Chey's new store

Okay, I have finally managed to get Chey's store up at Cafepress for some of her great photo shots. I mean, I love my siamese, shouldn't everyone? Wasn't that a catlike thought?

At any rate, her store is at www.cafepress.com/mysiamese That link does work but for some reason it doesn't work on blogger unless I have it spelled out. Odd glitches today.

Trimming up Fur

I have been trimming the hair off of Gemini's hind legs and tail to keep things a bit tidier around the litter box. I am amazed at how quickly cat fur grows. I trimmed that area up only three weeks ago and now it has all grown out again. I guess that would be true of my hair for the length that it has to grow, but I don't have to cut my own hair --someone else does. If my hair gets a little long, well it just falls in my face.

Also, when I have my hair cut, I sit still. I have learned that it's better to look good after sitting still than to look like I wiggled around in the chair the whole time. That would just look bad. Gemini has not learned this and I fear for what I might accidentally cut if she moves wrong. I guess it's getting a hair cut as a cat is far more stressful than it is as a human.

That darned auto litter box

The other day, Georgia was investigating the new automatic litter box. Chey and Gemini quite like it and prefer that to the other box in the house. Georgia prefers the old box. As she was investigating it, the automatic rake began. She leaped around the room, startled and settled on to my desk. Seeing that she was startled, I reached around the monitor to pet her and calm her--well that startled her more, so she raced across the room, knocking over a knick knack and then raced into the kitchen and sent the cat food dish flying and then ran up the stairs.

I have a suspicion that she won't be using the automatic litter box any time soon...

Georgia's Treat

I got the Feline Renal Support from Standard Process for Georgia. I tried it this afternoon as the dosage is one tablet twice a day (or as recommended and the vet recommended this amount). I took it upstairs and almost tried to push it down her throat and then I remembered that cats are supposed to like the flavor. So I held out my hand and she sniffed at it and she ate it and looked at me like she thought it was a new cat treat.

This could be great. As this is a long term supplement, it's wonderful that she'll just eat them and there won't be the constant fighting with her to try and pop a pill own her throat. She is not the easiest cat to pill, though in her old age, she's mellowed. I did manage to get all her amoxicillan down her throat when she had her teeth cleaned last fall.

I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but here's to a long time of giving healthy cat treats to the old lady cat!

Skiing Siamese, if you please...

I laughed yesterday on my trip to the US Outdoor Store. It's a wonderful place and I was searching for a new pair of skis. I'm an intermediate to advanced skier and I like to stay mostly on groomed runs. Telling the sales person that, he brought out some Rossignol B1 Bandits in my size and then he said, OH YEAH. He pulled out some Salomon Siam 7. He proceeded to talk about how wonderful the Siam 7 was. It's lightweight (almost frighteningly so) and turns very easily. I've read some reviews and those that love it, love it and those that don't--well they really hate it. We'll see. I'm skiing on Saturday.

I decided on it because, well, it's Siam. I have that lovely Siameseand how could I not get a ski named after her? Siamese are unique cats and not for everyone. So these skis probably aren't for everyone. But I like Siamese, so how could I not get a Siam 7?

I think the cats are laughing at my lack of logic. I didn't tell them I had actually done some research and with the help of the salesperson that seemed like a reasonable choice...

Missing that Kitten (again)

I don't think Gemini had any adventures this weekend. I was gone, again and she's getting better. Still she's the cat that it's hardest to leave. I don't know why. I didn't worry about my other cats and certainly as they got older and I had lots to worry about with their health, I don't think I really worried more. I find that strange. She's a healthy young cat and things don't seem to trouble her but there's something endearing about her personality that makes me miss her. I'm not quite sure what that is.

The other cats are doing well. I noticed that Chey, for all that she's definitely the smallest cat (or at least the lightest) can still give Gemini a swat and have Gemini sit up and take notice. I think Chey won the battle for the bed. They occassionally swat but in general seem to like to play and those two are always chasing each other around. It's common to have Gemini bounce on the bed with Chey only steps behind her. If they notice I'm awake they have their areas where they sit near my face and wait for me to get up.

Hmm... and I miss this?

The older cat

Georgia's blood work came back the other day. She is slightly into kidney failure, but it's early stage. Also her thyroid levels were questionable and she could be showing early signs of hyper thyroidism. In both cases, my very fat cat could get thinner. Ironically she is sort of on a diet as she put on lots of weight when I got Gemini and she got to snack on kitten food!

At any rate, we will be using a formula from Standard Process called feline renal care to help her kidneys along. It's supposed to be more palatable than my other option of Chinese Herbal medicine. We'll see if Georgia likes the tablets. It would be nice as she'll be on them for the rest of her life. Fortunately we do use Standard Process for humans in my office so our naturopath can get them for me and I don't have to go all the way over to Georgia's vet.

Pet alternative medicine is coming a long way. It used to be that you had to sort of find a human practitioner who was willing to work on your pet and now veterinarians specialize as well. For the old age pets in kidney failure and arthritis these complementary proceedures can be invaluable to the quality of their life.