New Foes!

Shoes are wonderful foes. Today I also discovered a new foe -- the sock roll! I'm not so good at biting the sock roll right now with this stupid collar, but I try. Kicking, on the other paw, is entirely possible as you can see!


Out of about 20 action pictures, this is the only one Ms. C was able to capture that was not totally blurry. Either Ms. C needs a lot more practice, or she should adjust her camera. Anyone else use a Sony Cybershot DSC-P100 who can recommend some settings to Ms. C? The camera is "old" now. What kind of digital camera do you use to get your best action shots?

Tabby Tummy Tuesday

Before we get to the good stuff, Ms. C would like to share with you the reason why I have to wear this collar.

Here is a picture from a week before my operation. No, I am not squinting because of the camera flash, I am squinting because I am Having Bad Thoughts because I am sly! You see, I really, really want to bite that cord that I am hiding with my paw right now. I figure if I cover it up then bite it, no one will know what I am doing. Maybe I need to change my technique because for some reason, as soon as they tell me "no" and my eyes go all half-shut, they know I am up to something.

And yes, that was the face I was making when I wanted to pull at my stitches. I really thought I could get away with it.

Now, as requested, the tummy pic! You can see my frankencat stitches. I show my belly all the time when I relax, and I like to roll around when my people approach.

Ms. C apologises for not having a lot of new pics, but she has been trying not to bug me too much. Hope you are all having a great week so far!

Recovering

As you can see, I am back to my normal behavior (mostly!). Once the anaesthesia wore off and I stopped walking sideways or backwards and wobbling, and my humans had offered me enough assistance and attention, I was ready to PLAY! We played fetch, and here I'm battling a new foe:


Nonetheless, I continue to receive a lot of sympathy and extra patting. At first, I did not want to go anywhere by myself, because I was really having some difficulty figuring out how to move with this claw-forsaken collar.

Ms. C carried me to my food and water, and I had a little bit of both. Later, she carried me to and placed me in my big litter box, where I did both kinds of business. I made sure she stayed with me for this. She poured a scoopful of litter over each spot for me, I was really grateful! I even gave her finger a rub afterwards (something I rarely deign to do), and for the first time since my surgery, my tail went straight up in the air and I walked beside her.


Tomorrow will be the requested belly picture. I am really feeling better, and thanks to all of you who have been wishing me well!

.... After the Big Day

I'm miserable.

Not only was I in a strange place overnight, away from my favorite folks, but the alien people who had captured me, well, they . . . I can't believe this . . . they shaved my belly.

And there are itchy little threads there, too. I was going to do something about them myself, so I made sure I did not show any interest in them in front of the aliens--what, Ms. C? They are called nurses, not aliens? OK . . . so I pretended I did not care about them and the nurses sent me home, where I immediately set to work on these strings stuck in my belly. Ms. C and Mr. R didn't seem to like it that I was pulling at them, so I tried to find a quiet corner in which I could be left alone to do my work.

Alas, as you can see, this only earned me another trip back to the alien place:


At least I can still eat and drink.

I am thankful that Ms. C and Mr. R rescued me from the terrible alien place so quickly. They are scratching my ears and chin for me, and I really feel safe under their desks. When I lay near Ms. C's foot, I like to be touching her feet with my own feet. It gives me a good and comforting feeling.

I hope all of you other folks are having a much better weekend than I am. I'm just glad that Ms. C is going to be home all week long to wait on me hand and paw.

A Big Day

Ms. C:  We are sorry the updates are not as normal-- I am still on the road, and will be back to my regular secretarial duties for Abby tomorrow!

Today was a big day for Abby, however. Mr. R took her into the Animal Hospital at 9am for her spaying.  So tomorrow when I see her, I will be looking at her little shaved belly.

Mr. R just called to let me know Abby is doing fine!

See you soon!

The All-Too-Short Story of Evil

Hi Everyone!  Abby here.  Ms. C is on the road today, so she did not take any pictures of me before she left, so she has decided to instead do a tribute to the cat that came before.  I shall let her speak for herself.

***

Ms. C: I think most of us have been through our share of tough times, and when we make it through those times, we should always find some way of rewarding ourselves.  Back in 1998 when I found the light at the end of the tunnel, I decided that it was time for me to get a cat.  it would be my first pet, and rewarding for both me and the cat who found its new forever home!

So, I went to the SPCA.  I was looking for a cat to take home with me, because I know everyone always wants those cute kittens (sorry Abby... I love you even though you are a kitten!).  I spent a lot of time looking at those kittens and cats before I saw her. 

Perhaps you have had this moment too, when you go to look for a friend, and then it happens. You make eye contact with The One.  I don't know how I missed her, I walked around that place in circles for quit awhile before I saw her, sitting on her haunches in her litter-box.  I felt like running back out to the front area where the volunteers were, but I made myself walk.  

"I found her!" I told them.

Before I knew it, they had her in the cardboard box, and I smiled and laughed as she meowed the whole three miles home.  When I opened the box at home and she came out, she never hid.  Instead, we took a nap together.  We had both been through a lot!  It was a wonderful bonding experience, and we were fast friends from the first.

Her name-card said her name was "Magic," but I decided that she would have to earn her name. She really earned her name when I tried to bring a second cat into the picture.  A friend of mine had a landlord who told him "either the kitten goes or you both go," and that is when I learned something about my cat's nature.  No Other Cats were to be tolerated.  After three months (and the unwelcome kitten found a more welcoming forever home), she earned her name: The Big Black Evil Cat! Or Evil for short.

She was large, and extraordinarily friendly to all humans.  If a group of friends were over, she sat down right in the center of everyone so she could be close to us all.  Even though she was declawed (before I got her), she was not a biter.  In fact, she saw biting as a real rudeness.  Have you ever met a cat that was exceptionally polite?  She was one of those cats.

Even though her name card at the SPCA said "Magic," I found out later that she had had her picture in the paper the week before as "pet of the week," and they made the poor camera-shy feline wear a silver party-hat.  When I first got her, she was terrified of cameras, but got over it over time.  The picture in the paper said her name was "Big Black," and considering her extraordinary size, she definitely fit that description!

My lap was always the #1 best location she wanted to sit in.  She could leap to an incredible height, so we often played games with shoelaces and scarves.  Abby will be happy to see that I got the same sill pictures of Evil as I get of her!

Unfortunately, her life was much too short.  I took her to the vet one week for what looked like some kind of spider bite, but it turns out that just about any kind of insect could have produced the trauma she was experiencing since she was no longer producing any plasma for healing wounds.  Three weeks later, she died.  The bone cancer was throughout her body.

We will miss you forever, Evil!  You were a truly wonderful friend. 

Muzzle and Chin

One of the most attractive parts of me, so Ms. C says, are my whiskers. They are not especially long, or special and curly, but they are numerous, and as you can see from my portrait below, the rows are delicately low-lighted with little dots of darker fur on my muzzle where they are "planted" (as Mr. R says):

I love having my chin scratched. When I want it, I lay down near a human and just let my head fall backwards oh-so-slowly, and they get the idea. If you saw this, wouldn't you want to scratch it?


I've been dealing with that unruly shoe that I have to kill every day. In fact, there is a new shoe I have to also deal with, and it's so tiring. I definitely need to relax now!