KITTENS ARE ALWAYS THANKFUL FOR ATTENTION, FOOD, AND A WARM PLACE TO SLEEP–AND WE’RE ALWAYS THANKFUL WHEN THEY’RE CONTENTED, FULL, AND QUIETLY SNOOZING!

Time to be thankful and eat!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving Day.  Our friends, Bob and Patti, were going to come and visit for a couple of days, but Patti was sick and they had to cancel.  It was becoming a tradition for them to spend Thanksgiving here with us.  We do see them several times during the year though.  They only live two hours away.

The day was warm and the cats were outside mostly.  We sat down to eat at 2:00 p.m. and then afterward we went out to sit on the patio.  It was nice to just sit and talk and listen to music.  The cats and Sheila kept us company.  Sheila lay behind the glider and the cats strolled or ran by.  It was just a quiet, laid back day.  Nice to have a day off!

Sunset

 When it started getting cooler, we got blankets to put around us just to keep the chill off.  Time went by and suddenly it was getting darker.  We had to round up the cats and bring them in.  Jonesie is the last one to come in because he likes to make a game out of running back and forth, making us chase and catch him.  But, once all were inside and accounted for, they were fed and after a long day, ready for their naps.

Lexi

I have ordered the antihistamine for Lexi and it should be delivered this week.  It will be interesting to see if it helps her congestion.  I hope it works for her.

Mr. Creme will be going to the vet this week to get a fructosamine test to see how he’s doing.  He may be gaining a little weight too, which is fine.  He had lost some and the doctor said it would be good if he could gain it back.  He’s never been overweight, but at one time he was a fair sized cat at 15 or 16 pounds.  He was 13 pounds at his last vet visit.  We have always had big cats.  Jonesie is our smallest male, only weighing about 10 pounds.

Jonesie

Mr. Creme and Debby

We've been leaving the garage door to the backyard open so that Mr. Creme can have access to the yard and also the other cats can come into the garage to use a litter box or get something to snack during the day.  Because we are afraid to let Debby outside, she stays in her 4x4 kennel during the day.  We open the kennel door at night so she and Mr. Creme can snuggle if they want to.

Dash

Kodi

Our fraternal twins, (the frat girls) Dash and Kodi are fully grown now.  They were a year old last September.  We thought Kodi was going to be a very small cat, but she has sprouted up and is filling out.  Dash has always been the bigger of the two.  They are still skittish, even though we’ve had them since they were six weeks old.  They were taught by their mom, Kiki, to stay hidden in the woodpile and I don’t think they’ll ever really be unafraid.  But, they are nice cats.  If they are settled in the cat tree or on the bed, etc., they will allow us to pet them.  Kodi even comes up to our laps for attention.  I don’t think Dash will ever do that though.  She would be so nice to hold.  She has the thickest, soft fur and she’s pure white.

Kiki

Their mom, Kiki, gets full house privileges during the day.  We do put her in her 4x4 kennel at night though.  It saves us from dealing with problems overnight.  We have found that on the times we left Kiki out in the house overnight, one of the other cats, probably Rhody, stalks her and if she’s on the cat tree or couch, she is afraid to come down.  It just keeps peace in the family to separate them at night.  Rhody is not a mean cat, but he has this way of following Kiki and then just staring at her.  It makes her nervous.  If she would meet him and touch noses, everything would be fine.  He is just curious about her and she won’t let him get close enough to meet her. 

Jason and Kaci

Our twins, Jason and Kaci, and Jonesie are our two most well-behaved cats.  The twins are five years old now and Jonesie is two years old.  We wouldn’t take anything for them.  Even when they were just kittens, (we got them when they were about five months old, Jones was three months) they played and tore through the house, but they never broke anything or chewed on things.

Rhody

The other day I noticed that the dining room table pad had been chewed on a couple of edges!  Who does that?  We think it was Rhody.  He hangs around with the frat girls and the three of them are so destructive.  We have never had cats that broke so many things, got into everything, and now, chews on things.  I keep a supply of glue to mend whatever I can save.

Two casualties of my destructive trio--in my intensive care glue repair shop (tape comes off soon!)

Miss Ellie with her mom

With the cooler nights, Ellie’s asthma has been bothering her more.  She sleeps in a bed under the cat tree in my computer room.  Sometimes when she wants to be held, I wrap her in a blanket and hold her on my lap while I’m working on the computer.  She naps a little and then wants to get down and go back to her bed.  I worry about her because she is getting so small.  She weighs about 8 pounds now and although she looks tiny, she doesn’t feel boney.  She’s always been small, but in her prime she was filled out and pretty solid.  She weighed 10 or 11 pounds then. 

Jezibel

Jezibel also has asthmatic wheezing.  The meds we give her and Ellie work well and we only give as needed.  Jezibel, our oldest, will be 14 years old next July, but except for the asthma, she doesn’t seem to have any other health problems at the moment.  Her weight is up and she looks good.  We’re happy about that because her three “kittens”, Lexi, Mr. Creme and Ellie, all have their own medical problems.  They will be 13 years old in March.  Hard to believe.

Sheila gets her hair combed by her dad

Our dog, Sheila, is hanging in there.  She enjoys the cats and when they run around the house playing, she wants to join in like she is one of them.  They like her well enough, but they don’t appreciate her attempts to be part of their games.  She doesn’t get the hint though.

We took her for a walk the other day.  There was hardly anyone around and still she tried to go off the side of the trail and under the bushes.  She is just so afraid of being away from home.  That is the only place where she feels safe and comfortable.  We were hoping that by taking her out and exposing her to strangers, she would somehow feel more confidence in herself.  She also could use the exercise.  I believe in the saying that “if your dog is overweight, you’re not walking her enough”!  The vet has said that Sheila could lose a pound or two.  We don’t have her on a diet, but I think she does need more exercise. 

She’s not like most dogs who like to play ball.  It’s boring to her.  She will run a couple of times and bring the ball back, but then it’s obviously not something she really wants to do.  I think the border collie in her is telling us that she needs more challenges because she’s smarter than to fetch a stupid ball. ( Joke: “How many dogs does it take to change a light bulb?  Border Collie: Just one. And he'll rewire the house while he's at it.”)  I guess just herding cats is not enough to keep her busy.

More later....

TazzyD.... _^..^_

Tazzy D and me

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. - William Arthur Ward

I’m still seeing the chiropractor once a month and having acupuncture at least once a week.  I do notice an improvement though.  I’m walking every day now and have added some running.  The routine is to walk for about five minutes, run for five, walk, run for five, walk, etc.  I have worked my way up to running a total of 30 minutes.  I don’t know how long it will be before I can run that 30 minutes non-stop like I used to do, but I am hoping that I’ll be able to do that sometime soon.  Even if it never happens, I am so much better than I was a year ago.

Mr. Creme’s last fructosamine test showed high again.  It was 630 and his blood glucose was 333.  We increased his insulin from 2 to 3 units in the mornings and remained at 2 units at night, for a total of 5 units per day.  He still eats well and I think he is maintaining his weight well.  He’ll go back for another test in a week or so. 

Lexi still has the congestion.  We talked to the doctor about it and because of Lexi’s hyperthyroidism, we are limited as to what meds we can give her because it may cause high blood pressure.  But, the doctor suggested we try Chlorpheniramine.  It is an antihistamine.  I plan on ordering a bottle when I order my next supply of Advantage for the cats.  That way I will get free shipping because a bottle of Chlorpheniramine is only $6.99.  In the meantime, Lexi is still eating and acting normal.  I think her congestion bothers me more than her.  I’m still using the vaporizer for now.

A couple of weeks ago we noticed that Rhody was squinting in his left eye.  It was tearing up.  We kept an eye on it (no pun intended) and when it didn’t seem to get any better we took him to have it checked by the vet.  She said there were two abrasions on his eye.  We have no idea how he got them.  But, she sent eye drops home with us to put in his eye three times a day for a week.  Charlie took him back to the vet to have his eye rechecked and it is fine now. 

We have decreased our TV watching time.  I used to turn the TV on as soon as I woke up in the morning and watched the news.  Now I get my news during the day, by newspaper and radio.  I find other things to do besides watching TV.  It’s amazing how quiet the house can be.  Of course, I still record my favorite soap opera, “Young and Restless” and we watch that in the evening.  It’s nice to have an escape from the real world.

I also never thought I could enjoy coffee or tea without adding sugar, but I have stopped using sugar.  I am having hot tea in the mornings instead of coffee, and enjoying it.  When I was visiting my friend, Patti, in Palm Springs last week, I did have a cup of black coffee and was surprised that I actually liked it.  Miracles do happen.

The cats are still enjoying their outdoor freedom.  We don’t let them out if we are not at home, but if we are home, they are allowed to spend the whole day in the yard if they want to.  We go outside periodically to count heads and make sure everyone is doing okay, but it’s so nice that they are staying in our backyard.

When we bring them in at dusk, they have their dinner and then while we are having our dinner, they are nowhere to be seen.  I’ve always thought that our cats were happier to be outside, but we have always been careful to not let them just roam.     

We’re happy and relieved that Jezibel doesn’t go into the front yard anymore.  We were lucky that for all of those years she was allowed to roam, nothing happened to her. 

Of course, there was the time three years ago that she was attacked by two dogs who had gotten out of their yard from the street up the hill behind us.  They chased her from our yard into the neighbor’s yard.  If our neighbors had not been in their open garage and come out with a broom to chase the dogs off, Jezibel may have been killed. 

We rushed her to the emergency vet.  She was bitten and in quite a bit of pain, but thank goodness nothing was broken and she didn’t have to have surgery, just some stitches.  It could have been much worse. 

Jonesie has become quite the little sweet cat.  He allows me to pick him up and hold him and he likes for me to talk to him.  When I’m sitting, sometimes he comes up to my lap.  I’ve been hoping that he would spend more time with me, but he is still a little standoffish.  I will keep working on him.  We don’t really have any lap cats.  Jason will come and sit with me for a little while sometimes. 

I still miss Taz very much.  It’s been two years and I miss the attention that Taz gave me.  He was always nearby or sitting next to me.  He was really special to me.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy your day and remember that we do have a lot to be thankful for.
 
More later....
TazzyD.... _^..^_