Querida did her wailing and efforting thing in the catbox again today. She's definitely not constipated, but she may be having a lot of discomfort. She has three Baytril left to take, then we'll see how it goes.

Recently, Ariel has been a tiny bit vocal with me. She almost never makes so much as a peep and she never meows, but now and then (like when I'm about to give her the bowl of Good Food), she gives me a teeny chirp or mmmrrrrrpppp. I always chirp back. The No Touch Rule is still in effect, though.

As I was about to go out the door last night, Querida threw up. That, added to her behavior in the catbox, had me worried. I've been debating taking her to the vet this morning. He was fully booked up for his half-Saturday, but was willing to let me come in anyway.

On closer examination, the throw-up was due to a hairball. The vet said the Baytril she's on could be causing some GI upset. Consequently, I've decided to wait and observe her closely for the rest of the weekend. If I'm not happy with how she's doing, I can take her in Mon. morning.

Puck is trying to knock over the coatrack for the umpteenth time.

There's a happy Owl purring away in my lap.

Later, Puck, Owl and Sly set out to prove how many cats can fit onto one cat bed.

I may have to take Querida back to the vet after all. Today I saw her straining and straining to produce something in the catbox. She would also yowl loudly in the middle of it. Then she finally got something out, left the box and yowled again. I need to watch her carefully this weekend.

Warning: gross cat stuff ahead. I also think I've discovered the mystery cat that has been leaving stray turds here and there around the office for months. It was one of the last cats I would have suspected -- Sly. I caught him dragging his butt along the carpet and when he got up, he left a little present behind.

Henh. Ariel's chasing her tail again.

I think Knobby had a nightmare. He was sleeping quietly to one side of me when he suddenly jerked upright to his feet and stood there looking confused. Does anyone doubt that cats dream? I don't. Anyone who has watched a cat's paws and whiskers twitch, and make sounds while they're sleeping, knows full well they dream.

Poor Diva's eyes were rather bad this morning. She has constant gooey, goopy, weeping eyes. I've had her to numerous vets, but none of them has been able to do anything for her. I've been giving her Lysine for quite some time now, but I don't see that it's doing much good.

Ariel wouldn't eat her food next to me this morning. I think she was punishing me for trying to pet her earlier. Or even thinking about petting her. ;)

Owl surprised me the other day. He's such a laid-back cat, that I find it out of character when he gets aggressive. He lurked behind a bookshelf until Knobby was leaving the catboxes, then he jumped Knobby. Nothing serious and Knobby simply trotted off, but it was most unOwl-like behavior. Maybe he was trying to emulate the way Puck plays. Beats me.

No improvement in Owl's weight or hair-pulling problem.

Querida seems to be doing well on the anti-biotics. The past couple of days, she's worked up enough energy to jump onto my desk. She doesn't do that very often. She still occasionally lets out an ear-piercing yowl for no apparent reason. So does Tribble, for that matter.

I'm not sure Tribble is doing as well as he should be. He seems generally all right and is eating and all of that, but I can't get him to show interest in his treats. He's normally one of the most insistent of the treat fanatics.

But I'm tapped out with vet bills, so nobody's going to the vet unless it's really, really urgent.

Here's Ariel being excessively cute.

I'm laughing so hard. Ariel has been chasing her tail! This is the first time I've seen her do that. She's going around and around and around in circles like a mad dervish!

Well, crap, the last thing I wanted to do today was make an unscheduled trip to Bakersfield, but Querida is wandering around the office crying and leaving small pools of bloody urine here and there, so it's off to the vet.

Meanwhile, the bloody Hound of the Baskervilles is baying somewhere nearby in the neighborhood.

I saw a different vet this time around, a woman that I liked very much. I'd brought all of Querida's records with me, and the vet was concerned about an old girl like Querida having another serious infection right after being treated for one in Jan.

She took Querida into the back to extract some urine (lots of blood in it). When she came back in, the vet was much amused. "Well, there's nothing wrong with her appetite." While she was in the back room, Querida tried to filch a piece of someone's chicken sandwich.

So the old girl is back on Baytril for two weeks. If this doesn't clear up the problem, it will mean a lot more tests to see what else might be going on.

Meanwhile, Tribble threw up this morning, and Owl threw up two minutes ago. What is it with cats and throwing up?

Imagine my surprise last night when I turned off my computer, put the cover over the keyboard and shoved my chair under the wing of my desk only to realize that Ariel was on a cushion right under the wing. She didn't bat an eyelash at the chair being slid to rest right next to her and didn't run away after I'd spotted her. She was lying next to Puck, so I think the romance is flourishing. ;)

In fact, right now they're engaged in Heavy Romping. Jumping on one another, leaping about, tumbling, racing around...she's perched on top of the other desk. Puck just raced out of the Cave and Ariel leapt upon him and they're off! Zoooom!

I was somewhat worried about Tribble last night because he behaved outside his normal pattern. He's usually one of the first moggies to show up for his treats and to stick his head into the food bowls. Instead, he was up in his high box-bed and wouldn't come down for anything. Didn't want treats. Didn't come down for the Good Food.

It's difficult for me to get up far enough to check on him when he's up there, but I clambered up precariously and still couldn't entice him out. He looked fine and was happy to roll over and let me rub his belly. I figure he was simply off his feed for some reason. Earlier when he'd been in my lap, I heard his stomach or intestines gurgling loudly, so he might have had an upset and wasn't hungry.

Mainly, I needed to get his pills into him. He's been avoiding taking the pills in his treats until I realized he didn't like the new flavor of treats. Luckily, I had a package of the old stand-by, chicken. I clambered up there again with treats and pills and he took them for me with no trouble.

Or so I think. A bit later, I looked down at the floor near my desk and found two Tapazole (the thyroid control medicine) lying there. One was half a Tapazole and Tribble is the one who gets half a pill at night. It's a fair guess he left both behind. If he was off his thyroid med for a day, that might also explain feeling not so good.

This morning he was back to normal, though later I found his piece of anti-biotic from this morning. He managed to leave that behind when he ate the treat. Sigh...he's up in the high bed again, so I'll wait and get it into him later.

Puck and Ariel have had a wonderful romp, with Ariel chasing Puck as much as he was chasing her. Ariel was also doing the Lurk & Pounce. I love to see that. Now they're hanging out at the window, watching birdies.

For the first time, I saw Ariel use one of the scratching posts. She must have learned by watching the other cats. I'm glad to see it because she has a knack for getting her claws stuck in the carpet when she's playing, such as pouncing on a string. Clipping her claws is, of course, right out of the question.

Moggy pics: Puck, Querida, Ariel, Tribble, Sly, Owl, Tosca.

I picked up some of the other cat food for Owl. I hope it solves the current fur-pulling problem, as it's getting worse.

Meanwhile, Tribble continues to wander the office caterwauling. He's been on the anti-biotics long enough that he shouldn't be in pain, so I have absolutely no clue what this is about. The other day, he sat at the water bowl and yowled before he got around to drinking. When he gets into his bed for the daily nap, he spends a minute yowling. Damned if I can figure it out.

Kate has been quite a lap-potato lately. That's slightly unusual for her, but I don't mind. She's a sweet, quiet girl and doesn't interfere with my typing TOO much. [g]

I managed to stroke Ariel's back twice today. The first time, she was determined to stay at the food bowl, so she simply gave me an indignant look and raised one paw in the air: "If you touch me again, I will give you *such* a whap." But she didn't and I left her alone.

The second time, a few minutes later, she danced away only a short distance and came right back. As we go into the fourth month of residence, her "no touch" rule remains strictly in effect. Since she's approx. 10 months old now, I worry somewhat about her reaching cathood without making more progress on the touching business. I'm afraid she might get set in her ways and I'll never be able to touch her.

I continue to worry about Owl's inability to gain weight. He remains skinny and I don't like it. Plus he's pulling fur out again, in spite of the anti-histamines. It might be an allergic reaction to the new dry food I bought at Costco, in an effort to get the cat food bill down. That'll teach me. It's back to the other food a.s.a.p.

Puck is in full-on Snot Mode this morning, jumping on Ariel, picking fights, hanging off the back of my chair. I wish I could let him outside to burn off excess energy.

Or maybe get him a moggy treadmill.

Knobby came by for some attention, something he doesn't do often because he's such a timid, neurotic boy. I felt a scab on his neck, so I got a good grip on him and took him over to the "medicine cabinet". This is a short bookshelf where I keep all the cat supplies.

I have to keep a Vulcan Death Pinch on Knobby or he'd escape in a second. I cleaned off the fresh wound and found a small bite mark underneath. Not too serious, but he's prone to getting abscesses, so I cleaned it out well and applied some Neosporin.

I wonder who he tangled with? The most likely culprit's name begins with P-U-C-K...

For the past week or so, Tribble has been wandering around the office wailing at the top of his lungs. When he wants to, he has a piercing, complaining, whining wail (which he inherited from Querida) that is rough on the nerves. I've been following him around when he does this (every morning), trying to figure out what was bothering him. I finally concluded it was linked to using the cat box and he probably had a bladder or kidney infection.

He was hauled off to the vet in B'fld this morning. I heard the whine-complaint all the way there, along with one chorus of "Wuuf-wuuf-wuuf!!" He's an expressive cat.

I really like this vet a lot. He tries to balance being thorough and careful with keeping the cost down, and he's fun to deal with. He cracked me up when he said he wanted to do a full-body x-ray of Tribble to check all his innards and referred to it as a "cat-o-gram". LOL!

Tribble had the cat-o-gram and everything looked pretty good. The urinalysis showed a urninary infection and h'es been sent home with Baytril.

Right after I got home, I had an electrician working on the wiring in my office, so he, Randy and I were going in and out of the door every two minutes as we tested fuses and circuits. Puck was quick to take advantage of this confusion to dash out the door. I caught him pretty easily, but decided I'd better keep him out of the way. All I have to do is open the door of any cat carrier and Puck will get inside it, so that's what I did...then locked him in temporarily.

But Sly was the next one to make the mad dash to freedom and Sly is not the most level-headed cat on the block. I carefully followed him, worried he was going to head under the front porch or across the street. Luckily, he paused to sniff the olive tree and I nabbed him. He got locked inside the Cave.

The prisoners were released as soon as the electrician was gone.

It took another half-hour before Ariel came out of hiding, though.

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