Cross your fingers

Tonight, we put up, for the very first time, a full-sized artificial Christmas tree. It has no lights or ornaments yet, and we are hoping it will still be standing in the morning after spending the night alone in the living room with the cats. Send happy thoughts our way!

Cats want a sister?

One of my good vet school friends recently claimed, somewhat begrudgingly, a stray cat that has been in her neighborhood for awhile. The only problem is, her dogs are serious cat-haters and would love to get their teeth on this poor kitty.

So I think Ms. Stray is going to come stay at our house for awhile. Or at least we'll give it a try and see how it goes. She's been to the VTH and had a clean bill of health, her vaccines, and a negative FeLV/FIV test. She's 1-2 years in age and it's unknown if she's spayed.

My friend reports Ms. Stray is quite friendly and playful when the dogs are absent. There are a couple leads on potential homes for her (she probably wouldn't do well in a humane society setting since she apparently flips out at the vet), but nobody could take her until about a month from now.

So she'll probably be coming to stay in our spare bedroom on Monday, and we'll see how things go. I'm interested to see how Simon likes having a new cat in his house! They will be separated for awhile. :-)

Home again!

We arrived back from Arizona this afternoon, after a 4.5 day absence. I think the cats were happy and mildly confused to see us. Seems like 4 days or so is just about the right amount of time for them really get used to being by themselves all day. Then we come back and shake up their whole routine and want them to share the house with us again!

One of my school friends came by once a day on Tues/Wed/Thurs to feed and water them and scoop the litterboxes. Other than that they were on their own, and it looks like they behaved themselves (though, of course, we have learned by now to take out all the trash, lock away the tempting items, close the bathroom doors, etc.).

I had hoped they would re-outgrow their toilet paper obsession sometime soon, but it appears not. They must have resented having both bathrooms closed while we were gone, because they took the liberty of unrolling half the roll of TP in the downstairs bathroom while we were upstairs tonight. (At least they didn't shred it! That's a start! Yes, I am trying to find a silver lining.)

So they are back to their normal routine, trying desperately to convince anybody who is upstairs that they are starving and haven't eaten for 3 days, and begging at the kitchen table during dinner. Guarding the DVD player while we watch a show, waiting for the disc to pop out at the end. (That's the new favorite game around here.)

Zey took my blaaahhd!

Dear Diary,

Yesterday, I had to go to the veterinary teaching hospital with Mom so I could donate blood.

Which means I didn't get breakfast!

Dad got up before Mom and he said I wasn't too whiny or annoying.... but when Mom finally got up, I certainly expressed my displeasure to her. (I knew that it wasn't Dad's fault I didn't get b-fast.)

So, number one, no breakfast.

Number two: had to go in my carrier and ride in the car.

(Okay, I am a weird, weird cat and I will admit that I sort of like riding in the car.)

We left a little before 8 am and she dropped me off at the VTH around 8:30.

I always get to stay in the same ward (the cats-only internal medicine ward), which is fine. Usually there are 1 or 2 more cats in there, and no dogs.

But yesterday, there were 5 or 6 cats there already! Hence, I was a bit wary and expressed my displeasure via hissing.

Mom set me up with a blankie and a litter pan and a bowl of water (no food, bummer), then she left for the day.

When she came back to pick me up at 3 pm, I was soooo loopy!

Mom found a note on my cage that said that the internal medicine department was really busy today, so I didn't get to donate blood till 1:30 pm. Usually I'm done by late morning and I get to spend a few hours in the afternoon waking up before Mom gets here.

So, let's just say I still had a little ketamine on board. Made for an exciting ride home!

I also apparently misbehaved a little, because the note said I was great for my blood draw and beforehand, but that I was "grumpy" when I woke up. Can you blame me?

On the way out the door, the nurse who coordinates the blood donor program told Mom that I am an awesome cat and that I am her favorite blood-donor cat. Points for me!

When I got home, I got a little bit of crunchies, since I hadn't eaten all day, but Mom said I couldn't have too much because she didn't want me to throw up on the carpet. What a whiner!

My charming brother, as usual, gave me a thorough sniffing and decided I needed a bath so I didn't smell so much like hospital. I always get annoyed when he tries to sniff my butt over and over, and the lingering ketamine in this case made me not too accepting of his curiosity and his invasion of my personal space. He got the idea after a couple swats.

Now I have a nice shaved spot on my neck, and a bruise that's going away. And I don't have to go back to donate again till February '10!

(Although I do have to go next month and get a rabies shot.... boo.)

Cheers,

Simon

Happy Tuesday!

Dear Diary,

Last night, my brother and I decided that we should give Mom & Dad a treat in the morning.

So, they got to wake up this morning to: absolutely no shredded toilet paper! (First time in about a week.)

We did bring them a plastic Target bag, but that's pretty much par for the course. Can't expect too much good behavior.

Cheers,

Johnny

Construction

Dear Diary,

Yesterday, Mom and Dad put together a new dresser for their bedroom. But they didn't let us help! Instead they locked us in the guest bedroom for hours and hours.

Too bad, because there were a lot of yummy-looking nails and screws and nuts and pieces of cardboard and styrofoam involved.

We did get to go play in the giant box afterward.

Cheers,

Johnny