Bubble Wrap?? General Chat

Does Panther still have those stripes?
Punx has made a very pretty adult cat.
I'm glad they are both so well.

Yes, she does. When the light hits her, she is not black at all. Very rare black tabby.

Big brother Looney2 adores them. Punx still hits him, but not nearly as often as she used to do. Panther still worships him - I am positive that's why she grew stripes, so she could be like him. Looney1 will race around with them, but Punx will hit him too so he doesn't get too close.

The girls are literally half the size of Looney2.

Yesterday was Tornado-dog's fourth birthday. The Friday before I ordered Chinese delivery and the ordering system messed up my special instructions to switch out the meat for fried tofu. So I got three meals of all meat. They refunded the entire amount which is great. And Tornado-dog and Cat-dog have been getting sezchuan beef and general chicken with their kibble every night since. Have a couple more days of chicken to go.

And I've been proud of Tornado-dog. Normally they switch bowls several times during meal times, but I told him he has to let Cat-dog eat her meat in peace so he has stayed at his own dish for the entire meal, even after the meat has all been eaten.

Punx has her vet appointment next Wednesday. She's been putting in extra grooming time to make sure her coat is perfect (she has the softest silkiest coat I've known - I'm extremely jealous).

Happy belated birthday Tornado dog!

I gave him your wishes and he gives you real up close and personal kisses back!

Punx had her Dr appointment today. She was NOT happy about putting on her harness and driving there.

The tech weighed her.


And then she hid under her blankie until the Dr came. We did a reveal for her - including the "TaDa!" She was so impressed. She started to say "she is..." but didn't know how to finish so I said "cat sized". She said yes! Small but actually cat sized. She gave her the checkup and declared that her coat is rabbit soft (Punx spent an entire day grooming it for the appointment - every time I saw her she was cleaning). She said she is perfect weight (she and Panther are perfect, Looney2 will be declared "he shouldn't put on any more weight" at his next appointment, and Looney1 should get the "he looks good"). Her nose was dirty so they cleaned it off (she gets mad at me when I do it). She did have a touch of yellowing on her front foot - from wiping her face - so she does get a runny nose, but we think that could be from stress as she does get upset easily.

The Dr declared her perfect and said we couldn't be doing anything better than we are doing. She said Punx is healthy enough so she got all three shots today (instead of having to do one a month like last year) - Punx was very happy about that.

When we got home, I took off her harness and she ran for her room upstairs. Since, she has been calling and searching for her sister - WHO is sleeping on the bed in the dayroom. Punx won't look for her there because that's where I nabbed her today for the appointment. Punx has been going up and down the stairs and then sitting at the bottom waiting for Panther to appear. But Panther is comfy and has no intention of moving and Punx doesn't trust the "Evil Mama" to not grab her again.

It's hard to be a Looney.

Good health all round. That's good news.

She's officially no longer on the endangered list. She is a healthy cat!

For comparison, this was Punx at 5 months old - she weighed 1-1/2 pounds which is in the weight range for a 5-8 week old kitten:


She still doesn't purr. I don't know if she ever will at this point.

So I've been watching Midsummer Murders lately and am currently in the Sykes period. What a dog! I have been pointing out to Tornado-dog that "that's your cousin" and when Sykes does something clever, I say "yep, lies, cheats and steals! That's your cousin alright!" If only Tornado-dog limited it to a one-hour episode per week...

Looney2 has been coming to bed for his cuddles as soon as Tornado-dog goes under the bed. I got a cute little faux sherpa bedjacket to wear when I sit up and read. Looney2 kneads on it while I rub his tummy. The last few nights, Panther has come up right behind him and is spending a good 20-60 minutes kneading the jacket too while watching Looney2 carefully. She did this before but not for as long. AND she has come up without him to knead on the jacket and get my attention. They both purr up a storm as they knead. The other night, Looney2 was cuddling, Panther was kneading (she walks around while she kneads) and Punx came up to see what was going on and she stayed for several minutes watching them. Fingers crossed she starts connecting the dots and sees this behavior as something to try.

I was reading a book and they described the quiet as "no louder than a kitten's pawstep". I thought "oh so it was like a herd of elephants!". Not quite the imagery the author intended.

The other day, after a storm,, while it was sunny, the finches and sparrows were having a party at the open feeder on the porch. Looney1 heard them and went to the door, so I opened it, even though it was cold, so he could watch them. Within moments Panther was there watching. Looney1 got bored and wandered off, but Panther stayed. Looney2 came over and watched for a few minutes, but wandered off. Panther stayed. Punx even came over to see what the fuss was about and then left before evil mamas could pet her. Panther stayed. She was so focused on the birds that her entire body shook but she didn't move at all.


Not much else going on. It's been overcast and gloomy and cold and damp. Cat-dog has been perfecting her skill at being in the exact spot I am stepping into. She is the Universal Champion at Being In The Way.

I have two torties and one is terrible at trying to trip me up by rubbing constantly around my legs and is forever asking for food, they go absolutely nuts for the licky sticks in salmon so she’s always asking for them, they are sisters and one is very shy and doesn’t like a lot of fuss the other is very feisty and will put the dogs in their place if she’s had enough, but she will play with Beau if he sticks his nose in her face, she will grab his face and then rub her head all over him, but when she’s done rubbing her scent all over she will smack him like I’m done go away,

top picture is the quiet shy one and the bottom one is the fiesty one. They’ll be 14 in April next year

The dog that played Sykes was really bright. He did a memorable advert too - so memorable that I can't remember what for - but he was packing a suitcase, and eventually left home carrying it. I think it might have been about letting children become too attached to the TV.

No I'm wrong - that was Pippin. See,
Leaving Home, 60 second TV advert. 1989 - YouTube.
Harvey has done several brilliant ads.
Google, Thinkbox TV ads, Introducing Harvey.
There are several, the Dogs Home one is brilliant.

I read about him and his name was actually Sykes. He was a rescue parson's. His facial expressions are so Tornado-dog and he looks very similar although smaller.

The Harvey commercials are wonderful. I love the Harvey and Harmony one - with the puppies all running to the door at the end. Typical behavior, convince person let your girlfriend move in and then surprise look at all my puppies. Classic bait and switch technique!

The leaving home commercial is awesome. If I saw that as a kid, I would have trashed the tv.

We don't really see parson's over here - at least not identifiably. We usually see the shorter legged JRT. Seeing Sykes really shows how much Tornado-dog takes after the Parsons - I simplify and call him a giant JRT because people know that breed, but his dna is actually parsons. The way they sit - sort of hunched up at the hips like their bodies are too long. The ears pulling back to the head. The look of humouring their person - that laughing glint in their eyes. The staring at you with expectation - I get that every night when he decides it is bedtime.

I love the way your cat is letting their front legs hang in the bottom photo

@who owns who I hope you are managing OK Marc. Have you gone back to work yet?

@who owns who she always sits like that even on the kitchen table and hangs them over the back of the chairs, it’s her chilled out look. I know it would make my arms go to sleep if I done that.

Looney1 does that too. It's a talent. He has a couple other poses too.


His couch surfing pose:


His sea otter pose:


And his "I'm melting" pose:

I tried to get a photo of them messing around but they moved to quick but here’s a couple of them where she’s annoying Beau and then rubbing her head on him