For Long-Time Readers

Those familiar with this blog will recognize some furry faces that haven't shown up for a while. I feel like I've kept you all out of the loop. I've featured a number of animals so far on the blog, and I must share an unfortunate update about two of them.

Ashe

Ashe and his half brother Jen, who treated him like a matress

My brother's cat, Ashe, one of the sweetest little creatures I have met, was also quite sickly the last time I saw him. He was a tiny cat, believed to be a pseudo dwarf due to his small body and outsized ears and tail, giving him an eternally kittenish appearance. Though he had checked out okay with a vet, his appetite was poor for some time, turning him into a rather thin creature. After my brother moved away, Ashe's condition worsened. He limped along for a while on only one functioning kidney, but when the other failed in September of last year the decision was made that it was his time to go.

He was eighteen. He was a lap cat. I love lap cats.

Ashe begging for attention while he still lived with me. 

Albus

New Years 2014

As it so happened, a leak at my condo meant I was staying with my parents for a while and was present for the next set of events.

In better days, 2007

Albus, my parent's cat, ever the fighter, dealt with urinary problems for several years. A special diet and low-stress life helped him a lot, but he still had to be hospitalized multiple times due to blockages. This was not what was his undoing, however. He began vomiting with increasing frequency and losing weight rapidly. He was taken to the vet where it was discovered through a barium swallow that he had pyloric stenosis, a narrowing of the opening at the bottom of the stomach. I was startled when I saw the x-ray and realized how small the opening really was: less than one quarter of an inch in diameter. No wonder he's been having so many issues! His own body was starving him. We changed his diet to try to get some weight on him so that he could make it through the required surgical fix. He was eating kitten food, due to the hope that the high caloric content would make it more likely he would get enough nutrients trickling through. He perked up and seemed to regain some of his vigor.

His ear tips started drooping as he lost weight. Ginny, his housemate, is still doing well to this day.

Then, we woke up one day to find Albus's ears tinged yellow. After rushing him to the vet, our fears were confirmed. He was jaundiced. He had also lost more weight, a half pound in a little over a week, taking him down to 10.2 pounds. Being a big cat, he was scrawny. You could feel most of his bones. The vet deduced that he had feline hepatic lipidosis (a fatty liver), which is caused by sudden weight loss. Hepatic lipidosis has a fairly good recovery rate with proper treatment, which involves getting a lot of food into the cat so that their body stops using fat as an energy source. Tube feeding is often necessary.

In his last week

We had a very lengthy discussion, asked the vet numerous questions, and had a good cry. Considering everything surrounding Albus' pyloric stenosis, including the fact that the liquid from the barium swallow stayed in his stomach for four hours before they could get a good x-ray of it trickling through the constriction, it didn't look like the treatment for the fatty liver would work. Without proper treatment, hepatic lipidosis does not have a very high survival rate, and he was already weak from the weight loss. Even if he did somehow make it through that hurdle, there was still the pyloric stenosis, and if he continued losing weight at the rate he had, it wouldn't be long before that did him in. Being so weak, he probably wouldn't make it through an attempt at surgery to alleviate the constriction. It seemed like his own body was against him. We decided he had suffered enough.

It was March 14th. He was thirteen.

 I miss snuggling with him.

Adventures in Petsitting

The closest thing I got to a clear picture of all four dogs

Simmie meeting Albus

This past weekend I was petsitting three dogs and two cats. So, all told, I was caring for six animals including Ebon. Most of those animals were owned by members of my family: Willow, Siggy, Albus, and Ginny. I also watched the neighbor's dog, Simmie, short for Seminole if I'm remembering right. Simmie is a golden retriever who's about two years old. He's quite the puppy still.

In many ways, Simmie reminds me of Ebon as a young fella. The major difference? Simmie is WAY calmer.  Ebon was far more energetic at the same age. The difference is rather remarkable. I suppose that's what you get, though, when you compare a dog that was bred to work and one that was bred to be either a pet or a show dog. This is honestly the first time I've spent enough time with a non-field-bred retriever to notice the difference. Ebon's energy level now at age eight is about equal to Simmie's, he just controls it a lot better.

The remains of my laptop cable

The weekend was interesting, complete with a few minor disasters. The first was someone chewing my laptop cable into dozens of pieces. In all likelihood, it was one of "the blonds": Willow or Simmie. I'm getting a new one, but it was a frustrating surprise.

Siggy being anxious

It also rained almost the entire weekend, which caused a lot of drama with the greyhounds. As I've mentioned several times before on the blog, Siggy has serious issues with thunder and heavy winds. When it's noisy outside there is no way to possibly get him to move from whatever corner he curls up in. He'll even refrain from eating, and in fact I couldn't get him to eat for an entire day. Then once the rain was gone he was understandably starving. Willow isn't bothered by the noise, but refuses to walk on wet grass. That combined with Siggy's want to walk as little as possible made walking the dogs quite...interesting. The retrievers, of course, were more than happy to walk as long as I wanted them to.

Simmie and his butt fluff. He happy dances just like Ebon: toy in mouth, wriggling on back

The retrievers

Then, there's Ebon. He's such an easy dog most of the time, partly because I know his quirks so well now, but that doesn't mean he's perfect by any means. I let him run around off lead a couple of times while I walked the others since his recall's pretty darn sound and he's not one to run across the street if I ask him not to. It also made dealing with four dogs easier. However, at some point when I didn't have my eyes on him he ate something. When he threw it up it looked like a plastic food wrapper of some sort. It wouldn't be the first time some sort of trash found its way into the yard for whatever reason. I also think whatever he ate is responsible for the diarrhea that he started having at the same time. He spent a day without food before I put him on a bland diet. He's not showing any signs that there's any more stuff bothering his gut, but I'm continuing to watch him just in case he's trying to pass any leftovers. Now, though, after several days, he should have expelled anything that may have been left. He's transitioning back to kibble now.

Willow roaching. Unlike Siggy, she sleeps on her back fairly regularly. You can see her bald belly from her spay

Of course, there was no drama with the cats. Cats are so easy. Ironically, one of the main reason I was petsitting is that Albus, the grumpy twelve-year-old tom, can't be left alone due to concerns regarding his urinary health. He's had two urinary blockages so far, which can result in dangerous spikes in blood toxicity and possible death if not quickly treated. Ginny, now eleven, is still healthy as can be. Being born feral, I think she has better genes than Mr. Bad Teeth and Bladder Issues. A feral cat with poor genetics would probably die fairly young.

Lizards and Shenanigans

I've been seeing a lot of green anoles (Anolis carolinensis) around here lately (which I mentioned in one of my first posts on this blog). They have always been rather numerous, along with dragonflies (mostly green darners) and green tree frogs they are the creatures I see the most often this time of year. They love to sun themselves on our bricks and hide under anything and everything that may be on the porch.

A green anole in the brown form. They can change color depending on conditions

I was surprised, however, when a hatchling tried to become the newest inhabitant of the house. It lept inside when I opened the door to take Ebon out. I managed to catch it and put it back outside before the cats tried to eat it. We had a snake in the house once, and Albus and Ginny both tried to bite its head off, so I wouldn't put it past them. The anole was a squirmy little thing and kept slipping out between my fingers. I didn't want to harm it because it was so small, though, so I wasn't holding it very tightly. I try to be gentle with them because they will drop their tails if you grab them even momentarily. I've only made that mistake once.

It was smaller than my pinkie finger and panted vigorously after I let it go

On a different note, I swear the mammals only get more insistent in their obsession with cheese crackers. Last time they were only begging a little bit. Today? Well, see for yourself. I mean, really now:

Albus, Ebon, and Ginny in their continued obsession with cheese crackers

I gave Ginny one for being brave today. She isn't always okay with being this close to Ebon and she let him sniff her nose. Ebon was being very polite, so he got one too. He's usually very good about not being too pushy with her and I give him constant praise for good behavior. If he gets too excited I'll call him off (either "Out," "Back," or "Here" depending on the situation and an "Uh-uh!" if he doesn't listen first time). I haven't had to take him by the collar and lead him from the room in years.

Albus + Harry Potter

Going to the midnight premiere tonight. And no, the cat was not technically named after the character. It's a long story.

Bath Day

I meant to post this earlier, but I've honestly been too lazy to upload the images until now.

Clean puppy, still damp

The bathtub drain

On Wednesday, I gave Ebon a bath. Nothing special about that. It does amuse me, however, the sheer amount of fur that I get off of that dog every time I bathe him. It tends to look like I murdered a small animal. When balled up, I got a full handful out of the drain (so that's not counting the other handful or so that came out later when he dried out). I realize that Labradors often have more coat than you would expect, but Ebon's coat is very sleek for a Lab.

After the dog gets a bath I always try to go and wash all of the beds and blankets. We actually have quite a lot. There are four dog beds: a lot for one dog, but we had two not so long ago. There's also the blankets that always reside in Ebon's kennel. So, it's a lot to wash. I gathered everything up, piling the uncovered beds on top of the dog kennel to keep them from getting dirty. The covers went in the washing machine and when I turned around I saw something rather predictable in my house:

Albus had hopped onto the pile. That cat gets into everything. As with him drowning his toy mouse, it's more of Albus being Albus. He's very predictable, honestly. He has to hop onto everything, and especially into any box or bag that happens to be on the floor. In doing so, he once managed to get himself caught in a television box. He hopped into it from the back of a chair not realizing the sides were taller than his "jump maximum." He has a very distinctive desperate meow in situations like that.

By the way, that's his "you caught me" face.

I do occasionally subject Ebon to wearing things, though it's usually just a bandana. He looks good in red, so he has his very own red bandana.

All of This for Cheese Crackers

Three attentive little creatures: Ebon, Albus, and Ginny

I mentioned a little bit ago about Albus' love of cheese crackers. Well, he's not alone. At one time or another, all of the pets (the mammals at least) have managed to get their paws on one and they've gone crazy for them. I decided to have a little snack of Goldfish crackers today, and within a minute this happened. That's my foot, and they are all in fact staring directly at me. Well, Ginny was, but she glanced down right before the flash went off. Isn't that always how it happens?

Albus is the worst offender. He knows what the packages sound like when you open them and he will come running, meowing and purring and pawing at the counter in the hope that he will get one. He's always done this, but he's been spoiled a bit lately because he lost weight during his hospital stay and he's become especially bratty. It's funny because Albus goes gaga over cheese crackers, but he won't touch real meat. They get some occasionally as a treat, and though the others chow down he'll just sniff it and walk away. He's a very odd cat.

Ebon, being a dog, is nearly always at hand in case someone drops something. He especially likes crunchy things because they have nearly the same texture as the treats I use when training him, and he always gets excited about the prospect of training. I suspect he associates anything crunchy with this, and thus crackers = crunchy = treats = fun times. With a simple word he'll stop begging, but this was just too funny.

Ginny was a bit of a surprise. She's not very fond of Ebon because he's so much larger than her and his playfulness doesn't mesh well with her skittish nature (due to the fact that she's rather feral). However, they're on fairly good terms and she does love cheese crackers nearly as much as the other two. I think she's also learning what the package sounds like.

And yes, I gave in and they each got one. Except Ginny. She managed to put on weight while Albus lost it, so I'm being hard-hearted and abstaining from giving her any treats.

He Drowned the Mouse

I did it. What's it to ya?

The toy mouse, that is! I went to the dentist earlier today, and when I came back I found this.

This is Albus. He's a mix of who knows what with the most beautiful coloring. He's also cross-eyed. He does things like this on occasion. He's very vocal, and when he "kills" the mouse, he'll wander around the house with it in his mouth meowing at the top of his lungs. I wonder if this happened when he was doing just that and got thirsty, dropping it in the bowl in the process. This is not the first time he's done it, so who knows?

Albus is a very quirky cat. He's the sort of animal that will rub against your leg, and then turn around and bite your ankle. He is quite large, and when he decides to beg for food, it's not unusual for him to rear up on his hind legs and put his paws on the counter to get closer to whatever you have. He never jumps onto the counter, though. He has a jump height maximum which is just over the height of our bar stools, and just under counter height. He's about fourteen pounds and that's with him a bit skinny (he's gaining it back quickly). He had to be hospitalized recently for a urinary tract infection, which is why his front leg is shaved and also why he's a bit skinny right now.

His favorite things are dog food, cheese crackers, meowing at nothing, and annoying Ebon.

Training A Cat

If you wanted to start training your cat to do tricks, most people would probably tell you that you are crazy. Cats are too independent, too aloof, that sort of thing, and that it will never work. In fact, training a cat can actually be rather easy. You just need to know how to work with them. Cats are very intelligent, and they're unlikely to start doing things for you unless there is some sort of incentive. It's a "what's in it for me?" sort of mentality. So, if your cat really likes food it will make training them much easier. They're aren't like dogs, who will often do absolutely anything just to get a simple pat on the head.

My cat, Albus (a fluffy flame point mix with white on both his legs and face), knows several commands. I haven't spent a lot of time training him, but he knows Sit, Up, Stand, and Jump Up and will do all of them happily. He's especially good at sitting on command, and will do so instantly without the lure of food. I really must get a video. If I can teach him, an often grumpy curmudgeon, I'm sure that anyone else can train their kitty too. Here's someone who has taught their cat even more:

If you want to start training your cat, here are some things to remember:

1. Find some sort of treat that your kitty adores. Something small, so that you can give a good amount without over-stuffing him or her. 
2. Figure out how to shape the trick you want to teach them. Techniques that work on dogs usually work equally well on cats.
3. Work in small sessions, since cats have small stomachs and also can lose interest quickly.
4. Consider implementing a clicker, as clicker training will help him or her pick up the behavior more quickly.
5. Most importantly: make it fun! 

With some patience, your kitty should be able to do tricks too. 

Of course, I must mention my other cat, Ginny (a semi-feral dilute tortoiseshell). I dad make an attempt to train her as well, but it did not go very will. However, I chalk that up to her somewhat feral nature. When I tried to lure the sit she would give me a wary look and walk away. Usually, luring sit works the first time, if not soon after, and several attempts have all ended in failure. Since I don't want to stress her, I will be leaving my training to Albus.