Cats and dogs, living together...

Today is let's see if I can shock anyone on the blog here, haha.

See, I have this deep, dark secret. I hide it. I really do. But...

I'm a cat person. There. I said it out loud. I'm probably going to be voted off Cardi Island. ;)

Really. I- I love cats. In fact, I am more of a cat person than a dog person, hahahaha. I've been showing cats and into cats since I was a four year old kid, and growing up, I totally liked dogs (and my dad paid me five bucks to wash and groom his OES - full show coat. I realize later in life how much you jipped me, dad, but dang, I think grooming corgis are a snap!) I've trained a lot of dogs, worked with dogs since college, and yet... a cat never fails to melt me.

So, here's a little cat story for the day.

Parker is one of our Korats. Born and bred in our house, he's sure not a show cat. In fact, he's uh, rather um, p-e-t quality, I'm afraid. He's never been a cuddly guy either with people. Which is just his personality, and has been since day one. All the other kittens were people, people, oh boy people. Not Parker. He'll sit on my lap, and a few select folks, but... nope.

However, he's been in love with dogs since he was a kitten. His first cross-species love was my fantastic, wonderful German Shepherd Ali. He slept with her, ate with her, slept on top of her, loved her, and she adored him back with all of her heart. What always made me laugh is whenever I picked him up to cuddle him for a second, he always smelled of - well, of dog.

.... and then she died, and he was very, very lonely.

So, then he figured, what the heck, and moved in with my big male Shepherd, Gabriel. And then he died, suddenly.

Now we had no dogs that would tolerate a cat sleeping with them. The Pembrokes just didn't get it and would stomp away and roll an eye. How dare a cat try that, so rude!

Poor Parker. He tried sleeping with the other cats, but... it just wasn't the same. And then his favorite cat passed away of a blood clot, totally unexpectedly. So, like all sad boys, he moved back in with his mom, I guess. Then sadly, his mom died two weeks ago of heart failure, and... poor Parker was once again very lonely.

And then... he started sneaking over by the Cardigans; and oh, hey! Cardigans LOVE cats, unlike those bossy Pems. So, once again, he's happy, and this made me smile to see him cuddled up next to his favorite thing in the world - dogs.

So, hey, I have the best of both worlds. Cats that are dog people! ;)

Simon, of course, knows how to cuddle with cats.

Caleb, on the other hand, kinda doesn't have it down yet. ;)

52 Weeks for Dogs 1/52

Yup, we figured we'd stick with it another year... and yes, I completed my set, I just -- had so much going on over here I forgot to post them. :) I'll do it in a few days, but... until then, have a pileup.

So, I'll post this one first. 1/52 "Recharging"



A new year, and.... I think we're all a little exhausted from the holidays. I totally want to crawl up there and join the pile in the window.

Contrary to popular belief, even perpetual motion Simon has to sleep sometimes... ;)

(Also, I have to laugh a little. So many people have asked me if I posed the kitten up there. Let me tell you, Sophie wouldn't put up with it. She's a pistol, hahaha. She sleeps with him all the time, and yes, up on him sometimes too! It just took me a while to get a good shot of it. ;) )

Playing catch up...

Let's see... went to Vegas for Superzoo, the pet trade show. Long week -- some nice stuff there. I really only came home this time with several nice pet beds, some T-Shirts, and some very cute shampoo that has this neat 'pet freshening spray' on the bottom, and VERY nice shampoo on the top. Wouldn't use it for a show, it really softens the dog's coats, but Simon is now wafting the masculine smell of Coconut Lime. Ahhh. It's like a Cardi air freshener. ;)

So, here are my week photos...

37/52 "Luggage Inspector" (I left treats in the bag unpacking. Hahah, guess who found them!)



38/52 "Mmmmmuffins!"


Got home, have been working like a maniac. Well, got into work, turned around to let Caleb through the door and... my back went "no." So, this time went directly into the doctor and now am on muscle relaxers (still.) I will say the stim treatment though worked awesomely well, and this time it's only been a little over a week and a half and I'm nearly back to normal.

Found out that my little Arab is officially a "pasture pet" only. His knee is getting so arthritic that he's locking up a lot even loose in his pasture, and he's pitched on the ground a few times when he's got up a head of steam. Well, on a high note, he's photogenic and cute! He'll have to model and earn his living. ;) Sadly, he is nowhere as good as Simon.

Of course... getting ready for the Richland show, and I come home and my 19 year old arthritic cat's leg is swollen up like a little peg. Great. I had an appointment with my regular mobile vet (who I love. Matt and I had a mock fight and he said that if we divorce, he's taking custody of the vet. I told him no way) but he can't make it until Thursday. So I run him down to a new vet and the guy is great. He looks at it, takes fluid, tells me that the cat has cancer and without taking off his leg the cat has days to live. I pay the deposit, and take Merp home. I admit, I adopted this cat back in January... and I absolutely adore him. He's just the sweetest old cat, with everyone, including the dogs. Either that, or like some grandpas, he just doesn't care.

So, I spend a sleepless night, and decide that morning that he can't go in. He looks horrible, he's barely walking, etc... there's no way this cat can survive on three legs, none. Sigh. I call my regular vet out for Thursday... and we're all set to put him to sleep.

Well, get up this morning, his leg is way less swollen, and he's bopping around the house. Enough that he goes to get a drink of water in the other room, he lies in the sunshine and bakes himself. My mobile vet comes and we watch him happily purring and headbutting us for a while...

I've had to euthanize many of my crew over the years. You really do know when they are done; there's just something about them at that point where you realize they're ready to go. Merp decided today wasn't his day, and well... now we're sending away a test for a second opinion on the leg.

Unfortunately, my other cat walks in with his eye swollen shut last night, and he's ulcerated his eye again. Sheesh. Drops in the eye six times a day. Well, now that the cat's not in danger of dying this weekend at least, and the other one can be medicated, still preparing for Richland. Find out that a friend's dog that I've been hoping for a puppy from didn't take -- so bummed, but I'm sure not as disappointed as they are. Been looking for a pup since this spring... well, I guess that's someone's way of telling me the right one hasn't shown up! ;)

So... yeah. What does Caleb do? Cut his paw on a freshly cut branch of my Vine Maple running around after Simon in the yard... and is limping like gangbusters. It's not a bad, bad cut, but between his front toes, and bad enough for me to realize there is NO way we're going to Richland. Oh well, I'll live vicariously through everyone else, I guess, and hear how things went!

Sigh. Lovely.

Oh well! Pets happen, right? Everything's for a reason. Besides, today I can walk into the back room and the old cat purrs at me, That alone makes it all better!

Bliss...

My cats ended up getting a bout of URI this week from somewhere, ugh. Of course, with his immune system on the fritz like it has since he was a kitten, D. had a bout with his herpes cycle this week culminating in a fever and blowing snot on Thursday night. Lovely. So, we were in the vet on Friday for him since he was already showing ulceration signs in his eye again. This time we were given the warning that if we can't get it under control, it might be in his best interests to remove the bad eye... which would be fine, except both his eyes are bad, so there's a good chance at some point the second one would have to go. I'd prefer not to even go down that road, so we're loaded up with antibiotics and antivirals and so far, so good. :) It's looking way better today.

However, while D is a dream to pill and medicate, easy as pie, I had to get some antibiotics for Tristan's eye. Yeahhhh, that's really fun. Darn nasty mean cat, man, at times I have to agree with my vet of all people - there are a lot of winding dark roads in our area where I could put him and no one would notice. ;)

I kid, mostly because he'd find his way back to our house and we'd be liable for all the children he killed for sustenance on the way home. So needless to say, Friday I made the mistake of not wrapping him in a towel because I thought Tris was fine... and oh boy, not so smart. My hand is finally not hurting from the gouges and the chomp.

So, I settle down to clean house and draw today, and what do I promptly do? I'm trying to be nice to Matt and clean the kitchen since that's his domain, and I wash the knives... and promptly drop one right into the palm of my hand. Yeah, so much for drawing for a day or two again, ow. I joked with myself that I should have done it right after Tristan bit me to draw out the venom if I'd had any sense.

Luckily, one of us had the right idea on how to take the day off... I really should have just flopped and done what Dusty's doing today. I am so glad he's feeling so much better.

Whoops!

Caleb's getting bigger, isn't he? I think I am in love with his topline though, ha. He's turning into a nice dog too; but wow, he's a dominant little red-head. The other dogs have been really correcting him more than they ever corrected Simon. Me too, for that matter. There have been a few days that I realize I've been like, "Caleb, uh uh!" and Riley has rolled him for the umpteenth time and the two of us look at each other like we're about to pull our hair out. Honestly, though, he really is coming along, and he's been so good about sleeping in and behaving himself at night. He graduated to a bigger crate last night, and not a peep out of him. Aw. Good boy. (I like him, and well, he's really become my dog. He's a handful, but when you finally get it through his head about something, he's really good at remembering and putting it to other situations very quickly.)


Missed a Caturday. But that's okay, I'll just tell you that I had a cat related day yesterday that blew my mind. I own a small pet store, as some of you know. Well, I have two shop cats. Both are lovely, wonderful cats, both rescues. They pretty much have the run of the shop. We have a package of salmon treats under the counter that Baron likes beyond all like. He gets a few treats when we come in and that's it, but he will wait until it's busy and then pester you for more. After the fourth time I set him on the floor yesterday (he'd knocked off the mouse and a bunch of paperwork I was working on when I was with customers) I finally went for the spray bottle. Usually all you have to do is show it to him, and he gets the point and goes somewhere else and realizes you're serious about not letting him get his way.

So, I'm standing there picking up the squirt bottle, and he looks at me. I'm like, "Get off, I will use this, go on, I mean it."

Right then, this customer walks in and yells at me, "Don't DO THAT!"

I'm so taken aback that I say, "Uh, you bet I'm using it if he doesn't get down. He knows he's not supposed to be up here right now."

Baron gives me the "make me," face, I squirt the counter next to him, he realizes I'm serious and hops down and trots away. Mind you, trots. The lady has a complete fit, and threatens me out of earshot (in front of one of my other employees) to call the ASPCA on me. For animal abuse. Dead serious, cannot make this up.

On the way out she hands me the parting shot (after buying things) of "I just can't stay in here!" and stomps out.

... well, that's a new one on me. I guess I should have just picked up a taser or hit him with a two by four across his head, right?

I'm not sure if I should just laugh or shake my head but it really bothered me. I'm the last person I can think of about cat animal abuse. Crud, Baron didn't even think it was that serious of a threat - he sauntered off and flopped in a sunbeam and realized I did mean it about staying out of the paperwork. I've had him since I rescued him out of a Safeway box, twelve years ago. I think he's about the last cat I'd ever say was abused. You wonder if this is the sort of person that calls animal protection because a cat is outside in a yard eating grass. (He must be starving!)

Wow, man, sometimes I think this world's gone a bit off the deep end. I'm all for a good animal cause, but I swear, some people really need to get their heads screwed on a bit better.