Happy Halloween!

I hope all the furballs out there (and their people, of course) have had a spooktakular Halloween! I tried to get the furballs in my life as excited about this fun holiday as myself. As I expected, my success rate was not all that great.

I bought a costume for the family cats to all try and share. Cat costume success rate? 50%. That's about what I had guessed it would be, though. I knew that Evan would not tolerate being put in a costume, and the same went for Rosie and Talon. Toby, Trapper, and Thimble at least humored me, though.

I bought the cat costume (which I've been calling "Grizzly Adams") with Toby in mind. He's so laidback, he's the one I figured would be most amenable to celebrating Halloween with me. Toby was a very good model for the costume, although he did practically refuse to walk or in any way move while wearing it.

Trapper gave me no trouble while I was dressing him up, but once he was wearing the costume he was not so pleased. Just like Toby, he refused to walk while wearing it.

Thimble really showed off her glaring skills for this one.

Although I'm certain Astrid would have chewed and shredded any costume I put on her, I was still able to bring out her festive side.

I bedazzled Astrid's collar with a Halloween bow. She's accustomed to wearing cute little bows on her collar, so she was perfectly happy to appease me by wearing this ghostly adornment.

So, from my gang to yours...Happy Halloween!

Awww Interlude

Nap time with Evan!

Photo Shoot Shenanigans

I realize that I'm past due on giving a kitten update. Early this week I plan on sitting all four of the kittens down for a photo shoot. Easier said than done, though. The last photo shoot I attempted was of course full of much adorableness, but it was also full of kitten orneriness and chaos.

That being said, please be patient with me. I will do my best to get new shots of the kittens to share. But, if it's anything like the last photo shoot, it will take a lot -- and I mean a lot -- of patience.

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about (as if you fellow parents of furballs don't already know exactly what I'm talking about)...

I asked Thimble to pose for me. Instead, she decided to chase my camera's wrist strap.

Still chasing the camera wrist strap. While being absolutely adorable.

Still chasing it...

...and finally caught it!

I guess I was an un-fun Mom that day, because I took the camera wrist strap away. So, Thimble resorted to glaring.

When Talon's turn came up he followed his sister's example. It took him all of half a second to snatch the camera wrist strap from me.

Remember how Thimble had resorted to glaring after I took the camera wrist strap away from her? Well, Talon just decided he'd climb his way back to it, using me as a human ladder.

Trapper didn't try to steal the camera wrist strap. But, he did refuse to look at me.

This was after I asked him to "say cheese".

And then Toby simply refused to wake up from his nap. (See that white paw coming in from the right side? That's Talon helping me, trying to wake Toby up by sticking his paw in his ear. Toby didn't care. He'd just kept on napping.)

This winning shot was a joint effort between Thimble and Talon. Thimble's in the background, chasing the wrist strap again, of course. And that blurry, whiskered blob in the bottom right corner is Talon, biting my camera. At this point I just called it a loss and gave up.

So, I'll do my best to post some new photos of the kittens as soon as possible. Maybe I can get them to sit still and/or look at me this time around. After all, miracles happen every day.

Awww Interlude

I have decided that I will start a new series of posts. These will be short posts, perfect for those times when life calls and keeps me from writing a long post. These little posts will be called Awww Interludes, and they will each include a picture that will hopefully make you say, "Awww." Because, well, we all need those "Awww" moments every once in awhile.

So, here's the first Awww Interlude.

Just a girl and her orca.

Living with Arthritis

Rosie has arthritis. She is 21 years old, so at least a little arthritis is expected. But Rosie has especially severe arthritis. What do I mean by this? What I mean is that, through x-rays, it was confirmed a couple of years ago that Rosie has arthritis between every single one of her vertebrae.

I'll take this time to note that all four of Rosie's paws were declawed when she was a kitten. Declawing is a highly debated topic. Having a declawed cat and knowing its effects on her, I will openly admit that I personally am anti-declaw. When a cat is declawed, not just the claw is removed, but also part of the actual digit itself. This forces the cat to learn to ambulate differently than their natural tendency. And that is why cats that are declawed -- whether two or four of their paws are declawed -- are extremely likely to develop worse arthritis than non-declawed cats. So, having been declawed as a kitten, now 21-year-old Rosie has severe arthritis.

This is not the best picture to show it, but here is a mild example of Rosie as a "low rider" due to her arthritis. As with many arthritic cats, Rosie walks and stands in a more plantigrade stance than is typical for cats (as in, whereas cats typically walk more on their toes, Rosie walks and stands in a more flat-footed stance).

Also not the best picture to show it, this an example of how arthritic Rosie's front legs sometimes tend to twist somewhat abnormally when she sits and stands.

Of course, Rosie is on a medication to hep combat the effects of her arthritis. She was tried on various joint supplements and pain medications, but the only drug that seems to help soothe her arthritis is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory. Since she also has renal disease and since non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can affect the kidneys, Rosie is kept on a low dose of the anti-inflammatory, and she is only given it every other day. It does help her, but no drug can truly defeat arthritis.

So, how else do I try to help alleviate Rosie's arthritis? By making sure that my house and life is built around making her comfortable and making everything as easy on her and her old joints as possible. She has given me over twenty years of companionship, so it's the least I can do for her.

What are some of my methods for helping to alleviate Rosie's arthritis? Well, I place step stools and makeshift stairs for Rosie to use to get onto and off of furniture, since her arthritis makes it difficult for her to jump. I also make sure that she has plenty of soft beds to lie on, so that her joints are not stiff from or pained by hard and uncomfortable bedding. In cold weather, when her arthritis seems to bother her the most, I make sure she has means of staying nice and warm. And, I make sure that her food and litter box and other necessities are as near to her favorite sleeping areas as possible, so that she doesn't have to travel too far with her stiff joints.

Soft blankets help keep Rosie's joints comfortable. One of her favorite soft beds, as seen in this picture, is a giant fleece blanket. She also likes to be tucked in on cold winter nights.

Rosie has many, many soft blankets that she uses.

Keeping warm helps to keep Rosie's arthritis at bay in the winter. In fact, over the past couple of years it was discovered that Rosie likes to sleep directly in front of a heater in the winter. So now, every winter a heater is set up just for Rosie. Heater + favorite fleece blanket = Rosie's paradise. (Note: In this picture Rosie is actually sleeping on one of the step stools she uses to get onto the couch. Because it was the piece of furniture closest to the heater, she demanded that her blanket be placed on it. She got her way, of course.)

This little old lady is served breakfast, lunch, and dinner in bed. She deserves it.

Queen Rosie may have arthritis, but with the help of lots of TLC she doesn't let it get her down.

Sharing is caring.

I'm sure I'm not the only parent to four-legged furballs who understands the concept of sharing. And when I say sharing, I mean giving up your goods for the sake of -- or, more like it, at the request of -- the furballs.

I can't even begin to count the number of times I've given up my blankets and bedding, items of clothing, and even the food off of my plate for my furry babies. But I guess since they're so cute I just can't help myself, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I might as well show you some examples of how sharing is caring in my family of furballs:

This picture was taken a few years ago and shows Rosie drinking a bit of milk from a cereal bowl. Even now, at 21 years of age, she still begs on occasion, such as the other night when I was having milk and peanut butter cookies.

This one was also taken a few years ago and shows Rosie lying on a pair of my dad's slippers. Those slippers used to be one of her favorite makeshift beds, but these days she prefers to make use of my favorite sweatshirt.

This picture was from a couple of weeks ago, at a time when the kittens had taken it upon themselves to make a bed out of a pair shorts and a shirt.

See that pillow Astrid's lying on? I had just been using it prior to this photo being taken. But, Astrid had looked so uncomfortable and pitiful next to me on the couch that I just had to give her my pillow. (And then Astrid so kindly paid it forward by allowing Evan to use her as a pillow.)

I guess the moral of this story is that living in a home full of four-legged furballs has taught me to be a good sharer. And I'm perfectly fine with that.

To give or not to give?

The holidays are just around the corner (they must be, since Christmas commercials are already starting to run rampant these days). That being said, there is an age old debate as to whether or not pets should be given gifts on Christmas, birthdays, and so forth.

So where do I stand in this debate? Well, my furballs are like my children, and so they absolutely get gifts for Christmas and their birthdays. Do I get them gifts for every little occasion? No. And do I give them extravagant gifts that break the bank? No. But my little furballs are my family, and so of course I include them in my Christmas celebrations, and of course I celebrate their birthdays (or at least their "maybe birthdays", as I call them for my furballs whose birthdays are unknown).

Now, Rosie will give you some examples of some of the most recent gifts she's received.

This is Rosie on Christmas two years ago. She received the yellow and brown "crinkly bed" she is lying on in this picture -- she loves "crinkly beds", as she seems to enjoy the noise they make when she moves around on them. (Excuse Rosie's pose in this one, as she was too busy scratching to look at the camera.)

This is Rosie on her birthday last year. On that birthday, as seen in this picture, she got a catnip toy shaped like a banana. She enjoyed it immensely. (Also note that she is lying on the bed that she had received on the previous Christmas.)

This is Rosie just over a month ago, on her 21st birthday. She got a box of her favorite treats, which for whatever reason are very hard to find these days.

Those constitute just a sampling of the gifts Rosie has received. Over the years she has accumulated more toys, treats, beds and blankets, and other goodies than I can even count. Her young housemates are also starting to learn the joys of receiving gifts, but Rosie is still the Queen and remains rightfully spoiled.