Cat multiplication

HappyCat, Halo and Audrey

The last few days I have noticed a strange occurance. We normally have two cats. It’s an acceptable number because when we go away for a couple days the cats keep each other company. As much as they like to pretend they hate each other the cats are friends. Two cats generally do not cause me to notice anything peculiar.

Add a third cat and all of a sudden I feel like there are cats every where. There’s a cat on the bed as I wake up, a different one in the bathroom waiting for petting, a third in the kitchen asking for a treat. I grab my coffee, there’s two cats on the couch I sit on to read my e-mails as I drink coffee in the morning. There’s a commotion in the other room, the puppy chases the third cat into view. I walk to the downstairs bedroom where we keep an office talk to Adam, I turn around, there’s three cats in various positions in the hall. I feel a little invaded to tell you the truth.

The reason for this cat multiplication is Halo. Halo is pretty much my adopted cat niece. Her mother is a friend that I consider so close that she’s pretty much my adopted into my life in adulthood sister. After finishing grad school, my friend decided to travel a little before joining the grown up world.  So Halo came to live with us.

She’s a pretty layed back cat who loves (and demands) human attention. She’s usually the one waiting for love in the bathroom in the morning. She either loves the puppy, or is too lazy to get out of his way so pretends she loves him.  She will share a couch with HappyCat.

Audrey however has been a little vocal about the new addition. This is Halo’s third stay with us and I think Aud-ball is a little insulted by Halo’s repeat disappearances.  It’s probably also a two new cats on her territory within a month thing.

But for better or worst, my house will feel filled with cats for the next few months.

Anyone else noticed something similar, two cats is fine but add a third and you feel like you have a dozen?

Happy the Cat

Tonight I’m introducing our latest feline addition to the blog. We got Happy at the Manchester Animal Shelter a couple weeks ago and have yet to find him a name we like better. Happy is an approximately one year old domestic shorthair that was found as a stray. After a few weeks with us we understand how he got caught.

Happy is very much a people cat. I actually have very few pictures of him because he always wants to hang out on us. At least half the pictures we have are from the webcam. He wants to be a lap or shouldertop cat.

But he does have some of the stray left in him. And an incident this morning required his introduction to the blog. I bought a package of turkey bacon, which really only tastes good when mixed with other foods. Because I’m trying to get rid of the package faster I made an extra slice for the dog this morning. Cooper spent most of his time gumming and chewing on the piece of bacon as Adam, Ben and I watched and commented. All of a sudden we noticed that Happy was creeping up around the counter. He walked up to the puppy and took the piece of bacon right out of his mouth. A brief tug-of-war later, Happy had the meat and Cooper was left wondering what had happened. Scrappy kitty.

So he’s generally working out pretty well. We wish he got along better with Audrey but we are hoping it will come with time. And he’s overly affectionate when we are sitting around, but terrified when someone first enters the room. Sometimes I just wish I knew what he had been through.

So there we have it internet, there’s Happy the cat. We still might rename him, but for now that’s it.

Loss of a pet

This is not a happy post, but it is one I need to write in order to deal with this.

This morning Beavis slipped out when Adam brought Cooper out for his morning ritual. Because the cats are usually hard to catch and it was raining so we assumed he would go hide under a car, Adam left him outside. When I went out less than 20 minutes later to head to my yoga class and try to convince the cat to come in I found him. Beavis was hit by a car on the road in front of my house. I couldn’t have been more horrified when I realized it was my cat there at the end of the drive way. We think he died instantaneously of a broken neck.

What is most upsetting about this is that Beavis used to have permission to spend time outdoors when supervised until he had a near miss a month or so ago. Then he had slipped across the road and decided to respond to my call to come back as cars where traveling both directions on the road. Nearly getting hit twice a few feet away from me.

Beavis was just over two years old. We adopted him as a 10 month old. He was just another “generic black cat”. We were lucky that a shelter volunteer pointed him out. At the time we were looking for a young short-haired cat that would get along with our other cat Audrey. He had been in the shelter for 2 months and he worked out wonderfully.

At first he wanted nothing to do with us. He enjoyed playing with Audrey and was a great companion to her. After about 2 months of being with us he warmed up to us.

In fact he warmed up to us so much that he would occasionally get in the shower with me if I had not slept at home the night before.

He was an independent animal, but he loved being pet and would talk to me. He played with Audrey, when we got Cooper he adapted to Cooper quicker than Audrey did. He kept the puppy in line. He slept next to me when Adam was out of town. He’d get in bed with me when Adam gets out of bed in the morning. He meowed at me if I stayed in bed too long.

In short he was my buddy. He was my cat of the two. I feel terrible that he got out. I feel terrible that we didn’t scramble to get him back into the house. I’m going to miss him tremendously.

We will get another cat in a few weeks, in a few months, I’m not sure. The cat will not replace Beavis, but will help fill the role of playmate to Audrey, as friend to me. In the meantime I will snuggle with my puppy and other cat to help me feel better.

R.I.P. Beavis
February 24, 2009 – June 21, 2009

My Tic the Ticks

I’ve always heard about ticks.  I didn’t really remember ever seeing one until a couple years ago when I found a wierd bug crawling on my sweater which Adam identified as a tick for me. We pulled one off his mother’s cat that had dug in under the cat’s chin.  It was an adventure to pull that one out. Adam pulled one off himself when we lived in Fremont. It was still alive and started making threatening motions towards Audrey. I grabbed my cat and rushed her to a room far away from the bloodsucker.

My experience with ticks prior to my move to New Hampshire consisted of mythical creatures.  They were extensively discussed in my “Kids who want to be Veterinarians” summer camp when I was 9 or 10 years old.  And I developed a disgust for them then and there.

In the last couple days I have probably had to deal with ten Ticks.  And by “deal with” I mean “honey can you kill this tick for me”.  We have pulled two ticks out of the puppy and I’ve taken at least three ticks out of his hair (including a tiny deer tick, carriers of lyme disease). I had three ticks crawling all over my clothes yesterday, and Adam had a couple on his.  I still havn’t had to pull any out of my or the cats’ skin, but I’m constantly convinced that every little itch is a tick.

Oh and they don’t seem to die when slapped, squished or stomped on.  They are pretty much indestructible!

I just spent a pretty penny to get Frontline for the cats, and will get what the vet recommends for the puppy when he gets to a more convienient size, but is there anything I can do to keep the ticks off me? Is it just a high tick year? It’s silly that I can handle the mosquitoes and black flies, but the ticks make me want to run back to the city… and take my pets with me.

Cats in the dog food

Me: Hey honey, I just bought this bag of puppy food to be ready for the puppy’s arrival. Where should we put it?
Him: Oh we’ll just put it under the breakfast bar until he gets here.
Me: But wont the cats get into the bag and eat the food?
Him: Dogs eat cat food, but cats would never eat dog food.

I took this picture only a couple hours after that conversation, it’s a terrible picture but you’ll understand why I used it instead of snapping more in a moment.  And don’t think that Audrey was sitting around innocently watching Beavis scarf down.  She was happily eating away until the camera came out.

So as I set up the camera, Audrey walked away and Beavis chomped down like I hadn’t fed him in days and I was going to take his food away.  I took the picture and realise my setting were wrong. As I fixed my settings Beavis’ stomach decided that it couldn’t digest the dog food and he threw up.  Not just a little bit either.  So I put the camera away.

Good news is, since then our cats do not eat dog food.

Audrey and the Seedings

Audrey, originally uploaded by mbarsalou.

Audrey was sitting on the mini greenhouses for the seedlings again this morning (being a hen). So I decided to take a picture before correcting her. I seriously don’t understand why she wants to sit there all the time.

Seedlings

So all the seeds that I’ve sown indoors this Spring have sprouted except for the Watermelons. Researching a little on the internet I found that I may not be keeping the seedlings warm enough for the watermelon’s liking. We are currently using a room above the garage that we heat minimally. I’ve been keeping the room at at least 50 degrees F in order to keep the Tomatoes and Peppers happy. But apparently the watermelon needs 70s in order to sprout. I guess I’ll wait till I can take over the heating pads from the Tomatoes and Eggplants.

Why can’t I bring the Watermelons into the main house? It has to do with a certain gray kitty. It seems Audrey has decided that the seedlings are eggs and she’s a chicken and that she needs to cover them in order to help them grow.

In the meantime we have California Wonder Peppers, two kinds of Eggplant, A mix of Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, a mix of heirloom Tomatoes and Merigolds all started for the garden.

Cats on a Roof

We did a lot of work in the yard this weekend  so while we were out we had the cats running around the yard.  Adam decided to put the cats up on the roof of the house.

Audrey was not happy!

Beavis liked being closer to the sky and to the birds.

There was a couple amusing anecdotes about the geese across the street this weekend. Parents must really learn that geese are not a petting animal and will be vicious in attacking if they feel that their territory is being infringed on. One goose decided today that the cars driving on the road were getting too close to his pond and was standing at the side of the road hissing and flapping his wings at every car that drove by. He must have felt very rewarded when the cars were all cowards and drove away as fast as they came.

And a couple more kitty pictures from this weekend.

Audrey

Audrey, originally uploaded by mbarsalou.

Sometimes she’s just so pretty when she’s being good.

Audrey outside at the new house

When we got Audrey I wanted her to be an indoor cat. So I trained her to go outside on a harness. Since a couple adventures outside in the middle of winter Audrey has shown no interest in going outside. So we didn’t even think twice of letting her onto the deck on a beautiful late winter day. Well it turns out she loved it. By the end of the time out she was sprinting her way around the building, taking care to never leave the building by a few feet. But we think she enjoyed herself.

It will definately only be a treat for when we are around and outside with her but we might let her out again at some point. Although the snow is a nice kitty fence because she did not want to touch it.