Catio

Today we made a "catio" so that the feline members of the household can safely enjoy the great outdoors.

Cats

Top row:  Buster, Montry

Middle row: Boston, Oscar, Edgar

Bottom Row: Hazel, Alice

Boston and Montry have been with us for 2 weeks now and have settled in like troopers.  They still hiss occasionally if one of the big cats startles them, but for the most part everyone gets along. There hasn't been a lot of playing between the old guard and the new, but then again the old guard range in age from 6-18.  Buster and Edgar are the playing fools of the group, being the youngest at 6 and 14, and they are tentatively considering it with the kittens.

I had forgotten how much fun kittens are.  The leaping, the scampering, the playing.  I had also forgotten how sharp and nocturnal kittens can be too!  They love to play together, but surprisingly don't sleep together or cuddle.  They have very different personalities, with Montry being a lap-cat who loves to snuggle, and Boston being more stand-offish.  Though if I do find a kitten in my bed at 4:00 am, it is almost always Boston.  I think she wants to cuddle, she just doesn't want anyone to know it.

Life with 7 cats is full of fun and I recommend it for everyone!

Fleas

One flea fly flew up the flue and 

The other flea fly flew down.

Unfortunately there was no flue involved, just 5 angry cats.  

I made the mistake over the summer of letting our cat Alice out into the back yard for an hour or two every now and then.  She wouldn't go any farther than sitting in the grass and would come back to the door and ask to be let in.  It seemed like a nice thing for me to do.

I will not be nice like that ever again.

One of cats, Edgar, is pure white, with 2 large black spots.  While petting him last week I noticed that the he had all sorts of black "dirt" throughout his white fur.  Closer inspection led me to the horror of finding critters scurrying about, close to his skin.

He was quickly bathed and everyone else inspected.  The other cats vary in colour from black and white to beige and orange.  We didn't see anything on them, but erred on the side of caution and everyone got a bath last Sunday morning.  Good thing too, as the water exposed what we could not see.  Everyone had fleas.

I wish we had taken a video of Oscar during his bath as he makes the most pitiful and horrible noises.  You would not think any living creature was capable of those sounds.  I am not willing to re-bath him just to capture the moment for posterity, but if we don't get this under control and have to bath him again, I'll be sure to have the camera ready.

All the cats are now sporting lovely new flea collars.  Hopefully all of our efforts (which included many, many loads of laundry) will work and the only bugs we'll be left with are Gary's crickets.

How NOT to greet a house guest

We are babysitting "Rainbow-Butterfly" (owned by a recently turned 5 year old girl) for the weekend.  Of course Buster had to be the official family greeter!  We have since found Rainbow-Butterfly a very nice lid for her tank... just in case.

Someone has a cold

Don't you feel better when someone tucks you in with a nice blanket on the couch when you're sick?

Wordless Wednesday

What $581.88 looks like

Wordless Wednesday

"I'm not sucking on anything!"

Wordless Wednesday

Why do I bother putting water in it?

Wordless Wednesday

One day they might actually be friends

Wordless Wednesday

The perils and pleasures of working from home

Wordless Wednesday - A boy and his sword

Buster's new fetish

Wordless Wednesday

Siamese Cats

Don't worry! We didn't get any more cats, 4 is plenty for now. But if these 2 had their way, they would become 1.

Can you tell where Edgar ends and Oscar begins?

Keeping a close eye on that mouse!

Geriatric cats

We have 4 cats, all of whom are getting on in years. We once maxed out at 12 cats - 6 of our own and we took in a stray who happened to have 5 kittens a week later. Luckily we found great homes for all the kittens and Mom-Cat. 2 of our cats have died, Simon in 2004 and Squid in 2006.

It's hard watching pets age, but for the most part these guys are still going strong!

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Edgar - 12

Edgar has been an old man since he was born! He's always been slow moving, methodical and wise. He never really had a kitten period.

He had just had his ears cleaned and was not happy with me

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Alice - 10

Alice is the one that we are noticing the most changes in the last few days. She is starting to limp when she first gets up to walk, she isn't as delicate when she jumps, she's more tired then usual. Alice has always had kitten qualities. She used to play fetch with a crinkly ball, she comes when she is called... oh wait, she doesn't have kitten qualities, she has puppy qualities!

Alice in the sun

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Hazel - 8

Hazel hasn't changed much. She still hates me, is scared of every human beign except Hilary and is rather rotund (think Jennyanydots !)

This is Hazel's "I could kill you with one claw" look that she gives me when I get too close.

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Oscar - 7

And Oscar is the baby. He still thinks his tail is out to get him, he would kill for nip and has just figured out how to get in and out of the bunk bed so that he can sleep with Liam again.

Oscar on the bunk bed.

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Polydactyl cats

3 out of our 4 cats are polydactyl. The three of them all have opposible thumbs and are polydactyl on all 4 paws. And none are related to each other.

From Wikipedia:

A polydactyl cat is a cat with a congenital physical anomaly, with more than usual number of toes on one or all of its paws as a result of a cat body type
genetic mutation.

Non-mutant cats have 5 toes on each of their front paws and 4 on the back, for a total of 18 toes.

The record holder had 32 in total!

This is Edgar. He was our first cat, and he has the most toes. He has 26 in total - 7 on each front foot and 6 each on the back.

Oscar has 23 toes, 6 each on the front and 6 on one back foot and 5 on the other.

Hazel is also polydactyl, but she hates me! so there will be no pictures of her. She is a one person cat, and that person is Hilary. However, since I am the offical nail cutter in the family (and with all these toes, that is no small job!) I do get to do her nails. Hilary will catch her and transfer her to my lap, generally with very little blood shed! Hazel has 24 toes in total - 6 per foot.

Alice is odd man out with her non-mutant toes! There's one in every family!!

Equal face time

Alice does not want to be left out of the cute cat shots!