Thursday, September 9, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Meet Ziggy
Ziggy is is the neighborhood cat that wants to move in with us. The girls weren't very happy with him at first but now Rbi tolerates him. Amber is still not so sure...
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Amber VERY Bad Cat
I read an interesting article awhile ago called "Your Bi-Lingual Kitty." It says that your cat has a language she uses to speak to other cats made up of scents and body language, she learns another language to talk to humans made up of meows. I know this is true because when we first got Rbi, she made the cutest mrr-attt sounds. We encouraged her; whenever she made that sound, we talked to her. I can find her anywhere now by saying "Mrrr-at-at-at." She can't help herself, she mrr-atts back!
On the Amber-side, she does not talk to us, she never has. I always figured it was half that she was an Abysinian (they are very quiet cats) and half she didn't want Malarky to find her, so she kept quiet. She uses mind control, preferring to stare at us, transmitting her desires telepathically. Today, I have had to revise my thoughts. Today I learned she doesn't want to talk to us...
Amber has had stomach "issues" for awhile now. We figured it was furballs but she wasn't vomiting any fur. Then I decided it was fleas and dosed her with flea meds. That helped for a few days. Friday night she barfed more than I have ever seen any cat barf anywhere! We cleaned for an hour. I called the vet and got an appointment for her on Sunday.
Sunday morning I got out the fancy wicker carrying case, and watched her run away from me, down the hall. After I set the case on the dining room table, I reached for the new foil envelope of her favorite treats and tore open the package. Up she popped from under the sofa, elbowed Rbi out of the way, and practically tackled me for the treats. I grabbed her, threw a treat into the case, and stuffed her in after it. So far so good...
I carried her out to the car, and put her in the front seat. Rbi, who was going along for a checkup, was in a cardboard box carrier on the floor. The second I put the wicker carrier in the car, Amber started to howl. In all the years Amber has lived with us, I have never heard a sound this loud come out of her. This scared Rbi who joined in. Now Rbi is the brave one, so when Amber heard her howling, Amber panicked and the noise became so loud I thought the neighbors would call the ASPCA!
Apparently Amber can speak as loudly as she wants.
I got them calmed down, although I did have to drive with my hand in Amber's case, scratching her head the whole way. Amber started voicing her displeasure when we got inside the vets. Where is a large snuffling dog when you need one to keep the cat quiet?
Rbi the brave, Rbi the terror of the backyard, is also Rbi the timid on the vet's table. The doctor was able to check her out, whisk her off to be weighed, and given a mani/pedi with no problems. Amber, on the other hand, became Amber VERY Bad Cat. To get her out of the wicker case, the doctor had to hold it upside down and shake, while I pulled. Amber was hanging on to the wicker with her back toes.
Once she was out on the table, she hunkered down, gave me a dirty look, and growled at the doctor. The doctor wrapped her in a kitty burrito, cat wrapped in a towel, and took her off to be weighed, mani/pedi-ed, and a blood panel drawn. I thought I heard her, Amber not the doctor, faintly in the distance, but decided that horrible noise couldn't be my sweet kitty.
After a rather long time, the doctor and Amber returned. Let me rephrase that. The doctor and Amber, totally swaddled in a towel and being held in a head lock by a pissed off but very strong looking young male technician returned. Those terrible noised came from Amber. The doctor had her put in her case, desiring no further interaction with my furry friend.
The article points out that kitties learn what meows communicate positively with humans and which get negative results. Amber is very good at displaying her displeasure...
On the Amber-side, she does not talk to us, she never has. I always figured it was half that she was an Abysinian (they are very quiet cats) and half she didn't want Malarky to find her, so she kept quiet. She uses mind control, preferring to stare at us, transmitting her desires telepathically. Today, I have had to revise my thoughts. Today I learned she doesn't want to talk to us...
Amber has had stomach "issues" for awhile now. We figured it was furballs but she wasn't vomiting any fur. Then I decided it was fleas and dosed her with flea meds. That helped for a few days. Friday night she barfed more than I have ever seen any cat barf anywhere! We cleaned for an hour. I called the vet and got an appointment for her on Sunday.
Sunday morning I got out the fancy wicker carrying case, and watched her run away from me, down the hall. After I set the case on the dining room table, I reached for the new foil envelope of her favorite treats and tore open the package. Up she popped from under the sofa, elbowed Rbi out of the way, and practically tackled me for the treats. I grabbed her, threw a treat into the case, and stuffed her in after it. So far so good...
I carried her out to the car, and put her in the front seat. Rbi, who was going along for a checkup, was in a cardboard box carrier on the floor. The second I put the wicker carrier in the car, Amber started to howl. In all the years Amber has lived with us, I have never heard a sound this loud come out of her. This scared Rbi who joined in. Now Rbi is the brave one, so when Amber heard her howling, Amber panicked and the noise became so loud I thought the neighbors would call the ASPCA!
Apparently Amber can speak as loudly as she wants.
I got them calmed down, although I did have to drive with my hand in Amber's case, scratching her head the whole way. Amber started voicing her displeasure when we got inside the vets. Where is a large snuffling dog when you need one to keep the cat quiet?
Rbi the brave, Rbi the terror of the backyard, is also Rbi the timid on the vet's table. The doctor was able to check her out, whisk her off to be weighed, and given a mani/pedi with no problems. Amber, on the other hand, became Amber VERY Bad Cat. To get her out of the wicker case, the doctor had to hold it upside down and shake, while I pulled. Amber was hanging on to the wicker with her back toes.
Once she was out on the table, she hunkered down, gave me a dirty look, and growled at the doctor. The doctor wrapped her in a kitty burrito, cat wrapped in a towel, and took her off to be weighed, mani/pedi-ed, and a blood panel drawn. I thought I heard her, Amber not the doctor, faintly in the distance, but decided that horrible noise couldn't be my sweet kitty.
After a rather long time, the doctor and Amber returned. Let me rephrase that. The doctor and Amber, totally swaddled in a towel and being held in a head lock by a pissed off but very strong looking young male technician returned. Those terrible noised came from Amber. The doctor had her put in her case, desiring no further interaction with my furry friend.
The article points out that kitties learn what meows communicate positively with humans and which get negative results. Amber is very good at displaying her displeasure...
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Rbi, the Accomplice
Oh yes, I forgot to tell you how they got out. We are getting ready to remodel out house, because of that we have not made some repairs because after the remodel, they will not be needed. The side door is one of these. It doesn't latch unless you push hard and double check it. One of us, my hubby I'm sure, didn't do this. I found the door wide open. Amber weighs around seven pounds, too small to bounce the door open. Rbi, on the other hand, is around twelve pounds, more than enough weight to open the door...
She Returns...
When I saw Rbi, I knew Amber was long gone. We don't know where she goes or what she does, we just know she disappears. It started with the ABC cat, as my friend calls her, taking a very long time to come when she was called in for the night. Then she started staying out all night. We can't have that! She's not supposed to leave the back yard...
Well, she came back around 11:00pm that same night. Not because we called or she realized she was being bad and needed to get her furry butt back inside, we figure she returned because she got scared! At around 11:00 we heard a cat crying, meowing piteously. We knew it wasn't Amber, she has almost no voice, so her meows are hard to hear. We recognized the moans as Ziggy's cries. Ziggy is an all black, love-of-a-cat who is owned by someone in the neighborhood but allowed to run free. He adores my girls who dislike him immensely. He will sit outside our bedroom window between the hours of 11:oopm and 4:00am to beg for them to come out. Very annoying...
Anyway, Ziggy started his lamentation and, all of a sudden, Amboseli appeared at the door, ready to come in. What can I say, at least I got a good night's sleep!
Well, she came back around 11:00pm that same night. Not because we called or she realized she was being bad and needed to get her furry butt back inside, we figure she returned because she got scared! At around 11:00 we heard a cat crying, meowing piteously. We knew it wasn't Amber, she has almost no voice, so her meows are hard to hear. We recognized the moans as Ziggy's cries. Ziggy is an all black, love-of-a-cat who is owned by someone in the neighborhood but allowed to run free. He adores my girls who dislike him immensely. He will sit outside our bedroom window between the hours of 11:oopm and 4:00am to beg for them to come out. Very annoying...
Anyway, Ziggy started his lamentation and, all of a sudden, Amboseli appeared at the door, ready to come in. What can I say, at least I got a good night's sleep!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Defined - Amber Bad Cat
I thought I'd have some time to slowly build the story of Amber Bad Cat, but she has done, once again, that which has earned her the name of Bad Cat. She has escaped into the night and refused to come when called. Once again, I will spend a sleepless night, worrying about her while she is out carousing the neighborhood. When I do fall asleep, Rbi will jump off the bed at every little noise, waking me while she looks for her best friend.
Why don't I lock her inside at night, say you? I do. Promptly at 7:00pm every night, we make sure Amber Bad Cat and Rbi are inside. Tonight, they pushed open the side door and escaped... Rbi snuck into the bonus room in the back yard to be with us without us seeing her. At 9:30, she stretched and wandered out, wondering when we were going to bed. That's when we realized that Amber must be long gone...
Why don't I lock her inside at night, say you? I do. Promptly at 7:00pm every night, we make sure Amber Bad Cat and Rbi are inside. Tonight, they pushed open the side door and escaped... Rbi snuck into the bonus room in the back yard to be with us without us seeing her. At 9:30, she stretched and wandered out, wondering when we were going to bed. That's when we realized that Amber must be long gone...
Then Came Rbi...
Amber was probably very happy being an only cat. Heaven knows my husband was happy having just one animal. Me? I like having two cats, they can take care of each other when you go away for the weekend and such. But I agreed to give having one cat a try...
I need to back up a little here. Before Amboseli, we had Malarky and 'Quinn. Malarky was a beautiful blue point Birman, a wonderful breed of cat whose long hair does not mat. Malarky was a love of a personality until he got sick. He had gorgeous blue eyes and the tips of his feet, like all Birmans, were white.
'Quinn is short for Harlequin. Quinnie was a short haired Tortoiseshell, and,
like all Torties, she was talkative and into everything. We called her the supervisor because we couldn't do anything without her being involved. Like a Harlequinn Jester, who wears one color on one side of his body and a different color on the other side, 'Quinn's fur was orange on one side and black on the other. She lived to be twenty-two years old.
I was okay with just having one cat. I missed walking into a room and seeing two cats curled up together, but I promised my husband I would not look for another cat. In the back of my mind, I fully expected another cat to find me. And she did. I went into a pet store I never go to to buy some bird seed and found a cage full of feral kittens. There, in the middle like she owned the cage, was a Tortie with little white paws. Here was a kitty who was channeling both 'Quinnie and Malarky! The sales clerk told me lots of people wanted her, and that she was still making up her mind who would get her. Of course, when I told her how this little kitty embodied both of my loved cats, she was mine! Even hubby couldn't say no when I told him about her fur color and the fact she had little white feet. Being a huge baseball fan, I named her Rbi.
I need to back up a little here. Before Amboseli, we had Malarky and 'Quinn. Malarky was a beautiful blue point Birman, a wonderful breed of cat whose long hair does not mat. Malarky was a love of a personality until he got sick. He had gorgeous blue eyes and the tips of his feet, like all Birmans, were white.
'Quinn is short for Harlequin. Quinnie was a short haired Tortoiseshell, and,
like all Torties, she was talkative and into everything. We called her the supervisor because we couldn't do anything without her being involved. Like a Harlequinn Jester, who wears one color on one side of his body and a different color on the other side, 'Quinn's fur was orange on one side and black on the other. She lived to be twenty-two years old.I was okay with just having one cat. I missed walking into a room and seeing two cats curled up together, but I promised my husband I would not look for another cat. In the back of my mind, I fully expected another cat to find me. And she did. I went into a pet store I never go to to buy some bird seed and found a cage full of feral kittens. There, in the middle like she owned the cage, was a Tortie with little white paws. Here was a kitty who was channeling both 'Quinnie and Malarky! The sales clerk told me lots of people wanted her, and that she was still making up her mind who would get her. Of course, when I told her how this little kitty embodied both of my loved cats, she was mine! Even hubby couldn't say no when I told him about her fur color and the fact she had little white feet. Being a huge baseball fan, I named her Rbi.
Is there anything cuter than a kitten?
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