Mancat Monday

Carmine: The Mom says there's more celebrating to do this week, so I'm having a rest before all the fun starts again.

We hope you all have a great Monday!

Easy Like Sunday

Jewel: I'm enjoying my Easy in my pink cube!  How is everyone else spending their Easy Sunday?  Whateer you are doing, we all hope you have a great day!

Our Secret Paws

Carmine: The Mom FINALLY let us open our Secret Paws box on Christmas.  We had been waiting a WEEK to open it, and we really wanted to know what was in there!

Carmine: Which one should we open first?  

Milita: Open this one first!  Mom, I want THIS ONE!!!

Jewel: It's a Pawbreaker!!  This one's MINE, Lita!!

Milita: You can play with it for now.....I found another one!

Jewel: A new fun way to get my treats!  
The Mom: It took her all of five seconds to figure out how to get treats from the fish bowl.  LOL.

Carmine: Our Secret Paws sent me some special urinary tract treats!  The Mom said hers didn't even know they made these.  Someone sure must like me to send me special treats!  And I LOVE Yeoww! catnip fishies!!! :)

Carmine: Look at all the great prezzies we got!!  We got lots of treats, a Pawbreaker, some Yeoow! catnip fishies, some bath wipes (for Jewel...MOL!), a fun fish bowl food toy, TWO different kinds of mousies, and they even sent the Mom some chocolate!  

Our Secret Paws were Maxwell, Allie, and Faraday from A Tonk's Tail....err, Tale!!  

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH, MAXWELL, ALLIE, AND FARADAY!!!  We love all our prezzies!  We couldn't have asked for a better Secret Paws!! 

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone!  

Here I am helping the Mom wrap prezzies.  Hers says hers has a few prezzies to wrap for us still, and hers says me can't help with those.  

We also got our Secret Paws package last week!  The Mom says we have to wait until Christmas to open it, though.  

 This is not our tree; it came from the Internets.

We want to wish all of our furry friends and their humans a very Merry Christmas!!  We hope you all have a wonderful day with lots of love, happiness, treats, and catnip!!!

Mancat Monday

Hi everyone, Carmine here.

The Mom's friend, D, decided to have a little nap while he waited for dinner, and Milita and I decided to join him in a little rest before we being our wait for Santa Claws.

Hang in there, everyone.  We don't have to be good fo much longer now!!


P.S. We apologize for the poor quality of the photos.  The Mom used her phone camera to take these.

Easy Like Sunday

Hi everyone, Carmine here.

Me found a new box to claim!  The Mom says there are cards in it to send to our friends.  

If I get the cards all smelly with my scent, everyone will know the cards came from me!! :)

The Mom Update:

The Mom says hers toothie still hurts, but not as bad anymores.  Hers says it still hurts too much to eat on that side, but hers no longer wants to curl up and cry all the time.  Me thinks hers should give mes her ham at Christmas if hers still can't eat on that side...MOL.  Me is just joking.  Me hopes hers feels better soon and shares hers ham with mes anyway.

In fact, mes is sitting here on the desk now giving her healing rumbly purrs.

Supervising Holiday Activities

Hi everyone, Carmine here.

I'm supervising the Mom wrapping prezies.  But I'm upset that they aren't for ME!!  The Mom says the prezies are for our Secret Paws.  I'm glad we are sending our friends some prezies, but......WHERE ARE MY PREZIES, MOM??  Hers says hers has some for me, but me no know about that...

We hope our Secret Paws like their prezies!!

The Mom Update:

The Mom says hers is still in a LOT of toothie pain.  Hers called the dentist (human v-e-t) who said hers toothie may hurt for a WEEK, so it might hurt hers for four more days.  They telled her to call back on Monday if it still hurts.

We are trying to purr at the Mom a lot to try and help hers.  Hers is crabby when hers hurts this much, MOL.

Wordy Wednesday

Hello everyone, Milita here.

The Mom had her dental surgery on Monday.  When hers got home, mes laughed and laughed cause hers couldn't walk a straight line.  Hers said the human v-e-t had to give hers a "root canal" whatever that is.  And that the new part of her toothie feels strange.  Me sure wouldn't want any v-e-t putting anything strange in my mouth!  The Mom actually slept a lot that night cause hers was so sleepies.

When hers woke up, hers said hers toothie hurted a LOT.  So hers friend D called the dentist to make another visit to get the bite adjusted.  Mes has no idea what this means.  Hers said they fixed it and it felt a little better, but hers said that the toothie just hurts and hurts and hurts.  And doesn't stop.  

This morning, the Mom rolled out of bed early (for a change) and came and laid on MY couch.  Hers said hers tooth hurted really bad.  So mes crawled up in hers arms and gave hers a hug and rumbles.  

Me has been following the Mom around all day cause mes can tell hers no feel good.  Me is snuggling hers a lot and rumbling in hers ear to try to make hers feel better.

Mancat Monday

Hi everyone, Carmine here.

I'm laying here on the Mom's bed with Jewel.  She doesn't let me get too close to her, but she allows me to watch over here, and I do it quite often.

The Mom says hers is having dental surgery today.  Hers says hers gets as scared of the dentist as I get of the v-e-t, and that's pretty bad!!  So hers says the dentist is going to give her something called an IV with sedatives in it to make hers sleep through the surgery so hers doesn't get too scared.

Hers isn't too nervous yet, hers says, but hers knows she will be later when it's nearing time for the surgery.  Hers would appreciate some rumbly purrs and prayers today as hers gets her fractured toothie fixed.

In other news, me and Jewel have not been eating a lot lately.  The Mom worries about us and is trying to figure out what we will eat!  Hers said she bought me some of my old favorite Pro Plan urinary tract wet foods today to see if mes will eat more of that than the Friskies urinary tract special diet one.  She bought Jewel a couple of those appetizers to nom because Jewel loves them so much.  She says they doesn't have all the nutrition Jewel needs, but hers needs to eat something.

Me will come back and gives you an update on the Mom when the Mom can help me later today.

We hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

It's Our 7th Blogoversary!

TODAY IS OUR 7TH BLOGOVERSARY!!!  

We want to thank you all SO MUCH for being on this journey with us!  We didn't meet many of you until we had been blogging for a few years, but since then, our lives have changed for the better.  Your love, support, purrs, prayers, hugs, encouragement, and understanding have helped us through some extremely difficult times/situations.  We cannot even begin to express how thankful we are to have all of you in our lives as our friends!

We also thank you for celebrating the good and fun times with us, like birthday parties, holidays, and blogoversaries!!  

Please enjoy some delicious noms while you're here!  The party will be going all day long, so feel free to stay as long as you like :)

WE LOVE YOU ALL!!

We have ham.

And salmon.

And tilapia.

We also have niptinis and milk to drink.  You could also stop at one of our fountains and have some refreshing water if you'd like.

Thank you for coming to celebrate with us!!

Fantastic Friday (Awards!)

So the Mom is FINALLY helping us post our awards!!  Sheesh.  Hers has been so lazy lately with helping us post things.

First up is the Super Sweet Blogger Award.  We received this pawsome award from our great friends at Playful Kitty!  Than you for thinking of us; we feel very honored. :)  If you haven't checked out their blog, we hope you will go and visit them.

The rules for accepting this award:

1. Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.

Thank you again, Playful Kitty!  :)

2. Answer the “Super Sweet” questions. 

Since we don't eat sweets, we'll let the Mom answer these.

Cookies or cake?
I LOVE cake.  Especially chocolate cake... :)

Chocolate or vanilla?
Chocolate. 

What is your favorite sweet treat: cheesecake or frozen yogurt?
Wow, this is a hard one.  I love both.  Maybe cheesecake flavored frozen yogurt? :)

When do you crave sweet things the most?
When do I NOT crave sweet things?

If you had a sweet nickname what would it be?
Well, in high school, I used to wear vanilla lotion a lot and one of my friends started calling me cookie because she though it smelled like a cookie. LOL.

3. Nominate a "Baker's Dozen."

Nearly everyone we know has this award.  It took quite a while for it to reach us.

If you DON'T have this award and want it, please take it and say I gave it to you. :)  If you feel strange about just taking the award (like our Mom does) then tell us you don't have it in the comments and we'll gladly nominate you specifically.  We HOPE we are not forgetting any of our friends; we do not mean to overlook any of our wonderful friends.

Our second award comes from The Cat on My Head.  We thank you so much for thinking of us!  We feel quite honored that you did. :)

This award has some rules.

First, we must tell you seven things about ourselves.

Jewel: I love my cube with blue flowers on it!

Sometimes, I sleep by Mommy at night.  Sometimes I even curl up right next to her or ON her.  I know that makes hers feel special. :)

Milita: Whenever the Mom's friends are around and I know I can get away with it, I steal food off their plates.

Mommy says I'm only one of two kitties she knows that give hugs (with a paw on each shoulder).

Carmine: I love to sit on boxes, and I get upset if the Mom moves MY boxes.

The Mom's first apartment manager thought mes was from New York because me has "attitude." MOL!

All of us: We really love catnip!

We are also supposed to pass the award to 15 nominees.  But again, we think most everyone already has it.  If you don't, please let us know so we can give it to you!

Our last award also comes from The Cat on My Head!  Thank you for our award!  We are very grateful that they thought of us again :)  These kitties is awesome.  If you haven't been by their blog, we hope you'll check it out.

This award has no rules, but we would love to pass it on to some of our pawsome friends!

We would like to pass the award to:

Mario's Meowsings

My FURRY Interesting Life

Playful Kitty


Pawsitively Pets

Catitude

Thank you again for the awards, pawsome friends!  It is so nice to be thought of, and we appreciate you all so much!

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Wordy Wednesday

Hi everyone, Carmine here.

This is an old picture of me.  Can you believe the Mom has been too busy  to take any new ones lately?!  I must admit, it has been nice to have a break from the flashy box, though.

The Mom has been working hard on the Christmas cards for the Cat Blogosphere to try and get thems all out in time.  Hers is a little over halfway done, hers says.

Since we got home from the evil v-e-t the Mom has stopped feeding me the Royal Canin s/o canned food.  Hers has a theory that me might be allergic to it because me never had a problem with losing my ear furs until I started eating it.  Hers is feeding me the Friskies special diet urinary tract canned food nows (which the v-e-t said was okay) again.  Me has no complaints about that.  The Mom hopes that my weight loss and loss of ear furs will stop now, but we will see.

The Mom has been fussing over Jewel a lot, too.  For those that don't know, Jewel has CRF.  Hers and her friend try and shovel food down hers throat to get hers to eat more.  Jewel even bugs them for noms sometimes; she comes and yells at them until theys feed her.  MOL.  The Mom says that is a good sign.

The Mom ordered some Nutri-Cal stuff for Jewel.  Hers says it has lots of calories to help Jewels gain weight.  Hers says I might get to eat some, too, if the v-e-t says I can.

When the Mom was at the Santa Paws Festival, hers gotted some appetite pills for Jewel, so we think those is helping some, too.

The Mom says it is very important that me and Jewels gain some weight.

We appreciate all of your purrs, prayers, hugs, and concern so very much!  We loves you all, and we hopes you has a good day!

Vet Visit (Purr and Prayers Needed)

Mom Sierra here.  We made our way to the vet yesterday, and things are not good for Jewel or Carmine, which I did not anticipate at all.

As most of you know, Carmine has chronic anal gland issues, and he has to get them expressed every three months at the v-e-t to prevent some serious health problems.  I didn't anticipate another potential medical issue for my little orange baby.

The vet weighed him, and he's now down to 8 pounds 15 ounces.  That's 4 ounces down from three months ago.  That's not good. In my opinion, he was too thin as it was.  The vet said if he maintains this as his new "normal weight," it will be okay.  However, we don't know what's causing the weight loss, and that scares me.

The vet said she will weigh him again next time, and if he's lost any more weight, we'll have to do a special test to see if he's losing protein.  She said this can happen sometimes with chronic urinary tract or chronic anal gland issues - both of which he has.

The other possibility she mentioned was a food allergy.  If this is the case, it's going to be difficult to treat because we can't change his diet much; he must eat urinary tract food.  We might be able to try another prescription brand (Royal Canin versus Hill's, for instance) but beyond that, we don't have a lot of wiggle room with his diet due to his FLUTD.  I feel very bad for my orange baby!  He is already dealing with many more health issues than any cat should ever have to deal with.  I just hope that his weight stabilizes, and if something is wrong, it won't affect his quality of life.  He's such a lively, active, happy boy!

Then it was Jewel's turn.  I told her about how Jewel had diarrhea all of last week and that it seems to have improved.  I also mentioned that Jewel vomited all of her food for an entire day.  She thought maybe Jewel is allergic to whatever we fed her that day, which is possible.  We don't feed her that particular kind too often so we'll stay away from that kind in the future.

Then it was time for her to get weighed.  Her last weight was 8 pounds 11.5 ounces.  Her new weight is 8 pounds 4 ounces!! She lost eight ounces in the span of two months!! :(

The vet was also concerned about Jewel drinking more, laying by the fountain on the floor sometimes, and her not eating well lately.  Though finances are extremely tight for me right now, I was able to use the last of the funds you all so kindly gave me with some of my own green papers to get her kidney values tested today.  Thank you all so much, again, for your generosity!

The vet and I both felt it was important to see how her kidneys are doing in light of all the recent changes.  Unfortunately, we found out that her creatinine level went back up.  Her last level was 2.6.  Her new level is 3.1, indicating her kidneys are, in fact, worse. :(

I've been instructed to give Jewel her subcutaneous fluids every other day now.

I am very upset about this.  I know it's part of the journey of kidney disease, but she was doing SO WELL a mere two months ago!!  I am very sad and worried and upset about this decline.  I am NOT ready for her to go, and I feel like this is the beginning of the end.  I hope with everything I have that I'm wrong.

The vet also said it's time to put Jewel on Reglan - an anti-emetic.  She also wants me to get Jewel's electrolyte levels tested as soon as I can afford it, which probably won't be until January.

I'm just trying to hold it together for my babies' sake.  I know they know when I'm upset, and I want them to be happy.  I just want them to be okay.  I'm sure all of you can relate.

Purrs and prayers, hugs, love, good vibes, etc would be very much appreciated!

Ann from Zoolatry made us these beautiful purrs and prayers badges.  You can display them on your blog sidebars or posts if you would like.

Thank you, Ann, for the badges!  We appreciate all that you do so much.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Hi everyone, Milita here.

Can you keep a secret?  Mommy told me Carmine and Jewel are going to the v-e-t later.  Me is just glad it is not me who is going, MOL!

We hope you all have a wonderful Wordless Wednesday!

Mango + Jewel Update

I'll put an update about Jewel at the bottom of this post.

Mango: Cat Care Society

Lakewood, CO

Photo from Mango's profile on Adopt a Pet.

Hi, my name is Mango, and I'm a beautiful tortsoiseshell cat.  I am talkative and active.  If I really like you, I'll give you kisses!  I do not do well with children and would prefer a home without young kids.

I am nearly 11 years old, which makes me a senior cat eligible for Cat Care's Perpet-U-Care program, which will cover a portion of my veterinary costs for the rest of my life.  I am spayed, litter box trained, and up-to-date on all of my vaccinations.

Won't you come to the shelter and see for yourself how special I am?  You can find me in the upstairs hallway.  

You can join Cat Care for its annual Santa Paws Festival this weekend!  I'm planning to attend.  You can find out all the details here.  It looks like a lot of fun, so come out, visit the kitties, and support this great shelter. :)

Jewel Update

Jewel is hard to read.  She hasn't been having diarrhea on the floor as much as she was, but she refuses to eat treats, which is her favorite thing in the world.  So, I'm guessing she still doesn't feel that well.  I will be taking her in to see the v-e-t with Carmine on Wednesday.

Easy Like Sunday + Jewel Update

Jewel: Those of you who follow the Mom on Facebook know that I have not been feeling well all week.  On Monday, I started having bad diarrhea and vomiting.  The Mom decided to give me some slippery elm bark to help the nausea, and I quit vomiting after that.  But I have continued to has diarrhea all week.  

The Mom says our v-e-t is closed until Tuesday, which is fine with me, but the Mom wants me to go in for a visit.  I haven't had as much diarrhea today (Saturday), but I am still having some.  My appetite has been better today; I yelled at Mom's friend until he gave me some turkey earlier.  MOL. 

 The Mom says she is going to ask the v-e-t about getting me on something called probiotics.  I don't know what these are, but it sounds like more MEDICINE, and I no like that!!  But I do want to feel better...

The Mom here: When I went to a seminar on caring for aging cats a couple of weeks ago, I asked the vet there about Jewel's occasional diarrhea, and she suggested I ask our regular vet for some probiotics to help her digestion.

I'll be taking Carmine in for his anal gland expression on Wednesday, so I'll take Jewel to the vet with us then - unless she declines, in which case, I'll take her somewhere sooner.

Continued purrs and prayers would be much appreciated.  I just hate it when one of my fur babies is sick. :(

Experiencing the holiday blues?  Or just need a little pick-me-up?  Check out this adorable video of kitties giving high fives!  It's guaranteed to make you smile. :)  You can go here to watch it.

Before you leave, could you please send extra big purrs and prayers for our dear friend Gracie over at Brian's Home.  We is very worried about hers.

Also, if you missed our interview, you can see it over at Mousebreath.

We hope you all have a wonderful Easy Sunday!