The World's Worst Journal-Keeper

I think I must be the world's worst journal-keeper.  I write in this thing on average about once a month, even though things happen every day when you have cats.  The problem, of course, is that I'm too busy being in the moment to run off to the computer to write it down.  Recent developments include Finn getting the snip this week.  The vet said to keep him quiet the first night and that he would be normal by the next day.  In fact, he said that it was likely he'd still be woozy from the painkillers.  However, Finn woozy from anesthesia and painkillers doesn't seem that different from Finn wide awake.  Within a few minutes of getting him home, he had visited every food dish in the place and was playing Meezer Tag with Cocoa.

There's still no news of Mittens, although we are still putting food out for the strays and have seen a few of them in action.  However, we've also started getting raccoons at the feeding station.  We had an automatic feeder out there full of dry food, and they knocked the top half off and made off with the top half.  The next day, we put the remaining dry food out in a large plastic dish, and that night the raccoons made off with that!  We now have the dry food in a metal dish, and so far they have not been able to carry that one away.  If only we could be sure that Mittens is one of the strays we're feeding, though!

The cats are enjoying the Spring though.  We've started getting a wider variety of birds for them to watch.  The red-bellied woodpecker is back, and we've started seeing robins.  And today, I saw a tufted titmouse and a slate junco.  I haven't seen those two in over a year.

We've also started training Finn to leash and harness.  He still loves to run everywhere, which means I get plenty of exercise trying to keep up with him.  We tried putting a harness on Cocoa, but she went ballistic until we took it off her.  Romana takes well enough to the leash and harness, but she doesn't care much for being outside.  So for the moment, we are only taking the boys out.

However, as it's nearly feeding time, I suppose I should sign off for now.  Until next time (whenever that is)!

A Lazy Saturday Evening

Well, I'm just sitting on the couch while all the cats are napping.  Cocoa has just woken up next to me and is washing her face, Finn is asleep on the top level of the cat tree, and Freddie is asleep on the back of the Green Chair.  Romana is asleep probably on Auntie Di's bed, or in the closet.  The rain has turned to snow.  I hope the stray moggies will be OK.  I need to put some food out for them soon.

Finnie has been having some stomach issues and had to go to the vet today.  The vet gave him some new medicine and told me to take up his food for 12 hours (Finn's, not the vet's).  So far, he seems to be handling it OK.  He hasn't actually eaten since about 12:30 or 1:00, so we can probably put some food down for him before we go to bed (assuming Target doesn't close early).  The others will get a special treat; they'll get to eat their supper on the counter where Finn can't reach!

Yesterday, I went to Petco to get more dry food for both my indoor and outdoor cats; and while I was there, I talked to a lady from AdvoCats, who said she will help get a group together to do a trap-neuter-return operation here at Idylwood Village West.  I'm e-mailing her Monday (per her request) to find out what I need to do.  We'll probably have to get permission from the management, and I expect we'll trap a few cats who actually have homes, because several of the moggies I've seen at the feeding station look pretty well cared for.  So either they belong to someone who lets them run loose, or they have several benefactors!  So far, we have seen a couple of black-and-white cats, a tortie, a solid black with white paws, a solid grey, and a grey tabby, but no Siamese.  Mittens remains missing, and I hope she's all right.  I don't like the idea of her being out in the snow.  If she's been taken in somewhere, I wish we could find out who has her.  Of course, I'd then have to go and get her back, and that could lead to a fight.

Going Home

Well, tomorrow morning I go home.  I told Freddie this year I'd be home on his birthday!  I've been gone almost 10 days, and I'm looking forward to getting home and seeing all my little furry children.  If only Mittens would come home, too!  I am so tired right now that I can hardly type.  I'm trying my best not to come down out of Show mode until I get home, because I know that once I do, I'll crash completely.  Still, I have the whole next week to sleep, do laundry, and earn the cats' forgiveness.

It was a good show this year.  I didn't get to go out on the Show floor at all this year because Lisa was having balancing issues, which I usually ended up having to research as I ran her tapes because she didn't have power to run her calculator.  Next year, I'm going to suggest we pack along some batteries!  Still, Exhibitor Reg. ran as smoothly as I've ever seen it do, if not more so.  I kept looking up into the rafters for the other shoe.

Have Yourself a Meezer Little Christmas

Mittens is still missing.  Auntie Di says that we may have to wait for Spring when it's warm enough to sit out all night again to catch her.

In the course of looking for Mittens, we found two Meezer Mixes that needed homes and adopted them.  Cocoa is a seal-point daughter of a Meezer tom and a black, feral queen.  She doesn't like to be picked up or carried around, but she will come and sit by us on the couch and let us pet her.

Finn mac Cool is a seal-point with green eyes.  He has an upper respiratory infection for which he is on a new set of drugs and seems to be doing much better.  He's about 4 months old.  Once he started eating and perking up again, he has done wonders for the household.  Before he came, Cocoa spent most of her time in her room, and Fred was getting decidedly lazy except for wanting to go out.  Now they both play Meezer Tag with Finn, Fred doesn't fuss so much to be let out, and Cocoa has gotten more social.

We have two little Christmas trees in pots, one I bought at Target that doesn't have anything on it, and the other is a little decorated pine that my Mom sent me.  It has little red & white glass balls on it and little white flocked bears filled with styrofoam.  Within about 10 minutes of that little tree being brought into the house, Cocoa had one of the bears off and chewed its little head off!

Next year should be a better Christmas because I won't have Convention coming right on its heels.  Right now the trees are the closest we have to decorating the house because we've both been so busy.

One Still Missing and a New Kitten

Mittens is still missing after six weeks.  We've set out food and set up a little "kitty house" made of a microwave oven box taped shut with a door cut in the side, wrapped the whole thing in an old sleeping bag and lined it with "purr pads" and old towels.  I can't tell if anyone has used it, but the local strays are devouring the food.  Diane and I sat out in the car watching for several nights and saw about half-a-dozen different cats, but no Mittens.

Meanwhile, we have adopeted a 6-month-old Meezer mix from Four Paws.  I brought her home on Wednesday night, and she has spent most of the time hiding under the daybed except when Diane or I pull her out to try to socialize her.  Her mother is feral, and her father is a Siamese tom whose people don't keep him inside.  The people who fostered her called her Cocoa.  We were going to change the name, but then one of us started calling her Cocoa-Nut, and it seems to have stuck.  She's a beautiful kitty, but very shy, and Freddie and Romana both hissed at her, so when we're not actively with her, she lives in the middle room with the door closed.  The people at Four Paws said it might be a couple of weeks before she starts to hang out with us of her own accord.  I guess we'll just have to be patient with her, though it's not a strong suit for either of us.

I wish Mittens would come home.  There's a possibility someone has found her and decided to keep her.  If so, we'll have to track them down and take her back.

I WANT MY FRINKIN' MITTENS!!!!!!

Day 14

My Mittens is still missing.  We have posters up all over the area, two cat traps, we go out looking, but still no Mittens.  Yesterday, someone who saw me checking one of the traps said he had seen her nearby at 3:30 that morning.  I told him if he sees her again to call me, no matter what time it is.  Other people have seen her peeking into windows at a nearby complex we didn't think she could get to because there's a fence.

Last night, one of our traps caught a black-and-white tuxedo cat, and he wasn't half pissed!  He was using the most disgraceful language and shredding the newspapers I'd put on the bottom of the trap.  When I opened the trap, he was off like a shot!

I wish Mittens would come home.  I WANT MY FRINKIN' KITTEN BACK!

Missing Mittens

My little Mittens has been missing now for more than a week.  Late last Wednesday night, when Auntie Di got home from work, we took her and Freddie out on their leashes.  While we were out, something spooked Mittens, and she bolted.  Since we were almost ready to go back inside, I wasn't expecting it and lost my grip on her leash.  She wound up high in the crab-apple tree in front of our balcony, and we couldn't get her down.  Since it was the middle of the night, the answering service wouldn't even page Maintenance, so we called the fire department.  While they were getting her out of the tree, her harness came unfastened somehow, and she hit the ground running and dashed off into the night.  There have been calls from people since who have seen her, but nobody's been able to catch up to her.  We've done all the things we're supposed to do -- called all the shelters, put up flyers all over the place with her picture, and rented a cat trap from Animal Control.  The first day, we caught a raccoon, who was rather indignant at being caught.  The night before last, we caught a tuxedo cat whom I'd seen before on someone else's patio.  He had eaten all the food and gone to sleep, and was a little miffed at being awakened.  Last night, we caught a tortie tabby, who did not like being caught at all.  He hadn't eaten any of the food, and was putting all his energy on trying to figure out how to get out.

Diane says we've got to have patience, that she'll come home eventually, but even she has to admit that neither of us has patience in any great supply!