I Saw Scooter!

And so did Amy, Emily, Simon and Lindsay!!!  

We all arrived late to her condo for the Bowl party (kitten, puppy and super). When we came in she remained IN CLEAR VIEW on the landing of the stairs.  I couldn't believe it. She stayed there for a long time. I petted her and she head butted me a bunch then I fed her on the landing. She let people watch her eat. Who is this cat?  When she lived at Casa Marro my husband (one of only 2 humans living in the house) barely ever saw her. Visitors - even week long company - never had a sighting. 

Even more amazing was that after us yelling and making all sortsof ruckus    watching the tv and eating and drinking all evening she actually CAME DOWNSTAIRS!  IN FRONT OF PEOPLE. ON THE SAME FLOOR IN THE SAME ROOM AS her two moms and visitors. Omg!  I was so proud of her. Life in Stuart with her new mommy seems to be agreeing with her highness. 

Thank Buddha!

My sweet sweet little girl!
Back in the end of February Scooter had to go to Dr. Herrington for a dental cleaning (her first one ever).  I was told she would be ready by three PM, but she wasn't ready until almost 6 PM!  So, by the time I got her home it was time for dinner and the beasts were all hungry.  Nobody at Hollywood Animal Hospital warned me to keep her separated from the others or be careful with the waning anesthesia etc.  I thought we were all in a better place now that INKY and JP were on prozac, so...I let her right out of the carrier while I prepared their meal.  Everybody sniffed her and seemed more interested in food than the vet stink on Scooter - even Inky walked away after his initial investigation.  But...sigh...lets just say he soon became upset (because she smelled different/walked near him/was coming down off anesthesia/etc) and he beat the crap out of her!!  Had her pinned upside down, everyone screaming and fur flying!  We were all very upset by this.
For the next 6 weeks I had Scooter living in the tiny laundry room.  I had to keep her separated from INKY and God knows INKY SHALL NOT BE CONFINED - lest we wish to endure more TROUBLE!  I was working with my behaviorist Dr. Radosta on the slow and difficult reintroduction process.  You may remember we went through this before with INKY and CC when she came home from the vet in 2007 or so.  Mieschelle Nagelschneider helped us, but in the end CC found a permanent private home in the guest suite.  Sigh.
I will spare you the details of the reintroduction process but encourage you to read about it in one of Pam Johnson-Bennett's books.  And consider yourself WARNED: if you ever bring one cat to the vet, upon her return home, please keep her quarantined away from the others until she smells like herself again or you risk attack and possibly the hell that we have now gone through 2ce with the reintroduction attempts.  Vets should warn EVERYONE about this potential danger.
Those were a long 6 weeks with some ups and mostly downs.
But things have changed.  A very good friend of mine who lives about a 2 hour drive north of us has adopted Scooter.  She lost both of her cats this year (they died, they didn't just disappear - to be clear) and wanted another so she thought she could help us out and give Scooter a great new home where no pesky boys can bother her and she can get the love and attention she needs and deserves.
Perhaps I will post more details of the Scooter adoption in the future, but for now I will summarize it thusly: That was harder than I expected to give away my precious little girl, but I know it's best for everyone.  And...things are much more peaceful at Casa Marro.

The Princess and the Pee

This picture is of my Scooter: AKA Princess PrettyPaws - and you can see why! Now, I'm not necessarily blaming her...but SOMEONE has peed on my pillow! I have been traveling a lot lately and upon my return from my last trip, I discovered that I was laying on a pee soaked pillow. This is a new one.
I jumped up, pulled back all the mattress toppers and bedding, praying that it was just another waterbed leak. I figured the H2O could make an old feather pillow smell like urine...maybe. Well, to my horror there were no puncture wounds...just pee soaked through layers and layers. My insane side started trying to salvage pillows and cases and sheets etc., then I smartened up and threw away both pillows and all their allergy cases. I sprayed Anti-Icky Poo on the mattress cover and the memory foam topper and bottom sheet. I put the mattress cover in the washing machine with bleach and then realized there was no saving the thick foam. I cut out the wet section and threw it in the garbage with the pillows. Then I headed to Target to get a new pillow, a new foam topper (that was too small - DUH!) and some coloursafe bleach with which to wash my sheets.
No, I'm not that upset about losing my bedding....I'm more upset that one of my cats might be upset or ill. Could be JP's urinary tract infection flaring up again. I'm keeping an eye on him to see if he pee's anywhere else or if he's having litterbox issues. Maybe one of the kitties peed on the pillow because they miss me - I have been traveling a lot. Or, JP was mad that the pillow was in the way of his special spot on the corner of the bed. Another possibility is that INKY or Scooter was getting territorial over the prime waterbowl sitting spot (there's a waterbowl on my nightstand that they all love). Hopefully INKY didn't attack Scooter and literally scare the piss out of her!
I seriously doubt Spike would have done it. He's a very good boy and a well-adjusted kitty. But...maybe he did.
I may never discover who did the peeing but I'm really hoping they got it all out of their system!

Cat Scratch Feeder

We set up the new Pavlov's Cat Scratch Feeder. Thought it was a good compromise between free feeding and no free feeding (which the experts recommend. Even my vets office said free feeding is BAD). The cat just scratches the post on the device then food tumbles out into a bowl on the base. Problems have already surfaced in our house. This AM I found all the cats milling around the feeding station. No one was having a scratch at the feeder, so, no one was eating. I tried pulling CC's paws along the post to release the food. Scooter did a good job with it. The real problem was BOWL BULLYING. CC wouldnt let JP near the food and INKY was too scared to even approach the pole. He wouldnt let me touch him. Then I realized, JP and Spike will not be able to use the feeder since they have been declawed.
Side bar: I do not recommend declawing. I did this to them years ago before I really understood the horror of the operation and when I was a little scared to be scratched (I was raised WITHOUT CATS!!! Oh my! What kind of childhood was that??). Now I know the tricks to getting kitties to scratch where they are supposed to and not on the good furniture. OK, truth is, we dont have good furniture and anyway...we brought cats into our home, of course there's gonna be some damage etc! It's worth it. Cats rock!!!
Spike(husband) decided to try to modify the Cat Scratch Feeder so it will have a foot lever for the clawless cats to activate the feeding. First attempts were not adequate. I will keep y'all updated on that progress. Until then, I had to fill another trough with food so's the kitties dont STARVE!! I hope the Pavlovs Cat Scratch Feeder ends up working out for us all!
Do any of you have experience with this device?

Long Paws

It has been a long long time since I have posted. I thought maybe y'all were getting tired of hearing about the same antics, shenanigans and tom foolery of my clowder. Here's the condensed update:
I thought Inky was getting a little better with CC...but he still chases her and they continue to hiss at each other and CC tries to avoid him. I guess that is a little better. Certainly better than when the problem started ONE YEAR AGO!!!
CC has become quite a chubber because all she does is eat, sleep and hide from INKY! I am considering removing free feeding for all cats.
Early on in January, at about 5 AM (the hour that INKY generally wakes up and wreaks havoc one way or another) INKY was smashing the wooden blinds on the bedroom windows and hyperventilating. I panicked, thinking he was seeing a cat in the yard...which would most likely result in INKY getting paranoid about his territory and recommencing the spraying of the home! Turns out it was Rocky Raccoon. I turned on the outside light to scare him away. Didn't work. I ran outside to chase him away...all the while INKY is on the windowsill hyperventilating and pacing. Rocky is not a skiddish raccoon. He just kept about his business in our backyard...nosing around and such. I tried spraying him with the squirter I use to deter bad kitty behavior. He just retreated into the shrubbery, but wouldnt leave the yard. I'm real glad my husband made friends with this critter earlier in the week when I specifically told him he was not to hang around with wildlife! Finally, I threw a small stone NEXT TO Rocky. NO, I wouldn't throw anything AT ANY ANIMAL!! And I ran screaming towards him. Finally he got out of the yard and INKY could breathe normally again. Luckily, I have not seen Rocky back in the yard since!
INKY and JP are both peeing/spraying around the house because (I think) they are not happy with all the renovations we have been doing. I try desperately to clean it up every day! Hopefully the Solar Panels and all that good stuff will be done soon and we will have extra money (from Federal rebate) to remove disgusting dirty carpet and put in pee-proof flooring!
Scooter is still quite...shy, but she loves to sit on my lap and purr and has even been hanging around the bedroom often. She still runs from INKY and caught a loud beating from him last week (no detectable injuries).
Spike lost most of the whiskers on the right side of his face and...as I feared, had a couple fleas which bit me up pretty good before I could get the flea meds on all the kitties. Hopefully, the fleas were the problem with his whiskers and sores on his head (too much scratching, I'm thinking).
I'll try to post again soon (no more long pauses in blogging) about the new bedding and toys etc. that the kitties got for Chranukkah. Please feel free to leave comments, questions, link to my blog etc! -Cathi