The Way We Live Now (November 2010)

November already. And those of us who are old enough to have lived through all four seasons, realize that one of the best things about autumn is, LEAVES!

Some of us blend in better than others:

Not all of us are allowed to go out into the yard. But even Dandy and Dolly are big enough now to enjoy the pen, at least during the day, and under the supervision of their mother, Tess (CLICK these pictures to enlarge them):

Inside we have lots of fun too.

Dandy and Dolly particularly enjoy relaxing on the towers in the family room:

Tootsie decides to join them:

Yes, Tess and the kittens are now full members of our Clowder. In fact, with the usual exception - Summer and Farah, who remain enemies even after living together for more than four years now - all of us are getting along well together:

 

 

We all enjoy playing on the stairs that lead up to Toy Corner and Bag Alley:

 

 

Taffy rides the rails!

 

Both downstairs and up, there are so many toys, and so little time:

 

 

 

 

In Toy Corner, Hershey calls for a brief Time Out:

But in Bag Alley, Dolly and Dandy play on, despite Farah's attempts to defend the bags from their predations:

 

 

Farah works SO hard at appearing to be SO ferocious, we call her our Cat-Bear!

But none of us take her seriously. In these next pictures, Taffy and Natasha enter Bag Alley, undeterred by Farah's yowling and growling:

 

Speaking of Natasha, she was diagnosed a few months ago as having food allergies. Since then, Pat has been making special food for her, based on recipes that Pat got at the vet clinic and online.

Nasha is not always happy with what she finds - or doesn't find - in her bowls:

But Pat makes a special mix of canned salmon + supplements + canned hypoallergenic cat food that is so good, we all enjoy it.

"Now That was Tasty!"

As a result of her new diet, Natasha is feeling much better, and her fur, as you can see, is super-shiny!

The rest of us are watching our diets more carefully, too. Dolly checks to make sure that Pat's coffee is decaffeinated:

Other news:

Dolly and Dandy are getting SO big, and Tess has enjoyed being their mom SO much, that she wants to do it all over again, by having another litter!

At least, that's what she has been telling us, very loudly, for the past few nights. And since she is such a beautiful girl, potential beaus have been lining up in the back yard, to the disgust of Summer, Hershey, and Boris, the resident males who are responsible for defending the property.

Fortunately, Tess has an appointment with the vet next week. Natasha, our only other resident Mom, has been assuring Tess that everything will work out well. Dolly will be going along to keep her Mom company, and Dandy will have his own appointment a few days later.

We are all determined to help them rest up! 

Thank You from Pat, Henry, and the Cats

Thank you, all kind friends who have sent condolences regarding our darling Schooner. 

 

He was fighting both renal failure and cancer, and in the past few weeks he has been so thin and frail that we, and the veterinarian, were amazed he lived on.

But in his last week, something happened that makes us very happy whenever we remember it.

First, a bit of background: before he came to us, Schooner was almost entirely an outdoor cat. Pat allowed him into the yard during the day, because he stayed nearby and always came when called. But he was never allowed out after dark, and it took him some time, when he first came to us, to accept this rule.

Schooner in the yard, May 2010

Well: The last Thursday of Schooner’s life was an unseasonably warm day here in Charlottetown. Schooner loved to bask in the sun, so Pat carried him out to lie on the deck. At about 3 p.m. he got up and strolled down the steps into the yard. Pat was glad he had the strength to do so, but she wasn’t concerned - he often walked around the side of the house to sit in the front yard.

But Schooner didn’t come home that evening. All night long, Pat searched and called for him. When morning came, Pat asked permission to search all the neighbors’ yards.

Pat found our beautiful Schooner, on Friday morning, sitting contentedly in a neighbor’s flower bed. Pat was exhausted from worrying about him, but she realized he had enjoyed his night out very much indeed. He must have heard Pat calling, but he knew what he wanted and needed.

Over the weekend, Schooner deteriorated rapidly.

Of course as he passed Pat and Henry held him and told him how much he was loved. He was such a wonderful cat with so much courage and so much character. We are so glad that in his last days, he could relive his youth, staying out all night, enjoying good weather.

Again, dear friends, thank you for your messages of love and condolence.

–Pat, Henry, and the Cats

Summer and Schooner - Best Coon Friends

Our Diary, continued (October 16, 2010)

Today, we are 48 days old, and Pat asked us to pose for some official photographs:

Well, we soon got tired of sitting still. Because, Toys-R-Us!

Just this week, Dolly learned to play with this funny-looking toy:

 

Dandy discovered the joy of boxes . . .

and of product endorsement!

Other news: our Mom is no longer hiding under the bed! We take credit for getting her out from under there, because once we started running all around upstairs, she had to come out to chase us - and, well, one thing led to another:

We were surprised but pleased when our buddy Schooner came to visit us, and then stayed on for lunch with Mom:

Now we need to introduce Mom to all the other cats who live here!

Our Diary. By Dandy and Dolly (October, 2010)

Day 31 of our lives: Today Pat carried us from our room to another room, where we met Schooner. Pat told us that according to the veterinarian, Schooner won`t be with us much longer - a few weeks at most. We don't know where he is going or whether we are supposed to be sad at this news, but we were happy to be able to spend some quality time with such an elderly and obviously very wise cat:

 Schooner's tail is SO long and fluffy:

 

Day 36:  Our Mom likes us to stay close to her, and we do love to be with her, but she spends most of her time under the bed in the study, whereas we want to get out and around a bit. SO we have taken over this soft, cushioned basket that we found on the floor just a few inches away from the bed: 

 

P.S. Pat wants us to say that we already eat "real" food and we use our own litter box (as opposed to our Mom's box, which is too big for us to climb into).

Now We Are Four! (September 26, 2010)

Four weeks old, that is! And as you can see, our Mom is VERY proud of us:

Did you notice? one of us has a pink nose and one of us has a black nose:

Taz and her Kittens (September 2010)

As readers of this blog know, We Nine have told Pat repeatedly, "No More Cats!"  Henry tells her the same thing. To no avail . . ..

A few weeks ago, Pat went off, as she does most days, to volunteer at the Prince Edward Island Humane Society. When she came home, she was carrying something - we didn't get a good look because she hurried upstairs to her study and closed the door!

Naturally we all hurried after her and scratched to get in. We didn't hear a peep, but Pat came out looking SO guilty, we knew that once again, there was A NEW CAT.

"Guys," Pat said, "her name is Taz, and you won't even know she's here!" Then Pat explained that although Taz is a sweet, lovely little girl, she had not been adopted from the Humane Society because she was so frightened that all she would do was hide in the back of her kennel. Pat hoped that if Taz stayed with us for a while, she might become more confident.

We weren't happy about any of this, but as Pat predicted, Taz stayed out of our way: she scurried right under the bed in the study and hid in the furthest corner. 

That was on a Wednesday.

On Sunday, Pat went out with friends (against our wishes, of course). When she came back, she greeted us as usual, by petting each of us and playing with us and apologizing for having gone out. After a while she went upstairs and into the study. And then we heard a SCREAM.

Later Pat explained to us what had happened: When she came into the study she heard squeaking. Then she saw a little black thing wriggling on the floor. Pat thought it was a mouse! And then she heard squeaking in a different place. That's when she realized - although no one had known Taz was expecting, she had given birth to two kittens!

 
Now the kittens are three weeks old. As you can see, they look just like Taz. So far, they haven't bothered us: they just stay in the corner under the bed with their mother. We were hoping Pat had learned a good lesson! But maybe not: we HATE the way both Pat and Henry are always running into the study to look at Taz and her babies!

And we wonder: what will life be like when those two start running around the house?

Stay tuned for more news from Pat's Cats . . ..