Mancat (and Girlkitten) Monday...

Spottie and Dottie have reached the 1 month milestone, and are learning there is more to the world than a 5’ x 4’ x 4’ tent! They moved into their new ‘studio apartment’…my master bathroom. They are still not venturing too far, but are learning to us their kitten sized litter boxes and perfecting their pounce and play moves! Now their personalities will start to shine and the family that is adopting them will have two bonded siblings to love and enjoy.




There is something so cute about sisters and adopting littermates! Each adoptive family I pick is unique, of course, and I try and personalize each family to the right kitten. The family waiting for Spottie and Dottie had littermates before and liked that bonded relationship.

Most of the time, especially with someone adopting their first Cornish Rex, I suggest getting one, and then if they fall head over heels, get a second one 4-6 months later. Typically, when adopting 2 littermates together, they are bonded to each other first, and then to humans second, or it takes longer for them to depend on you instead of each other.


For some families, that is great as they might have busy lives, travel for business frequently or have kids or parent obligations that take a lot of their time. I know I feel less ‘guilty’ when I am gone from home, knowing the cats have each other to keep each other company.


Brighton spent most of the weekend schmoozing with cat show visitors and trying to explain why he was in a PINK stroller that looked more like something that should belong to a cat named Strawberry Shortcake!



But as I explained to him, until he earns about 180 green papers…the blue All Terrain stroller he has his eye on will just be something he dreams about, hahameow!


Teri did do a little shopping at the cat show..she needed some new cat socks (she wears cute Mary Jane Crocs with cat patterned socks at work---and her therapist told her she thinks part of why people bring their cats to the vet she works for is because of her socks and shoes! Really, but it has to do with enthusiasm for what one does, doesn’t it?!



(you might notice in this next 'close up' shot of the Crocs...that they are also 'customized' courtesy of Brighton, who has a thing for gnawing on them if Teri forgets to put them away at night!)


She also had to buy a batch of new tinsel puffballs for Brighton, and also saw a nice cat bed that can double as a pillow on the black leather couch in our living room, and the pattern caught her eye, as it blends with the ‘African’ theme of the room.



Mama-to-be Kiki went in to work with Teri today to be xrayed so we know how many buns-in-the-oven are waiting to be born. She is not very ‘round, so Teri thought there might be just 1, like her vet felt, or 2…hoping for 2, as she has 4 people waiting for a Cornish Rex of their own! But the xray showed...One Bun! Oh, there are going to be some disappointed families on our waiting list, and Teri has a tough job ahead of her deciding who will be the best home for this little one...it's hard not to count 'chicks' before they hatch, though!


We got the pathology report back on Coco’s two stillborn kittens. They both had pneumonia and they isolated Pasteurella bacteria from the one placenta we submitted, but not from the kittens themselves. My vet said that the amniotic fluid may have contained that bacteria, too. No way to know for sure, and why Spottie and Dottie weren’t affected. But anxious mama that I am, we decided to put Kiki on Amoxicillin as a precaution, in case the normal pasteurella that colonizes cats mouths could be a reason for this.

After not seeing TomTom or Mama Katz for over a week, they both have been here tonight, along with the ever growing family of raccoons that showed up later! Teri wondered how her birdfeeder on their metal 'shepherd's crooks were getting bent...well, when 3 raccoons are hanging from the feeder snitching seeds...the 'bough' will break, or at least bend! TomTom's ear looks all healed, which is good since she can't seem to be able to trap anything but 'coons! She'll keep trying, though!

Well, to end up the post for today, how about a little video of Coco's little girls, on Mancat Monday!

Wordless Wednesday?

I know, you are thinking...'It was a Wordless Weekend'!! No kitten pix, no mews, no fair! So for this Wednesday, we will be wordy, but not too much as it's past midnight already!

The kittens, Spottie and Dottie, are doing great and this past Sunday celebrated their 3 week birthday by growing up enough to move from a crib (their birthing box with 4 sides just tall enough to keep them from crawling out) to a kiddy bed (a birthing box with one end cut our so they can learn to crawl around their tent!)


That is a pretty big transition and it makes Mama Coco just a bit anxious that they aren't 'corralled' any more! The kittens get a bit anxious too, at first, and there is lots of mewing and 'where's mama' cries, but that is why I always make that transition on a weekend, so I can watch over them closely.

They are up to 377 and 352 grams now, about 12 ounces, with Spottie being the slightly larger one but Dottie has almost caught up with her sister, and she was a lot smaller at birth! This is the age where they realize they have paws--they start to groom themselves in a fashion and begin to put 'the bitey' on each other...the beginnings of play! Here's a cute video clip of them doing just that!



Another week and they will begin to drink water, start sampling real cat food (mostly by stepping in Coco's plate and licking their paws) and begin to pounce and play! Once they start eating solid food, Coco will stop her toileting duties and they will begin using the kitten sized litter boxes. In between the tough job of being a mommie, Coco does get out for some R & R, as the following video shows!



Update on Bebe--she has been back in her home about 10 days now and so far, so good. Her owner is keeping her separated from her companion cat (her mom actually) when she isn't home and at night, both so she can monitor litterbox use in case one or the other has a lapse, and also to reacquaint them with each other gradually, as it had been 3 months since they nosetapped each other.


I never could get a good photo of Bebes to show everyone her beautiful blue eyes, so Trish sent me one that she took and while it's a couple of years old...Bebe is still just as pretty today!

Brighton continues to feel good, with no sign of his urinary blockage symptoms. I am still quite anxious about him and watch him like a hawk! He's taken up a new habit...sleeping on the last step on the carpeted stairs leading out of the living room to the upper floor of the house. The first time I found him there, it almost looked like he just got tired (or nipped-out) and decided to take a cat nap. He plays a lot on the stairs, batting his favorite toy, a tinsel ball, around. But this nap thing is something new!


It will be fun to take him to the cat show this coming weekend and see some old friends again, though I will miss sleeping in with the cats, as I have a 2 hour drive each way to get to the show hall each day! But he will be happy to have the extra attention from me and his adoring fans!

And Disco...well he is only 2 days into his diet, and somehow I haven't made the time for exercising him! Bad mewmmie! But then, that's why I'm stuck where I am on my diet...not enough exercise!


He is happy he can have Nulo kibble and is always ready and waiting for his 0.2 cups (a scant 1/4 measuring cup) in the morning and evening. He gets canned Nulo, too, 3.6 ounces twice a day, but he's not super excited about it (I think he is holding out for Fancy Feast, but that ain't on the menu anymore), but I will keep offering it and if after a week or so (or if he seems to be losing weight too fast) I will recalculate his feeding and maybe try him on just dry Nulo. The salmon canned isn't to his liking, but the chicken is tasty, he said...licking his lips! He seems satisfied, and we will see what he weighs in at after a week on the new food.


On other foods I have tried, I never could get him to lose weight feeding dry only, even when I portioned it out, but I am hopeful that the Nulo dry will give us better results than previous foods he's been on. Of course, I can always call the people at Nulo and they can help me customize his diet plan, and it's that kind of support that makes Nulo extra special in my eyes! And if Disco does well on it, I might just have to order some for the rest of the Furrydance gang!

World Cat Day 2010

We are not sure when or who came up with the idea for a day to honor us cats (since we expect it every day!) but when we googled it, we saw that someone said it began in Italy and in Europe, they celebrate it on February 17th every year.

But here in the Cat Blogosphere, today is the day we are celebrating World Cat Day and it has been heartwarming and thought provoking to read everyone's posts for today. We have been blogging about 1 & 1/2 years now and one thing we know...the CB is full of compassionate and caring cat lovers, who work together to help all kitties, and maybe today is about humans helping cats...

We join in many fundraisers and are reminded every day of the homeless, abused and cats in need and sometimes it does seem overwhelming, but if you can end your day making a difference in just one cats life, then the day is not wasted, right?! Every dollar, every item donated to a CB auction, every click on The Rescue Site and Free Kibble makes a difference--remember to do that every day and you will have helped 365 times in a year!

Our mewmmie is a vet tech and her calling, her goal is to help a cat (or doggies too) have a better life, and every day she does that. Maybe we should offer her some stinky goodness or fresh nip today? But still, she feels like there is so much more that she could do and often thinks of what it will be like when she retires and can help even more!

We all got baths yesterday so we are smelling sweet for our special day today (and good thing it happened yesterday, so today can be all fun, all day!). We hear we have a special treat awaiting us--freeze dried chicken chunks and fresh nip out of the garden. Mewmmie slept in with us today too--that's a treat in itself! And she is working on the basement so we can get our bird watching station back and she said we can go down there this afternoon--for the first time in almost 2 years!!!

Hooray for World Cat Day---do something special for the cats in your life, plus an extra for one cat in need! We donated a few green papers for this kitty today:
Click here to help Low-Ki

Disco's 'New Leash on Life'...

Subtitle?
'Does This Rock Make my Butt Look Big?'

Exciting mews! Disco is about to get 'A New Leash on Life'...what? Yep, he is one of 12 pets that are participating in the 90 day campaign of a new, healthy line of food from Nulo (that stands for Nutrition Meets Love).

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Disco has dieted before, but always put the pounds (yes, not ounces!) right back on, and Teri has been looking for a healthy yet tasty alternative to what foods she has fed the cats before. She says it's been a little like 'juggling cats' to make sure everyone got the portions that kept them at a proper weight while getting Disco to lose weight!

She always worried that with restriction that maybe they weren't getting all the nutrients they needed either, especially for the momcats. Tuesday night, she got to talk to the CEO of Nulo and then she signed Disco up for the program and Monday the food arrives. And then...by Thanksgiving, Disco should be down to 12# if he meets his goal!

He was 10.5# at his 'competition weight' when he was a show cat. As you can see in the photos above, he was muscular and strong but ummm, not blubbery as in Photo #1 But he gradually 'ballooned' up to 16# this past year. Teri is concerned about his health and joints and quality of life as he is so heavy now.

Notice the 'Love Handles'...

Disco's waistline has vanished!

And if he does well on this food (and of course, an exercise routine along with it) then this may be the 'Food of Choice' for the whole Furrydance family. With all the food recalls and spending hours online searching for a good quality food, Nulo has thoroughly impressed Teri...and that's hard to do!! Her therapist even told her 'the cats are your 'calling' and you see it's difficult for you to find people with the same high standards!

Their website is amazing, chock full of excellent information, fun but thought provoking videos and lots of encouragement along the way in the form of 'social networking' on it's blog, facebook, twitter and youtube, and lots of input from veterinary sources she respects!

And while Disco joined in to lose weight, their nutrition program is called 'Simply Fit' so if your cat is 'Fit' now, their program and food will help it stay fit. Kind of like 'NutriSystem' for pets!

So, here Disco is today--15# 10 ounces...(Biggify photos at your own risk, hahameow)

We will be tracking his progress weekly and if he 'stays the distance' in this campaign...look what we get (besides having a happier, healthier cat!): a $500 Nulo food voucher, $250 donated to a pet-related non-profit organization of our choosing, and we get to be entered in a drawing to have a chance to win $1000 for our favorite organization, after the 90 day campaign.

So, let the 'battle of the bulge' begin!! Let Disco become the cat he was meant to be...Fit and Trim!

Disclosure: Nulo has generously provided free product and other benefits in exchange for our participation in the Nu Campaign to fight pet obesity. We are happy to be a part of this awareness campaign, however, all of the opinions about the product are mine and not dictated in any way by the company.

Caturday Saturday...a little late!

Awwww...kiddens! I know there are more than a few of you that depend on Curlz and Swirlz for kidden fixes, and we are just certain your weekend wasn't complete without a post from us...but our mewmmie was furry bizzie and...


barely had time to do a photo shoot before she headed to bed Sunday night...and you are saying 'Well, it's Tuesday now' and yes, she's sneaking this post in while at work...oh, the pressure, hahameow!


Spottie and Dottie are doing great and Coco's such an attentive momcat. They are gaining weight right on schedule and look like chubbie hamsters now. And now that their eyes and ears are open, they look at Teri when she talks to them...


They are crawling around well now, just starting to lift their bodies up off the ground, and you could almost say they were 'walking', but not yet strong enough to climb out of their kitten box. Another week and they will be bobbling around and ready to move into the master bathroom 'playroom'...that's their next step...



On Saturday, Hiro's new family came to pick him up. They live a couple of hours away and were so excited to finally meet him! They had an uneventful ride home and Hiro (now named Bodmin, after the place the first Cornish Rex was born) has a little boy to play with, a Devon Rex to wrestle with, two CRex girls to tell him he's a pest, and a naked, warm Sphynx to curl up next to.


We think he will be very happy there, and he's even going to try out being a show cat in November! He is very handsome and very muscular, so if he enjoys it, we think he will be a 'winner'!!


Our mewmmie had the friend we went to BlogPaws with come over on Saturday to help her, prod her, encourage her...to work on cleaning up the piles of stuff in our bird 'n squirrel watching suite (aka the basement) and wow, she made quite a bit of headway and hopes to finish it up before the 2 year 'anniversary' of the 'flood' at the end of this month!

Teri never gets anything done much during the week since she is out day hunting and lately she's been having to work an extra day and has been very tired, and didn't get to sleep in much last weekend because of all she had to fit into the weekend!

Then on Sunday, she drove to Baltimore to deliver Bebes back to her home, after her 3 month rehab at our house. She is hopeful she will be happy and contented, and to help ensure that, she took 2 litterboxes like the ones we use and the same litter, so her family could give her lots of options to use the ones she used 100% at our place.


She got to see the home she lives in now. It's really cute, airy and lots of windowsills to soak up the sun in and her family has set the place up to be very cat friendly (even in the basement where she was peeing before--Teri didn't see anything that would cause her anxiety there, either). She is still on Buspirone for anxiety and it may be something she stays on, even if she is using the box ok, as she is exhibits anxiety at being confined or away from humans for very long.

The not-so-good news is that Bebes UTI came back and so the vet wants to leave her on antibiotics one month this time instead of 10 days, and to add some of the meds that Brighton takes for his urinary tract issues. She isn't an easy cat to pill but Teri showed her owner how to do it quickly and so far, they have been able to administer all her meds.

Bright One, on the other paw, seems to be back to his old self with normal litterbox visits and feeling great again. In fact, he gets to be an 'Ambassador Cat' for a cat show in a couple of weeks and Teri is looking forward to going to the cat show, too, since it's been almost a year since the last one. And what's fun about being an 'Ambassador' is that one can skip the stress of showing and just schmooze with the visitors. Brighton's good as schmoozing, too!

Saturday Caturday!

OhMyCat, this posting once a week sure makes me think of the week in review! This time last Saturday, I was on baby watch, and 1 week later, I am happy to let everyone know that Spottie and Dottie are thriving and have more than doubled their birth weight, just as they are supposed to.


Spottie weighed 83 grams at birth (just under 3 oz) and today is 161 grams. And Dottie weighed 66 grams (just over 2 oz) at birth and she is 142 grams now (more than double and that's good as she was sooo small at birth). Kittens should weigh between 80-100 grams at birth though most CRex are between 80-90 grams. Here's a few more photos and a movie for your viewing pleasure (squees from the audience!)







Brighton is doing great, too! I've taken away the empty litterbox as he wasn't using it any longer, and he is being weaned off the valium now as he is exhibiting normal litterbox habits. Luckily he loves his 'treats--shh, they are really medicines--and he will stay on them for their anti-inflammatory effects.


He is on VetriScience Nu-Cat Soft Chews Vitamins, VetriScience UT Strength Everyday Soft Chews and VetriScience Glyco-Flex II Soft Chews , and of course, all canned food to increase his water intake. I am still anxious about a reoccurance of his urinary blockage, but I am doing everything I can to ward that off! Brighton loves these Chews, and we all know how picky cats can be about 'treats'.

Here's a link to info about these products CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

You all remember Bebe? She continues to be a 'good girl' here with no 'out of box' occurances in the 3 months I have been 'rehabbing' her and I know many of you wrote to me asking me not to let her go back to the home she was in, as the husband didn't bond with her and her peeing began when they kept her out of their bedroom at night.


She was her lady's cat first, before she got married and then she had to share her affections. And the lady really misses her a lot, as does Keebles, the other Cornish Rex (actually, her mother)...so I am going to let her go back to her home there to see if she will be happy. I know she WILL let us know if she is not (in fact, Keebles recently peed by the closed bedroom door too and so I know she misses Bebes, too!).

I know the whole issue is not that they can't sleep with their owners, as some of my cats in their homes don't have access to their humans beds either and they aren't showing us their displeasure in 'inappropriate' ways.

I know cats who have been very 'bad' in one home, can be happy in anothr, so I have 2 homes lined up for Bebes (and Keebles if need be) if they continue to show us they are unhappy by peeing outside the litterbox. I will be sure to keep you all updated on how they are doing, OK.

I am still trying to trap TomTom, but he is very wise and wiley! I should contact a couple of groups that do TNR to see if they could come out with a drop trap, as we might be able to get him that way.

I did trap my first raccoon the other night but it looked like a youngster and didn't get too riled up at being trapped and I was able to get the trap door unlatched (wearing leather gloves as I didn't want to get bitten or scratched) and he/she figured out the rest and let itself out of the cage with me safe inside the house watching...


I see Mama Katz from time to time too and she looks fine. I'd love to see how her spay incision healed, but that ain't gonna happen so I just have to hope her good attitude shows that she is healed up and feeling fine! The other great news is that her kittens have all found furrever homes!

Yes! One of our favorite clients at the cat hospital where I work took over their 'fostering' and someone contacted a friend of hers from
CATS ARE TOPS, as they had adopted from them before and Lydia pointed them in Carol's direction and they came out for a visit to meet the kittens and took the little girl with the injured leg!

Then a friend of theirs contacted Carol and visited and they took the little boy with the wonky eye! And the other boy now lives with one of the staffs parents and so a very happy ending for the little kittens born in the wild in a pile of leaves...

Oh, and the little girls leg? With the help of homeopathy and physical therapy and tincture of time--she is using it normally now and has no signs it was ever injured. The holistic vet said she may have joint or back problems later in life due to the injury, but for now is romping and walking without symptoms or pain and that is amazing!

And the little boy with the eye problem--the holistic vet said he hadn't ever seen anything like the defect on his eye either, but the eye exam didn't show any problems that needed treatment for now, and his new owners were willing to take on possible special needs kitty who might need treatment for his eye later on, as he bonded right away with their son.

Thanks so much to Carol from KEVIN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION for her love and care of little Tiger Lily and her brothers. (oh, her name WAS Tilly but the animal communicator said that Tilly thought that name was silly and didn't like it and that she wanted to be called Tiger Lily! After all, she is stripy and orange like a tiger!).

Oh, and I almost forgot (see, in reviewing the week--it HAS been busy!)...remember Hiro, Coco's little black kitten--Mile's brother? Well, he never settled into his new home and that's only the second time that has happened in all the years I have been breeding Cornish Rex. He was constantly vocal, couldn't even settle to play with toys and after many conversations back and forth, watching videos of his anxious behavior and seeking the advice of a behaviorist at

COMPANION ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

we decided he needed the companionship of cats to satisfy his needs, so his sad new family brought him back to me.

He arrived back here at Furrydance on Tuesday and while he had left here over 6 weeks ago, he settled back in within a couple of days (oh, the hormonal ladycats of the house weren't too happy at first, but even they are ok with him now). Not once has he yowled or prowled, and he is playing with toys and with Brighton and Disco, too.


I have a family who have 2 cats from me, as well as a Sphynx and a Devon Rex and a young son too and he will be going to live with them next weekend. They couldn't be happier, as they were on my waiting list for a kitten and as you know, two of Coco's babies were stillborn and so their hopes were dashed when that happened...so this is a blessing in disguise for them.

Although Hiro's first family are very sad right now, as you can imagine, and they are trying to decide to adopt again, maybe next time trying a girl, as they are a bit more independant. Or maybe trying to adopt an adult Cornish Rex who is already mature and it's personality more settled? Or maybe going with a breed that isn't quite as intense and needy to fit their life best. I have been happy to help them in any way I can and appreciate the contacts and the knowledge I have gathered in my work as a vet tech, as it helps the cats in so many ways...

It's been fun watching Miles and Pierro together and see what great buddies they have become, making each others lives all the more meaningful with a friend to share it with! It's one of the highlights of my weekend to check in on them on Mon-Wed-Fri!

Pierro + Miles' Happy Place

And here's a cute photo of one of Miles brothers, Bosco...with his 'BFF', Bette Blu.


The vet I work for is away at the Cornell Feline Veterinary seminar so I got an extra day off work (a 4 day weekend!) and so I am catching up with visiting our bloggie friends and even though it's HOT! outside, laid some more stepping stones in the garden and planted some (dying) clover that needed to be put in the ground a few weeks ago when I bought the flat of red clover to hopefully have a 'mow-free' lawn but at least it was 50% off so if even 50% survive, I'll be happy!

Even with all the heat, the other new plantings have survived--a wisteria and a honeysuckle vine but I sure am wilted! I am going to make one more run through the local nurseries as everyone is having 50% off sales and might come home with a few more things--I'd love to have a hydrangea to replace the one lilac that isn't doing well in the shade and heck, I could use another cat statue or two...


Oh yeah, I gotta get back to working on that basement, too! My therapist says it's coloring every part of my life, and not in a good way! I have a friend coming over next weekend to help 'jump start' me again and I have cleaned off a spot on the couch for her to sit...that's a start!

(this is an old photo...it's worse now!)

And, last but not least...a friend sent me this good news this morning...
U.S. House Votes to Prohibit Sale and Distribution of Crush Videos
...it's a step in the right direction!