Vote for Gracie! It’s the last week of voting. Gracie’s currently solidly in first place, and I’d like to keep her that way. After Friday, the three judges get to decide who wins, so it’s not in the bag for Gracie even if she gets a bazillion votes – but it certainly won’t hurt!
So, I am back from Myrtle Beach! I had a really good time, although the weather didn’t much cooperate. It was warm, but until the last day I was there, it was overcast and rainy and very very windy. The day I left, it was hot and sunny, and if I hadn’t been already packed and ready to go, I would totally have gone for a swim.
We did a lot of shopping – more browsing than buying – and one of the rainy days, we went to see Ides of March, which I thought was really good.
Tuesday, we drove from Myrtle Beach to Charleston so that I could see the area (my parents have spent the better part of the past two winters on Kiawah Island) and BOY is that a gorgeous area.
Since the cats peed on my good camera, I had to take the small camera with me instead. I got some good pictures, but I’m going to save those for Thursday’s entry.
I’m going in for (relatively minor) surgery on Wednesday. The surgery and recovery will be relatively quick compared to the surgery I had back in February. I can’t scoop litter boxes or lift anything heavy for two weeks, but after that I should be good to go.
The exciting news is that these were dropped off here over the weekend:
and the guys are supposed to be here this morning to start digging THE POND! They came on Saturday to spray paint the spots where they’ll be digging, and that is going to be one BIG pond. They estimate that it’ll take all week to get the job done.
Regarding the dark spot in Tommy’s eye, which you can see pretty well in this picture:
and this one:
I originally had an appointment for Tommy at the vet’s last Thursday, the day after I got back from Myrtle Beach. But I was fretting about it so much that Fred offered to take him on Monday just to shut me up.
Fred reported that the vet carefully looked at Tommy’s eye and then said that he shares our concern. We’re to keep an eye on his eye (heh) for the next two months. If the spot keeps growing, then Tommy’s eye will need to be removed.
I will, of course, keep y’all informed.
I weighed all the kittens over the weekend, and was very much NOT surprised that Harlan Peppers weighed in the heaviest at 5 pounds, 13 ounces. Everett was a distant second at 5 pounds, 4 ounces. Sally and Lucy were 4 pounds, 4 ounces (Sally) and 4 pounds 3 ounces (Lucy), and Molly was the lightest big Pepper at 3 pounds 7 ounces.
Those of you who feel bad for Charlie Peppers for being bullied? Don’t feel too bad for him. He stands up for himself quite well, and most of the time Molly puts up with him. He weighed in not much lighter than her, at 3 pounds 2 ounces, and little Patty Peppers was 2 pounds 10 ounces.
This is where Charlie and Patty, when they’ren not running around like wild things, like to hang out:
Several times a day, they curl up there and nap or watch the other cats run around. Charlie has turned into the biggest lovebug, and will sit at my feet or at Fred’s feet, and howl to be picked up and snuggled. Patty will put up with being snuggled, but she won’t ask for it, and if she’s not in the right mood for snuggling, she’ll run off if you reach for her.
Charlie in the sun.
Would you look at Harlan and Molly, resting after their hard work of ripping up that scratching post? Brats.
The huge Harlan Peppers.
“What? I’m sleeping. You go ‘way.”
Yes, I know, I need to tuck the blinds cord up out of the way. I did, after I snapped the picture.
I love how Sally and Everett’s stripes show up in this picture.
I sent my camera off to be (hopefully) fixed. I am DYING without it; using my little DSC-W300 is just NOT the same!
Hmm. Appears Jake might have a case of the loonies. How unusual.
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Previously
2010: While he was here, he was clearly COMPLETELY miserable.
2009: Hello, gorgeous.
2008: “Hey. You have two hands, don’t you? Two hands, two cats, THE MATH ADDS UP. Get to petting!”
2007: No entry.
2006: (Maddy learns the art of sarcasm)
2005: Sugarbutt’s back!
Prayers for Tommy, and best of luck this week, Robyn. Meanwhile, handsome Harlan really is out to win the Corbie-lookalike contest — soon he’ll weigh just as much as Mr. Handsome. And I’ll bet a ton of purring greeted your return. Go, Gracie!
Yep, sending up prayers for Tommy!
Welcome home!!!
I bet the camera tech guy/girl will not be pleased when they discover the pee! LOL
Best wishes to you, Robyn! I’m sure things will go fine. I’m glad someone on this planet has had as much surgery as I’ve had!
Yikes about Tommy’s eye! I hope it’s nothing. If worse comes to worse, he’ll make a handsome pirate kitteh!
Thanks again for the auto-posts while you were gone. It was very nice of you to take care of us that way!
:o)
I really,really,really hope and pray Tommy’s eye will get better.They are so beautiful,but if they don’t get better,at least he has a great home where he will be taken care of,no matter what.
Give him some extra kisses from me,please!
Oh, positive thoughts for Tommy (and you) that everything will be OK!!
Glad you enjoyed your trip to SC – yep, you left too soon because the weather was just gorgeous the past couple of days. But that just means you’ll have to come back and visit again!
So do the kittehs miss you when you’re gone and act all lovey-dovey, or are they all “what, you were gone?” and ignore you? I never know if I’m coming back to clingy kitties or aloof ones!
Best wishes for a quick recovery, Robyn! And I sincerely hope Tommy’s eye will be OK.
So glad you’re back. Best wishes to your Tommy for a full and speedy recovery from the mystery eye condition. So, random unsolicited name suggestion here; have you ever seen Absolutely Fabulous? Of course you have. For one of your next all girl litters, how about Patsy, Edina (Eddie), Saffron (Saffy) and Bubble? I de-lurked just to make that very important suggestion.
I love all your critters (especially the gorgeous Mr. Corbs).
i dare say that mr. charlie peppers has a striking resemblance to mr. buster bolitar! 🙂 beautiful!
Totally appreciate the posts you lined up while you were away, and glad you are back all safe and sound. We’ll keep our toes and fingers crossed for you for your surgery and for Tommy’s eye. Also for the camera!
I’ve always wanted to go to Charleston and Kiawah Island (ever read Dorothea Benton Frank??!), nice that you got the chance to check those places out. It’s getting chilly here in Ohio, and a place like that sounds heavenly in January!
take care.
I’ll be thinking of you and Tommy – best of luck to the both of you!
I’m so sorry about Tommy’s eye. hopefully it won’t change and it will just be something he can live with.
My thoughts are with you for the surgery. Hope you will be back scooping litter boxes right quick…
Sorry to hear about Tommy’s eye. What do they think it might be? Why remove it?? I’m glad to know he’ll be well cared for and loved even if that does end up happening.
Awwww hugs to Tommy! Hope that spot in his eye clears!
Welcome back! Great to see all the Peppers looking gorgeous as ever! Take care
x
Yeah, welcome back Robyn and thanks for the auto updates, much appreciated.
Why does Tommy’s eye have to come out? What did the doc say? I have a friend here in Melbourne who has a cat and her eye(the cat’s not the ladies)has slowly gone a coppery colour on the iris but it’s been that way for a couple of years now and the vet says if it was going to kill her, it would have done so by now. Poor Tommy and his mum and dad! I’ll see if I can get a photo of Chenna’s eye for you.
Aww, Patty still looks noticeably smaller than Charlie in that second photo, soo cute. and has Harlan been studying the Bookworms photo album? He could totally be one of them in the ‘huge Harlan’ photo.
and happy healing, may it hurt as little as possible and you feel well as quickly as possible. 🙂
Hi there. Lita (above commenter) emailed me today regarding Tommy’s eye, because my cat has a (possibly) similar problem. It’s quite a long story, and I will try and fit it in here, but my cat Chenna also has an account of it on ‘her’ somewhat dormant blog. There are photos too. See here. http://chennadevilcat.blogspot.com/search/label/eye
Chenna started with two normal green eyes, and then one of her eyes developed a brown patch which gradually spread across her entire eye. I didn’t think much of it, because the vets didn’t comment. (Turns out they didn’t notice!) When I finally pointed it out they freaked and rushed us off to the animal eye specialists.
The speicalist’s first reaction (said remarkably calmly) was to rip the eye out. At this I freaked out (being unprepared, you understand!). They explained that it could be melanoma of the iris, which in cats is nearly always fatal. They couldn’t tell what it was until they removed the eye and analysed it. BUT, the thing that made them pause was the fact that the patch was a lightish brown, and Chenna is a mostly black cat. They said they would have expected a melanoma in a black cat, which has lots of pigment, to be darker. (Unfortunately I can’t see from your photos how dark Tommy’s spot is, but I do see that he too is black.)
SO they went with their gut instinct and didn’t remove the eye. Instead they have been monitoring it – first every 3 months, then every 6, and now after over 3 years of monitoring, we’re going back in a year. The colour hasn’t darkened and Chenna is still alive with no symptoms – which suggests it’s not a melanoma. But I still watch it to see whether a dark-brown or black spot develops.
My eye vet has discussed Chenna’s case with many animal eye specialists around the world at conferences and things. She says there have been other similar cases, where cats’ eyes changed colour and the cats remained fine.
Anyway, I just thought you might be interested to know this. Email me if you’d like me to give you the contact details of my cat’s eye specialists for your vets to consult with if necessary.
I wish Tommy all the best!