Sleepy Saturday

As different as they are, Leo and Star seem to like one thing the same. Sleeping on the back of the couch.
It feels like such a sleepy weekend that I thought I'd just share some sleepy pictures in the hopes of spreading around the happy sleepy mood.

Star on the couch

Leo on the couch

Star no longer resents the laptop... now she thinks it's there just for her to nap on.

In fact, if I don't close it, she will nudge the lid down so she can lay on it!

Leo sleeps in the most contorted positions.. Still he always seems comfy!

Have a good weekend, and have a nap!

Feather Friday

I’ve discovered a new kitty expression on the cat blogosphere, "Oh my cod!" And I can totally see Leo saying that! Yesterday, in fact, when he had this look of utter crazy cat joy on his face. You see, daddy Greg went on a little shopping spree.. Star was out of her favorite treats (gasp!! The horror!) and we were wanting to get Leo a Da Bird toy. 　
Unfortunately they didn’t have Da Bird. They did have Star’s treat (oh the relief!) so she’s set. But he could not come home without something for Leo, (aside from new cans of some of his favorite stinky goodness, not that he’s fussy in the least!) So he got some substitute feather toys to hold him over until we find the good one.
　
We had Da Bird before, and many many replacement feather heads, and all the kitties loved it. Loved it! It sounds like a bird as it spins in the air, they can hear those feathers flap and they go on instant alert. Ok, not all the kitties.. Star did not like it much at all. The bird is an air toy, and Star prefers ground toys. Which really surprises me considering her obsession with the birds in the eves outside the bathroom window.. But there you go, she never cared for Da Bird.
　
When we were down to just Star, (we had three other kitties when she arrived), we put Da Bird in the closet because she didn’t care for it much and played with other toys with her. One day it fell over and got slammed in the door and broke in half. They are guaranteed and have a replacement policy, but she didn’t like it so we just got rid of it. With Leo, I wish we still had it. I know I probably have a few replacement heads in a cupboard somewhere.. But if I get them out without the stick, he’ll just eat them. The silly feather face..
　
So back to the new haul of toys. Goodness, daddy spoils them! He got this one stick that has 5 or 6 different ends from a feather boa type thingie to feathers, with and without sparkle ball, to some kind of chenille stringy thingies, to mylar ribbons, to more feathers!. Oh Leo’s going to love it!
　
Here’s a few pictures of him getting to know his new toys!

Here's the reason he needs new toys already..

nom nom nom...

Ooo what dat??

　

　

Oh my cod! It’s... it’s... NEW FEDDERS! I loves fedders!

Ooo purpley fedders too!?! Nummy!

　

Long stringy fedders? Oh boy! Nom-a-licious!



All worn out

zzzzzzzzzz

Just a note about the feather boa attachment.. Leo stole it when I wasn't watching and dragged it around the room. We laughed and thought it was cute. Up until we realized that he bit clean through the string... Little goof ball.. We tied it back together, but now it's shorter. What a silly kitty.

Invasion

The barbarians have breached the gate! Hide the women and children! Or rather, hide the crinkle butterfly and the feathered wicker ring!
　
The funny thing is, that while the barbarian had invaded, there was no battle! I’m relieved, trust me, I just don’t know what it all means. It’s either Star has decided to stop being such a growler hisser, or she was too intimidated to make a fuss. I hope it’s an ease of tensions, not her retreating more. I want them to share space, I just want it to be good for both of them.
　
First thing yesterday morning, (afternoon) Leo came up to the bedroom to say hello. He always talks to me when I come downstairs, all excited to see me. But as he was coming into enemy territory, he came in semi-stealth mode. Semi because while he didn’t make a peep that would draw attention to the fact that he was in the room his long tail was straight up like a flag announcing his presence. Luckily the bed is high enough that, tall as he is and long as that floofy tail is, it comes to just below the height of the bed.
　
At first Star was oblivious to the invasion as she lay on the bed. I was petting Leo with my toes as he wandered around. I didn’t want to discourage him from being in there, but I also wasn’t sure it was a good idea to make him so welcome in Star’s refuge.
　
Suddenly, she became aware that she was not alone. While still not able to see him, she went on alert, her nose twitching as she sensed that he was near. He kept wandering, but she never looked in the right direction. Her eyes were on the door, guarding the castle gates. Oblivious to the fact that the invader was already within her boarders. By the time she did catch sight of him, he was on his way out. She barely got out one little grumble of protest.
　
I reassured her that she was still queen of the castle as I headed out for my morning ablutions. I was not to be alone. Low and behold, Leo came bounding in, this time, vocalizing his greetings. I pet him and was going to pick him up to set him on the counter so he could look out the window (bad jumper) and watch the birdies. But as suddenly as he’d appeared, he rushed out and thundered down the stairs.
　
Eventually I headed back to the bedroom and was surprised to see Star laying by Greg’s pillow. She normally lays near the foot of the bed. That wasn’t the only unusual thing though, her tail was hanging off the bed, and she was stretched out, not her normal sleep mode. All of this went through my brain in just a few seconds before I realized, as I’m sure you’re all ahead of me.. that this was NOT Star.

Leo was laying there, this was his usual position, if he has one.. Close to the edge so klutzy boy can fall off at any given moment... Tail spread out. Chin down. Definitely Leo. As I approached, I noticed that while he looked like he was sleeping, totally relaxed, his eyes were open. They were the only alert things on him. The reason his eyes were alert became clear when I entered the room. Star was still in her spot at the foot of the bed.
　
There was not one sound coming from either of them. Star’s modus operandi is generally to grow grumble or hiss whenever she is in proximity to the barbarian just so everyone knows she’s not pleased with the situation. But here she was, quiet, if not exactly calm, and.. seemingly accepting.
　
Leo looked up as I came closer, giving me a happy silly look. I swear one of the best words to describe him, besides klutzy, is bouncy! He bounces in and out of rooms when he’s excited. Bounces after toys. Bounces when he’s doing something brave (like invading Star’s space when she doesn’t know it). Bounces bounces bounces all the time! I don’t know how a cat that’s sitting still can be described as bouncy, but let me tell you, that when he looked up at me, he had a total bouncy attitude. If he were able to talk, he’d have been saying "Mom! Mom! Look where I am! See! See me! Look at me mom!!" Bouncy.
　
As soon as I sat down, Leo jumped down and ran from the room. Ok, I thought, maybe he was just proving a point? But within seconds he was bouncing back into the room. He jumped back onto the bed and laid back down, just as relaxed and spread out as he had been. Silly bug. Still, no word from Star even though she was watching him closely.
　
Leo rolled over onto his back and basically acted so cute that I had to pet him as he squirmed and rolled around. I was aware of Star observing this and I didn’t want her to think I was giving him all the attention, so I reached over to pet her too. This, she grumbled at. Of course. My Leo-contaminated hand had touched her immaculate Highness.
　
The phone rang, so Leo bounded out of the room. I don’t know if it scared him, or if he was done but he was finished laying on the bed. I made a few calls and didn’t see Leo again until I was almost done. He bolted in, bouncy, and jumped on the chair that sits in front of my jewelry chest to aid Star in getting up there and thus to the window.
　
This raised a growl from Princess HissyFace. Which I find funny, since she didn’t make a peep about him being ON THE BED WITH HER. Goofy girl. He ignored her, as is his wont, and jumped up to the jewelry chest to peer out the window. Star watched him, but didn’t say anything else about it.
　
By the time I realized I should take a picture or two of this, Leo was lounging, and Star had pretty much given up watching him, and just gave me a baleful look or two to show she was trying to be tolerant of the invading infidel. She’ll be rewarded with her favorite snacky later.

　
This was not the end of their surprises for me yesterday though! I think Star felt that if he was on the jewelry chest, then she was free to do as she pleased downstairs, so off she went. Good, I thought, she can eat and use the litter without having to look over her shoulder. Unfortunately she was only gone maybe five minutes or less before he decided he had to go see what she was doing. *sigh*
　
Star came back not too long after that and decided to take possession of the jewelry chest herself. As she sat there looking out the window, guess who came back... Is he doing this to be near me as I was being slow to come down or is he trying to be near her? I honestly don’t know. But it wasn’t me he was focused on this time.. He laid on the bed and watched her in the window.
　
I know this picture look pretty much like the last ones, but they’ve switched positions. Glare from the sun is making her look almost headless..

　
Finally, I was ready to head downstairs, so with a little reservation, I left them both in my room. I wasn’t sure if the peace would reign if I left, but I held my breath and took the chance. I needn’t have worried, Leo followed me so fast that he almost beat me down!
　
And talk about cuddly! He was all over me for cuddles and hugs all day! He took a longer nap on me than he ever has before, purring in my ear as he tried to wrap his long body around my neck. That made it a little tough to breath, so I kept moving him.. Not that he cared that much, he stayed no mater what. He only really left me alone when he was bird watching.
　
Another miracle, when Greg got home, Leo let him pet him for a long time on the Royal Footstool! After our bad weekend, things seem to be looking up! I can only hope they continue in this direction.

Bug Whisperer

Leo says hello to me every morning. Something he started from the first day we had him. It’s not so much a sedate, peaceful "good morning" but rather a "Hi! Hi! Hi mommy! Pet me! Pet me! HI HI!!" But for the rest of the day, he’s almost silent. He never makes a noise at Star no matter how much she may hiss or grumble or growl. He never says hello to Greg, either in the morning or when he gets home from work. He never says hello to anyone else, but that’s mostly because he has usually run off until they are safely inside.

　

There is apparently only one other thing that makes him become vocal. Bugs. Yes, bugs. I’m not sure if I should be insulted or what, to be, apparently, in the same category as bugs..

　
I started putting things together the other night when I heard an odd meow from behind my shoulder. I turned and sitting on the back of the couch, in one of his favorite spots, was Leo. But he wasn’t talking to me, he was looking straight up and making a soft little ‘meh meh meh mehOwOw’ I looked up to where he was looking and there was a bug on the ceiling. He kept talking to it in that same soft half meow. I wonder if he was asking it to come down lower so he could play with it. It declined this invitation, much to my dismay.
　
I know I’m not the only person who doesn’t like bugs. I SERIOUSLY don’t like bugs. I’ve woken my husband up in the middle of the night to kill spiders on the ceiling. I have a very good reason for doing so, and it’s not just because I’m too short to reach the ceiling even if I stand on the bed.. We have rough ceilings. Spiders are clumsy. The rough ceilings make them clumsier. And I sleep with my mouth open.
　
Leo does not share my aversion to bugs. He can spot them anywhere. We had some kind of beetle get in a few days ago. He was in bug heaven! I thought he was playing with one of his feather bits until I heard his odd little bug whisperer voice and saw what he really had.
　
He had the beetle on The Chair and it must have been dead because it never moved even though he kept batting at it with his big ol’ mitts. Being polydactyl gave him some kind of super bug grip or something because he would give it a swipe and then look at his paw where it was held with all those extra toes. He lost track of it for a moment and Greg swooped in and removed it from the toy collection.
　
I had heard this odd little way Leo has of talking to bugs before but never put two and two together to realize that he only does it for bugs. Mostly he talks to them when sitting in the window or at the door at night when they are attracted to the inside lights. Thankfully most of them are outside and thwart his efforts to ‘get to know them.’

Tonight he was nearly climbing the screen door because some bug was perched up higher than he could reach.

I see you up there bug!

I'm comin' ta get ya!

Yer days are numbered..

 ...As soon as I figure out this force field that is..

Can you tell that that is her paw over her nose? Do you think she smelled something?

I'm sleeping with one eye open..

　
      mawiesner said...
I had been watching the new show Cat from Hell on Animal Planet, and I got a few good ideas from that.
I also purchased a new cat toy for Sunny... it's called Cat Claws Feline Flyer.

　

We just got cable and started watching that show too! He does have some great ideas and we plan on trying a few.
That toy sounds very much like ‘da bird’ which my cat’s had always loved until Star. She has never been interested in toys that fly or wave around in the air. But if you drag something along the ground, she’s instantly alert. I figure if she were a hunter, she’d not be hunting birds, but would be a great mouser. Anyway, our da bird got broke a few years ago and since she never liked it and was an only cat then, we never replaced it. I will now as soon as possible because Leo loves loves loves when I make the kitty teaser fly!
　
      Random Felines said...
I like the idea of the harnesses - it keeps everyone safe but allows them to use the same space.
I haven't use the feliway diffuser, but I have heard good things about it - something to consider.
　
That is my hope for the harness idea, they’ll see each other, and know that there will be no attacking, that they are safe even if they are close.
I did use the diffuser, you can see my update on how that went in my archives on May 26^th. I credit the diffuser with bringing Leo out of his shell and becoming bold enough to stand up to Star. Though that did lead to him being more aggressive so I can’t say I’m entirely pleased.. It had no effect on Star.
　
　
      mrsnmo said...
I tried the Feliway defuser and it didn't seem to help, but I've heard in some situations it can. And play with Leo as much as possible.

Same here, as I said above, the diffuser didn’t help things at all for us. I do play with Leo, and he plays by himself with his toys and bugs, but I do plan on getting more teaser type toys. He’s chewed the feathers off the sparkle ball on a string and I don’t think just the long fleecey one is enough of a challenge.
　
Thank you all for the advice. At this point with the kitties, I can use all the help I can get! I feel kind of helpless with this situation even though I’ve had kitties nearly all my life and you’d think I should know what I need to by now.

Not so great weekend

We had a bit of a bad weekend kitty-wise. Well, not the whole weekend I suppose, but Sunday was rough. I’m not really sure I should share about it, but I figure if anyone can understand, it’s other cat people. I just want my babies to get along!
　
I think the worst part about it is that we’d had some progress last week. Star even took a nap downstairs on the back of the couch, something she hadn’t done in a while. Then Sunday she got scared off when she was on her way to the litter box. She came back upstairs where I was and stared digging at the bed. I thought she was looking to play.. One of her favorite games is to attack lumps in the sheets and dig them into a pile that she can wrap her paws around and bunny kick.
　
I didn’t have time to play with her though, (our Sunday’s are kind of busy), so I headed down and she went with me. Greg was already down, and said that he’d seen her heading for the box, but between him being in the kitchen and Leo, she’d turned around and ran. I told him to go into the living room so she’d be free to go out there. We have one box in the corner of the kitchen and one in the laundry/cat room, which is right off the kitchen.
　
It didn’t work though. From where Greg sat, he could see Star at the bottom of the stairs. Leo was on the Royal Footstool, so he wasn’t blocking her from going out there either. Still, rather than go to the box.. she went on the landing.. She was not tinkling either.
　
Greg was shocked. In the 10 years we’ve had Star, she’s been the most fastidious about using the box of any cat we’ve had. I was shocked. I’d made sure she had a clear run to the boxes and made sure she knew it. Greg thinks it was a protest, I’m not sure. But whatever the reason, we couldn’t just let it go, right?
　
When Leo won’t stop jumping her, he gets closed into the cat room as punishment. So that’s where Star went. After an hour of hiding under the couch that is... Finally, we got her in there. And I honestly think that was the best place for her for a while. She had free access to the box and to food and water with no chance of being jumped on by an over exuberant Leo. Greg even opened the window in there for her. Not very punishing... but she still didn’t want to be in there.
　
We decided to leave her in there while we were at church. That’s a few hours of no stress of being attacked. That was the hope anyway. Leo did apparently move one of the boxes put in front to keep him from trying to get in. Strong boy.. Or ornery boy.
　
When we got home, Greg closed the upstairs doors so she couldn’t just run up and hide. I’m not sure still if that was smart or not. Anyway, he didn’t just let her out, he picked her up and pet her, brought her to me and let me pet her, and held her until she seemed calm. She ran upstairs immediately, but came right back down when there was no where to go. She went behind the couch and didn’t come out. Not even for snack time. Greg put her dish back there with her so she wouldn’t miss out on it. I don’t want her missing any meals or snacks as I think she could still stand to gain a few ounces, maybe a pound, that she lost while sick.
　
We opened the doors upstairs but she still wouldn’t come out. I wasn’t sure she would forgive us for locking her in the cat room. I guess I needn’t have worried, because as soon as we started going up, I called her and she came out and ran up ahead of us.
　
She was extra cuddly, running from one of us to the other for attention. She’s been coming and closing my laptop and laying on it as I’ve been trying to write this. So I’m assuming she’s trying to make up to us?
　
All of this has made us realize that we cannot go on just letting them decide when to get together. At the moment, our idea is to put Star in her harness and leash, get another and put Leo in it and make them stay in the same room, in sight of each other, at least once a day. When Star is in her harness, she becomes a different cat. She’s all humble and shy. I can only hope Leo reacts the same way. Then they might be more tolerant of each other. That’s the idea anyway.
　

Star does not care for the day’s news apparently.

I disapprove.. Of everything

　

　

Leo keeps his mouth shut

Hee hee, I not talking..

　
　

Gray kitties are absolutely the best! (Don’t take our little problems into consideration) So if you want one of your own, please please head over to Daily Dose of Dogs AKA Cats With Your Coffee and check out the Grey kitties of the cat house! They deserve great homes! Send your friends, please help find them their forever homes! Or while you’re there, check out the fantastic fourteen, they will all need homes soon too!

Window Warriors

It has been so hot here that leaving the air conditioned house was not a pleasant thought. Luckily, I didn’t have to! But the heat broke today even though we didn’t get the promised storms. So the air went off and doors opened. Oh boy were the kitties pleased! Leo has the instincts of a great hunter, and he must, I say MUST, watch birds, bugs and squirrels running past windows and doors.
　
Star keeps an eye out as well, not as much as she did before the infidel intruder started sharing her viewing areas, but still. She spent her time in front of the door today, after Greg came home. I think she thinks he can/will guard her from Leo as she always comes down more when he’s here. Of course, she always spent more time downstairs when Greg was around because she owns, I mean.. loves him.
　
I have a feeling that if Leo were an indoor/outdoor kitty that the wildlife in the neighborhood would be in serious danger. He’s so intent when some critter is nearby, it’s almost comical. He almost wants to climb the screen when something flies past. He almost presses his face to the screen like a kid at a candy store. I will not be surprised if someday I see him actually climb the screen door!
　
　

Birdies mommy!

　

*drool*

Remove the infidel from my window please.

Peace?

Today Star came downstairs, stayed downstairs, and took a nap on the back of the couch. Leo watched her, tried to stalk her, but eventually gave up the idea and laid on his favorite folding chair. She growled and grumbled, he stared and followed. But all in all, it wasn’t a bad evening.
　
So I think in honor of their settling down and being all snoozey, I’m going to go to bed early and maybe even get up earlier tomorrow!
　

But before I go... I’d like to send out a plea. Chrystal at Daily Dose of Dogs AKA Cats with your Coffee seriously needs to adopt out some kitties! She needs room in the cat house for the 15 sadly neglected starved cats and kittens. Please please please, if you are even thinking about getting a kitty, check out the Winnie’s Wish kitties. Leo was a Winnie’s Wish kitty and he’s the best, most wonderful kitty in the world! If you absolutely cannot get a kitty, think of everyone you know. Do they need an amazing, wonderful, fluffy feline friend? Send them over there!
　
And while you’re visiting, check out her chip in. Yes, I know she reached the goal, but that was just the cost of neutering the adults. They all need medical attention and the 9 kittens will need to be neutered eventually as well. This group is gonna need a lot more, so if you can, please help. Every little bit adds up.
　
Ok, I’ll stop plugging now. And I hope you all have a quiet, non-hissy day!
　
　
　

Not her favorite couch back, but she seems comfortable enough..

zzzzzzz

　

Being a good boy.

I behave mom, not just because daddy is keeping an eye on me..