Alien Spouse

Exterminate! Exterminate! Extermi... Cat Pee? Yuck!

We went shopping today, for a weird little mix of things that had become necessities:

• Wellies (1 x pair)?  Tick.
• Black Converse (1 x pair)?  Tick.
• Two torches (one battery powered and one rechargeable)? Tick.
• AC Charger for the iPod?  Tick.
• Enzyme cleaning spray to deal with little kitty surprises? Tick.
• Small cat litter tray to facilitate toilet training?  Tick.
• Vegetable stock cubes?  Tick.
• Hippy butter (That's what Doc calls the butter spread with no trans fatty acids in it.  And he won't eat it.)? Tick.
• Drawing pins?  Tick.
• Portable UV Light?  Cross.

I could not find a UV light in our local hardware supermarket, or Radio Shack (purveyors of fine electronic geekitude); where else would you get one from?  I didn't think it would be this hard to find one.

You may wonder why I even need a UV light, which is a fair enough question.  Well you know how in all of the "CSI" series they are forever spraying luminol around to check for blood at a crime scene and it makes it glow?  Well, apparently UV light does the same for cat pee.  I am pretty certain the girls haven't been peeing anywhere that I don't know about, because they are usually very good, but after Nancy's little protest last week I would like to be 100% positive of that.

I quite honestly think the best thing to do now would be to order a Sonic Screwdriver on-line, that way I could combat both cat pee and Daleks, and I am all for multi-tasking. 
Unfortunately I can't buy a real Sonic Screwdriver, however much I want to believe in their existence, but you can buy a pretty cool toy one that comes with a pad of psychic paper.  One end is an invisible ink pen, and the other end is a UV light that makes the ink glow.  Which, cat pee aside, sounds pretty damn cool doesn't it?

Citikitty: This Weekend's Project.

After we left work this afternoon (Actually we got to leave early today because of the snow.  It's pretty and it's gets me out of work early?  I love snow!) we went food shopping, so we didn't have to worry just in case we did get snowed in. 
We also bought bird seed to keep the local birds happy and a large box of cat litter, because I am not going to be trapped in the house with two cats and no litter.

Then we went to the local hardware store to buy firewood, and I bought a stanley knife and a small handsaw.  I will be using them this weekend to customise the cat's litter tray this weekend.  I am absolutely determined that the citikitty training will continue and that it will work.

The cats have yet to comment.

Crazy.

I'm trying to type one handed, because I really do have to play with Edith.  When we got home this evening Nancy met us at the door and said "She is freaking insane.  You deal with her, I need a drink."

Well, maybe she didn't say that in so many words, but the expression on her little kitty face spoke volumes.  As soon as we saw Edith I knew Nancy wasn't exaggerating because Edith's pupils were huge and she was really attacking the cat scratcher.  Then she ran up and down the stairs chasing dust molecules.

Now I've got her focused on the pink-feather-boa-on-a-stick that she loves to attack, and I'm hoping to get rid of some of her excess energy.  Otherwise no-one in this house will sleep tonight.

Citikitty: Edith Climbs a Ladder. Nancy Slides Down a Snake.

When we got home last night the cats didn't appear to have used the citikitty all day, so I picked them both up and put them on it.  Nancy ran off, but Edith actually used it and even scooped the litter down the hole in the middle, clever girl!  I was quite pleased with that!

This morning though I could see that it hadn't been used over night, and as I was preparing the cats breakfasts I heard an ominous scratching noise from by the front door.  A certain small grey and white cat who shall remain nameless (Cough...Nancy...Cough Cough), was digging at the carpet trying to cover up a pool of pee.  Great.

My thinking is that she could have peed anywhere she wanted at any point in the night whilst I was asleep, so her waiting to do it until I was actually there indicates to me that she was trying tell me something.  The message I get from this behaviour is "Human, I do not like the new bathroom facilities.  I will not use them.  I strongly protest", which also indicates that I have confused her by going too fast with the citikitty.  I should have known better than that; I'm fully aware that you can't rush felines when training, you have to accept their pace and work with them.

So this morning I duct taped the litter tray back on top of the toilet seat, and we will be trying this again but a bit more slowly this time

Citikitty - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back.

I would be lying if I were to say that all is going well with the citikitty training.  It isn't.  There have been, well not accidents because they were deliberate, more like dirty protests.

I can see exactly what the issue is.  Both cats are more than happy to use the citikitty; provided the other cat hasn't already.  And if it happens that Nancy has used it before Edith, then Edith will just go on the bathroom floor.  Thank goodness for floor tiles.

Essentially I'm asking them to share a tray that is about a quarter of the size of the one they were used to.  It would be absolutely fine if I were home twenty four hours a day, with some sort of sensor to alert me the moment one of the little angels had used it.  But I'm not, so I'm having to think outside the box now.

To begin with I have cut out the first stage from the center of the citikitty, and I'm hoping that what will happen is that some of the pee at least will go down there leaving the precious litter untouched.  If they seem to cope well with that, I shall simply cut out the next stage mid-week and hope they don't get too spooked by that.  If it doesn't go well, I shall cut a hole as big as the citikitty in the litter tray and put it back on the toilet with litter in it.  I shall then carry on cutting holes in the citikitty, and trim down the sides of the litter tray until they are just using the citikitty or the toilet.

They will be using the toilet by the end of all this.  One way or another they will.

Sunday Continues As It Began.

I have not left the house today, I didn't get dressed until two, I didn't put any product in my hair, I brushed the cats and I've been wearing flip flops with tabi socks all day.

Lovely.

Sunday Morning.

It is really nice to get up after a long lie-in on a Sunday to find there is snow on the ground outside, and that your husband has built a log fire in the living room fireplace, done all the washing up, cleaned the kitchen,  and just put the kettle on to make a cup of tea. 

It was the icing on the cake to find that both cats were very friendly this morning; Nancy actually miaowed at me so that I would sit down and she could get on my lap.  Over the past week or so she hasn't been as friendly as usual, I think because of the steroids she was given for her allergies, so I was very happy about that. 

The only thing was that Edith was paying close attention, so when Nancy got off to go and do something important, Edith climbed on to my lap and curled up for a snooze.  This is highly unusual because Edith almost never sits on laps, she far prefers to sit next to a human, thank you very much.

Nancy was not impressed when she came back.

p.s. Nancy's eyes aren't that green really, I tinted them in Picnik to make the look of sheer disgust pop.

Remodelled House and Retraining Cats.

We have just returned from a very nice dinner party at Kim and Jill's, which was fabulous and very fun.  They have recently finished remodelling, and this was to celebrate their very nice new living room.  I have had a couple of delicious rum based cocktails, and a glass or two of wine, so I am feeling pleasantly sleepy right now.

When we got home it was very gratifying to discover our cats are taking to the Citikitty like ducks to water.  I would love it if they whizzed through all of the training steps by Christmas, but realistically I think that's probably over ambitious.

Pro Love, Anti Hate.

We had a terrible time trying to find a parking space today because there is a big football game in town, but we managed to get to the library where the pro-gay marriage march was assembling in time for me to make a banner.  In the end I went with lots of red love hearts, partly inspired by the lovely necklace Jason sent to me as part of my birthday package (I also got Malteasers, cake decorations and a bag of assorted fabulous sequins!  All of it wrapped up in the most gorgeous paper!  Yay for birthday surprises!) I also wrapped a small hot pink feather boa around the handle, which helped to make it comfortable but was mainly because, hello, it was a hot pink feather boa!  That's my kind of protesting!

We marched in a circular route around the town which took about an hour and a half.  For the most part we got lots of smiles and thumbs up, with just one or two people expressing their disagreement with our views.  It was actually really quite fun!

It did start to rain towards the end, so I was glad to get home, which is when we discovered that Edith is pro gay marriage too.  She really loved my banner, and kept rubbing up against it.

Unfortunately she was so enthusiastic about the sign that she pushed it over on top of Nancy, who survived unscathed but presumably less keen on protest signs than our little fluffy radical.

Silver Ball.

When we first chose the cats (I know, like we were the ones who made the decision!  Ha!), we thought Nancy would be more lively and Edith was going to be very sedate. 

Oh, how wrong can you be?  Edith runs around the house playing with anything that she thinks might be fun, and this is one of Edith's favourite toys.  It went missing last week so I've been looking for it for several days, but I didn't have any luck; until Edith apparently remembered that she'd stashed it under our bed.

 

It may look like a perfectly innocent ball of silver tinsel, but it sends Edith insane. She stamps on it, she hides it, she stalks it and she plays football with it at all hours of the day and night until she literally becomes a blur.

That splodge is Edith in motion, and the slight shimmer you can see towards the top right corner is the silver ball.  I think it must have said or done something particularly offensive here.

Doc C's Birthday Wish.

Doc C brought back all the post from our post office box when he came home from work, and none of the parcels or cards that I know are on their way from England had arrived yet.  However there was a jiffy bag with Doc's name on it containing a disc for the Playstation two.

Yes it's true, finally Doc C owns "Baldur's Gate: The Dark Alliance 2" which, as any fule kno, is the sequel to "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance"

Right now he's playing as Vhaidra Uoswiir, a Female Drow Monk (I asked why she was a monk instead of a Nun, but I expect that's the type of rookie mistake only a non-D&D-er would make) who he describes as "cool!" and "very mercenary".

In case you were wondering what Doc and I gave each other, we actually got our presents early this year in the form of two beautiful gray felines.  In fact in today's photo you can see that Edith is helping Doc C out with his quest by guarding the perimeter, with special attention to small birds.  You can't be too careful about small birds you know.

Birthday Lurgey.

It's my birthday!  Yay!
And I'm still not feeling well!  Boo!

I've been on the NHS Direct website and I'm pretty sure that I have sinusitis, my favourite official symptom of which is "A feeling of being generally unwell", isn't that just so beautifully vague?  The good news is that I should be better in the next day or so.

It's just so annoying though, because I'm ill today, and I usually love birthdays!  I was planning to bake cookies to take into the office for our weekly meeting, and at lunchtime I was going to go out for a nice meal with my charming husband, whose birthday it also is.

Still things could be worse!  This morning I spoke to my mum, and I know she's sent a parcel which is very exciting, plus we had a lovely birthday party already.  I also get to clean up cat pee snuggle up with Edith on the sofa again today, whilst Nancy keeps a close eye on the food bowl.

My Turn.

Doc C is feeling lot better today, thank goodness!  And we took Nancy to the vets for her check-up, and Dr. Parrish was very pleased with how she's doing.  The receptionists and nurses made a big fuss of her, and told her how pretty she was, so I think she actually quite enjoyed her visit this time.  Edith is her usual healthy zoomy self.

So everyone is fine, apart from me.  I've caught Doc C's lurgey, which isn't a cold as such, it's more of a sinus infection.  The front of my face just feels heavy and painful, and that makes doing anything feel like surprisingly hard work.

I went into the office this morning, but Doc C brought me home to nest on the sofa with a blanket and a cat.  It seems like the perfect opportunity to watch some of the DVDs that Mick sent me.  I'm starting with "Messiah V: The Rapture", because there's obviously nothing like a dour, blood-soaked detective drama with vague religious overtones to make one feel better.

I just hope that I feel better by my birthday. sigh.

Potty Training.

This morning I decided it was time to move to the next level in the cats Citikitty training.  For the past few days the cats have been using bathroom facilities that I put up on boxes to get them used to it being higher, and today I moved the tray to on top of the toilet itself.  Don't worry I've secured it with duct tape, I don't want it to go flying if someone decides to take a running leap at it, and I've also placed boxes next to the toilet so the cats have handy steps up.

Doc C came into see what I was doing, and found it highly amusing that I had duct taped the tray down, the box steps in place and the shower curtain to the bath.  The reason for the latter was because Edith kept climbing in to the bath, and then getting stuck behind the shower curtain, which was highly amusing to us but didn't look like fun for her.  I am finding duct tape to be a very useful tool for a cat owner, for a while we had tape on the sides of the sofa to discourage claw sharpening, but obviously that looked terrible, so we took that off once they had got the message

After getting the tray securely in place I took each of the cats in to the bathroom, and put them in the litter tray.  They both did exactly the sme thing: promptly got out and ran off, but then later each of them walked into the bathroom and looked as though they couldn't find the tray.  So Doc or I would pick them up and put them in again, and this time they actually used it.

Now given that I'd already got my camera in the bathroom to document the litter tray on the toilet, it seemed foolish not to take pictures of the cats using said tray in my ongoing documentation of the whole Citikitty experiment.  It felt like such an invasion of privacy, but at the same time I knew that there were people who would want to see the pictures, I was very conflicted!  I think that must be what it's like to be a paparazzi, don't you?

Actually as I was taking the photos I could almost hear my Mother saying "Jennifer!" whilst my step-dad Stu would probably chime in with "Is that really necessary?", but I know some of you would want to see this!  So I'm putting it after the jump, but don't worry, despite this flagrant violation of feline privacy I elected not to use the really embarrasing picture that was displaying really far too much information for a family friendly blog, they are both quite safe!

Why We Call Her Piggy Big Eyes!

Doc C was asked the other day why Nancy got the nick name "Piggy Big Eyes". It's very simple really, we call her that because she is a walking stomach with fog lights in her orbital sockets.

She is very very motivated by food, and so if the cat's food bowls have food in them, she will put her head down and work until there is nothing left.  Even though at other times she seems to be nervous of Edith (Who unfortunately chases Nancy around the house, I think she's just playing but I'm not sure Nancy realises that), at food time she will block Edith's access to the bowls.  It's quite funny to see the bemused look on Edith's face when this tiny cat elbows her out of the way.  Nancy usually eats all of her own food and about half of Edith's.

Bearing that in mind it was unsurprising, but still pleasing, when the vet told us she had put on a pound in the two weeks since we last took her.  She is becoming nicely pear shaped, with a podgy little tummy.  Don't get me wrong I don't want Nancy to get unhealthily fat, but she was definitely underweight when we first brought her home so it's nice to know we are doing something right!

Why I Am Very Excited.

My lovely friend Laura is going to be in town for a few days, and she offered to host a birthday party at her house tomorrow evening for Doc C and I!  How can you turn that down?  And when I asked if we could have a pinata, make Dia De Muerto skull masks and eat tacos she thought that was a great idea!  Hooray!  It's going to be a very faux Mexican birthday; except I think The Doc plans on making another pecan pie, but it would be churlish to turn up my nose at Doc's pecan pies just because it doesn't fit a theme.

So I've been very busy this evening disembowelling a tissue paper bull and stuffing it with sweets and tacky plastic stuff.  Edith loves the pinata, and keeps rubbing her face up against it, but Nancy has ascertained it has no cat biscuits in it and is therefore totally uninterested.
We actually had quite a difficult time choosing our pinata because there were some excellent options.  I think Doc would have preferred the pirate, but I thought we should go traditional for my first pinata.  Neither of us wanted to get a Dora the Explorer pinata, because she had an oddly grey face and it was creepy frankly.

Remember, Remember...

In all the Obama fever I failed to mention Bonfire night yesterday.

One of the dorms decided to celebrate mainly as an excuse to bake scones (I didn't tell them that scones weren't really the traditional food stuff of the occasion), and I thought that was a great idea so they invited me along.  And then they asked to talk to a group of students about Guy Fawkes and why we still celebrate the 5th of November.  Which I agreed to do, and then didn't really think about until the morning when I stuffed my Union Jack T-shirt, Buckingham Palace Apron and a jar of Marmite into my bag.  The student who invited me encouraged me to just make some stuff u, and maybe even add in some spurious family connection, but I opted to wikipedia some data and then wing it.

That turned out to be a fairly good idea.  I think I may have been a little bit stream of consciousness about the whole thing, covering religious intolerance, ye olde Tudor torture methods and the fondly remembered indoor fire works of my childhood all in about 10 minutes at most.  I finished off by describing the Lewes celebrations, and saying that the reason I thought it was still such an important holiday was that it was just really fun to watch fire works.

Afterwards I got the students to smell the Marmite and some of them even tasted it, and that was when I discovered that two of them were British themselves.  So I am so glad I didn't spout total nonsense, because that would have been SO embarrassing in front of fellows Brits.

There really wasn't anything for me to take a picture of, so here is a completely unrelated picture of Nancy looking cute.  She is looking a lot better since our last visit to the Vet!

Election Night. Freaking Finally.

In case you didn't know tonight is the Presidential election here in the USA.  That means after today they might just stop talking about it for eighteen months or so before it all starts again.  It's ridiculous!  How long do people campaign for in the UK?  It feels to me as though they just put out adverts the week before, but I'm sure that's just rose coloured spectacles because this has been so over the top.

We are having people over to our house, and have purchased champagne to celebrate if Obama wins, and Pabst Blue Ribbon to drown our sorrows in if McCain wins.

Doc C is making a pecan pie, and some pizzas.  I totally failed to make an elephant shaped pinata, but I have decattified the living room.  There are no food bowls, scratching posts, stray fur, or cat toys in sight, because they are in our bedroom with the cats.  We thought that would be less stressful for the felines; and as Nancy had to be forced into a pet carrier today to go to the vets, where she was given a steroid muscle injection, I think the less stress for her the better.  Plus she still looks terrible still, and I am vain on her behalf.

So this time tomorrow we will know who is the next President of the United States.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

CitiKitty Update - Breakthrough!

Very exciting news - When we got home this evening one of the cats had used the CitiKitty and it was in place on the toilet at the time!

We have no way of telling who it was (Doc insists it was Edith, but I don't think he has any tangible evidence), but I am so pleased that whoever it was found it by themselves and used it without any, erm, spillages.

For those of you who don't know what the CitiKitty is, I first wrote about it here, months before we actually got the cats, and explained what it is.  I would link to their site in this post, but last time I did Deidre nearly covered her computer with a mouthful of coffee.  And we don't want that!

Look Mum! What Did I Tell You?!?

I know, I know you are probably thinking "Good Grief Woman! We get it! You own cats now!" but I have  an excellent reason for posting this picture.

Mum and I were just discussing the other day how none of previous pet cats would ever even look at a toy or a piece of furniture that they suspected of being designed especially for them. Particularly if they managed to intuit that it was probably not cheap.

Imagine my delight when our pusskies both deigned to use the cat tower at the exact same moment, and without any prompting!

Plus that's currently Nancy's best angle (I am beginning to suspect she might literally be mangy, poor thing. Back to the vets. sigh.), so it's a nice picture of both of them!

Catnip on a Sunday Morning.

This morning my benevolent overlords Edith and Nancy, let me sleep in until almost half past eight!  I don't know why they felt so generous, but it was very pleasant.

After I'd tended to their needs I got out the catnip and put some in Edith's cardboard box for her.  It's a box that we got a delivery of paperbacks from Amazon in, and it fits Edith perfectly, especially now she's destroyed one corner.  She rolled around in that happily being a lunatic for a bit, whilst I took photos to submit to "Stuff On My Cat" (Keep your fingers crossed!).

Nancy has never seemed that bothered about nip, so I don't usually give her any, but this morning she expressed an interest so I put some on the floor for her.  Unsurprisingly for a cat nicknamed Piggy Big Eyes, she settled down and just ate the lot with no perceptible change in demeanor.

So those are our cats.  One eats everything and the other is an I Can Has Ceezburger stereotype.  In fact, please feel free to suggest a LOL Cat style slogan for this shot of Edith from this morning.

p.s. If your wondering why Edith is having more pictures posted of her, it's not because we have a favourite; it's because Nancy still has an allergy to something and has scratched off a lot of fur from her head just in front of her ears.  I still think she's adorable, but she's a sensitive girl and probably wouldn't want photos of herself not looking her best being put on-line.

Feline Methods.

Ugh.  What am I doing awake before 8 on a Saturday?

This is not my choice, I switch my alarm off on the weekend and sleep as late as I can; however the cats are used now used to being feed at 6.45, so when I don't get up in time for that they come to investigate. One thing I will say for the cats is that they know who to target and they have very effective techniques for waking me up, which are all the more impressive for being virtually silent.

Nancy comes and sits on me.  Which may not sound like much, but she is very good at grouping her paws together into the smallest possible area and then really concentrates all of her seven pounds into that spot.  She'll usually do this on my chest, and it's a lot more painful than it sounds.  She usually then goes to sit on the stair and leave the rest of the work to Edith.

Edith has a different method, she wakes people up with love.  It's impossible to ignore and very sweet, so you are also guilted into getting up.  Edith will first land heavily on the bed purring and scout for any exposed body parts, preferably a hand or a foot, but she has made do with elbows when necessary.  She simply rubs up against her chosen human purring like mad, until they move and then she runs up to the bedside table and sits on that purring loudly whilst watching for signs of life.  If necessary she will go back and rub up against the hand/foot/elbow again.

It's very clever, and has the added bonus of only waking me up so Doc C is still sleeping, which is great! The only problem now is that I can't go back to sleep, and the cats have no use for me now the food bowls are full and the tray freshly scooped.  Maybe I'll watch some cartoons or something.

Post Script:  It turns out that Nancy's tiny feet of doom technique was also used on Doc this morning, and just kept rolling over until she moved on to me instead.  Hmmm...

Positive Reinforcement for Cats.

We have to take Nancy back to the vets next week, once she has finished her antibiotics.  I'm really not looking forward to trying to get her back in the pet carrier, so I was talking to the lovely Laura and asked if she had any top tips.  Laura said that she would just leave the pet carrier in the living room, so the cats got used to seeing it and didn't associate it with stressful things like people trying to force them into it against their will.

I thought I'd give that technique a go this evening, so brought one of the pet carriers into the living room; Nancy immediately saw it, and started edging away from it, whilst keeping an eye on it.  I just put the carrier next to the window and walked away.  Nancy sat a good distance away from it, and kept an eye on it.  Meanwhile Edith jumped on top of it, and sat there quite happily watching birds.

After about ten minutes (and once Edith had got off the carrier) I got the bag of cat treats, and made lots of noise with the bag, so Nancy was aware there was some food being offered.  Making sure she could see the open door of the pet carrier, I put the treats half-way inside and then walked away.  Nancy looked at me and gave a single plaintive mew, but she knew where the food was.

Slowly and cautiously Nancy edged over to the carrier, sniffed all around it and then inched her way in until she could reach the food.  I think she just stuck her head in, with maybe her front paws but her hind legs and tail were still firmly outside.  Nancy ate a few of the biscuits inside the carrier, and then ran off.

I'll be honest in that I just did not expect that to work so quickly!  I have never owned a cat who was so easily motivated by cat treats before, and if I tried that type of trick on any of my other cats all I'd have got would have been a withering look for my troubles.  I think this whole thing may just have got a lot easier.

Saint Edith.

By the way Picnik has a new feature called Sandbox, which has all sorts of great filters to play with.  It also allows you to create your own filters and upload them to Picnik, which is something I would love to be able to do.

I tried out the ones that are already available on the photo of the cats by the window and I really like the circle effect.

It makes Edith look like she's a Catholic icon!

Cats and Window

I literally just took this picture! The girls very obligingly posed next to the window for me, until Edith had an attack of love and ran over to me to be fussed.

It's such a gorgeous autumn morning, with nice bright sunshine but a frosty sheen to everything on the deck making it all sparkle a little bit.

I knew it was going to be cold today, because both of the cats slept on top of me last night which they have never deigned to do before. Edith nested on my ankles, whilst Nancy was on my stomach. I usually sleep on my side, so this wasn't comfortable for me; but, when I woke up this morning, I was on my side with one cat right up against my back, whilst the other one was in the crook of my knees. Very cute, plus Doc C complained of being chilly whilst I was toasty warm.

Cats and Window
Originally uploaded by Alien Spouse

I'm British - The Weather is Endlessly Fascinating.

As I mentioned yesterday the weather is starting to get a bit colder.  I've broken out the cosy undershirts that I like to wear layered under t-shirts and hoodies, so I am keeping warm.  One thing I really like about the change in weather is that it makes the cats much friendlier.  Nancy was taking an hour and a half to forgive me for giving her the bubble-gum pink antibiotics previously, but this evening she was on my lap within thirty minutes.

The cooler weather also means that I have an excuse to crochet up a storm!  Doc C wore his scarf last weekend, and said it was very warm.

Today I took my skull and crossbones scarf to the wool shop with me to ask the nice lady behind the counter how much more wool she thought I needed, and whether blocking would help lengthen it.  When I took the scarf out of my bag and unrolled it along the counter, the two other customers in the shop came to have a look.  One of them was a sweet little old lady who peered at it, then gave me a big beaming smile and said it was very pretty.  I'm not sure she had her glasses on, bless her heart.

I bought the two balls of wool it was agreed should get the length I want for my scarf, and I also bought some lovely Scottish wool to make Doc a nice warm hat, which I think I'll attempt to felt.  However the hat wool was ten dollars more expensive per ball then the wool I made the scarves out of, so I think I'll do a practice run in nice cheapo acrylic first.

The Nitty Gritty of Cat Owning: A Product Review.

Mrs K recently expressed her interest in the concept of flushable cat litter, and I have to say it makes owning a cat much more pleasant.  We started out by trying Pet Ecology Kitty Litter, which I am as happy with as one can reasonably expect to be be with such a product. Apart from being just incredibly light weight, it also has the two golden words on it's packaging; these are "flushable" and "clumping". The flushable is self explanatory, and the clumping means that the litter forms a neat little ball when any, er, um, liquid is introduced to it.  If you know what I mean, which I think you do.

So then you just scoop out anything, er, um, lumpy from the litter tray into the nearest handy toilet, and it flushes away.

It's still not exactly fun, but it's less of a chore than it could be.  The arrangement I came to with the Doc is that I will feed the cats and scoop the tray in the morning, and he will do it in the evening.  I noticed that he kept putting off the scooping, until I pointed out that I was scooping at 6 every morning, so by leaving it until midnight he was scooping 18 hours worth of kitty treasures, whilst meant I only had six hours worth to dispose of.  He scoops at 6pm now.  The cats seem to regard this as a suitable surface for their ablutions for five days, and then on the sixth day they indicate that they would like it to be changed now please.

As for the CitiKitty, it is in place on the toilet but the cats haven't automatically discovered it and immediately divined it's purpose yet, they aren't that intelligent.  I'm going to wait for another couple of weeks, before I start trying to get them to actually use it in situ; however this morning I put the CitiKitty on the floor whilst I was cleaning the tray and flushing contents, then Edith wandered into the bathroom and went straight to it.  She planted her little paws right into the kitty litter, stuck her fluffy bottom out over the edge of the tray and peed on the floor.  Damn.

Fortunately we also bought a spray bottle of this cleaning fluid called Nature's Miracle - Just for Cats (I think it sounds like a range of specialist fur dyes personally), which uses enzymes to help break down any little accidents.  That stuff is freaking AMAZING.  I've discovered that once I've sprayed it on the offending substance, I have to leave the spray bottle next to it whilst it soaks in and works it's magic, because by the time I come back to blot it up I literally cannot see where it was. 

Finally have I mentioned how great the Furminator cat brush is?  Edith loves being brushed with it, and it is making such a difference with her shedding.  Two thumbs up!

More About The Cats. (I'll shut up about them soon, I promise. About six months I reckon.)

Nancy doesn't love us any more.  Today we tried to put her in the new cat carrier which she Did Not Want so much that it was pretty much impossible to do.  Unfortunately for Nancy we hadn't yet recycled the cardboard cat carriers that she arrived in, so we stuffed her in that, which she Did Not Want at all.  Then she Did Not Want to be in the car, or at the vets, or getting her rabies shot. 

She had some time to recover when we were at work, only for us to return home and force her to take a dropper-full of bright pink antibiotics (a performance we have to repeat every twelve hours until the damn stuff runs out).  To cap it all off I vacuumed the living room, which made Nancy run up to the top of the stairs in horror.

Nancy Does Not Want to even look at me right now.

Edith, on the other hand, sauntered into her swish new pet carrier and apparently enjoyed the drive to the vets; where she seemed quite convinced that we had brought her there purely so the nice lady vet could fuss her.  She didn't seem to notice getting her jab, and doesn't require any further medication.  Edith doesn't appear to mind vacuum cleaners one little bit.

Edith has had a lovely day.

Cat Revenge Tactics.

I'm pretty sure that all the cats do all day is stare out of the living room windows at the birds visiting the feeder.  That is right up until Nancy gets too excited and tries to jump through the double glazing to catch a cardinal or a sparrow; thereby scaring them all off.  Edith just looks at her with disdain.

I finally got the last claw trimmed on Sunday evening.  Victory was mine, at the cost of the cats not talking to me for half an hour because they Did Not Want me to do that.  Then they forgot what it was that had annoyed them and sat on me.

Or at least that's what I thought had happened until four o'clock this morning (I didn't actually check the clock, I'm just guessing based on previous experience) when the cats scratched at the door until they woke me up.

I didn't let them in, but I could hear them galumphing around downstairs; and when I got up this morning one of my shoes had a silver tinsel cat toy in it.

I think that means tonight I sleep with the fishes in cat language.

Cat Profiles.

Name:  Edith Cavell-Cat

Code Name: Thunder-Paws

Formerly Known As: Mrs Zhivago

Sex: Female (Spayed)

Age: 3 years old

History: Transferred from Animal Control.  Mother of three kittens - Mellow, Boomer and Scout.

Language Skills:  Purrs loudly, but has not yet been heard to miaow.

Specialist Skills:  Fast production of industrial grade fluff, and sitting in boxes.

Enjoys: Sitting next to humans, being brushed, being stroked, playing with cat toys, watching birds, running around the house as if insane, catnip, exploring, and flaunting belly to unsuspecting rubes.

Dislikes:  Being held, being told not to scratch the furniture, unauthorised noises or movements, and having belly touched.

Motto:  The first rule of Edith Cavell-Cat is do not touch the belly.  The second rule of Edith Cavell-Cat is Do Not Touch The Belly.

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Name: Nancy Wake-Cat

Code Name: Piggy Big Eyes

Formerly Known As:  Addie

Sex:  Female (Spayed)

History:  Unknown.

Language Skills:  Purrs loudly, chirrups at humans and miaows when hungry.  Not chatty.

Specialist Skills:  Chemical warfare (producing noxious fumes).

Enjoys:  Sitting on humans, being combed, being stroked, playing with cat toys, watching birds, exploring, sitting at the top of the stairs, and rolling around in patches of sunshine.

Dislikes:  Having paws held for claw clipping, having set meal times, flea bites, and being told not to scratch the furniture or jump through the kitchen hatch.

Motto:  Are you going to eat that?

Grooming as a Means of Self-Defense.

Today we went to buy some more cat stuff.  In particular we needed a rubberycat brush (we got the Zoom Groom which is what we had in London for Kitkat, they are really good - Particularly because you can use the non bristly side to get fur off clothes and furniture), a different scratching post because they just ignore the other one and some claw clippers.

I've never clipped a cat's claws before, but I've only ever had outdoor cats before, and clearly running around outside keeps them nicely filed.  Our girls have wicked talons on them, which wouldn't be a problem if they didn't love to pad so much on us.  Nancy was sitting on me this morning, turned to start washing her back and carelessly put all of her weight on one claw; she may be tiny but news flash, it really hurt!  Edith on the other hand likes to display her beautiful fluffy tummy and then attack any thing foolish enough to touch it with rabbit kicks, and she has been known to casually impale the offender on her front paw claws to make her point, whilst purring loudly.  So I decided we would give them a little manicure.

I was warned that you should only clip off a small amount, and be careful not to cut the vein that's in the center of the claw.  With that in mind I very carefully snipped off a tiny bit from four of Edith's claws and I think 4 or 5 of Nancy's.  They don't seem to mind the clipping itself, but they do object to their paws being manhandled, so they keep walking off in a huff. 

It's going to take me a while to get them all done I think, but I have the time, I have the clippers and I have the determination.  We shall see who will win, little grey kitties! Oh yes, we shall see!

On-Line Shopping Delivery Day! Woo-Hoo!

When we were paid on the 1st of the month I ordered a couple of things on-line, and it all arrived today!  When Doc drove over to my office to pick me up there were two interesting looking boxes on the passenger seat.  Hooray!

Of course I knew exactly what was in both of them: The first held MOP (Modern Organic Product) hair styling products, I love their range, but they don't sell the two products I used in the UK over here, so I am trying a couple of other things from them.

The second was from Amazon, from whom I'd ordered a couple of books and a DVD.  I almost hate to say this as a former bookseller, but I bought the books mainly for their cover art.  Even worse they are both TV tie-ins!  It's as though suddenly publishers have realised that these don't have to be absolutely hideous all of a sudden and these are both great images.

The DVD is a lovely little film that I saw a few years ago on one of my early dates with Doc C (Before he even was Doc C!).  It's a Dutch film that was originally called "Minoes", which has been translated to the rather less appealing "Undercover Kitty".  We saw it at the cinema with subtitles, but I think this is probably a dubbed version. 

It's a children's film about a cat who is magically transformed into a woman, albeit still able to talk to cats and with some feline character traits, and through her network of feline informants is able to help a young journalist break a story about corruption in local government.  You know put like that it sounds sort of insane and a bit boring, but is one of the sweetest films I have ever seen.  We still reference the cat names to each other, so at one point Edith and Nancy were a mere whisker away from being Minoes and Jakkepoes but we had an 11th hour change of heart.

CitiKitty Update.

Edith has started to be interested in the CitiKitty; don't get too excited though, she hasn't actually used it yet but she did climb up onto the toilet to see what it was.

Unfortunately this was just after I had scooped and flushed the litter tray contents, and the haunted toilet started groaning which scared her off.  Rats!  Stupid loud quirk of plumbing!

It's a start though.

The Current Economic Situation, And How It Is Effected By Hairballs.

I am watching the presidential debate, whilst playing with the cats.  It's surprisingly pretty similar, but I bet things would liven up if you dumped some cat nip on McCain and Obama.  Now that would be a debate worth watching!

By the way, Defective Yeti has live blogged the debates (and, indeed, is right now), and even if you haven't seen the debates they are really funny and insightful posts.

The Bling Should Have Tipped Me Off.

I was messing around when I got up this morning, and I looked over the top of the stairs down to the living room where the cats were and I called down "Good Morning Ladies!  All the ladies in the house say mew!".

And, right on cue, Nancy ran up the stairs mewing at me. 

Clearly someone is a fan of hip-hop; or she thought I was going to feed her - One or the other.

Ngaio Marsh 28: Black as He's Painted.

Without any pre-planning or machinations from me our Ngaio Marsh cover for today is "Black as He's Painted" which features a beautiful black cat.  The mystery itself also involves a cat providing a vital piece of evidence, which sounds like it might be quite twee but Ngaio handles it all quite crisply so it isn't cloying.

Unsurprisingly, I quite like this cover.

A Post About Cat Sick. You've Been Warned!

The cats were left alone in the house today, because I was working an event and Doc came with me.  We were a bit concerned about what we would find when we got back, particularly because Edith had been looking like she wanted to be sick just before we left.  On the way home we stopped at the local pet shop and bought all the things there little kitty hearts could desire in the way of toys and home comforts, as well as a spray bottle of cleaner specially designed to deal with puke, poop and wee.  Lovely!

When we got back though we were pleasantly surprised to find that no cat had done anything destructive or icky whilst we were away.  After we'd been home for a while Nancy scooted off to the bathroom and threw up a hairball; not nice, but the good thing was that she actually seemed to chose to be sick on the tiled floor rather than the carpet!  Isn't that the best cat you have ever heard of?

We will still obviously be trying to limit hairballs in the house, however good the cats maybe at choosing a good location for it.  One of the things we had purchased at the pet shop was a very specific pet brush called The FURminator.  We'd heard really good things about it, and certainly the pictures on website are impressive, but it wasn't until I actually used it on Edith that I could believe the hype.  It took SO much loose fur out of her coat and she absolutely loves being brushed with it, so much so she fauns around it and rolls over so you can get her tummy as well.  It's ridiculous, I've never had a cat that liked to be brushed that much.

By the way, the CitiKitty is in place on the toilet in the spare bathroom, but so far we're just happy the cats are using the conventional litter tray which is next to it.  I don't want to thoroughly confuse them by rushing them into using it, but it's there should they feel the urge to experiment with exciting new litter tray experiences.

First Morning!

Upon receiving the excellent news that the someone had been where they were supposed to go, Doc C announced to the house in general:

"I'm so proud of whoever it was that used the litter box!"

Oh good!  I was sort of desperate...

Our New Owners.

May I introduce Edith and Nancy?

Edith, who has long dark grey fur, was called Mrs Zhivago at the shelter but we are re-naming her after Edith Cavell, the heroic WWI nurse.

Nancy, who has short grey and white fur, and manga-sized eyes, was called Addie at the shelter but from here on in will be named Nancy Wake, in honour of the WWII SOE operative.

We picked them up today, and they are currently exploring the living room, downstairs bathroom and stairs.  I was really worried that they would hide, or seem unhappy but wiithin twenty minutes of being let out of their carriers both cats were purring!

Edith in particular seems to understand exactly what is going on here, that she has a new place to live and she's so much friendlier than she was back in the Humane Society's Cat Room.  I know that is anthropomorphisising to a ridiculous degree, but it's really hard not to.