This morning's "gift" in the water bowl was an unfortunate spider that ended up as a cat toy. Zebedee meanwhile has perfected his technique for picking up and carrying off jars of baby food. I have to pick them up from all over the office.

After playing phone-tag for several days, I finally connected with Kris and got an update on Puck. The short story: Puck settled in immediately and is a happy, happy boy. Kris said that Puck came out of the carrier totally relaxed and seemed right at home from the first instant, which makes sense given that it was his home originally. Puck made friends with their other two cats with no problems, not so much as a hiss. He's been spending most of his time outside, coming to the door when he wants to be let in.

That is exactly what I was hoping for. I'm so relieved to hear that it's worked out as planned. I miss Puck, of course, but I can visualize him at my old house, romping in the spacious yard with plenty of mice, gophers and lizards to hunt, and a warm home inside when he wants it.

Every morning I have to pick up the wastebasket from under my desk and clean up the stuff that Zebedee has spilled from it. He's obsessed with the empty packets of treats, I guess. He remains obsessed with food in general.

Saffy continues her odd habit of leaving a catnip fish in the water bowl. Zebedee drops in pieces of plastic wrapper or other odds and ends he gets from the wastebasket.

I had given up hope of ever getting to play fetch-the-toy with Saffy again because the new space is smaller and not set up for that sort of play. But to my absolute delight, she played fetch with me the other day. She brought me the plastic mousie shell that she still loves and we had several rounds of fetch.

The space I have for Zebebdee, Saffy and Kate is rather dark. My previous home office at least had one window, but this has none and no source of natural light. I bought a full-spectrum light bulb and leave that on all day to simulate daylight as best I can. I probably need something much better than that. I need to research daylight bulbs and see what would be the best substitute, not that any bulb can adequately make up for real daylight.

I think Zebedee and Saffy were slightly perturbed at the sudden disappearance of Puck. I'm not sure how much Kate takes in these days. I'm thinking I should take her to the vet for a check-up, given her propensity for kidney infections. She's quite thin and has been throwing up. I haven't settled on a vet up here yet. There's one very close by, which is convenient, but he's on the expensive side. Then again, all the other vets I called around here were equally expensive. I suspect that's just the way it is in this area. Everything is more expensive around here.

Puck is on his way home - his new home which was his old home. Kris and Mandy picked him up early this evening. We had introductions, they cuddled Puck and I said my farewells. As soon as they opened the carrier, Puck did his typical thing and dashed inside, then settled in as though it was the limo he had ordered.

This will be a much better life for him. He has two sweet, loving new people who will give him a wonderful home in the very place that was his home for the first three years of his life. He'll be free to eat grass and hunt gophers and roll in the dust to his heart's content. It was hard and I shed tears, but it was the right thing to do.

I appreciate the many nice emails I've received sending me sympathy and encouragement. It does help.

Last time, I posted about the Horde. I was also extremely sad to leave behind the ferals, especially Sasha. We had established such a lovely bond with him and it truly broke my heart to think of leaving him behind. I tried to bring him into the Horde before the move. I brought him inside the office and set him up in the cage so that he could become acclimated. It was a disaster. He was terrified, pathetic and miserable. He couldn't cope with being locked up. Worse yet, he was surrounded by strange cats, especially Puck. At least three times when Puck got past me and got outside, he attacked Sasha and chased him out of the yard. Being inside the cage, Sasha was face to face with this enemy with no way to escape. He hid beneath the cat bed I'd put in the cage.

I could quickly see that it simply wasn't going to work, so I let Sasha go. Once he was outside again and free, he was fine. He has his territory, his feral friends and he will always have food and shelter at Tyler's house. I'll have to be content with that. I talked to Tyler about him in detail, so she's been keeping an eye out for him. I also received email from my next door neighbor that she is continuing to put out food for the ferals on the porch of the old house. I don't know what will happen once that house sells and new people are living there, but I hope that they like cats.

I do miss seeing Sasha, Bowie, Smokey, Peaches, Desert Peach and the others who would come around.


This information is from Grist, "gloom and doom with a sense of humor".

Flame retardants linked to thyroid disease in house cats

Thyroid disease in house cats may be linked to common flame retardants called PBDEs, according to U.S. EPA researchers. In a small study of 23 cats, all the felines had blood concentrations of the chemical 20 to 100 times higher than average U.S. adults -- who, it oughta be noted, carry the highest human PBDE load in the world. PBDEs first began to be used about three decades ago; at that time, feline hyperthyroidism was rare, but has now become one of the most common diseases in older cats. The fireproofing chemical is used in TVs, carpeting, furniture, and mattresses; kitties easily take the substance in by grooming themselves after lounging about. (Food for thought: pound for pound, a 2-year-old child ingests about as much dust as a feline.) While the link between PBDEs and kitty sickness is still a hypothesis, researchers urged further analysis. PBDEs already have a bad rep when it comes to health, and two of the three main types of the chemical have already been banned in the U.S.

I've been putting off this post for a long time because I have difficult and painful things to relate. The past several weeks took a heavy physical, emotional and spiritual toll. During that time we had to find a place to live, pack, endure a 300 mile move to the San Francisco area, and I started a new, full-time job. Given the time-crunch, it proved to be impossible to find a house to rent where we could have 16 cats. The best we could manage was to find a landlord who was willing to accept two cats. Consequently, Pippin and Opal are in the new house with us, as they were in the other house.

That leaves the rest of the Horde who lived in my office. It was the most heart-wrenching moment I had to face when I realized the choices I had to make.

I was only able to bring four other cats who are in a much smaller space than before, a separate space where I also have my home office. The four I brought were Kate, Puck, Zebedee and Sapphire. I'm now working a full-time job, so I only get to see these cats briefly in the morning, briefly at night and during the weekend. It's not an ideal situation, but at least they're here.

I couldn't leave poor old Kate behind in anyone else's care. She's too old and probably doesn't have much time left. She's with me until the end.

I adore Zebedee and Saffy and they get along well. I was also concerned about Zebedee's health. A couple of weeks before the move he continued to be seriously underweight, undersized and have bad diarrhea. The fecal tests came back negative. With help from Lolette at Cause4Cats, I treated him for two weeks with an anti-inflammatory and the equivalet of Kaopectate. That seems to have helped a lot. I'm seeing normal stools and I think he's slowly putting on some weight, though he continues to eat as though he's half-starved. I don't think he'll ever be a normal-sized cat, but he sure is a sweet one.

I plan to adopt Puck to a new home that is actually an old home, back to the hill on which he was born and where he spent his first few years -- meaning my old house, the one I sold to move south to the L.A. area three years ago. I sold the house to a sweet, animal-loving young couple who have a mini-farm going on there now with goats and chickens and dogs and cats. They're willing to take Puck in. He has been miserable for the past three years at being locked up inside. Previously, he had the free run of that entire property (almost 11 acres perched on a hill). He could roam and hunt. I think he'll be a much happier cat if I return him to that place and that life. We've been trying to make arrangements for the transfer for the past couple of weekends, but either their schedule or mine hasn't worked out. It's about a 3.5 hour drive from here, so it's not a short trip. With luck, it will happen during this week or by next weekend.

Here's a rundown on the other cats:

ARIEL: Ariel was adopted out to Tyler, the woman who has been taking care of all the ferals around the corner from me in The House That Is The Source of All Cats. She and another cat rescue friend have done a remarkable job of getting the ferals fixed and adopting out dozens of kittens that were born in her house by ferals who are allowed to enter. She's put a stop to letting the ferals roam inside as she gets the population under control. Ariel almost undoubtedly came from that house originally and they were kind enough to take her inside. She's in a big room by herself in order to acclimate to the new situation. She was traumatized at first, but is gradually settling in. Tyler tells me that Ariel chose a new name for herself and is now Gabrielle.

TOSCA, THESEUS, MOJO: were taken in by my petsitter in Frazier Park. I was thinking of it as fostering, but she has already become so attached to them, I think it's permanent for all but Tosca. I'm planning to bring Tosca up here to be adopted by a good friend who lives relatively nearby. Tosca is such a social cat that it will be a better situation for her and it means I'll get to see her from time to time.

ZOE, SIMON, JETTA, DIVA, TOM: had to go to Cause4Cats in Frazier Park to be fostered until such time as I can find a way to have them back. We're attempting to adopt out Tom and Jetta, though I'm not counting on much happening. Lolette gave them their own private cattery area that is both indoor and outdoor. They can sit outdoors on the cat furniture, then go to the inside part to escape weather or just hide out. A few days ago, Lolette advised me that she'd brought Diva into the house because of an upper respiratory problem. Once I get Puck resettled, I plan to bring Diva up here where I can take care of her. She's also an older cat and has always had certain health problems. She was benefiting from getting Lysine twice a day, so I'd like to be able to continue that.

I have more to say, but I think I'll go ahead and post this now. I've been depressed and deeply upset about having to leave some of my cats behind. If anyone has ever thought about donating to Cause4Cats, now is the time to do it, and tell Lolette it's a donation for Christy's moggies. Thank you.