Fall and Arbez

Here is Fall and Arbez.  They are Kevin's precious ones.  Sorry about the quality of the photo--it is from my cheap phone and there wasn't enough light.  They were just so cute, there, I couldn't resist.

Arbez is a very sensitive cat, and we have to be very careful with her.  If you pet too far down her back, you may need stitches.  She loves being pet around her head, though. 

Fall is the exact opposite.  You can do anything to her, and she will just keep purring.  Kevin suspects that I only go over his house to spend time with his lovely cats. 

Solar Charging

I'm starting to think that Thunder has solar cells under his fur.  Once he charges up in the morning sun, he gets so playful, even wild.  On the cloudy days, he is more concerned with cuddling than playing.

In the morning, the sun is in the dining room.  It is particularly good this time of year because there are no leaves on the trees to block any of it. 

  On a sunny morning, he is seldom alone...

Unconditional Love

Unconditional Love

I have heard that the reason we have pets is for their "unconditional love."  That must have come from dog lovers.  Dogs can act like they love us unconditionally, but I think it is more that they are pre-programmed to act that way.  Over the eons, they have evolved to act like they love us, so that they can get what they want.

They couldn't have been talking about cats!  With most cats, we have to earn their love.  That is well demonstrated by our barn cats.  They will act loving when it is time for food, but once their bellies are full, they pretty much ignore us.  (Except for Princess--she has decided I am the greatest person in the world.)  With cats, we have to build relationships and then love comes to us.  I wouldn't say it was unconditional.  Our Siamese, Indi, loved Ellen and tolerated me.  Ellen started to stay out past Indi's bedtime, and Indi got mad at her.  All of her affection transferred to me.  She didn't love unconditionally.  We had to follow her rules.  (Cats can be such tyrants.)

I think we love our animals, because we can love them unconditionally.  Love between people can often become complicated.  Loving our animals is simple.  We just love them for who they are--all their good and bad parts.  They don't have to be perfect to have our love.  They don't even have to love us back--and we will still love them.  We can spoil them, we can dote on them--we can love them with all our hearts.  It feels good to love our animal friends.  The unconditional love comes from us.

A Little Bit of Sun Goes a Long Way

This time of year, we start getting a little more sunshine, but there are still periods of much clouds.  We have just finished about a week of nearly solid clouds.  This morning, when I got up there was sun!

I wasn't half as excited as Thunder.  Rather than taking his morning nap under the table, he sat by the window in the sun--and didn't nap at all.  He just kept looking outside.  Later, he moved to the dining room table--and when the sun left that--he went back to the window.

He wanted me with him, so I did spend some time with my arms wrapped around him.  He ten curled up in complete happiness.  He loves to have me in the sun with him, but in the summer, I get too hot to stay a long time.  This time, I could stay until my leg started falling asleep.

Later, when the sun no longer came in his favorite windows, he was charged with solar energy.  He has been running and playing and talking and just being totally adorable.  He gets sun crazy.  I think it was exacerbated by the recent lack of sun.  Whatever the cause, I am loving it!

Bed Wars

Ellen's dog, Stubby, passed away this week.  He was quite a dog and led a good life of 14 years. 

Since I have a dog, Maggie, Ellen decided to give all of Stubby's things to me.  This included 2 dog beds.

Thunder discovered the dog beds, first.  He sniffed it, thought it was interesting and tested it out.

He liked it.  I took the picture, and he got up to talk to me.  Immediately, Maggie decided the bed was hers.

Nothing like taking something away from the cat.  Fortunately, there were 2 beds, and it wasn't long before this happened.

That is now their favorite way of napping.

Oh How I Worry

Oh How I Worry

Remember last week when I wrote about how I found the blood on Thunder's chin?  Well, I have been keeping an eye on his health.  He threw up a few days later.  It was a bad one--I don't know if it was connected--or it was that tiny little hairball that finally came out.  I worried a lot that day.

After that, he seemed normal.  Having Maggie in lockdown for a few days when I wasn't home seemed to help.

The last couple days. he has seemed quiet, and I started worrying, again.  We missed a few play sessions, and he just wasn't purring enough.  Today, he mostly slept.  He has been eating plenty, but I missed the playing.

At 4:00, I couldn't take it anymore.  I picked him up and carried him to his tower--but he didn't want that.  He left, but instead of going back to his warm bed, he sat under a chair.  I started trying to get him to play.  It took a bit, but then, he became himself, again.  We had a wonderful play session.  We played for an hour.

Ellen suggested it was the weird weather.  It was 60, yesterday and 30 today.  In the past, he seems to be affected by temperature swings.  We even had a rare winter thunderstorm last night.  (That means much dog barking.)

I managed to worry myself sick.  Now he appears normal, again.  I was ready to take him to the vet...

Crisis in Our World

The other night, I came home and Thunder was acting odd.  Instead of our normal greeting routine, he was acting like something was bothering him--as if he just threw up a hairball.  He wanted me to console him.  It was a little dark in the dining room, so it took me a few minutes to figure out the problem.  I saw something on his chin.  I quickly turned on the light and saw a drop of blood!

Panic time!  I asked him if he could eat.  He immediately walked over to one of the Temptations I have "hidden" on an upturned coffee cup and ate it.  Then he went to the next one.  That was a good sign.  I couldn't get a real good look at it, though. 

I got him some canned food and gave it to him.  He tried to take a bite and pulled away a little--then took the bite.  He did that several times.  I then knew the blood had to have come from his mouth.  This went on, but since he ate a lot, I felt a little better.

After he ate, I put him in front of me and looked at his mouth.  He didn't like that and struggled a little.  I still saw enough to know that whatever it was, it wasn't something obvious.  I noticed a bunch of the cat obstacles I had set up for him were scattered.  Most particularly, the 2x4 jump was knocked down.  I then formed my suspicions--it was Maggie, aka Dumb Dog.

I think that she must have been on a barking rampage and scattered things. Thunder bolted, and hurt himself somehow when he did.  Often he runs up the circular metal stairs--and sometimes he will slip if he goes too fast.  I don't think Maggie did anything to him, but his panic did.

I hope that all he did was bite his lip or tongue.

I took him up to bed, and he immediately went to eat some of the dry food I have set up for him in my bedroom.  Then he drank.  He did both of these things tentatively.  When he was done, he came to visit me, and I could see that the water washed all the blood off his chin--proving to me the injury was in his mouth.

The next day, there was no more blood and he ate a lot--and with confidence.  Unfortunately, whenever Maggie barked, he would go in hiding and not come out for a long time.  And Maggie barked a lot.  She always does.  Every time she hears a noise outside or sees a deer in the yard. 

We didn't do any playing or cuddling.  I barely got to pet him all day.  When I left in the evening to see Kevin, I put Maggie in lockdown in her room.  She could bark all she liked from there, but maybe Thunder wouldn't be so scared when she did.

When I got home, he was much more confident, but he still didn't want to play.  We just went up to bed and cuddled and cuddled. 

Maggie might be going in lockdown for a while when I'm not home.  I hope they can work things out.  I think he needs to chase her around to reassert his dominance,  She just makes us crazy...