And we're back!

It has been a looooong time since I've updated this blog.  Why is that good news?  Because there have been little to no behavior problems at Casa Marro!  Hooray!
So, today I just want to share a story about INKY.  He had a medical emergency last month.  You can read about it HERE: http://hollywoodanimalhospital.blogspot.com/2015/11/november-patient-of-month-inky.html

Christmas Jealousy

For the first time we decided to take silly pictures of our cats for a holiday photo card.  Though I don't normally condone dressing up cats, I made an exception with the winter scarves.  Yes, we bought three so we could take a family portrait of all the boys together.  And we actually took many pix of the three of them together on the crazy new electric recliner couch (which we all love).  But...Spike was blurry in every shot.  So we are resorting to Photoshopping in solo portraits.  Just today I dressed up Spike again for a retake.  He posed well and I think we got a shot we can use.  However...Inky was not happy about this!  In the above pic you can see INKY sniffing Spike and checking him out.  Why is SPIKE wearing the scarf?  Inky is curious.  Well, of course this curiosity lead to animosity.  Inky was tailing poor Spike.  Next thing I know Spike was hissing at Inky.  Even after  I took the scarf off of Spike, Inky was following him around the house and upsetting him.  Inky is certainly a sensitive kitty!

Lack of Prozac!

After meeting holistic pet-god Dr. Larry Bernstein earlier this year, we took JP off his Prozac. That went pretty well, but we weren't ready to take Inky off his Prozac. Finally this month I felt lucky. We started weening him off slowly like we had done with JP. Apparently the timing was not right. Inky started getting rambunctious. He wanted to play all the time. I obliged as much as I could but the other boys weren't interested in his games or his shenanigans. There were a few scary attacks on Spike (cat). Poor kitty was hiding under the bed even!

And then there was pee. Again. Sigh. Been there done that. Strange thing is, I think JP was doing the peeing, not Inky. After several days of cat-hell I called dr b to let him know we needed to put the monster back on the drugs. 

I'm happy to say that things have returned to normal. Well, normal for us. There's no more fighting or peeing or general insanity. I don't love the thought of my cat being on drugs but if he's not we all will need to be!

It's About Time

It has been a long time since CC went to the vet. I think the last time was in 2009 when I brought her down to Kendall for an abscess (no doubt created by an Inky attack!). 

Since then she has been living alone in her own private suite. She's much happier there. She doesn't have to defend her territory or deal with her pesky brothers. CC still gets the best food in town and we spend time with her every day. She even goes out for walkies occasionally (on a harness with her Mamma and sometimes Papa too). 

I've been noticing lately that she doesn't finish her meals. I checked her teeth and they looked pretty bad to me, so today I brought her in to see good ole Dr. Yao. He's nearby and very nice and honest. We like his staff too. 

Today at the vet CC weighed just over 12 lbs and the doctor said she looked great for a 15 year old cat. I sat and stared at her in the streaming sunlight (that office is much sunnier than our house) and marveled at her beauty. I'm so thankful that she lives with ME!!!

CC behaved very well and everyone at the clinic fell in love with her too. 

Teeth.  Yes.  Teeth. She needs her toofers cleaned!   Teeth cleaning for cats and dogs is considered surgery.  I will have to bring her back for this another day. She will have to fast the night before and they will do a complete blood panel then administer anesthesia before beginning the cleaning process. Also, I was warned that she may need to have some teeth extracted. I remember Scooter had that a couple years ago and maybe JP did too. 

So...I will post about the actual cleaning once it is over. 

One more thing...I may have her hips X-rayed while she is under because she has been walking "funny" for years and we think there may be something going on. 

Ramble ramble ramble. Stay tuned... 

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!

Squirrel

Things have been fairly quiet around here with the exception of early morning insanities. Usually, INKY is chasing Scooter around. Sometimes she runs and hides real good and INKY is forced to pick on Spike or JP. Often, JP gives it back to him, but rarely does it stop quickly and definitely, I lose sleep! I bought Bach Flower Essence Rescue Remedy for pets, and combined that with Holly in the water. I would like to think that is the reason he hasn't been waking me up for 2 days, but maybe I'm just so tired that I sleep through the action for a change (like my husband always does!).
At any rate...this morning after about 6 hours of sleep, I was kept awake by sounds of INKY'S tail swishing up on the high windows (where he can actually see out). Then I heard the hyperventilation sounds. I had to get out of my warm bed, climb on top of the dresser and peer out the window to see if it was Rocky the Raccoon or another cat or what. This time: a squirrel on the high tree branches right at eye level for Stinky INKY! Sigh. I knew there was no going back to sleep. All I could do was keep trying to distract INKY by talking. Luckily, it didn't get worse than his strange breathing sounds. I don't think he sprayed up there, though our living room does reek of urine since we went away to Boston last weekend and had friends (relative strangers to the cats - INTRUDER INTRUDER!! ALERT ALERT!! Let's spray everywhere!!) come feed them. I can't seem to locate all the areas to treat them! I am almost all out of Anti-Icky-Poo! I hate that urine smell! I wish someone could make it go away!

Not This Again!

Well...it has been a long time but...INKY has spotted something outside that makes him go MENTAL! There seems to be a new cat in town. S/he is black and white and has been spotted nosing around our yard. I chased Nosey off yesterday, but it was no small feat! I had to run at the poor thing with the garbage can to prove I meant business. I think Nosey is someone's very sweet pet and should be staying inside!
Inky just spotted Nosey in the living room window (as seen in picture) and ran into the next room to follow the outdoor cats every move. It was here that INKY started hyperventilating and spitting and pacing the sill with his tail flailing the whole time. I banged on the windows as hard as I could to scare Nosey away. Nosey slowly walked into the neighbors yard and INKY ran to the bedroom windows to follow him/her. INKY was crying and breathing heavy and pacing in there. I gave him a treat - thinking he might associate Nosey with good things - like TREATS, but as soon as I gave it, I realized I was just reinforcing his freaking out. Well, maybe not, because he was a little calmer by then, plus he had to look away from Nosey's direction to get the treat. Now he's going from window to window to find Nosey's current location. Yes, I did spray felliway on all the curtains and by the door, and I ran outside to scare Nosey away, but there was a woman sitting in a car nearby, possibly scrutinizing me, and, really, am I allowed to scare a cat out of a neighbors yard? Maybe it's their cat! PEOPLE: PLEASE KEEP YOUR CATS INSIDE YOUR HOUSE!!!
The stress of this episode gave me instant abdominal pain. I don't want to go through all this again. I'm going to have to block up the windows AGAIN so INKY can't see out and Nosey can't see in (s/he seems interested in INKY too). By the way, yes I did try to avert INKY's attention with one of his favourite wand toys.

Homer's Odyssey

I went to Books and Books in Coral Gables last night to see author Gwen Cooper present her book, Homer's Odyssey. Its about her little black blind kitty named Homer. I had heard her on NPR the day before telling a wild tale about how Homer scared off an intruder in her South Beach apartment. I believe the story. I bought the book and spoke briefly with Gwen who was animated, cordial and witty. I suggest you check it out too! Maybe someday we'll all have a chance to read my new book titled something like; Stinky INKY!

CC Recovering

CC is recovering in the guest bedroom. She is much happier away from INKY. INKY has been behaving better without CC. He attacks Scooter a bit...but not the way he used to with CC.
CC still needs a new home. I have asked a few friends and they all said "no". I am holding out for a neighbor or friend to take her before I seriously consider letting a stranger have her. At this point we are willing to keep her in the guest bedroom as long as we need to. I will not compromise on the new living situation for my sweet girl!
Thanks to all of you who have expressed concern for her (and the whole family). We appreciate all your prayers and good wishes and crossed fingers.

Abscess!

Came home late last night to discover that CC has an abscess on her backside (again!). I picked her up and it exploded all over me and the couch and INKY went mental! He was howling and hyperventilating and all that. I'm not including a picture again today cuz that would be gross and I'm wicked tired and not near a computer. I quarrantined her in the bathroom as spike tried to distract Inky with a feather wand toy. Also, we sprayed felliway around the house and I notified my facebook peeps. Eventually, CC tolerated a warm compress on her oozing spot a couple times. I called doctor colkers answering service who apparently spoke with her (that late at night even!!) And she wants us to come in this AM. The woman told me they open at 8 AM. That sounds pretty early for Kendall Animal clinic...but I hope its true because here I am awake at 6:30 AM after a restless night preparing for the 45 minute drive.
In addition, we have almost completely made up our minds to rehome CC. Some of you may remember that an abscess on CCs backside is what started the intercat behavior problems about a year and a half ago! Anyone want a beautiful snugglepuss?

Scooter and the other raccoon

It was probably the cold weather (in the 40's in Miami!!!!) that got to Scooter. Yesterday she was being superfriendly (for Scooter). She napped with me on the bed watching TV and even allowed other cats to sleep nearby! Then, my husband sneaked into bed and Scooter actually crawled up on HIS legs and fell asleep (see photo)! Scooter is normally scared of everyone (except me) including Spike (husband)!!!!! It was the cutest thing ever. She even slept in bed with us and NIKY last night!! Like I said, it may have been the cold. We have a heated waterbed and when the temp drops, we all huddle together in bed to stay warm. That's OHANA.
The problem arose around 3:30 AM. I was awakened from a sound sleep by the sounds of hissing, spitting and wooden blinds slamming around the bedroom windows. I knew right away what was happening. I got out of bed, donned a robe and slippers, grabbed my water squirter bottle and sneaked outside hissing and squirting at the poor little raccoon that had wandered in the yard. I know it wasn't Rocky because THIS raccoon actually ran over the fence and out of sight. Of course, she came back and I had to repeat the process. I'm sure the neighbors think I'm insane running around my back yard hissing, but when in doubt I always ask, "what would a cat do"? Then I had to get out the feliway spray and hit the perimiter of the house to reassure INKY that his territory is not under threat!
Today I noticed the zero gravity chair had been sprayed yet again!
Also, I made an appointment with a new vet: Deborah Colker for JP and his peeing (caught him peeing in the kitchen today) - he has stones in his bladder still I think, and Spike's missing whiskers. I hope she is real good because it's gonna be a LONG drive with 2 frightened kitties!! Does anyone out there have experience with Colker or another feline specialist in South Florida?

Bowl Bullying

What I've noticed is that CC comes down from her spiral staircase in the AM to eat breakfast with me. Then INKY comes over to the feeding station and CC cries and walks away. Then INKY "needs" to eat. When he finishes, CC goes back to eating and drinking. Then INKY "needs" to go right back and eat AGAIN! This goes on and on...as if they are each trying to claim the feeding station. Sometimes they do eat together (we have 2 bowls near each other) but I still can't help but think this is some kind of food intimidation game. There is another feeding station located elsewhere in the house where they all eat from time to time. But I'm thinking we could use ANOTHER separate feeding station. Problem is, in South Florida we have so many bugs it is difficult to monitor so many bowls for ants etc. The only other convenient place I can think to set up another station is not far from the front door (where I often see ants coming in!). I know that food should not be placed near litter boxes. When I feed them their wet food (once a day) I make sure to spread the bowls out all over the house so there is no competition. CC usually doesn't even come down for that and JP doesn't like to eat until much later when he can try to lick the crusted on crumbs from the bottom of the bowls. Our house is already under the control of the cats: litterboxes everywhere (from previous SPRAYING incidents a few years back) and cat trees, toys, structures ETC! allover the place! This is more strange feline behavior!

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

Back To Square One?

CC hates the tarps we had to put all over the house while they destroyed our roof (so's we can gets a new roof and then solar panels!!). Those tarps smell BAD! Also, there was all kinds of crap falling on everything making a huge mess. I ended up messing up my neck and back too. The roof people really should have warned us to evacuate. This has been very traumatic...but I will actually spare you the details.

The big bad news is that I went out of town for gigs this weekend and when I returned...I was told the kitties were not fighting (statement naive at best). They weren't getting their Bach Flower Essences either! This afternoon, INKY was after CC with a vengeance! He chased her up the spiral staircase and actually caught her and pulled out chunks of fur. There was screaming and hissing from all 3 of us and I had to run over and smack the TV so many times to scare him off her that I hurt my hand. Then he started hyperventilating and making awful sounds. This is the worst I've seen him in months. Seems like we may be back to square one.

String Theory

INKY really loves his toys. In this picture he is climbing into his basket of toys to pick just the right one. Today he was insistent on playing with a broken toy. He jumped up on my desk, sniffing around my music and rubbing all over my flute to try to get to the remains of his wand toy they call Da Bird. By now da bird feathers and da clasp dat holds da bird feathers have been chewed off. Noone ate the clasp: don't worry. He cried until I dropped what I was doing and dragged the 10 or so inches of string attached to the wand all around the house for him to chase. We ran through the kitchen, through the piano bar and into the bedroom, circled all over the waterbed, down the back hallway and back into the piano bar. Over and over. He wasn't tiring from this but I had work to do. Finally, I had him complete the prey cycle by catching it one last time in the kitchen. As a reward I poured him a small bowl of shrimp treat crumbs. I figured it would take him a while to eat all that, so I made the mistake of leaving the room to finish my work on the piano. This was a bad idea as, when I returned less than 5 minutes later to check on him (mind you, he was barely out of sight and only 6 feet away from me the whole time)...I found the cat, the bowl with some shrimp still in it and the wand. NO STRING! He ate the string! INKY bit about 6 inches off the string and consumed it. It was nowhere to be found and none of the other cats had moved from their sleeping posts around the house. INKY ATE THE STRING!!! Of course I panicked initially....it could get stuck in his intestines or something bad like that (I imagined some pretty horrific possibilities). Throwing it up as he had once done before with a long piece of fleece that he bit off a wand wouldn't have been so bad. String can be very dangerous for a kitty!!! I picked up the phone to call Dr. Yao, hysterically, again. Then I stopped myself. I ended up just giving him some hairball medicine and praying that he didn't eat it all in one piece. Or, maybe Da Bird is da bomb and is easily digested by cats. All the feline behaviorists recommend Da Bird...so, hopefully they know something I don't and he will be OK. He seems a little mopey tonight. But then... he is a cat - he sleeps a lot. I keep checking on him and will give him more fur ball meds to help pass the string. Anyone have a theory about how this will turn out?

Solitary Confinement

picture of CC on my bed during the initial reintroduction days when she had to get locked alone in the bedroom often. Ain't she pretty?? I love her!!!

This morning I was watching Barking Mad in my bedroom and I wasn't sure if all the angry cat sounds were coming from the TV (where behaviorists were trying to condition a cat to be comfortable (ie. do not attack and otherwise freakout) around dogs. I paused the show (love DVR's!!! I highly recommend this device!) and ventured out into the house at large (not that it's a large house) to find INKY sitting, flat-eared, on a piece of furniture, for lack of better term, and CC cornered under the computer desk AGAIN!

Soon enough there was crying from CC and howling from INKY. CC started to attempt to walk by INKY (pretty confident move! but not smart). INKY was getting really riled up, so I picked up CC to transport her again (maybe that's not smart either. I wish an expert would read this blog and HELP ME!!!) but INKY was not moving and I couldn't walk past him with CC in my arms. I tried distracting him by tossing crunchy balls and shaking containers filled with coins (we have these strategically placed around the house) and I tried pushing the office chair into the "furniture" (OK...it's another tupperward tub filled with some kind of collectibles) to frighten him away, but when INKY gets in this aggitated state therer seems to be nothing to bring him back. CC and I were trapped in the corner. It was pathetic. I reached for a fly swatter and tried gently nudging INKY's behind off the...ok...classy tupperware tub. We're not rich here! And I guess we're not so classy either. We'd get rid of the tubs in the TV room if the kitties didn't love sitting on them so much!

I digress.

So...I put CC back on the floor under the desk and managed to sneak by INKY myself without incident. I realize I probably made things worse by coming at INKY with CC...and the chair and the noise. Man...I feel like I'm trying so hard here and might not be making the right choices. I need professional help. No...I mean a feline behaviorist. My time with Mieshelle Nagelschneider has long expired...even though she hasn't completely abandoned me. She's the best. I don't know how to hyperlink her name so click this: http://www.thecatbehaviorclinic.com/

At any rate...who is actually still reading this? God bless you.

I coaxed CC out with some cat milk (gave it to INKY too once he appeared to calm down. Gotta stack those positive interaction experiences. THIS I know!). Bottom line: I put CC in solitary confinement in the guest bedroom suite. She has food, water, litter, cable TV...everything a cat could want. Oh yeah, futon and compfy places to sleep - since that's all she ever seems to do now (STRESSED KITTY). I just went back in there to play with her but she must have been hiding under something...or maybe she finally busted out and hitched a ride back to southbeach to reclaim her sobe party-girl lifestyle! She hates the 'burbs.

Cat Wrangling

Last night CC was up on her perch atop the spiral staircase (built for kitties only) and INKY was below STARING at her for hours. She began to descend and INKY was getting chatty. Since CC would have to walk (or run) past INKY to get food, water or bathroom) I made an executive decision to transport her via my arms past the dreaded INKY and to her food bowl. Dunno if that was smart or not. I ended up with a couple scratches. But I think CC is too scared to go near him sometimes. Saw a video yesterday that talked about, among other things, signs of a stressed cat and I think CC is stressed: compulsive drinking, sleeping A LOT!!! and hiding and she may even be losing fur. Spike(husband) and I even talked about rehoming CC (easier to do than the obvious rehoming INKY).

This AM CC was still up on the perch and INKY still stalking her below. I managed to entice INKY with a toy into the guest bedroom and play with him and hang out for a long time so CC could come down and eat etc. INKY enjoyed his "Mommy-INKY time" today.

So...I have heard no screaming, hissing or fighting since .... ooooh, 11 AM...what day was that? Yesterday? Yeah! New record...but, I was away from home most of today. Doing some work for the Miami Shores Flute Ensemble. When I stopped by the house to feed them at 4:30, INKY and CC were sitting suspiciously close together. I checked INKY's claws and he didn't have any CC fur stuck in them!

I hope you enjoy this closeup picture of CC hiding in INKY's tent. Inky likes to go crazy camping! She's really pretty. Don't you think? I got my Cat Wrangling book yesterday. I'll let y'all know if it is any good. Pettiquette by Amy Shojai is awesome!

Had fun swimming with Tab and her kids today. Came home starving waiting for Spike to come home. Guess it's just me and my quality television programming this evening.

Bell

So...I gave INKY a new collar with a bell on it. Now CC can hear him sneaking up on her. I know it is irritating for him to have that ringing in his ears all the time (he already started chasing his tail!!) but it's a little safer for CC and the others now. Eventually, the bell will be removed. It's dinnertime. Wish us luck.