The "Court Jester"

 

Before we welcomed Ginger into our family, we rescued Merlin in 2018. We have been taking in stray/homeless kitties for over 20 years now and until Merlin, we have never come across an orange tabby cat. Merlin came from a former co-worker via another mutual former co-worker who posted on Facebook that a litter of stranded kittens left in their backyard were in need of a good home. Two of them were orange tabbies - one male and one female. Since my personal preference has always been male cats (mainly because it has been my personal experience that males are generally more affectionate - with a few exceptions of course), I asked if the male was still up for adoption. He was.  

And so began our life with a male cat whom we decided to name, "Merlin James" (his middle name is because of my adoration for musician Jimmy Page (James Patrick Page). My friend sent me a pic of Merlin on Facebook and he actually looked more white in color when he was born ...

I took these pictures the first night after we brought him home on Fourth of July 2018 ...

We let him decompress in the bathroom for a couple of hours for about a week before introducing him to our other three cats - supervised, of course ...

"What? I ain't doin' nothin' ma!" Little did we realize that was just the beginning of Merlin's obsession with WATER!

Next step, we made an appointment with our vet for his initial examination complete with shots, feline leukemia test, de-flea, cleaning his ears of ear mites, etc. Until then, he spent much of his time separated from our other cats when we were at work during the day. We temporarily kept him in a large dog cage which was easily big enough for his food and water dish, litterbox and toys ... 

He was not at all amused and needed constant attention from us and the other cats as well ...

Hence, daddy and Leo were happy to oblige ...

He loved playing in the kitchen with the catnip and ball ring. It's worth mentioning that when we let him roam around in the bathroom, he was a complete and utter WILD CHILD, jumping in the hamper, on the toilet, in the sink, anywhere he could find to explore!

And, to this day he still enjoys eating his cat treats out of our hands...

Like my sister Aurora's cat, Hammy, Merlin plays with his water. He does not just stick his paw into the bowl to check how deep it is, he totally dumps the entire water bowl completely over making a huge mess all over the floors, rugs, etc. Furthermore, after he uses his litter box with the clumpy litter in it, he sticks his dirty paws into his water dish and I am constantly re-filling his water bowl with fresh spring water. .

Anyway, I figure if Tabitha is THE QUEEN, Leo is THE KING, Ginger is THE PRINCESS, and Butterscotch is THE PRINCE of the house, then Merlin must be THE COURT JESTER!

Our little "Twenty Percenter"

Our little Ginger came to us in August of 2019. She was a rescue who was taken in along with her brother as a stray by a good friend of mine. My friend ended up keeping Ginger's brother, Dice, and asked me if I would be interested in taking Dice's sister because she knew that she would have a very good home with my husband and I ...  

Ginger and Dice as kittens.

As a rule, only about 20 percent of orange tabby cats are female - meaning the other 80 percent are male. Ginger is rather small for her age and it is my belief that she was the runt of the litter - as opposed to her brother Dice who I am told is huge. 

She loves her adopted kitty siblings, except for Tabitha who is much more timid and keeps her distance from her. She is so fun and loves to play ball ...

Run and fetch ...

and ... drop the ball into the palm of my hand! GOOD GIRL!

Butterscotch adores her ...

as well as Sir Leo with whom she plays with all of the time ...

Leo, Ginger, and Butterscotch just chillin' on the sofa as usual!

Ginger donning her Spring attire ... lol!

Have a great weekend all!!

The Sweetest Cats in the World: The Norwegian Forest Cat

If the Maine Coon (and I, personally, believe this to be so) is considered to be the “gentle giant” of the feline world, then the legendary Norwegian Forest Cat definitely is the sweetest!

Based on personal experience and everything I have read about this breed thus far, the Norwegian Forest Cat is not only intelligent, but a loyal and loving companion as well. Much like the Maine Coon but has been around a bit longer, “Wegies” as they are sometimes nicknamed, are believed to have a direct connection to the Vikings, who kept them on their ships in order to keep the vermin population down. As is often true of Nature’s rule, they are a product of the “survival of the fittest” and/or natural selection as they easily adapted to the harsh Norwegian climate.  Using their sturdy bodies already equipped with strong legs, bushy tail to cover themselves thus keeping warm, and overall healthy biological make-up, these cats lived on plants, rodents and even tree bark to survive.

By 1934, it became evident to the Norwegian people that this beautiful but hardy breed was on the verge of extinction. They formed a club and every effort was made to continue breeding them until World War II. Then in the early 1970’s, serious efforts began when a group of dedicated cat fanciers formed Norsk Skogkattring in order to preserve this living historical monument. In 1976, Wegies were recognized by the Feline International Federation, the international cat organization in Europe. This was no easy task; however, as not only had these cats needed to be approved as breeding stock by a panel of breeders and judges, but litters also had to be approved. A very time-consuming project, the end result was well worth it as no attempt to change the breed to appeal to what is considered “in” took place and these cats have remained untouched over the years.  I believe this is exactly why they are described by breeders as having a “straight” profile. It’s worth mentioning that, according to Cat Fancy Magazine’s Susan Shaw, “it is common to see a Forest Cat snuggling in the arms of a judge, giving him or her a kiss.”

The Norwegian Forest Cat is also a big part of Norse mythology as they are said to be the cats depicted pulling the goddess Freya’s chariot across the sky as they accompanied her during battle.  As much as I love Maine Coons (and trust me, I certainly DO!), living with our Wegie, Tabitha, I can’t help but to adore her. We have only had her a couple of years so far, and already she has me wrapped around her little poofy paws!

Some new additions

Last weekend, was the first chance that I had in weeks to have any free time what-so-ever to do a little shopping for the cat's room, So, I had purchased these pretty curtains at our local Boscov's  Department store. I originally planned on using them for the cat's room, but in the end I liked them better in the kitchen ...  

I did: however, buy these blue curtains for the cat's room and hung them on Sunday ...

I have A LOT more to do and it will take a bit more time to finish, but I eventually will have the cat's room completed.

Leo's Diabetes

 

Back in 2019, I was feeding our cat Leo in the catio when I noticed that he had suddenly gotten weak and slowly fell to the floor. At first, I thought that perhaps he had jumped down from the tall cat condo and landed the wrong way - possibly injuring his leg. I tried to help him up and he still appeared too weak to stand. This concerned me greatly and so we took him to our vet for an examination in order to help us figure out what was going on with him. He exhibited what I could only describe as some type of "seizure". The blood tests originally showed him with a very high glucose level and therefore he was diagnosed with diabetes. Our vet, Dr. Mike, immediately called in a prescription for him for insulin, syringes, and lancets at our local pharmacy. He had been on a strict diet and we had to keep running him to the vet during the week to get his blood sugar checked. After a week, the vet told us that his blood sugar was back to normal and to stop the insulin injections for the time being. We were to keep the insulin in the refrigerator for six months in the event that Leo should ever need it again, but Dr. Mike said that Leo seemed to have gone into remission and was currently no longer considered "diabetic" at that point.  

That was the good news. However, we were still not sure exactly what had been causing his "seizures", but we had been keeping an eye on him and for the past couple of days afterward. he had not appeared to have had the episodes that we had witnessed. We were instructed to continue his prescription diet for the rest of his life, but that is not a problem at all as he seemed to be eating fairly well. And, per our vet's instructions, we also bought an Alpha Trak for cats and dogs so that we could check Leo's blood sugar at home from then on. The problem with that; however, was that my husband and I struggled horribly with the lancets. Yes, the vet technician gave us a quick "How To" on where and how to prick Leo for a blood sample and use the Alpha Trak, BUT it was an absolute nightmare as far as we were concerned! First of all I hate, allow me to repeat, HATE needles and I was so scared of hurting Leo. Then, one night after I had gotten home from work, my husband said to me, "You are going to have to try getting Leo's blood because I tried and accidently poked the syringe completely through his ear and he cried!" 

Now, we were told by the vet to use the small vein around the outside of Leo's ear to get the blood sample hence you had better get it spot on! This experience was so awful that we both refuse to ever do it again, Thankfully, Leo was also placed on a special CD diet food for weight control as well as his Urinary Care food and he had begun to gradually lose weight. Knock on wood, he has not had anymore glucose issues for about a year now.

Feline Funnies