Happy Birthday, Angel Homer, Kipper, Josie, and Iris!

I know Tuesdays are usually Tonks's day to post, but she's willing to step aside today for some birthday kitties. My parents' rescued a litter of 4 kittens almost 9 years ago. Sadly, one of the kitties passed away just under two weeks ago. His name was Homer, and we shared a post about him the day after he passed. We miss this sweet and handsome boy so much, but we'll never forget him. We hope you're having the best birthday ever up there, Homer!

Homer also loved showing off his belly. He was one of the rare kitties who loved tummy rubs without it being a trap.

We love you, Homer, always and forever!

Homer seemingly passed away from a sudden, undetected cardiac event, and since he left behind 3 full litter mates that could possibly be affected by anything genetic, a necropsy was done. The results indicated that he did indeed pass away from the cardiac condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). This is one of the leading causes of death in cats Homer's age, and in many cases there are no symptoms until the kitty suddenly passes away.

My parents took all 3 of Homer's litter mates to our vet for cardiac bloodwork as well as cardiac ultrasounds. As a side note, Homer was the only calm and collected kitty of this litter. His sisters are especially a bit, well, wild. So, taking all of the others was quite an ordeal. That said, thankfully, none of them are showing any signs of suffering from HCM. They had full exams and fresh bloodwork of all types that day, and they're all doing incredible. While me miss Homer terribly, we are thankful that he's looking out for his siblings and that they're all in good health.

Are you ready to see the other 3 birthday babies? We'll start with handsome Homer's equally handsome brother, that being Kipper.

Kipper is a very talkative little guy. Except he's not little. Aside from some Maine Coons I've known, Kipper is easily the tallest cat I've ever met. He is a very sweet boy and will gladly follow you around serenading you. Unfortunately, though, he does not like being held. That's okay, though. He's allowed to set boundaries.

Next up is one of Homer's sisters, and this one is Josie.

Josie can be pretty darn sassy, but she's cute and so that's permitted. What's more, Josie is 100% my dad's cat. While she tolerates my mom and my sister and myself and will let us pet her and all that, she loves her dad so much. And when she needs to go into a carrier or anything like that, the only person she'll let handle her in that way is my dad. She just loves him so much, and she often displays that love by getting on his lap and screaming in his face. They both seem to enjoy that so very much.

And last is Homer's other sister, that being Iris.

Iris is easily the most wild and skittish of this litter, but she's also my little buddy. When I visit my parents and watch TV at their house, she'll often come sit with me. When she's relaxed, she'll let you rest an arm on her and all that adorableness. If she's not relaxed, good luck touching her. Unlike her brothers, Iris is a tiny gal, but she packs a lot of personality and sass into that little body of hers. And I love that about her.

Homer, Kipper, Josie, and Iris were the born to a feral cat that would help herself into my uncle's house. He named her Scamp, and she had this litter of kittens inside of his house. We often refer to these 4 kitties as none other than the Scamps. They were around humans from day 1, and they came to live with my parents when they were only a few weeks old, none of which you would know by how hard they can be to handle. Well, except for sweet angel Homer, as he was incredibly laidback and easy to hold and do whatever you needed to do with him. I'm not sure why the other 3 can be so skittish, but they sure make it look like a feral, wild nature can be genetic, as their mama cat was just that. Josie looks just like their mom Scamp, in case you were curious.

Happy 9th Birthday, Homer, Kipper, Josie, and Iris! We love all of you, always and forever!

I unfortunately failed to get a birthday doodle completed for these cuties, so I pulled one I created years ago for my mom. It stars Homer, Kipper, Josie, and Iris, as well as my parents' kitties Trapper and Talon. Sadly, sweet Talon passed away last April, also about 2 weeks before his birthday, just like sweet Homer.

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Tip of the Day

Today is the last day of National Pet Poison Prevention Month. Since Easter is just around the corner, we're going to give you a summary of what Easter items to keep away from your furbaby, so that they do not end up at the emergency clinic around this springtime holiday.

First, keep those Easter lilies away from your kitties and pups! There are a number of lily types that are toxic to furbabies, Easter lilies being one of the most dangerous. Any part of the Easter lily can be toxic, even the pollen. Lily toxicity can lead to any number of life-threatening side effects, one of them being acute kidney failure. As you surely already know or can guess, it is simply safest to keep any and all lilies out of the home, well out of reach of your kitty or pup.

Other Easter goodies to keep away from your furbaby include chocolate, which is also toxic, as you all certainly already know. Don't forget the danger that other candies can pose as well, such as the sugar-free sort containing toxic xylitol. If you are giving or receiving Easter baskets that contain candies such as these, keep them well hidden away, so that hungry or curious furbabies cannot help themselves to a toxic snack.

It is also worth it to note the danger of Easter grass. This stringy, grass-like material often used as a filler in Easter baskets can be dangerous if ingested by a kitty or pup. It can lead to emergencies such as intestinal blockage, perforation, or laceration. Try not to use any such materials in Easter baskets. If you receive a basket with this dangerous fake grass material, keep it well out of your furbaby's reach and dispose of it safely.

Rest in Peace, Homer

Hello, friends. This is not the post I expected for today. I will share my Friendly Fill-Ins and link below, but I first want to give a moment for a very special kitty.

Last night, one of my parents' kitties passed away very unexpectedly. He was a healthy, robust, active, and all around amazing boy named Homer.

I just snapped that photo of Homer when I was at my parents' house this past Saturday. He was staring at my hands, as he was a firm believer that hands were always supposed to be petting him. He did indeed gets lot of pets and cuddles after that photo was snapped.

Homer would have turned 9 years old at the end of this month, and he's never had any health issues. Last night, though, he collapsed at home. He got back up after what my parents thought was perhaps a seizure, though he was not acting himself at all. They called me and I went with my mom to the emergency vet with Homer. When we got there, they rushed him to the back but then came out to tell us that he was was doing okay. His heart and lungs sounded good at the time, and they said he was purring and flirting with all of them, as he loved to do. They seemed hopeful that he'd just suffered a seizure and that they'd discharge him and we'd monitor him at home and go from there. Soon after, though, Homer's respiration started to decline, they ran some quick cardiac tests that came back abnormal, and ultimately his heart stopped. They tried CPR, rescue meds, and everything possible, but sweet Homer gained his angel wings. We were at the emergency vet until nearly midnight, and it was plain and simply an unexpectedly terrible night.

It's most likely Homer suffered some sort of cardiac event. Diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) are sadly somewhat common in cats, and they can suddenly kill a kitty who otherwise seemed healthy up to that point. A very similar thing happened to one of my childhood kitties, Sammy, who passed away at home very suddenly at the age of 5. Homer could have also had myocarditis or any other number of similar issues.

Because my parents are also blessed to share their life with three of Homer's full litter mates, a necropsy is being done on Homer. His three siblings are also going to be tested for HCM and other potential cardiac issues at our regular vet. My mom has already reached out to our regular vet, whom we have a lot of trust in, and the vet is already getting Homer's siblings scheduled for him to do a cardiac blood test and ultrasound. One of Homer's sisters has a history of coughing, so we don't want to delay the tests. Though Homer's sister has been seen for her cough and nothing was found to be abnormal at that time, no true cardiac testing has been done yet and so my parents are moving forward with all of that for sweet Homer's siblings. Homer was the far more cool and collected one of the litter, though. His siblings are all exceedingly more wild, so I'm sure the vet will have fun wrangling them for the cardiac bloodwork and ultrasounds.

I will be sharing a better memorial post for Homer soon. It might be part of this litter's birthday post, as that will be March 31st. It's unfortunately been quite a while since I've shared Homer on our blog here, but just know he was a sweet and handsome boy with a big personality. We will miss him forever, and we'll also love him forever.

I'm sorry all of the above is so long and rambling. I truly find it cathartic to just purge that all out on the keyboard, and you friends of ours are always the recipients of that.

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We'll share the Friendly Fill-Ins now. My amazing co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two fill-in statements, and I came up with the second two.

1. The longest I have been without electricity is _________.

2. I am so tired of waiting for _________.

3. I can't believe I still remember _________.

4. I wish I could go back and experience _________ for the first time again.


My answers are below in bold. I'm sorry if they don't make a whole lot of sense. I didn't get them finished before the awful events of last night, so I filled them in after and my mind was not fully in it.

1. The longest I have been without electricity is a little over 24 hours.
(I'm lucky in that I've never experienced a truly lengthy power outage like some folks have. The 24 hours I experienced happened to just 6 houses on our block a couple years ago. A relatively small tree limb fell on a line. We could see it and alerted the power company, but it took them over 24 hours to come out and repair it.)

2. I am so tired of waiting for good books and movies to come out.
(This is such a First World problem, I know. That said, it feels like books and movies just aren't as good as they used to be. Or, at least, they aren't always what I'm personally looking for. Lately, when there are books or movies I'm truly excited for, I tend to find out about them before they've even released. And then the wait is torture. There is at least one book I'm eagerly waiting to be released in a couple months, and there's a new movie I'm very excited to watch, but I'm waiting for it to come out on streaming. Again, talk about First World problems.)

3. I can't believe I still remember the lyrics to songs I haven't heard in decades.

(My mom and I were recently listening to a certain playlist of songs from a couple decades ago. I hadn't heard the songs in roughly those couple of decades, and yet I was actually able to sing along to most of them. They were songs I liked back then, though, so apparently they stuck with me all this time.)

4. I wish I could go back and experience reading my favorite books for the first time again.
(I've always thought it would be interesting to have selective amnesia, so that you can choose to forget a particular book or even movie or TV show. This way, you can enjoy it for the first time all over again.)

Now it's your turn!

To add your link to the Friendly Fill-Ins Linky list, just click HERE!

You can also click on the badge below to add your link.

You are also welcome to complete the fill-ins in the comments below,

or in the comments on Ellen's blog, 15andmeowing.

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I'll get back to posting doodles and tips next week. Right now, nothing I have seems appropriate for today.

More Spooky Fun on Mancat Monday

Hello, friends! I truly meant to post some of our continued Halloween fun over the weekend, since those days were All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Time got away from me, though, and so now here we are on Monday, November 3rd. We're still going to continue Halloween here on our blog for a couple of days, though, because we do have a bit more frightfully festive fun to share.

Now, it is indeed Mancat Monday. Evan is still being stalked by our pumpkin decor, even when he's trying to enjoy his beloved back door time.

Don't mind the dirty window there. I haven't yet had the heart to wash away my sweet angel Astrid's nose art from it.

As for more pumpkins, though, Evan decided to pose with my jack-o'-lanterns after I carved them up a few days before Halloween. He's always my perfect little helper, though he's also a bit difficult to see with the lighting of this photo.

Now, the next pumpkins are not ones that I carved. As my mom and I do every year, we visited a local pumpkin farm that displays hundreds of pumpkins carved by the community during the nights leading up to Halloween. I took a great many photos on the night we went, and today we'll share the various cat-o'-lanterns we got to see.

Tomorrow and Wednesday we'll share a few more of the amazing jack-o'-lanterns we saw at this pumpkin farm. There really were so many great ones, and I couldn't stop snapping photos of them all.

We hope you all had a horrifyingly happy Halloween on Friday! And we hope you enjoy just a couple more days of Halloween fun with us.

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Spooky Doodles of the Day

Now, leading up to Halloween we were sharing some doodles of my parents' kitties in various Halloween costumes. My parents have 11 cats, and so we still have quite a few of those drawings to share. Today we have three for you all. Since it's Mancat Monday, we'll share the rest of the boys in their Halloween attire. So, let's start with Kipper, who is Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

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There isn't necessarily a particular reason why Kipper got that costume, but my dad and I wanted someone to be Leatherface and Kipper was a perfectly good option. Similarly, his littermate Homer is below as Hannibal Lecter, also for somewhat vague reasons.

Lastly is Flitwick, and he got his costume for a very specific reason. My dad requested Flitwick be a shark, like in Jaws or just any shark in general, because this tabby fellow is an adorable yet naughty boy who is known to stalk and bite his siblings.

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Tip of the Day

November is Pet Cancer Awareness Month. We have before shared tips on the prevention of cancer in our kitties and pups, and we're going to repeat that series of tips over the next few days in honor of this month's importance. We'll start with none other than spaying and neutering. Spaying and neutering your furbabies is not only important for population control, but also because, like humans, they can develop cancers of the reproductive tract and related systems. This can include uterine cancer, mammary cancer, and prostate cancer.

What's more, timing of spaying and neutering can also be crucial. It is important to ensure that a kitty or pup is of course old enough and big enough for neutering, but also not too old. This is because, for example, there is an increased risk of mammary cancer in female cats and dogs who are allowed to go through one or more cycles prior to being spayed. We could go on and on about this topic, but let's suffice it to say that, as most of you certainly know, it's incredibly important to spay and neuter your cats and dogs for more reasons than one. We'll even say it again. Please spay and neuter your kitties and pups, and do so before they can be affected by an increased risk of cancer.

Twofer Tuesday

Our selfie star on Sunday was my parents' cat Foggy. His selfies were snapped from outside my parents' front window, while Foggy watched from inside the house as I mowed my parents' yard. During that same photo shoot, Foggy was joined by a certain other someone.

Foggy is the big orange boy on the right, and on the left is a silly little guy named Homer. Homer is a real character, a true entertainer. You're never bored when Homer's around. One of his favorite things to do is scratch at windows. He also enjoys scratching at doors, tables, and really anything he can find.

Foggy might not have been impressed with Homer's window show, but I sure thought it was downright adorable. And don't worry, I definitely went inside and forced cuddles on both of these boys. Actually, I cuddled on all 12 of my parents' cats. I do that every day, in case you were wondering.

Happy Tuesday!

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Halloween Doodle of the Day: Flashback Tuesday

For today's flashback doodle, I simply scrolled through last year's Halloween doodles to see if I could find any I didn't remember scribbling up. I found one I'd forgotten all about, and it was this weird one here:

I remember feeling compelled to scribble that doodle up one late October night last year. My already weird mind goes to some extra wacky places when it's tired, I guess. That being said, I am now in the mood to doodle up some scarecrows, perhaps even some with cat-o'-lantern heads. I just might do that.

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Halloween Tip of the Day

Today's tip is an extension of yesterday's tip, when we reminded you to only put Halloween costumes on furbabies who tolerate or enjoy it. Now we're here to mention the importance of choosing safe and secure costumes for those kitties and pups who do enjoy wearing them. There are a number of considerations to make in order to ensure that a Halloween costume, or other item of clothing, is safe for your furbaby. For example, you of course have to make sure that there are no embellishments or other decorations on the costume that could be chewed off and ingested, as this could indeed be dangerous. You also want to make sure that no strings or other similar parts and pieces could lead to a furbaby getting tangled in the costume. What's more, make sure the costume is the correct size and fit. A costume with too small of a neck hole or with too small of leg holes could be not only uncomfortable, but also dangerous for circulation. Dressing up our furbabies can indeed help you and them get into the Halloween spirit, but it is more so important to ensure their comfort and safety.