Sunday, December 29, 2013

Sadie enforcing a work break

As you know by now, Sadie chooses the oddest places to curl up in.  I have been busy working on my laptop most evenings and typically just pop it down in my chair when I go to get a coffee refill.  I was out of the living room for less than 5 minutes and when I came back I found Sadie curled just behind my laptop, already fast asleep.  I expect the residual heat at the back of the laptop may have provided some of the appeal..but really did not look like a comfortable sleeping spot. She was not happy when I went to pick her up...giving me a baleful glare, with one eye still partially closed.  She lets her body go limp and just hangs there when I haul her over to another more suitable place to sleep.  But. of course, the relocation is not what she wants, so she quickly scurries off to find another place of her choosing.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The ham-micks are here!

For several years I have noticed cat hammocks showing up in many of the blogs I have visited.  Not knowing much about these to begin with, I checked a few pet stores here to see if they had any of this unusual style of cat bed.  As you have probably seen from earlier posts, we have a bad habit of buying all sorts of cat and dog beds then scattering them around the house.  In fact, right now, we have two dog beds stacked up in the corner of the bedroom since no one (dog or cat) seems to want to seep on these. They are more interested in the latest style was have picked up from Costco (rectangular with high sides and plushy insides). On occasion I have had to remove a cat from those beds so a dog could get in.

So..the other day when a post came in from Zoolatry referring to the ham-micks at Forty Paws I remembered that I was so fascinated that the cats in the ham-mick photos looked so comfortable...and after a quick email to find out that these could be shipped to Canada, the next step was picking out the patterns. One which included white cats...that was easy.  It took me some time to settle on the second choice...there are many appealing patterns and I keep going back and forth between a couple of them until I finally decided on a similar pattern to my first choice.  In retrospect it really didn't matter what I chose since our cats would cover almost every single square inch once they stretch out!.





Spike welcomed the package as it came in the door ...and was even more excited when he found the special catnip treat inside!  He laid claim to one of the ham-micks quite quickly and was not going to rousted by anyone, including a curious dog.  Even wary Sebastian ventured into the living room to get a quick sniff of the new ham-micks.

After the first day, we moved one bed to the corner of our bedroom and now Sadie regularly comes in to sleep on it whenever she feels like it is time for a break away from the cats downstairs. The other is in a spare room and has a rotating schedule of cats...most often Sebastian.

Thank you, Forty Paws!  http://fortypawshammicks.blogspot.ca/

Sunday, August 11, 2013

And the animals came in two by two ....


Wide awake..and the dogs come to visit.

Trying to sleep..and the cats come quickly to cuddle up and sleep as well. Angel (at top) was quite annoyed to see Sadie in the prime spot and he crawled over me several times until I finally gave him an arm to snuggle into.

Monday, August 5, 2013

A new girl in the family

This beautiful girl has just joined my daughter's family.  She is a Bengal cat and certainly looks quite elegant when she walks around the house. If you can see a little bump on that tummy...yes, she is pregnant so there will be some little kitties showing up in a few weeks. Her name is Winnie (named by the former owners) and I am really looking forward to meeting her in person!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Sadie in a "toasty" warm place

Sadie chooses the strangest places to sleep. We find her up on a blanket by the bookcase, tucked into an open suitcase, curled up on the top of a shoe box, stretched out on the dog bed.....anywhere that she decides makes a good sleeping spot. The other day we came into the kitchen and found her crammed into the small space between the toaster oven and the overhead kitchen cabinet. Her head is up against the fridge and, with no room left on the toaster oven, her tail hangs down.

Fortunately, we rarely use this toaster oven so she was perfectly safe. But I do worry about some of the places she chooses.  When she falls asleep she won't hear anything happening around her...even the vibrations on the floor when we walk by are not enough to rouse her from a deep slumber. Usually the other cats do not bother her when she is asleep (a different story when she is awake!) and the dogs typically ignore her (except for Seumas and his sniffing habit) so we haven't had a problem yet.   

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Seumas - The Early Days


 



Seumas (a fine Scottish name for a Shetland Sheepdog) joined our family last year when he was just over 8 weeks old.  We knew Girly's remaining time with us would be numbered in months rather than years and we wanted to have a little pup who would be a reminder of our beloved old gal.  We have never had a young pup before since our dogs have come to us after they have spent their puppyhood with owners who later decided that they were not going to take care of these sweet dogs the way they should be looked after (some people don't deserve the privilege of owning pets - enough said).

Within the first week Seumas had a taste of where he placed in the hierarchy.  Sadie climbed on top of his cage and acted as if the pup wasn't even there.  Angel was already used to sharing the couch with Girly so hardly missed a beat when Seumas was placed at the end of the couch. After a wary look at each other, they both settled in and fell asleep, oblivious to anything around them.

Seumas quickly learned how to climb up on the back of the couch (better to see everything and everyone around him!) and he is the only dog in the family to show any interest in this - usually this is the cats' domain.   Although in this case it was probably my food that caught his interest. And being a typical pup, the couch was also a prime sleeping spot.  In fact I am just looking across the living room and I can see a much larger Seumas stretched out on the couch, with his head on one of my good feather cushions.  He, like Girly and Angel, knows that it is important to keep me company in the living room, when I am the only human down here late into the evening.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Seumas Checking out Angel

Seumas, still called "the pup" even though he is 15 months old now, has a bad habit of sniffing cats.  He follows them around the house, sniffing at nether regions. He goes up to them when they are sitting on the coffee table and sniffs their faces.  Angel is usually quite patient but even he is starting to draw the line at this habit.  Seumus was going in for a close up view of Angel and was sticking his nose right in front of Angel's mouth.  Bad move! Angel had enough at this point and opened his mouth, ready to sink those sharp little cat teeth into a soft tender dog nose.  Fortunately Seumas realized what Angel's intent was and beat a hasty retreat!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Gone ...but we will never forget her

Girly, who was our one dog who would willingly share a couch with three of our cats, has lost her battle with increasing age and other ailments.  We knew she was already an older dog when she joined our household and we were concerned that she would find it difficult to fit in with our cats only household.  But she quickly found her way in the daily routine and became just one more four footed furry in the household.  Yes, she did find it difficult to get along with Sebastian...but those interactions were limited to growling (Girly) and hissing (Sebastian).

Girly has been in a decline these past few months, even getting to the point she would only give a half-hearted woof when Sebastian would go by.  With heavy hearts, we finally had to say goodbye to her on Thursday.  She spent her last few hours in the outdoors, sniffing gently at the air and hearing us tell her how much we loved her.

Life goes on ... but she has taken a big piece of our hearts with her.  :-(

(Looking back: Girly joining the family http://ourfurryboys.blogspot.ca/2010_04_01_archive.html )