I use a liquid bandage but if the cut is too deep for that, I pack it full of ….what the hell is the stuff in the green tin? It just flew out of my head. Oh, Bag Balm! I pack it full of Bag Balm before double bandaiding it as you describe. Helps keep the edges of the cut soft and promotes healing. Vaseline would probably work similarly.
I don’t have Bag Balm (anymore… don’t know what I did with the tin I had), but I have vaseline, so I’ll definitely give this a try!
How old is Spanky now? How about the age of the other cats? He sure is a gorgeous creature — but so are all your other cats. (And, of course, I’m one of those people who’s never seen an ugly cat; they’re all beautiful in their own unique way!)
Spanky’s just over 14 (I got him as an early Christmas present in ’96), Miz Poo is 11 (got her the day before Thanksgiving ’99). Sugarbutt, Tommy, and Joe Bob are 5 1/2. We’re guessing Maxi is around 7ish and Newt is around 5. Stinkerbelle will be 4 in March. Kara will be 4 in April. Jake and Elwood will be 2 in June. I haven’t got a clue how old Coltrane is, so I’m going to assign him the age of 4, and call it close enough.
So, in conclusion, the cats in order of age:
Spanky (14)
Miz Poo (11)
Maxi (7)
Sugarbutt, Tommy, Joe Bob (5 1/2)
Newt (5)
Kara, Stinkerbelle & Coltrane (4)
Jake & Elwood (2)
We are going to be hurting when the 4 and 5 year-olds hit their old age. Hopefully they don’t all fall apart at once!
All I can think of is this song. (LANGUAGE)
I’m in a BOX! I’m in a BOX!
Everybody look at me ‘cuz I’m playing in a BOX!
I’m in a BOX! I’m in a BOX!
Take a good hard look at the motherfucking BOX!
I’m in a BOX, motherfucker, take a look at me!
Straight playing in a box on the carpet, see
Now I’m laughing too hard to do any more.
“I’m in a BOX, bitch.”
(my favorite lines in the Lonely Island version: “I’ve got a nautical-themed pashmina afghan” and “the boat engine make NOISE, motherfucker” LMFAO – I wanted to adapt Newt’s situation for those but I just can’t)
Fred said it reminded him of The Singing Shark.
Here in Michigan they have quite a few sav-a-lots and I find them great, price wise. The canned goods aren’t name brands but taste just as good. I’ve bought just about everything in the store and haven’t found anything that I was disappointed in. It’s well worth your time to give this store a visit.
That’s kind of what I was hoping to hear. They haven’t finished our local Sav-a-Lots yet, but when they do I’ll be first in line!
I am loving me some Newt! Is it just an unfortunate camera angle, or is he quite…ahem…corpulent? Not that it matters, of course – just adds to his overall charm.
Newt’s a short cat, but a very muscular cat, so I’m sure he looks a bit porky. He’s also carrying around some of that winter weight (he and Maxi both bulk up in the winter and slim down in the summer), so that probably doesn’t help matters.
That is a sad sad picture. Is it the angle or was his head really that much bigger than his body?
A combination of the two, I think. He was a skinny little thing, but not as undernourished as he looks here. Bobby and Cindy were the two smallest Bradys for the longest time, but toward the end of their stay here, Jan and Cindy were the smallest, and Bobby was solidly in the middle of the pack.
I’m with you Devil – my favorite thing for dinner is reservations! I do cook but out of economic necessity not for the JOY of Cooking!
I’m with both of you! If I never had to cook again, I’d be perfectly fine with that. When I win the lottery, I’ll be hiring a cook, first thing.
I like this site for ideas. : What the Fuck Should I Make for Dinner. It basically searches keywords (vegetarian, eggs, soup, etc.) and throws up a hyperlink with a bit of snark and foul language. Also Post Punk Kitchen or any of the many cookbooks by Isa Chandra Moskowitz: Veganomicon, vegan with a vengeance, Appetite for reduction. I’m going to have a bigger garden this year and if I get my act together I may blog about it, including recipes, etc. If I happen upon anything stellar I’ll give you a holler. Also, (sorry to be so linky) I just found a website that matches up gardeners with too much produce up with people who would love fresh, healthy produce (buy, sell, trade): The Farmer’s Garden.
Thanks for the links!
You’re a DDD? I never would have guessed, but then I don’t spend much time staring at your chest. hahahahaha! I’d ask the doc then I’d buy bras in a few different sizes just in case.
I asked the nurse, and she said to get a bra in the size that I wear now. So I got two, and if they don’t work out, I’ll send Fred to the store to find me something better!
Cat question for you and the readers. My co-worker, who adopted my cat’s three siblings, is having trouble with one cat who wolfs down all the food. He’s chubby, and the other two are skinny, and would probably eat a bit of their food when they’re fed and come back and pick at it later if there were any left. But there never is because “Buffalo-Butt” has glommed it all. The other two cats are starting to eat faster than they would otherwise because of this, and they often throw up from eating too fast. Have any of your cats ever been wolfers, and is there a way, other than feeding them in completely separate rooms and leaving them there for hours, to avoid this?
My cats aren’t wolfers, but I feel like I’ve seen this question before, and I believe one of the solutions was to put golf balls in their food so that they can’t just stick their faces in their bowls and chow down – they have to pick around the golf balls, which forces them to eat slower.
Readers? Suggestions?
You gotta read this:
When Hormone Creams Expose Others to Risks
The original article was in the NY Times but the link for this goes to an animal hospital.
Kinda scary! I had to stop using cedar litter here because the volatile oils got to the skin and three of the six started fur-mowing in areas that came in contact with the litter. Made me much more conscious of things that are touching their fur!
Jean actually sent me the link to that article last Spring, and I meant to link to it, but forgot. I always apply my progesterone cream to areas of my body that are covered by my nightgown, or that the cats don’t come into contact with. There’s certainly nothing I need LESS than the cats suddenly getting hormonal, I’ll tell you that!
Now, did you make the candy as written, or did you do it (what I consider to be) the “right way,” with mashed potatoes? 😉 It’s an Appalachian thing; I grew up with Potato Candy, and there were always at least two or three different kinds brought in for every bake sale I ever attended. People not from Appalachia give me the strangest looks when I tell them about it; it may even be a regional thing within Appalachia, because my West Virginian husband hadn’t heard of it before he met me! But it’s worth trying, even if it turns out to be an acquired taste thing. (Raw rhubarb is another thing I can’t get him to accept as normal. You dip it in salt, and it’s deliciously bitter.)
Katherine and I had both seen the potato candy recipe version of the peanut butter candy we made last week, and talked about how odd it sounded. (Here’s one example of the potato version.)
I can’t imagine raw rhubarb dipped in salt, but when I was younger and the spud and I lived in Maine, our next door neighbors used to give her rhubarb (although they called it “ru-bub”, so that’s the pronunciation she picked up) and sugar to dip it into. I never tried it myself, the only place I’ve ever eaten rhubarb is in jam with strawberry!
Someone online raved (& ranted when they were out) about Starbucks petite vanilla bean scones a LONG time ago. I finally tried them about a year ago and…they were a big (tiny) nothing. I’ve had that happen with recipes, too. It’s like, WTF? All this work & $$ for some bland pile o’food?? (And no pigs to feed it to!)
That’s exactly what that scone recipe I tried last week was supposed to taste like, the Starbucks scones. I’ve never tried the Starbucks version, but the scones I ended up with at home were nothing to write home about, believe me.
You should go make those iced cherry scones that you found on my blog a while back. Those things are FUCKING DELICIOUS, they’re crack-in-a-scone.
If you ever have to go to a new hematologist, you should write a letter to the old one telling them how much they suck and now you’re going to Dr. Newguy and see ya later! That’s gonna burn! Doctors HATE to see their competition get business.
You know what? I’d like to know why it is, when I HAD the perfect scone recipe (ie, the one at your site!), I felt the overwhelming urge to make a different scone recipe. Why is that? I think I was seduced by the “vanilla bean” name of the scones. I almost always have the ingredients on hand for the Iced Cherry Scones, and I believe I’ll make a batch of them this morning!
(And if I end up going to another hematologist, I will DEFINITELY write a letter to the old one!)
So glad Alice is home and through her procedure! Has the vet considered whether it might be asthma? And/or an allergy? We have a cat with the wheezies and that’s what our vet thinks it is. Many purrs and best wishes for Alice.
I… do not know. I need to find out, I guess! 🙂
I remember you mentioning potential problems from the other cats when Coltrane first started coming into the house. I’m curious how the other cats are reacting to Coltrane? Is there (relative) peace among the kitties with Coltrane now?
There seems to be complete peace when it comes to Coltrane. I don’t know how it is, but none of the other cats hardly ever give him a second glance. He’s fit in well, and when we had our big snow storm a couple of weeks ago, Coltrane didn’t step foot outside for three days, and there were no issues at all. It probably helps that he’s not got those annoying “alpha cat” behaviors, and he’s quite willing to be submissive.
I’m dying to adopt Corbett, but I’m at college and my parents said no! 🙁 I’ve wanted him since the Bookworms first arrived, but my parents won’t get another cat. Sigh. I hope he finds a forever home soon!
Awww! Parents just don’t understand, do they?
I think I forgot to mention that Bobby and Peter Brady were adopted on Tuesday! Bobby was adopted alone, and Peter was adopted with another Challenger’s House kitten.
This leaves Jan as the last Brady standing. I will be very surprised if she isn’t adopted this weekend – she’s such a sweet little lovebug.
We’ve taken to calling Alice “the princess”, because she’s such a smug little brat. Fred loves how tiny she is, and how sassy she is, and how playful she is.
Which is to say, the love affair between Fred and Alice is NOT one-sided.
I’ve probably never mentioned before that I think Corbie is the prettiest cat on earth, have I? No, surely not.
SO SO pretty.
Rhyme (snuggling with Tommy) ain’t bad, either.
I’d say that the cat shelves in the kitchen are definitely a hit…
Newt.
Kara (that bed above her is where she spends a lot of time.)
Sugarbutt.
And Jake.
Previously
2010: Let Me In/ Let Me Out
2009: Today marks a year since Spot died. And yesterday marked four five years since Tubby died.
2008: Yes, he is a good dog. No, we’re still not keeping him.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Yesterday marked one year since Tubby died.
2004: Tubby is dead.
2003: No entry.
2002: Signs of spring.
2001: No entry.
2000: Some work day, huh?
The golf balls work well for us–only one unchewed regurgitated pile every so often instead of daily.
The golf balls did not work so well for me. I did, however, move the water bowl away from the food bowl and that DOES seem to be helping. However, my problem didn’t involve multiple cats competing for food so I’m not sure how either solution will work in this case.
So, I take it that Alice will become a forever kitty then? I kid, I kid.
When we give our cats a soft food treat we lock up our wolfer in the dogs kennel for about an extra 15-20 minutes to make sure the other kitty eats until he’s done.
When it comes to the hard food what I did was break up the times they get to eat from twice a day to four times a day (the two in the morning are when I first get up and then right when I’m walking out the door to work) and the smaller, slower eater still gets all of his food and he’s now gained a little more weight and the bigger, faster eater has actually lost some weight.
I’ve found that the one will eat until he’s full, which usually means he eats it all, since it’s smaller servings. And if he doesn’t he’s not leaving much behind so the other one will only get a few kernals more than what he needs. The last time we took them to the vet she said they’re both healthy and perfect weights for their size.
That might have been me with the initial golf ball suggestion because I remember writing about it here before. 🙂
In addition to the golf balls (which act as “obstacles to the food”), I do more frequent but smaller meals throughout the day which has been very successful. I got an automated pet feeder that can give up to 8 small meals a days when I’m not home – I had one for each cat. I have this one: http://www.robotshop.ca/8-day-autopetfeeder-5.html
Wet food also seems to be less barf-inducing than dry food for my guy. But he won’t always eat the wet food, so I sprinkle a few kibbles of dry food on top, pushing them in a little to embed and coat them in the wet food, and he’ll usually continue to eat the wet food once the dry is all gone.
As well, my barfer is a groomer, so half the barfing was due to fur balls. I got a Furminator brush and it’s really really cut down on the fur balls. So if fur balls are part of the problem, I highly recommend this brush! http://www.furminator.com/
Sadly, my big guy who ate all the food was doing so because he had cushings disease (amongst other problems), and he passed away last year. Since then, his brother who is the barfer has slowed down when eating and I suspect it’s because there is no longer competition for that food. So if you can separate to eliminate competition that might help too.
Good luck!
Can you take a comparison photo of Alice next to another adult cat? I’m curious how small she really is (and if Fred will want to keep her)
I’m wondering if any of your three older cats like to jump up on the shelves in the kitchen -(which was a great idea, by the way) – or are their high places days over?
The Bookworms are just beautiful. All of your cats are beautiful- I love the orange ones, I love the black ones, I love the painted ones and the loony grey ones. I can’t believe I have been reading you almost daily since 1999. Sheesh- that’s longer than a lot of marriages.
I have a plastic ball that food can be put in and must be rolled around for food to come out. It has adjustable sized holes to fit the kind of food you use. It works by slowing down the cat and making him work for his food. Probably would prevent the gobbling and puking.
I have a wheezy cat, he’s got some allergies, but it doesn’t seem to affect him, as he’s been wheezy his whole life, and he’s now 20. I put him on this peacock-tongue, gold-flake, ruby-encrusted “limited ingredient food” but you know that means ALL the cats have to be on it… (I switched them to this http://www.bluebuffalo.com/products/cats/basics-for-cats.shtml because it was half the price of the royal canin Pea & Duck… let’s face it, i love my pets but $50 a bag for cat food is unrealistic.) His wheezing is less noticeable on the Basics, but I don’t think it would behoove you to switch her to something like that unless you could feed her separately… if she’s in GenPop, that may be difficult… ANYWHO. Just sharing. xoxo
Uh, I am a space cadet, this in re: to Alice’s wheeziness.
Hi Robyn,
We need an invisible fence for our barn cats as we are moving. I was wondering what brand of fence you use and how long the batteries last in the collars? Thanks!
I, too, love Corbett! He has his own folder of photos in my “backgrounds” for my desktop lolol