holiday safety

Sarah just came back from a big conference, and I am very glad to see her! Of course, she only gets a little bit of time to recover before jumping into the fray of Thanksgiving gatherings with out of town guests. Christmas music is already playing, and Sarah's parents will put up their trees within the next week or so. Sarah's decorating preferences have changed over the years. Sad to say, part of the reason for that change is yours truly. I just can't keep my paws out of the decorations! No drama intended here. It got me in some serious trouble about a year ago, and I am lucky to be alive.

So let's talk about decorations...

Ironically, I didn't get in trouble during the holidays. Sarah never put up a real tree, so her tree never needed to be watered. PetsMart has an article about holiday safety on their web site; and they talk about the importance of not letting your pets drink Christmas tree water. Oh, I can tell you this would have been a big problem for me. I like water so much! If my own water is empty, I drink Sarah's water! If hers is empty, I drink it out of the kitchen sink! Oh boy, we would have had problems with Christmas tree water!

Anyway, we didn't have any holiday things up at the time... Sarah had sung at a memorial service for someone, and the people gave her a flower arrangement as a thank-you gift. She came home and put it on the table. Well, that weekend she learned why she could not grow African violets anymore. In other words, she learned who was responsible for killing them every time she started growing them. I had always been so sneaky, and I had managed to make her pin the blame on Inca! I thought I was so smart and stealthy! And it was so cool because Inca had been so good with violets for several years before I came home, and it made Sarah really mad that now Inca was destroying them.

Well, it didn't take long for the flower arrangement to suffer its fate. I did it while Sarah was out of the room; so again she didn't know who did it. At least, she didn't know until I started throwing up ... and kept on. By the time she figured out what had happened, it had been long enough that I had stopped throwing up and was sleeping in my chair. I drank a bit of water and wanted to be held a bit. The emergency vet said that she could bring me in if she wanted; but she decided to watch me since it had been longer than 12 hours. When I got past the third day and began to eat and play, things began to look up.

The problem in the flower arrangement was lilies. Sarah hasn't brought any more flowers in the house since then, and I've been mostly healthy. But I sure do love to be close to Sarah now.

So check out that article, and make sure you watch your pets. Oh, and if you are one of these silly people who likes to give your dogs presents, please don't give them Greenies. Sarah wants you to know that not every pet treat digests well.

What am I hiding from?

I've been hiding. It's hard for a big cat like me to find good hiding places. Inca's so lucky--she can just go hide under the bed. Sierra's even luckier. She once found a nice little hidey hole--inside the mattress. You should have seen the pandemonium that ensued while people looked for her. Afterward Sarah's dad boarded up the bottom of the box spring so that no cats could get in there. Now Sarah has a nice new one, and so far (as far as we know, anyway) no little gray cat has hidden inside it.

So why have I been hiding? Because Sarah bought new wipes to keep us from shedding. Ugh! She says they're oh, so cool, and of course I am supposed to tell you all about them. I do have to admit it's pretty cool the way she can sneak up on Inca now. The last batch came in a package, and she had to store them in a Ziplok bag. So when she needed one, she made this big production: opening the drawer, getting the bag, opening the bag, getting the wipe, closing the bag so the other wipes wouldn't dry out. Of course, Inca heard her doing all this, woke up, and ran away by the time she was finished. Eventually Sarah figured out how to hold Inca and do the production one-handed. Too bad I didn't know how to use a camera. That would've been a nice picture to post, especially because Inca does the little squirmy routine.

Well, these new wipes come in a nice container with a lid. They can just sit on the dresser, and when Sarah wants one she just pops the lid off and takes one out, and it's all very fast. Inca doesn't have a clue, and she is still asleep when the wipe-down begins. Boy, does that ever mess up her day.

Sarah's favorite thing about the wipes is that they supposedly smell nice. I wouldn't know--I'm not into nice smelly things. I do find it rather strange--they're supposed to be "fragrance-free." Oh, she also says they make us feel oh, so soft. I haven't noticed that she pets us more or less, but maybe that's just because she's the cat lady. We should test them out on someone else. Perhaps if Sarah's mom suddenly got interested in petting me and thought I was as "pooty" as Inca, then we'd know the "soft" thing was true...

It's not all about me today (though Sarah keeps telling people what a good girl I've been lately because I've been on a snuggling streak).

It is hot, and that means Inca is miserable. She's yowling like a true curmudgeon. I guess she's entitled once in a while--she is 15 years old, after all. Sarah is down to three cans of Farmer's Market pumpkin in the cabinet; so she went in search of more on Amazon. I was disturbed from my nap by hre laughter at finding "Nummy Tum Tum pure pumpkin." She says you can't repeat that five times in a row without making yourself silly with laughter. But it was a nice price and seemed to be selling like mad on Amazon--there was only one left in stock. And, it was available for free shipping with Amazon Prime.

Well well! Nummy Tum Tum is a company that markets specifically to pet owners. I guess lots of cats are yowling just like Inca lately. I'll be waiting to see whether Sarah tries any of the tricks from their Recipes page. In the meantime we'll see just how well Inca likes the pumpkin...

the cat's secret revealed

Believe it or not, I've had nothing to hiss or spit about for a while. Sierra's been leaving me alone, and Inca's just been all snuggled up on the bed with Sarah. I'd hiss and spit about Inca getting all the attention, but I decided to change my strategy. Every so often, I jump up on the bed and even allow Sarah to put me in her lap, and I purr and make her happy. Yes, I do this next to Inca. I know I'm sacrificing my personal dignity, but a girl's gotta get her special attention.

Now I want you to understand that this is a very strategic maneuver. I'm making Sarah do things my way. I don't snuggle up by the pillow and look cute like Inca does. On the other hand, she seems to think she gets a say in it--she does get to put me in her lap.

If you're reading and you're still part of the population who think that cats are aloof and independent and all that jazz, get out from under your rock. Even science is catching up! Yes, they actually have done a study now that proves it. cats do manipulate their humans in order to get attention. Oh wait... I should never have admitted that. I am doomed now. I better go back to looking cute.