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Sunday, January 21, 2018

Another winter sunrise

I love the moment when the sun hits the tops of the mountains.
Middle of the range, showing clearly
that these are fault-block mountains

Strawberry just as the sun hit 
the veil of cloud she
often wears on her shoulder
 Dixie Butte and assorted hills

All taken from our yard, with the neighbors' houses cropped out.


Monday, January 15, 2018

Toby is six months old!

We believe he was less than 24 hours old when we found him on July 15th.

These are today's pictures:
He's developing quite the mane!
Today, at last, I was finally able to catch him
carrying his jingle ball around the room.

Up on the couch, over to the windowsill...
Down to the floor again...

It's been a long road from that tiny kitten
with a fresh umbilical cord

to this gorgeous, healthy, 7.4-pound cat.
It's all been worth it.


Thursday, January 11, 2018

Jeeves ventures out

After a month of living in the small bathroom, Jeeves started asking to go out into the house.

Today he discovered the couch. How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?

He is a dog in a cat suit. He loves belly rubs. When I tried to take my hand away after this picture, he grabbed it in his forepaws and pulled it back to his belly. I have never met a cat who tolerated belly rubs well, let alone demanded them.


Monday, January 8, 2018

Jeeves's ears: good and bad news.

Jeeves went to the vet today.
If you are squeamish, or eating, or both, skip the next para.
His right ear is improving. His left ear is worse, as we suspected--the eardrum is ruptured and the ear canal is, as the vet put it after a look through the otoscope, “a lake of goo.” It’s a combo bacterial and yeast infection.
He is back on his first, injectable antibiotic because it looks like that one may have helped the most. He was on it for his abscess, but his ear did improve during that time, so he has it plus another week on ear drops (both antibiotic and antifungal included in the drops, plus a steroid). Then he will have two more weeks of the injectable and another vet appointment after that because there is still one last antibiotic we can try if this doesn’t work.
Things look pretty bad in his ears, but we have reduced the general stress on his body--he is no longer outdoors, parasite-ridden, or sporting big abscesses. We just have to hope that good food, warmth, and love will help the antibiotics fight off the infection in his ears.
He was a complete sweetie in the appointment. Took his shots and coped with having his ears messed about, not a murmur of complaint (though his tail was expressive). Only growled when I put him back in his carrier. Never unsheathed a claw. He is a prince among cats.

Our cats, by size



All measurements made on our bathroom scale, which weighs in tenths of a pound.

Smallest to largest:
Toby, blue with faint tabby markings, 6.4 pounds and growing, 6 months next week! We suspect his coat next fall will prove him a longhair; right now he's medium tending toward long.

Arwen, longhaired dilute tortoiseshell, 8.4 pounds, 18 months



Sophie, our only shorthair, tortoiseshell and white, 8.6 pounds, 11.5 years

Eowyn, longhaired tabby and white, 10.2 pounds
(it's hard to see her stripes in this photo, but she has them), 7.5 years



Rufus, longhaired red tabby, 14.2 pounds, 11.5 years (he and Sophie are supposedly littermates; certainly they both came from the same feral cat hangout)

Jeeves, tuxedo cat, probably around 1.5 years but we can't be sure because he only showed up in the neighborhood last spring, 14.4 pounds.

Four of the six were feral kittens; Arwen came from a ranch where the cats are cared for, and she is by far the healthiest cat we have. Four (Toby, Eowyn, Sophie, and Rufus) were orphaned, two by unknown causes and two by human cruelty; they have various health problems and Eowyn lost the sight in one eye to an infection. We don't know Jeeves's story; he may have been dumped at the edge of town, as many cats are. He is so friendly we think he must have had a home once, but we'll probably never know. He has severe ear problems.
Many that are just as beautiful and lovable die every year. 
Please spay or neuter your pet.