Bubble Wrap?? General Chat

At least she left you the cone!

Last night, we all went upstairs to bed around 11:45 pm. Of course, that is when I finally wake up for the day. After a movie and some reading, I decided it was time to sleep.

Looney2 came up for his cuddle time - we spoon and I rub his tummy while he kneads on his faux fur pillow. Panther came up (this is twice in a week, she's getting brave) to check it out. At that moment, Punx meowed from the hallway. Apparently it was a royal command - Looney2 and Panther both went running to see what she wanted.


I decided I might as well use the facilities. Then Looney2 declared that Punx needed a new worm to play with - he sits on the toilet tank and taps the elastic hair bands I have hanging on a hook. So I twisted one up and threw it to her. Then she wanted me to throw it again.

So at 2:30 am, there I was sitting on the top step of the stairs playing with Punx while Looney2 watched on in delight and Panther found a worm on a lower step to play with on her own. Looney1 had snuck back downstairs, so I let him up and he played zoomies up and down the stairs.

Poor Tornado-dog was forced to watch all this going on from the bedroom behind the baby gate.

It's good to know who is really in charge here - the Mongoose (Punx's other nickname).

Does Cat dog sleep downstairs? How is the goggle-wearing training going?

Cat-dog sleeps under the bed upstairs. But she doesn't have FOMO (fear of missing out" like Tornado-dog. She goes to bed and doesn't come out until morning. He gets up almost every time I do.

Tornado-dog will not wear his goggles for a second. He's pawing them off before I get them on at all.

Cat-dog wears hers fine, but it's 100+ again so we haven't been outside much.

Wonderful day today - low 70s all day (about 23C). Woke up to a scrub jay talking up a storm. Came downstairs to let the dogs out and Looney2 found his spot on the dining table to watch the finches at his feeder.

Panther made a beeline to check her feeder outside the dayroom. I finally got a snapshot of her watching:




Both feeders were half full last night. I have to go out and refill them already. And probably all the other feeders while I'm at it.

Yesterday, I bought a dozen donuts. I te a twist and put the two custard filled in the fridge. The rest were in the box on the counter. SOMEONE quietly ate 8-1/2 donuts in five minutes while I was focused elsewhere.

I caught him as he was attempting to finish off the apple fritter. I don't think his heart was in it anymore by that point because he quickly walked away (the fruit may have been a turn off).

He had a sugar crash soon after and spent the day sleeping it all off. Of course, he was right thre hoping to get some of my taco at dinnertime...

He ate one of each of these donuts: glazed twist, maple bar, chocolate bar, buttermilk, cinnamon roll, sugar, glazed, chocolate and half the apple fritter.

He did not get dinner last night. His tummy was very very full all day. No adverse affects other than a couple burps.

Cat-dog had dinner and was given the other half of the apple fritter. I think she wished he had left half of a different donut as she was hesitant to eat it once tasted. I swear these two could find a pea in a giant stack of pancakes...

What a naughty boy!
Deserves to have a tummy ache, but suspect he would do the same again - given the chance.

I am certain he would do it again.

Last night Panther made a bit of a breakthrough. For the last several months, she will occasionally hop on the bed at night. She watches Looney2 as he has his cuddle time with the faux fur pillow and then jumps off at he first movement/sound from under the bed (Cat-dog and Tornado-dog). She usually finds a spot up next against my knees.

The night before, she spent about 10 minutes on the bed - which was impressive - and actually laid down and purred.

Last night, she took this to a new level! Over two hours laying on the bed, purring, rolling, etc. She enjoyed some good neck scratches and a back scratch. AND, Tornado-dog was sleeping ON the bed during that time. She knew he was there and just ignored him. Looney2 was nearby the whole time - I had told him earlier that he needed to encourage her to sleep on the bed and he apparently listened.

I have yet to ever catch Punx purring - I don't think she knows how.

I got a free "pet cam" a while back and put it in the cat's room. It has been very useful in locating two girls who still hide under the bed at times. The camera triggers a lot day and night to catch Punx running, laying and rolling on the upholstered bench. If I call out for her or Panther from downstairs, she will look out the of the room into the hallway. And if one of the other cats heads upstairs, she will perk up and get ready to run for them (even though she still hits the boys whenever they get close).

Sometimes when they are in their room, I will use the camera mic to talk to them. Punx will watch the camera when I do - her expression is often one of irritation.. Panther will often come right up to the camera - a sign that she recognizes my voice and her name and that she likes getting attention.

One night last week, I got caught up in a tv show and didn't go upstairs to bed on time. Around 2 am, Punx came down to the stairway door and glared at me. She has been channeling her inner Bat-dog. Bat-dog used to glare if you didn't follow her rules - I got those looks a lot from her if I was late going to bed or feeding her, etc. Punx has her rules and does not take kindly to disobeyance.

It's been about 13 months since I brought all those kittens home. Panther is turning into a very content cat and is starting to lose her shyness around me. She is getting more confident. And she is very very pretty. Her doctor mentioned how she is not really a black cat. Her coat is a tabby with the coloring more of a burmese - that deep rich reddish sable.

I don't think Punx will ever be a "normal" cat. She doesn't follow normal cat conventions. She isn't shy but will hide to "punish" me for breaking one of her rules. She is tough as nails and rules the roost.

Just now, I heard a loud thump from the dining room. Looney2 apparently decided to try to catch one of the birds at his feeder. It didn't work as planned.

Tornado-dog is currently popping bubble wrap while Cat-dog lays next to him. Looney1 is napping in the chair under Panther's perch in the dayroom. The bird is quietly eating (you can just hear the soft cracking of the pellets).

What would life be with no animals.

I love when you share about the antics of your pet family

Thank you. I'm glad to know eyes aren't rolling over while reading my posts.

You must be a very still sleeper. The only couple of times that Tally has jumped on my bed she has jumped off as soon as I moved. Though she isn't a very cuddly Beagle - only when she wants one - it may because the mattress I have is an 'Emma'. Though they are made from memory foam, but are too firm for a small dog to be able to snuggle into.
It doesn't seem over a year since you took on the kittens, so not kittens anymore! Your bossy cats remind me of my last two who left home for 1. a warmer and 2. a quieter life with better food, with two different neighbours.
Is it Looney1 that is your FL cat? How is he progressing?

I usually don't sleep for long stretches of time anymore. A couple hours, than I wake up and move around to another position and back to sleep for a couple more. When I feel Panther laying there, I do try to hold still. With the boys I usually end up tapping them with my feet as I move. They ignore it but I don't want to startle Panther.

My akita never slept on the bed. When I first invited him up, he stood on it and the bed moved around under his weight. He never figured out that if he laid down it wouldn't tremble.

Moose-dog, Bat-dog and Tornado-dog all started out sleeping on the bed as puppies. I would wake up as soon as they moved, so it was useful for potty training. They got used to my moving around quickly.

Looney2 is the FL cat. But his last blood test done in April showed negative. So we aren't sure if he really is positive or not. We'll do blood tests every year until we get consistent readings either way. Meanwhile the others will continue to get the vaccine to be safe.

He is doing great. He's put the lost weight back on. He's not having or showing any other issues. He had been stressed back then, especially by Tornado-dog. He has relaxed a lot since then and doesn't seem bothered as much. So that may have had a bearing on the test results.

Years ago, I had a cat, Ms. B!!ch (she kept bringing me dead mice and putting them on my pillow while I slept - and she was the neighbor's cat not mine). When I moved I ended up taking her with me. At the new house, my golden passed away and I got a rescue shepherd. Ms B!!ch didn't approve and left for greener pastures. Two years later, I came home from work and there was this cat on my front step. It ws Ms B!!ch. She came in, toured the house, saw the shepherd and left again. I failed the inspection.

When people tell me dogs are smarter than cats, I always point out: if you abuse a cat, they leave and find a better home; if you abuse a dog, they stay with you and accept the abuse as their lot in life. Who is smarter?

My vote is with the cats.

The cat that left home for continual warmth was my FL cat. He was a ginger longhair but his coat became thin, and his skin bluish. At the end he had hard lymph nodes in his groins and was losing his appetite - he would have been about ten. My friend and I decided that he had had a long enough battle.
He was one of Pussy Willows kittens, As a youngster he was clipped by a speeding car and we thought he would be paralysed from his hips down. We had him crated to begin with, and gradually his sensation began to return and his dead tail slowly started to lift. It was like magic. I often wondered whether the shock of his accident could have precipitated his lapse into leukaemia.

I think stress plays a big role on cat viruses, so I wouldn't be surprised.

Looney2 gets a watery eye when he's stressed. It was watery most of last spring, so tht could have triggered the FL positivity.

Punx appears to do the same. One eye waters a bit if she's stressed. It is nice to have a physical sign of her stress - I can make more effort to calm her environment quickly.

Looney1 and Panther don't show stress like that.

BTW, this morning Panther visited Looney2 and I on the bed. She was very happy and even showed her tummy a little bit. Looney2 gave her a thorough bath before they went off to see Punx.

The past couple days now, every time I walk out of the kitchen, I notice someone checks the counters real quick before following me out...

He is a quick learner...

Tornado-dog, Cat-dog and the neighbor dogs have been getting carried away with fence fighting. I got lax on calling mine off because I found I was making them go inside when the neighbor dogs start the fight while the neighbor dogs get to stay out. I wanted to put the onus on the neighbor to stop their dogs from picking fights like I do with mine.

At least one of the three (sometimes four) neighbor dogs is outside at any given time. The only time their dogs are all inside is when it is pouring rain or extremely hot, so it's not like I can let my dogs out without a potential fight. While their dogs are outside and there are no other dogs to fight with except mine. So, it gives the appearance that it's my dogs starting the fight, but it is 50-50.

If mine pick a fight, I tell them "OK that's it, you can't be nice. Time to go inside." But it seemed that I was sending my dogs inside all the time while their dogs got to be outside all the time regardless. And I've always kept mine inside if they are having a party (which they do a lot year round and it is always in their backyard) so they don't have to deal with the dogs fence fighting - but on the few times, I've had something going on in my backyard, their dogs are outside and I'm dealing with a fight. Which is really why I got lax. I got tired of having to deal with the fence fighting every time I'm outside while I try and minimize the fence fighting so they can enjoy their yard.

Because I got lax and the neighbor doesn't call theirs away from the fence until there is a full blown fence fight, none of the dogs are listening now when we call them off. Mine were very good at redirecting, but now ignore me as the full blown fence fight is more exciting...

So yesterday, I bought a whistle. We went outside and as soon as all the dogs started at each other, I blew the whistle. My dogs immediately stopped fighting and went off to do other things. I'm making a point to say "leave it" right after the whistle and praising them when they redirected - but the whistle alone has broken their concentration from fighting and moved them along so the "leave it" is just to reinforce that the whistle means move away from the fence. Interestingly, my dogs, after just twice, will immediately move away from the fence and ignore the neighbor dogs and anything going on in that yard; while the neighbor dogs remain at the fence and bark at me as I fill bird feeders, etc.

I plan on having movie nights this fall in the backyard, so this should get my dogs back on track and ignoring the neighbor dogs without making them go inside, so they can enjoy movie nights too.

Aunt C came over a couple weeks ago and we tested my movie night gear (screen, projector and laptop with streaming) - the neighbors went out of town for the entire weekend WITH the dogs so I spent the entire weekend outside - fortunately it was perfect weather. The streaming cut out a couple times, so I got a cheap portable dvd player. Aunt C has a ton of dvds (she gets them at thrift stores, etc). All mine got stolen in the home burglary and since I didn't have a player anymore (also stolen) I didn't replace them. So I'm slowly picking up a few of my favorites every so often.

I'm thinking of doing a Halloween movie night in the front yard. I've got You'll Find Out (Bella Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre plus Kay Kyser with Ginny Sims, Harry Babbitt, Sully Mason and Ish Kabibble - who can dislike that!) coming tomorrow. I saw that decades ago when A&E showed classic movies instead of reality tv and then lost the name of the movie for years. That dvd also contains 1936's The Walking Dead, 1970's Frankenstein, and 1945's Zombies on Broadway. And I have Shadow of a Vampire (Willem DaFoe) coming - my favorite vampire movie - "I feed like an old man pees - sometimes all at once, sometimes drop by drop." "Go ahead! Eat the writer! That will leave you explaining how your character gets to Bremen!"

I'm debating if I should get Let's Scare Jessica to Death - I watched it streaming the other night and only had a minor moment of sleeplessness (versus having to watch hours of funny movies with all the lights on after watching just the first 20 minutes in the past), but I'm not sure if I can watch it outside in the dark. The Other (not the Nicole The OtherS) is another one in debate. I still don't fully understand it. It and Jessica have always been the scariest movies I've ever watched and have always given me nightmares. They are more psychological horror - you don't really know if it's real or not.