Pansie , the Tabby Retriever

Pansie just learned a new trick. She just started to bring us her mousy toys for no reason. Then one time, my husband thought what she would do if he throws it away. Surprisingly, she ran after the mousy, picked it up, and brought it back to my husband.  Knowing our cats who have an extreme case of ADD, he threw it back a couple of times, just to confirm that she was really retrieving the mousy. And she did! It's now part of our morning routines. And she loves it!

Thank You Patty!

I have a new kitty rescue, but I gotta fast forward a bit. I promise I'll write about his story in my next post.

So after a 5 day confinement in the clinic, I brought the orange tabby kitty home this evening. I still have to separate this baby from my other cats for at least another week to make sure that little orange tabby is free from sickness. I divided my balcony in to two as suggested by my husband so that the other half can still be enjoyed by my cats, while the other one stays confined on the other half. My balcony is cat proof and has been fully tested by Sylvia who has not been out ever since I have reinforced the fence and the netting.

OK so I left kitty and started to do my work routine as it's almost time for work. After 30 minutes, I thought I should check him and feed him. To my surprise, he was nowhere to be found. I turned the whole balcony upside down, but he wasn't anywhere. I checked everything where he could be hiding, or where he could fit, and I couldn't figure out how he escaped. I was so afraid that he made it out to the outer balcony and start cruising in the neighbor's balconies - worse, get trapped somewhere I couldn't reach him. I kept on calling him, trying to shake my food container to lure him, but no response. I was so afraid he wouldn't come back because a. he hardly knows me, b. I haven't even fed him, so he wouldn't know if this house has food for him. For hours, i just went back and forth : Balcony -> outer balcony -> back to the house -> go back to the balcony again and check if he has come back -> outer balcony again to see if he's anywhere in sight. All I could think of is what if something happens to him? What if I have a neighbor who hates pet and discovers him? What if he gets trapped? So many shit popping in my head. I was so desperate I started to cry. There's really nothing I could do at that point, but to wait. I started browsing about DIY cat traps. But no, the tools needed I don't readily have, and if I have to trap, I have to do it now now! So I cried again.

Then Patterick came and sat beside me. He probably thought i look stupid crying over nothing. Then kissed him and rubbed his face and asked him if he could pray with me so that the kitty would come back. Instead of ignoring me and walking away (like he always do), he sat there for a long time with a comforting eyes.

When i got tired of crying, i pulled myself together and told myself OK, I'm just going to print photos tomorrow and put it up in the elevator. I hate putting attention to my cats because I'm being discreet about them since this condo's a bit strict with house pets. But I have to take responsibility, and I have to tell them as early as possible.

After my work meeting online, I stepped out again just taking chances... and then i saw something moving...
IT WAS ORANGE TABBY!

Patterick's prayer is so awesome! I'm so ecstatic now I feel like I'm going to be super productive with everything :D!

I locked up little tabby for the mean time, until I get a chance to reinforce the balcony again. I think he can still fit under the railings. What a little Houdini!

Kitty Exposure on Reddit

So apparently, my good husband posted a photo of my cats on the bed with me in my "the oilier, the uglier" look, tinkering on my laptop. The comments are very interesting and amusing, I must say... and I'm greatly relieved to read that we are not alone in this world to own a lot of cats (yep, I admit 6 is more than enough). Well, that's not entirely true. I know a number of people who have a battalion of cats in their households, for the reason that they rescue a lot and doesn't have the heart to turn down and look away to those unfortunate, starving, abused, sickly cats/kittens on the streets.

But first, let me clarify - I do have a base station for working :P, and when the photo was taken, we just got up so that explains the big mess (haha excuses, excuses). 

Reading through the comments, I wanted to share one in particular because she practically nailed what you should expect more or less if ever you decide to adopt a cat - especially if you are considering more than one. Although I constantly look for potential adopters and promotes adoption to my friends, I also think it is responsible to tell them upfront what they are getting themselves in to. One of the many reasons there's so many stray cats in the streets is cat dumping. I am so sick and tired of seeing and hearing stories of pet owners who dump their pets all because they are tired of caring for them - either the cat is sick, have unwanted litter, misbehaved, or too much to handle. So when I find an interested adopter, I always make it to a point to set their expectations properly, and also to emphasize that getting a pet is a lifetime commitment. I wish I could make everyone realize that having a pet companion is like having another member of your family. It will be dependent on you, a part of you until the end of its days.

So here it is. Thank you flibbertygiblet of Reddit for a well composed comment. This will be a great reference for potential pet parents.

(note: I emphasized the word "more or less" because each cat has its own personality, and some may or may not be applicable like the costs - in a way, it is cheaper in the Philippines to provide food, cat litter, and medical care than it is in the United States. I do not intend to discourage people from adopting, nor to scare you of,  but I just wanted to give a rough idea of a serious cat care )

"5 cats is hectic, no getting around it. We have five, plus a dog, plus any number of fosters at different times. It is very fun and very rewarding, but here are a few things to consider.

• each cat needs his/her own litter box. We get away with 3 for the permanent 5, but that is because they are all neutered males and get along fairly well. Each foster gets their own.
• litter boxes must be cleaned daily. Plus, we completely dump/scrub/refill each one as needed(usually once every few weeks).
• the amount of money we spend on good food, plus supplements(raw food), plus litter, plus toys is mind boggling. Currently around $150-$200 a month for just the cats.
• Adaptation. We can't have fragile things on counters, vases of flowers, knick-knacks, stacks of mail, anything like that laying around. We must be vigilant about dropped tacks, staples, or toothpicks. No cords visible.
• Destruction! They will destroy all that you love unless precautions are taken. We just bought our house a few years ago and have not done much renovating yet. The damage they've done already has shown is what precautions we need to take. We have narrow windowsills, they scamper to sit in them. All walls underneath windows will have to have a sheet of plexiglas on them to protect from scratches. Same for all outward corners.

They will knock things off counters and break them. They will shed and dirty up every blanket in your house(we use duvet covers to combat this). You will get lazy one day, fail to clean the box, and they will pee on your bed(mattress and pillow protectors).

• Relationships. They have friends and enemies. There will be skirmishes, some you have to break up. Then there's just plain ol' rough housing. They will eat things they shouldn't. Kitty first aid knowledge is required.
• medical expenses. Even if all is well, and they are indoor(ours are except on leashes)they need medical care. Flea treatments, ear mite treatments(not a huge issue, our fosters sometimes bring them), yearly check ups, shots, spay/neuter. It adds the fuck up. $45 x 5 is a large yearly expense. That's just check-up and rabies shot(ours are on a schedule now, everyone due at once, you can stagger to make it easier). Then there's things like colds that turn into URIs and boogery eyes that get infected from scratching. That's another $35 trip to the vet plus medications(this is rare though).
• Feeding. Unless free fed, feeding can be a chore. And for free feeding, you need everyone to have self control(we are lucky here). Otherwise, it becomes a huge hassle and time eater to have to portion/feed/supervise the whole process.
• Lack of sleep. You will lose sleep with so many cats. Whether they are knocking things around, wrestling, arguing, yowling for no apparent reason, running laps, playing with loud toys, trying to get you to play, sleeping on your head, needing fed if hand raising kitten(or a litter), or just taking up way too much fucking space on your king sized bed, you will lose sleep.
• Time. This is the biggest one besides cost. I spend so much time watering, feeding, petting, playing with, cleaning up after, shooing off counters, snuggling, nail clipping, nip spraying/sprinkling, wrestling, walking, making toys, and everything else. It's a lot of work. Plus, we have a dog, so that's a lot more walking/training/playing.

The only way we are able to do this is because we have a unique situation. I work from home, as does my hubs about 75% of the time, and there's enough money that we don't have to skimp on care and feeding.
However, the cats(plus my dog of course)are the furry loves of my life. They can all be huge pains in the ass, but I wouldn't take a million dollars for any one of them. They are all unique in their personalities, and even though we didn't know it, each new one brought something we were missing. All the time, all the money, all the little annoyances are totally, 100% fucking worth it when they snuggle up for lovins, purr their hearts out, or do something so funny that it can change the outlook on a cloudy day."

Sylvia's Business in The Extended Balcony

I really hate it when Sylvia escapes to the extended balcony. But if this is all she does, I'll probably reconsider.

Munching on my poor flowering plant that I stole got from my trip to Sonya's Garden earlier this year.

She seem to enjoy the leaves so much.

Beautiful Girl!

After the beautiful moment, I had to kill the fun and carried her back inside. Then thinking she's really out there for the plants, I put my pretty parsley plant inside in case she needs some vegetable fix. Like I expected, she ignored it and escaped once more.

She later came home with a cockroach in her mouth that she caught from the neighbors. Mystery solved! I thought my house was the one infested with roach. Apparently, Sylvia does the hunting outside and take it in for the cat family's pleasure.

I bet she did the same when I found a dead bird one morning.

The Best $1.99 Purchase I've Ever Made

... well, second to my Guitar Tuner app.

For years I have learned to adjust for my cats specially on work time. They are always on my desk either chasing my hand when I move my mouse or chasing the cursor on screen. So since this appeared to be their greatest form of high-tech entertainment (other than crumpled paper, paper towels, tissue boxes and plastic bags) why don't I just give them what they want and maybe, just maybe, they'll leave me alone. So there, I looked for a cat entertainment application in the itunes store and made my very first cat entertainment purchase - and by far, the cats are still crazy about it! I am crazy about it!

Paint For Cats, you are awesome!



The only problem now is they try to dig under the ipad to check if the mouse is hiding there.

Pan Special Talent.

One day in the pupishack... Pan got bored and decided to show off her special skills.

Van, the Cake-Eating Cat

I recently notice that van has a passion for flour based food. She always like getting a tiny share of toasts I make or sandwiches. Today, she took a bite of my cake!

a cake-eating cat. Van you are so cute!

How can you work...

... when your supervisors are always watching you.

A Nice Quiet Sunday Evening

After coffee session with my fellow cat slave lover, Gerry, I went home feeling lazy and was just in a mood for a quiet evening. We decided to have a movie night. So I cleaned up a little, showered, fixed some snacks and jumped on the bed with my hubby and started a movie. Surprisingly, Nishi jumped on the bed between us, rested her body against me and started to watch the movie. She was very quiet, very sweet. She didn't complain when I pet her. She usually bites me when I do, get pissed, and then get off. But this evening, she was super behaved, like the old times. She haven't done this in a very very long time. I enjoyed the moment. It's just like those times when she was little where she always love cuddling and sleeping beside me. Mark and I were very happy.

 However, like a typical Filipino, as soon as the movie ended, she stood up, stretched her tortoise back, and left the bed - without waiting for the credits :).

 The movie was >The Cat Returns (Neko No Ongaeshi) by Hiroyuki Morita. This is one of those simple joys I appreciate and cherish. I love my baby cat!

The Laptop Destroyer

I swear I won't be talking to Lotto and Sylvia for days if my laptop would start causing me problems in the following days...

I was taking a piss in the bathroom when they rioted, once more, on the bed where my laptop was peacefully sitting on top of a bed tray that Mark gave me on Christmas. The intense fighting resulted to pushing the table off the floor, crashing my laptop on our tiled floor. I was horrified to see but couldn't do anything because I was sitting on the throne.

3 months ago, one of my naughty cats also knocked down my laptop but didn't witness it, and after a day, it wouldn't boot anymore. Apparently, the hard drive was damaged, probably because of the fall. Now, I can't handle another repair, worse, a replacement for this laptop. I can't be changing laptops every year.

A Brother's Love

Apart from being hungry 100% of the time, who would eat almost anything that's edible, Lotto's also the friendliest cat in this house. He loved all the cats that we fostered in the past. When they were gone, he would look for them and meow all over the house.

Now, Lotto's playing a big brother to the 3 kittens we currently foster. I'm sure he'll miss them once they get adopted.

Sylvia's Song

Sylvia has proven our cat-proofing efforts, once again, a failure. She escaped again, for the nth time, roaming around the extended balcony of our neighbors. She does comes back, but I don't really like the idea of her being out. She might cause troubles in the other balconies, like eat neighbor's plants, or get eaten by neighbor's dogs. So Mark's yet again re-enforcing security in the balcony.

Now, I wonder what goes inside Sylvia's head...

I think this song plays in her head whenever she plots her escape.

The Application Called EEEEE=M

One of my cats' favourite hang-outs is my laptop. They sometimes type cat language on my Skype chat window sent to my bosses, and sometimes they just play my itunes music when they feel like chilli'n. Today, Pan seemed to be looking for an application called EEEE but failed to find it.

Two months ago, I had this laptop serviced. I was pretty embarrassed that when they dismantled it, they found so much cat hair I could make a cat keychain from it.

Cats, cats...

I Deal With This Day and Night

Cats love to sleep and chill out on odd places. Nishi loves to chill on top of our fridge, while Sylvia loves to be inside of any bag, including grocery bags. Lotto, however,  loves to be behind our computer screens - most specially when I'm working.

Imagine if this is a human head - creepy. So how can I work like this?

This is Lotto's favorite spot since we got him. But he hardly fits now. He's in denial of his size.

Tell me, how can I work like this!!!

On the other hand, he's so cute. How can  I not tolerate?

Right above is Van. Very convenient guys!

Pan's Back, Hyper Than Ever!

The return of the Pan.

After a week of confinement and treatment in the animal clinic, Pan is now back, hyper than ever!

She was diagnosed to have a hip trauma, caused by either a rough play or a fall. This was the cause of the fever and the sudden appetite loss. At one point, the doctor had to assist her peeing/pooping by expressing her bladder. But thank God, alle's goed now.

For a week being apart, she grew so much. She's bigger now, more active and alert, and more rowdy. Pan loves to attack-play the two other kittens we are fostering, Kal and Van. She's like a Mexican jumping bean. Unstoppable. We always have to watch over the two kittens because she's always rough playing. Right now, Kal's limping and we are suspecting it's because of her. So Kal's now off limits at the moment.

Lotto, Naughy But Neat.

I caught Lotto again, for the nth time, in the outer balcony. Bringing him back isn't a problem because he can easily be lured back with food. So I locked him in until Mark figures out how we can prevent him from crossing the line again.

But then, he needed to go. We have a small litter box inside, which is for the kittens we are fostering. I saw him carefully fitting himself in that small box, as he do his business very carefully. It was hilarious to see how he tried to perfectly fit his ass on that box. Before he finished, I left the room with the thoughts that shit the room will be stinky. I grabbed the pooper scooper to clean up the box, returned to the room, and I was surprised! I still can't get over the thought and I still laugh just thinking about it. The room didn't stink. He was even able to bury the poop - without spilling any sand on the floor!

I don't know if he's just naturally smart and neat - or he just have an OCD.

It's also worth to mention that Lotto was the only cat in this house that was able to use our toilet trainer properly. Not too long ago, we bought a toilet trainer to transition our cats from using the litter box to using our toilet. We had a small stool where they can jump on if the toilet feels too high for them. Only Lotto seemed to get the concept, and I always see him using it.

But since I see shit there every time, I thought everyone's using it. I felt proud of ourselves for training, and proud of my cats for being smart enough to get used to it - until it was time for laundry...

It turned out, that for an entire week, they were shitting on the laundry basket. We weren't smelling it, because we just keep on piling the clothes on top. Use your imagination. Everyday shit, everyday we throw clothes in there. So layers of clothes with layers of shit. It was absolutely disgusting!

The poops in the toilet trainer, were all from Lotto, after all.

After the horrific laundry day experience, we threw away the dreams of  making our babies use the toilet for their #1s and #2s.

Lotto in the Balcony

Lotto just found a way to cross to the extended balcony, where no cat is allowed. The extended balcony is open air, with a low wall division between my neighbor's extended balconies that any cat can jump on. I'm afraid of two things - they fall off the balcony to the street, or they cross the neighbor's balcony and run in to a dog.

Mark worked so hard to reinforce the cat-proofing system, that was once destroyed a few weeks ago, in the inner balcony. Unfortunately, Lotto outsmarted our system and can now cross constantly. His only problem is getting back. He can't come back so he just cries.

It's funny that he can't deny he was out, because his tail smelled like rosemary. I have a nice fat rosemary plant in a pot on the extended balcony :P

He's now locked in, until we reinforce cat protection tomorrow.