The Cat Toy Closet

I paw at it. I meow at it. I whine. I stare at it. I guard it. If Mommy walks by it, or near it, or looks at it, or even thinks about it...I am there. Whining and staring. Staring and whining. Whining. Staring. Staring some more. If she opens the door even a crack, I slip inside and climb my way up to the top shelf to be reunited with my beloved wand toy. I am obsessed. Every evening my beloved wand toy comes out to play, and I become a maniac. I jump and pounce and play until the wand toy (and Mommy's arm) grows tired. That's when Mommy puts it back in the closet...and my quest resumes to once again free my beloved.

Finally a New Camera!

Hi Kitties,

Two years ago, Mommy received a digital camera as a gift. It took photos. That is the full extent of its positive qualities. The pictures always looked cold, grainy, blurry, and just creepy. Mommy adjusted every one of the elebenty squillion fancy settings with no success. So finally after two years of posting those awful photos on our blog, she broke down and purchased a shiny new name brand digital camera today. We are relieved.

Clarence napping...

and taking a baff.

Ambrose looking handsome

Teddi looking lovely

and taking a little baff.

Tuxie Tueday

Happy Birthday, Baskin and Abner!

 Hi Kitties,


Clarence here. Please join us in celebrating Baskin and Abner's first birthday. One year ago they were born to a feral mamacat who lives in our neighborhood. Toward the end of her pregnancy the mamacat came to our yard twice a day to eat, and after Baskin and Abner were 7 weeks old she brought them with her. They always went back to where they lived on a neighboring block, but in the evenings they would linger in our yard so Mommy got to see how loving the mamacat was toward her babies. The kittens ate solid food at our house more and more as they grew older, but the nursing and bonding with their mamacat continued until they were weaned at nineteen weeks old. When the mamacat rejected the kittens as part of the weaning process, the kittens moved to our back yard to be near their food source. Our mommy had been earning their trust all along, so she wasted no time in luring them into our house. After a vet check-up, they were introduced to the rest of us kitties. Clarence was eager to have young playmates, and the kittens were drawn to him like catnip. The kittens have bonded closely with Clarence, and the three now play constantly. We've heard that cats meow to humans only and not to other cats, but those three boycats are incredibly vocal with each other. Clarence, Baskin, and Abner communicate with each other using chirps, trills, meeps, noises that sound like miniature elephants trumpeting, and multi-syllable multi-note sounds that resemble bird songs. When the boycats get active in the evenings, our house sounds like a rain forest full of exotic creatures...with a constantly thundering herds of elephants. It is the most joyful sound!


You probably already guessed it,...we failed at fostering again. Baskin and Abner are here to stay. They are still very timid and continue to work on overcoming their fearful feral tendancies, so re-homing them would be difficult. Plus, they have bonded so closely with Clarence that we could never bear to split them up. We love them, and they are officially part of our family.


Happy birthday, Baskin and Abner!
Love,

Ambrose, Clarence, Teddi, and Mommy

Baskin

Abner

Pee.Ess.
Unfortunately, their mamacat doesn't live on our block, visits only occasionally, and is very fearful of humans; so that makes getting her spayed more of a challenge. Mommy tried to trap her this winter with no success, but will definitely continue to try until she succeeds.

Pee.Pee.Ess.
Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful comments about Grrreta. It was a great comfort to us. We are incredibly thankful to have such caring and supportive blogging friends.

My Sweet Precious Grrreta

I am deeply saddened to tell you my sweet, precious Grrreta has passed away from complications of feline diabetes. She had lost weight, her body had been reacting badly to insulin injections, and yesterday she suffered a seizure that took her life.

I will always cherish the sweet, wonderful memories of the eight years she was part of our family. She filled every moment with joy and love, and was loved more than I ever imagined possible. I miss her more than words can express.

Mom Michelle

There Goes The Neighborhood

Hey, Landlady! Could you please tell my upstairs neighbor to keep it down. It sounds like an elephant with a bunch of pet squirrels moved in up there. And it smells like they probably have a pet chimp too.

Worst Valentines Day Gift EVER!

Nothing says "I love you" like a glucometer...

This is NOT my happy face.

I've been diagnosed with feline diabetes. Over a period of a few months, I lost quite a bit of weight, which led mom to have me tested and diagnosed. I started twice daily insulin injections and once per week blood glucose testing at the vet's office as the vet recommended. Unfortunately, I had two very scary acute hypoglycemic episodes in the first eight days,...so after reading that the doodalicious Armani of JB's Small World tests his blood glucose level daily at home, and after getting info from his mom, we decided to test at home also. The pharmacist recommended this glucometer, but Mommy is considering exchanging it for one that requires a smaller blood sample size. Rumor has it that Mommy thinks she is going to steal my blood from my ear. I can guarantee Mommy will end up with an ample sized blood sample...but it might be her blood instead of mine.

A message from the Mom: My sweet little Grrreta has been incredibly patient and cooperative. I'm very lucky that she loves jumping in her pet carrier, riding in the car, and visiting the vet. She loves the attention, and has been great about letting me give her insulin injections. I'm not looking forward to getting blood samples from her ear, but hopefully it will help the vet find the best insulin dosage for Grrreta to gain back some weight and live a long happy life.

What's New at Casa de Grrreta?

Hi Kitties! Clarence here. I know...I know, it's been forever since we posted. All is well here.

I've been enjoying my fancy red double-wide mobile home

We got a new pet drinking fountain to replace the water glass on the bedside table we used to share with Mommy. Mommy hasn't adjusted very well to drinking from the new fountain, so she is still drinking from a glass...for now.

Oh yeah,...Mommy rescued two feral kittens from our back yard this summer. They are "foster kitties". They have been attending our Charm School for Wayward Kittens. This cutie is named Baskin.

Here he is relaxing under the dining room table. Hmmh...what's that on the floor beside him?

It seems that Baskin may have a bright future in the CB. Apparently he aspires to be a member of the Society of Feline Gardeners and also a member of the Naughty Kitty Club.

This handsome gray mancat-in-training is his litter mate, Abner.

He has a black belt gray belt in napping.

We apologize for not commenting very often on our friends' blogs lately, but we do keep up with your blogs by lurking visiting nearly every day. Your kitty blogs always brighten our day. Hopefully now that the foster kitties trust us enough to be indoor only kitties, Mommy will be able to spend more time indoors helping us blog. We really miss it!

Just Chillin'

Our Cube is ALIVE!

BREAKING NEWS:
Our cube has sprouted legs and a tail, and was spotted walking across the room.

In other news, Clarence has announced his acquisition of a new double-wide mobile home.

Happy Birthday/Gotcha Day !

(Mommy has highjacked our blog today for her annual sappy birthday drivel):

Today we celebrate all of my precious cats’ birthdays/gotcha days. It all started seven years ago…

Grrreta came into my life as an adult cat on April 19, 2005. I didn’t know what to expect adopting an adult cat, but it has been absolute pure joy. When I try to describe Grrreta, the only word that comes to mind is “perfect”. She brightens every day, and I am thankful to have been given the great honor of being her mom. 

Teddi also came into my life as an adult cat. She was feral and a new mom in May of 2007. It took almost six months of patience and Stinky Goodness to convince her to let me touch her, but it was definitely worth the wait. Feeding, vaccinating, spaying/neutering, earning trust, and providing a home for a feral cat is incredibly rewarding. I knew it would make an enormous difference in her life, but I had no idea what a difference it would make in mine. Watching her blossom into a healthy, happy, loving cat with a forever home has been absolutely amazing.

Ambrose and Chloe were 4 week old feral kittens when Teddi moved them to my back yard in June of 2007. They were already fearful of humans when they arrived, so I had to be patient and earn their trust. It was pure joy watching them grow up, knowing they would never be hungry or homeless as would likely be the case if they had remained feral. The best part was that they got to stay with their mamacat too. It was heartwarming to see Teddi be such a great mom, teach them how to be cats, and make them feel so very loved.  

Clarence mysteriously appeared on my back deck in June of 2011. He was around 5 weeks old and had somehow gotten separated from his mamacat. I fed him outdoors and watched from a window for hours waiting to see if his mamacat would return. I was torn...If they were to be reunited he would grow up feral which is a hard life, but I didn’t want him to miss out on the love and lessons that only a mamacat can give, and I didn’t want his mamacat to suffer the loss of a kitten either. When she didn’t return, I felt relief that Clarence would have the chance to have a forever home. He has been the perfect addition to our family. I am grateful to his mamacat for choosing our yard, and setting into motion the chain of events that lead her precious kitten to have the chance to grow up happy, healthy, and surrounded by love in his very own forever home.

  

Happy Birthday/Gotcha Day, Grrreta, Ambrose, Teddi, Chloe, and Clarence!

Thank you to our friends for stopping by on our special day! Please help yourself to some of our party treats: catnip, ham, real live dead shrimps, meowgaritas, niptinis, and silver vine. (It's the least we can do to make up for making you read through all that sappy stuff our mommy wrote. )

She Did It Again!

Hi Kitties,

I love surprises...and there was huge surprise for my Gotcha Day today.  No, the surprise was not for me. It was for Mommy. It occurred 18.75 hours into my Gotcha Day when she started helping us visit the CB blogs and made it to the C's. Yep, the Cat Blogosphere blog...and there in the third item of today' post was a very familiar name. Mine!..."Happy Gotcha Day to Grrreta!" She couldn't believe her eyes. It gets even worse...this is the second year she forgot my special day. She has been trying to convince me that she is very busy at work this time of year, and that she was planning a celebration for all five of us kitties on May 1st, because all of our birthdays/gotcha days are within a couple of weeks of that day. All I can say is that she better be planning the party of the century for May 1st in order to make up for forgetting my Gotcha Day. She has been warned. Fortunately, thanks to my awesome blogging friends, lots of you stopped by and wished me a happy Gotcha Day and truly made my day wonderful. Thank you for your sweet and thoughtful wishes on my special day! Now, I have a very busy evening planned...giving Mommy the stink eye.

Hunting for Toy Mousey

Mr. Chewy Review

Recently, several of our cat blogging friends have posted reviews of their experiences ordering pet food from Mr. Chewy. After reading their positive reviews and checking out the Mr. Chewy website, we were seriously considering placing an order. Deciding which items to order and getting Mommy motivated to place the order was taking a while, so we were thrilled when we were offered a coupon to use on the Mr. Chewy website in exchange for our review of their services.

We are especially impressed that Mr. Chewy has been reaching out to promote their services to pet bloggers. That seems very smart to us. We are a community of people who love pets, take great care of our furry family members, and are the perfect demographic for a smart pet product company to want as customers.    

So, on to our review...
We like the selection of high quality pet products offered on the Mr. Chewy website. We ordered a bag of Blue Buffalo Finicky Feast Chicken and Turkey Recipe Dry Cat Food, a bag of Taste of the Wild Canyon River Trout and Smoked Salmon Dry Cat Food, and an assortment of Tiki Cat canned cat food. We wanted to know which shipper they would be using for delivery, so we clicked the CHAT LIVE button on the Mr. Chewy website, and the lovely and talented Francesca answered our question within seconds. We placed our order, and it was delivered within four working days. We like all three products we ordered, but by far our favorite is the Blue Buffalo Finicky Feast Dry Cat Food. All five of us kitties really like the taste of it. The ordering process was easy and convenient, the products arrived in good condition delivered to our front door, and our order arrived quickly. Their prices are competitive. Most of their prices we compared were slightly higher than those at the national chain pet food retailer in our city, but when you take into consideration that there is no additional charge for shipping on orders over $49 and the product is delivered to your front door, we think it could definitely be well worth the slight difference in price for busy people like our mom to order from Mr. Chewy and be able to spend more time with their pets instead of having to drive to the store and lug home heavy bags of cat food and litter.  We are very pleased with our entire experience ordering from Mr. Chewy.

Here is a picture of Ambrose inspecting our order shortly after it was delivered.

Mr. Chewy offers:
- 70+ Brands – a wide selection and adding new in demand brands regularly.
- Subscription based ordering is available for hassle free delivery of your favorite products.
- Prompt shipping throughout the United States.
- Free Shipping for any order over $49

In the interest of full disclosure, we did received a $50 coupon in exchange for our honest review of their services, but that did not influence our opinions of their services or the information in this post.

Anatomy of a Nap - Ambrose and Clarence

New Year's Resolution

Hi Kitties,
I've been hard at work on my new year's resolution...to master the perfect sleeping position on my mom's bed, so that with the help of my brofur and sisfurs, Mommy will have to figure out how to sleep on an area of the bed the size of a toy mousie. On second thought, toy mousie will need somewhere to sleep too. I hope he doesn't mind sharing his space with Mommy.

Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving

We wish all our blogging friends a very happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful for:

• our forever home
• a mommy who loves us...always 
• brofurs and sisfurs with whom to snuggle and play
• yummy noms, treats, and toys
• our thoughtful, enlightened, witty, kind, and amazing blogging friends

...and this year we are especially thankful for our new brofur, Clarence, who is very thankful he has gone from a tiny, lost, feral kitten

to a big, healthy, happy mancat-in-training with a forever home.

We are also very thankful for all the amazing work our blogging friends do to save and protect animals through rescue, fostering, volunteering, TNR, caring for feral colonies, promoting the adoption of shelter pets, raising awareness about issues affecting the welfare of animals, blogging about the joys of sharing your home with a pet, being loving and responsible pawrents to your pets, offering understanding and  humor to comfort or brighten the day of others, and many other acts of kindness.

Thank you for all you do!

Wordless Wednesday

Tabby Tattletale Tuesday - Crime Wave!

 .
Kitties!  I've been robbed! 

Our safe, happy home has become a crime scene! Last night somebody stole our foodz! I noticed it when I was doing my midnight patrols. I discovered my kitten chow and the big kitties' snack buffet had been stolen! I was very, very upset. Luckily Mommy had given me a special snack of my favorite foodz around 10 PM, so I was able to make it through the night without starving. Unfortunately, I also missed breakfast the next morning, because Mommy wanted to take me to the vet's office so I could nap there all day. I'm always up for a nap, so I went along. Unfortunately, I had more things stolen while I was there. I don't even know how it happened. I was just taking a nap, and when I woke up, ...uh...um... somebody had stolen my ::whispers:: hoo-ha's!...and they ::whispers:: shaved my hiney!  What kind of sicko criminal would do that to a kitty taking a nap? I'm scared to tell my mom what happened, because I'm afraid she might be disappointed that I didn't keep better track of my, um...stuff. Hopefully, I will be able to find my stolen belongings and get them back before Mommy finds out. So kitties, if you see an ad on Craig's List or hear of someone trying to sell something that sounds like what I lost, let me know...

Word-ish Wednesday

Hi Kitties,

I'm a little bit worried. I have an appointment for a hoo-ha-ectomy at the end of the month. I didn't understand why I need to be "fixed", but now I see the problem...I'm pixelated! (Oh wait, Mommy did that to my picture so I wouldn't seem like an exhibitionist...Boy, am I relieved.)

In other news, I've been one very busy mancat-in-training. Here are some interesting facts about me:

• I am obsessed with watching Grrreta use the litterbox. I accompany her every time and sit and stare.
• I talk a lot...usually very loud with my mouth wide open and my eyes closed. Mommy says I look like a  cartoon character when I do that.
• I insist on waking Mommy every morning between 2 AM and 3 AM for snuggle time. Mommy says I'm the best snuggler ever. I jump onto her chest, collapse into a puddle, and cling to her tightly as if want to melt into her chest. I think she likes that.
• I love to crawl under the bed and climb up through the gap between the mattress and headboard between Mommy's pillows to surprise her. It works!

Wordless Wednesday - Clare-Bear

Mini-Mancat-in-Training

Hi Kitties!

I've been one very busy mancat-in-training. If you look closely at the picture below of me lying on Mommy's computer, you will see I managed to step on the exact keyboard keys needed to rotate the picture on the screen 180 degrees,...so everything was upside down! Mommy was very impressed by my computer skills. I have also been stepping on the keyboard to help her type lots of interesting search terms on our Google home page. Mommy used to think people who blamed their pets for visiting incriminating web sites were lying, but after witnessing my handiwork she is a little less judgmental of  those people.

Mommy insisted we include this picture to explain why we haven't been able to comment on our friends' blogs as much as we want. Every time I see the laptop computer open, I get sleepy and insist on napping on the keyboard.

My favorite part of having a forever home is having a big brofur. I love Ambrose very much. For the first two weeks he was afraid and wouldn't come near me, but now we are the best wrassling and chasing buddies ever. We play constantly. Mommy says I am exactly what Ambrose needed. Ambrose is very playful and energetic and needed a kitty who enjoys playing a little rough. She had considered adopting a mancat, but when I showed up on her back deck she decided it was destiny for me to be Ambose's brofur. She was concerned Ambrose might play too rough with a kitten, but he is the sweetest and gentlest big brofur ever.

Brofurly Love

Hi Kitties!

Some of you have commented that in some of our pictures, it looks like my big brofur, Ambrose,  might not love me as much as I love him. Well, here is photographic proof...just look at the expression on his face.  My big brofur definitely loves me.

Luv,
Clarence

I LOVE My Brofur