Mancat Monday

MARLEY:  I am fully relaxed...

 Scritch my ears and chin though, I like that best.

Easy Like Sunday

MARLEY:  Loving the laptime!

And I don't normally show this side, bur here is my black fur smudge.

Closest up picture TBT could get.

Hope ya enjoy it though.  TBT always says that makes me special.

Saturday Caturday

We sure loved looking out the back yard last night.

We can see stuff out there TBT cant.

He dint know he caught 2 skunks in his trap set for the groundhog.  But WE knew.

They WERENT happy. 

And we werent anxious ta get outside in the morning.  It STANKED out there.  We wonder what he will do about them..

TBT:  I got out and around the yard at 10 am and thought about the skunks I saw.  2 in the cage,  they must really love honeydew melons.  I was trying to catch the groundhog.  I walked to the cage with a large tarp in front of me and draped it over the cage.  They didn't see that as a threat.   Covered, the cage went into the large tub of water.  20 seconds of confusion, a blub, and they're gone. 

I gave them their chance by releasing them for the cage twice.  But they were interfering with my attempts to get rid of the groundhog.  Three strikes and they were out.

Flashback Friday

AYLA:  This is a special one for me.  This week in 2011, I was spayed a THIRD time!  Some of you may remember and some might not know that. 

The breeder's vet spayed me before I was sent to my forever home.  But it didn't work.  TBT called the vet after a two months and he said sometimes it took a while because some hormones can "linger" but to contact him again in a month if it continued. 

It continued for a month, but then he was out of the country doing assembly-line spays as charity work.  When he returned, he repeated the operation.  It didn't work.

And I'll leave it to TBT to describe the rest because I don't remember...

TBT:  I talked to my regular vet, who said repeating the operation could be dangerous and he was reluctant to get into another vet's operation techniques because they vary.  But he suggested I contact a feline surgical specialist. 

I did.  The exam alone cost $500, and he said she had to be in heat at the time of the operation.  The next 3 heat cycles, he was booked up. 

Then one day, Ayla showed some different problem.  I don't want to get gross here, but there was some smelly tannish paste pushing out of her girly parts.  I brought her to my regular vet immediately.

He agreed that there was a serious abdominal infection and he would have to do exploratory surgery just to try to find the cause.  I agreed.  I brought Ayla in first thing the nest morning.

Around noon, my vet called me with astonishing news!  In spite of 2 spay operations by the breeder's vet, most of Ayla's uterus and whole whole ovary were still inside her.  The uterus remnant had become infected.

He was proposing to remove both but needed me to approve the extra cost.  Duh!  Of course I did.  And I told him to save the parts.  I wanted to show them to the breeder's vet.

The night after Ayla returned home, she began to seep blood through the sutures.  I had to bring her to a 24/7 emergency pet hospital.  I sent 4 hours there while the rather odd vet just disappeared for the whole time.  Eventually, he brought Ayla out saying he had determined the sutures were sound, coated the sutures with some antibiotic, and did some tests to make some there wasn't some other problem.  And said to bring her to my regular vet first thing in the morning.

Well, by that time My regular vet was just opening, so I went straight there.  He looked at her and said the pink seepage was not abnormal but did need to be looked at.  He found 2 loose sutures.  I fixed those quickly. 

And Ayla never went into heat again!

I spent time over 3 days writing a very carefully-worded email to the breeder's vet and one to the breeder about her vet.    I included pictures of the partial uterus and the ovary in the emails...

First, the breeder stated she would never use that vet again.

Second, the breeder's vet agreed without any argument to reimburse all my expenses. 

So, now some pictures...

Just Laptime

IZA:  My usual evening spot. 

May you all have good laptime...

Womancat Wensday

IZA: 

TBT says I should not make this a habit or he will have to re-arrange the desk.

Let him.  I'll adjust...

Whispery Wensday

MARLEY:  I had some questions ta ask TBT, but I had ta be careful about it.  Well, they were about Iza, and finding a time when she isn't nearly attached to him isn't easy.  So I decide ta sit on the back of the chair and whisper...

So, it went like this:

ME:  Psst, I got an embarassing question ta ask.  Why does Iza smell so bad?

TBT:  Well, I think she has always had some tummy troubles.  Plus there is a part of you cats called an "anal gland".  It releases a scent marker.  Sometimes it causes problems, though.   Iza has that problem.  And it is why she sometimes drags her butt along the carpet.

ME:  Do I have that problem?

TBT:  No, you smell like baby powder.  And yes, that is good...  Ayla smells good too.

ME:  So can you do something about it?

TBT:  Well, I've had the vet squeeze bad stuff out each visit, but it doesn't last long.  I've wondered if I could learn to do it myself.

ME:  So why don't you?  Ayla and I would appreciate it.

TBT:  And I would appreciate it too.  But it isn't easy, Iza would fight about it.  It really takes 2 Beins ta do it.

ME:  Could you hire someone?

TBT:  Well, that would be the vet almost every month. 

ME:  So?

TBT:  That would come out of your treat money...

ME:  Ooh...

TBT:  There is an operation.  But there is a risk.  It might cause her to dribble poop in the house.  You would have to watch where you stepped!

ME:  Ooh.  That doesn't sound good either.  It might even smell worse. 

TBT:  Sometimes we all have to just put up with small problems.

ME:  Yeah.  Well, I'm sure glad I whispered all this to you.  I love Iza and wouldn't want her to be embarassed.

TBT:  Me too, but I think I will talk to the vet about learning if I can do that stuff myself.  And if I start bringing Iza to the vet every couple of months, she is going to get her front claws clipped too.

ME:  COOL!

TBT:  But you and Ayla would too.

ME:  NO, I need those ta catch the voles!

Not Easy Like Sunday

TBT and The Mews here:  We think we have a problem commenting.

Yeah, fine, some blogs use moderating before allowing comments.  But that isn't the problem. 

We think our comments are not getting through to the blogs that don't do that.  We visit a friend, and we always leave a comment.  But we happened to visit one site where we had commented and it wasn't there.  Well, OK, maybe we forgot to hit "send". 

But we went to another and our comment wasn't there.  And a 3rd and 4th.  In some cases, the comment was there.  But mostly they weren't.

This is bothering us in multiple ways.

First, our friends are thinking we aren't visiting and leaving comments, as if we don't care about them.

Second, there is something seriously wrong with our computer (and we can't find a cause for that.

Third, there might be a general problem in blogger than we are the first to notice.

Fourth, we do see comments at the sites we comment at unsuccessfully

Fifth, something else we can guess at.

So, we specifically checked for missing comments at Charliepuss, Catio Tales, Ducky, Eric&Flynn, Sometimes Cats Herd You, and our posts are not there a day after.  So something is very wrong.

Is it just us?  Can a few of you check for missing comments?  And if it is just us, any suggestions?  We are completely baffled and upset that our comments than seem to get sent aren't getting through. 

Confused...

Saturday Caturday

IZA:  One of my fun things ta do is push things off tables and desks.  Of course TBT doesn't really like it when I do that.  He suspects that I have a secret stash on pens and paperclips somewhere (I do, but he will never find it).

But I also like ta shove larger items off places.  letters, bills, and small notebooks are my favorites of those.  Like the water bill I hid away unner a chair once...  THAT cost him some green papers once so I stopped doing THAT. 

But when ya DO shove things off tables, it is impawtant ta nap on them afterwards.  TBT cant disturb a napping cat of course.  And then, with anny luck, he will just see it as part of the floor clutter and forget it is there, MOL!

Friday Flashback

MARLEY:  Well 4 years ago this week, I was enjoyin My New Hammick!

Its the purrfect softness for me.

 Purrfect size too!

Vole Hunt

TBT:  I was glancing out the window and saw Ayla out on the lawn.  She doesn't do that much these days.  It's kind of strange, since she USED to go over the fence  routinely just 2 years ago.  And Marley used to go into the abandoned neighbor yard, but now that there are residents there he stays in the yard.  Iza never did leave the yard.

I'm glad, personally.  I feel better when they are all in the yard.

But back to Ayla.  I saw her 8' away from the meadow bed and she sudeenly went low and snuck up on it.  Then after a minute, she slipped into the bed.  I expected she was stalking a rabbit.  But after watching a few minutes, I didn't see anything happening and went about my business. 

2 minutes later, she was on the deck with a vole!  How could she detect a cautious vole from so far away?  But apparently, she did.  She's GOOD.  Marley and Iza wait in ambush near vole holes.  I have never seen them stalk so far so fast to get one, though!

She hadn't killed it though.  It was alive and fiesty, and she seemed a bit uncertain.  I watched her and then Marley also chasing it around on the deck.  After a while, I sensed they were about to let it get away (by it leaping off the deck and hiding). 

Now, you have to understand I really hate voles.  They ate the roots and killed of 9 of my 10 cucumbers this year for example and I don't want the ones they catch alive to escape. 

So when it looks like they are going to lose one, I step in.  Literally!  A fiesty vole might cause the Mews to play with it and let it escape in error, but *I* have the foot of death!  I stepped on it.  Hey, it's faster than the Mews would do...

But there are pictures.

Ayla dropped it on the door mat to examine it.

It ran...

Marley looked at it .  The vole is in the bottom left.

Well, they HAD just eaten before they went out...   After I stepped on it, it wasn't as interesting to them.

Iza checked it out...  

I should probably just let them play with it.

Iza looked at my accusingly for ruining their toy.  Sorry...Part of the problem is that they don't WANT me out on the deck when they have a vole to play with.

Ayla came over ta check it out...

And you know what is amazing?  As SOON as I went back inside, they all started playing with it again!  Tossing it up in the air and grabbing it as it came down.  Batting it around the deck.  Biting it. 

They REALLY don't want me involved with vole-playing...  I understand.  That is their most catlike life...

Shady Deck

We have proplems with the deck sometimes.  The deck is some fake material that looks nice and lasts forever, but it gets kinna hot when the sun shines on it.  TBT has arranged outdoor carpet from the deck door to the stairs so we can walk along it in comfort and go down the stairs to the yard.  And there is a shaded path to the front of the deck where pots shade the surface.

But it got cloudy for a while and the deck cools down fast AND there is a time when the deck gets shaded by a tree, so when we went out after lunch, we went anywhere we wanted.  That was nice!

Toesie Tuesday

MARLEY:  I'll take a turn this week!    I often nap on my tummy, but sometimes I relax in the right direction.

I see what Iza means about the tail wanting ta get involved.

But this time I have all 4 paws AND the tail involved!

Freaky Friday

AYLA:  Sometimes TBT is just eating his dinner when we want to get on his lap.  He sure eats slower than WE do.  But it means we cant sit on his lap.

So we sit around near him.  I mean, ya know, we want ta be close ta him most of the time.  So it gets tricky sometimes.

Iza struggles to sit on the arms of his eating chair, but she allus eventually "taps" his bare arm with her claws slightly out and gets set down on the floor gently.  Marley has a talent for just sitting on TBTs leg and not bothering him otherwise.

I'm kinna twitchy about his lap.  Iffen he he is busy with his L-O-N-G slow dinner, I never even try.  But I do often sit nearby.

So Iza and I found ourselves BOTH sitting on the desk next ta him...  Peacefully...

We were both waiting for laptime.  Iza gets more, so she is more patient.  

That darn Iza can sleep on ANYTHING!  A remote is fine...*

That didnt leave a really good spot fer ME, though.   There was this long thing on the only good spot I could find. 

Really, did it HAVE do be there?  I couldn't relaxicate very well.

I probly should have meowed about it...

We all got individual laptime later, of course...  I was first (Iza was napping). 

*  TBT here:  She changed the channels 3 times before I finally took it away.  And did you notice that camo fleece?  I use it to support my knee when the cats are on my lap sometimes.  But this time, I stuck it under her head when I took the remote away and she never ever woke up, LOL!...

Garden Tour Thursday

IZA:  It is Garden Tour Thursday again!  Thanks for coming along to join me...

We are about at maximum color bloom with the daylilies.  I dont even know the names for some of the colors.  TBT goes a bit vague at some of them too.  Like that one at the bottom right.

That bottom big one isn't too easy either.  

We love the blended ones!  They CANT have a color name, so they are easier.

But they are all lovely!

But the yard isnt all daylilies of course...  The heirloom tomatoes are growing very well this year.

The Stella d'Oros around the mailbox are blooming.  We are sure the mail persons enjoy seeing them each day.

The Golden Rain Trees are flowering.  Nice small trees that seem to stay about 12' high...

The Snow-On-The-Mountain are looking good.

Some Astilbes are happy in a slightly shady wet spot.

Coneflowers are blooming.

The Stoke's Aster are unendingly perennial and long-lived.  TBT and I love them.  No weeds grow among them.  But the camera cant seem to catch their color.  The flowers are blooer, as you can tell looking at them closeup. 

The corns are growing.  TBTs Grampa allus used to say (he tells me) that "knee high by 4th of July" is a good measurement of growth, and they are taller than THAT already.

 The Nandina bushes are growing well.  They almost all died back a few Winters ago when it got REALLY cold out, but they are growing back great.  They will have bright red berries and green leafs all winter.

Im not sure what this flower is, but it is pretty...   Some kind od Sunflower.

And there are lots of them right now.

The Queen Annes Lace is beginning ta bloom.   I think there will be lots more of them soon.  I like them because the flowers are always covered with insects and that is probably a good thing.

Well, that was a pretty long tour, so we should all have some good snacks as we rest up on the shady deck.  Ayla promised some surprises...

OOH!  Bowls of mixed chewy treats (Turkey, Roo, and Salmon) so ya don't know what you will get.  TBT is putting out a few lightly-cooked minced shrimps from time to time.  And Marley asked TBT ta help him fill the blender full of NIP and a little cream (oh WOW NIP pesto).  And to wash all that down, we have separate bowls of rainwater, milk, chickie broth (from real boiled chicken with no spices), and Grasshoppertinis.

Thanks again for coming along on my Garden Tour this week!