The Feline Horde

OK, So Time Got Away From Us

2010-10-14T22:12:00.002-04:00

And we haven't updated this thing in over a year. I'll try to come up with something good soon?

Don't be fooled...

2009-09-19T23:47:00.004-04:00

This cat may look angelic, but take a look at her paw. See that black smudge? That's where she was digging in the fireplace again. I do have to admit that this picture is ripe for lolcat-ization. Yes I just made that up. Muwahaha! Thanks to a friend visiting from Canada who took this picture. Winter is so easy to photograph...she just sits there looking all innocent.

Why do happy cats drool?

2009-09-12T11:15:00.003-04:00

Winter and Nikta, both of whom are very needy kitties, drool when they're being loved on. Winter actively tries to swallow her drool (slurp slurp slurp), but has made a giant mess on my arm before. Nikta simply rubs his drool-filled face all over everything in site, including me. Kitty drool stinks! Why do they do this? Apparently when they're extremely happy drool just comes with the territory. Here's one vet's take on it.

Anyone else have happy kitty stories? I have also received the kneading on my tummy and legs, happy claws in my legs and shoulder (ouch!), and the head-butts to the face. My oldest, Maharet, will lick my nose (adorable!). Sagira will constantly show me her butt (elevator butt!).

Yes you can

2009-09-04T15:29:00.000-04:00

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/09/03/funny-pictures-loozing-your-fingerz/

Think It Over!

2009-08-17T12:25:00.001-04:00

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Weepy eye

2009-08-12T21:21:00.002-04:00

So there's no confusion, Atalanta did not get another cat who now has an eye infection. This is Diane's cat!

I noticed yesterday that Maharet's eye was looking a little wet, but sometimes it looks like that and everything is fine. Unfortunately for her this time it's not. Today it's almost swollen shut, has mucus, and weepy only begins to describe the wet factor. Luckily for me I keep the medicine for this kind of infection on hand because my older cats get this from time to time. Now imagine a fat tortie trying to squirm away while purring and crying when you open the eye to put the nasty gunk in it. Let's just say she quit purring once the gunk hit the eye because I'm assuming that it hurts like hell.

A Dear Kitty Letter

2009-08-11T08:03:00.001-04:00

Dear Cat,

I have some issues with you right now that I would like to hash out. And now
is as good a time as any with you laying over my arms while I am trying to
type on the computer. You don't even look comfortable and you can't breathe
lying like that with your butt higher up than your head but your brain is
the size of a walnut so I will forgive you.

First of all, the litterbox. Is it your goal to poop on the rim of the box?
Because if it is, bravo! Mission accomplished, you can stop now. You have
proved your point. It is not funny anymore, and I have run out of sticks in
the yard to clean it off with. The box is big enough, and you are still
small, so don't even go there.

Now... making pointless, incessant noises. If I take something away from you
because I am tired of hearing it scoot across the floor for the last 2
hours, it does not mean to go find something else to mess with. I mean
really where do you find this stuff? A wad of paper? A bottle cap? Is that
really that fun to play with?

I put things on the coffee table because I want them there. I do not want
you to knock EVERYTHING off of the coffee table in one of your mindless
"tearing ass through the house for no reason" adventures every single day.
Once in a while, it is amusing. Every day, it's not that funny.

Your ass stinks. I mean REALLY stinks. Like the worst poop you've ever
smelled. Why do you smell soooo horrible? I thought cats were clean! I have
never experienced this smelly, stinky cat phenomena with any other cat on
this Earth. Why, God, did you give me the most stinky cat in this solar
system? And Cat, why do you insist on showing me your ass? I know it stinks,
but what am I supposed to do about it? Bathe you??? LOL! Remember the last
time that happened? I still have the scars... Also, when you sit on my arm,
please have the kindness to put your tail over your butthole so it doesn't
come into contact with my skin. I might catch something.

Lastly, I am allergic to you. I know this isn't your fault, but knowing
this, why do you insist on rubbing the whole length of your body on my face?
Okay... I just pulled a CATHAIR out of my eye. No wonder my eyes are itchy
if you are purposefully depositing your dander into my eyes! What are you
trying to prove here? That you know I'm stuck with you? While you're busy
carrying things about the house in your mouth to deposit them into some area
that I haven't discovered yet- would you mind bringing me a piece of
sandpaper to me so that I can alleviate the itching you've caused me? Oh-
while we're on this subject, I need my hair ties back- I know you have them.
Thanks.

Welcome to My House!

2009-08-10T12:27:00.001-04:00

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I finally cleaned out my kitchen...

2009-08-03T16:19:00.001-04:00

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...and look what I found!

Curiosity and Cats

2009-07-29T11:52:00.001-04:00

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Dinner is Served

2009-07-29T09:12:00.000-04:00

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Anyone want to come to dinner at my house?

AA for Cats?

2009-07-29T09:11:00.002-04:00

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Fly Guy

2009-07-27T10:01:00.000-04:00

Winter - the worst cat ever

2009-07-21T22:39:00.003-04:00

Don't get me wrong; I love Winter. She is adorable, sweet, playful, and very very talky. She just also happens to be aggressive, bullying, and extremely jealous. Did I mention territorial? As in likes to mark her territory? And destroy carpet and mattresses and clothing? Yeah.

My husband found her while he was on duty stuck in a tree. He kept hearing something cry and finally looked up to see a pathetic looking white kitten crying at him because she got stuck. So what does he do? He calls Atalanta for help! She kindly takes her home for the night while he finished his shift, and we picked her up from the vet the next day. Because she has blue eyes and is white, we all thought she was deaf. The vet even tested her hearing multiple times with no success. Turns out she was just so tired that all she wanted to do was sleep, no matter how loud her environment was. Her paws were scabbed, she was scruffy, underfed, and underloved. I guess the tiny grey patch on her head keeps her from being deaf. Who knew?

A couple of days after we brought her home, we began to notice lovely little puddles around the apartment that smelled strongly of ammonia. Hooray! We had a peeing cat! She peed everywhere. I thought it was just territorial, so I took her to get fixed. It didn't stop. Hubby took her to the vet who diagnosed her with a urinary tract infection. It got better, but the peeing didn't stop. Finally we broke down and tried anti-anxiety meds. By this point she had badgered Sagira so much that she started peeing outside the box too. The first meds didn't work very well, so we switched to Paxil. Yes, Paxil. It is amazing!!! No more pee!!!! (Shameless plug - if you need to give your kitty pills get some pill pockets. They're treats that hide the pill.)

So now we just have a fat dominating white cat that doesn't like to listen but loves her mommy very much. Gotta love cats!

From the Department of the Painfully Obvious

2009-07-14T08:52:00.002-04:00

Cats 'exploit' humans by purring.

Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a "soliciting purr" to overpower their owners and garner attention and food.
Unlike regular purring, this sound incorporates a "cry", with a similar frequency to a human baby's.
The team said cats have "tapped into" a human bias - producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore.

It's an interesting study. Reading a little more into it, it's not as prevalent in multi cat households as it is in single cat houses but it just goes to show how intelligent and communicative cats can be. I've heard the cat's meow was developed to communicate with people rather then communicate with other cats. My cats make a multitude of chirps, trills, growls and other vocalizations to communicate with each other.

Esteban

2009-07-13T17:06:00.004-04:00

Esteban now weighs in at 21 pounds but he was the smallest of all the kittens. The only boy in the group of 5 kittens, he was the slowest to crawl and if stuck outside their basket, would cry until someone came to put him back in. Esteban (he also answers to Bon Bon) is the most mellow of all the cats and the laziest. He can usually be found in a patch of sunlight, impersonating a rug. Ban (call him anything, just not late to dinner!) is a formal cat, thank you, with his little white bow tie on his throat and his white tummy. He also thinks he's a lap cat, except he needs a couple of laps to properly stretch out on.

Normally mellow, Esteban goes NUTS for the feather wand and the laser pointer. I'm not sure about the rest of them but he certainly learned his hunting skills and learned them well. He can disembowel a catnip toy with those back paws while his ears are back and his eyes wild. The first time I heard him growl, I couldn't believe that was my sweet little kitty.

So where did he get the name Esteban? He was named for a street character at Faire Steve was running at the time, Esteban Diego de Castile, Adventurer without Peer, Adventurer without Beer. Ban was named Estevan Diego de CATstile, Adventurer without Milk, yada yada yada.

Isabella

2009-07-13T15:30:00.005-04:00

Time for more intros to The Feline Horde!

Isabella, Moshi and Esteban are all siblings. In April 2002, I found a calico cat living in the basement of our building. Long story short, she was quickly picked up, de-fleaed and found herself a home. Poor thing was skin and bones except for a belly full of kittens. She looked like she had swallowed a balloon. A few weeks later, she had a litter of 5 kittens. Due to circumstances beyond our control (ie we couldn't find homes for them), we ended up keeping three of the kittens.

The first of the group is Isabella. Also known as Bella, she was the most daring of the kittens. First out of the basket, first to explore the closet that was their home, even before her eyes were fully open, she was out there looking around. Isabella is also the LOUDEST cat we have. It's a shrill, high-pitched meow that's very effective in making humans get out of the bed in the morning to check the food dishes.

Bella isn't the most active cat I have but she she's a shoulder kitty. She's happiest if she can be held, with her front paws dangling over your shoulder. Isabella possesses the sharpest claws imaginable so it's not the most comfortable position in the world. Her second favorite place is snuggled in behind the laptop monitor on my desk, close enough for the occasional ear scratch but not in the way.

In and Out

2009-07-13T08:24:00.001-04:00

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Flashback to Nicky's First Christmas

2009-07-10T12:41:00.001-04:00

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Maharet the Queen

2009-07-09T21:26:00.004-04:00

Maharet (again, roll the r) is our oldest kitty. She is also queen kitty. She's afraid of people until she knows them, but when she does she's quite playful and affectionate. It just takes her forever to warm up to people. A part of the "Big Girls" duo, she's amazingly patient with all the other cats. It's hilarious when she finally loses her temper and punches a kitten in the head. Her most memorable experience was when she got her paw stuck under a book case somehow (don't ask, I have no idea how she managed this). This was about 7 am on a Sunday which woke me and hubby up. He tried to free her and in her panic she bit the crap out of his hand. Needless to say now we know that cat bites get infected really fast, the wounds bleed a lot, and it costs a hell of a lot of money to treat when intravenous antibiotics have to be used. After about 15 minutes of self soothing once released, she was chirping around the apartment like nothing had happened. Cats...gotta love 'em!

I've got to get one of these...

2009-07-08T08:11:00.001-04:00

Sagira the Princess

2009-07-07T21:03:00.006-04:00

Sagira is my second oldest kitty, and part of the duo I call "The Big Girls". We started with two cats adopted from PetSmart, Maharet and Sagira (roll the r's to make soft d's), and they were our only cats for about three years before Nikta was rescued. Sagira is my princess cat. Everything people complain about regarding cats - aloof, wants attention on her terms, can't play rough with her, can't snuggle her, won't come when you call, etc - is embodied in Sagira. She loves me and hubby and just about anyone who comes to visit us, but please don't try to pick her up or expect much of anything except tail in your face. I believe she is an abbysinian mix, which explains her love of people, hatred of fellow felines, and fierce independance. She has to be one of the smartest kitties I've seen.

Side note: yes all of my cats at one point wore the indescribably cute dinosaur hat. Sagira was kind enough to sit still long enough to let me take a picture before ripping it off. She is the only cat I own that knows the camera has a flash and will not look directly into the camera - ever. This is the only good picture I have of her. It doesn't really do her justice.

Feline: It's What's For Dinner

2009-07-07T20:07:00.001-04:00

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This is what I woke up to this morning

2009-07-06T06:56:00.000-04:00

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Nikta the cat

2009-07-05T16:45:00.004-04:00

Of all my cats, Nikta is probably the most entertaining. Nikta means night in Greek, and bless his heart he's about as dumb as a pile of bricks. He is, I believe, a Maine Coon mix, and he's our only boy in the whole mix. A good name for him would have been Buddy because he's so friendly and loving. I often wonder if he was mistakenly reincarnated as a cat instead of a puppy. Here are some pictures!

No Competition to the Derby

2009-07-05T09:31:00.001-04:00

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And they're NOT off...

This Is What It Takes To Get A Day Off At My House

2009-07-03T23:05:00.001-04:00

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All Hail our Feline Overlards!

Just a little evil

2009-07-02T09:05:00.001-04:00

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Last one and then I'm done for the morning.

Catgats gives this restaurant 3 stars

2009-07-02T09:02:00.001-04:00

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Will Werk 4 Fud

2009-07-02T08:59:00.001-04:00

Hello!!

2009-07-01T17:46:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone! My name is Diane, and I too am a cat owner who has been well trained by her cats. In fact, one of them is taking up most of my chair as I type this. I also write a running blog if anyone is interested in non-cat related topics (although if you're reading this you better like cats!).

You may ask yourself, how do I know I'm trained by my cats and not the other way around? Well, how should I explain this...

I sleep around my cats, forcing my body into strange positions that leave my husband pushing me out of his way. All this is subconscious.

I'm constantly performing cat checks to make sure they're all happy and actually in the apartment (or not locked in pantries and closets).

I know to leave room in my seat in case one of them wants to sit with me.

I learn to live with cat hair.

Doors to rooms stay open so they can roam freely.

Am I trained or what?

New Blog Author

2009-07-01T09:51:00.003-04:00

My good friend Diane has now joined The Feline Horde as an Author. Whoo-hoo! Diane is owned by 4 adorable and spoiled rotten cats. ClapClapClap for Diane!

Casual Dining

2009-06-29T20:05:00.000-04:00

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Showoff

2009-06-26T10:24:00.001-04:00

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I've seen this look before...

2009-06-25T18:58:00.001-04:00

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This is how I feel about Friday!

2009-06-25T16:31:00.000-04:00

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Amazing performing cats!

2009-06-22T10:52:00.001-04:00

The Moscow Cat Theatre! Maybe I just found my next career path? Sounds like more fun then IT!

Dewey the Library Cat

2009-06-20T17:55:00.004-04:00

The story of a cat who made his home in the public library in Spencer Iowa, Dewey had the run of the entire library for 19 years. I haven't read the book yet but I'm going to pick it up this week.

This is the official website of Dewey Readmore Books. Check out Dewey TV for videos of Dewey in action.

Woodland Park Zoo Blog | Naturally Inspiring: Spots of beauty: endangered snow leopard cubs born!

2009-06-20T11:55:00.001-04:00

Woodland Park Zoo Blog | Naturally Inspiring: Spots of beauty: endangered snow leopard cubs born!

2009-06-19T16:23:00.001-04:00

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My Favorite picture of my cats.

2009-06-19T13:07:00.001-04:00

The Feline Hoard, originally uploaded by Atalanta2006.

I have no idea what was out there but they were VERY interested.

Orphaned Cougar Cub

2009-06-19T09:59:00.001-04:00

See more information here.

2009-06-18T16:03:00.000-04:00

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Proof cats will eat just about anything!

2009-06-18T12:08:00.001-04:00

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Rare video of Florida Panther

2009-06-18T08:07:00.001-04:00

Only 100 of them exist now in the wild so this is amazing to see.

Rosie

2009-06-17T19:59:00.001-04:00

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2009-06-17T15:57:00.001-04:00

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2009-06-17T13:09:00.002-04:00

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Rescued Mama cat & kittens

2009-06-17T09:02:00.001-04:00

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And another Quackers post

2009-06-16T20:07:00.004-04:00

I couldn't help it, I thought the little duck was the cutest thing I'd ever seen, even if he did rampage loose in my car for 5 minutes until I found something to put him in. We dropped him off at an animal hospital in Marietta, where he was turned over to a rehab group who'll raise him until he's old enough to be on his own. Sadly, I was never able to find out what happened to his mother or the rest of his siblings.

OK, it's not a cat....

2009-06-16T19:56:00.006-04:00

I'm branching out in the animal kingdom, this was a duckling I rescued from the intersection of Abernathy Road and 400 North about a month ago. I thought he (?) was a cute little thing and named him Quackers. Nope, it's not original but it beats Road Kill, which was what he almost became.

2009-06-16T15:46:00.004-04:00

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Zelda- cat-testant number three!

2009-06-16T14:45:00.003-04:00

The third kitty in the Horde is our feral cat, Zelda. Unlike Nicky and Bianca (and the rest) Zelda was born to a feral mother and has never really become social. Even though we got her around four or five weeks old, she had already learned humans were bad news and never warmed up to us. She lives under the bed and ghosts around the house like a little black shadow. Her new favorite place to hang out has been the crock pot in one of the lower kitchen cabinets. Since it's black ceramic, she blends right in.

She's occasionally social, I've had nights when I've picked her up and held her while she purred and she does sleep on the bed just out of reach. I figure as long as she's healthy and safe, it's OK if she's anti-social. I have enough lap cats, not everyone has to be an attention hog.

Alright, so I really stink at blogging....

2009-04-27T21:57:00.002-04:00

The last post was about our sweet kitty, Moshi. I'm happy to report she's doing just fine. At her last weigh-in, she was back up to 8.5 pounds (lowest was 7 pounds) and she no longer looks like a skeleton wearing a fur coat. She's also spoiled rotten and has taken over my bed. If I'm lucky, I get to have a pillow all to myself otherwise I have to share. Don't ask me how an animal who ways less then nine pounds can take over my life, I can't even begin to explain it.

So what's new in the world of the crazy cat people? Nothing much. We got our kitten Evie fixed about a month ago. Check out the SANTA website for more information on low cost spay and neuter. Other then that, it's been a quiet couple of months, for which I'm profoundly grateful.

Inflating the cat

2009-01-09T06:39:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in a while and we've had some health issues in our feline household. At the end of November, our cat Moshi had some sort of infection (the vet wasn't sure what) and stopped eating. We got the infection cleared up but she never really restarted eating a whole lot and was losing weight. I tried several different kinds of food to get her to eat but nothing worked so we took her to the vet this week. She was diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease and the vet put in a feeding tube so we could get nutrients into her. She's coping with the tube well enough so far and has put on a little weight already in the last couple of days.

In order to feed her, we make a slurry of cat food and water. Special note here, put the lid on the blender tightly before you start it! We then heat it up to 100-101 degrees and suck up the prescribed amount into a syringe. We started with 72ml of food this morning and it will go up each day. Next, take another syringe and aspirate the tube and flush it with 5ml of water. Once that's ready to go, go slow and push in the food. We have to watch carefully to make sure none of it comes back out of the tube or Moshi. The tube could have a blocakage or it could be too cold for her to tolorate.After feeding, flush the tube again with 10 ml of water and we're done! It really does look like we're inflating our cat, you can see her stomach fill during the process. Moshi was very calm throughout everything, she just sat there while I feed her. We'll start offering the regular cat food everyone else eats tomorrow just to see if she will start eating on her own. The goal is to have her gain weight and then resume normal eating habits. In the meantime, we'll feed her 3 to 4 times a day like this.

I wish my sweet kitty wasn't sick but I am very happy I live near some great vets and that I'm able to pay for treatment. It would be a whole lot worse otherwise.

VCA North Atlanta Animal Hospital
Georgia Veterinary Specialists
United Animal Nations Lifeline Grants

Now Showing, part 2

2008-11-23T17:12:00.002-05:00

Surprisingly, the show was a lot of fun. There were several vendors there with free samples (clap clap clap for swag at the cat show!) and the breeders all had displays with their cats. There were some beautiful cats. I've always liked Siamese but there were some Scottish Fold kittens who were just adorable. I even met a sweet Sphinx (hairless cats) and his owner. This was his first show (the cat, not the owner) and he seemed to be taking in all the excitement very calmly. In fact, the majority of the cats were very calm, no one seemed to have a problem being on display or being handled. There was a Siamese hell bent on eating his number card during judging but since he got Best in Show, it didn't seem to be held against him.

The most entertaining part of the show, I think, was the agility course. We watched it for a bit and most of the cat ran the course with minimal disruption. This isn't like the trials you see with border collies trying to shave a 10th of a second of their times, some of these cats made it through in 20 to 25 seconds but there were a few that took as long as a minute thirty and one Japanese Bobtail kitten who decided that playing meet and greet with the audience was a lot more fun then chasing a string around the course. The audience laughed and clapped for the cats on the course and everyone seemed to have a good time. I don't think anyone took it too seriously.

We were very happy to see Dominique and his Circus Cats. Dominique used to perform at the Georgia Renaissance Festival but now he spends most of his time at Mallory Square in Key West, Florida. Dominique has trained house cats to do circus tricks. I've seen is show at least 50 times and the entertainment comes not from watching the tricks but from watching the cats try to get out of performing. Watching Dominique interact with the cats is funny and sweet at the same time. He really loves his cats!

I wasn't too enthused about going to a cat show originally. I thought people would be overly serious about their purebred cats but people seemed to be having a really good time and I enjoyed some of the vendors. There were a couple of vendors showing cat furniture that were interesting, some large scratching posts and perches with hidey-holes. There was one vendor selling the collapsible crates a lot of the cats were in but they also had a pyramid shaped crate that hung from the ceiling like a swinging chair that I think my cats would love. Anything to get my own swing chair back! I don't know if I would travel to go to a show but if it came to Atlanta again, I'll probably go.

Now Showing!

2008-11-23T07:28:00.002-05:00

My husband and I are going to the CFA International Cat Show this morning. For those of you who don't know, CFA stands for the Cat Fanciers Association. This is like the Westminster of cat shows.

Personally I've never been to a cat show (unless you count hanging around in my living room) and I've always thought cat show people were just a touch nutty. This coming from the person with 11 cats. But I'm going, if only to see the agility course. I have no idea how they're going to get a cat to run an agility course. I can't imagine any of my cats running anything (except my household) let alone a timed agility course. I guess we'll see how it works!

Bianca

2008-11-18T21:51:00.004-05:00

OK, so I'm a bit behind in posting.

Feline number two in our Horde is Bianca. She's a lovely Tortise shell with an orange blaze down her nose and an extremely loud voice. She's my alarm clock in the morning, she'll promptly wake me up to refill the food dish and god help me if I'm slow. Not that she needs the dish refilled. It's like watching a Wagnerian soprano act like she's wasting away of consumption. Bianca is the size of a small watermelon with feet, it's going to be a while before she succumbs.

Bianca (I often call her Bea for short) was brought to me by a friend of mine in North Carolina. He called me to tell me someone had dropped off three pregnant cats near his house and he was stuck with 15 kittens to find homes for, what kind would I like? In my mind, I was saying no, thanks but the words that came out were I'll take a tortie. So he drove her all the day down to my place, yowling the entire time, and she quickly made herself at home.

All in all, she's a mellow cat (as long as the food dish is filled) with a loud purr. She's never been a lap cat, though. She prefers to sit next to you to be petted and she often sits on the back of the couch behind my head like a warm, purring neck rest.

She's had one serious illness, three years ago she was diagnosed in her paw. We found it quite by accident, she was standing on the arm of the sofa begging for my glass of milk (she loves milk!) when I saw a nasty growth on her paw. Thinking it was a cut that got infected, we rushed her to the emergency vet that Friday night. They determined it wasn't an infection and told us to have our regular vet biopsy it in the morning. It did turn out to be cancerous and our vet removed her little toe on the back right paw, all the way to the joint. She was a model patient right up until surgery when she bit the vet's hand. We tried to explain to him she was probably just hungry but he didn't buy it. Bianca has since made a full recovery and is in perfectly good health.

Bianca is not an active cat like some of my others, she's pretty content to sit on the couch and watch everyone else run around but unlike everyone else, she's a hoarder. She builds up a little cache of hidden goodies that no one else is allowed to touch, things like coins, guitar picks, milk jug rings and her grey security mouse (now on it's 5th incarnation, don't tell her!). She also likes jewelery, the shinier the better. I spent three weeks looking for my watch once, thinking that I left it at my music teacher's house or at some one's keyboard while I was working on their computer. I was sitting on my couch when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bianca walking though the living room dragging something in her mouth. She had found my watch and hid it in one of her secret stashes around the house. She was not thrilled when I started raiding her hiding places every time I missed something.

This is what happens when you ask for a raise...

2008-10-13T22:40:00.000-04:00

It's Me or the Dog

2008-10-13T22:06:00.005-04:00

I know it's not feline related at all but I love the show It's Me or the Dog on Animal Planet. Victoria Stillwell is a dog trainer who is a master at civilizing out of control dogs. I think some of her tips on behavioral training could be adapted for cats (I'm looking at you Nick!). I especially like the emphasis on positive discipline and understanding the stressors that might set off a dog's undesirable behavior.

I've said over and over if you want to understand why a cat is acting a certain way, you have to think like a cat. It might leave you with an unholy love for canned tuna but hopefully it will give you insight into why your cat does things you don't like and how to change those behaviors. We often react to our animals as if they are humans and have a human thought process but that's just not the case. The most lovable of pets is still an animal and can't (and won't) react the way we would like. It doesn't mean we don't love them, it just means we have to work harder to understand them.

Nicodemous

2008-10-09T20:04:00.005-04:00

Nicodemous was found in the back seat of a car at around 4 weeks old and ended up being adopted by my manager at a book store. Poor John ended turned out to be horribly allergic to cats so when he offered me Nicky (then called Ricky), I said quickly said yes.

The first meeting was not as smooth as it could have been. Nicky was rocketing around the living room and into everything. He let me hold him long enough to tell he was a brown tabby and then he was back to terrorizing the room. At one point he ran under the couch then climbed into the springs. When I left John's apartment 30 minutes later, he was still trying to extract Nicky from the couch.

Knowing all this, I went back that weekend to pick up my new kitty. My cousin went with me and held Nicky in his arms on the way back. For all his hyperactivity, Nicky was a loving cat from the start and sat in Robbie's arms and purred.

Nicky is 9 years old now and still as active as ever. The phrase curiosity killed the cat was coined with Nicky in mind. Over the years he's managed to get himself trapped in a dryer vent, has learned how to open cabinets and once got his head stuck in a water glass. I've been invited to leave three different vets' practices because of his behavior (he hates getting his claws trimmed). Nicky is very much my cat and sleeps with me every night, curled up in the same spot to my right..

In 2006, he was treated for hyperthyroidism using the radioactive iodine treatment. Nuclear Nick spent 2 weeks in isolation in my parent's upstairs bathroom where he yowled for the entire time he was there and chewed a hole through the door frame to make his escape. The two hour drive to my parent's house was crazy. Because of radioactivity, he had to be placed as far away from me in the car as I could get him and I had to carry a letter with me from the vet just in case I was pulled over. Luckily for us, the treatment worked and he's since been given a clean bill of health.

Cat Intro and Other Babbling

2008-10-09T09:14:00.002-04:00

Somehow I tripped a spam alert in Blogger and posting was blocked for the last few days. Oops! Anyway, a few people have asked for an introduction to the Horde so the next few posts will be on my cats and their history.

First off, why do I call them the Feline Horde? For the most part, my cats are in the 12-15 pound range and fairly light on their feet and yet they sound like a thundering herd of water buffalo charging through the living room. A few years ago (and about 4 cats ago) my husband and I awoke to an especially loud ruckus and I said something about having the Mongol Horde camped out on our sofa. Since then we have referred to them collectively as the Feline Horde. I've also heard a group of house cats is referred to as a nuisance of house cats. I'm not sure how many cats make up a nuisance but I'm sure we have one.

Meow Mix

2008-10-05T20:58:00.000-04:00

On the advice of my husband and my friends, I'm starting a blog about life with multiple cats. When I say multiple, I mean it. My husband and I have 11 cats. In a two bedroom condo.

Let me answer a few of the most common questions. Yes, there really are 11. Yes, I am more then well aware that's a shitload of cats. No, I did not set out to become the crazy cat lady, it just happened. 6 water dishes, 3 feeding stations with multiple bowls, 1 separate food and water station for a cat on a special diet, 3 kiddie pool sized litter boxes, roughly 4 40-pound boxes of litter a month, 80 pounds of cat food a month (I think) plus a special vet diet. No, obviously my husband and I don't have kids. And finally, yes they all have names. In order of appearance, Nicodemous, Bianca, Zelda, Esteban, Isabella, Moshi, Linus, Falstaff, Bartholomew, Buddy and Eve.

It's kind of like living in a National Geographic documentary. I really enjoy watching how all these cats interact with each other and with us, their human servants. There is a hierarchy, each cat has a close friend as well as one they don't like so much. We have piles of cats sleeping on top of each other and we have the occasional fight.

With this many cats, the house really is run for their convenience. We're always on the lookout for more toys and games to keep them alert and happy, more ways to keep them healthy and safe and of course, more ways to make it easier to care for them. It's not easy, there are a lot of dishes to be filled, boxes to be cleaned and a never-ending battle against shed cat fur. If there's a product out there to help with any of those issues, we've tried it.

The long and the short of it is, I love my cats. These cats are some of the best things in my life and while they make it a challenge, I wouldn't enjoy life half as much without them.