New Cat City

Kitties learn new tricks

2009-04-24T18:16:00.002-04:00

Yes we've been a long time between posts but well we've been too busy cuddling to post :) See our boys have learned a new trick or two. Sure Arthur is the master of the flirt, teasing you into the bedroom and onto the bed where he will ensnare you with belly rubs and purrs until hours are lost and you dont know how.

Beowulf has masterd the purrbush (another type of ambush) he'll wait till you go into the bedroom and corner you there on the bed curl up and begin the loudest purrs and make you feel guilty for leaving him and before you know it hours are lost and you don't know how you let yourself get caught, again.

Well the newest trick they've learned is how to get us to bed. The actual time varies but we know when they are starting to get us ready for bed. They will begin with meows and when they have our attention a not so sublte heading to the bedroom. This will persist until we finally give in and go into the bedroom. But not just go in there and then leave. This is their signal that it is time for their humans to go to bed. The "nagging" does not end and escalates until we have done our pre bedtime preparations, climbed into bed and shut the lights off. Then and only then do they cease the nagging and curl up in the bed happy now that we can all go to bed :)

Random Shots

2009-03-14T21:53:00.003-04:00

Sometimes time just slips by us and before we know it there is dust collecting on this blog once again. But that doesnt mean many cute and endearing things havent been happening around the house. Here are some shots of the boys doing many of the things that make us love them so much.

Arthur napping in one of the desk chairs

Beowulf found a cuddly place to "hide"

Sweet kitty dreams for Arthur.

Suppertime! Beowulf mistook our dinner time for his.

What Happens When the Lights Go Out

2009-01-04T01:26:00.004-05:00

Liz took these pictures the other night, with only the light from the TV on and using a low light setting on the camera. I was completely asleep and not aware I was being photographed. This is the kind of thing that happens every night (not the photography, but the pose).

The Best Christmas Present Ever

2008-12-24T10:51:00.005-05:00

Whew! The vet called this morning to let us know the biopsy came out negative. Arthur will be fine. Liz was so nervous when she saw the vet's number on caller ID this morning, she almost didn't answer.

The good news is that we just have to take him back in a week to have his stitches removed. Meanwhile, he has to wear this silly looking collar to make sure he doesn't try to groom the stitched area.

The collar makes him look like a renaissance king, a court jester, or a patient at the dentist's office. He's a little upset at the indignity of it, but he'll be ok, as long as he doesn't pull it off and his brother doesn't try to groom that area.

We've been keeping a close eye on the boys to try to stop them from wrestling, which they do at least twice a day, but I'm not sure what will happen when I leave them alone for a few hours to attend Christmas dinner at Liz's parents' house. I'd stay here to watch the boys, but Liz would kill me.

Health Scare: Could Arthur Have Cancer?

2008-12-21T13:19:00.006-05:00

My biggest nightmare is that one of my boys will develop a serious illness so I'm always on the look out for something abnormal in their appearance or behavior. This morning, I was petting Arthur when I felt a bump on the lower portion of his back. Every time in the past I've felt something odd on one of our boys, I'd call Liz over and she'd determine that whatever I'd felt was just a tuft of matted fur and that I was just paranoid.

However, today, we discovered that Arthur has a raised brown bump - it looks like a large mole - on his back, and I don't think it was there before. We're going to call the vet tomorrow and try to get the next available appointment, but I don't know if the holidays are going to mean the vet is out of the office a bit. I am very nervous and upset and it's hard to put it out of my mind and think about other things. Losing one of my boys is the worst thing I can possibly imagine. I hope it's just a harmless mole like people get, but I don't think it was there before. Has anyone experienced this?

UPDATE 12/22/08 2:15 PM
Just took Arthur to the Vet. They are keeping him for a little while to do a biopsy so they can send it for tests to determine if its harmless or not. Will be going back at 4PM to pick him up then have to wait two days for the test results.

UPDATE 12/22/08 4:20 PM
Returned home with Arthur. He is soo not happy with me right now but he doesnt seem to have suffered ill from today's adventure. He has a soft collar around his neck to keep him from messing with the stiches from where the biopsy was done. He has a small shaved section that we need to keep protected from him and his brother messing with the stiches. Other than that its a 48 hour wait to see what the lab results say and a kitty who is not happy over being forced out in this cold weather to have all this done to him.

Kitty in a Basket

2008-12-02T00:30:00.003-05:00

Both boys love sitting in the laundry basket on top of piles of clothes. They like it so much that Liz leaves the other-wise clean comforter in the basket sometimes so Arthur can use it as a bed.

Don't Blame Me If My Clothing Has Fur

2008-11-29T23:50:00.003-05:00

Liz gets a bit upset when she puts clean clothing down on the bed and the boys lie down on top of it, depositing a healthy coating of fur. Oddly enough, if I don't have a special occasion like a big meeting or conference, I don't mind if there's a little fur on my clothes. I'll find a strand or two of orange and white hair on my pants throughout the day and it'll remind me that my boys are waiting for me at home. How weird is that?

Closets, Drawers, Wherever

2008-11-29T23:33:00.003-05:00

Liz was putting away laundry the other day and opened one of the drawers in her armoire. We had our back turned for only a moment when Beowulf found himself a new nest.

Wrestling Over the Laundry

2008-11-29T01:06:00.003-05:00

Allowing the boys into the bedroom has also meant allowing them to mess with the laundry we keep in there. Sometimes, we'll find them napping on top of a pile of dirty clothes or, in this case, wrestling over the clothes we were about to wash.

Why I Got No Work Done Today

2008-11-28T23:28:00.004-05:00

Now that Beowulf and Arthur are allowed in the bedroom, they spend a lot of their time lying on the bed, tempting otherwise diligent humans to take afternoon naps with them.

Today, I had the day off from work and had all the best intentions. I was going to spend the day working on some programming projects I've been meaning to do for our site (the job, which I started last year around this time, has been keeping me very busy), but instead I walked into the bedroom, saw this, and just had to lie down with my boys.

Grey Eye Kittie Needs a home.

2008-09-24T11:09:00.002-04:00

I'm a sucker for a cute kittie face at any age and given my choice i would adopt every cat I could to give them a good loving home. But space and finances dont allow for us being able to adopt a billion cats :).

If anyone in the New York area is looking to adopt a cute bundle of love, I was directed to this blog http://greyeyekitten.blogspot.com/ and hope that this cutie finds a loving home soon.

Something Sad and Disturbing

2008-09-19T11:41:00.002-04:00

Avram brought this to my attention and like him I agree we should spread the word about this. I dont know how many of our readers are in the New York Area so many may never have heard about this situation so I will outline it for you.

Joseph Petcka an actor is currently on trial for animal cruelty because he killed his girlfriend's cat Norman. The 7 pound cat was beaten to death by this person. And now while the trial is ongoing a NY Post writer Andrea Peyser has been writing articles blasting the trial as a waste of time and money and in one instance even claims that the cat deserved to be beaten to death.

A blog detailing the situation is also calling for people to contact the NY Post and make their displeasure at this writer known. You can see the post at this link.

As an animal lover and a cat mommy I'm deeply disturbed by the while thing and hope that others will join us in making our displeasure known. Like the poster of the blog says"I urge you to contact the NYP…but by all means, be respectful, do not threaten, do not do or say anything stupid, do not act like a jerk yourself, behave appropriately, but let them know this is outrageous:" They will take more serious intelligent well thought out correspondence than ranting hate mail.

The Final Frontier

2008-08-19T15:39:00.003-04:00

For 4 years Avram and I have spent considerable time and effort keeping the bedroom off limits to Arthur and Beowulf. At first it was because we weren’t sure how Avram’s allergies would handle living with cats full time. Then it was because everything Avram felt was too dangerous or too suspect to be around the cats was kept in the bedroom making it an “unsafe” place for them to be.

Sure there were times when one or the other would slip into the room and the fur would fly as we had to work to find them and escort them out of the room. The bedroom was the last unconquered frontier of the apartment for them.

Well yesterday they finally were able to break through that barrier and not only were given free access to the bedroom they spent the night locked in with us. No we haven’t flipped our lids or taken leave of our senses. We had a leak in the kitchen and the repair involved two very large ugly holes being made in the kitchen wall. And as is usually the case the work couldn’t be completed in one day and while the holes were covered with cardboard and taped down there were still plenty of temptations and dangers for the boys to be left unsupervised over night.

We didn’t like the idea of caging them for the night since that would mean they would have no access to food, water or their litter box. So the choice was made to allow the boys into the bedroom. Again today while they were finishing up the work they boys were given free access to the room and as these pictures show they took full advantage of the rare pleasure of having the bedroom open to them.

Cleaning Or a New Playtime Activity?

2008-08-08T15:02:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures but I hope my descriptions are vivid enough for all of you to get the picture and share in the laugh.

So on Monday I woke up and was bitten by the cleaning bug. I started by gathering up all the assorted cat toys around the apartment and piling them up on the bookshelf while the cats stirred themselves from their morning nap and watched me curiously. As I got deeper into the cleaning the boys began to move around.

First Beowulf perched on the edge of Avram’s desk and watched fascinated as I used the swifter duster to begin dusting. While I was busy singing along with the radio and dusting, Arthur was moving into position on top of the entertainment center. As I reached up to dust higher he pounced, batting at the duster. I swung it away from him only to have Beowulf reach out to bat at it from his position on the desk.

And so the game was afoot. I tried to dust and they chased, trying to bat at the duster. Once the dusting was done I began vacuuming which as normal sent them off cowering from the mean old vacuum. But as I moved the couch to vacuum behind it they grew bolder. And before I knew it the hose was under constant attack as I tried to clean the furniture. Running attacks where one or the other would charge in and then run out again.

Finally tiring of the game they watched as the last of the vacuuming was done. When the swifter floor cleaner came out, they were well rested and ready to begin a game of chase as they chased the swifter cleaner as it caught up the remaining particles the vacuum left behind. The best part of the fun came when I got out the mop and they had fun chasing that around until they realized, they were walking through water then fled to higher ground.

Of course the worse tragedy of the day for them came when I removed all the bedding and covers from the cage, gave them a good vacuum along with their beds and then off to the laundry they went where they got washed and dried and once again put into their places. After much suspicious sniffing, they opted to lay on the floor rather than sully themselves with now clean items in their cage or clean beds.

So once Avram came home from work they couldn’t wait to run to him and set up a loud meow chorus as they began telling him all about the excitement of the day and the indignity of having all their scent and hair washed away from their possessions. Now days later they still wont use the beds but they have begun to give the cage some use again. And of course their toys have made their way from the neat little pile on the bookshelf to a random scatter around the living room ready to trip up the unwary. (A spiked shaky ball is not easy to avoid in the dark). Hopefully they wont be so eager to “help” the next time I go into a cleaning frenzy. Or at least Daddy will be home to document their efforts.

I think Its Supper Time!

2008-07-01T20:01:00.002-04:00

So just a brief rundown of the latest activities with the boys.

This week they are definitely getting their patience tested as my 13 and 10 year old nieces liven things up around the apartment. They definitely aren’t used to that much activity around the house. But so far they seem to be handling it fine and have learned to give them a wide berth when the fooling around gets particularly vigorous.

Arthur has been having a bit of trouble with hairballs and vomiting lately. So we’re working on getting them a hair ball formula and increasing their grooming to help with that. On the food front not much has changed. The boys are still being very picky over eating wet food.

Our latest tactic involves taking away their dry food early in the afternoon and no food until its time for their wet food. This has had mixed results but on the advice from our local holistic pet store we are heating up their wet food for 10-15 seconds in the microwave before feeding it to them.

According to the pet store it mimics the heat of a fresh kill for them and they would be more likely to eat it. They have been eating more wet food than in the past but the jury is still out on whether it’s a result of their kibble being taken away and they are that hungry or if the warming up of the food helps or even if it’s a combination of both. Of course there are still some wet foods that get a brief sniff and then an instant demand for something else and perhaps a second sniff and taste after a liberal application of tuna flakes. Still we’ll keep on trying different combinations until we find what works for the boys.

Has anyone else tried this heating the food method?

A New Voice

2008-06-30T23:55:00.002-04:00

Hello Faithful readers. After a long silence I'm here to say that in typical Avram fashion he has become lost in his work and barely has time to surface for some purrapy much less blogging. So I've decided to end the long silence and report on the fun and antics of our fur boys. So keep an eye out there will be much more to come

How's Your Cat Relationship?

2007-11-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

This past week, Liz and I celebrated three years since we adopted Arthur and Beowulf. Not a day goes by when we do not realize how lucky we are to have them in our lives. They are a constant source of love and support for us.

They comfort us on our worst days and amuse us on our best days. Sure, sometimes they do things which try our patience, but don't all of our loved ones?

When I talk to people who don't have cats, I find that I've become a cat advocate. I tend to think that other people would be a lot happier if they had cats to come home to. The other day, a friend was telling me about how her daughter keeps dating the wrong kind of man, because she's looking for acceptance. I said "can't she just get a pair of cats? They'll boost her self confidence and she won't need to rush into a bad relationship."

I could be totally wrong here, but I wonder if certain tough periods in my life might have been a little easier if I had had cats at the time. Maybe being an awkward teen would have been a little better if I came home to purrs. Maybe going through some tough breakups with girlfriends would have been easier. Maybe there are times in my life when I would have had more confidence if I knew I was getting the kind of unconditional love you can only get from an animal companion.

On the other hand, millions of people have cats and it looks like many of them are not experiencing the same kind of relationshp with their cats that I have with mine.

Just yesterday, I was talking to a friend who adopted a cat a few months ago. I asked him how it's going and he said "my cat is just not friendly. She keeps to herself and only interacts with us when she needs something." If I had that kind of cold relationship with my boys, I would not be a cat advocate at all. I'd probably feel like the whole relationship was a waste.

To be fair, I don't have all the facts. My friend lives far away and I've never seen him interact with a cat nor have I met his "cold" cat. But what I wonder is this. Is his cat non-social, because he isn't raising her right, because she was born that way, or maybe because she's the only cat in the household?

Perhaps it is better to ask "why is my cat relationship such a good one?" Is it because:

Arthur and Beowulf are just special guys who are particularly friendly and sweet?
They were born in a shelter and I adopted them at an early age (10 weeks) so they've always known human kindness and never wanted for anything?
They have each other so they are never lonely?
Liz and I have put a fair amount of effort into building the relationship?

What makes one person's cat relationship a life-altering experience and another person's cat relationship cold and distant? Why are my cats important, active members of the family while other people's cats become part of the house, like pieces of furniture? Is it the cats or the people?

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Purrs Set to Stun

2007-11-11T20:39:00.000-05:00

Ever sit down with your cat and realize that, just by touching his or her body, a wave of relaxation rolls through your entire body and you can't help but fall asleep within minutes?

Liz and I have this "problem." We'll sit down on the couch, one or both of the boys will come over and sit next to or on us, and we'll drift off to sleep for a long time. Liz refers to this effect as the "purr ray." I refer to it as a purr drug, because the feeling is so addictive and it knocks you out like a strong drink.

On weekends and nights when I know I have time, I'll go over to the couch and wait for Arthur or Beowulf to come. The downside is, after they arrive, hours will disappear. Liz got these compromising pictures of me strung out on purr.

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Beowulf Rings "Dinner Bell" for Service

2007-09-29T13:08:00.000-04:00

It's hard for us humans to train cats, but it's not as hard for them to train us! Beowulf has trained me to come when called and to give him more kibble.

He will go into the kitchen, stand on top of the litterbox and meow at the top of his lungs. If I don't respond to his meowing in short order, he will start banging the litter scoop, which sits tightly in between the litterbox and the garbage can. We call this "ringing the dinner bell" for service. If I don't respond to his banging of the scoop, he'll swat the scoop onto the floor, causing me to go into the kitchen, pick it up, and throw him more kibble while I'm there.

He'll do this even when he has plenty of kibble in the bowl, so maybe it's not about kibble but about attention. I'm not sure. A few times he has called when he wants fresh water or the litterbox to be cleaned, but usually it's for kibble.

I'd like to get him to stop this practice, but I'm not sure how. I could move the scoop, but I'm not sure where I'd put it and frankly, if it weren't the scoop, he'd find another way of calling for service. Maybe I should just accept the call.

Wet Food - They Just Won't Eat It

2007-09-28T17:20:00.000-04:00

Our food situation is terrible right now. I have always fed the boys a mix of wet and dry food and they have always been very picky about which wet foods they would eat. It has gotten to the point where there is only one wet food they will even sniff and that's Solid Gold Blended Tuna.

Before the pet food recall, I used to feed the boys Nutro packet food and they would lick up the juice from it. Now I wouldn't even consider feeding them Nutro packet food.

I hear that it is bad to feed cats tuna on a frequent basis so I'm at the point where I don't give them wet food every day. They won't touch any other wet food I've given them and I've tried so many great brands. I tried every flavor of Weruva, tried all kinds of Merrick, Abady, Spot's Stew, etc. If you name it and it's a decent brand, I've tried it. They won't even touch other brands of tuna!

I've tried adding all kinds of flavoring and condiments to the wet food we have. On the advice of a guy at the pet store, I bought a box of Liv-a-Littles and crumbled them up into the wet food without success. I tried mixing tuna flakes into the wet food and Beowulf just picked out the flakes and left the food. I bought a bottle of Grizzly Salmon Oil and sprayed it on the food. I tried mixing Solid Gold Tuna with other canned foods, but that didn't work either. I'm at an impasse.

As for dry food, I had to give up on Orijen. I liked Orijen's nutritional info a lot, but Arthur wouldn't eat it so right now all the boys are eating is California Natural Chicken and Brown Rice. What can I do to get them to eat something else? Or should I just be happy that they have dry food they like?

Comfort During a Tough Time

2007-09-28T14:20:00.000-04:00

The past couple of months were a tough time of going on interviews and waiting by phones and email, but I have a new job now, not working for cats, but working for people at the Parks Department. As I sat around the house on pins and needles for several weeks, my boys did everything they could to help me relax.

Beowulf was particularly helpful. Every morning I'd get up and he'd follow me around until I sat down at my desk to check my email. He'd jump up on the desk before I could even move the mouse and he'd sit in front of the keyboard until I let him rest his chin on my arm for a few minutes. After feeling his purr for a few minutes, I was much more relaxed and able to face whatever I had going on each day -- interviews, phone calls, or just waiting by the inbox and phone for news.

Will Work for Cats?

2007-08-01T00:30:00.000-04:00

I've been a terrible blogger lately and I could give you a littany of excuses, but excuses aren't very interesting. Nonetheless, for those interested:

I found a new job and it took up a ton of time
I planned my wedding and that took up a ton of time.
When I had time to blog, I decided to spend it cuddling with the boys themselves

Now, things are a little different. I am, unfortunately, now between jobs and have some time to reassess what I want to do with this whole Web and cat thing.

Honestly, I wish I could make a career out of it in some way. I've thought about starting an online cat store or cat information site that could get some traffic. However, I don't think I have the stomach to start a business.

Hey, if anyone has any ideas or leads for me -- maybe a job doing Web work for an animal agency or company -- please drop me a line or feel free to pass my online resume around.

Big Day Goes Purrfectly

2007-06-29T08:39:00.001-04:00

My new wife Liz and I just returned from our honeymoon in Greece late last night, and are still trying to beat the jet lag and rest up for work on Monday. That said, I wanted to say that the wedding itself went really well and was very cat-centric, thanks to ideas we got from commenters on this blog.

As you can see from the pictures below, we had a cat cake topper (Liz's mom added the veil and bow tie to the existing models) and we placed a sign near the bar that invited our guests to order special signature drinks, either an Arthurtini (Appletini) or a Beowulf Iced Tea (many thanks to jancola for this idea). We also left notes on each table, informing our guests that we were donating money to Bidawee (the shelter where we adopted our boys) in lieu of giving party favors.

BTW, if you are interested in seeing some non-cat-related pictures from our wedding, my cousin Naomi has posted some pictures she took of the cermemony and reception.

Liz and I cut the cake.

The cat topper close-up. Unfortunately, it was too large and heavy to actually put on the cake.

This placard was placed on the bar and reads:

Our favorite humans are getting married. We would love to be there to help them celebrate the special day, but we have a prior engagement as you can see.

So please have a drink on us.

Order a Beowulf Iced Tea or an Arthurtini and raise your glass to Avram and Liz, our most devoted ear scratchers and belly rubbers.

Love, Arthur and Beowulf

Before I go off to take a long nap myself, I just wanted to give a shout-out and high praise to my cat sitters, Leslie Kaufman of On All Fours Cat Sitting and her assistant Holly. They visited twice a day while we were gone and really did a great job of caring for our boys. I'd recommend them to anyone in New York City who needs a cat sitter.

Big Day Finally Arrives

2007-06-16T10:30:00.000-04:00

The level of work and stress from both my new job and wedding planning has really kept me away from this blog, but now the day has finally arrived. Our Big Cat Wedding is taking place tomorrow.

Unfortunately, we can't have the boys attend our wedding, but they will be there in spirit. As I said in a prior post, we are giving a donation to Bideawee in lieu of party favors, we got a pair of cats as our wedding cake topper, and our guests will be invited to order one of two signature drinks, a Beowulf Iced Tea or an Arthurtini.

This is an exciting time, but also a stressful one, not only because of the wedding but also because of the honeymoon, which is going to be the first time that Liz and I are really away from the boys for any period of time. My cousin is staying over here for part of the time and a professional cat-sitter is coming over a few times a day for another part of the time, but I am still very nervous and a little wracked with guilt over going away for a few days.

Hopefully the boys will be fine, but will they be angry at us for leaving them?

New Food, New Water, Old Problems

2007-04-23T22:02:00.000-04:00

This weekend, I started my boys on two new things:

Orijen: My Orijen finally arrived and the results are mixed. Beowulf gobbles down the Orijen just like he gobbled down the California Natural and the Wellness before it. However, Arthur won't eat Orijen, and he won't eat other kibble if it's sitting in the same bowl as the Orijen. I even tried putting tuna flakes or other treats in the bowl and he'll eat these without touching the kibble.

I am concerned because this means that Arthur is not eating kibble right now. I don't want him to starve, but I do want him to learn to eat the Orijen. At what point should I give up? If I put the Orijen in one bowl and California Natural in the other, Beowulf will probably try to eat them both, because he usually eats kibble as soon as its put down, while Arthur comes back and eats at his leisure.

When it comes to wet food, however, Beowulf is very picky and won't eat most of the wet foods I feed.

Fresh Flow Waterer: I got a Fresh Flow waterer and set it up yesterday. I have yet to see the boys drink from it, although I have seen that the water level went down over night and some crud got into the bowl. This means that either the water evaporated or the boys drank from it. Because I didn't want the boys to dehydrate, I kept their regular water bowl filled also and I have seen them drink out of that

Both situations are frustrating, because I'm trying to move to healthier food and healthier water and I'm not sure how to make them catch on. Any ideas?