Year in Review - Cats

"Looks like a problem with the suspension."

sleeping in Jason's toys box

Elvis desperately wanted to join her.

If he were human, he'd be a stealer-of-the-covers.

"Don't take a picture of me! I look terrible!"

"Eh, oh well."
Look at the fat overhang!!

They decided to have a picnic. Aww. :)

Kitten was nowhere to be found . . .

Looks like he's eating something. Nope. Fell asleep.
Good thing there wasn't a bowl of soup right there.

Posing for the cat version of the Sistine Chapel's "The
Creation of Adam"

She really likes to sleep on my shoes.

Really? That can't POSSibly be comfortable.

My Cat Loves...

graham crackers
and apple stuedel/turnovers

Teasing the Cats

I guess I deserve the major gashes and scratches in my arm and hand.

After Jason went down for bed, I let the cats inside again to feed them canned cat food. As they made their way to their food area, they noticed one of Jason's toys on the ground, a little tucked a way. It apparently spooked Kitten, who approached it slowly, cautiously, suspiciously. Elvis noticed Kitten's slow calculated movements, saw the toy, and also began approaching it carefully. I thought it would be funny to scare them by moving the toy quickly in their direction. And I was right. It was hilarious! They both, at the same time, jumped 2 feet in the air and backwards, landing w/ a loud thud and scrambling away! I laughed and laughed and laughed.

Sadly, though, it seems that I've psychologically scarred Kitten even more than she already was.

Kitten ran to the other room (Elvis just went around the corner of the kitchen island and walked it off, I guess), while I got their canned cat food ready. A routine that usually gets both cats excitedly meowing and purring around their food spot. But Kitten wouldn't even come over. So I went and picked her up and brought her over. As we approached the scene of the crime, she was scrambling in my arms, but she absolutely did NOT want me to put her down. Finally I got her to eat her food, and I thought that after that she'd be fine.
As she walked back to the family room, she noticed another of Jason's toys (completely different from the first), and again began approaching it cautiously. So I picked her up, pet her, and tried to get her calm enough so she could see that it wasn't dangerous. She let me get her pretty close to it, so I thought maybe if I set her down on top of the toy, she'd feel like she was pouncing on it and would know that it wasn't alive or anything. Bad idea. She FLIPPED out and clawed me trying to get away. PAIN!! Two deep gouges and a few long scratches, one of which runs down my hand in between two fingers - you know, where that soft web-like skin is. So much pain. And some blood. I immediately washed my wounds w/ soap and applied neosporin and put a bandaid on the deep ones. Fortunately the only one that still hurts is the one on my hand in between my fingers.

CAT ANXIETY: Kitten still has not recovered. That night she was spooked by everything. The next morning when she came inside, she was afraid of the part of garbage bag that was sticking out from under the garbage can lid. Oy! What have I done! My poor anxiety-ridden cat. She already had problems w/ pulling out her fur in huge clumps when she's bothered, and she follows me throughout the neighborhood when I take Jason for a walk, meowing sadly the whole time. (Otherwise, she NEVER meows.) I may have to take her in to a cat psychologist. Do they have those? Or are they just called vets?

Bird Graveyard & Other Cat Happenings

I would love to let Jason run free in our fenced-in backyard (much safer than the front yard), but Kitten & Elvis seem to have started a dead bird collection by the porch. A few days ago there was one. Today there's a fresh one. And when I went outside to show Jason something, Kitten pounced on another little bird. I ran after her to stop her, but the bird seemed to already be injured somehow. With Jason in one arm, I was able to keep our two cats at bay, grab Kitten by the nape of the neck, and put her inside. Then I set Jason down and went back out to get Elvis. The little bird was now hiding in a bush, and Elvis was batting at it. I was able to coax him away w/ cat treats and bring him inside, too. Hopefully the little thing will be able to get to a safer place and recover. But the cats are definitely staying inside for the rest of the day.

In other cat news, Elvis jumped onto our back neighbors roof this morning. He went from the porch railing to the roof in one giant leep. I wondered if he'd be able to get down w/o any assistance, but he did!

Can you spot him?



Just relaxing.

Now on the upper roof. Can you spot him this time?



2 Cats, 1 house

A regular occurance. Elvis cleaning his mama. I love how she just burries her head. (Jason is making baby noises in the background, in case you're wondering.)

And then there were two...

Elvis loved to watch tv. (Horton Hears a Who, in case you were wondering.)

Kitten's first time in the snow. As it fell, she would pounce on it. The pouncing made the snow fly everywhere, which would make her pounce again, and again, and again. She ran/pounced all over the back porch snow. It was hilarious to watch.

Only two left: Tiger and Elvis.

Not done yet! They were just so cute that we had to take a million pictures! I promise not to post a million though. (It's going to be this way with pictures of Jason, too - just to warn you.)

Freckle and Tiger

Freckle on top. Tiger on me. Crook on the left,

Elvis on the right. Chiona looking at the camera.

Freckle and Elvis were fluffy w/ long hair and stripes.

Crook and Chiona had short hair and stripes.

Tiger... the odd ball.

Playing in the laundry bins.

Tiger in my sweatshirt.

And More...

Tiger's black paw pads

Elvis in the laundry basket

Chiona. It means "cry baby" in spanish.



Freckle

More Kitty Cuteness

Marie getting a kiss

Life Cycle

Kitten is contributing to the cycle of life - she's killed two little birds in the last two days. Yesterday I saw her sitting by a dead one, so I wasn't sure if she was the killer or if she just happened upon the scene of the crime. But today, I saw her with one in her mouth, still flapping its wings a little :(. I went outside to see if I could get her to drop it so it could fly away. She dropped it once I got close, but then circled me, attempting to recover her prey. And the bird made no attempts to fly, or even flap. So instead of letting it die a slow and certain death, I let Kitten have back at it :(. What do I do now though?! She needs to stay inside for a while because the more she's outside, the more undomesticated she becomes, and thus, the more birds she'll kill. But her mouth is undoubtedly teeming with easily-transmitable-to-humans-and-babies diseases! It's a Catch-22. Well, I guess right now, it's only a "catch 2"... only 20 more to go... poor birdies.
A picture with this post just seems like bad form. Use your imaginations if you must.

More cute sleepies.

Cute sleeping pictures.

The various sleeping spots for the kittens: Behind the laundry bin in our closet, the shelf of my nightstand, under our bed, under our dresser, in Mama Cat's bed, in a box, in Dave's slippers...