Thankful Thursday

 Today, we are just Thankful for OUT!  Not that we don't love our den, but OUT is where all the best sounds and smells are.  And not that we dont love being around TBT.  In fact, the best thing is when he is out with us!  Well, as long as he isnt doin stuff involving noisy machines...

We dont have new pictures of us out (TBT forgets the camera when he is out), but there are some recents.

Lori walked the tulip path and went on to the daffodil bed.

Taz tends to go to the underbrush hunting mousies.  Binq prefers the deck.  Marley doesnt go OUT as much these days but sometimes sits on the deck.  So Lori gets the pics...  MOL!

And of course, we eventually want to come in fer dinnertime...

Thankful Thursday

We are allus thankful fer laundry.  Two of us took one side of the pile.

Lori took the other...  Dont worry, she did settle down fer a nap later.

Marley was most at peace, of course!

(And we are thankful to Ann and June for our new Header.  It is lovely!)

Thankful Thursday

 We re thankful for challenges in the house.  We mean, outside is great.  Mousies, Birdies, Skwerls.  Great sniffs and smells!  But inside the house, it is mostly restful.  Oh TBT tosses kibbles and toys around but he cant do it all day.  And we do have to nap.

But we sure love The Puzzle Box!  

And The Egg.  

Thankful Thursday

 Today we are thankful for Vets.  We don't always love the visits and shots and especially not the thermometer probe), but they keep us healthy.  Two weeks ago, Lori got a medication for feline upper respiratory infection and that cleared her coughing and breathing problems.  She also got Mirtazapine to encourage her to eat.  That worked great after just 6 hours.

Marley got his regular annual shots and a kidney check.  His current numbers are better than last Fall.  And he got seriously de-matted.  I couldn't do it myself.  Takes 3 hands.  One to hold him down, one to lift up a mat, and one to snip it.  So 2 techs did it great.

Marley actually likes wirebrushes so by the time they got thoroughly done with him, he was nearly passed out.

Forgot to bring the camera for both visits, so no pics.  But here is one of Marley trying to hide at a previous visit...

Thankful Thursday

Today, we are happy for SPRING!  It is finally being nice and warmy outside.  But we dont seem ta have a processed pic of us outside in this nice weather (TBT is behind a bit).  So we will show one from last Spring and we will all pretend it is this year.  MOL!

 

Thankful Thursday

Today we are all thankful for The Egg!  It is a fun toy, and the other ones dont give us treats. 

Thankful Thursday

Today, I am thankful for Feliway.   With most cats in the past, I never needed it.  Mischief and Jeremy, Skeeter and LC, LC and Ayla were fine without it.  

But Ayla and Iza sometimes didn't get along well, so I tried it.  I've been using it ever since.  It seems to help.  I write the 30-day expiration date on the bottle, but I don't always remember to check it.

I can tell when the bottle is empty though.  Things get a bit hissier/whappier.  Laz had problems Feliway couldn't solve, But Lori seems to benefit from it.  She and Taz had "introduction issues" for a year, and while they have become more acceptant to each other, I think the Feliway helped/helps that.  

From daily brief fights, they have gone to at least tolerating each other.  Lori no longer whaps Taz and Binq everytime they walk past her, for example.  Sure, it may have just been a matter of time and constant presence, but when the bottle is empty, she starts tapping flanks and heads again.

So hurray for pheromones!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for Binq.  When she arrived, she had some problems.  Didn't want to leave the Mews Room.  Didn't want to go out.  Grabbed at my hands with her claws out (ouch).  Was sightly afraid of everything.  Wouldn't enter the bedroom because she seemed to think it was Lori's place.

She has adjusted.  After 1.5 years, she feels free in all the house.  When I open the deck door in the mornibng, she is usually the 1st one out.  She still doesn't like to go out on the lawn, but "out" is "out and she loves to watch the birds and squirrels.  She still grabs at my hands, but with claws in and not so often.  She greets me in the bedroom now each morning, dancing around for attention (and she gets it).

Most of my previous cats have adapted rapidly to the house and yard. I was worried about Binq taking much longer.  But that means she had farther to go to adapt and she has done it well.  

Binq has now become an easy cat to live with.  OK, Marley is easiest, but he has a lot more years of experience.  But Binq is close in spite of her younger age.  

Taz still has the occasional peeing issue.  Lori still has a habit of whapping passer-byes.  Marley is fussy about his food.  

Binq eats anything.  She is a very clean cat.  She never starts fussies.  She likes me, though I still haven't gotten a lap visit.  Well, some cats never do that and she seems very sensitive to belly contact.  She doesn't want to catch birds or jump over the fence.  She is a real house womancat!

So I am very thankful I adopted her...

Different days, but her favorite spot...

Thankful Thursday

TBT:   Sometimes, when I see The Mews napping at various places, I consider how many favorite places they have.  So yesterday evening, I walked around the house and counted them.  Well, at least the ones I know about.  I counted 26.

Sorry, I'm not going to take 26 pictures and post them (or maybe that will be a kindness to readers).  You have all seen them in some post or other.

But I'll type a list by rooms...

TV Room - Top and seat of my chair.  Two levels of the planter rack.  The ottoman.  A rubber mat that used to warm up.  

The Bedroom - Anywhere on the bed itself, but let's just count all 4 corners and on either side of me.  Plus Marley seems to like the middle of the carpeted floor next to the bed in daytime.  My waterbed has a bookshelf headboard which creates an empty space under it.  Lori loves napping there.   Laz naps in the laundry hamper and in the laundry basket if there is anything in it.

Living/Dining Room -  Marley loves the Hammick.  Sometimes I see Taz or Lori there too.  The Cat Trees have many spots of course, but the 3 highest platforms are most popular and Lori likes 1 hut particularly.  And Lori has adopted the aquarium hood as her "own special place".  The light creates some warmth, and the water is heated to 75F too.  

The Mews Room - Binq and Marley often nap on the top two platforms of the 3-platform tree I built maybe 2 decades ago.  Binq always chooses the top one; Marley likes the middle one.  There is a hut at the bottom.  It used to be an upright cylinder type, but when Skeeter and LC got older, they didn't use it.  So I rebuilt it so that it was just a hollow carpeted round thing on its side.  I've seen Lori in there.  It is a bit tight for Marley, so he naps on the floor between it and the lowest platform.  Marley also likes to nap in the middle of the floor for some reason.

And sometimes, even knowing all those places, I don't always know where they are.  Marley especially has some places where I can't find him.  But if I pop open a cat food can or rattle the kibble jar there he is!  😸

Thankful Thursday

 Today, I am thankful for the tall wooden fence around the backyard.

OK, that's an old pic before the underbrush grew back and I improved the yard a lot.  But it's the best pic I have.

I built it myself.  Had some fence interns to drill holes and cement in posts, but I did all the rest of it.  And I had a good reason to build it.

A couple of years after I moved here, a couple walked their dog along the street.  We struck up a conversation and they seemed friendly enough.  Then my cat Tinkerbelle came out front.  The guy immediately unleashed the dog and said "sic her".  I was stunned.  I wanted to beat the guy to a pulp, but Tinkerbelle's safety was more important.  I ran to the tree she climbed up, kicked the dog a couple times (just enough to drive it away).

When I ran back to the front yard, the couple had vanished and I didn't see the dog around either.  So I calmed Tinkerbelle enough to climb down the tree and get inside.  But there were other larger and meaner dogs loose in the neighborhood.

So I decided to build the fence. My yard slopes slightly, so I decided on a 6' tall step-down fence.  That means every 8' section was level at the top but a diffent height from the adjacent sections.  And it was a shadow-box fence.  Which means boards alternating on each side so that wind could pass through.  This a clearer example of one...

Took all Summer...  400' feet of it.  But it meant a place where the cats could wander, free of threats from dogs.  I have always been glad I built it.  Some of The Mews have been able to get on the top.  All have recognized it as the border of our territory.  Very infrequently, some have hopped over, but they didn't stay out for long.  They knew where "safe" was.  Mostly, just sat on top.

Sad but sort of funny story.  The first time my parents visited after that, Dad (mechanical engineer and wood-worker) looked at the fence for a few minutes.  He finally pointed to one section and said "That one isn't level".  No comment about the effort to build it.  No "nice work".  Just a single criticism. 

He was always like that.  I suppose he thought that a word of approval would have discouraged me from "trying hard".  Oh well, he's gone now and I'm still here.  😄

Anyway, I'm thankful for the fence.  I've seen large dogs up against it barking at The Mews.  But they can't get in at them, so it was worth the effort.

Thankful Thursday

 Not all Thankful Thursdays have to be about major deep thoughts.  So today I am just thankful that Taz seems to have lost his habit of marking territory each time he pees and doesn't seem to want to wet the bed either.

That may seem a major thing, but after Laz becoming insane again and having to be euthanized after suddenly attacking Lori viciously and constantly, Ayla's euthanism due to not being able to eat anymore in 2023, Taz was a 2 on the scale of problems.

Taz has become a "very good mancat".  He is a clean cat.  He comes in when called.  He sits on my lap easily.  He is good with the litterboxes.  At 9.2 pounds, he is easy to deal with.  He gets into the PTU easily for vet visits, and is tolerant of the minor indignities they have to do.

I'm glad I adopted him from the Shelter.  His first day...

It must have been a confusing day for him.  From a community room with a dozen other cats, to an empty room.  I sometimes wonder what he thought that day.  Something like "Where are all the others"?

I had Binq in another room so that she could sit calmly and adjust as well.

But Taz adjusted faster, and came out 2 days earlier.

I'm glad he is in my life.  I wasn't so sure after he started peeing high, but things are a lot better now.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful most days.  Life, health, cats, food...  But I try to express it on Thursdays.  And some days, I'm not sure which to be most thankful about.  

Well, I'm thankful for life, health, and food of course.  But here I try to express it in terms of The Mews.  They are a joy to my life (even when "some issues" arise).  And not just the current ones.  I wish I had good pictures of each and every previous Mews.  Sadly, computer changes and old photos that have disappeared prevent that.

I've lost the pictures of Mischief, Ballou, Ralph and Sport-Sport, Jeremy, Tinkerbelle, and Cher.  They are clear in my mind, but I can't download that.  I was thankful for each of them.  I do have old film photos, but my scanner isn't working.

But my modern age of Mews started when I moved here 38 years ago and I discovered digital cameras.

So anyway, here is what I can still find...

Skeeter & LC

Ayla & Iza

Laz

And the current Mews...

Fur-colors come and go.  Tabby, Tuxedo, Ragamuffin, Siamese, Tonkinese.  But I have always had an orange/white male cat since 1992.   Skeeter, Marley, and Taz.  Something about their (usually; Taz is a bit crazy) calm nature attracts me.  

But I'm thankful for every one of them.  From my first adopted female grey tabbies of my younger days to the bred Siamese and Tonkinese, Gingers, and Shelter Cats of my current days, I have loved them all and they loved me back.

How could I not be thankful for that?

Thankful Thursday

Lori and Taz have always "interacted" (and sometimes Lori and Binq), and not usually peacefully.  😔  But I'm happy to say that I haven't heard any "fussies" with yelling for several weeks now.  And if tolerance between them was all I could get, I would live with it.  For example, Lori has been doing more careful sniffing than whapping lately.

But two recent events between Taz and Lori lately have been even more encouraging.  One was too fast to get a pic of and the other, Marley had me pinned down on the TV chair with the camera just out of reach.

But in both, there seemed to be more a sense of play than dislike.  On the first.  Taz was sitting on the bed and Lori pounced him.  But not meanly with whaps and hisses.  It seemed a cautious offer to "wrassle" and was brief, but neither seemed upset.

On the second, Taz was of the small desk next to my chair.  Lori snuck onto the desk chair and reached up to tap Taz.  But gently and in slow motion.  Then Taz reached down and tapped Lori.  They both repeated that a few times before Lori left the chair.  Again, neither seemed upset!

Well, it's about darned time (15 months) they started to adjust to each other!  I've mentioned some examples of apparent peace before (like them both being on my lap or the ottoman together), but these 2 events seemed much more positive.  They were both actively engaging peacefully.  

It was sad not to get a pic of either event.  What I need is some sort of camera mounted to a headband or shirt clip.  With a remote control...   LOL!

Thankful Thursday

I walked through the house today.  All The Mews were napping.  No activity at all.  And I was thankful.  Happiness is playful cats, but also sleepy ones.  It meant that they all felt calm and safe.

Sometimes, I enjoy watching them wander the backyard, exploring things and hunting mice.  But there is value is seeing them at rest, too.  Few things calm me so much as seeing a cat asleep.  It means they trust me, the house, and that their lives are good.  

Calm napping cats means I am doing right for them.  Sometimes, I just sit and watch a sleeping cat.  And I am thankful they share space with me.

Thankful Thursday

LORI:   Im always thankful for The Lap!

 

Thankful Thursday

TBT:   Today, I am thankful that cats use litterboxes!  I saw people walking their dogs in blizzardly snowstorm conditions last week and was grateful I didn't have to do that with The Mews.  

It may take about the same time to walk a dog and pick up it's poo or clean the litterboxes, but at least I'm inside, LOL!

I don't mind lifting the litterboxes to the workbench next to them.  I have an 8" plastic plaster-smoother to scrape up the litter loose.  

Not my exact one, but the same thing...

Then the scoop takes it all to a small bucket lined with a plastic shopping bag next to the litterbox which I pull out and tie up when half-full.  Straight to the trash bin...

Its funny.  My recycle bin is filled up every 2 weeks (cat food cans, wine bottles soda bottles, newspapers, boxes, junk mail, I bring about 5 gallons of kitchen scraps to the compost bin every 2 weeks (daily, they don't sit around to smell), and I have only 2 bags of cat poop/peepods once a week.  

I've tried various litter materials.  Clay, shredded newspaper, cedar chips etc.  I like Arm&Hammer "Slide" most these days.  It is less "sticky" to the pans.

A little more expensive than some, but it makes things easier.

Thankful Thursday

Today we are all thankful a New Year has begun.  May it be better than the previous one.  There was all kinds of disturbing news on the TV.  We don't know what to expect in 2025 , but we hope for calmness and good weather outside.

TBT seems worried about things, but we are sure those things won't affect our lifes much.  We mean, as long as we sometimes eat and nap (generally) together, things can't go too wrong, right?

The Mews Room recently...

Lori was napping on the aquarium hood, as usual...

Thankful Thursday

TAZ:   I am thankful for my Towel Tower...

Actually, there are often 3, but the top one is bein washed.

Thankful Thursday

TBT:   Moving the calming collar from Taz to Lori seems to be helping.  I was surprised to see Lori sniff Taz from the floor and then jump up onto my lap.  She sat there peacefully for a while...

And then there was actual bodily contact!

It isn't 100% calm between them.  In the past week, there was 1 fussy between them, and I've heard some low-growling from Lori a couple times at night (and a bit of running sounds), but that is sure a lot different from before!  

I am still a bit suspicious of how much herbs calm cats.  It could just be that after 11 months, they are adjusting to each other finally.  But the coincidence of timing makes me think there might be something in the collar that is helping.

I've been using Feliway for years, and I understand how it works (and it does help), but maybe the calming collar gets Lori just over the top for calmness.  And I have 5 more 30-day collars sealed in plastic bags, so maybe we are good until March.  And maybe by that time, Lori will be used to Taz and Binq and won't need to wear them.

So, for whatever reason the calmness has improved, I am Thankful today!