Who moved my cheese?

Somehow one of Dorothy's toys from Alabama has made it into the rest of the house. I spotted the little pink mouse at the bottom of the basement steps over the weekend and wondered how it wound up there. Probably Teen Baby or Luanne found it in my bedroom during one of their rare jaunts in there (lately) when I'm letting Dorothy run around, and they batted it right out the door. It seems to reason that one or the other of them could've transported it down the stairs, but what's more likely is someone got carried away with their own antics and launched dear mousie down the stairs, and then couldn't be bothered to rescue it. Typical. The other day I brought mousie back up to live among the living instead of among the laundry. Lately, I've noticed Luanne playing with the new mousie instead of one of her 4 million other ones. Naturally, Dorothy was curious about this.

Pink mousie

Luanne has pink mousie in her sights.

Captured!

Wait, who's that over there?

She has my mousie. How do I get it back?

First, I'll fake her out. Oh, look, a little teddy bear toy. I can just play with that.

But instead, I'll go on the attack in 3...2...1...

She didn't seem this big when I was behind the box.

Dorfy skedaddles out of range and plots her next move. Luanne sits comfortably, with the captured mousie at her feet. And then senses *something* out of the corner of her eye.

I am quiet. No one can hear me. Or see me.

Ummm, OK.

GAH! Never mind!

Yep.

This baby is teh cutest.

Dorothy's abscess is almost completely healed. There is still a hardness there, like a bone spur or something, but her hair is growing back and the spot where they lanced the abscess is a tiny scab. She is crazy as ever, chasing her toys all over creation and running around with a hooked-over tail and chasing Luanne (who chases her back).

She is no longer scared of Luanne and Luanne has stopped hissing at her for the most part. They have staring contents and then Miss D runs up to Luanne, rears up and flips sideways in mid-air with her tail all fat and hooked. She's hilarious. She still sometimes does that when she sees herself in the mirror.





Her little baby body is starting to fill up her little blue baby bed, so she has taken to the royal red bed I bought for her. It has room to grow. She can even fit in there with her toys.



She still has to spend time in the bedroom and is starting to dislike being by herself in there (although I'm in and out all the time when she is).


"Hello?"


"Hey. I'm right here."


"Maybe I'm small enough to fit under this door."

Little Dorfy and the abscess

So last Wednesday was when I took all the pictures in the post below (of Dorfy with Teen Baby and Luanne). She'd been in the bedroom all day and I thought she'd be happy to race around the house exploring again. But instead she took to the granny square pillow on the sofa and napped. I didn't think too much of it because maybe she'd tired herself chasing all of her toys around the bedroom.

She does love her Nemo and kangaroo-kicks it regularly. And this is how she always greets me when I get home (don't mind the slippers).











Thursday morning she was still not up to full power and I noticed she was limping slightly. I put her on the bed and checked her right hind leg and there was a big bulge right below her hock. When I pressed it she squeaked (usually her "talking" is just a peep here and there) and reached around to nip me, so I knew she was in pain. The bulge felt a little hard so I was then even more worried that bone might be involved. I immediately called the vet and took her in. He said it probably wasn't a broken bone because the swelling would've been more diffuse throughout the entire bottom part of her leg, and it could be an abscess. Her temperature was 106 degrees, which is extremely high, but she was fighting even being held, so that was a good sign. I had to go to work, so I left her there and they called me later.

The vet said he also felt the hardness in the bulge so they took an x-ray to make sure the bone wasn't involved. It wasn't; she had a HUGE abscess. When he lanced it, a lot of multi-colored pus came out. They cleaned it and started her on antibiotics. I went to get her at lunch to take her home and then go back to work. I could tell she was already feeling better because at one point I looked over and she (in the carrier) was batting around her catnip banana.

I cleaned her leg for a few days with peroxide and have to give her antibiotics for about two weeks, but she should be fine. And I KNOW she's back to her old self because she is acting like her crazy kitten self. I have to sort of "sit" on her with her between my knees to give her the meds, but she now lets me do it with no fight and she doesn't hold a grudge. Good, sweet girl.

Dorothy loves granny squares

OMG, LOOK at all the pillows and cushions. :-\

Cat house. House of cats. House RUN by cats. Cats' house.

It seems to be official: Miss Dorothy has finally settled in and is hanging around like she's always lived here. Even Luanne has stopped hissing and antagonistically following Dorothy around as she scoots here and there exploring my still-not-completely-unpacked new old house.




Really? You're taking pics while I'm trying to watch Nurse Jackie?

Little Miss Baby really does look like a full-grown cat...


...until you get the Teen Baby perspective.


Even Luanne, who is a pretty small cat, looks gigantic next to Dorothy.


Here they all are in action (inaction).

Luanne's like "Yup" when she looks at the camera.

I'm still keeping Dorothy separate overnight because I still don't want her in the basement (although I would LOVE if she would stay so teeny-tiny forever and ever) and the other cats have to get down there to do their business. When I let her run around on the main floor, I close the door to the basement and let cats in and out as they scratch/meowl. I think in the next few weeks, I'll take Miss Cat von D down there and see what she does. Supervision! It's a good thing I don't have human kids--I'd drive them nuts with the over-protectiveness.

Respect your elders

Do I look bored?


I'm not.


I'm wondering what kinds of things a 17-year-old cat thinks about all day long.


And all the bowls and bowls of food he's eaten.


Can I ask you a question?


Do you get dizzy watching that fan, too?

Thank you for bringing this back.


You won't be doing that again.


WILL you.


Didn't think so.

Blankie and the missing kitten

Teen Baby and Luanne are very aware that there is another kitty behind a closed door. Both cats normally sleep on the bed with me at night and languish on it during the day--in a pile, along with Oliver. But since Saturday night, they have been shut out so Miss Dorothy can ease into her new place. I also don't want her to be in the basement yet, because she is too small and is curious enough to get herself stuck behind the washer and dryer or in some other hairy basement predicament (although, really, there isn't a lot besides the washer and dryer for her to get into down there except a bunch of empty boxes, otherwise known as the kitty amusement park). I'm not worried about her being able to maneuver the steps after witnessing her Ninja Warrior skills on the wicker screen.



Oliver, who is 17, senile, and spends most of his time walking around in the basement or sleeping, is pretty uninterested in her whereabouts.

So at the suggestion of my friend Rene, I took something of Dorothy's (superstar green blankie) out of the bedroom and into the house and purposely dangled it in front of both Teen Baby and Luanne so they could sniff it and decode the smells.


You'd better bring that thing back in here.

Teen Baby walked into it like a bull oblivious to its purpose and meandered over to the bedroom door, knowing full well that the owner of this strange baby kitty scent was behind it. He is such a gentle, calm cat and nothing at all bothers him.


Don't placate me with that cloth. I know she's in there.

Luanne hissed at the blankie immediately, walked away from it, circled the coffee table, then peeped around one of its legs and stalked it. I spread it out on the sofa and she came over and sniffed it, then jumped up onto it and continued her investigation for several minutes.



She eventually jumped down, gave it a baleful last look, and walked away.

Meanwhile, Dorothy was safe in the bedroom, pining for superstar blankie.



I have let her out into the house twice now--once for about 30 minutes and last night for about an hour. I'll add to that story tomorrow.

Remember that ridiculous Richard Marx song?

"Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you" etc.

Well, the sentiment is the same, but the song does not remain so. This is how Miss Dorothy greeted me Monday after her first full day alone while I was at work.



She is enamored of her foam green ball and chases it all over the bedroom: under the bed, under the armoire, across the floor, behind the screen. Almost without fail, it ends up behind her food and water bowl, which are raised off the floor in one of those slightly fancy, spoiled kitty feeding systems (the other cats eat and drink from gravity containers--no judgment!).




What to do now?


Get at it from the side?


Nope, get at it from behind.


One little push...


...and out it comes...


...so I can eat.


Well, how would YOU do it?