In celebration of my internet finally working...

Pictures of Mickey & Fuu!

 

Oh, did you want current pictures?

 

 

Mickey's kitten pictures were too cute, I couldn't help it.

more tasty treats: turkey liver

One of the leftovers from my parents thanksgiving were the turkey livers (apparently these are excluded from the traditional giblet gravy). And yes, it's plural. There were two birds this year. Quite a feast. We offered to take the home on the presumption that the cats would like them. This was only sort of true. The first mistake was, again, feeding alongside the regular food. I figured the liver would be a hit. Instead, the familiar canned was the most desirable. Fuu picked at it a little, mostly the attached fat, and Mickey, despite his taste for mice, was unimpressed and left. Then they both left - the first time I've seen them leave food in the bowls. The next night, the entree was just the liver, not regular food, and they did finish it off. Mickey still wasn't overly enthusiastic, but Fuu dove on in. She has the unfortunate habit of pulling food out of the bowl to eat it if there are large chunks. She mostly doesn't take it anywhere, just out of the bowl. Maybe the solution is a bowl big enough for her to sit in?

alternative foods

Warning: if you're squeamish about the activities of carnivores, this might not be the post for you...

We live in an old house. As old houses are wont to do, we have mice in the basement and attic where the cats are not permitted (we keep the cats out of there primarily because we don't want them tracking dirt all over the place. The attic is unfinished and dirty with construction rubble, and the basement has direct access to the crawlspace, which is, well, dirt)

So we set snap-traps, one was successful...and we gave it to the cats.

Honestly, we were a little conflicted about this. One one side, it is a little 'icky', to use the scientific term. Also the mice have probably been eating all sorts of unwholesome things up there. On the other hand, it's a one time thing, not a steady diet, and aren't mice what cats are supposed to eat? We know Mickey supplemented his kibble liberally during his earlier life as a barn cat. M remembers a scene when Mickey and his littermates were just weaned, adorable bundles of kitten fluff - with faces covered in blood from the chipmunk mom had caught for dinner. So in the spirit of waste-not want-not, and since the mouse was fresh, we went for it.

Mickey loved it.

Understand here, despite being the man of the house, significantly older, and at least four times bigger than Fuu, Mickey pretty much defers to her. She can stick her head in the food bowl at will, or do various other obnoxious things, and he lets her. Fuu is teh fierce kitteh, and Mickey is a lazy, easy going cuddle bum.

But not with the mouse. He grabbed it, growled at her and ran off to play with it (unfortunately we gave the it to them after breakfast). Fuu growling wouldn't be notable, but I have never heard Mickey do it. So we locked them in the laundry room, and soon, no more mouse. Guess that one was a winner.


Addendum: I re-read this and realized it wasn't 100% clear, but the mouse was already dead by the time the cats saw it. They played with it anyway. I agree that intentionally having them toy with a live or injured mouse would have been completely out of line.

not the brightest kitten in the box

I spent about an hour this weekend trying to discourage Fuu from helping herself to plates on the table. I sat in the doorway and every time she jumped up, out came the squirt gun. When we were done (no, there was not victory - M came home and I gave up) the table was soaked, the floor was soaked. The cat was distinctly damp. But she was undeterred. Really, for the entire session, she only came off the table long enough to run from the water, lick herself somewhat dry, and trot back. I'm not going for angelic behavior. Really, it's unreasonable to expect dishes full of tantalizing food will be left untouched forever. But I'm looking for some hesitation. A long enough pause for me to go get a fork from the kitchen without having my dinner ransacked for instance. But oh, Fuu learns slowly, and is hard to deter. Thursday, September 11, 2008 sick cat, healthy cat, sick cat... Mickey's last dose of antibiotics was Labor day weekend. Two weeks ago. He definitely was snotty over the holiday, but what are you going to do? Then, during the week, he seemed better to me. M, on the other hand, thought he was still sneezing. 'Particularly at night' which I couldn't argue with, since I'm sleeping then. So last Monday, I schlepped him off to the vet. Where he appeared as the picture of health. The vet proclaimed 'cats sneeze sometimes' took my money and sent me home. (not that he should have done otherwise). That very evening, he reverted to the worst snuffling and wheezing that week, and we shot him angry looks. Since then, it's been good and bad. He's definetly not getting worse, but he doesn't appear symptom free 100% of the time. This wouldn't normally be a concern, except... We've now officially <strike>been suckered in</strike> signed up to take one of the neighbor's orphan kittens. All of a whopping month and a half old. Doesn't seem like the best thing to be introducing to a possibly contagious snuffly cat. By the way, name ideas for a grey female kitten? Current contenders are: Eowyn Onyxia Z-buffer Azula (see 'nerd' in the title above. If it were a boy cat, the name would be 'Mr. Bubbles' with no debate whatsoever) Friday, August 29, 2008 Tomato Cat. Pets eat human food opportunistically. Leave the turkey unattended, or forget to rinse out your cereal bowl, and someone's up on the counter getting the good bits. Mickey's actually pretty good about it. Yes, if you leave a glass on the floor while watching t.v. he'll stick his head in it every time, and last night he did take a snatch at the roast beef I left on the couch. (hmmm, seems like all our problems stem from eating in front of the t.v. doesn't it?) but he stays clear of the dinner dishes, and doesn't even lick dirty plates we leave around (which is a mixed blessing, because it might help husband and I to clean up more promptly if he did). Unless it has a tomato on it. Slice a tomato, and leave it on the kitchen table to get the salt, and he will have spirited a chunk away to nosh on before you can say 'what happened to obligate carnivore?'. If there'd have been a chunk of fish on that same plate, he'd have done nothing but sniff the air optimistically, but apparently tomatoes are his weakness. How did I end up with a wannabe vegan cat? Friday, August 22, 2008 Why 'no kill?' First, I know there are a lot of 'flavors' of 'no kill' out there. I honestly, don't know the difference, and whether the crazy PETA people or the hoarders are nokill or no-kill or No Kill or any strange amalgam of such. I think that's part of the problem. The premise that I do support is increased adoption. You know, more convenient hours for working families, better advertising, better behaviour analysis and training. All those things that help get animals out the door, so they don't have to go out the back. Really, 'pro-adoption' cuts to the point much better. You don't get anywhere by saying you're against something and leaving the alternatives in the details. You make progress, and earn mindshare by supporting something. Because, really, if all you cared about was 'no more killing cute fluffy animals' it'd be fine if you warehoused them, or turned away all but the best prospects, or did any number of illogical things. And by saying that 'no kill' is the foundation of your beliefs, you're leaving the uninformed public to figure out how to do that. And they'll probably think of the first things, and write you off as stupid, crazy, or both. And they might not be wrong. But, 'pro long term adoption', well, there's your solution right there! That's what you're trying to achieve, that's how you're going to do it. That's a positive, meaningful, unambiguous title. Imagine driving by a shelter that had a big sign: 'This is a no kill shelter!' you probably cringe, thinking 'oh yes, they do have to kill poor fluffy puppies in shelters sometimes. But I'd rather not think about those things ... maybe I'll go to a nice friendly pet shop or neighbor instead where they won't bring up unpleasant topics like that ... unless some no-kill wacko catches me on my way in' On the other hand, drive by that same shelter, with the same policies, but the sign instead says 'this shelter supports long term adoption!' well, yes, that's what you want, you want a place that is going to help you have a happy long term relationship with your pet. Maybe it's worth a look, since they seem so supportive and all. Any term can get damaged by association (see pro-life/pro-choice) but this isn't even a cover. This is the unspoken core. Why go with a gloomy, ambiguous term like 'no kill' when what you're really about is 'pro adoption'? 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