July - Month In Review

This month was pretty good for critters.  Health wise everyone seems pretty stable and in good shape.  I am pleased that Clooney is eating well and at least holding his weight steady.  We continue to work on gaining.  Zoey seems well even with the decrease in her supplements.

Emma had a rough go on the fourth of July - she always does.  But - she did have an excellent time at the beach the weekend following so that made up for it.  The kitties are well - all of them except Aggie are enjoying daily visits to the garage.  Aggie has no interest.  Ferrets are good - playing and fighting as usual.  Nigel is going strong as well - he is such a go with the flow little critter.

In August I am looking to start Emma at a new doggie daycare that has opened up close by.  Hopefully that will run off some of her nervous energy and decrease the carpet scratching.  She will also go to the groomer at the end of August for another hair cut.  I am thinking we will never let it get as long as it was before - the difference in the amount of hair in the house is amazing.

All in all - July was a pretty good month - no complaints....

Monthly Snaps

The random shots from July as we get ready to close out this month....where does the time go???

Nigel

My littlest dude is always happy to pose for a picture and I am always happy to oblige:

Four Kitty Post

It's time for another four kitty post.  I love it when they cooperate for picture taking.  The tongue out shot of Phoebe makes me laugh:

Olympics!!!

I love, love, love the Olympics!  I love the ceremony, the pomp and circumstance, the back stories, the competition, the medals.....I watch things I have absolutely no interest in during the Olympics - I simply can't get enough.

I was thinking - if the critters were to go into the critter summer Olympics, what sports would they choose?

Nigel - he would be in the 100 yard dash - he is fast
Madison - she would be the gymnast - she loves to climb and flip
Clooney - he would be a weightlifter - we call him Hercules - he can pull like 20 times his body weight
Agatha - she would do archery - she is the observer, very focused, very precise
Zoey -  she would open up a can of kitty whoopass in women's boxing
Oliver - he would be a high jumper - he jumps from the floor into your arms and he leaps between pieces of furniture
Phoebe - my beautiful bath kitty would be the captain of the synchronized swimming team
Emma - she would be the decathlete - Wheaties box bound I am sure

What a silly post - but kinda fun!

MIA

Mr Hedgehog went off the radar last night.  I got him out about 8 pm and brought him downstairs to play while we ate and watched TV.  Typical night - he loves to play downstairs so we do this quite often.  Around 10 pm I thought I would put him back in his cage.  I looked in all the regular places and couldn't find him anywhere.  I didn't think much of it and decided I would head upstairs.  Usually when he gets tired he heads back to the blanket I always set out on the floor and curls up to go to sleep.  I figured I would check on him later and he would be snoozing in his covers.

About 12:30 I head downstairs and see that he has been playing in his blanket but again he is no where to be found.  I make the rounds looking in all the usual places.  I look in unusual places and I still can't find him anywhere.  I decide that he is going to stay downstairs overnight so I put out a shallow bowl of water since he can't reach the water bowl the other critters use and I made sure he had access to food and went to bed.

This morning I woke up determined to find him.  Headed downstairs and did a full search....nothing.  Couldn't find him anywhere.  Then I realized I hadn't looked in the pile of laundry that is waiting to be done.  Sure enough - I had pulled the blanket out of his cage and replaced it with a clean one.  He found the dirty blanket in the pile and was happily curled up snoozing away completely oblivious to the massive search.  He is back in his cage now - he had a drink and a few bites of food and promptly went back to bed.  Glad he is back on the grid....  :)

Supplement Decrease

Zoey has been on a supplement since last October called C Alive C Caps.  Its a natural supplement you can give to kitties when they have cancer.  Since we weren't sure of her diagnosis I put her on the supplement because it can't hurt her.  If she doesn't have cancer she gets immune system boosting from the herbal mix.

I have noticed that as of late the supplement gives her a bit of the runs so I have decided to decrease the amount from have a capsule a day to half a capsule every other day and see how that goes.  I am a bit nervous doing this actually.  While in the logical part of my brain I am fairly confident that she doesn't have cancer (we should have seen some signs by now - its been 9 months and the average lifespan of a kitty with intestinal cancer is 6 mos post diagnosis) the irrational part of my brain worries that if I take her off the supplement she will decline quickly and it will be all my fault.  Ugh.

So - today she just got regular cat food.  Tomorrow she will get half a capsule and we will see how it goes.  She is really feeling frisky the last few days - playing, running, jumping - very very active!  I love to see this!

Here and Now

We have spent the last 6 posts going down memory lane - how about an update in the here and now?

Emma has spent a good bit of time under the bed as we have been having stormy afternoon weather.  She so hates the thunder.  Her hair is growing back quickly - I plan on taking her back at the end of August for another haircut - I am shocked at the difference in the amount of hair in the house.  Since we live in a mild climate and since the spoiled dog has sweaters and sweatshirts she should be just fine on the minimal number of cold days we have in the winter.  Other than that Miss Em is doing well.

Ferrets - both ferrets seem to be doing great.  They are still "frenemies" but they seek each other out every morning so they can play/fight.  Clooney isn't really gaining weight but he is very consistent and he seems to be very happy and healthy.  Madison suckers anyone who enters the house into picking her up and playing with her.  She is a social creature.

Kitties - all kitties seem to be doing fantastic.  We are in hairball season with the hot weather and the shedding coats - ewwww.  Ollie and Zoey love the warm garage and cry at the door to get out there every morning.  Phoebe joins them sometimes but not often.  Aggie - hardly ever.  They all seem to be doing well healthwise and are all interactive and full of it most of the time.

Mr. Nigel Hedgehog - he is doing well - good appetite, fairly easy to get along with.  A few days ago he scared me - standing at his food bowl when I went to check on him and he was totally non responsive.  He was awake, eyes open, breathing - but just frozen.  It was very strange.  When I picked him up he was kind of lethargic.  I took him downstairs to watch him run around and I fed him an evening snack.  I  checked on him through the night that night - every couple of hours and he was fine.  Haven't seen anything like that since.  In fact, he has been doing great.  He hung out with me last night downstairs, playing and exploring.  He had a quick shower and some worms and went to bed.  I heard him running on his wheel several different times.  He seems like a happy boy.

So that's the latest and greatest.  Still working on old pics so not to worry - memory lane will come around again soon.

Critter Classics - Baby Clooney

Oh!!  Baby pictures of Clooney - some of these were taken on the day we got him.  My how things have changed - he used to wear a collar, live in a cage and be tiny - none of which is true today....  The other thing that has changed is his nose - we use it to tell him and Madison apart.  These days its chocolaty brown with lots of details but I am noticing in these shots that it was much less detailed when he was a baby.