Year 3 - Day 216 - August 3

As the cat has transitioned into a wet food only animal, he has become increasingly whiny. This is a big change because he was a pretty silent cat up until this point. He begs and begs for food, but he can no longer graze, so if we give him too much he gets sick. He's missing the logical part of his brain though, because he still begs and begs. He took it to a new level this week and began jumping up on the desk counter where (he thinks) the food is. (It's actually on the chair that pushes up on the counter, plus it's in cans!) He's spent the first 9 years of his life very well trained in this department - I saw him go up on top of the cabinets a couple times when he was young and bouncier but he got "no kitchen surfaces" trained pretty young. But today he went even further - when he didn't find what he wanted on the desk, he tried the top of the fridge. And then when I yelled, he leaped to the floor in one jump. Talk about a thud. Ouch.

Year 3 - Day 209 - July 27

When we took the Duclaw glasses out of the TV room, I had big plans for the shelves. I still do. I just haven't done anything yet. :) The cat took advantage of all the empty space today, and curled up with my Mike Mussina picture and autographed ball.

Moments later, he threw the ball on the ground. Mike came running and saying "No, Moose! No!"

I was very impressed that Mike cared about my ball.

Then he said, "If you're going to throw something, throw the PICTURE!"

Sigh. :)

Year 3 - Day 171 - June 19

I recently got the cat a new scrating post thingy with a stand on top. He has always liked laying in the sun beam in this window, so that's where I put it. However now, he lays in the shade that the perch makes. Go figure. He sticks his nose up in the perch a lot, but doesn't jump up there. If Mike puts him up there he'll stay and get comfortable but he doesn't take the initiative to get up there himself. The good news is, he has definitely lessened the scratching in inappropriate places. (He loves the berber carpet on the stairs!)

Year 3 - Day 148 - May 27

This is the cat's newest medicine. It's some kind of syrupy goo that I have to squirt into his mouth with a needle free syringe. He doesn't love it, but it's faster than the previous goop that I had to rub onto his face. Plus with this stuff, he can't rub it all over the floor and bed. The old gel was supposed to be rubbed around his mouth and then the idea was that he would lick it off. NOT. He quickly learned that if he rubbed his face in the comforter or on the carpet, it came off and he didn't have to taste it. That wasn't going to fly, so here we are with new stuff. It works though, so I'm willing to deal with the hassle! He was so much easier of a pet before he had the stupid reaction to the rabies shot. Ever since then, it's been one thing after another. He seems content with his life as long as I am not holding him down and squirting liquid into his mouth though, so I guess he's ok in general. Just a lot more work than before!

Year 3 - Day 89 - March 29

Great news in Orioles land today. Mike Mussina got elected to the Orioles' Hall of Fame! Even if he did defect to the Yankees, he's #3 in wins all time for the Orioles and high up on lots of other stats too. If the Orioles didn't stink and Angelos wasn't a poo poo head, he would have stayed. I was mad at first like everyone else, but I got over it and followed him to the Yankees.

Here we are, circa December 1994. :)

Year 3 - Day 67 - March 7

My cat has been having issues for awhile so we took another trip to the vet today. Let's just say I wish there were $15 lab and xray copays for pets!!!!!!! (I can't shake the feeling that this is all related to that bad shot reaction last year. He was a normal boring cat until then!) I have a medicine to give him now that is globby and gooey. I'm supposed to smear it on his face so he'll lick it off. Another tech recommended putting it on his paws. I tried a little of both. The paw thing was HILARIOUS. I know it's mean to laugh, but oh my goodness. He knows there is something on his paw, because he feels the sticky. But instead of licking it off right away, he runs around on the other 3 feet (ok, runs is being generous) and shakes the "traumatized" paw around. But hey, it works ;)

Year 3 - Day 53 - February 22

When I walked up the stairs before, Moose was having a fight with the two sides of this green towel hanging from the bar in my bathroom. He'd pounce on the back side and pull it down, but then the movement on the front side would startle him making him pounce on the front side. Of course due to the way towel bars work, pounding on the front kind of means you're pouncing on the back too. Back and forth he went with this insanity for several minutes. He's crazy. PS ignore the fact that you can see my shiny PJ pants laying on the floor. Of course I never leave clothes on the floor. Ever. :)

Year 3 - Day 44 - February 13

I downloaded a free app today that is a red laser pointer dot flying around the iPad screen. Moose watched it, but he wouldn't hit it. I'm trying to figure out how to train him to play. ;)

Year 3 - Day 31 - January 31

My cat is super excited that I've been hanging out on the couch for 4 days. He follows this sun beam around the room and then later in the afternoon around the house. He lives in the lap of luxury!

Year 2 - Day 243 - September 1

Recently out of nowhere Moose started having stomach issues. It started after his most recent "check the lump from the vaccine" appointment in which he hissed and snapped at the vet for the first time, so I think it perhaps it started with stress. Whatever the reason, he was using his litter box appropriately for pee and after one inappropriate closet pooping incident, he wasn't going at all. I read that wet cat food can help their systems regulate themselves, so I splurged and bought a couple cans.

Oh. My. Goodness. Not only did it solve the problem (whew) but he is now crazy when it comes to food. I am not switching him all the way to wet food because it's a pain in the butt. However, I'm giving him a portion of a can twice a day to go with his dry food. More of a supplement than an entire diet change. This seems to be working on his stomach and life is good. However, he has completely changed. He used to eat to live, now he lives to eat. As soon as I pick the can and a spoon up, he goes nuts and starts howling and running to his bowl. It's gotten to the point where sometimes he howls just if I pick up silverware for us. I couldn't believe that the box of food says a can for every 3 pounds of cat a day. That'd be 5 cans a day! He eats dry food when he's hungry and gets like a table spoon of wet food morning and night.

Year 2 - Day 130 - May 11

Another day, another vet visit.  Moose had a bad reaction to a vaccine he got on Easter Weekend.  We’re on our 2nd round of antibiotics and he’s had 2 shots to try to calm the reaction down, too.  He even lost a pound – he’s down to a skinny 14.8 pounds. ;)

Year 2 - Day 116 - April 27

We took a trip to the vet today for the 2nd time in less than a week.  (This breaks our previous record of 2 times in 4 years.)  Since he's an indoor cat, I honestly just don't worry about it.  I found a lump on his neck recently and had it checked out last week.  The doc wasn't concerned, but updated his rabies shot while we were there.  Ever since he got the shot, he's been messing with the injection site & pulling out his fur in a larger and larger splotch, so today they asked me to bring him back.  I think he now knows the word "cage" because when I said to the girl on the phone that we'd be there as soon as I got him in the cage, he BOLTED.  It was pretty comical.  Luckily Mike had just gotten home from work and participated in the catching.  He would not come out of the cage once we were there, either.  He tried all kinds of acrobatics to keep himself in there. The trauma the vet & I inflicted upon him, coupled with a nose to nose meeting with a hyper pitbull mix who wanted to be Moose's best friend pretty much added up to the worst day of the poor cat's life. 

Year 2 - Day 83 - March 25

The next time you hear my darling husband talking about how much he does not want a cat or like my cat - remember this picture!!!!

Year 2 - Day 38 - February 7

Attack cat!  Taken with the action setting.  Terrible angle, but the only one where I really got the action to stop.

Year 2 - Day 12 - January 12

With the speed he jumped on the coffee table to get the last few drops of water out of the glass, I have to wonder if human glasses make water taste that much better than cat water bowls??? This is the reason I never leave still in use glasses unattended on the coffee table and why I never reuse them if I forget and leave an empty one out!

Day 292 - October 19

Moose seems to know it is me when the garage door opens on my way home.  (I'm the only one with a car in the garage, so I guess he's figured it out.)

Every day when I walk in the door these days, he runs and sits next to his ribbon toy and scratching pad.  (As you can see, they are currently located in the dining room that has nothing else in it but a desk & piano.  What does that make it? The conservatory? The office? The study? The ballroom?)

I don't know who made this ribbon toy - but I must say it was worth every penny.  The first toy I got him was a mouse or something at the end of an elastic cord.  He cared nothing about the toy, but attacked the cord.

The second toy I bought was just a ribbon on a stick - but the ribbon lasted 2 days.

For many years, I just put a new ribbon from the crafting zone on the old plastic stick because the ribbon had a 2 day shelf life before it was chewed into uselessness.

But this toy I saw in a store and had to try out.  Greatest cat investment ever.  Instead of a ribbon, it's a double thick sewed fleece strip.  Moves like a ribbon, but withstands the fangs of the feline.  It's lasted for more than 6 months already!

Day 215 - Aug 3

Our bedskirt is 3 panels, so there is a little gap at each corner.  As soon as the thunder rolls in - Moose BOLTS for what he thinks is a cat door to the safe zone.

Day 169 - June 18

Schoooooooooooooooooooooool's out for summer!

And it came at a good time.  Moose is all kinds of discombobulated these days.  Super clingy and whiney, which is really bizarre and unusual for him, because he was always the quiet one.  He's been squeaking at me everytime I walk away or heaven forbid close the bathroom door. :)  So hopefully me being around for awhile will help with the transition.  This has been surprising me, because I really didn't think Moose was going to care when it happened. 

This pillow is his favorite thing in the whole wide world.  My mom's friend made it for us a couple years ago and it must, even after the fibers were cleaned, still have some kind of sheep smell to him.  He is obsessed with it!!

Day 71 - March 12

I told you that the other animal would eventually show up!  This is Moose's angry face.  It amused me.  Really, I was playing with my zoom lens to see how close of a shot I could get, but since I was looking through said zoom lens, I bumped him in the nose and he made this face. :)