Cats in Maryland

Merry Christmas Efurrybody!

2011-12-25T03:20:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Efurrybody!!

That last pic there are some kittens that our Grampa's cat had recently, Mom said it would be a cute pic for Christmastime!!

Mom helps take care of Food!

2011-12-22T03:10:00.000-08:00

Mom got a volunteer job about a year ago taking care of Food. Well, she insists these animals are not Food, and would in fact eat us, but we don't understand. It just looks like big Food to us. Here are some pictors from Mom's volunteer job. She takes care of animals at a Scales and Tales facility at a park. The animals are all either imprinted or injured and are taken on trips to schools and churches etc to teach people about wildlife.
This is an American Kestrel.

This is a Golden Eagle.

These are two Barred Owls. One is blind and one is missing part of a wing due to a car accident.

The Intruder

2011-12-19T03:03:00.000-08:00

As most of you guys know, Mom and Dad have a roommate named Mr. D. Well, Mr. D got a woofie named Ben in February. Ben stays in Mr. D's room a lot of the time because he likes being with Mr. D best, and Dad doesn't really like woofies anyway. But Mom loves woofies, especially Ben, and so sometimes the three of us are all out together. We don't really get along..we don't exactly fight but we are all nervous around each other. Ben has never hurt a kitty and has lived with kitties before, but because none of us are happy together, we sort of "take turns" when we are in the living room usually, and are only together when we can be supervised closely and only on rare occasions. Here are some pictors of him.

We are back!

2011-12-18T02:59:00.000-08:00

Wow, we really didn't mean to be gone this long. Mom just sorta got out of helping us blog for awhile. And thanks to all who stopped by on our birthdays and gotcha days. We didn't have a party on our blog but Mom and Dad still treated us at home!

We also are sad that some of our friends have went to the rainbow bridge. Mom has kept up on reading your blogs to us, and even though we haven't commented, we still sent purrs and prayers.

Here are some cute pictures of us fairly recently so you can see we are both still doing OK. We have some news tomorrow about an Intruder though....

We will be back soon!

2011-05-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hope you enjoyed the old kitten picture of us! We are almost THREE now!!
Just wanted to say thanks to those that wished our Mom a happy birthday yesterday. Mom told us we can start posting again over the summer when she is on vacation from school, and we just wanted to let you all know. Plus Mom works at a wildlife center now in the mornings, and she has some pictures of birds and reptiles for us to post.
See you soon!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-26T22:58:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to let you know we are all still here and well...and to wish all our friends a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year..and just a wonderful Holiday season overall.

We know we don't post much anymore, but we still love you all and we still read most of your blogs, we just don't really have time to comment anymore!

Happy Holidays, friends!

Remembering Texas

2010-11-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

Texas' gotcha day was Halloween. Mom has been taking extra classes this semester- she says she won't ever try that again- and didn't even have time to post about it til now.

Those of you who have been reading our blog for a while have seen these pictures many times, but these are some of Mom and Dad's favorites of him.

Today is Our Gotcha Day Party!

2010-09-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's Mine Gotcha Day!

Today is our Gotcha Day party! Thanks for coming!
Last week was Niko's Gotcha Day, and today is mine. Because Niko is such a wonderful brother, he agreed we could hold a joint gotcha day party on mine gotcha day!

We have:
Shrimp

and Ham !

Niptinis

and milk for the kittens

A stroll down memory lane: (Click to biggify any of these)

Some of my furrst pictures at home:

And shortly before our furrst purrthday:

Thanks for bisiting us! We know we don't post as much anymore or comment but we still read your blogs, we still think of you, and we still love all of our friends! PURRRRRRRRRS!
-Cloud (and Niko)

It's MAI Gotcha Day!!

2010-09-14T03:53:00.000-07:00

2 Years Ago Today was a much happier aniversary. Mom and Dad got ME!! They got a Niko Kitty!! My sisfur came home a week later, so we are going to have a shared Gotcha Day party then! Please come bisit us next week! Purrs!! In the meantime, please be capturevated by some of my gotcha day pictors!

Sunflowers or Son-cats?

2010-09-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

Mom doesn't take as many pictors of us as she used to. She says we "just look the same and do the same stuff". Instead, she takes pictors of things like THIS, where her and Daddy went yesterday. They also went to a park before that. Come on now, what is cooler looking...THIS...
or THIS:

She has agreed to start taking pictures of us again, at least a little bit. This pictor convinced her...

2 years already

2010-09-02T23:12:00.000-07:00

We miss you, Big Guy!
Love always,
Mom and Dad

Don't know who the Big Guy is? Click here or here.

Goodbye, Dear Luxor and Sweet Eric

2010-08-18T12:30:00.001-07:00

Luxor and Fat Eric were two of our furrst blogging furriends, they also were friends with our big brother that came before, Texas.
Our Mommy is crying, but she is sure Texas, Luxor, and Eric are playing together at the bridge with all the other blogosphere kitties.

What's this thing called a Furminator?

2010-08-06T05:36:00.000-07:00

So Mom has been talking to Dad about how much shedding we've been doing lately. They have been talking about getting us a Furminator.
But Mom says they cost a lot more green papers than a regular brush or comb, but it just looks mostly like a normal cat brush/comb to her. She wants to know if it's really worth the extra 20 green papers or more or if anyone knows how to get one cheaper?

WE want to know if we will mind this thing. We don't mind normal brushes and combs, we like those!

Thanks to all our friends for any advice!

Purrs and headbutts,
Niko and Cloud

Dad is EVIL!!

2010-07-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

Hey guys..here is me and Dad having some fun with Dad's hat.
Well, Dad was having fun! See his RED EYES! He's TORTURING me with the HAT! OH NOS!!!
Meow for now!

Welcome to our 2nd Purrthday Party!

2010-07-02T00:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for coming to our 2nd Purrthday Party!

We have niptinis for the adult kitties and milk for the kittens. And we have salmon, chicken, and HAM for everyone! PURRRRRR
Mom promises to post a picture of our new toy ASAP! Let's see how long it takes her MOL!

Our 2nd Purrfday is tomorrow? Really?!

2010-07-01T15:13:00.001-07:00

Wow..and we were wondering why Mom brought home the new scratchy post the other day! (We knew it had nothing to do with all the red marks on Mom and Dad's arms from when we play too rough, could it?!).
We are sorry we haven't been around much, but we'd love it if you came to our party tomorrow.
Mom wants you all to know that we do still visit your blogs often in our feed reader, but we rarely have time to comment anymore.
Purrs,
Niko and Cloud

Happy Purrthday Dad!

2010-05-15T02:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Purrthday Dad!

Love,
All of your cats

Telescope bag?

2010-05-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

Mom got a new telescope a month ago. Dad made her a carrying case for the telescope out of some dark blue blanket-like material. Wonder where it is? Oh..I see a bird outside!!
Purrs,
Cloud

My bucket

2010-05-04T00:35:00.000-07:00

Niko here. I just wanted to show you the new toy I found!

Today

2010-05-03T04:24:00.001-07:00

Our Mom is a squillion years old today!!! If she was a cat she'd be like 130!!
Oh well, at least she's not like our dad, who will be a squillion PLUS FOUR years old in almost two weeks! (Dad is four years older than mom)

Sorry we haven't posted much and sorry we don't comment much anymore. Mom goes to college and works, so sometimes she doesn't have much time to help us blog. But she makes sure to help us read all your blogs! This blog is DEFINITELY NOT going completely inactive but posts will probably continue to be spurr-attic except for over the summers. Mom will be getting her 2 year degree soon, but then she is going to a new school soon to get her Bat-furs degree.

Flashy Box not welcome

2010-04-04T05:37:00.000-07:00

Remove Flashy Box now or I will punch you, Mom!

Cat TV

2010-04-03T05:36:00.000-07:00

Hmm, let's see if there's anything good on today...

There is a cat in the arcade cabinet

2010-04-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

What, I am just trying to fix the cabinet for you, Daddy. Oh, what do you mean it's not broken?

HAM?

2010-04-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

I do not look like a HAM, Mom!

And the winners are...

2010-03-03T14:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry this took so long. But we have medals to award today. Here are the entries. (You can right-click on each link and choose open in new window to compare them) We also had an entry from Praline by email. Scroll to the bottom for the winners!

Alfie and Milo

The Monkeys

Co9T

Dog Foster Mom

Simba

Katie's Cats

Praline's emailed us her entry:

And now, the winners based on technical merit/height are:
Gold- Simba
Silver- Owen
Bronze: Milo

And the winners for funniest jump:
Gold- Simba
Silver- Monkeys
Bronze- Praline

If you won, we will be emailing you tomorrow with your medal to put on your bloggie. Concatulations all!

Cloud wins the gold!!!

2010-02-17T16:01:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to scroll down or check our sidebar to find out how to enter our High Jump Contest!!

Niko:
Cloud won a gold medal. But she got in trubble for it.
See, it wasn't in one of the official cat-o-lympics entries. She made her own category. And Dad found out. He awarded her a gold medal. But then he said a few bad words.
See, the category she made was "Whapping things off the table".
And she whapped a cup of water off the table. Made a BIG mess. She's done this before too. It frustrates the beans.

Cloud:
How could anyone be fwustated at me???

Our Synchronized Snoozing Entry

2010-02-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to scroll down to find out how to enter our High Jump Contest!! And yes, you can enter it by video!!

Here is our synchronized snoozing entry, for the Cat Olympics event.

Cat-Olympics: High Jump

2010-02-14T17:50:00.000-08:00

Hey, everycat! Fin is hosting Cat Olympics!! We will be hosting the High Jump event.
All you have to do is post a picture of you jumping high on your blog (or if you don't have a blog, you can email us your entry to catsinmd at gmail dot com, but we prefer blog entries) and then put your link in the comments for this post.
Rules:
1. Provide a picture or video of you jumping high. If you want to be judged simply on how high you jumped, you should also if possible provide a second picture of the area with a yardstick or something in the shot so we can have some point of reference.
2. There will be two competition categories: technical high jump and artistic high jump. Technical high jump is just on how high you went. Artistic gets points for a mix of height and creativeness of the jump (where you are when you jump, silly expressions on your face, silly paw movement, etc).
3. No photoshopping except cropping and basic cleanup.
That's it. As many cats per household as want to can enter! Contest ends whenever the main catolympics ends!
(This post will be updated with sample photos as soon as catmanly possible)

Two-Cat Tuesday

2010-02-09T01:24:00.000-08:00

Niko: My sisfur Cloud loves to lay on the radiator in the winter. Well, it only took the beans a year to figure out maybe I would enjoy it to, but I just can't jump well enough to get there. So they picked me up and put me on the radiator, and just look. Why do beans take so long to figure things out sometimes?

Spy cat in training...

2010-01-31T14:44:00.000-08:00

Niko: So, I wanted to be like Harley and be a spycat.
So, the important part is to blend in with your surroundings.

Hmm...

How did I do?

The Other Woman

2010-01-26T22:24:00.000-08:00

This is Sharbat. She is our Daddy's Brother's Wife's Mother's kitty (say that 10 times fast!! But we will just call Sharbat's mom Mrs. B.). Our Beans went to visit Mrs. B and the rest of Daddy's and Daddy's brother's families for Chrismouse and we are just NOW getting time to post that we were furry upset that Mom and Dad were spending so much time with Sharbat. Hmph! But we suppose she is a very pretty kitty....

We didn't do it

2010-01-25T22:15:00.000-08:00

That's our story and we're stickin' to it.

Merry Christmas everyone!

2009-12-25T03:48:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Effuryone!!!

Funny Picture Friday (Thursday) winner announced!

2009-12-24T03:13:00.000-08:00

Mom: The kittens held a contest a few months ago and someone may have forgot to help them announce the winners...
Cloud: Okay, this is like 3 months too late....
Niko: and it's THURSDAY mom, not FRIDAY
Mom:Yes, but we need to announce this already, they've waited forever...comeon...
Cloud and Niko: OK, fine, the winner is........

IZA!!!!

And our other wonderful contestants were:
Charlemagne (iffen anyone knows their website could you please put it in comments)

Ernie

Iza, concatulations! We will email you your badge right away!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-23T07:11:00.000-08:00

Look how much mai Daddy loves me even when I whap his glasses off his face.

Snow and Chrismouse cards

2009-12-22T03:56:00.000-08:00

Mom is so happy school is done for the year. Mom says she got at least one bee. She apparently likes bees because she was pretty happy about that. We don't think we'd like bees, but we are glad that she is done with school cuz that means more blog time.

Since she has been so busy, she says she just didn't have the time for us to mail Chrismouse cards this year. Hmph! BUT, she says since is much less busy now, she can help us make special online cards to email to kitties, like a lot of other kitties are doing this year to save time and monies. If you would like one, please send us your email to catsinmd at gmail dot com.

So we got a lot of snow this weekend here, kitties. Mom didn't have to go to work Saturday night cuz of it and she was happy bout that. She wasn't so happy about how hard it was to get home Saturday morning (Mom works the over-night shift).

Dad had the silly idea that we would want to see the snow. Mom told him it was silly cuz we don't like the outside to begin wit, we've been indoor kitties since we was just a few weeks old, but Dad wanted us to go outside.
So here we go. Oh, and these were taken around 11am on Saturday- it snowed til 9pm Saturday and the heaviest hadn't even arrived yet when we took these. We got about 14 inches of snow here in Balty Moore!!

Happy Fanksgiving All!

2009-11-26T19:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Fanskgiving Everyone!
Here's what Mom is thankful for:

The Humiliating Pictor- and an impurrtant request

2009-11-17T08:06:00.001-08:00

OK, first the request:
Does anyone in the DC area know what the local TNR groups and shelters are? Our grampie has some feral cats in his old apartment complex that he used to feed and he is concerned about them now that he is moving. Mom thinks there are less than 10 that need homes. Also Grampie has taken in two of the ferals to his new house also in the DC area and they are not getting along well with his one indoor only cat.
Could somebody email us at catsinmd AT gmail DOT com about this for the details and if they can offer any help? We don't live that far away- we are in Baltimore, but we don't know anything about feral cat colonies or about the groups in the area.
Thanks!!

And now, for the humiliating picture..

He cut off my ears and look what he wrote on my box!!!

Stay Tuned..

2009-11-15T15:06:00.000-08:00

Yes, Yes, the winner announcement is coming--sorry we really have to teach Mom time management skillz.
Oh, and Dad took a really humiliating pictor of me that Mom says we have to post soon. Until then, enjoy this cute pictor.
-Cloud

Funny Picture Friday Update

2009-11-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who submitted. We still had low purrticipation, so we will just do one overall winner this time. The good news is that we are going to bring funny picture friday back on a monthly basis- only once a month and it will be either a submit your pictures for the funniest photos once a month, and then the next month will be a cattion contest.

Check back this coming Friday for the winner announcement, and also for more details about the contests in the future!!

The Terrible No Good Rotten Day at the V-E-T

2009-11-05T11:00:00.001-08:00

Cloud: So where does everycat think I was when the picture posted the other day was taken?
If you said that I was on top of Mom's computer, where I am NOT ALLOWED, then you were right!
Anyway, so at the V-E-T we got STABBED and on top of that, they clipped our toenails! Mom was in the one room putting Niko back in his carrier when she heard me saying all sorts of bad words from the next room over. I got so upset my neck puffed up and collar fell off and they couldn't even put it back on so they sent it home with Mom!
And if things could not get any worse, they called me FAT (Mom: no, they didn't) and said I had to go on a DIET (Mom: yep). This is not fair!
Well, anyway, hopefully everybody will send us a funny pictor today at catsinmd at gmail dot com for the contest tomorrow!!

Funny Picture Friday is almost here!

2009-11-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

Cloud:
Here I am, waiting all spectantly for your funny photos. Scroll down to see the rules- pictors are due to catsinmd at gmail dot com by this Friday!!

Oh, and what a horridbul day it was at the V-E-T today. We had to get stabbed, and even worse, our NAILS CLIPPED! We will tell you bout it all tomorrow after we have rested and don't feel so dramaticals.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T02:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone!
Here are some of our favorite photos of Texas. Today was when we celebrated his gotcha day. We miss him, but we know our giant angel is watching over us and all you ghosts and goblins tonight!

We miss you, big guy..

Funny Picture Friday moved to next Friday

2009-10-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

We fink that we should have given more notice about the funny pictor friday. And we haven't been round much.
So we will post a big tribute to Texie tomorrow and then we will have the funny picture friday NEXT FRIDAY because we want to have it be a BIG sellybration.
Thanks to all that have purrticipated so far, and we hope to see more of your entries in the coming week!

Funny Picture Friday is almost here...

2009-10-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

We are having a special Funny Picture Friday in memory of Texas' gotcha day this Friday.
Click here or scroll down for more information, because there will be 3 cattergories this year!

We'll just take a quick nap while we wait for your entries.

Helping Dad at the puter

2009-10-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

Cloud: I'm not supposed to bug Dad in the morning, but I did anyway. And he was nice enough to hold me and even cover my spot #13 with his arm for the camera. Fanks Dad!

Funny Picture Friday is BACK!!!

2009-10-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

Next week would be when the beans celebrated Texas' gotcha day. (They don't remember the exact day, but it was near Halloween)

In his memory, we would like to bring back funny picture friday. The contest starts now and ends on Friday, October 30, 2009 at 12:01AM EST. You have until then to send us your entries at catsinmd at gmail dot com. For those that forgot or didn't know us back then, all you have to do is send us a picture of you being silly. Hams, buns, woofies, and all other furs are also eligible.

Normally we pick three winners. This time, we will have three categories, with one winner for each. The categories are: best costume, best overall, and best prairie-dog imitation (See sample below). You don't have to wear a costume or send in a prairie dog photo, just send in anything silly that you want.

All you have to do is send in your funny picture, (one per animal, multiple animals per house are fine), your name, a link to your bloggie if you have one, and if you are going for a specific category, list which one. Have fun guys!!

Oh, and here's the sample pic of the prairie dog. Mom went to the National Zoo last week.

Cat Yoga in Progress, please do not disturb

2009-10-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

Cloud: No, Mom, this is cleaning, not Yoga. MOM why are you taking a picture of this?! I will smack you with this very paw!!!

3 weeks? REALLY?!

2009-10-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

Goodness, Mom has not let us blog in FUREVER!
She is in school again and says the teachers have given her lots and lots of work. (That and she has started playing WoW again, we think that might be more of the problem MOL).

We bet you miss our pretty little furs, so here are some pictors of us chillaxin. What all have we missed- tell us about you!

Myrtle Beach

2009-10-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

We told Mom she could share a few of her Myrtle Beach photos today.
The second 2 are from the balcony at their hotel, and the first one is some fishies from the Aquarium at Myrtle Beach.
Sorry we don't post as much anymore, Mom has been busy, but don't worry, we won't go away furever!!

Cloud's Gotcha Day

2009-09-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

A year ago...
And now...

Hi effurybody!!
Mom and Dad just got back yesterday from their trip! They went to Myrtle Beach and then stopped in VA to see Dad's fambly and friends on the way back home to Maryland.
So we've been in the kitty hotel all stinkin week!! Now we are back home with the beans and it's time for our Gotcha Day party today! (Niko's was last week but Mom asked us to have a joint party since they left on Niko's gotcha day- can you believe the horrible timing?!) Mom is making it up to us with lots and lots of treats, and we are going to share! We are also celebrating our first blogoversary today!! We've been spending lots and lots of time snuggling Mom and playing with our new toys (the kitty hotel also gave us new toys- pictures soon!)- we are so happy to be home!
Anyway, enjoy our party!!
We got niptinis for the adult cats and milk for the kittens. We have salmon tuna and chick-hen cakes available! Enjoy!

Tweet Week #3

2009-09-18T05:27:00.000-07:00

Bunch of geese at Ellis Island in New York.
Hope you enjoyed our short but fun tweet week!!
Mom will be back on Monday for our Gotcha Party!!

Tweet Week # 2

2009-09-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

From the Baltimore Zoo.

Tweet Week #1

2009-09-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

Fin had a great idea and suggested this week be tweet week.
Well, Mom loves birds a lot, and has 3, so she insisted we purrticipate.
We will start this week off with an old picture of Cricket. Mom only had him for about a year before he got ill and died. Here is him admiring his handiwork- he had chewed thru the cord on Mom's playstation controller!
Sorry for the bad pic, Mom only had a webcam at the time and no digital camera.

Niko's Gotcha Day

2009-09-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

Today is my Gotcha Day! Mom asked if I would wait and have my gotcha day party with Cloud next week, and I was a good Mancat and said yes, so please check back next Monday for our first Gotcha Day and Blogaversary party!!
For now, enjoy my now and then photos. (More next week- Mom will explain the reason for the delay next week and we will have plenty of posts coming after that!!)
We are also participating in Tweet Week, but Mom says we will start that tomorrow so as not to interrupt my Gotcha Day.
On my first day home:

Just a month or two ago:

Ravens Fan Ducks

2009-09-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from when Mom and Dad went to the park a few weeks ago. Mom calls these guys "Ravens Fan Ducks" since they have purple stripes on their wings. Does anycat know what they are? We think they look tasty!

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

2009-09-04T03:35:00.000-07:00

Today is Mom & Dad's fifth wedding anniversary!

They did not celebrate last year, because they were so sad over Texie. But they know that Texas would want them to celebrate this year,so they will. They will be going to Myrtle Beach in a little over a week to celebrate, but they had a candlelit dinner last night as well. (Today, Sept. 4, is actually their anniversary, but Mom works nights on Fridays so they had the dinner on Thursday).

Memories of a Magnificent Mancat

2009-09-03T03:51:00.000-07:00

Today we will remember Texas, Mom and Dad's kitty that came Before.
It is hard for them to believe that it has been a whole year since Texas went to the bridge because his cancer had spread. We tried to show pictures that hadn't been posted on his blog before, since we know that most of his friends are now our friends and therefore have read his blog. Mom has also written a tribute to him at the bottom.
[Update for Cindy and any other cats or beans that are curious: Click Here to see why it is called "going to the bridge"]

Here is a picture of him trying to open his mail, shortly before he went to the bridge.

The rest of these are from happier times, before he got sick. Here is him claiming a Wii controller as his own.

FEED ME NOW, Mom.

Sleeping on Mom's computer chair.

Helping rip up the old carpet.

Playing String with the Beans.

Mom here:

Today is the anniversary of one of the saddest days of my entire life. But I know he would not want to remember the bad things. He would want me to remember the good things.
So I will try to remember. I remember how we got him. There was an ad on the bulletin board that a cat needed a good home. His first Mom, Ms.C, who is now a friend of ours, had to move, and could not take more than 2 of her cats with her. Texas really wanted to be an only cat anyway, so we found out this was really for the best. And he definitely enjoyed it when Ms.C would come visit him here!
He was a BIG kitty. But he was terrified when he came here. He stayed by our roommate's fridge in the basement for about 4 days and would not leave. He barely ate for a few days. But then, we came downstairs one day to find that he was eating. And not only that, he had a very unique way of eating! He would carefully pick out his dry food and swish it around in his water, and then eat it. We showed all our friends and everybody was just absolutely amazed and no one had seen anything like it before. It was so fun to watch.
A few years after we got him, we had a minor mouse problem for a few months. He would always dutifully bring them to his Dad (DEFINITELY not me, he knew better!!) and Dad would dispose of them. Well one day, not really meaning it of course, I asked him if he really had to kill them. Well, the next time he brought Dad a mouse, Dad asked for it, and Texas would not give it up. Texas gave him Dad asked for it several more times, and finally Texas gave a "are you sure?" look, and released it-- ALIVE. From then on, all of the mice he brought Dad were alive. (Granted, we only ever had a total of maybe 10 mice in the house ever, so we are talking about maybe 5 or 6 times here). Dad was nice enough to then put the mice in a container and walk them several blocks from the house before releasing them.
Texas loved to chase "imaginary mice" too. After starting chemo, Mom knew she had her Texie back for a little while when he started doing that again, at least for a few weeks.
He also loved to look out the window and sniff and sniff and sniff. But he didn't like outside all that much. He would lay in the grass for a little while, but then when a car would come by he would run back to the house and that would be it for that day.
He loved to play "Lion Tamer" with his Dad. Dad found out one time when yawning that Texas absolutely loved to sniff an open mouth for some reason.
He also loved people food. He "begged like a dog", according to our roommate. After starting chemo it was just a waiting game for several days to see if he would recover. Mom's birthday was shortly after he got sick, and Dad had promised to make Mom a candlelit dinner at home to celebrate. She didn't really feel like celebrating because she was still so worried about him. But as Dad was cooking dinner, Texas came upstairs for the first time in about a week! And he didn't just slowly wander around. No, he RAN around the living room, climbing on another chair near the table, BEGGING and meowing and meowing and meowing for some of our dinner. That was the best birthday present ever.
We will see him again at the bridge one day. For now, he lives in our hearts. We love you, Big Guy.

We are fine!

2009-09-02T10:07:00.001-07:00

Mom says she's just been "Busy" again and so didn't have as much time to help us blog.

If you call antics like this "Being busy". Yes, technically that's Dad stuffing me in the box, but she took a pictor of it! Oh, the Catmanity!
But we have posts scheduled for the next two days at least.

PROOF that Deer are Vishus!!

2009-08-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry we haven't posted in a while. Mom's been "BUSY".
Acshully, we think her life was in DANGER yesterday when she went to a park with Dad. Look what they saw!! A VISHUS DEER! Skeezix, run!! (Biggify for full scary effect)

(Mom wants you to know that this picture was NOT photoshopped, it's just that Mom's camera and photography skills are both really bad...)

Thankful Thursday

2009-08-06T03:44:00.000-07:00

Niko: I'm thankful my sister's test results were mostly normal. And I'm thankful Mom doesn't have the camera right now to catch me...

Oh. Oops.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2009-08-05T03:41:00.000-07:00

Almost. Got. That. Itch.

Test Results on Toosday

2009-08-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

Sheesh, are we DONE talking about me and the V-E-T yet?

Cloud: All my results were NORMAL except one. My pee is very very concentrated. It must be thinking hard.
Since all my kidney tests were normal, the V-E-T said this just means I must get more water in some how. The V-E-T suggested adding water to my food. She said I can eat dry if I really want, but it must have added water to it and should be the purrscription kind. But I can have non-purrscription wet, since right now my V-E-T thinks my concentrated urine is the bigger problem, not my prior PH issues. The good thing is that I told mom that I like the dry food with water added even better than regular dry!!! Mom was so happy! The V-E-T gave Mom some ways to increase my water intake, and also told mom to give us a third litter box. I have to come back in 6 weeks from when the beans finish implementing all the changes. The V-E-T also said she was willing to give me Prozac to try if I still seem very stressed. Mom said me, her, and Daddy will have to have a long talk before putting me on any pschiatric medicines- so we will see about that.

OK, good, finally done talking about all this medical stuff. Now, I'm going to go find some humiliating photos of Niko to put up for the next few days as revenge.

Niko: Hey!!

Looong Cloudy V-E-T Update

2009-07-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

Cloud:
Well, I'm back from the noo V-E-T. I like them. They are much more thorough than my old V-E-T, and guess what? They DON'T SHOVE THINGS UP YOUR BUTT! They only stick things in your ear to take your temperature! Yay!!
So, since I peed on the floor again, I had to get lots of tests this time since the foods is apparently not working. Plus the beans say I am still stressed about something.
The noo v-e-t felt my kidneys, and said my right kidney felt slightly bigger than my left one. When the V-E-T said this, Mom got TERRIFIED. (Texas had lymphoma that went into his kidneys). But the V-E-T said it was more likely an infection or a stone if anything, and she said it felt only a teeny bit bigger. She did an X-ray to see if it really was bigger, and also to check for stones.
She said that my right kidney is indeed a little bigger, but only by the tiniest amount. The enlargement is small enough that it might not mean anything at all. She said she saw no stones, but that I was full of feces so it made it hard for her to see all of my kidneys. (When we got to the car Dad said I was full of sh*t. Mean Dad!!)
So, the V-E-T also stole my bloods and my pee. She is doing a SENIOR panel on me (I'm barely an adult!! But it's because it covers a lot of things that can be seen with urinary/kidney problems, not cuz they think I'm old!) and doing a more thorough pee check than the first V-E-T did (they said they were two types- Mom is confuzed on the deetales, but anyways, it's "more thorough").
So for now we will await the results of the pee and blood tests, which should be in on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully all I have is more crystals and the V-E-T can find a way to fix it.
Until the results come back though, Mom is going to be a worrywart, so if you could please send me some purrs that would be great.

Niko Report

2009-07-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

Niko here with this week's Niko Report. Cloud peed on the floor again yesserday, so today Cloud is going to see a noo vet. Mom says she thinks our usual vet just wants to sell us expensive food and not actually help Cloud.
Mom: Ahem, Niko, I didn't put it quite like that. I think they want to help her, but I'm not sure the specific brand they recommend is all that great, and we've been there twice already and Cloud is still not all better. Plus this new vet says they carry several different manufacturers of food and recommend the company and type that they think is best for each kitty.
Niko: Meow-blah, Meow-blah, Meow-blah. Anyways, Mom will be stuffing Cloud into the PTU and then picking up Dad from work and then taking Cloud to the noo V-E-T today. This V-E-T is the same V-E-T that boreded our big brother Texas last summer, and Mom says we might have to stay at their kitty hotel this year- she is still figuring out what she will do with us while they go to the beach this summer.
Cloud:Hey, what's this about a PTU?! And why aren't you just taking us with you to the beach!
Niko: Mom says it's a ten hour car ride each way and that the beach sits next to a GIANT bathtub with no walls!
Cloud: Oh. We'll stay here then, thanks.
Niko:But that's not til September. You just have to go for a quick visit to the V-E-T today.
Cloud: Oh. I guess that's OK then. Why are they driving ten hours to go to the beach anyway. The beach is only 2-3 hours away.
Niko: Mom wants to go to a beach with palm trees.
Cloud: Mom's wierd.
Niko: No comment. Ok everycat, that's it for the Niko report today. See everyone soon!

Fractious Somecat Friday

2009-07-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

We do not know who did this. We swear, we don't know. The mouse asploded by itself.
Can you tell which cat was caught with the evidence?

v
v
v
v
v
v

How about now?
If you want to know, check the comments. Praline is right. Mom got the darn dates mixed up on the autopost again.

No. You May Not Cross.

2009-07-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

We've had some comment spam from a company called DirectStarTV. Mom says they seem to be a legitimate company with some rogue agents. She has sent them a nasty letter with the referal IDs that were in the links. Anyway, so Mom is going to turn up the comment security quite a bit, and then after a while, we'll get rid of some, but not all, of the annoying restrictions. Thanks for your patience!
UPDATE: DirectStarTV wrote her back and said that it was apparently some affiliate company of theirs doing bad things and they got rid of them today!

Cloudy Confessional Tuesday

2009-07-21T06:28:00.000-07:00

Cloud: Well, I guess it's not really a confession, because I didn't do anything wrong---
Niko: You are allowed to chew on the blind cord now?
Cloud: Yes Iam -
Mom: (raises eyebrows)
Cloud: NOW ANYWAY, my secret, is that---
I AM AFWAID OF BANANAS.
Yes, AFWAID OF THEM.
There is no photographic evidence of this, because Mom isn't going to put a banana next to me and scare me just for a pictor. Good Mom. But Mom eats bananas for breakfast a lot, and the other day I came up to her and said "pet me" and she said "I'm eating" and I said "I don't care- PET ME" and she petted me and put a smidge of banana on her finger and offered it to me. And I HISSED and ran away!! The next day I came up to Mom again when she was eatin a banana and she accidentally dropped the peel when she went to pet me and I hissed at it and ran away again. Mom says I am very wierd, and am apparently the opposite of Pixie (Daisy's late sisfur).
Niko:Continuing the foods report, I gotted TURKEY. Cloud does not like to eat real turkey, only turkey cans, but I do! Mom went to grab 2 of her favorite TV dinner, and there was a turkey one behind the first one, and she didn't realize. Well, Mom doesn't like turkey so she gave me some and I eated it all up. Nom Nom Nom.

ManCat Monday

2009-07-20T03:15:00.000-07:00

Dad takes better pictures of me cuz he has a fancypants camera and he is a better flashybox user than Mom.
But Mom is the one that helps us blog.
Oh, and Cloud has a confession to make tomorrow.

Easy Like Saturday and Sunday Morning

2009-07-19T03:06:00.000-07:00

(Someone needs to tell Mom to actually look at a calendar when scheduling these things! She says working overnights really makes you have no clue what day it is)

Fractious Cat Friday

2009-07-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

We are thinking we will start the funny picture contests back up soon (read about them on the sidebar).

In the meantime, we present, Fractious Cloud.
No Dad, you may not leave the bed.

Practice Shots

2009-07-16T03:58:00.000-07:00

I've put my post up at Monty's Doin the Q blog, but here are the "out-takes".

We are still working on seeing if Cloud wants to enter too.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

Two-Cat Tuesday: QA testing

2009-07-07T06:31:00.000-07:00

We got a new Turbo Scratcher for our purrfday, and it was very very impawtant that we extensively QA tested it.

It passes!

Mancat Monday

2009-07-06T02:55:00.000-07:00

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

It's hard work being a mancat!!

Snuggle Sunday- Mom for hire Update

2009-07-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a Snuggle Sunday Post to rival even the best Sei-Chan, Tama-Chan, and Tom snuggle!

Niko & Cloud: Mom, you iz so fired! We can not believe you've had the mancat monday pictor up half the day instead of this. BiteBiteBite
Mom: You bite me all day anyway, stop acting like this is anything new. Being a secretary is hard work, you know.

Timeline

2009-07-04T05:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth Everyone!!!

We did a timeline post a while back, when we were wee 4 month olds, just to see how much we'd growed then. Well, let's update that post now that we iz ONE YEARS OLD.

Here is the earliest known photo of us. She found us on Petfinder.com. This is us at the rescue. Momma never met the black kitty next to us in this photo. We are like 5 weeks old in this picture.
Here we are at 11 weeks (Niko) and 12 weeks old (Cloud)- our first pictures at home!

Just a few weeks later, at 3 months old, just a few weeks after arriving in our furrever homes. This is one of mom's favorite pictors of us.

And here is us on Halloween, at about 4 months old!

Six months old:

Finally, at 11 months old! (We haven't let mom take any good pictures of us together for our purrfday yet.)

Prezzies

2009-07-03T01:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks all for bisiting us on our purrfday. Wanna see what pressies we got?

Hmm..there WERE fishie flakes in this bowl. Wonder whichcat ate them?

OK, Mom, what's in here?

Let's QA test it.

Ooh, lots of toys!! But we can't play with these now- they are going in the catnip jar for later?!

Oh OK, as long as we can play with these now! Good!

It's Our Purrfday!

2009-07-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's our FIRST Purrfday today, and we is having a party and you is all invited!!!!

Can you alls believe we is ADULT CATS now?! Ann from Zoolatry combined the picture above for us, and also did an oil-painting image of us from when we were itty bitty kittens.

She also did the new banner up top, which most of you kitties voted on. (We actually put it up yesterday so we could check for any problems)
Well, let's have some salmon

and either a niptini for us adult cats

or milk for the kittenz.

And let's enjoy the party. We will be opening our gifts tonight and posting pictures of that and some of our old kitten pictures this week in celebration.
Purrs all!! Thanks for bisiting us on our purrfday!

V-E-T Update and What's in the Bags?

2009-07-01T13:05:00.001-07:00

V-E-T Update by Cloud:
My crystals are back, or are still there, whichever. I had less crystals then last time, and my pee's PH was closer to normal, but still slightly elevated (6.8). And I also had a 103.2 fever, but no signs of infection in my pee. So I was given a purrscription gushy food (I don't know if I like it yet, but Niko loves it!)and orders to drink more and come back in a week so they can steal my pee again.

On to more fun news.
Mom, what's in the bags? Is it for our purrfdays tomorrow?

Mom says we'll find out tomorrow!!

V-E-T

2009-07-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

Cloud: I have to go to the V-E-T now because I peed all over the basement again. Mom thinks my crystals are back. We'll update when I get home.
We also hope to have a special post up tomorrow, because tomorrow is our First Purrthday! We hope you'll come bisit us!!

It was Cloud, not me

2009-06-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

Mom put batteries in her flashy box and says this is the evidence photo.

Dad, the cat who knocked all the stuff off the table near your computer was Cloud. Because it is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS Cloud who jumps up on the table. I NEVER do that. The cat in this picture is Cloud, it's just that the flash made my furs look lighter. Oops, I mean HER furs look lighter. Yeah, that's it.

No Evidence

2009-06-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

Mom's camera battery died so she can't retrieve the photos she calls "Evidence" right now. So here is a photo that Dad took on his camera instead.
See, I'm innocent.
-Niko

Help Mom Choose!

2009-06-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

Cloud: Mom says she needs everykitty's help deciding something, but we aren't allowed to know about it yet. Hmmm...

Mom: OK kitties, Ann from Zoolatry emailed the kittens some updated blog header choices recently. This was convenient, because they will be ONE YEAR OLD soon (July 2nd). I intercepted the kittens email and have posted the sample
So, I am opening up voting on the two headers that Ann sent, and the one with more votes will be the new header. The headers are below, and you can click on them to bigify.
Thanks for voting! There will be a poll posted on the right side, and polling will be available until June 30th.
OPTION 1:

OPTION 2:

International Box Day

2009-06-19T03:40:00.000-07:00

We let the "Cat out of the box" early yesterday by mistake, so we gave Mom the bitey and made her fix it!!

Zoolatry had a wonderful idea. Today is International Box Day and we will post photos of us in boxes. Also, Mom asked that we showcase a photo of our one who came before, Texas, in a box too. He loved his Utz box.

We'll start with the Big Guy and his UTZ box.
Look Left.

Look Right.

OK, safe to sleep in the box.

So, now Niko in some boxes. All of the photos below are old, so you can see us a little tiny kittens again, but most of them are also "out-takes", so you've seen similar photos as these, but not these exact ones. Enjoy!

Now ME in a box.

Lastly, here we are sharing a box.

Awardie!

2009-06-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

We got an award from Socks,Scylla,Charybdis, and Fenris.

Mom switched to an overnight shift a few weeks ago, and so she's been adjusting to the new schedule and has had trouble keeping up with the blog since then. She thinks she's finally getting adjusted to it though. The problem is it's been so long since we got the award (we tried to post last week but blogger was not letting us upload the photo, and then Mom got busy again) that we don't know who has already got it so we can't pass it along. But thanks so much for this awardie!

Test Results from the V-E-T

2009-06-07T21:04:00.001-07:00

Mystery # 2 is solved! (Mystery #1 was the mystery of the Red Bump, which was fleas. Mystery # 2 is mystery of the Cat Pee)

Cloud:
Well, it seems that it was probably ME peeing all over the house, but I won't tell.
The V-E-T called Dad Sunday and told him that Niko's pee was normal, but mine had crystals in it. They asked Dad if there was still somecat peeing around the house, and there isn't, and there is normal pee in the boxes. So they said for now just keep us on the antibiotics to be safe, and hopefully my crystals were a reaction to the stress from the fleas. If any more pee is found around the house or if I show any other symptoms I will have to get more tests to find out more about my crystals, the doctor said it may turn out that I have stones. Has any other cat had crystals in their pee before? Mom is a little worried because she's never had a cat with crystals before and she doesn't really know what to make of this. (Okay, she's worried because Mom worries a lot in general but shh I didn't say that).
Thanks for all your purrs and comments- advice welcome.

P.S. Oh and we also got an award last week. We didn't forget, Mom says we will announce it formally very soon.

Pills!!

2009-06-05T14:43:00.001-07:00

Niko: We tried being cute. We tried pretending to be asleeps.

Cloud:We also refused to pee anymore after being separated. So we figured she would just not take us to the V-E-T. But instead, she took both of us!

The mystery of my overgrooming and red bump is solved! I have FLEAS :(
So did Niko. The V-E-T thinks maybe one of us just got stressed enough to start going outside of the litterbox. But she sent us both home with antibiotics and took samples of our pee (wierd!) just in case one of us has a UTI. We also got Flea goop that the beans have to put on us once a month. Neither of us peed outside the box today, so Mom thinks we must be feeling better.

Oh No's

2009-06-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Niko: Oh No's!

Why are we being separated? Why did you call the V-E-T?
Cloud:MOM! We don't know anything about all the pee puddles in the house! We swear!

Mom: Somecat has a V-E-T appointment at 3:30 EST today, hopefully I'll be able to tell who is peeing everywhere by then. I suspect Niko, since he had the pee problem last time, but last time he didn't want to pee at all, this time somecat is peeing everywhere.

Tummy Tuesday

2009-06-02T06:11:00.001-07:00

ManCat in Training Monday

2009-06-01T08:35:00.001-07:00

Commenta-thon Finished!

2009-05-29T16:45:00.000-07:00

We got 34 comments for a total of $8.50 , and then Miss Peach raised $21.50.
So, that is a total of $30!

KC, could you please have your mommy email us at catsinmdATgmailDOTcom with her paypal informashun so we can send her the green papers?

Fanks!
Mom works long weekend shifts now (fooey) so we will have to be relatively quiet during the weekend, but then we have plenty of time during the week to post and visit. Oh and Mom got her grade for her course back (she only took one this semester since she works full time too) and she got a B! Beee, Oh no! :)

Window Views Thursday

2009-05-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

Only a few more hours to purrticipate in the Commenta-thon for Charlie Taylor!

So today is Window Views Thursday. We've teknically been purrticipating all week, because those birds have been outside all week werking on nest building. Plus, Mom works nights now, so she has more daylight time to watch us in the windows. But anyway, here are some more window photos for your pleasure.

What was behind that door?

2009-05-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to purrticipate in the comment-athon, if you haven't already!

So a few kitties asked what we was gonna come out that door?

What indeed?
NUFFIN! We wasn't looking at the door!

BIRDS! You will prolly need to click to bigify above.
There was a grey bird on the fence near the tree, and a crow with nesting materials in his beak, on the fence on top of the mess of green plants (Clematis).
Now the grey bird is on the Clematis. Mom circled him for you.

OK, Mom, enough wif the flashy box!!

Don't forget Charlie Cat!!!

Comment-athon to benefit Charlie Cat

2009-05-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

Miss Peach had a wonderful idea to benefit Charlie Cat and his fambly.
As most of you know, Charlie Cat has been very ill and spent a lot of time in the cat hospital recently before he was finally able to come home. In addition to that, his Daddy Charley has been quite ill too (fortunately it seems he is recovering too).
Well, Charlie's Mommy ML has been through tons of stress with all this, we is sure, plus Charlie's hospital stay must've been one GINORMOUS bill. So, Miss Peach is having a commenthaton to help pays his V-E-T bills, and now SO ARE WE!Our Commentathon will end at 12:01AM EST Friday 5/29/09. We will donate 25 cents per comment left on our blog, and then we will also match whatever Miss Peach raises as well. Mom does insist that we mention that the total maximum we can donate through the commentathons is 200 green papers.
Just in case you can't find enough wonderful things about Charlie Cat, Dad Charley, and the rest of KC and ML's wonderful fambly to comment about, we will present a cute picture of us for commenting inspiration:

Get Commenting!

Happy Purrthday, ML!!

2009-05-23T03:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Purrthday, ML!!
We think it's totally cool that Charlie Cat finally got to come home!

Tremendous Announcement Thursday

2009-05-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

Niko: I have an announsment! I am RUNNING FOR CONGRESSCAT!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-20T13:53:00.001-07:00

Tummeh and Toes Tuesday

2009-05-19T05:59:00.000-07:00

Cloud: I am hidin my face cuz I am ashamed about my big tummeh.

Niko: I don't mind! I'll show toes AND tummeh!

Cloud:Dad, I did not give you purrmission to take this foto!! I was ASLEEPS!

Mancat in training Monday

2009-05-18T06:12:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is the nice pictor Daddy took of me.