Formerly Feral Friday - LT Talks

Hello everycat, LT here. I’m so excited that I’m blogging. Mombean has to type for me ‘cause I don’t know nothing bout typing. You cats probably don’t know this, but I live with 2 other cats, a fat cat and a skinny cat. I love them and want to play with them, but I don’t think they like me much. I don’t know why, cause I’m sooooo cute.

The first time I saw the fat cat I ran to her ‘cause I thought she was my new Momcat. And you know what she did? She wacked me right on the head. Three times. Whap. Whap. Whap. Well, I did not let that put me off for long. As soon as she turned around I whacked her right on the booty. And that is how things have been ever since. I try to whack her booty and she tries to whack me on the head. He, he. It’s a fun game. See here she is sleeping (hiding) on the chair and I’m getting ready to whack her booty.

The skinny cat just wants to play ‘chase’ all the time. I run up to him, and he runs away, so I chase him. But he never chases me back. He just sometimes growls at me. He is a very weird cat if you ask me. What kind of cat does not know how to play chase?

Except for the 2 cats, there is also a huge thing living here. At first I could not figure out what it was. She feeds me, gives me a warm place to sleep, cleans my poopbox and plays with me. So I figured she is my new Momcat. I was very surprised, cause she has nearly no fur, and she is really, really huge for a Momcat. The fat cat said I am stupid; she is not a Momcat, but a Mombean. I’m not sure what that means, but I love to lick her furless skin. Mombean says she is my Mr. Tasty Face. I have no idea what that means, but her face does taste very good.

The fat cat says I should watch out. She says I better stop chasing the skinny cat or I’ll have to find another Mombean. What does she mean? I don’t want no other Mombean. I love my Mombean. I purr so loud when she scratches me. And I lick her nose to show that I really, really like her. And I follow her around everywhere. And we play and I run and tumble and jump and climb… But the fat cat says I better make friends with the skinny cat, cause what the skinny cat wants, the skinny cat gets. I’m scared.

I asked Mombean about this, but she said I should not worry and that she promises there is nothing to be scared about. I think I’ll try to chase the skinny cat again; maybe this time he will chase me back and everything will be OK.

LT needs a forever home

I know there are so many kitties that need homes, but I'm still looking for a forever home for LT. He is getting along fine with Mrs. B, but unfortunately Bubbles is just not getting along with him at all. It makes me very sad. LT is really a very sweet little kitty, but it makes me even more sad that Bubbles now does not want to come into the house. My apartment is just too small for cats that don't get along. At the moment I have to put LT alone in the bedroon, so that Bubbles can at least sleep inside at night. LT gets very lonely and it breaks my heart. It is just not fair to either of them.


I know most of us on the cat blogosphere already have all the cats we can handle, but if anybody hear about someone that is looking for a kitten to adopt, please mention LT to them.

He went to the vet on Monday to have a follow-up for the ringworm, and the vet said that it looks very good, I should just continue treatment for another week. He also had his first shots. And he gained 0.9 lbs! He uses the litterbox and loves to play with fev-vers. I will cover any transport costs to get him to his forever home.

UPDATE: The vet says he is about 11 weeks old.

Wordless Wednesday

Tabby Tummy Tuesday

Here are some pictures of Crinkle and Babatjie. Rememeber they live on an African farm that is as close as cats can get to heaven while still on earth. You can read more about this this wonderfull place here, here and here.

Crinkle

Babatjie

And last but not least, LT

It's Him of Me!

Bubbles here. I don't normally post, but things are getting out of hand here. You will not believe it, but Mom brought an evil intruder into my home! I refuse to share my home with that Little Terror. Now I spend most of my time outside. I know this makes my Mom sad, but I will not share my house with that runt!

And while I am outside, the Terror is cozy inside and sleeping on MY chair on the special sweater Mom always puts out for ME.

HE HAS TO GO AND THAT IS ALL THERE IS TO IT!

Hunting fev-vers.

The Story of Mrs. B - Part Four

After her death, I missed Kalahari a lot. I just moved to the US about 6 months earlier and my apartment felt very empty after she was gone. So I decided to adopt another cat. I went to PetSmart and chose a beautiful young tabby cat (before Mrs. B all 5 my previous cats were tabbies). However, they would not let me adopt her because I was a foreigner (that is a whole other story, which I will not go into now). In any case, I was very sad about that and I told a colleague at work that I wanted to adopt a cat. She said that she knew of somebody that rescued cats. And that is how I heard about the Nice Lady. I immediately contacted her and went to meet her. We talked a little bit and a few days later she brought Mrs. B (who they named Bobbi) over to my apartment to see whether we liked each other. Well, she never left and 5 years later we are still living happily ever after.

Since Mrs. B came to live with me she has had no serious health problems. She has tested negative for heartworms since she came to live here. The most serious problem she had was a blocked anal gland (sorry I had to bring that up Mrs. B). It was not serious, but they had to give her anesthesia because she was just teeth-and-claws when they tried to “unblock” it. They told me afterwards that they had some difficulty trying to wake her up afterwards, so we just have to be careful of that in the future.

After all the high drama of her early life, Mrs. B now leads a blissfully dull life. The most excitement she has here is when she gets the water squirt ‘cause she slips out into the courtyard for a grass salad. To conclude the Story of Mrs. B here is a picture of her watching here favorite program on Animal Planet, Meerkat Manor. Life is good.

(The End)

Formerly Feral Friday - LT and the Vishus Deer

Mom: Hello LT. Who are you snuggling with?

LT: It's my bestest friend, Cuddles.

Mom: LT, Cuddles kinda looks like a vishus deer.

LT: Oh no Mom. He cannot possibly be an evil vishus deer. He loves to snuggle with me.

Mom: Well LT, if I were you, I'd sleep with one eye open.

LT: Oh Mom, that's not necassary. Cuddles sleeps with both eyes open to keep me safe.

Mom: OK LT, if you are sure he's not a vishus deer.

LT: I'm sure Mom. Goodnight.

Mom: Goodnight LT.

Tuxie Tuesday - Special Edition 2

The Story of Mrs. B - Part Three
A few weeks after the heartworm episode, Mrs. B slipped out into the backyard (no doubt to eat some grass – to this day she loves to sneak outside to eat grass, so I can certainly understand how this happened) and was attacked by a dog that Foster Dad was fostering. Foster Dad broke it up, and again Mrs. B was rushed to the vet. Miraculously she wasn't injured but she was in shock.

While Mrs. B was going though one crisis after another, I was going through my own heartbreak. I have made friends with one of several stray cats that lived around the house I was sharing with some other students. I had her spayed and given her shots, but she was still pretty wild. I named her Kalahari and when I moved to my own apartment, I took her with me.

She was not using the litter box, so I allowed her to go outside to do her business. About 2 and a half months after I moved, she was hit by a car and killed. Before her, I’ve had 4 other cats, two (Crinkle and Babatjie) are still alive, and the other 2 died of old age. So this was my first cat that died such a sad death.

(to be continued ...)

Some Good News, Some Bad News

Momcat and Little Black One seem to have disappeared. I've not seen them, and their food is for the most part untouched. Even Patches Man is nowhere to be found. I think it is possible that he is the father of the kittens, since I saw him at the den with Momcat several times. I'm continuing to put out food and am keeping an eye open for them.

Some good news is that another "stray" resident of the building site, a very fluffy cat that I call Fluffmonster, does have a home. I was never sure whether she was a stray or just and indoor/outdoor cat (no collar), but today I saw that she had her belly shaved and had her ladycat-operation. Yay!

Also today, I took Little Tabby to my vet for a checkup. The good news is that he is FIV and FeLV negative! Yay! What a relief. Unfortunately the bad news is that he has ringworm. They took some hair to grow a culture, but the vet says from the symptoms he is positive that it's ringworm. He gave me some meds for I have to apply to the affected areas. It means that he still has to be kept away from the 2 Bs, which is sad. I can see that LT is lonely, and in my one bedroom apartment the 2 Bs are not happy to be confined to the living room. In any case I'm just relieved that the FIV and FeLV were negative.

Little Tabby loves Quincy fev-vers!

I'll try to post the next part of the story of Mrs. B tomorrow or Wednesday. I'm sorry I've not had time to visit all the blogs lately. That stupid thing called a job, does not care whether there is a kitty crisis.

I also apologize to the winners of our I love the 2 Bs competition. I have not send out your prizes yet! I'll try to do it before the end of the week.

Cat Crisis

You might have noticed that I’ve not had much time over the last few days to visit and comment on the cat blogosphere. I had a bit of a cat crisis.

Behind my apartment there is an open field that is being prepared for construction. At the moment people walk their dogs there and Bubbles goes there to hunt mice. About 1 week ago I went out to call Bubbles inside and I saw that his eyes were fixed on something in a pile of concrete slabs in the corner of the site. I tried to see what he was looking at, and then I saw it. A tiny black kitten! The next moment the mother cat came storming out screaming at Bubbles. He did not know what hit him and immediately got out of there. Momcat was a beautiful grey cat I’ve not seen around before. I went home and got some stinky goodness for the mom. When I returned I saw that there was another kitten, a little tabby. I put out the food and returned home. For the next 7 days, I continued to feed the Momcat, Little Tabby and Little Black One. I talked to one of the site managers and he told me that the area where the kitten’s den was, were going to be cleaned-up within the next month. He said he would let me know before they start on that section.

Here is a picture of their "den". You can see Little Black One in the center of the picture if you click to biggify.

I immediately started calling everybody I could think of to get the Mom and kittens out of there. Most of the organizations did not even return my call. I even went to Petco and PetSmart on the weekend hoping that one of the groups that have cats for adoption might be willing to help. I heard the same thing over and over. They are full, they can’t take any more cats. One person told me that I should call Animal Control and have the Mom and kittens euthanized. I did not know what to do. There was one person I knew would help me. I met her through the Nice Lady who saved Mrs. B and just started volunteering for her a week before I found the kittens. We’ll call her the Nice Lady’s Friend. She has been saving and feeding cats on and around LSU campus for about 20 years. However she was on holiday until Friday (yesterday). I continued to feed Momcat and tried to make her used to my presence, and the fact that I bring food, in the hope that it will make trapping her and her kittens easier.

Thursday morning I went and feed Momcat as usual and took this picture. You can see both Little Tabby and Little Black One.

I went home and when I came out of the shower about 45 minutes later, I thought I heard the sounds of large machinery. I went outside and this is what I found.

The den was destroyed. I was distraught and frantically started looking for the kittens. I found nothing. No trace of kittens or Momcat. Luckily the earth moving machine got stuck on it’s way to disposing a slab of concrete. I continued to look for the kittens, but found none. After a while I sat down and just tried to listen for any sounds. Only silence. I was very sad. I’ve been looking for a couple of hours now and had many fire-ants bites. I was loosing hope

And then I saw it. A little black face. Little Black One was hiding in a pile of plastic rubble a few feet away. But as soon as I moved he disappeared. Just about this time, the workers retuned with a Bobcat to continue moving the rubble away. I explained what I was doing there. They said that they were also removing the pile of rubble where I saw Little Black One just a few minutes before. I was panicked and did not know what to do. There was still no sign of Momcat or Little Tabby. I decided to hang around. Luckily it took them much longer to remove the concrete blocks of the den than they thought, so at around 3 pm they told me that they will not start on the pile where I saw Little Black One until the next day. I was very relieved. I decided to go home and come back after all the commotion stopped to see whether I could find the kitten.

I was only a few hundred feet away when I heard the Bobcat stop. The young man driving it yelled to me that he sees a kitten! He jumped off the machine and grabbed it! It was Little Tabby! She survived. She was shivering even though it was not cold. Whether it was all the commotion or hunger that made the leave her hiding place I don’t know. But the guy that grabbed her said she was between the old den and where I saw Little Black One, right next to where he was scooping the slabs! I took her home, while the driver said he would be real careful and keep a lookout for the other kitten. I made the kitten comfortable at home and went back to the site. On my way back I saw the Momcat! She was OK. She was sitting in the grass a few hundred feet away from where the den was. She was frantic, but too scared of the sound of the Bobcat to come closer. Soon it was time for the work to stop for the day. I left to go and get a trap to try and catch Momcat and Little Black One. I called the Nice Lady’s Friend (even though she was on holiday in California) and she said I could get a trap from her home. I went to set up the trap and saw the Momcat on top of the pile of rubble that used to be her den. Since I knew that the whole area was going to be demolished the next day I was desperate to trap Momcat and Little Black One.

Unfortunately the trap was empty yesterday morning. I’m pretty sure the Momcat moved Little Black One. Sadly I think she might have moved him to another area that was also cleared yesterday. I’m continuing to put out food for her. I saw a flash of Momcat last night, but now I have no idea where she is hiding Little Black One. There are no obvious good, save hiding places left in our area.

Here is the site of the den Saturday morning.

I guess Little Tabby is about 5 weeks old. He (I think it’s a he) is doing fine, eating sleeping and even using his litterbox (although he is not so good covering up yet). He woke up this morning with a bit of sore front paw, but I hope it isn’t anything serious. Maybe he sprained it playing with Quincy’s feathers. He really went wild for the fev-vers. If it is not better by tomorrow I’ll take him to the vet.

The 2 Bs are not amused! Mrs. B hisses and Bubbles seems to be terrified of him. At the moment Little Tabby is confined to a big cage in my bedroom.

I take him out to play and cuddle, but am keeping him away from the2 Bs at the moment. I hope to find him a forever home when he is a little bigger. I know there are many cats in desperate need of homes at the moment, but I hope that somebody will consider taking in this little kitten.

In the meantime I’ll look after him and I will continue to try and find Momcat and Little Black One.

Well, that is the story of the last couple of days in the house of the 2 Bs (and now one little tabby).

Formerly Feral Friday - Special Edition

I know Mrs. B was not really a feral, but she was homeless. So today we will continue with the Story of Mrs. B - Part 2

If you remember from last time, Mrs. B tested positive for FIV and the vet insisted that she had to be euthanized. The Nice Lady would have none of it! She got Mrs. B out of there and took her to another vet. He said that once they got her over her immediate crisis, she could live a long, happy life with FIV.

A friend of the Nice Lady’s (we will call him the Foster Dad) fostered her while she recovered and they tried to find her a good forever home. Then, a few weeks later, she had an episode where she had real trouble breathing. She was rushed to the vet and it turned out she had heartworms! They thought that she had little chance of survival because heartworms are often fatal to cats. But, once again Mrs. B pulled through. She went back to live with the Foster Dad, still dreaming of her very own forever home.

(to be continued ...)

Widebody Wednesday

Oh Mom, this is not a very flattering picture of me! Cheeto might not like me anymore if I'm on Widebody Wednesday!

My Cheeto must be handsomest cat in the whole world. Mreeeew.

Tuxie Tuesday - Special Edition

The Story of Mrs. B - Part One

The Lady that saved Mrs. B (we will just call her the Nice Lady) was kind enough to write me a long e-mail telling me the story of how Mrs. B came to her and everything she went though before she came to live with me. So without further ado, here is the story of Mrs. B.

Some neighbors of the Nice Lady saw Mrs. B in their yard. She was disoriented and weak so they took her to the Nice Lady since they knew she helped kitties in need.

We don’t know anything about Mrs. B before this. The vet estimated that she was about 2 years old when she was found. From my time with her I’m sure she was somebody’s pet. She does like to go outside to eat grass, but she is not very outdoor savvy. She gets spooked easily outside, so I think she must have been a predominantly indoor cat.

In any case, when they found her, she had extremely bad diarrhea and was very dehydrated. Since it was a weekend the Nice Lady’s normal vet was closed, so she took her to another vet. They ran some tests and said she was FIV positive and should be put to sleep. The Nice Lady did not agree, but they were adamant that she needed to be euthanized.

(to be continued ...)

And the winner is ...

At last all the votes have been counted in our I love the 2 Bs competition. It was a very close race and all entries had good support. Here are the winners.

The first place winner is the entry from Cheeto! (We double checked the votes to make sure Mrs. B did not sneak in a few votes of her own. Needless to say she is very happy with the outcome of the voting.)


The second place winner is Bob & Pippin. Many voters thought the expression on their faces were just priceless.



The third place winner is Missy & KC. Well, who can resist Missy and little KC?


Congratulations to all the winners. And thank you to everybody that entered the competition as well as those who took the time to vote.

The winners should please send me their mailing addresses so I can mail your prizes. Actually I need everybody that entered the competition to send me your mailing addresses because everybody that entered will get a little something!

Thanks again to everybody that participated. The 2 Bs love you all.

Formerly Feral Friday #3

If you have not voted for the winner of our "I love the 2 Bs" competition yet, please do so. The voting is VERY close. At the moment we have a four-way tie for second place. You can view the entries and find instructions on how to vote here.

Please Vote

I thought the best way to choose the winners of our "I love the 2 Bs" competition, would be by voting. You can view the entries here. Decide on your favorite(s) and let me know by e-mail.

Every household gets 1 vote, and households that entered the competition, get 2 votes.

You have until midnight (CST) Sunday, November 5 to vote. The 3 entries with the most votes will get prizes! I'll announce the winners on Monday.

Thanks to everycat that entered the competition. The 2 Bs love you too!

UPDATE: Since we did not have very many entries, we are not going to divide the entries up in the 3 catagories originally mentioned. We are just simply going to give prizes to the 3 entries that get the most votes.