9-27-13

Posted on by Robyn

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Liza asked me a question on Facebook yesterday, and I didn’t know the answer. I know that someone (maybe many someones!) will know, though – is there a blog out there written by someone who has one or more FIV positive cats? Please leave a link (or name) in the comments if you know of one. Thanks!

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Norbulletin!

We have progress in that Norbie norbs is able to roam freely, but the other cats still hiss and growl. He just goes about his business of poking his nose in every corner of the apartment and either ignores, provokes, or runs away from Claudette and Riley, depending on his mood.


He went to the top right away. It’s about 7 feet high.


Too oblivious to the goings on in the courtyard to notice he was being stalked.


Spoiled rotten you say? Perhaps…but he is earning his keep by providing an unlimited supply of kitten elixir.


And lastly-the picture I took while writing this email. Norbie sends his lurve!

Don’t you just love seeing that happy little face? I just love getting updates! Thanks for the update and pics, Kirsten! 🙂

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Norbie is off to Chicago? Is this the furtherest one of your charges has traveled so far??

Gus and Mike (back in 2009) went to Oregon. None have left the country, though… yet!

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Another angle on kitten cuteness.

SO cute!!!

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I love that chart you made in 2011! Are you making a new one soon?

I did! Here it is:

And yes, it’s kind of hard to read, so you can click on the picture to see the larger version over at Flickr. It’s set up this way – the names on the side are the cats having the feelings and the names at the top are the cats that cat is having the feelings about. (“No” means there’s not really any interaction between the cats.) So you can see that Jake LOVES everyone (except Maxi and Stinkerbelle, who he is weirdly obsessed with), but they don’t all necessarily feel the same way about him (for instance, Stinkerbelle HATES Jake.)

The picture isn’t a great one, because I made the chart in Open Office and then got a screenshot of that. I’m sure there’s a better way to do it, but I couldn’t think of one, so there you go.

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I’m curious — what is the largest litter you have fostered? I don’t remember anything larger than the Sopranos at 7, but I’ve only been reading the blog for about 2 1/2 years.

In 2009 we had The Seven, which was (obviously) a litter of 7 siblings, including tiny Beulah. However, that was just the kittens, their mother wasn’t included, so I think the Sopranos is officially our largest litter.

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How do you get anything done with a box full of teeny kittens in the house? I’d coo over the fur balls all day…

Kitten time is my reward for doing the stuff I don’t particularly want to do. Vacuum the house, get some kitten time. Unload the dishwasher, get some kitten time. And so on!

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Was there ever a time when Miz Poo was an only child? Just wondering.

No, she’s never been an only child. We had four cats (Tubby, Fancypants, Spanky, and Spot) when we adopted her (and OH did Fred freak out about the fact that we were going to have FIVE cats. HAHAHAHA.). A few years later Fancypants went missing, and then we adopted Mister Boogers. Tubby died, and we stayed at 4 for a while (a few years? Maybe?), and then we adopted Sugarbutt and Tommy. When we moved into this house, the floodgates opened. Miz Poo would LOVE to be an only child. She has zero use for other cats. In fact, all our girl cats would be super happy to be only cats (except for Stinkerbelle, I guess, who would like to have herself and Tommy as the only cats.)

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So I went back and have been reading the blog from the beginning (which I’ve done already once I admit) and got VERY tickled at this part from the Sept 19 2005 entry:

“The other day Fred and I discussed the fact that we don’t have nearly enough carriers for the number of cats that we have. If, god forbid, we needed to evacuate, there’s no way on earth we could fit all four of our cats in the one cardboard carrier we have. So Saturday, knowing that I was going to need a decent carrier on Sunday anyway, I went to the pet store and bought a carrier with a door in the front AND a door in the top. I’m going to buy one more at a point in the near future, so that we’ll have three carriers. We can put Spot in one, Miz Poo in one, and Mister Boogers and Spanky in one.”

So, I’ve got to know Robyn – how many carriers do you have NOW? 🙂

A casual stroll around the house and garage tells me that I’ve got 9 carriers in Fred’s bedroom closet upstairs, 3 more in the downstairs closet, 1 sitting in the computer room, 1 in the back of my car, and at least 5 in the garage. That’s… doing the math… carry the one… 19. But one of the carriers in the garage isn’t mine and needs to be returned to the spay/neuter clinic, and I highly suspect that there are 2 or 3 more in the tractor shed, because Fred likes to STEAL my carriers to put pigs or chickens in.

I have all different kinds of carriers, but the ones that have doors on the top and the front are still my favorite. They’re so HANDY.

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So — with 7 bebehs at the milk bar, is there one who is always pushed away or are they all fed equally? It looks like Paulie Walnuts is going to be a bruiser, but not quite sure who the next “Stompers” will be. Inquiring minds need to know.

The competition can be pretty fierce at the milk bar, but they’re all getting enough to eat so that they’re gaining (I need to get the weight chart added to their page!) I’ll admit that I occasionally make a point of putting Tony with his mama once or twice a day, since he’s the smallest, but he rarely acts all that interested in nursing. I generally assume that if I put a kitten with Livia and they don’t start snuffling around to nurse, they’re probably getting enough to eat.

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Silvio says: “KERRY, I KNOW! SHE IS TOTALLY NOT GIVING ME NEARLY ENOUGH ATTENTION, IS SHE?!”


“IT’S NOT FAIR! NOT FAIR, I TELLS YA!”


Right outside the crate, Livia perks up.


“You not payin’ enough attention to my Silvio? What’s that about? I gotta get serious with you? I gotta mess you up a little?”


Carmela’s all “Tony? What Tony? You don’t see no Tony!”


“Why you wanna look at those other kittens? You could be lookin’ at ME.” (Silvio)


Pay no attention to the Tony behind the Meadow and the Adriana, waving his feet in the air.


“You think Tony could do cute better than this? Fuhgeddaboudit.”


Meadow and Paulie Walnuts plot their escape.


There’s Tony! He’s showing off his claws in a most menacing (and by “menacing” I mean KILL ME DEAD ADORABLE) way.


PAWS UP, Y’ALL! (He likes to lay on his back and wave his legs in the air a LOT.)

Yesterday afternoon when I was hanging out with Livia and the babies, the babies kept crawling to the door of the crate and looking at me expectantly. Finally, I took them all out and set them on the floor, where they proceeded to explore.

Except for Carmela. I didn’t see her actually do it, but all of a sudden she was back in the crate looking at me and saying “I prefer to be in here, THANKS.” Clearly if they really WANT to, they can get out of the crate. I think they’re under the impression that they’re supposed to stay in the crate – probably because I put them back in there before I leave the room.

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“I could put my stupid paws in the stupid air like those stupid BABIES if I wanted to, but I have DIGNITY, so I’ll just lay here and give you the Ears of Annoyance instead.”

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Previously
2012: Magoo is all “This is MY grocery bag to bite! You keep away!”
2011: “No, no, NO! You must BELIEVE that you can flyyyyyyyyyyy! Like THIS!”
2010: “I need to stay here and help you make jam, lady!”
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: I am the meanest Momma in all the world.
2006: So Fred, he’s not only a handyman, he’s also a cat-feeding genius, that’s right.
2005: Best. Picture. EVER.

Comments

44 thoughts on “9-27-13”

  1. Oh, Silvio, those knee socks and that earnest look; and young Tony, that tummy! Thanks for letting these two work some serious early-morning magic, Robyn. Ditto for their sibs, the Norbs, and the Corbs.

  2. Thanks, everyone- y’all are the best Kittehs and humans. My boss rode her bike to work on Wednesday and was hit by a car. She did not make it. But periodically coming back here helped. The trust between the cats, the humans, and esp. between cats and humans eases an aching heart.

    4. That is horrible. I’m so sorry for your loss. And for your co-workers, this must have been traumatic for everyone.

    8. Carol – I can not imagine how horrific and shocking that must have been for you all. I’m so glad the community here has helped in whatever way we can. Sympathy, well wishes and kitten snuggles are being sent to you.

      1. Oh that kitten wheel!!!

        I have this rule about no cat furniture more expensive or bigger than mine but wouldn’t that be fun? Robyn, could imaigne hte workout that would get in the foster room?

        1. It’s been living in the closet for a while – someone peed on it, so I put it away (after I cleaned it, of course!) I need to get it out for the Sopranos. 🙂

  4. I love that chart and how Jake loves everyone! 🙂 It’s good that you have two like Jake and Stefan who want to be pals with everyone!

    Those kittens are just so adorable! Definitely a fantastic reward for doing chores! I could do with some to make me do work! 🙂

  6. It took me a moment this AM to recognize The Corbmeister. He looks like Sheriff Mama there for some reason. 🙂

    So, does Tony know how to walk? Cause all your pictures of him are him lying on his back singing “Paws up in the air – wave ’em around like you just don’t care”

    1. He toddles! He’s just more comfortable laying on his back, waving his legs around, I guess. 🙂

      Corbie and Sheriff Mama both have that annoyed-brown-tabby thing going on.

  7. Thanks for the chart! I didn’t know Newt likes the fosters, I don’t remember seeing pictures of him with any of them?

    Alice and Corbie have no interactions? We often see pictures of them sleeping right next to the other. I thought they liked or tolerated each other.

    I see both Corbie and Jake are creepy stalkers!

    1. Alice and Corbie completely ignore each other. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen them so much as look at each other. Newt will play with the fosters, but most of the time he’s off sleeping in some odd spot, somewhere in the house.

  9. I’ve got to share – for those of you with iPads and cats, there’s an app out there called Game for Cats. It’s got three levels – a butterfly, a laser pointer, and a mouse – all of my cats watch it and one chases it with an unholy passion. She now pokes her nose over my iPad when I’m using it and wants me to turn it on for her! It’s terribly cute 🙂

    1. My cat is actually afraid of the ipad. I downloaded a bunch of apps for cats but she is just freaked out by the moving mice and all.

      thanks for the reccomendation, I’ll try this one.

    2. I actually have that game! Hodor was awesome at it – the other kittens didn’t get it at ALL. None of the permanent residents will pay any attention to it – I guess I’ve gotta wait ’til the Sopranos get a little older and figure out how to work their eyes and their paws at the same time. 🙂

  11. Love the chart. LOVE.

    I missed out on Jon Snow/Gilbert, but Livia might be forcing me to consider a road trip south.

  12. I too LOVE that chart.. it made me laugh..

    carriers.. yup, I too have more carriers than I need.. I also know it takes me less than half an hour to evacuate the house (because that is how long it takes us to get everyone caught, put in a carrier and put in the car when we all go to the vet)

  14. No Kirsten, those cats aren’t spoiled at all. Not with that cat tree bigger than anything in my house, not at all.

    Love that stalker pic, I’ve got it captioned in my head as SOON You’ve obviously got a great environment for your kitties. Thanks for the update.

    1. Well, I don’t have/want kids, so you have to spend the money somewhere-might as well be on cat furniture. 😉

  16. Kitten elixir! I know all about that stuff.

    I never watched “The Sopranos,” so I’m not getting the names, but the new babies are, of course, adorable.

  18. That’s quite the anthropological study of cat feelings there. I find myself feeling a bit sad for Stefan who loves everyone and is loathed in return.

    Silvio is nowhere near the most ignored Soprano. I’m starting to think that Dr. Melfi is a figment of your imagination. There’s no photographic proof to back up her existence.

    1. Believe me, Stefan doesn’t care in the slightest. No matter what, he’s the epitome of a happy, happy boy.

      It’s entirely possible that I’ve mixed up pictures of Silvio and Dr. Melfi – I have a hard time telling them apart if I can’t see the white “necklace” around Silvio’s neck!

  19. I have never had a cat who made those om nom nom sounds! But while I was playing the video, both of my cats perked up and looked around for the kitties. I think this is the first time they’ve ever paid attention to kitty noises, so they must have heard that sound before!

  21. My bengal Kaz was a nom nom kitty when she was little but she grew out of it. I’ve read that it’s a common trait for bengal kittens. Kaz is very vocal in general. She is my alarm kitty – too bad I can’t set her to go off a couple hours later!

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