Lunatic Fringe

Good Morning, Kitties!

Here's some ramdom Fringe-n-Floof for Friday!

(And One Slightly Non-Kitten Picture at the End!)

Maui: Lookit at my enormous long muttonchop furs and whiskers--no I'm not dirty or scruffy I'm perfectly clean thank you I actually LIKE debris in my furs no I do NOT want to be brushed or speshully have my ears cleaned just admire me and do you have any tuna?


Toe Hawks with Squished Ear, the new fashion look.

Sweet Pea: ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Check out those ear furnishings!

MORE ear Furnishings!

Maui: I have wild furrs all over me here you see the ginormously long furs that I grow out of my armpits and under my torso and up my chest cuz I'm a realy MANLY ManCat who growed up before I got my hoohas lopped off and so I had a chance to grow chest fur and other Manly stuff!

No explanation needed. Can you guess whose toes those are?

Sweet Pea: Ahhhh, armpit rub. Bliss. You may comb my arm fringe if you'de like.

The Planets, Jupiter & Uranus.

MOMMY!!!!!

Thankful Thursday

May Ling: "We have lots to be thankful for!"

Clean ears

Round snugglers, a fleece binky, a big bed

and best of all, friends!





Thanks everyone, for being our friends!





XOXO Lounge Kats

(not so) Widebody Wednesday

Mow Wow!

Grayce here. Some of you have asked how I've managed to slim down. Kitties, it was easier than you think, and it came down to this: NO MORE DRY FOOD. When I had my bladder stones removed a few weeks back the v-e-t recommended a special food for me. Well, since there's 12 of us here in the Lounge and we free feed Mommy almost had a stroke at the cost. So she started doing research...and found out that many pet nutritionists consider the WORST wet food better than the BEST dried kibble. Kitties, our little guts and innards are not designed to digest vegetable matter, even vegetable protein. Now I know, a lot of us LIKE lettuce and broccoli and cocktail peanuts (Tiny Johnson!), but we wouldn't choose to eat these things over stuff like HAM, tuna and chik-hen. And there's a reason for that. We are carnivores, my friends, and we need to eat meat. And kibble, even the best, has more carbohydrates in it than our perfect little bodies can deal with effectively.

So...Mommy decided no more kibbles for us. We went cold turkey (no pun!) and one morning the kibbles went away and the wet food appeared. I was NOT happy! In fact, I wasn't sure that canned food even WAS food! KonaKitty was in the same fix. Mommy sprinkled some kibbles on the wet food to tempt us into eating and after three days we joined the howling horde in the morning, waiting for Mommy to open the cans. I was a wet food convert!

Back to my slimming secret...I've been eating wet food for about a month now and I've been paring off an ounce a week, and I'm not hungry at all. Mommy mixes each can of food with a can of warm water and mashes it up...YUM. We are still free feeding, now only with wet food and it's working out great. We have more energy, my dandruffy coat has cleared up (probably a grain allergy) and get this: our poops don't smell as bad! (Well, WE never thought they did but that's what Mommy & Daddy say.) KonaKitty is trimmer, and Johnny's not as wide as he used to be. The rest of us have remained the same, weightwise, so we're all getting plenty to eat.

Mommy is feeding us Friskies Pate (no glutens) and Fancy Feast, and her plan is to switch us over to higher-quality foods in the future. She would love to raw feed, but for right now it's too expensive, and Daddy is squeamish. Sorry, Daddy!

Because I'm eating wet foods and drinking lots of water the odds of me getting another bladder stone are a lot lower than if I was still eating kibble. Plus, I can wash certain parts (middle of my back) a whole lot easier now that I can reach! Daddy says I'm like a kitten again the way I zoom around like my tail's on fire.

So that's my secret, kitties. It might not work for everybody, but is sure has worked for me and improved all the Lounge Kat's quality of life. And that's what it's all about, right? Making the kitties happy and healthy!

Headbutts & Biteys, Grayce

Tiny Tuxie Tuesday...with an EXTRA toe!

Here I am, Kitties, on the CORRECT side of the Catio screen.

Mew!

Mommy saved the best for last! I'm Salem and I'm the latest addition to the Lounge. I came in on Halloween night (no lie!) right around midnight, 2009. Before I was Gotcha'd I had a hugely glamorous, jet-setting lifestyle, but the food situation (or lack thereof) made me decide to settle for a simpler life. I cased out the houses in my territory, looking. Some had dogs, some were indifferent, and some were plain not nice. Along the way I had a ladygardenectomy...but I won't say when 'cause a LadyCat doesn't tell.

Then I found the house with the most excellent setup! After a few loud howling conversations with the existing denizens and exchanging pee-mails I showed myself to the people living there. I'd peer through the front windows at night where the Man could see me and feel sorry for me. (The Other Cats told me this was a sure-fire method.) Since I'm such a cute tiny (6 pounds!) Tuxedo Cat it worked almost right away--after just a couple nights The Man scooped me up and took me into the room with the giant noisy door. He gave me a soft towel in a box, lovins, food and a litter box...and went off to tell The Woman what he'd just done.

::cue music of doom::

The Man woke up The Woman (it was after midnight) and confessed. Groggy, grumbling & stumbling The Woman made her way into the garage. Kitties, it was Love. Instantly I was Their Kitty and they were MY Daddy & Mommy.

My first Flashy-box shot.

The next day Daddy took me to the v-e-t for my Pre-Employment physical, and he told me my name! Since I was black-n-white and came in on Halloween, I HAD to be "Salem". I was quite happy with this, so I said "mew". I passed my exam with flying colors so when we got home Daddy let me explore the house and meet some of the other cats. Well, of course we already knew all about each other...and after a few small boxing matches I settled right in.

Surveying the Dining Room. You can see that Daddy & Mommy LOVE bright colors.

Mommy and Daddy discovered I didn't know how to play with toys and set about rectifying that right away. Nowadays I am a huge nip nanner-kicker and a champion feather hunter. Mommy ties pheasant tail-feathers to the end of a rawhide shoelace that is attatched to a big pole. Instant cat fishing! She catches all sorts of "fishes". May Ling is a "brown trout", Johnson is a "whale", and I'm a "minature orca". (Mommy is kind of silly.) I also am a huge fan of the red dot. I swear, one day I'm gonna get it! Oh, and I have a running battle with the paper towel roll. It is EVIL and must be destroyed. A lot.

After a few days in my new home, Mommy discovered I have a secret in my left front paw. An extra toe! I don't have an extra pad or claw, but my left footie is wider than the right and Mommy can feel the toe bones when she plays with my footie. Daddy did some math, and counting him & Mommy, we have a total of 217 toes at our house! No wonder he mops the floors a couple times a week.

Helping. Pay no attention to the almost-empty bottle of rum that Mommy swizzles out of every afternoon...

I'm a pretty independant puss--but I play with my furblings daily and I whap the heck out of Maui whenever I feel like it. Especially if he tries to horn in on my pile of fresh-cut nip. Don't get in the way of my nip! Mommy & Daddy pick me up and give me lots of lovins, and I'm starting to request pets, too. Take it from me kitties, the simpler life is better!

Mews,

Salem

Miffed ManCat Monday

Well Kitties...I have something TERRIBLE to tell you all today. My Mommy is a FIBBER! That's right, as in NOT telling the truth.

Here's what happened. I was supposed to go see the Kind & Gentle Dr. St. John on the 10th, but I got a reprieve...she was stuck in England by volcanic ash. (whatever that is!) Then I was going to have to go on the 14th, but she wasn't back yet! So I hoped that Mommy would forget all about it. Hey, I'm barely limping and I run around like my tail's on fire...a guy can hope.

Well, I'm looking around the Cat Blogosphere yesterday and I see Mommy posted thet I'd be going to the v-e-t on Tuesday, the 27th. OK, that gives me plenty of time to hide, right?

WRONG.

Mommy got home from work Sunday, and I'm bebopping around, tail in the air, all happy to see her when suddenly I see the PTU! Oh no! You know the drill...open PTU, stuff victim in, listen to prisoner sing the entire five hours to the vet. (Felix, it was only 15 minutes!) It was pretty busy at the v-e-t so Daddy took me out of the PTU and I sat on his lap like a good ManCat...as if I was going to move!

We finally went into the private torture room where I snooped around and whiffed all the strange smells. Nothing too interesting, so I hopped up behind Daddy on the chair and curled up to wait. And then Dr. St. John was there! I remembered her so I didn't growl or hiss. She felt my knee and watched me walk and gave me some GREAT pettings. According to her my knee is doing great! I'm healing a little slower than she expected, but my patella feels firmly in place. My weight was perfect and my heart sounds were good. So unless something happens, like the limp getting worse (which it won't--you should see me run around like a wild thing) I'm a free ManCat! Mommy is going to start me on Cosequin for Cats this week, we'll see how that goes.

So thanks to all of your purrs and the fabulous Dr. St. John, I'm well on the road to my regular Ornery Ornj self!

Love and Headbutts, Felix

Saga of the Twins, Part II

We're looking out the back door, this is before the Catio was built. You can see the spa where Mommy & Daddy would sit outside (in water! eeeewwwww!) and talk to us at night.

Hi Kitties!

The Twins: We're back to tell you even more about us. First, some of you were asking about our Mama. Right after we were trapped she stopped showing up for dinner. Mommy & Daddy were going to TNR her, but she must've decided we were in good hands and moved on. Thank you Mama, for finding us a good Forever Home! Second, some of you may have seen "Scrotchy" as one of the commenters. That's our Daddy! He's sorta a crazy guy (Remember how Sweet Pea almost drove him to the funny farm?) but we love him anyway. He does a lot of thinking about what makes a cat happy, and he's the reason we have a Catio and (squillions of) toys and lots of stimulation. Mommy calls him a "Cat Whisperer".

Playing in the water bowl. We like to get our paws wet and lick them dry, and drown our toys, too. In the second picture I'm flicking water at CC!

CC: I like to give Daddy's toes the *HARD* bitey in the morning so he'll get up! hee hee!

Twins: Anyhoo...we left our story off where we now had free run of the house. Mommy, take it from here...

Mommy: While the twins were in their sequestering room we spent a lot of time with them, taming the boys down. They came in at about three months so they were pretty feral--scared that they were doomed for the stew pot, no doubt! CC warmed up quickly; he decided the tummy rubs were worth the risk. At first Tiny Johnson had to be near him and I'd start with petting Johnny and segue over to CC.

What's up, Mommy?

CC: When the Lady first started TOUCHING me, I was so afraid. I trembled and curled up tiny so she wouldn't be able to see me. But gollee, it felt so GOOD to be stroked...and then The Lady started spanking my butt! I love LOVE LOVE having my butt spanked! So I started thinking that besides the food and nice beds that this might be a good gig. If Johnny was around, I'd let The Lady approach me and give me some lovins. Now, three years later, The Lady is My Mommy, and I come when she whistles at night and get on the big bed in about one second flat. She gives me crazy pettings and spanks my butt until I have to turn around and nibble her elbow from pure joy.

Mommy: CC is a love bug. He's still very skittish about being picked up, but as long as all four are on the floor (or bed) he's ready to play and be petted. He loves having his furs petted the wrong way and the zoom groom is his favorite! Oh yes, and he LOVES to have his hiney patted, firmly, for as long as you're willing to to it. He's friends with all his furblings but snoozes most of the day with his twin.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

CC: At night I sleep with Mommy in the sardine pile. She gets really hot and then we snuggle in closer! She complains about us squishing her but she's just a whiner.

Scouty: CC you are such a pushover. I, on the other hand, still vigorously resist being TOUCHED. I hiss and run away if The Mom or The Dad try it. They occasionally get one over on me when I'm sleeping (horrors!) but I'm sticking with the stew-pot theory.

Mommy: Apparently I didn't work enough to socialize Scouty as a kitten. He's very much a part of the family--he hangs around and loves to watch us--in fact he's up for any type of interaction as long as the dreaded TOUCHING doesn't happen. Lately I've been luring him closer to me using dried chicken treats...I think maybe by the end of the summer I'll get to stroke him and he won't bolt. The funny thing is, as a kitten when I'd pet him he'd drool he was so happy.

Scouty: MOMMY! I never did! And I'm only eating that chicken so it doesn't go to waste.

Mommy: hmmmm, I notice you didn't call me "The Mom" there...progress I think!

Scouty: RATS! grumblegrumblegrumble ::scowls:: Well, I have one more thing to tell you about myself. OK, two. One is that Maui wants to eat me. Two is that Johnny really REALLY loves me and I love him back. If I get lonely I wander the house and Catio, calling and crying. Johnny comes to find me, and when he does, he grabs me by the scruff and humpalates me! We have so much fun. The Mom laughs like a hyena and The Dad squirts us with the water bottle, which I think is rude. It'll be a cold day with Basement Cat before I let The Dad TOUCH me! The fact that sometimes I sleep with him (and Johnny) at night is totally irrelevant.

"Jupiter" and his sattelites. Notice the cord going to the box...there's a heating pad in there!

Mommy: So there you are, folks. Just one more Kitty to go...Silly Salem!

The Saga of the Twins, Part I

Hi everybody, CC & Scout here. We have a long story to tell, and it's not over, even now after three years! But already we're ahead of ourselves...

Scout: One spring afternoon in 2007 Mommy was out on the porch with The Baby in her cage (this is pre-Catio) and out of the corner of her eye she spotted something crawling up the brick wall, just like a lizard. It was Me, Scouty, scaling the wall! I'd come over to look for kitty food crumbs because I was so tiny and starving.

Mommy: I went and told Daddy what I'd seen and we decided to put food and water out and see what happened. That evening, the tiny orange fuzzball returned, then his orange & white brother with a calico cat we assumed was their Mama. They inhaled the food and scampered off, the kittens going up and over the back wall like miniature spider-men.

This went on for quite a while. We put out a litterbox and a small nightlight so we could watch the little family, who came in at dusk each evening.

CC: We were very afraid of the big two-legged things. Our Mama had taught us to be very cautious because she had heard that the only reason the two-leggers were feeding us was to fatten us up for their STEW POT! So we were good kittens and didn't let them approach us.

Mommy: The kittens were extremely feral and skittish, yet they knew that we were feeding them and they were curious about us. They would appear at the walls' intersection, a 10' height, when we were in the spa and watch our every move. We'd talk to them and try to coax them closer, but they were having none of it. By August we knew we'd have to TNR them, at the very least.

Scout: We both really like tuna. Kitties, tuna is a tool of Basement Cat! One night I was settling in to a nice dish of tuna and the next thing {{SNAP}} I'm in a place I don't understand and I can't get over the wall!

CC: And it happened to me, too!

Mommy: The poor little things were terrified. They were climbing the walls in the bedroom to try to get "over" to safety. Daddy and I felt horrible but we knew that this was for the best. The little guys settled into a nest of towels under a bureau and we spent time with them, letting them get used to us at close range.

Scout: After many many sleeps we came out and played a little. Mommy and Daddy sorely abused us by picking us up and petting us. It was awful.

But we dicovered that we loveLOVE LOVE Johnson! He loves us too. He's our "Manny" and to this day we follow him all over. That's his back fur on the bottom half of the next pic. He spent hours with us in our sequestering room.

CC: Well, all good things come to and end and one day we were corralled (still NO TOUCHING!) into a ptu and to the v-e-t. There they did unspeakable things to us, like TOUCH our furs and take our nuts!

Mommy: CC had an undescended testicle and he came back from the vet with a 2" incision on his tiny tummy. We felt so bad for him! The twins now had the run of the house and access to a small auxilliary outside area (the "little out") where the litterboxes are.

Scout: And I escaped! I squeezed and squeezed and got out through a 2" crack in the little out! I was free! I ran and hid in the neighbor's bushes and savored my freedom. Then I got hungry.

Mommy: We were distraught. The little guy was gone all day, then later that night we heard him crying in the bushes. Because of the "NO TOUCHING" rule we had to be clever, and I patiently lured him closer with deli ham (always a winner!) and finally into the little out, which Daddy had made escape-proof .

Boys: So here we are with Rupert, out and about and Skitty-Kitties whenever the Man or Woman comes near. If they can catch us unaware we love a petting, Scouty even drools. (I do Not!)

Tomorrow: The TOUCHING begins!

Formerly Feral Friday DELAYED!

Here we are, a sneak peek of us as tiny scared kittens, CC & Scouty.

Hello Fellow Kitties!

Mommy was going to help the twins post today...but it's a long story and she's got an icky migraine...she even called in at work! So we made a deal--we'll sit on her and purr her head all better and she'll help the twins do a TWO-part story, starting tomorrow.

It's an exciting story; feral cats & kittens, rescues, taming, escapes & recaptures, the works!

Also, some of you commented yesterday about our decals on the truck. We got them off the innernets at http://donsdecals.com/.

Now we have to get back to our purring work.

Love, The Lounge Kats

Thursday Thirteen

Mommy needs to put a few more decals on her truck!

May Ling: Here's my favorite perch. I can meeze at all I survey from up here.

Rupert: Mr. Suave and Debonair. You'll notice I needed a little "assist" to wear my tie!

Kona: Hi! here's my winter mane before it got trimmed off. Can you see my curly tummy fur?

Grayce: In my "chunkier" days...Daddy needs to take a picture of the new sleek me soon!

I am the Sweetest Pea there is! When I'm not stalking May Ling, that is.

Baby: I'm all sleepy here. Eat my belly so I can get all purry and ZZZZzzzzzzzz...

Maui: Here's my glamour shot. See why Mommy kisses me on the lips?

Salem: I'm a dainty little tuxie. I'm my own kitty but I'm starting to find uses for the People.

My name is Scouty ans NOBODY touches me, EVER. I'm CC's twin.

Johhny: This is me as a kitten...I've always been HUGE. The tiles are 16" across!

Felix: heh heh. First the contents, now to demolish the box! I love to chew & bite.

CC: Hi! I'm brother to Scouty. Our Gotcha story is coming soon! I purr like a motorboat.

Wordy Wednesday

Maui and Johnny, after a vigorous bout of Man Cat 'Rassling.

So Mommy and Daddy are seriously weird. Unfortunately, we're the ones who suffer from their weirdness the most. For example:

Tiny Johnson is HUGE. But that's only a tiny weird to start. Johnny is followed around a lot by the twins, Scouty & CC. (You'll meet them soon.) So John got called a "planet" and the twins his "sattelites". Pretty normal, huh? Since John is so big, he's also nicknamed "Jupiter", the largest planet in our solar system.

Along comes Maui, who is no small dude, either. Maui and John rassle some, and Mommy's a geek as well as weird so she calls the big boys' rasslin' the "Clash if the Titans". Now Maui needs a planet or god nickname since he's a "Titan". Neptune is out--no water associations, please! Saturn, not a contender. Which leaves only ONE big planet left, you guessed it...URANUS! Say it out loud and see if you can resist a little giggle.

Overheard:

Daddy, looking for Maui: " Have you seen Uranus?"

Mommy: hahahahahahaha!

Daddy, loudly calling: "Where's Uranus?"

Mommy: hahahastop I'm dying here hahahahaha!

This, and other horrible things, happens more than we care to think about. Maui, thank Cod, is too spastic to notice the slur on his furry self but the rest of us just cringe. Friends, how do you cope with parental weirdness?

Grayce & the Bladder Stones...a good band name?

This is Me, the skinny scared kitty fresh from the v-e-t.

Out and about!

Me, pre wet food conversion...

Hi Friends!

My name is Grayce and I'm the other gray cat in the Lounge. I came from the same v-e-t as Tiny Johnson, Felix and May Ling...but I was the first one! Johnny told you that Daddy gotcha'd him from the v-e-t when another Lounge Kat, Bridge Angel Chuckles, was being treated for renal failure. I was Gotcha'd two weeks before him--Daddy is a sucker for kitties in cages. (He can't go into PetSmart; Not Allowed by Mommy.) When I first came home I was a skinny, scared teenager kitty. My ladygardenectomy had had some complications so my tummy was pretty sore and I was skittish about being picked up, let alone held. Daddy slept with me in my Special Room and for a long time I was exclusively his girl. After about a year I gradually decided that other people were OK.

Actually, more than just OK! I'm on the greeting committee whenever people come over. My favorite thing to do is invite folks to pet my tummy and then give them the bitey! I admit to being a HARD bitey-er, Mommy & Daddy still tell me "no biting" sometimes, but rest assured I pay no attention to their pleas. I love to sit on laps-anybody's lap-and I love to smell guests shoes. People-feet smells are heavenly, almost better than the nip! Almost. I am a huge nip-eater, dried or fresh. It makes me run around like my tail's on fire and beat up on on my furblings with my rapid-fire right hook.

All my life I have been hauled off the the v-e-t because of pee problems, and then endured the yucky pink medicine or worse, the banana-flavored goo. Then last month I was in the box every 10 minutes and I got ANOTHER trip to the v-e-t...and this time they took pictures of my innards, made me sleepy and took out two bladder stones almost 2 millimeters in size (each)! (Mommy got to keep the stones, and weirdo that she is, she saved them in the tin along with all of our whiskers that she finds.) Now I'm back to peeing like a champ! The other Lounge Kats consider me a hero because now we get ONLY canned foods for the extra water. I, of course, was a dedicated kibble eater and the transition was a little bit of a struggle...but that nasty v-e-t said I was a "chunky"--the nerve--and I should lose a little weight.

Well, I have lost some weight. I've gone from "chubby" to "cobby" which is more like what I should be. I just detest when the v-e-t is right...I must remember to bite him (hard) the next time I'm hi-jacked out of my circle bed for a check-up.



Time for a snooze. Meow for now! ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Torti-Meezer Monday

Glamour-Puss!

Here's my pretty tummy. I may have to bite you gently and kick you a little when you pet it!

I have one blonde footie! Do you see it?



Meeze, meow, meezemeezemeeze...

Oh! I need to speak people? OK. Usually after a few meezes Mommy caters to my every whim.

Hi! My name is May Ling and I'm the best (Mommy edit: "worst") of two kinds of kitty, I'm a torti-point siamese. You cannot imagine how demanding I am...or how incompetent my Mommy & Daddy are. I want to play feather and red dot and be petted ALL THE TIME and they just won't do it!

Mommy fell under my spell on May 1 last year. She was at the v-e-t picking up some calming medicine for Maui (thanks Maui for being a crazy boy!) and I was in the "adopt me" cage. It was busy at the v-e-t so Mommy had to wait--she opened up my cage and the rest was history. Well, almost. Mommy paid for the medicine, and even though she didn't want to, she left without me because the Lounge already had ten cats.

Now, Mommy had to go to the grocery store and on the way there who did she see but Daddy on the way back from the airport picking up my (future) human sister, Ashley! They stopped in the store parking lot and Mommy told them about the kitty she already loved. Daddy rolled his eyes and said "What's one more" and Ashley was all for another kitty. Mommy was so excited she said to heck with food shopping and sped back to the v-e-t to get me! I was still there (it had only been about twenty minutes) waiting for Mommy. And she Gotcha'd me! Daddy decided on May Ling for a name 'cause it was May 1 and I needed and oriental twist to my name, being a meezer-mix.

I get along with all of my furblings except Sweet Pea. We would like to eat each other and the Evil Squirt Bottle appears a few time a day to discourage us. As if! I have to "mark" my territory once and a while and I Go Wee on the floor. Mommy is glad for tile when I do that. My favorite indoor spot is on top of the lotus cat tree in the living room. I can monitor activities and scream whenever I feel neglected. Which is often. I also have my very own special chair & cushion I sleep in at night. In the morning when Mommy comes into the room I stretch and meeze at her so she starts the day out right.

We got switched to all wet food a few weeks ago and one of my nicknames, "Bowling Ball" isn't so apt now. I'm slimming down on the new diet of better food, and I love to play chase in the Catio with the other Lounge Kats--except for you-know-who--so that is paring off the ounces as well. My brofur Rupert is my most favorite rasslin' buddy. I bunny kick his head and he nips at my paws and we have a blast! At night the red dot appears and I havent caught it yet, but I will.

Tomorrow is Grayce's turn...she's the reason we all get yummy wet food nowadays...now I feel the need to meeze and meeze...Bye!