Pet Peeves - 2015 Editions

I have decided to resurrect the Pet Peeves posts for this year because lets face it - there are some pretty annoying things that happen when you live with twelve critters...

1.  Posting about pet peeves at 6:30 am on my last day of vacation courtesy of Oliver.  He is not a fan of being shut out of bedroom at night so he breaks in by sliding the room divider and hopping over the gate.  This annoys me for a couple of reasons - first I worry that we will have a ferret escape with the room divider out of place and second - Oliver is just obnoxious when he gets in our room getting onto and into things he shouldn't.  So - as a result I am up incredibly early.

2.  New and improved ways to get into trouble by Mr. Piglet.  He is so smart that he discovers new and annoying ways to get into trouble.  Lately he has decided that it is a necessity to splash water ALL OVER the kitchen by shoving his water dish.  This makes the kitchen rugs quite soggy...  Additionally he is now obsessed with the gate that keeps him downstairs - he is quite strong so we are having issues with keeping it closed.  So frustrating....

Of course - as I type this both Oliver and Winston are curled up sleeping angelically now that I am awake... sigh!

New Post Headers

I designed some new headers to use when I post the kitty, ferret and pup/pig updates on the blog!  What do you think?

A group of kittens is known as an Intrigue - who knew

A group of ferrets is known as a business...

60 days and 6 months

I can't believe its been 60 days since we lost Finn.  In some ways it feels like forever ago and in others like it happened last week.  I would say the pain of losing him so suddenly has diminished some but in all honesty I miss him desperately.  I adore our new babies and I am so happy that Theo has Kai and the baby girls in addition to Vi and Maddie but even with all of those wonderful distractions - I still miss my boy.

On a much happier note - we have a six month old piglet today!!  Winston is growing up for sure - not just in a physical sense but also in that he is 100% potty trained (unless he has access to the stairs - not sure why he loves to pee on the steps).  He is much more independent as well - a big boy who sleeps downstairs and who does a pretty good job of entertaining himself while his humans are occupied....  I can't b believe we had had him for 5 months.  He is a trip!!  Love that bovine boy!!

A Shiny New Year - and Some Garbage

I love the changing of the year - a fresh clean slate and an opportunity to celebrate the successes of the previous year and forget about the rest.  New years day we spent the morning playing with the ferrets and lounging upstairs. Then we moved downstairs to spend some time with piglet and pup and kitties. It was not a day for accomplishing much....love those days - they are too far and few between.

So far the theme of this year from a critter perspective has been garbage - I hope that is not a sign of how this year is going to go....  Winston has discovered garbage cans and has tipped two and spread garbage all over the downstairs. They have been relocated to places where he can't get to them - fun times.

Theo and Kai have decided that playing in the upstairs garbage is fun!  While its much less messy than when Winston does it - they don't tip the bin - they get messy and smelly rooting around in there - joy!

Geez - give me a break boys - I have enough messes to clean up without adding this to the mix.  Today will be a heavy chore day - lots to get done around here and the goal is to finish up today so I can relax over the weekend and on Monday before heading back to work on Tuesday.  We will see how far we get...

Fingers crossed for well behaved critters today...

2014 Year In Review

2014 was a reasonably successful year for the humans - but quite frankly - it was a rough one for our little zoo.

Very late in 2013 (December 20th) we lost our sweet hedgehog Nigel to a stroke which started off 2014 with a sadness that we would unfortunately repeat a couple more times over the course of the year.  In July we lost Clooney after discovering he had insulinoma and never being able to find medication to treat him effectively.  And last - in November we experienced a very sudden and unexplained loss of our sweet Finnegan.  We are still recovering from all of these (and in all honesty the loss of Isabel the kitty still stings).

With those incredibly sad losses we did have some fabulous additions.  Shortly after Clooney passed we added our amazing and hilarious piglet Winston and shortly after Finn passed we added the new baby ferrets - Kai, Tabitha and Harlow.  While we are missing our furry babies who have left us - we are enjoying each day with our current menagerie.

I often get asked current ages - so as I type this:

Aggie is 17 - WOW!
Zoey - 13
Oliver - 13
Phoebe - 11
Emma - 12
Madison - 3
Theo and Violet - 2 in January
Kai, Tabitha and Harlow - 5 1/2 months
Winston - 5 1/2 months

Even though 2014 was tough and saw many tears - I wouldn't give up having these sweet critters in my world for anything....I do adore each of them and they bring me an immeasurable amount of joy.  Hoping that 2015 is a tiny bit easier...Happy New Year from the Zoo!

The Pig and the Pup

And now.. an update on Emma and Winston.

Emma is doing great - she seems to be a happy, healthy, BentoBall obsessed puppy.  She enjoyed some time with Quincy at my parents over the holiday.  Now we are back into a bit of a normal routine thankfully.  She and Winston get along well - when they aren't squabbling over BentoBalls that is.

Piglet is doing just fantastic!  He did so great with tons of visitors over the holiday and now has settled back into a great routine.  It's been forever since a potty accident and we have moved his potty spot out so now he is 100% litter trained.  He continues to grow a bit - mostly in the weight department - I think he is about as tall and long as he is going to get.  He too is BentoBall obsessed.

All in all they are both doing well!  Here are some snaps - several of Sir Winston (his new minion sleeping bag in some) and only one of Miss Em - she still hates getting her picture taken....

How Intriguing - 4 Kitty Update

The kitties are doing great!  All of them seem to be pretty darn happy these days.

Aggie - my go with the flow girl is doing just fantastic.  She has been quite interactive and much braver in her old age hanging out downstairs during visits from strangers over the holidays.  Her health seems to be quite good.

Zoey - little Miss Snagglepuss is doing fantastic as well.  She is active and in love with the new toy she got from her Aunt and Uncle for Christmas.  When she is not spinning the ball around the tube she is laying in the center or using the cat scratcher.  She had been coughing - trying to rid herself of a hairball I think - but that seems to have resolved itself.  She is much better and doing great.

Oliver - my ornery boy is doing well.  He has been playing quite a bit with Winston - they are fun to watch. He finds his share of trouble still but he keeps us entertained.  His health seems great with the exception of being my hairball kitty....leaving me all sorts of surprises...gotta love it.  He is enjoying hairball meds in an effort to slow that down.  I guess that's what happens when you are the resident bather of kitties, dogs, pigs and ferrets...

Phoebe - my sweet girl is doing well but suffering from some winter allergies - as are her humans.  She is bright, active and eating well - she is just very sneezy.  I feel her pain as I have been very sneezy myself. When it gets too bad I give her a drop of nasal meds in one nostril to make her more comfortable.  Her sneezes don't produce any gunk - just sneezes so I am pretty sure its allergies.

All in all - things in kitty world are good.  Everyone is due for a trip to the vet so I will be taking them in over the next few weeks along with the ferrets to get everyone checked out.