Wordless Wednesday

Friends on Friday

I thought I would share these cute pictures of Casper and Kip.  I love that their tails are crossed over as they watch what is going on outside and I think the shots illustrate what good pals they are.  Interestingly you can see in these pics that Kip, the youngest cat, is now bigger than Casper, the alpha cat.

Wordless Wednesday

True Love Tuesday

Hi Friends, Archie here.  Monday was the anniversary of the day I asked lovely Miss Tiri (Neytiri) from Clooney's Num-Num Fund to be my special Ladycat.

Mum already had a post scheduled for yesterday so I had to wait until today to tell all of you that Tiri has been my girl for TWO years now!!! I am the luckiest mancat there ever was.

I think she is the most beautiful ladycat in the whole Blogosphere, I could just burst with pride.  She calls me her Gingersnap, which makes me blush.

I adore you Tiri.  Happy 2nd Anniversary (one day late...mum's fault)!!!

Mancat Monday

I didn't have a chance to make a post last Friday, if I had it would have been called Fracas on Friday!  Let me explain....

On Thursday night, Archie and Casper went to the vet for their annual check-ups (Jimmy and Ben had already been for theirs back in May and Kip is on the November rotation with Rio).  After Archie's exam I asked to have his claws trimmed because he is so squirmy and difficult when we do it at home why not take advantage of some professional assistance while we were there.  So off to the back he went with a technician while Casper had his turn with the doctor.  All went well, they were both given clean bills of health and we returned home relieved there wouldn't be any more vet visits for a few months because I find the ordeal more upsetting than the cats!

We're healthy mancats :-)

However, once we arrived home something odd happened.  Jimmy started chasing Archie around the house and hissing at him!  Poor Archie, already stressed from the vet visit hid under our bed.   Perhaps Archie smelled more vet-like than Casper because he went into the back room at the animal hospital, or perhaps Jimmy was just agitated because the carriers had been out and that is never good.

Hey you at the bowl, you stink!

Whatever the reason for his odd behaviour, I though things would resolve overnight but in the morning Jimmy was still being nasty to his brother.  I was really quite distressed about the situation because my boys usually get on so well together.  I posted my problem to our CWB (Cats With Blogs) page on Facebook and got some great advice, especially from Teri of Curlz and Swirlz and Janiss, assistant to Sparkle the Designer Cat.   Teri told me that this is a very common occurrence and that Archie probably smelled like "fear" as well as "vet" and this wasn't sitting right with Jimmy.

my brother Jimmy was mean to me :-(

She suggested rubbing Archie with something that smelled like me (PJ's for example) and that this might help to counter his BO problem.  She also suggested sponge bathing both cats, swapping their bedding and of course separating them if need be.  I thought I'd start with the easiest approach first and spent the day stroking Archie with my PJ's then petting Jimmy with them too.  Janiss' recommendation was to rub both cats with catnip and get everyone happy and smelling of something good.  Luckily we had some industrial strength BC catnip that Archie's girlfriend Tiri from Clooney's Num-Num Fund had sent to us, so needless to say that idea went over very will with the boys!!!  I also dashed out and picked up some Feliway comfort spray which I misted on every cat surface I could think of and two refills for the plug-ins I regularly use that happened to be empty! 

mum says I was naughty to chase Archie

All of these efforts combined seemed to get the situation under control and by bedtime on Friday harmony had descended on the house once more.  Thank you to everyone who posted a comment or idea on Facebook, it was great to get so much support :-)

Wordless Wednesday

Jimmy sleeping in a duvet wave

Mancat Monday

Well kids, if you visited last Monday you know I posted some pics of the boys at the window watching Bird TV.  However in those shots I could only get four cats at a time and said it would be my quest to try to catch all five boys together.  I had no idea I would accomplish this so quickly!!!!

This is what I woke up to on Sunday morning and luckily my ipad was by the bed....

all five boys!!!!

Jimmy sees me snapping photos

 
Jimmy and Kip remained after the others lost interest

and then just Jimmy remained.

It was an exciting morning :-)

Friday Fun

Our friends Star and Leo over at Celestial Kitties blog gave us an award this week.

The rules tell us that we are supposed to list six of our favourite things.  Since we are five kitties and one woofie in this house we will all take a turn.  So here goes...

1. Casper:  I love running water either from the tap or my water fountain...mum says I always have a wet head!

2. Benjamin:I love my Daddy most of all and sometimes I perch on his shoulders

3. Archie:  I love my bathtub but if mum or dad is in it, the sink will have to do!!!

4. Jimmy: I love to give my mummy nose kisses and licks and I do it EVERY day...hold still mum I'm zooming in for a smooch!!!

5. Kip: I love our woofie Rio, she is my best friend!

6. Rio: Come rain or shine, winter or summer, I love my ball!!!

Well there you have it, everyone's favourite things,  Thanks to Star and Leo for including us in the fun :-)

Wordless Wednesday

Mancat Monday

It is sooo difficult to get all five of my boys in the same picture.  Sometimes the best I can do is four at a time.  Here are Casper, Ben, Jimmy and Kip watching bird TV about a week ago,

and here are Archie, Ben, Jimmy and Kip in pretty much the same scenario on the weekend.

I love a challenge though and will try my hardest to get all five mancats at the window together :-)

Friday Funny

My cats are not accustomed to closed doors.  They have access to every room in the house and always have the option to come and go as they please.  Similarly, Robert and I are oblivious to sleeping with cats walking or lying all over us, attacking our feet under the covers, jumping on and off the bed and playing thundering herds in the middle of the night.  So imagine the cat crisis which arose when my Mother (who was not that thrilled with their midnight mania) stayed at our house and actually SHUT THEM OUT of her bedroom at night!!!!  They hung around her door looking bewildered and incredulous, how could it possibly be that a) this door is shut and b) someone does not want us in there with them?  Casper was quite persistent and did his best to try and lure my Mother out by being especially cute and vocal....

um, excuse me this door seems to be closed

in case you don't know I'm out here I'll stick my paw underneath so you can see it

if I can just get a little more leverage I'm certain I can get this door open

I can see you walking around in there

::waving paw under door::  hello, hello?!?

maybe from a different angle

come on out, I'm showing off my tummy!

I ask you, who could resist those efforts :-)

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Ben hates to be left out of the action.  If we are sitting on the deck, he goes crazy at the door and the windows of the sunroom trying to get us to come back inside.  He will scratch at the glass and push his body up against the screens and generally carry on until I come inside and pay some attention to him.  Here is a little sample...

The odd thing is he really doesn't want to come out but wants me to come in because as soon as I open the door he runs away into the living hoping I'll chase him and play. 

I feel a little bad that I was laughing at him, but I couldn't help it he's such a funny boy :-)

We're Baaaaaack!

Hello friends,

It's been a while since I've posted regularly (other than birthdays and gotchas), I took a longer break than originally anticipated.  I am five months into my recovery now, feeling very good and looking forward to getting back to blogging!  I have missed interacting with all of you so much and have thought about you often during my absence, please forgive me for being gone so long. 

Just in case you've forgotten what the boys look like, I thought I'd start off with some recent pics of the gang :-)

Here's Casper playing with a new mousie, I'll post about where the mousies came from later this week.

Ben the other day giving me one of his cutest poses...actually I think he's daydreaming about his lovely Clementine

An extreme kitty close-up (EKC) of Archie's beautiful face.

Jimmy with eyes transfixed watching birds outside the bedroom window.  Jimmy is one of the loudest "chatterers" we have in the house.

Kipper on top of the fridge with the kitchen pig.

We're looking forward to catching up on the happenings around the CB and reconnecting with all of our friends!!!