savings Time

My kitties have been placed on a diet and are learning a new behavior, I hope. They no longer have free access to the food bowls at all hours of the day or night. This is because Puff needs to lose about 5 pounds. Most of it is my fault, but even when he was in kitty prison a couple of months ago, I specifically told them he was not to have more than a certain amount of food daily and they didn't pay attention to that. Their idea of a good kennel is to keep all the animals fed and quiet. So Puff gained weight while he was in the kennel because, like me (unfortunately), he eats because the food is there.

After getting him out of the kennel, I knew it was time for a diet. I also knew it was not going to be an easy task because they love to get up around 2 or 3 a.m. and have a small snack. So this re-training was not going to be easy. I knew it meant some sleepless nights for me but I am determined to get the weight off Puff and to get them out of the habit of eating in the middle of the night. So bowls up!

We have been doing pretty good. After a couple of weeks, I had gotten them moved from a 2 a.m. wake up call to a 5 a.m. wake up call. Then disaster. This week we moved to daylight savings time. Oh my cats do NOT understand why they cannot have the food when they think it is time. As such, they are now dancing on my head at 4 a.m. because they think it is 5. They still aren't getting their food until almost 7 but there is no way I can stay in bed once the dancing starts. I hope it doesn't take long for them to adjust.

Yoga Cat

I am exceptionally bad about doing exercises on a regular basis. I have the best of intentions but it just doesn't get done somehow. I am trying again to get into a regular rhythm so this week I have purchased a couple of DVD's, one yoga and one pilates. There is scant room in the hotel suite to do it but if I move some furniture around, I have just enough room to stretch and lay on the floor and kick about. This morning, my fuzzy little Siamese decided that yoga was for her too. She was happy to stretch beside me but that was as far as she got. The rest of the time, she was the cheerleader. "Come on, mom. You can do it. I'll show you how much I love you by rubbing on your legs as you stretch up. I'll see if your downward dog is high enough by walking underneath you while you hold your pose. Let me check your balance as I twine around your legs on proud warrior." As she had already been fed, it wasn't because she was hungry. Just helping out so I can get the added benefit of obstacle avoidance during yoga. I did NOT fall over so I think we managed to work well together this morning.

moving the family pets

Staybridge Suites is a modest hotel that has lots of rooms and a high percentage of guests that are "long term" like myself. We're all staying in the hotel for a month or more while waiting for things to happen. For me, I'm waiting for my husband to get his "official" paperwork that will tell us for sure when we are moving and where and what we take with us. Then we leap into action and start doing things to get ready for the move, hopefully. We have sort of started early in getting the cats ready because there is a time frame on taking them overseas. We hope to be within the time frame or close to it so we started early on them, even without the "official" paperwork.

For other families here in the hotel, they already have their paperwork and have shown up in this area to make the move. They are looking for housing, finding transportation, putting kids in schools, getting doctors, etc. etc. As they have mostly come from different states, they don't have the problems in moving animals that you get with moving animals overseas. Staybridge is good about letting people stay with menageries. Most people here with pets have more than one. I have two cats. The people across the hall have two dogs, a bird, and a bunch of guinea pigs. I think that's the only bird in residence at the moment. Other people have multiple dogs, multiple cats, hamsters, mice, fish, but luckily no one is staying with a snake at the moment. I really wouldn't even want to know that.

So with the other animals in the hotel, my cats are very intent on listening at the door constantly. Something interesting might walk by or something interesting might make a sound across the hall. The other animals in the hotel don't bother me. They are all quieter than the other guests!

changing bowls

The Changing Bowls

Puff, our tabby, is on a diet. I have mentioned how he gained weight when he was in the kennel even though they were supposed to control his food. Now I cannot be lazy about it anymore but have got to make him loose weight. So, I have to measure out food for him and put it in a bowl for him, he eats and then the bowl is put away until the next time. The food stays in the bowl all day because it is measured. Since I am doing this for him, I measure the food for Godiva too and she gets the same treatment. Hopefully, I will be able to get them on the same eating schedule at some point. Last night, one wanted food at 3:30 and the other at 4:00 and then again at 4:30. When kitties are hungry in the middle of the night, nobody sleeps.

Before going to bed, I try to give them some food so maybe they will last longer before the tummy calls in the middle of the night. Both of them seem to feel that the food in the bowl is no longer very good. It has been there all day after all. Both of them seem to feel that the food in the other bowl would be much tastier and better. Both of them try to sneak around me to change bowls and get some out of the other cat’s bowl. I am too clever for that because I am standing right there to make sure they do not do that. Puff glared at me and then picked up a piece of cat kibble with his paw and sniffed it in disdain. He dropped it back in the bowl, looked at Godiva’s bowl again, with lust in his tummy, and finally consented to eat out of his bowl. I did get several more nasty looks from both cats as they coveted each others bowls.

No matter. I am sticking to my principals here to make both cats lose some weight and I will not be swayed. I think my hubby and daughter have opened a pool on how long it will take the cats to break me.

The pain of dieting

The Pain of Dieting

Our brown mackerel Tabby is a tub of love. He is a rescue cat so it actually took him several years before he got to be affectionate. Now he is really needy and wanting some attention all of time (when he is awake). He loves belly rubs and will happily lay on his back on my lap so I can rub his tummy. He is a big boy and I have been trying to put him on a diet for a long time to no avail. Mostly because it is too much work for me. Last month when he was forced to live in a boarding kennel for 3 weeks, I thought it would be a great time to start his diet and instructed the vet and kennel people that he was on a diet and to restrict his intake. This did not happen. In fact, from the look of things, I think they just kept a full bowl of food in his cage at all times. Our tub of love has turned into a tub of lard!

Puff’s (the tabby) has a health risk now. He has already had one incident of a blood clot in his leg and it was a miracle that we were able to save him and he bounced back to health. Now he is overweight by a lot and so I have no choice now but to put him on a diet and enforce it no matter what. We started last night.

The diet hasn’t worked before because I would measure the food and leave it out in the bowls. When he finished his, he would just start on Godiva’s. So now it is measure the food into the bowls, give them each their own bowl and make sure that they only eat from their bowl plus pick up the bowl when they are finished.

They have both been night eaters. Godiva is very fond of eating around 3:30 in the morning and she must have me show her where the bowl is just in case it has magically moved or disappeared since I put it there several hours before. We had it down to a science. I would push her off the bed in the direction of the bowl and she would find it. Then I could fall back asleep quickly. Puff would take note of the action and then just swing by and take a lot of bites and then back on the bed. Now I have to get up, take their bowls out of the drawer (the only place in the hotel room I could find to put them so they couldn’t jump up on the counter and help themselves), put the bowls on the floor and wait for them to eat. As I am not good at falling asleep in a short amount of time, this means by the time they have finished eating, I am wide awake. Today they had me up at 4:51 a.m. and I wasn’t able to get back to sleep.

So the pain of dieting is going to be my pain. It’s going to be the pain of losing a lot of sleep as I re-train two cats (who are 7 ½ years old) that they need to eat during the day, that they need to sleep at night and be quiet, that they will get fed in the morning after the alarm clock rings. I need to get them used to staying with their bowl and leaving the other bowl alone (they always think they other bowl has more interesting food). I think I am in for a lot of pain. First night of the diet meant I had 5 hours of sleep. Both of them are curled up and back asleep although I see Puff is staring at the drawer where the food bowls are. This is not going to be easy. This is going to be painful.

Misson: Feline Rescue

Mission: Feline Rescue

We finally decided that it was ridiculous to keep the cats in the boarding kennel/prison. Or possibly to be more accurate, we were missing them a lot. We drove up to Corolla to do our Segway tour and on the way back, stopped to pick up the cats. According to the "kennel technician", Godiva finally became a bit more friendly and allowed them to touch her when they cleaned her cage and fed her.

When they brought her out in her cage, she saw me and started meowing immediately. We paid the exorbitant fee and got into the car to go back to the house. It was 20 miles from the rental house and since we had snuck the litter box into the house earlier, we left them in the cages just in case.

Back at the house, we threw things over the cages so it wouldn't look like we had cages. My hubby said that it just looked like overnight bags but they do have air holes in them so we didn’t want to take a change. According to the lease I signed, we are not supposed to have the cats in the rental house but dogs are fine. My personal feeling is that a dog does more damage than a cat but not the rental company feeling. Since they had lied to me about allowing cats, I truly didn’t feel bad about having them in the house for a couple of days. In retrospect, I think we could have had them in the house the entire time. I rarely break rules because I almost always get caught when I do.

The cats were incredibly happy to see us. Luckily they have little kitty brains because otherwise they would remember that I was the one that put them into the prison. They spent the entire night purring and sitting on our laps. I am so happy for them to be home.

Godiva is still P.O'd

The cats are still in prison. I am missing them a lot although I do have to admit that I am sleeping through the entire night now. I called the kennel the other day to see how they were. Godiva is still hissing at everyone who comes near the cage. Poor baby. She hasn't had any loving then since I left her there. She is going to be one mightily angry kitty when we pick her up from the kennel finally. I am also wavering a lot in that I think I could sneak them into the rental house without a problem. Except it's never good to do stuff like that. I always get caught and I did agree not to have them hear. It is driving me crazy that they are gone. I hope they forgive me.

Ghost Cats

Currently my two cats are in boarding. I've now spent two nights in the rental house in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, without them. I think they are haunting me because they don't like being in the kennel. Sometimes I think I see them out of the corner of my eye and then when I look, of course they aren't here. Then I think I hear them but they aren't here. They are both about 7 1/2 years old and we have had them for over 7 years then. I have gotten so used to them being around me all the time that I just think they are here until I start to look for them and then realize how dumb that is. The brain wants to believe what it wants to see. I want to see my kitties.

They sleep on the bed with me so last night I piled a bunch of clothes in the corner of the bed where Puff sleeps. I thought maybe if I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the clothes, I'd go back to sleep again thinking that Puff was there. OK, yes, that was totally dumb. Maybe I was just too tired to put away the clothes.

Usually they wake me once or twice during the night. Puff does this by meowing loudly until I respond. Godiva does it by tapping my face until I wake up. So no meowing last night and no tapping on my face but I still woke up at about 3:30 which is about the time Godiva taps my face. Last night though I didn't have to get out of bed and go show her where the food bowl is. I know she doesn't forget but she wants me to take her to the food bowl at 3:30 a.m.

6:30 a.m. is usually the time Puff or Godiva wakes me again. This is my morning alarm clock. They don't want anything at that time, just for me to get out of bed. This morning, I am awake at 6:30. What is lovely is that I could roll over and go back to sleep. Can't do that when they are here.

We'll see how many times I think I see them today.

Prison or Camp

Hit the Outer Banks today and had to put the cats into a boarding kennel. We will not go into the reasons for this, suffice to say that the beach house rental company totally screwed me on this and I had no choice or it would have cost me several thousand dollars. OK. guess I sort of did go into it. The cats have never been in a kennel. When we have left them to go on vacation or whatever, we left them in their own home with a cat sitter OR my daughter had them with her but they were always with people they knew and liked. Now they are in a strange place and in strange cages and there will be no one but other cats in the building at night. Poor babies. I am going to have to think about it as if they are going to camp. I hated it when my daughter first went to camp and missed her a lot. But I got through it and so did she. While I don't think the kitties will enjoy the experience as much, they will survive and so will I but they would have loved this rental house and it's very, very, very quiet here.

Noises Cats Hate

My second night in this hotel in North Carolina and there was a fire alarm. Luckily it was a false alarm. Of course it happened about midnight when we were all nestled on the bed and pretty much sound asleep. The cats both sat up in alarm and stared at the door. I cursed and hoped out of bed and grabbed Godiva and stuffed her in the carrying cage which luckily I had kept on the floor close to the bed for once. some hotels I stuff them in the closet. Tonight taught me not to do that. By now, Puff had figured out he didn't like what was going on, neither the noise nor the stuffing in a cage so he ran. Again, luck was with me because the bed was the kind where they can't get all the way under it but he did manage to squeeze between the bed and the wall. I had to pull off the mattress to get him but that was still better than having to get on the floor and try to pull him out by his tail or leg. I hate doing that and so does he. Grabbed my purse and computer bag and headed for the stairs.

As I said, it was a false alarm but you still have to wait for the fire department to come and check out everything and then they have to turn off the alarm and then everyone is welcome to return to their rooms. The hotel wasn't very full. There were only about 25 people outside, several with dogs. The rest of the night wasn't that restful as the cats kept looking towards the door as if something else could happen. I wasn't sleeping that well either because you know the alarm went off because some jerk blew smoke at it - in a non smoking hotel. Just what we need, drunken fools with a warped sense of humor.

An Occupied Bed

My daughter is currently with me for a week while we visit the different theme parks in Orlando. Tomorrow we go to Savannah, Georgia for a day and a half before she has to return home and I head on to North Carolina. The cats are ecstatic that she is here. She gives great belly rubs and pays attention to them when I am not. They also provide another bed for them to occupy. They love to lay on the bed when someone is in it. If the bed is empty, it's not near as much fun to be there. So while I am working on the computer, she is in bed reading and all the cats cozy up to her. I have to go get them when I get ready to go to bed. They won't understand that and will glare at me like I am an ogre taking them away from one of their favorite people. Silly cats. I am supposed to be their favorite person but they seem to forget that whenever she is around.

Godiva lost her MoJo

Godiva has lost her car MoJo. Last three or four trips she was just fine. Not so today. She got sick and threw up in the front seat just as I am traveling through a toll booth. There was absolutely no place to pull over and clean up or help her or anything. Poor kitty. We did not even do a lot of curving roads either. Of course, I messed up and put out some food in case they were hungry in the car and she had helped herself. No more food in the car for the first several hours until they get their car legs again.

Time to move on

The cats know something is happening. They always know when their lives are about to be in turmoil. SO I am awake at 3:30 a.m. and trying to get my mind to shut up so I can go back to sleep for a little while. Of course they both went back to sleep once they woke me. I keep thinking of things I need to do before I leave this house and what still needs to be packed. How long can it take, for gosh sakes, as I have been doing this for awhile now and this is not the only place where I have stopped for a month. Geez. You'd think I was brand new at this nomad thing. OK, that's it. gotta go back to bed. shut up mind, stop whirling. Everything will get packed and I will be in Orlando before I know it. Hello Mickey, Hello Harry. Here we come.

Living on Borrowed Time

Puff got the all clear this week from the vet. He has recovered from his ordeal. He's not limping anymore either. However, the bad news is that his blood clot could occur again. He is now more susceptible for this to happen. If it does happen again, I would need to get him to a vet just about as fast as we did the last time. Getting treatment within a hour or so saved his life. Dang, this is not a good thing to have for a cat on the move, a cat on the road. So I think what I will have to do is map out a few vets along our routes, just in case. We would like Puff's "borrowed time" to last a very long time. Love ya Puff.

Cat Fur Drifts

As my hubby is leaving to go get his hair cut, I walked out onto the porch with him to start getting the dive gear ready for a dive this afternoon. As I am walking out, I pick up various little tufts of cat fur lying on the floor. My hubby comments, "we don't get dust bunnies, we get cat fur drifts." Oh how true. Puff shed a ton of fur this week in his panic at being sick and not knowing what was happening to him. Godiva sheds a ton of fur on a regular basis. She is not a long haired cat but a medium haired cat that seems to grow fur on a prodigious basis and needs to shift a lot of it into corners and under furniture. I can't even imagine how much fur there must be adrift in a house with long haired cats! We had a cleaner come into the rental house this week and the main thing she did was vacuum up cat fur. wow. There is just so much of it. I wish there was a market for it because I think I could make some serious money off of it.

Things back to normal

Puff had his catheter out yesterday and spent a good deal of the evening cleaning that foot and leg. Must have been really itchy because he sure did scratch it a lot. Then to bed as usual around 10:30 or so. And both cats were up again, as usual at 3 a.m., 4 a.m, 5 a.m, and 6 a.m. Things are back to normal and it was as irritating as it ever was but I'm not saying anything anymore about being nasty to them for waking me up early.

Balloon Paws and Cat Massage

I am happy to report that Puff is doing really well after I jinxed him and he had a blood clot. The vet thought the first night that he had about a 5% chance of survival. Now, 4 days later, Puff is doing good, the vet is amazed, and his chances are up to 90% or so. He still could have a relapse so we have to monitor him closely but he's looking good, only limping a little, and had the catheter removed today.

Last night, Puff was feeling better and the tranquilizer was wearing thin (we have had him sedated since the beginning because he was so panicked). He was busy trying to pull off the tape around his leg and around the catheter. I tried to tighten it up and keep it in place. I was a bit too thorough. It was a tad too tight and as we are watching television, my hubby notices that Puff's paw is about the size of a small balloon. opps. I had to unwrap all the bandages down to the skin and try and re-wrap without getting it too tight. I was successful but whereas we would have stopped the tranquilizers last night, we felt he needed one more night on the dope so he would leave the bandage alone.

Today the vet removed the catheter and Puff has a small bandage on his leg which I can take off in an hour, if he doesn't beat me to it. We have to continue giving him baby aspirin, which is something that normally you wouldn't give a cat, but he needs it for another 5 days. Because his pulse still isn't that strong in his back legs, I now need to massage his back legs and groin every night. That Puff! he's getting spa treatments now! And we think it all started because he didn't want to go on a diet. We're just very glad that he is still with us. Love that Puff.

Taking Care of Coincidences OR Puff gets sick

Taking Care of Coincidences

I feel so very, very, VERY guilty. I wrote that I was so angry at my cats for waking me up all night long and especially Puff for his meowing and wandering, usually right after we have gone to bed. I wrote that I might murder both cats. A week after I wrote that, Puff almost died. We were sitting in the house and doing our nightly type of thing when Puff started in on his meowing and wandering and I was admonishing at him to be quiet because sometimes he listens to me and shuts up. Suddenly his meowing changed to one of panic and distress. If you have a pet, you know that their cries can sound different and when you have lived with a pet a long time, you can recognize when something is wrong. We looked his way and noticed he had fallen over on his left side. As we are watching, he tries to get up and falls over again. We immediately get on line to find a vet in the area even if it is 10 p.m. at night. My husband calls the vet and the vet asks some questions and then tells us to bring Puff to the office and he will meet us there.

Puff in the meantime and skedaddled and gone under the bed. Hubby has to get him out and Puff is really unhappy and scared and panting. Poor Baby. We stuff him in his cage and away to the vet. We were flying by landmark and almost missed our turn. Came really close to hitting the car on a road sign but we made it safe to the office and in a couple of minutes, a car pulls up and the vet has arrived. Puff is so distressed that he pooped in his cage which he never, ever does. So now we are on the vet’s table with cat poop, a scared and panic cat who is panting and trying to jump away but unable because one leg is not working.

The vet does his thing and then tells us that Puff has developed a clot in his femoral artery. It is a fatal thing but usually it is both legs and not just one. He cannot feel a pulse in Puff’s left leg. He cuts one of the claws very short, into the quick, and there is no blood. This is bad. He pinches Puff between the toes and no response. Very bad. So the prognosis is Puff will probably lose the use of his other leg sometime tonight. The best we can do is give him some Heparin (a blood thinner) and a baby aspirin, a tranquilizer, and wait and see. He’ll either get a bit better or he’ll lose the other leg and have to be euthanized. Poor Puff, Poor Us, Poor Guilty Me for starting the whole thing by jinxing my cats

We are able to drive back home, through the tears, with Puff now quiet in the cage. He had some Heparin in the office and we will give him a baby aspirin when we get home. The vet was really willing to go some measures because normally, a baby aspirin is not something that is good for cats. I give Puff his tranquilizer and he settles down for the night.

Puff made it through the night and we took him back to the vet the next morning. The vet was amazed that he made it and had not lost the other leg yet. So another shot of Heparin. Because the treatment seems to be working, Puff got a catheter in his leg and I have to give him a nighttime shot of Heparin. Puff doesn’t like the catheter so he got a “cone of shame” too (If you saw the movie UP, then you know that is what the dogs all called the collar put around an animal to keep them from gnawing on a bandage or wound). It took Puff about 5 minutes to work his way out of the cone. Cats are somewhat smarter than dogs!

We are now on our third day since the incident. Puff is doing better. He went from a 5% chance of survival the night it happened, to a 20% chance the next day and while not out of the woods yet, he’s up to about a 50% chance of survival. Yea Puff! I’m so sorry Puff. I’ll never get that angry at either of my kitties again. It just might start something bad. Love Ya Puff!

Smells Bad

Smells Bad!

We had to take our Puff to the emergency vet last night (more on that later). He was poked and prodded and handled by the strange human in the strange office full of chemical smells, other animal smells, and just yucky stuff. When we brought him home, Godiva decided he was some stranger because he didn’t smell like himself. He smells bad. My sweet little Godiva turns into a snarling, hissing menace when anything “vet” happens be it to her or to one of the other cats in our household. First thing she does is hiss at Puff.

Poor Puff had not had a good night so he wanted on the bed to sleep with us. That is his usual nighttime location but he wanted closer than usual and took Godiva’s spot which is between us and between the pillows. That did not set well with Godiva. She came and hissed at him for awhile and when he did not get out of her spot, she went to the end of the bed and pouted for awhile. Puff finally left and went elsewhere but now Godiva’s favorite spot smells bad too. Several times during the night, she tried to get comfortable in her spot but she just couldn’t. She would hiss upon lying down in her spot, then growl and fidget and finally growl and leave. No one got much sleep. Godiva thought I smelled bad too at first because I had been holding Puff at the vet’s office but she finally stopped growling when I was holding her. She still thinks Puff is a different cat and she isn’t too sure about my hubby now either. It will probably take the rest of the day for her to decide all is almost normal.

Cat Eating Disorders OR Pudgy Puff Diets

Cat Eating Disorders or Pudgy Puff Diets

It seems to be fairly certain that Puff has an eating disorder. He eats because he’s bored, because he’s lonely, because he’s tired, because he just can’t think of anything else to do, when he’s happy and when he’s sad and when he’s in trouble and when he’s mad at us. We have been fairly lax about watching his weight too. When we lived in a large house, he got some exercise every day even if it was just running to the kitchen when he heard the food bowl. Unfortunately, that stopped in April when we started our nomad existence. While he has lived in a few houses off and on since April, none have been large and none have given him much exercise. So he stepped up to the plate, so to speak, and increased his consumption. He has gained weight in the last couple of months and now we need to get it off of him. He’s a huge tub of love whose body slams on the bed at night are enough to shake the room. We have purchased some “weight maintenance” food for him and of course he doesn’t like it. This means more whining and calling and meowing, usually in the middle of the night. In the past, we would relent and give him what he likes to keep him quiet. We have determined that we will not do so this time because we want him to live good long time with us so he has got to lose weight. Poor Puff. He doesn’t understand why his bowl, which once was so full, is now fairly empty all the time. Poor Puff. He doesn’t understand why all his snacks have gone away and goodies are few and far between. Poor Puff. He doesn’t like it that we yell at him at night when he asks for something tastier. Ah well. He is not yet a shadow of his former self. When that happens, we will add back some treats. This, of course, is assuming that we can outlast his pitiful meowing and crying. This, of course, assumes we stick to our guns and measure out his food daily and slowing ration it out to him. I will keep you posted.

And the Cats Might Die

I do love my two cats. But after last night, there was a good chance that they could die because I was about ready to hop out of bed and kill them myself. Sometimes they wake us at night - well, ok, they wake us almost every night but usually just once or maybe twice. That is usually because they have forgotten where the food bowl is, they are telling us they have come back to bed, OR they just want some attention. it's ok and we quickly fall asleep again. On the rare occasion, they wake us several times during the night. Then it's usually all of the above reasons. Last night was one of the most sleepless nights in a very long time due to Puff, the tabby, who for some reason decided he couldn't sleep and had to wander the house all night and he cannot possibly do so quietly. From about midnight onwards, he was on and off the bed, in and out of the kitchen, in and out of the litter box, and through it all, he was vocalizing his location, his activities, his displeasure at the food (just bought a new kind and I think they don't like it), and his announcements that he was back in the bedroom. I punched my hubby at least three times to make him get up and go see what was wrong with Puff. Finally on the fourth punch, he refused to get up and I had to climb out of bed and go see what was wrong. Imagine that. Puff was sitting by his food bowl and gazing forlornly at it although it was full. I dumped all the food back into the box and scooped out a new bowl and that seemed to please him. Of course now I was wide awake so I stayed up and started the day's work and activities. Lovely Puff, Loud Puff, Noisy Puff, Throwing You Off The Bed Puff, Locking You Out Of The Bedroom Puff, Be Quiet Puff, I Give Up Mom. He's still a cutie and a big tub of love but he's pushing his cuteness today.

Back and forth - To and Fro - Barf

Back and forth – To and Fro – Barf

Cats are certainly not as accomplished in the area of travel as are dogs. Dogs seem to love to get in a car and go someplace. My cats are ever watchful when we start organizing suitcases and start carrying out our bags. If we are not quick, they end up under the bed where we cannot get them into their cages. We let them out of their cages the minute we are in the car, but they would still rather not be in the car.

Still, they have been rather good travelers overall. They have water and food out for them and their litter box. Usually they wander around a bit and then either settle down on the seat beside me (if I am driving by myself), or sit on my lap if I am in the passenger seat. So when Godiva, the Siamese, started throwing up each time she got into the car for a ride, I was dismayed that she had developed motion sickness and that each trip was going to involved stopping to clean it up and then motoring onward.

My daughter had the two cats while I was traveling in China, Russia, and the DPRK this month. She reported that each time Godiva was in the car she would give this pitiful little meow and then barf. Yuck. Poor Godiva. It was with great trepidation when I got the cats back and started out with them to head for Atlanta to meet my husband. I thought if she barfs, I am going to be pulling over on the freeway to clean it up and have to have it in the car with me until I can find somewhere to throw it away. So I am driving and keeping an eye on Godiva who is settling down on the passenger seat and looking suspiciously at the paper towels that are covering the seat. I finally realized that she was going to be fine and was able to relax. Next day of driving, same thing. No problems at all with getting motion sickness.

Finally I realized that each time Godiva had been getting car sick, it had been because the car had been weaving and swerving and driving through the Hill Country of Texas which is up and down and around corners and to and fro and hills and so forth. Quite reasonable that this particular ride would make her sick. Sometimes I am not completely happy in the tummy region after going on some of those rides. I do hope that my theory is correct and she will be a good traveler the rest of the way.

The String Man

My daughter took care of my two babies while I was off traveling in China, Russia and DPRK. She was staying with her dad and step-mom at the time, so my two cats moved in with them. Puff is a string chaser and eater. He loves strings, shoelaces, small cords, etc. He will chase them and gnaw on them for hours. He has chewed through my camera case cord several times and also shoelaces and ties for dresses. He makes no exceptions, if it is a string, he is going to try and chew it. Puff has an amazing memory too. He will remember where he has seen a string and go back to get it when you least expect it. Many times we have thought he was unaware of a certain string only to find it in pieces next time we saw it.

My daughter's dad (T) was playing with him by draping him with a string and waiting for him to notice it then pulling it for him to pounce on it. This is a game Puff dearly loves and they played this game frequently apparently. T wears his reading glasses attached to a string that keeps them around his neck when he is not using them. One night Puff was not finished playing the string game when everyone headed into their respective bedrooms for some TV watching, book reading and then bed. Puff stood outside the bedroom door and hollered until he was admitted then jumped up on the bed and sat innocently for awhile until everyone was lulled into a false sense of security. Then he pounced. He remembered he had seen a string around my T's neck and he went for it. The fact that T was wearing the glasses at the time did not deter Puff. He had seen that string and he wanted it and he started gnawing on it as it was attached to T's glasses and face. Luckily T has a very good sense of humor but it did take him awhile to unlatch Puff from the side of his head. I do wish I had been there to see this episode.

Changing of the Guard

I'm in New Orleans for a bit. My husband was with me but he left yesterday to return to his job in Nigeria for his next 28 day rotation. I will see him again next month. I thought that my daughter might need a little break so asked her to come out here to N.O. and spend a few days and we can tour around a bit and do some things. Of course, she is the Goddess of cats and she is currently the keeper of my two fuzzy darlings. So by flying out here, that means her father will have to take charge of the fuzzies until Sunday when she returns. There is a temporary changing of the guard.

Her dad likes Puff. I would say he sees a like quality but Puff is a big scardy cat and I don't think her dad is so don't know what the appeal is there. He is ambivalent about Godiva as she has attitude. Possibly this is just what Godiva needs. if she is dependent on him for her food and water and litter box care, maybe she will stop being so persnickety to him. We shall see. He is competent so I will not worry too much about them the rest of this week. There are likely to be some tales though at the end of it.

Smutty Darling

Saw my babies yesterday. They are currently staying with my daughter while we did our week of diving in the Turks and Caicos. They have to stay with her another month as I am going to China at the end of this month to do a bit of traveling. We did go see them for one night as we had to go pick up our car. They did their usual "we can't see you, you left us" for about an hour and then were quite happy to be with us.

Godiva spent most of the night sitting on my chest and purring loudly. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep. Puff spent a good deal of the night lying on the foot of the bed but he would have to get up and go check my daughter's bedroom as her door was closed. He was pretty sure he knew she was in there and couldn't figure out why he couldn't get to her.

My daughter is currently staying with her father - yes, my ex-husband. We are all friends now as it's been way too long to remember all the problems of our youth. Her dad pretty much likes Puff as he is a harmless big tub of love. But Godiva has issues. She has always been a prima-donna. So she has been going up to my daughter's dad, rubbing against his legs, rolling over for a belly rub (yes, she is a "tummy 'ho" and we know it), and then hissing when he leans down to give her a rub. So he hasn't taken to her as he has to Puff. I don't know what is up with the hissing. Does she possibly sense that there was friction between us some 35++ years ago? Wouldn't that be a kick. I think it is more that she doesn't like the nickname he has given her. He calls her Smutty. Godiva is a tortie-point Siamese in color. So her fur looks like it is smeared and muddled on some places. He says it looks like she feel down a chimney so he dubbed her Smutty. We insisted that if he used that analogy, it should be Sooty. He finally just settled for calling her a dirty cat. I'm sure she is offended.

We only got to spend one night with them and I miss her again. She is so cute. But the time will pass quickly because I have a lot of traveling to do. Plus my daughter keeps us updated on all their activities. then when I get back from China, they start traveling with me again, in the car. I'm sure they will then think maybe it was better when I left them behind.

The cats go on vacation

Tomorrow my husband and I leave for a week in the Turks and Caicos islands, diving and doing water things. The cats cannot come, obviously. They will be heading to the hill country to spend a month with my daughter. So there might not be a lot of stories while I am traveling without them. Although I am sure my daughter will keep me appraised of their exploits.

Godiva's silent meow

I thought I remembered reading a book or an article by some famous author who discusses his cat having a silent meow. I tried to find that book this morning and couldn't locate it on Google. But there were several articles and other books referencing a cat's silent meow or miaow or mieow or however they chose to spell that wonderful sound that comes out of a cat's mouth. If you are a cat lover-keeper-owner-friend-slave or "one who changes the litter box" then you are aware of the cat's different motions and sounds. Godiva is the first cat living with us who has had an honest to goodness "silent meow".

Godiva has always been the least vocal of our cats. This is not because she doesn't talk a lot because she does. It's just because about half the time she opens her mouth, nothing comes out. You can tell she is meowing because her body moves, the mouth moves, and she's usually looking at you, but no sound. There is a 1/4 meow and a 1/2 meow which both sound more like a little squeak. She'll stare at you and open her mouth and nothing emerges. It's wonderfully cute. If she gets up on the bed behind me, I can feel her body move when she does one of her silent miaows. I have a hard time not laughing at her because it's so funny to feel it but not hear anything. Of course, being a Siamese, she does not appreciate being laughed at so I have to be careful.

Reading the different articles I found on line this morning indicates that there are many cats out there with silent meows. Why they do it, who knows. It usually does mean something though. And given enough time, Godiva will eventually puff up enough air to get out a real meow. And other times, she is quite vocal with her calls. So a mystery that is the cat. Certainly not the only mystery either. Love these guys.

Cell phones and charms

Our Puff is a mighty hunter. At least he thinks he is. Of course his prey is always something inanimate. I am not sure how he would actually handle anything living. He'd probably be scared to death of something that actually moved towards him or moved at all. But when he thinks he does have prey, he is a stalker and hunter and seeks out that prey wherever it is.

Phone charms are quite popular in Asia. There are whole stores dedicated to selling cell phone accessories and often the little charms that you can attach to your phone are fuzzy. My daughter liked these quite a lot and so we purchased a supply of these fuzzy charms that were made to look like small mice. Puff decided that these phone charms were excellent prey.

Our daughter would put her cell phone into her purse and zip it shut. Puff learned from watching her that this prey would disappear into this bag and he would be determined to retrieve it. he learned how to work the zipper. We never actually could catch him undoing it but suddenly he would be racing into the living room with the cell phone fuzzy mouse charm in his mouth and the cell phone trailing out of his mouth. She would try all manner of ways to hide the cell phone and fuzzy mouse charm in her purse or on her dresser but he would always find it. In the mornings, she would have to hunt down her cell phone before leaving because he had invariably found it during the night and dragged it off somewhere. It because quite a battle between the two: her to find somewhere to hide the phone and him to find it and drag away that prey. It was a good thing we purchased many of the fuzzy cell phone charm mice because Puff destroyed this prey quite a few times.

Finally our daughter even put a message on her cell phone that said if she didn't answer it was because the cat had dragged away her cell phone and she hadn't found it yet. Of course the solution was not to put a fuzzy mouse charm on the cell phone and eventually that is what happened. Puff was not without his prey though. We gave him a couple of the mice for his very own. He was a most excellent hunter and destroyed the evil intruder in our homes. There were bits of fuzzy cell phone mice charms all over the house.

Cats on White

The temporary apartment has white sheets, white pillowcases, white comforter, white spread. Why would anyone put white in an apartment that is a temporary rental but for some reason the popular sentiment these days is white. We get it in a lot of hotel rooms too. I do NOT have white cats. I have placed a big beach towel across the white bed for the cats. The first couple of days, the cats stayed on the beach towel but that didn't last. Now they just love to lay on the white comforter. I can put them back on the towel and pet them and pet them and as soon as I stop, they move onto the white comforter. The white comforter is not so white in spots now but more of a fuzzy spotty color. Thank goodness for sticky rollers.

Midnight Crazies

I first heard this term, midnight crazies, from Darby Conley, the author of the comic strip, Get Fuzzy. This comic strip features a Siamese cat named Bucky, his human, Rob, and a Shar-Pei named Sachel. I've been a Get Fuzzy fan for a long time. Bucky has episodes of what Rob refers to as midnight crazies. This is when the cat runs wildly through the house for no reason at all creating havoc and destruction wherever he goes. Or sometimes just runs through the house for the fun of it I guess. Usually this happens in the late night or wee hours of the morning, hence, midnight crazies. Both my cats have this.

The last several nights, both Puff and Godiva have succumbed to the midnight crazies and they have started fairly promptly at midnight. As I am usually just going to bed at that time or trying to fall asleep at that time, the midnight crazies are driving me - well, crazy. There is not a whole lot of room in this apartment to run so part of the path of destruction they chose includes jumping up and running across the bed once or twice then disappearing under it to lie in wait for each other. And you may have guessed it by now that jumping up and running across the bed will certainly take them across my body and neither one are lightweight spring chickens.

The upshot of this behavior is I don't get to go to sleep until they have finished their tear around the rooms and I get bounced on several time by large cat bodies. OOOPPHHH. It is a crazy cat behavior that has no known cause. One minute they are sound asleep on the bed looking like little angels and then suddenly they have been shot out of a cannon and start racing around. Some weird chemical imbalance? Some horrid dream out of a kitty psyche? Play tricks on mom? I think tonight, about 1/2 hour before I am ready to go to bed, I will turn the tables on them and see how they like it.

The Petting Hour

Both of our cats are very sensual animals. Per the Webster Dictionary, this means that they like physical sensations. That's definitely true for these two cats. Puff loves to lay on different surfaces. He likes a bit of a knobby nap on carpet and furniture. Guess it sort of scratches him as he rolls around. He loves to lay on tiles or marble or concrete. I think the coolness appeals to him. They both love clean white sheets. Ok, that part I think is just the clean and white they love because the sheets sure aren't clean and white after a few hours of fuzz.

I may or may not have mentioned that both Godiva and Puff are "tummy 'ho's". Godiva will roll over onto her back for just about anyone in order to get a good belly rub. Puff's favorite position is lying on his back while being held so you can rub his belly. Godiva does like to be brushed but she won't lie still for it. She must lean into the brush and move around. I think she is trying to control where the brush goes to get the "itch" just like you would tell someone where to go to get a back scratch. Puff doesn't like the brush quite as much but his fur is shorter so I think the brush drags too much on his skin.

If you have been reading my tales, you know the cats have been keeping me up the last several nights. I guess they are bored because there isn't much here for them to do and not really a lot of room to run around although they do manage it in the middle of the night. Last night I remembered that I can be semi-asleep and still keep the cats happy with petting them. Godiva usually wants attention first. She is also easier to manipulate so that it is easy for me to keep a hand on her and stroke her every once in awhile when I come out of the fog of sleep. Puff is a bit harder because he doesn't like my hand to just rest on him, it has to be moving in some semblance of a petting motion. So approximately between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., we have the Petting Hour. I am positioned on the bed to reach Godiva or Puff and spend that hour dozing while keeping the cats quiet and somewhat somnolent. It worked fairly well for all of us last night. I don't feel like I was awake most of the night and they didn't get off the bed and start running around the apartment until almost 5. Yea for the Petting Hour.

I am not sure how this is all going to work when my husband gets here next week. The cats aren't going to get a half side of the bed as their own. So to reach them for the Petting Hour, I might have to contort myself and I am not really very good at that. Hmmmm, maybe hubby will take over the Petting Hour chores. Let's hope.

When Cats Fly

I found this article I'd written 5 years ago when we flew our cats to Korea. It was a very traumatic time for all of us. Thought I would share it.

When Puff & Godiva go traveling
Or
How to fly to Korea without Mom

We had flown the cats out to our daughter the day before we left for Korea. Continental airlines is quite good with animals, taking care that they are never overheated. We were booked on United and since we were leaving from Houston in the middle of August, United couldn't guarantee that they would let the cats get on the same flight as we were on if the weather was too hot. We had tried really hard to find a service to do it for us but most of them were uncooperative, uncommunicative, and willing to charge $2500 and up for the two cats but basically not providing anything except putting them on the plane after we dropped them off. So we determined to do it ourselves and decided to fly the cats to CA to our daughter for the weekend then on to Seoul. Because you have to have a USDA stamp on the paperwork within 10 days, we were under a time line to get it done quickly but also worried about incoming customs and afraid they’d have to go into quarantine if we got there on a Saturday, late, and found no quarantine officials at the airport to release them. .

Animal Port Houston, which another Chevron person had used for his dog, wanted to send the cats through Amsterdam! He proudly explained to me that they only use KLM because they provide a break in Amsterdam for 4 hours at a nice pet hotel and get the animals out of the cage and walk the dogs. Also, he told me, KLM does good work with taking care of the animals in flight. He patiently explained to me that NO ONE likes to fly animals over the Pacific because it is such a long flight. I listened incredulously and then asked him if he knew geography at all and explained to him that it was just as long going from Amsterdam to Seoul as it was from San Francisco to Seoul. He assured me it wasn't and gave me times of the flight and arrival times. Obviously this guy had never seen a globe and didn't know about time changes. He finally agreed to check with United to see about sending the cats with them. He called me back the next day to tell me he couldn’t provide the service because going with United would mean someone in his office would have to have the cats at the airport around 4 a.m. HELLOOO, isn’t that was “SERVICE” means? I had already checked the KLM flights and saw that they didn’t even go directly from Amsterdam to Seoul but had a plane change in Shanghai. I’ve been in the Shanghai airport and really didn’t want my cats there! I figured out to take the cats from Houston to Seoul via SFO was 16 hours in the air – 2 flights. To go from Houston to Seoul via Amsterdam was 22 hours in the air plus the nice 4 hours in a pet hotel and 3 flights. So might have been ok for dogs but not cats. I soooo wanted to ask him if he would sent animals via KLM through Amsterdam if they were only going to CA.

Anyway, cats are at our daughter's house for the weekend while we get into Seoul and make arrangements with our driver to pick us up at the airport the day the cats arrive, Monday. I have to say I did NOT like United service for the cats as they required the cats to be there 4 hours before the flight. So they were dropped them off at 8 a.m. on Sunday for a 12 noon flight.

We had our apartment people call and ask where we were to go to pick up the cats and got a really complicated answer so our driver from Sat said he'd take us to the cargo area. Thank goodness he did because it would have been a hell without him. We arrive at the cargo area, about 1 1/2 miles from the people terminal. We're driving around the area trying to find United Cargo. Our driver stops and goes into buildings to ask where it is and gets redirected 3 times when our cell phone rings (our first call!) and it's United Cargo saying they have our two cats and are we going to pick up the documents. Wow, I got all excited thinking I would see my kitties soon. I then give the phone to the driver and she tells him were to go. Turns out this was Paper Document Stop #1. As we are finally in the correct building and climbing up to the third floor, I think - there's no way someone carried two cat cages up to this office. Unfortunately, I was correct. This was United's office. While they had all the documentation off the cat cages - which assured me that the cats were definitely in country - all I did was sign them out of United's control, United airlines took their copies of paper work and directed us to Paper Document Stop #2 or otherwise known as quarantine.

Going to quarantine meant leaving the cargo area C and going to cargo area B, checking which building was correct again, climbing back to another third story office and paying our first fee of 10,000 Won (about $10) for a "request for quarantine". I must admit I did not like the sound of that document. The quarantine officer tells us to wait for 15 minutes and sends our driver off to pay our fee and get a receipt. These receipts are all important because without one receipt you cannot move on to the next paper document stop. When our driver returns, we get a stamp on our receipt and a stamp on our request for quarantine and are directed to the first floor and the customs officials and Paper Document Stop #3.

By now, we have been messing with paperwork and locating buildings for about 45 minutes. Now we hand our stamped papers and receipts to the "master" customs official who tells us to wait for about 1 hour. My heart sank and I'm getting all jittery because I am worried about my kitties and they are sitting somewhere without me and without knowing what is happening. "Master" customs official calls over a wizened, ole retired man who provides a service of running your paperwork around the customs office. He told us, in barely understandable English, that our paperwork must be entered into one computer and then it comes up on another computer and we get stamps here and stamps there and finally it comes up on the end computer and we get an end stamp and then we are done but it takes a long time. He sends us to the second floor lounge to wait.

I'm only good for about 15 minutes before I start fidgeting and another 15 minutes and I'm pacing. Customs closes at 6 p.m. and by now it's 5:15. I move to stand by the balcony watching for our wizened ole retired guy. I see him put papers on a desk and wander off. Our driver tries to get him to speed it up but doesn't happen. Finally at around 5:40, someone sits at the desk where our papers are and starts working on the computer. Wizened ole retired guy goes over and gets our papers, stamps them himself, takes them to the computer man at the desk next to him, stamps them again and disappears somewhere else. Our driver goes to find him and I head down the stairs because I can't stand there anymore. At 5:55, wizened guy gives our driver a bill and we pay a customs fee of about $33 and then pay ole wizened guy a fee of about $33 for his services of running around our paperwork and we leave with the precious Paper Documents, Stamped and Receipts.

Now we must return to the first cargo area to pick up the cats but NO, not quite that simple. We still need Paper Document Stop #4. We park the van and wander from one bay to another looking for the proper place to get the cats. Our driver has all our properly stamped documents in hand to show to the cargo supervisors and we keep being directed down the line. It was quite interesting to see everything because it looked a lot like Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Arc when they took the arc into the rows and stacks of boxes. There were towering stacks of boxes there and fork lifts running all over moving cargo from one bin to another or to a truck. But by now, I am a basket case waiting for my babies and can’t appreciate the science and wonder of a cargo hanger.

Finally we are directed to an office were we take a number and must pay what I called a retrieval fee - meaning someone brings the cats from wherever they are to the front of the cargo bay so we can get them and finally get the precious last Paper Document stamped and receipt. Then we must sit and wait for our name to be called. Luckily it was only a few minutes and we went into the cargo area and there were two very unhappy and tired and bewildered cats who started crying the minute they saw us. Our driver went for the van and we loaded cats and me into the back seat. I was able to open Godiva's cage enough to put my arm in to pet her and calm her. Puff was complaining so I was able to open his cage too and he pushed his way over into Godiva's cage and they sat together almost all the way to the apartment. Incheon international airport is further out of town than the old Kimpo airport so it takes about 1 1/2 hours to get back. So from the time we left the apartment until we returned, it took us about 6 1/2 hours. I am just so thankful that we got them because I had horrid visions of customs closing on us and saying come back tomorrow. About the time while I was thinking this and all the waiting was happening, our daughter was at home asleep in her bed and having nightmares that the cats had arrived but I couldn't get to them. How prophetic was that?

Anyway, it did not take the kitties long to accept that this was a good place and they calmed down immediately once we let them out of the cages. They seem happy here with Puff getting into the window a lot and Godiva finding sunbeams. Both are a little rattled and follow me all over but they did that a lot in Houston too.

The Fur Battle

My sweet baboo, Godiva, is NOT a long haired cat but she technically can't be classed as a short hair either. So kind of in between. I've already mentioned how she can shed her fur at will, especially when she doesn't want to be picked up or grabbed or to escape her "brother" when they are playing. Just on an every day basis, she is shedding all over the place. Pick her up when I am at my computer and I'd better have the air spray ready to blow all the fur off the desk. Move her off the bed in the morning and roll the sheets with the sticky fur catcher. Honestly, she's a menace with her fur.

When my husband and I first started dating, he was allergic to cats. I had a Siamese at the time with short fur and an OTC allergy tablet would usually let him stay in my apartment for an extended period of time, maybe 2 to 3 hours. He finally overcame his allergy to my Siamese and when we lost her and moved on to other cats, multiple cats, and longer furred cats, he was able to adapt. Now he has no problems at all. Because neither of us have problems with the cat fur, I tend to forget that others do or that Godiva sheds so much. She leaves her presence everywhere.

As we are living in temporary housing these days, I have to be aware of her fur more than if I was in my own home. That means brushing. It's not a problem to brush her because she likes it. She doesn't exactly lie still for it though, she's more of a moving target during the brushing. Also, once I start brushing, the fur is flying everywhere. I do have a special brush that really pulls off the loose fur and it's great but when finished, I also have to brush down my arms, clothes, the carpet, and anything else that was close to us during the process. When finished, there is usually a pile of fur sitting there that is practically enough to make a new kitten. What's worse is the minute I am finished, I can run my hand over her and there is still plenty of fur coming off. She produces fur at a prodigious rate! She spews fur more than the oil gushing in the well under the Gulf. Her fur rebounds and comes back twice as thick after each brushing, I think. I also use the pet cloths on her which she doesn't like. These are pre-moistened and supposedly get off loose fur. They don't have much effect on her. She was such a fuzzy little kitty when we got her. Little did I realize what a pain she was going to be fur wise. She's so soft though that her fur is a delight except for the amount of it all over the house. I think it is quite safe to say that I am losing the fur battle in a big way.

The Chameleon

My cat Godiva is a chameleon. We have always laughed at her ability to take on mannerisms of another animal. Her best imitation is that of an otter. She loves to lie on her back with her feet tucked up over her and looks just like an otter floating in the sea. The only thing she lacks is a clam shell and a rock on her belly.

She also sometimes sounds like other animals. She has been known to give a "woof" out of the blue. She has a snore that could, on occasion, rival my husbands but most of the time is soft and gentle. When she was younger, she did a great meercat imitation. Upon hearing unknown sounds, she would stand up on her hind legs and glance around, just like a National Geographic special of meercats. She doesn't do this one very much anymore but since we have been traveling, she has done it a few times.

Her squid imitation is particularly effective. A squid squirts out a trail of ink when trying to disappear from danger. The premise is that a predator cannot find the squid in the ink. Godiva just releases a huge wad of fur. It is difficult to find her through all the fur because you now have it all in your face and are busy trying to get it out of your face and nose and she's gone.

Finally, she has a tremendous ability to imitate a Tasmanian Devil. She keeps this evil being in check and it only comes out at the vet's office. Then she turns into a snarling, scratching, growling devil. Otherwise, she is my sweet little baboo. She has other animals that she imitates as well but they only come out occasionally, for instance, her whiskers curve in around her mouth like a walrus. She's a delight in watching the different mannerisms pop out. Every once in a while, a new one pops up but we have been watching her now for over 7 years so I think we have seen most of her imitations. What a ham.

My Devoted and Beloved Followers

Currently I am ensconced in a one bedroom apartment. There are 3 actual rooms: the bedroom, the bathroom, and the combination living/dining/kitchen. You could say 4 rooms in you count the little closet where the washer and dryer are situated. Actually this apartment has a fairly large closet too. If I had kids, I could put them in the closet with a mattress and call it a room.

Basically there are two places to sit, the bedroom and the living room. You can see one from the other. The small desk is in the bedroom and that is where my computer sits and plugs into the internet. Often I am at the computer for hours. Both cats sleep on the bed, occasionally coming to the end of the bed where I can reach them and they sit there to get some belly rubs and head pats.

When I go out to the living room to sit, I am only there 2 or 3 minutes before both cats come out to sit on the sofa or chair next to me. I head back into the bedroom for some more computer work and in 2 or 3 minutes, both cats are back on the bed. I have tested this and they do not tire of moving from room to room with me. They will keep up with me for hours. The only time they are not following me from room to room is when they are busy eating or busy with the end result of eating.

When we lived in a large 4 bedroom house with 3 floors, often it was a task to find any of the cats. They had their favorite spots and couldn't be budged from them unless food were offered. Then we started our moving from place to place. First few days in hotels, they were under the bed all the time. next couple of weeks in a house, and again they were anywhere but with me, finding places to sun, places to sleep, places to hide. How odd that it seems like the smaller the location, the more they must stick to my side. I would say it is because they just love me so much and want to be near me. However it's probably more like some cat psyche thing they are trying to tell me like "we hate small places and are going to bug you until you find a bigger place". Who knows what goes on in a cat's mind.

Size does matter

I spent a very restless night. For some reason, the cats were restless and since they sleep with us, I also was unable to get a good night's sleep. When living with my own furniture, I have a queen sized bed usually. When the cats were younger, this was fine for myself, my hubby and two cats. Puff likes to sleep on the edge and hang two paws off the bed. Godiva likes to sleep next to my head, between the pillows, so that she can be my alarm clock and be within reach for some sleepy belly rubs.

When we were living in Korea with the cats, the apartment was really big and there was another bed in the apartment so sometimes the cats would go sleep there or on the sofa. When we moved kit and caboodle to Toronto, I purchased a king sized bed. What glorious luxury. Most of the time, there was room for all 4 of us. however because there was room, both cats developed the habit of sleeping totally stretched out. Puff takes up a LOT of room when he stretches out AND he wants to sleep so that he is leaning against my legs or my husbands legs. He is a tremendous amount of cat and when sleeping like this, he makes it difficult to move. He also developed his "patented body slam". He finds the spot he wants and falls over onto the legs. This can jolt our whole body when he does this in the middle of the night. He taught Godiva this trick and she does it on my head as she maneuvers between the pillows. Many a night I have been awakened as suddenly I have a face full of fur and little room to breathe. So, even with a king sized bed, with both cats pressing against me, I spent many a night in one position, unable to turn over or stretch out. And to be honest, I also spent many a night kicking them out of bed.

Now we are on the move and that means hotel rooms that sometimes come with 2 single beds or one double bed and only sometimes a nice queen sized bed and even rarer a king sized bed. (Hotels that always have king sized beds are abundant but they don't always take pets) The cats have not given up their stretched out positions. So now the 4 of us just don't fit in anything less than a king sized bed. There is a queen sized bed in this temporary apartment. My hubby is not here yet I have the bed to myself with the cats. Last night was one of those nights when the three of us didn't fit. I find myself up at 5 because two cats were all over the place and I was scrunched up on an edge. There is a possibility that we might have to stick two queen sized beds together for us to all have enough room. The things we do for our beloved pets.

Barnes & Noble & Foster Moms

Strange things really do happen some times and they may be coincidences or fate. Coming back to the apartment today from the doctor's office, I was following the GPS directions and turned down some other roads just to listen to it "recalculate". I caught a PetSmart out of the corner of my eye and since I knew I needed a few things, I moved over to the turn lane to go into the shopping center.

In the store, I am just wandering around looking at cages and food and such and trying to remember why I needed to come. Then I had it, I needed a kitty litter mat, some Petromalt, and some weight management food for the cats. I notice a shorter lady, someone actually older than me, muscling a large bag of cat food and a large bag of kitty litter into her cart but I really didn't pay any attention to her. I get my stuff and go to pay and she is in line ahead of me. I am still not really looking at her until I see that she has a bunch of paperwork to present and then signs a "tax exempt" receipt. I figure she is a volunteer for something to do with cats. So I pay attention.

I recognize her immediately. She is the foster mother who took care of our Puff after he had been rescued as a little kitten. She recognized me that she knew my face but couldn't place me. To be sure, I asked a couple of questions on where she goes to volunteer and yep, it was here. I said the magic words: "Barnes and Noble". She dissolved into the biggest smile as she realized who I was.

Let me explain the "Barnes and Noble". All the rescue volunteers with this organization, HOPE, name their kitties and cats and give them loving care at home. Sometimes it is hard for them to part with the cats when they take them to the pet stores for adoption. Puff's foster mom had two tabby kitties who were brothers and litter mates. She had named them Barnes and Noble. We had already adopted Godiva when we saw Puff and decided we had to have him as well. So we adopted him and took him away from his brother but gave him his "sister", Godiva. His name at the time we adopted him was Noble. We changed it to Puff after he started puffing up his fur at every little thing. He is a big scared-y cat. Dolores, his foster mom, really had a hard time letting go of him.

Puff's, or Noble's, foster mom was delighted to hear that he is doing well and happy and having a good life. She made me promise to write to the HOPE organization and let them know that he is good. I shall do that. But I wonder, what are the chances that I would happen upon this particular lady 7 years after I first met her and 5 + years after I left this city. Makes you wonder about some cosmic karma out there, doesn't it.

Stranger Danger

I scared the big guy last night. I changed my MO and it totally freaked him. Puff is a big tub of love and very needy when he wants attention. We had been sitting on the sofa together watching TV and he didn't notice at all that I had put curlers in my hair. This is something I have NEVER done in the past 7 years since he came to live with us. And why would I do it now? Getting older, hair getting thinner, last passport photo looked horrid. So the big tub is getting his attention. Often this means he sits on my lap upside down and I rub his belly. Both our cats are belly 'hos. Puff especially likes to be flipped over and have his belly rubbed. Godiva prefers to lie on the floor with all 4 legs in the air.

Anyway, I digress. TV program over, I release Puff and he stays on the sofa while I head for the bedroom and get ready for bed. I sit down at the computer (in the bedroom) to shut down for the night and Puff comes around the corner and the dresser and sees me with my curlers. Dead Stop. Tail Up. Fear in his Eyes. Danger Stranger. He stares at me for a few long seconds while I am trying very hard not to laugh loudly. Finally he takes a few steps closer. Then stop and stare. Another few steps. Stop and stare. Eventually he gets close enough to me for a sniff to see if I smell right. I am able to pick him up onto my lap which gets him close enough to give the curlers a sniff. Ok, he thinks it is me but he spends the rest of the night gazing at me in confusion. This morning, he is still not sure what has grown out of my head but stranger danger has subsided.

Kitty Floss

I do like to get something for the cats, a little new toy, when they are subjected to moving about. So at the store the other day I picked up a little stuffed fish on a string. It had a plastic 1 1/2' stick then a 1 1/2' string. Puff, the tabby, who believes himself to be a great hunter, is the recipient of this toy. He dearly loves to swat at things and does some great jumps and back flips when I swing the toys around and over his head.

He was a bit less than enthusiastic about this toy. I swung it for him and he jumped and batted at it for a bit and then settled back into his cat bed and just eyed me trying to entice him to play. I have no stamina in the effort so I gave up and just placed the stick-string-fish on the bed next to him. I should have known better.

Puff believes strongly in what my hubby refers to as kitty floss. Puff is a chewer. If he were a dog, no shoes would be safe. As it is, no strings or shoelaces are safe. He chomps down on any string he finds and gnaws it continually until it is reduced to tiny pieces. I've lost many a shoe lace and boot lace to him before I learned to hide my shoes in the closet or under something. So the next morning, it should not have been a surprise when I found the stick and the fish in good condition. The string had done its job as kitty floss and was now lying on the floor in about 10 pieces. Puff denies this addiction and pretends he knows nothing about how the string is in pieces. It just reminds me that I should just buy him a pair of shoelaces.

Paranormal Abilities of Cats

Our cats have always had an ability to commune with nature. We all believe it is an inborn sense that all animals have, including humans. Just somewhere along the way, most people lost their ability to make sense of the messages from Mother Nature as too much chatter and other noises took over the senses. This happens with domesticated animals as well but most of our cats have had abilities to sense things that were going to happen. It's been up to us to decipher their clues and behavior. We haven't always done that well.

We first noticed the cats could tell when an earthquake was coming. Granted, it took us several minor earthquakes before we figured out their bizarre behavior signified something coming down the pipe. Luckily we never had to experience a big temblor although it might have been a lot easier to interpret their behavior if a big one came along.

Since leaving California, we haven't really lived in an area where much happens, weather wise, earth wise, etc. We haven't really lived in an earthquake area, a volcanic area, or a tsunami area. We did have a couple of small earthquakes in Seoul but there were so minor that we had forgotten to watch the cat's behavior for any kind of warnings. Now I'm on the move again and might wander into areas where something could trigger their innate abilities to be upset at coming phenomenon. Last night we had a rather large thunderstorm. Both cats were upset and needed to be in the same room as me. Sometime after 9 p.m., there was a lightening strike somewhere close and the lights flickered and went out briefly. After that, the cats were fine.

I am a big believer in the abilities of animals to help us and warn us and look after us. Yes, it seems like a far stretch with my two lazy sods. I am going to wander into areas where tornadoes happen, hurricanes show up with increasing frequency, and yes, some spots where earthquakes are possible. I think I'd better get into the habit of paying attention to their behavior more and not thinking it is just because they are hungry. Could save some grief.

Carbo Kitty

Our various cats over the years have had some strange tastes and cravings for different human-type foods. You'd think - carnivores - and in some instances, there is nothing they like better than to have a piece of chicken or tuna which we fixed for dinner. Our kitties have developed some rather odd tastes and unexpected tastes as well.

Our daughter's very first cat loved the taste of grapes, green grapes, BUT only PEELED grapes. As we are all slaves to our pets, of course my daughter would dutifully peel her a few grapes whenever she had some out to eat. Her next cat loved french fries. If she came home with a bag from McDonald's or Burger King, Soju would come running to get her share of fries. Rum, her other cat, would wait for the hamburger portion of the meal.

My Godiva is a carbo cat. She loves anything that smacks of carbohydrates. Chips, crackers, bread, potatoes. If it has carbos in it, she thinks she is going to want it. Her favorites are saltine crackers with a bit of butter on it. That's probably really the butter getting her interest there. She loves graham crackers. She eat a bit of bread but she's not quite as fond of it as crackers. So sometimes it's just a "gimme, gimme, gimme" and then "pooh, plah, don't want it" and she spits it out so I have a nice gummed bit of bread to clean up from the floor. Today she thought she wanted some kolaches but found she didn't like the crust quite as well as she thought. Pizza crust is good though. Potatoes - again she prefers the bit with butter on it but NOT sour cream - oh no.

She never gets very much. I try to be careful what I feed her but in some cases, she is so insistent on trying that she'll climb up as high as it takes to try and steal something out of my mouth - if I'm not really careful and watching her. She's been known to come "over the hill" to get something meaning she'll sneak attack me from the rear, jump up onto my back, scramble up to my shoulders, reach around and try and grab my face to turn my head towards her so she can get something. As she is usually using her claws to accomplish all of this, I am not very fond of this method.

She has a carbo alarm built into her system too. She can be sound asleep, several rooms and floors away from the kitchen and still hear me open a package of crackers. This even when I was standing inside the pantry and trying to muffle the sound. Traveling and staying in small studios and apartments means I have no way to escape her carbo alarm so I am resigned to letting her see what I have and giving her a tiny bit to avoid the rear action sneak attack. Did I mention she also LOVES cool whip.