Cat Tales: Fred’s Favorite Toy

Fred is obsessed with a particular toy. I really need to find more of them, but they haven’t been anywhere I’ve checked.

We bought the kittens one of those pet stockings for Christmas that was pre-packaged with a bunch of goodies….balls, stuffed animals, a small interactive toy, etc… It also had these tiny, tiny, tiny little jingly bells with a feather attached. Incredibly cheap looking things that were used as “filler” to make the number of toys they could list on the package seem impressive. This is what Fred fell in love with.

I should have put something next to them for a size comparison…the ball is about the size of a dime.

We have tons of the normal-sized jingly balls…these are not interesting to Fred. He requires tiny ones…with feathers.

Project 43: Round 3

One of my DZP tasks is to try every flavor at Handel’s ice cream. My method is to get 4 scoop samplers in alphabetical order with interruptions by Flavors of the Month.

On Sunday it was round 3! My third sampler consisted of one flavor of the month, Thin Mint, along with the next three flavor alphabetically: black raspberry, buckeye and butter pecan.

The thin mint was very good…the mint was a slightly different flavor than your usually mint of the mint-chocolate-chip variety. The butter pecan was tastier than I had anticipated. The buckeye was disappointing. I love chocolate + peanut butter…in fact, my favorite flavor of ice cream is very similar to this version of buckeye (moose tracks…so vanilla with chocolate swirls and pb cups). Unfortunately, this combo was simply mediocre. On the other hand, the black raspberry stole the show! I love black raspberry, but Handel’s definitely has one of the best ones I have ever tasted.

Thankfully, we were also able to determine the mystery ice cream from my last post…Cherry Cordial.

Project Progress:

Regular Flavors (out of 37)- 

1. Banana
2. Banana Creme Pie
3. Black Cherry
4. Black Raspberry
5. Buckeye
6. Butter Pecan

Flavors of the month (out of ?):

1. Caramel Apple
2. Deep Dish Apple Pie
3. Peppermint Stick
4. Cherry Cordial
5. Heavenly Hash
6. Thin Mint

Harree’s Turn to visit the Vet

I’m a bit late posting this.

Friday evening, Harree’s left eye started looking a bit watery. I wiped it and continued to check on him throughout the night. By bedtime, his eye was not only very watery, but it was also covered in mucus and the inner portions of his eyelid started to look red.

By Saturday morning, his condition was worse so we took him to the vet. The vet checked the eye for scratches, and there was none that she could see. The conjunctivitis (swelling of the membranes of the eyelids, also known as “pink eye”) he was experiencing was likely caused by a bacterial or viral infection; though a scratch was still possibility.

We left with three different kinds of medication: an eye ointment, an antibiotic, and stuff to sprinkle on his food to reduce the watering. Mind you, he already had one medication that needs to be sprinkled on his special food- his potassium supplement. With this new additive, he has incredibly “special” food. Poor thing.

Harree Update: We saw very little change Saturday night to Sunday, but as of last night (Monday) it was starting to look better. This morning it looked fabulous…just a bit of watering, but very little mucus.

Lefty Update: His eye continues to slowly improve. He’s looking pretty good.

Oh, and I’d like to point out that both Lefty and Harree’s issues were with the same eye, yet according to the vet, they are likely entirely unrelated. I’ve never had a cat with an eye problem before…why do these types of things come in clusters?

And I’d like to leave you with the photos of my attempt to photograph Harree’s eye. Considering Harree usually LOVES the camera, I have to assume his eye was making him embarrassed.

B-Day Plans for the Kittens

I’ve never been one to celebrate pet birthdays…but then again, the majority of pets I’ve taken in have been older and many lacked official birthdays. I’m certain Lefty would rather we forget his birthday and let him sleep all day. Well, perhaps locking him in a room by himself would make him happy…

Anyway, I’ve decided that since we were present at the birth of the kittens and they are so young, we should celebrate their birthdays.

The party will be Sunday March 25th- humans are invited, but be prepared to play with cats all day. :p They will be turning 2 on March 26th.

Here’s the activity plan so far:

- Bubbles! The kittens love to pop bubbles.

- Cat Sitter DVDs! We refer to these as “the Birds”…this will be Fred’s favorite part.

- Da Bird! A good run around the house with their favorite interactive toy.

- Critter Food! We’ll be tossing some critter food outside in front of the backdoor in hopes to attract some squirrel entertainment.

- Laser Thermometer! Really the key here is “laser”…some chasing it around the living room.

- Pet Cakes! A special cake for the kitties made with tuna.

Cat Tales: Harree’s Reaction

I was so focused on the result’s of Lefty’s visit that I forgot to mention the adorable consequence of the trip.

Lefty is a very vocal kitty. His meow is a pathetic-sounding whine which sounds even more pathetic and more whine-y when he is forced to do something he doesn’t want to do. Lefty doesn’t hiss, scratch or cry…Lefty complains.

The complaints started as soon as I had him in my arms and he noticed he was headed for the carrier. He then proceeded to make it very challenging for me to get him in said carrier by doing some crazy ninja moves with his feet.

When we finally got him situated and locked in the carrier, I noticed Harree.

Harree was very upset that Lefty was meowing. He kept pacing back and forth, looking at the carrier holding Lefty, and squeaking at me. His concern was obvious. If he was concerned for himself, he would have ran and hid.

Harree isn’t a very vocal cat…he usually only meows for food…and that was after months of us encouraging him to do that (we like our kiddies to be loudmouths). Where Lefty whines, Harree squeaks. Given that he is by far our largest cat, his high-pitched squeak is endearingly hilarious.

But yesterday morning’s squeaks broke my heart a little, and at the same time made me smile. Harree’s obvious concern for Lefty’s discomfort demonstrates how much our clowder of cats has become a family unit. Though I felt awful that I couldn’t explain to Harree that Lefty’s just being a baby and that’ll he’ll be back soon and be perfectly fine.

Lefty Update: He still seems fine, though the eye is still very swollen. He took his  morning meds like a champ despite their foul smell. He is still eating and drinking- so no allergic reactions to the antibiotics or inflammatory meds.

Cat Tales: Lefty’s Eye

We had to go to the vet this morning! Several days ago, Lefty’s eyelid started getting a little puffy…it simply looked like he had a little scratch or poke that was infected…except we can’t actually find the wound. It was small and not bothering him, so I treated it with some Neosporin and kept an eye on him.

Well, yesterday it got worse and swelled up to the size of a….well, I don’t really know, but it’s pretty huge. Still no wound, no puss, but it is looking a bit red and icky.

So, off to the vet early this morning. No fever and everything else looks fine- including the eye itself.

Possible diagnoses:

• Scratch/puncture from a fight with the little ones (most probable scenario)
• Insect bite from sleeping by himself in the dark in the basement (also likely)
• Tumor (due to his age, this is sadly not entirely unlikely)

Obviously, we are rooting for the first two. Lefty got some basic bloodwork done   (everything is normal; but this was primarily to make sure he could take the anti-inflammatory alright); plus an antibiotic shot that’ll last him two weeks (the wonders of time release meds!) as well as an oral anti-inflammatory to help reduce the swelling. And a card that tells us to be back in two weeks, if he is improving. One week if he’s not getting better and earlier if he gets worse.

Everyone cross your fingers it clears up! I really don’t want it to be option 3!

Project 43: Try Every Flavor at Handel’s Ice Cream

One of my DZP tasks is to try every flavor at Handel’s ice cream. My method is to get 4 scoop samplers in alphabetical order with interruptions by Flavors of the Month.

Last week, I got my 2nd sampler.  Three flavors were on the flavors of the month list- Heavenly Hash, Peppermint Stick…and one I can’t quite remember…I want to say Black Raspberry…but I’m not certain. I only was able to check one more off the main board- Black Cherry.

While the peppermint stick was delicious, it was odd eating it in combination with the two berry flavors!

Last time I had Banana, Banana Creme Pie, Deep Dish Apple Pie and Caramel Apple….I hate any artificial banana flavoring, and I’m not too keen on caramel, but I tried them anyway. I enjoy trying new flavors of ice cream…and it makes my decision so much easier! No staring at the menu for 15 minutes!