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mollyphoria · 3 years

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Moodboard #3

I was not able to make another moodboard since February because there's not much difference from what I was feeling from back then to now. It was pretty much all the same. Still wanting to get away and have freedom, yk same old shit but it wouldn't be a surprise that some things did change throughout this 5 mos like :

My lovely Calico cat Jimina gave birth to 5 kittens originally. She was pregnant at the start of this year and blessed the world with 5 cute mini jiminas on March 9 (same birthdate of BTS Suga)

3 of the kittens inherited her orange and white fur while the other one inherited the dark, striped fur completely devoid of any white fur. Only one kitten out of 5 got her triple color coated fur.

Sadly only 3 survived. Jimina hid the kittens briefly first and then abruptly one day she brought them up again already grown up, able to walk and with their eyes open but she only had 3 kittens with her. I never got to find out what ever happened with the other 2 babies with one of the missing of the kittens was the one that fully inherited the Calico cat status of Jimina which devastated me the most and I'm still heartbroken to this day that some of her babies didn't get to live like their siblings. I don't want to think that they died, I want to actually believe that they somehow survived without their mother miraculously but it's only the plausible reason why they never showed up at all 😞

The 3 surviving kittens tho is a lot of fun! They were rumbustious and full of energy. They were always playing and running around in my mom's garden. Climbing up a tree or an orchid branch, playing hide and seek through the plethora of plants. It was a treat to see them just having fun and I took lots of videos. I decided to name them after the BTS maknaes nicknames which is Kookie, Mochi and TaeTae. All 3 kittens have a very distinct personality from each other like you could immediately tell that Kookie is more introverted than the other two, his more reserved and prefers to be alone most of the time, TaeTae is more adventurous and playful but he doesn't trust that easily while Mochi on the other hand is the most extroverted and trusting out of all (FYI: I named them first without knowing their personalities believe it or not). Overall they brought so much life and extra joy in me. Now that they are 4 mos old, they don't play that much anymore, I guess it's really part of growing up regardless of what species. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now onto my summer. I was dreading it's arrival. It's not fun when you don't have an AC at your house in the hottest season. But anyways this summer I've been having this strong desire to experience Italian summers. I just wanted to be in Italy soooooo bad. I just want to ride my bicycle anywhere in rural Italy in a summer floral dress and eating a delicious gelato after while listening to Love my way by the Psychedelic furs. Yes this strong desire got even stronger after watching the movie Call me by your name. It envoked so much nostalgia within me which is weird because I've never set foot in Italy before but the feeling of longing that I experience just thinking about spending your summer in Italy is very strong.

Additionally, speaking of bicycles I successfully finished my remodeling or rather repainting of an old bicycle we have here which is perfect for summer aesthetics. I mentioned before on my previous moodboard back in February that I was in the process of painting this bike and I included a picture of a bike that I would like my own bike to look like after I'm finish with it. And I'm very happy and satisfied with the end result overall! And I would love love to ride it around Italy!...... perhaps.

These are 3 of the most impactful things that had rocked my world within the past few months and they are in a form of a documentary, an animated podcast and an anime film!

1. Grey Gardens

I first discovered Grey Gardens when I was actively looking for any good documentary to watch so I went to Reddit recommendations and one user suggested grey gardens. Its description peaked my interest enough to go check it out and luckily the full documentary is uploaded in YouTube for free. And I must say I'm glad that I took the chance to watch this wonderful hidden gem!

Little Edie quickly got my full attention on her. She's one of the most wonderful and fascinating people to exist in our world and her mother big Edie was just as interesting of a character as well. The way they live their life, spending most of their time in a rundown mansion near a beach was truly a sight to behold in a weird, peculiar manner.

What gives me the most profound impact about this documentary is the topic of wasted youth with wasted potential and the ironic part when your very own lifeline equally imprisons you as well. And we see this most evidently with little Edie. There was a part in this doc that stuck with me the most and it's when the mother-daugther duo was sunbathing in the balcony and little Edie mentioned about wanting freedom from her mother and the grey gardens then big Edie answered:

"you can't have freedom when you're being supported"

And this has struck a chord on me so strong because I relate to it so much especially with my current situation. I also crave freedom from where I am right now but I couldn't because I'm not capable of freeing myself.

What's more tragic was little Edies rebuttal to her mother's hotknife realistic take which was you can't have freedom both ways. That you couldn't have freedom when you're not being supported as well. And it's very true. If you decide to go out in the world by yourself you will definitely be freed from the shackles of your former home & life but you will subject yourself to another imprisonment.

Basically We're never truly free in this life.

2. The Midnight Gospel

I think I've heard of TMG when it was about to launch on its release year and I remember i was anticipating for it to come out because i just took one look at the official poster & I knew I would like the animation then I learned Pendleton ward is a part of it & I'm a huge fan of his creations so it's a double treat but I didn't had the opportunity to watch it back then bcoz of my busy shitty life & I actually don't have Netflix. But I remember i downloaded one of its ost first things first.

Now fast forward to this year. I now have the time to watch every content out there that I missed from all the years of slaving my life away for absolutely nothing. one of those is TMG & it was a perfect timing. Ever since i took an hiatus from the rat race I decided to strengthen my spirituality & this time I want to try delving deep to Buddhism and certain philosophies which I don't have the time and energy to learn before and TMG was a great and perfect medium for me to learn further about this subjects as they tackle topics like mindfulness and meditation and much more other significant things, not to mention the superb,epic, psychedelical, full of awesomeness animation on top of equally superb awesome soundtracks is*chefs kiss ( I still have an LSS to the prisoner's song.. 🎵drinking blood from a stump of a prison guard that I just chopped up....🎶)

I felt like the universe intended for me to watch this later than sooner because if I had the opportunity to watch it back then, I think I wouldn't/couldn't appreciate this show as much as I do now. So thanks universe!

TMG is honestly one of the best show to ever grace the planet imho. An easily perfect 10/10 for me.

3. To the Forest of Firefly Lights

Now I've watched a lot of animes last and this year and I can tell in full confidence that this is the best of them all. I'm sure it's subjective but this one checked all the box for the most compelling story & amazing artwork for me.

Maybe I long for something similar with the characters, It was just so fascinating and huntingly beautiful to have someone or something (whatever your preference is) from a different realm to be by your side. Maybe I would also like to look forward for summer season to come for once, to get excited and get rejuvenated on a hot summer that otherwise would make my life hell. Or maybe and most definitely I just needed someone like Gin as a source of my utmost happiness and comfort.

Overall this anime had made me feel so much warmth in my heart with its unadulterated poignancy and I just couldn't get enough of it. What a masterpiece ✨

Ps: I recommend listening to Warning Sign by Coldplay after watching to the Forest of Firefly Lights 🌹Check it out ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

#moodboard #grey gardens #the midnight gospel #anime movie

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bh7theseriesblog · 4 years

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The Origins of Big Hero 7

Big Hero 7: The Series

Origins

*A flicker of black and white starts up for a while, static noises barely blocks out a voice*

Umm…Hello? Can you hear me?

*the flickering and static stops as it shows a 14 year old girl with dyed blue hair and purple eye contacts*

Can you hear me? Oh it's working!

*The girl sits on the chair in front of the camera. She smooths out her sea green skirt as she clears her throat*

Hi! So…after some thinking I decided to make a video diary so I can remember what I said. After all, who knows when it'll come in handy right? Oh right! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Cora Mizichio.

*Cora chuckles slightly before continuing*

So I guess I should start with my life and such. Let me warn you though, it's kind of a long and wild story.

*she pulls out a phone and starts showing pictures*

I have lived in San Fransokyo for my whole life with my Dad, Mizuchi and Grandmama, Kaguya. My mom, Akemi passed away when I was a baby.

*image of a blonde hair woman smiled warmly before switching to Cora and her family. Her father being Goliath in stature and her grandmother dressed in a kimono with a cane*

Then my family found out that I'm incredibly intelligent for my age. I suppose hacking into your father's computer to send a birthday card at the age of 4 does that. My Dad is very sweet and an old softie, but is very protective of me and wasn't sure that I should go to school. So I was homeschooled, it was fun being taught by Grandmama and such about Marine biology, but…I felt kind of lonely…

After all my studies, I actually made a habit of bot fighting disguised as an unknown cat-masked competitor under the name 'Nekodomo'. It earned good money since at the time Dad hadn't gotten any luck with jobs due to his height. But it was my very first night of bot fighting that I met him…Hiro Hamada

*she flips the photo to a young Asian boy her age, with messy raven hair, large almond brown eyes and a tooth gap in his smile.*

I've never had very much luck when it came to making or having friends, so if I someone told me that I would end up dating this guy I would had laughed. But yeah we did. I was paired up with Hiro in one of those special bot fighting events like the duo duel. We won, but than the cops were coming and I was so scared of getting caught that I couldn't move. But then the next thing I know Hiro grabs my hand and we were running like crazy before the cops even spot us! I have no idea how long we had been running, but to be honest I didn't really care because I was still awe-struck by the fact that Hiro had save me from getting arrested and we didn't even know each other at the time. But that was all about to change, because as we were finally approaching a safe distance from the cops, it was at that moment where I tripped and fell flat on my face, and at the same time broke my mask. Thankfully Hiro picked me back up and we started running again, with me leaving my broken mask behind. Once we finally stopped and knew we were safe, that was when Hiro and I actually first met face-to-face. Now I have to be honest with you, I've never really known if the whole 'Love at first sight' thing was actually real or not, but it's the only thing I can describe how I felt when I first looked into Hiro's eyes. It was there when we properly introduced ourselves to each other and after that, we started seeing each other more. And it was only after 4 months of hanging out together, that I finally got to meet his family, and he got to meet mine.

*The picture now showed Hiro with a woman holding a calico japanese bobtail cat and a young man on either side of him.*

The woman on his left is his Aunt Cass, she runs a coffee shop called the Lucky Cat Cafe. The young man on his right is his older brother Tadashi. And the adorably cute kitty-cat Aunt Cass is holding is Mochi, their family pet. They are really cool people, and they always asked how I was doing and such, and Mochi is such a sweet kitty that he always tries to cuddle up to me whenever I come over. Hiro and I actually became an official thing one night when I saved his butt from Yama's minions. And boy were they surprised! Aunt Cass actually bounced when Hiro told them that I'm his girlfriend! Dad and Grandmama met them that night too, while dad wasn't too happy at first about me dating, Grandmama convinced him…after hitting him on the head with her cane.

*Cora giggled at the memory*

Anyway, After a slight misadventure where Hiro and Tadashi landed in jail and Cass had to bail them out, Tadashi actually took Hiro to SFIT, San Fransokyo institute of Technology that same night. Hiro told me that he met Tadashi's friends. There's Gogo: the cool biker chick, Honey Lemon: the stylish Chem genius, Wasabi: Laser neat freak, and Fred: the secret Billionaire super hero geek. Afterwards Hiro and I actually applied to SFIT by entering the showcase! Hiro made these miniature robots he called Microbots which he can control via head transmitter, I on the other hand did super strength suction cup shoes that can stick on any surface. We both won and we…were gonna celebrate until…a huge fire broke out in the showcase building and Tadashi ran back inside to help Callaghan, a teacher at the school….he didn't make it…

*Cora turned quiet, looking at her hands as she takes a deep breath*

Hiro wasn't himself for a while. I visited him a lot since the fire, and I mostly talked and tried to comfort and be there for him. Then came the day Hiro stubbed his toe and Baymax came along.

*A picture of a white inflated figure came to the picture*

Baymax was Tadashi's project, a robotic nurse to be more specific. He heard Hiro say ow and activated to help him. Then one of Hiro's microbots started acting weird, and Baymax followed the direction it went! It was then we found a guy in a kabuki mask controlling the Microbots. But they were destroyed at the fire right? Once Hiro pieced together that it was the kabuki-masked man that started the fire to steal them, which in turned killed Tadashi…Hiro decided to build Baymax some armor which…well

*the next picture showed Baymax in protective gear*

We traveled down to the port where we saw him take some type of machine out of the ocean. But then it turns out Baymax called the gang to help us, but sadly the guy in the mask saw us. We barely escaped with our lives that night! Thankfully Baymax being a walking marshmallow, also makes him an inflatable raft too. Afterwards we got to Fred's mansion and discussed over what to do next. Side note: it was weird to see that Fred is a billionaire.

*shows portrait of a young Fred and his parents in classy attire*

Hiro and I then built ourselves armor to fight the guy in the mask. Honey lemon got this cute chemistry purse to pull out what she needed, Gogo got some sick skates to zoom past us, Fred got a killer Kaiju costume that breaths fire, Wasabi got awesome laser blades on the backs of his hands, and I got my aquatic camouflage suit with squid strength suction cup shoes! And learning back from his previous work, Hiro turned Baymax from a stay puff marshmallow with bicycle gear to an awesome superhero!

*the next photo shows Baymax in his red armor*

After training and flying around the city we got down to business. We flew to Akuma island where the masked guy was, and it was there we learned something interesting. Krei and some government officials had something called 'Project Silent Sparrow'. It backfired when the portal sucked everything in, and the pilot was stuck. But then the masked guy attacked us! We tried to fight back but….

*a small clip showed Fred jumping only to be punched away *

We bombed, big time.

Hiro and I got lucky to get the mask…but the person was not who we thought….

Turns out Callaghan grabbed the transmitter and used it and the Microbots to protect himself in the fire…leaving Tadashi to die….

It was then that Hiro took out Baymax's health care chip and ordered him to kill Callaghan…

*Cora took a deep breathe before standing up and leaving the room, she returned back with a glass of water and started drinking it. Once she was done She then continued.*

Thankfully the gang got Baymax back to normal but Hiro was furious. He just left with Baymax…but we eventually met up with Hiro at his place, with a video of Tadashi…it was also when we showed him what we discovered. The pilot was no random person Krei hired. She was Callaghan's daughter, and Callaghan was out for blood.

We got to Krei Tech where Callaghan got his portal running. Hiro then learned what we needed to do to beat him; instead of the mask, we take out the Microbots, then he'd be powerless. But despite that, the portal was still open, and ready to tear itself to pieces. Then Baymax dropped the biggest bomb on us, Callaghan's daughter was still alive in there.

Hiro and I got on Baymax to rescue her. We found her pod but Baymax's thrusters were wrecked from the debris…

Baymax…he got us out by rocket punch…but stayed behind in the portal…

It's been weeks since then…

Krei agreed to keep our identities a secret, Callaghan is in prison, and his daughter is making a steady recovery at the hospital. And the news had been exploding over 'the mysterious group of heroes' that saved the city.

Hiro and I had been doing good, we talked to the gang a lot and we actually reapplied to SFIT again.

*Cora then looks at the clock beside her and gasped*

Oh man it's almost midnight! And first day of class is tomorrow! Anyway, thank you for listening! And…Baymax…I don't know if you can hear me..but Hiro has been doing good. We all miss you…especially me and Hiro...wish us good luck, cause who knows what happens tomorrow.

*Cora smiles at the camera before turning it off.*

A.N: This is an updated look for the prolouge chapter of Big Hero 7: The Series!

Liking the new visuals? ;3

This chapter has been edited by WolfWitchHuntress1318 at Fanfiction.net! Thank you for being my patient editor! Thank you for following and reading Big Hero 7! Love ya!

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insanely-creative-things · 6 years

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Chapter 1: The Origins of Big Hero 7

m.fanfiction.net

Big Hero 7

Origins

*A flicker of black and white starts up for a while, static noises barely blocks out a voice*

Umm…Hello? Can you hear me?

*the flickering and static stops as it shows a 14 year old girl with dyed blue hair and purple eye contacts*

Can you hear me? Oh it's working!

*The girl sits on the chair in front of the camera. She smooths out her sea green skirt as she clears her throat,*

*Cora chuckles slightly before continuing*

So I guess I should start with my life and such. Let me warn you though, it's kind of a long and wild story.

*she pulls out a phone and starts showing pictures*

I have lived in San Fransokyo for my whole life with my Dad, Mizuchi and Grandmama, Kaguya. My mom, Akemi passed away when I was a baby.

*image of a blonde hair woman smiled warmly before switching to Cora and her family. Her father being Goliath in stature and her grandmother dressed in a kimono with a cane*

*she flips the photo to a young Asian boy her age, with messy raven hair, large almond brown eyes and a tooth gap in his smile.*

*The picture now showed Hiro with a woman holding a calico japanese bobtail cat and a young man on either side of him.*

*Cora giggled at the memory*

*Cora turned quiet, looking at her hands as she takes a deep breath*

Hiro wasn't himself for a while. I visited him a lot since the fire, and I mostly talked and tried to comfort and be there for him. Then came the day Hiro stubbed his toe and Baymax came along.

*A picture of a white inflated figure came to the picture*

*the next picture showed Baymax in protective gear*

*shows portrait of a young Fred and his parents in classy attire*

*the next photo shows Baymax in his red armor*

*a small clip showed Fred jumping only to be punched away *

We bombed, big time.

Hiro and I got lucky to get the mask…but the person was not who we thought….

Turns out Callaghan grabbed the transmitter and used it and the Microbots to protect himself in the fire…leaving Tadashi to die….

It was then that Hiro took out Baymax's health care chip and ordered him to kill Callaghan…

*Cora took a deep breathe before standing up and leaving the room, she returned back with a glass of water and started drinking it. Once she was done She then continued.*

Hiro and I got on Baymax to rescue her. We found her pod but Baymax's thrusters were wrecked from the debris…

Baymax…he got us out by rocket punch…but stayed behind in the portal…

It's been weeks since then…

Hiro and I had been doing good, we talked to the gang a lot and we actually reapplied to SFIT again.

*Cora then looks at the clock beside her and gasped*

Oh man it's almost midnight! And first day of class is tomorrow! Anyway, thank you for listening! And…Baymax��I don't know if you can hear me..but Hiro has been doing good. We all miss you…especially me and Hiro...wish us good luck, cause who knows what happens tomorrow.

*Cora smiles at the camera before turning it off.*

A.N: After some thinking I decided to post my fanfic of Big Hero 7 over here. My editor is Wolfwitchhuntress. I hope you enjoy this story just as much as Fanfiction.Net. Love you guys!

#Big Hero 7 #Big hero 6 fanfic #BH6 OC #Cora Mizichio #Origin story

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jotink78 · 7 years

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Tag Game

Rules: Tag some people you want to get to know better. I was tagged by the lovely @waywardlodging hanks hon!

This one is kind of long, so I’m gonna put it under a cut. ;)

Appearance: I’m five foot four, and rock my curves. I have blue eyes and hair that is constantly changing. It’s got natural curl to it, but if I keep brushing it while it’s wet, it will dry fairly straight; if I don’t brush it at all after I shower, and put in my curl cream, it is nice and curly. I love it! It’s naturally a medium brown, but I haven’t been my natural color in years. I like to play with my hair a lot...I’ve been about every shade under the rainbow - blond, various shades of brown and red, plus had streaks/highlights of pink, royal blue, plum, and teal. Right now, it’s two tone - reddish brown at the roots that goes into a dark purple. Next time I think I’m going to do a medium dark blue with plum streaks. Or do a dark purple with violet and lavender highlights...or... who knows!

Personality: I am a massive introvert. With my friends, I sometimes get in a chatty mood, especially if your talking about a passion of mine (SPN, Tolkien, music, books, quilting, painting, etc). And I can enjoy the occasional party or club, but I need time afterwards to decompress alone. Hubs and I have a standing rule that at least one weekend a quarter I get a pajama weekend, where I don’t leave the house or have company. I just get to be quiet, watching tv, reading/writing, or crafting by myself. He goes out with his friends or maybe has them over on the main level while I’m in my craft room in the basement. I’m also fiercely loyal to friends and family, and I’m a great listener.

Ability: I’m creative and a great researcher. I’m also good at editing and proofreading, which comes in very handy at my job.

If there was one ability I wish I had, it would be the ability to speak any dialect of any language in the universe - kind of like having the Tardis in your head, except it wouldn’t translate everything into English, I’d just immediately know their language and be able to speak it as well. This includes conversing with animals!

Hobbies: Reading and writing are my two main hobbies. I’ve been doing both since I was a child and I still love it to this day. I’m also a crafty person - and I was thrilled when Hubs built me a craft room last year. I love to quilt - both regular style and rag style. And I like to paint/draw. Chalk pastels and acrylics are currently my favorite mediums, though I did take some watercolor lessons while I was on a cruise last month, so I will probably branch out and start playing with those soon. I have oil paints (they came with an artists’ set) but I have no idea how to use them yet (anyone out there know a good tutorial?). I also make jewelry and seasonal/holiday wreaths on occasion. I’d love to learn how to knit or crochet, but I need another hobby like a hole in the head.

A completely separate, but no less fun hobby - Hubs and I are both certified Advanced Open Water scuba divers. When we lived in Arkansas, we were only thirty minutes away from a wonderful diving lake, and we’d go almost every weekend. We also dive on our vacations - we’ve had dives in Cozumel (#1 place to dive so far), and Hawaii.

Experiences: I like how Josephine shared one negative and one positive experience, and I think I’ll do the same. I’ll start with the negative and end with the positive.

Hubs and I have tried for children for eight and a half years now with no luck. A few years ago, we decided to became foster parents. My best friend was fostering two sisters, ages 2 and 3. We’d known the girls for months, and they spent lots of time at our house, spending the night and having fun. We let my BF know to let the case worker know if they ended up having parental rights terminated, we wanted to adopt them (BF was only fostering - she was not feeling a call to adopt). The case worker agreed and told us the foster parents of the girls’ brothers wanted to adopt the boys. So it looked like everything was good to go and we prepared for the arrival of our daughters. Two days before the TPR hearing was set, we were told that the family of the boys’ were now petitioning to adopt all four children. We knew the judge would attempt to keep siblings together whenever possible. Sure enough, the other family adopted them. We found out later that they truly only intended to adopt the boys, but were told by an unethical adoption worker that if they didn’t adopt all four, they would get the boys taken away - which was completely untrue on more than one level. That particular worker has since been fired for his actions - but we still lost our girls.

Now for one of many, many wonderful experiences while being a foster parent. Our first official placement was two days before Halloween, 2014 - a little girl we called Boo on social media. Boo was almost two and a half, and she was a sweet, quiet little thing. We had her for a while and she never really spoke or initiated physical contact/hugs (there was NO abuse in her case, btw). One day in December, I woke her up and was pulling her out clothes for the day, and I heard her sweet little voice say “Mama” and felt her little arms around my leg. Y’all, I dropped her off at daycare and then bawled my eyes out. She was able to go back home to her mother late that April, and her family and I have stayed in touch ever since.

My life: Hmmm....not sure what to say for this one. I’ve had a pretty good life overall. My parents are my rocks. And this year, they’ve both had massive health scares and ended up in the hospital several days. They are amazing people and they raised my (twin) brother and I to be thoughtful, compassionate people, with a strong faith in Jesus. I was baptized when I was eleven, and one of my favorite things to do now is going to my core group meetings once a week with five other ladies from my church. My family is one of the most important things to me - my mom was one of 12 and dad one of 4, so I have lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins, whom I love very much. And that’s not even counting Hub’s family - he was his mother’s only child, but with divorce and remarriages, between his half-siblings and his step-siblings, he is now one of 8!

I thought for a long, long time I was never going to find someone to love me. I never really dated in high school - had one “boyfriend” that wasn’t really a boyfriend for a month or so. Even in college, I didn’t really date. Though I had a lot of guy friends - I was “one of the guys” a lot. One of them, I can honestly say was my first love, but it never worked out (we are still friends though). I was 27 before I met Hubs, ironically through a friend of mine who was dating him at the time. She told me he wasn’t for her, but she thought we’d be a good match. She was dead on. We’d only been dating four months when he proposed, and we married less than eleven months after we met - and celebrated ten years last month!

Random Stuff: I have five furry babies - three dogs: Drago (Drake), a 12 year old shepherd/pit mix; Panda, a 10 year old shepherd/pit/corgi mix, and Drake’s daughter, and Heidi, a 2.5 year old full blooded Australian Shepherd; and two cats: Tahoe, a 13 year old tabby, and Chloe, a 5 year old muted calico.

Tagging anyone who wants to participate, along with @sdavid09 and @winchesterprincessbride and @impala-dreamer and @life-is-righteous, cause I’m curious as to what they’d say. ;)

#tag game #get to know me

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achoirofcritters · 8 years

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I haven’t done an introductory post in a while...

And I have gained so many Followers since the last one! So for all you newbies of like, honestly, the past 6 months or so, here’s some things about me and the critters that this blog sometimes talks about! A Choir of Critters: a summary, LOL.

Mostly we’re a dog blog but the URL A Choir of Critters is meant to encompass all of my pets: I also keep rats, mice, gerbils, cats, and a crested gecko! My main blog is @nocturnalsymphony and I have a... under-used photography blog @bridgettejonesphotography!

Evelyn “Evie”

Our star of the show and the reasoning for this blog, Evie is a 3 year old brindle generic bully breed mutt. She was adopted from the local shelter in November of 2014, a few months after I moved into my own home. Evie is my super-model, my star child, my Literal Perfection™ dog, and exactly the companion I needed as mid-2014 is when I lost my great-grandmother who had raised me and my childhood home. Evie made me fall in love with dogs again. I want to say that at least most of the community is familiar with my Evie-bean. She’s a professional snuggler, always eager to learn, is very food oriented, and after a few scuffles in her lifetime, she is dog-selective when meeting new dogs and does not meet well on the leash, but once she gets to know a dog, she’s very good with them. She’s always been super tolerant of Astaroth and @professional-pup‘s Hesper is her BFF and husband. She is so in-tune to peoples’ anxiety and is very good at just... laying on you and giving you stability through a panic attack, something she has done for me, my girlfriend, and a couple of my friends. She loves all humans and small ones are her favorite!

Astaroth

Our baby boy and co-star of the blog, Astaroth, aka: demon potato floof, aka: awful waffle, is my red merle Australian Shepherd. He was born April 10th, 2016, and will be a year old in a couple of months (may how the time flies ;0;), and he came home from his breeder in June 2016! Astaroth was my first puppy in over 10 years. I’d been seeking a companion for Evie and had to make the decision to put my mini Aussie down earlier in the year, so my search led me to an Aussie breeder in my state, which in turn led me to Astaroth. He’s show-lines, smart as a whip when he wants to be, and very food-motivated. He was arguably one of the easiest puppies I’d ever seen, never stressing me out beyond belief, and only wrecking havoc very occasionally. ;) He’s a very soft, gentle boy, is very passive, and is relatively calm and low-energy for an Aussie. Honestly he’s just a total sweetie. A little reserved at first in new settings and he can be weary of new people, but once he knows you, he’s all butt-wiggles and excitement. My friend Abi is one of his favorite people in the world. We’re still teaching him the art of modeling, bwahaha, and his favorite past time is definitely chewing on Evie’s ears, something she’s 10,000% immune to by now.

I also have these fuckers:

These guys are my 4 cats: Shaman, the russian blue, Valka, the long-haired calico, Prince Caspian, generic DSH, and Tobias Grimm, the maine coon mix. They are not seen on the blog as often due to being indoor-only and the lighting in my house being atrocious, so I’m not able to photograph them as often. Shaman is the oldest and the other three are honestly all around the same age-range. All were adopted from local shelters except for Caspian, who was a kitten in a feral litter of my neighbor’s in my old neighborhood. Tobias is my Heart Cat and, like Evie, is very in-tune to my anxiety and mental health and will lay with me and purr if I’m feeling low. Even though he is honestly an asshole to everyone and everything else. Shaman is our attention-leech and is almost always in a lap or on a person. Valka is our elusive beauty who sleeps with me but tends to stay in the back bedrooms most often, and Caspian is the Literal Worst Cat Ever who never snuggles, only enjoys pets on occasion, and is a total menace, but he’s smol and cute so we forgive him.

My girlfriend also has a solid black manx cat named Selma who is dumb and ridiculous. :P

Xylphia, my crestie! I’ve had her since July 2014 and I just adore her, even though she’s an apathetic creature who feels no emotion for me whatsoever. :’) But she is just so cute. No hand can contain her, and she is totally obsessed with food. We’ve only lost her to an escape once, when Tobias, the fat-ass, popped the screen on her terrarium and she climbed out, but we managed to find her safe and sound somehow in this house of 5-cats. I absolutely adore crested geckos and will probably continue to keep them.

Hestia and Sigyn are my two fancy mice. :) They live with my girlfriend’s two female mice. Sigyn is a total sweetie and I adore her - Hestia’s kind’ve a chicken shit who doesn’t want much to do with human contact, lol. The mice and rats both change fairly often in my life due to the short lifespans of these rodents. :(

My current rats, although I’m missing photos of two new baby girls we got recently! Our females our Helena, Chrysabelle, and Beatrix. The only one pictured is Helena. My current males are Leander, Ian, and Archer. :) Males and females live in separate Critter Nations. I once had a partially tumblr-famous rat, Isaac, who passed late last year after living quite a long and full life: Here

And my raptor squad gerbils, Blue and Echo, who live with my girlfriend’s very fat black gerbil who is also named for the Jurassic World raptor squad!

But the rodents have shorter lifespans so they come and go a lot more often. :( I’m going to try and get more consistent about photographing my mice and rats. Still, the puppers are who you will hear about the most on this blog still, we’re very much mostly a dogblr, because the pups are the only ones who get to have out-of-the-house adventures, which makes for better photo opportunities! Since this blog is very photo-oriented. :)

As for meeeee~

I know I’m the least interesting here, but.... ;) My name’s Bridgette and I’m the blonde one in this pic, with my beloved pups and my girlfriend Elisabeth! I’m swiftly approaching 26 years old (later this month, February) and own my own home in Kentucky. I work as a night shift desk clerk for a hotel, and am trying to grow my photography skills so that maybe one day it will be a profession. I’ve always been very passionate about animals - other obsessions include nerdy things, writing, music, and of course, photography! My friends’ group is affectionately known as the Chain Gang and I’m an inner goth at heart, haha. I’m bi, have a lot of anxiety, and I’ve fought depression off and on since my grandmother passed, but I’m pretty much carrying on doing my best from day to day. I don’t have much family but I’m close with my mom and my other still-living grandmother.

Fellow dogblr friends can add me on Facebook here if they’d like!

I also have a Facebook page for photography: HERE

And that’s just a little about us here at @achoirofcritters! Hope to learn more about my followers and interact with them more as well. :)

Thanks for following! *smooch*

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rueur · 8 years

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Morning Pages (06.01.2017)

Friday 6th Jan - 6:43 a.m.

I’m up earlier today because I’ll need to go to Craigieburn to celebrate my cousin’s birthday with some good old-fashioned morning prayer, which I’m looking forward to. A little bit. I don’t like being up this early, but I guess I’ll have to get used to it some time before the new semester starts. I also had a weird night last night. I had a nightmare where there was this event I’d attended, with a musical show (sorry, I just had to turn my alarms off, they were going off again at 6:45) and the performers were all kinda demonic. They gave out these little boxed things, and I took one home with no suspicion because at the time, the musicians didn’t look fishy at all. Fish is swimming very vigorously, by the way. He wants food. I cannot feed him yet, it’s too early.

Anyway, I took this boxed thing home and opened it up and almost immediately, this little rubber something shot under my bed or under a cabinet or something, and I lost it. So I kneeled down near this crack and peered into it and saw this tiny rubber creature thing. I tried to pull it out with one finger, because that’s all that would fit under this cabinet, and I couldn’t. Then my mother walked in and she was Asian. I mean my actual mother is already Asian, but she’s South-Asian. Sri Lankan. My mother in this dream was Chinese or something. Not my real mother. But I accepted it in the dream. So I told my mother that the rubber thing had fallen underneath the cabinet and she feigned disappointment for me, and then left. As soon as she’d left, the rubber thing started to point back at me! With a long and thin finger. I grabbed it and pulled and the rubber thing instantly started to stretch out and out. It just kept stretching like a window climber, or one of those stretchy, sticky hands you get at $2 shops. I just took a pause in my writing. I’m really groggy right now, sorry. This is not my most ideal mood for writing, but I know that’s exactly why the morning pages are supposed to be so helpful.

Anyway, yes, the thing just kept on stretching. I kept pulling, and all the while calling out to my mum to come and look at this stretchy living thing. But my mum never came. The thing was also squealing, like a happy baby or something, but very alien. Then I got up off the floor, and went to find my mum to tell her it’s ALIVE. I find my mum sitting quietly in the living room, staring down at her hand which has cramped in on itself. It looks like a claw, like deformed. I ask her what’s going on, and she just shows me her hand, and for some reason we both correlate her cramped hand to the newfound movement of the rubber thing, like the rubber thing is taking her muscles. Then I said ‘We have to finish the game’ and my mother says ‘NO’ and she’s terrified. Then I think I woke up, and it was 5:03 a.m.. I tried falling back to sleep for ages but it didn’t work. I kept seeing shadows in the dark, and it was also sweltering and I’d buried myself under this thick blanket in my sleep for some reason. I was sweating like you wouldn’t believe and I just flicked on the lamp, got up out of bed, and splashed my face with some water before trying to fall back asleep. I don’t know when I fell asleep again, but it wasn’t easy. I probably got under an hour’s sleep before waking up again.

I was supposed to tell you about Andrew today! From Thailander. He was one of my more memorable regulars who worked at an office on the street, Lonsdale Street. He’d call in ahead of time so that his food was ready when he got there because I’m assuming he had a very small lunch break. He’d usually order the spiciest stir-fry and then ask for it to be ‘extra spicy’. Pick-up for Andrew! I knew him after his second pick-up order with me, because he was so lame. A typical dad telling typical dad-jokes, seeing him every lunch rush was honestly a highlight for me. He was tall, slightly muscular build, with gray hair and a slightly receding hairline. He looked to be around forty, maybe just under middle-aged; quite young. Then I stopped working the lunch shifts and I didn’t see him for a couple of months before I finally quit. On my two week’s notice though, my bosses were definitely overworking me, giving me more shifts than I could handle alongside school. I was working the lunch rush again, and I got a call in my last week. Pick-up for Andrew! Jokingly on the phone, I asked if he wanted the food ‘extra spicy’ because he didn’t say it that time, and he laughed. He said no, though. But he came in and immediately said ‘I thought it was you!’ and I was just very happy to see him. We had a proper conversation that final time because I told him it was my last day, and he congratulated me. He said he hadn’t actually been to Thailander in a while before that day because he’d had a complaint they’d never dealt with, namely that one of their stir-fries was supposed to have green beans and when he got it there were absolutely no green beans at all. I told him we hadn’t had green beans in the kitchen for a while so I didn’t know why it was still on the menu and he said I was paying attention and that was good. He grew up in Eltham, he told me. I said I lived in South Morang, and we were complaining/praising what it meant to live at the end of the train line. He now lives in Sandringham, he said. That’s where I’ve wanted to live more than anything: by the beach, close to the city. South Melbourne. Here I’ve spent my entire life in the north. As north as you can get.

I seem to have a lot more to say this morning than last, I think. Or maybe I have an equal amount to say. I gave you stories yesterday, and one continuation of a story and a dream today. I think that’s pretty standard. I went home yesterday, to get some more clothes because I was running out of clean clothes in Northcote. I don’t want to use the washing machine here because it’s communal and downstairs and I’m shy. My anxiety has very much come with me to Northcote and into the new year. Anyway! I rode home and was incredibly sweaty on my arrival. I changed and hung out with my brother for a bit, listening to his music. He’s getting into Australian hip-hop. I am proud. Then my sister and Anthony, her boyfriend, came home with some groceries and my sister said they were going to start a workout soon, if I wanted to join them. I said yes, because honestly I haven’t been doing too much in the way of staying fit whilst I’ve been in Northcote. I have a running track and a bike track in South Morang, and it took me a while to establish those too. Northcote has the All Nations Park though and I don’t know if I can leave that when I’m done house-sitting because it’s so BIG and BEAUTIFUL. I’ll definitely be spending more time in Northcote even after the summer, I think.

So we braced ourselves, all four of us, and did this thirty-minute workout. It was actually quite fun! We used the Nike training app on my sister’s phone, and a spotify playlist she’d put together for gym sessions (very techno, very upbeat). At the end of it, I used the sweat towel they’d offered me beforehand (before the workout, I’d just laughed at it and said I wouldn’t need it). Then my sister made this amazing pumpkin ravioli/gnocchi lunch with mushrooms and spinach. It was amazing, and there were no leftovers. Then I had a bath with the rose bath salts and fizzes that I was given for Christmas by Anthony’s family. It was heavenly, and worked a wonder on my sore muscles at the time. But this morning, upon waking up and leaving my bed, I realise that my legs and arms are still so, so sore!

I had a bath, packed all my things up and made my way back home once more to Northcote. My clothes didn’t fit in my backpack (which was full of fresh underwear and toilet paper), so I folded them and fitted them into a plastic bag which I then tied tightly and hung from the handlebars on my bike. As suspected, they hit my front wheel A LOT and the bag developed a lot of holes. Luckily, none of my clothes tore. On the way home from High Street, however, I had to hold the plastic bag with both arms to stop the bag tearing any further and spilling my clothes out onto the floor.

I just had to plug my laptop in. It was on 8% and it had started to go red. I just checked Facebook, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take breaks from this stream-of-consciousness stuff, I know. It was an accident. I downloaded tinder again, to talk to strangers around me while I’m living on my own, because whilst I do like having all this time to myself it still does get a little bit lonely. And Ikaros is working all the time. Actually, he’s working Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, but he can somehow stretch that out so that it feels like he’s working ALL the time. I worked like six days a week for Thailander, and still made time for him. It hurts my feelings, I’m not going to lie. But I’m not here to talk about my love life. It’s not too great right now. Which is why I haven’t told him I’m on tinder. I’m just on tinder because I’m generally lonely. I want to meet people! And I’ve met and friended two interesting people so far: Lauren and Lucas. I’ll tell you about them later though, I just wanted to say two things before I run out of space for this morning.

Ikaros called me last night when he was walking down the hill, on his way to the bank. We were on the phone for an hour. One time I was on the phone to Malith for 4 hours! And I don’t even think that’s the longest, honestly. Anyway, he was talking to me about work. It’s been tough these past few days. Then I told him about my Artist’s Way challenge and the morning pages. Then he found an interesting calico cat on the street and that overshadowed my enthusiasm for being creative. And then he told Cameron to invite me to this thing on Saturday night that Ikaros actually never wanted to go to in the first place, and I had to lie to Cameron on his behalf and just tell him I was busy on Saturday night instead. So I went to bed feeling really icky. I don’t know what’s happening with this relationship. One thing is certain though: right now, it’s draining me.

#spilled ink #stream of consciousness #or at least it's supposed to be #morning pages #2 #06.01.2017

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ssteezyy · 5 years

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Ask the Cat Doc: Frequent Vomiting, Cats and Young Children, Hyperesthesia, and More

This post contains affiliate links*

Welcome to our regular “Ask the Cat Doc With Dr. Lynn Bahr” segment! Once a month, Dr. Bahr answers as many of your questions as she can, and you can leave new questions for her in a comment.

Dr. Bahr graduated from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine in 1991. Unlike most veterinarians, she did not grow up knowing that she would become a veterinarian. “It was a cat who got me interested in the practice and I am forever grateful to him,” said Dr. Bahr. Over the course of her veterinary career, Dr. Bahr found that the lifestyle of cats has changed dramatically. As the lifestyle of cats has changed, so did Dr. Bahr’s client education. In addition to finding medical solutions, she also encourages owners to enrich their home environments so that their cats can live long, happy, and healthy lives.

This new understanding led Dr. Bahr to combine her passion for strengthening the human-animal bond with her veterinary background and knowledge of what animals need and want to start her own solution-based cat product company, Dezi & Roo, inspired by two cats of the same names.

For more information about Dezi & Roo and their unique and innovative cat toys, please visit Dezi and Roo on Etsy.

Frequent vomiting

My Calico cat Lucky is 14 yo. She throws up hairball w/ bile. We hd bought Feliway to calm her it’s a plug-in, She gets Hart’s hairball remedy plus every day. She overgrooms herself. It seems as she gets older it’s mainly every day or maybe she skips a day. Otherwise she’s healthy & her weight is fine. Can u give me any suggestions? Thanking you in advance! – Mary-Ellen

Hi Mary-Ellen, this is a commonly asked question and I am so grateful that you wrote in. It allows me the opportunity to alert owners like you to the fact that frequent vomiting is NOT normal. It makes no difference whether the vomitus consists of hair, bile, food, or otherwise – chronic vomiting is a medical problem. The fact that Lucky is healthy and her weight is unchanged is a good sign; however, she needs to be seen by a veterinarian who will take her problem seriously. Otherwise, it will be harder to treat as the condition progresses.

Bloodwork is a good place to start, but cats with gastrointestinal diseases typically require an ultrasound exam too. None of these tests are invasive so don’t let that stop you from having Lucky’s problem diagnosed. Depending on what is found, will depend on how she will be treated. There are many options available to help her vomit less often and she will be so much healthier for it. Please don’t be lulled into thinking there is nothing wrong just because she acts fine.

I appreciate you writing in to ask for suggestions. Unfortunately, the only one I have is to have her seen by a veterinarian with expertise in feline gastrointestinal issues. You, and Lucky, will be grateful you did. Let me know how it turns out.

Cat swipes at young children

My friend’s daughter has 2 children, age 2 years and 4 months and a 12 year old cat. She has had the cat 12 years, now enter the children. The cat swipes at the children and has scratched the 2 year old. The daughter has not tried anything to help the situation and at this point has given up. She keeps the cat in a room by herself all day and lets her out at night. The daughter is tired at night and does not play with the cat. She and her husband used to play a lot with the cat, but since the children came have not played much with the cat. She is at the point where she is thinking of rehoming the cat, though she loves the cat. I have suggested many things, but my friend said her daughter does not think anything will work. Is there anything I can suggest to her? – Jo Louise Klein

Hi Jo Louise, I am saddened to hear about the plight of your friend’s daughter’s cat. At one point in this kitty’s life it was loved and an important member of the family. Like you, it pains me to know that is no longer the case.

When my son was young, he would often run after our cats or try to pick them up when they did not want to be held. They expressed their displeasure by swatting at him and left several battle scars to prove it. I used those opportunities to teach my son how to properly handle and live with cats. He soon learned that unless he respected their space, he would get scratched. It took a while for him to learn, but he did eventually become a gentle, kind, animal-lover.

Children benefit from growing up with pets in so many ways. This is a good opportunity for your friend to help her kids become animal lovers. I would recommend that instead of rehoming her kitty, she bring it back into the fold and go back to treating it like an important family member. This is the best solution for everyone and will help her children learn the joy of living with, and loving, cats.

She can start by playing more with her cat in front of the kids so they can see how amusing and fun cats are as they jump in the air, run, chase and pounce on wand toys. This will also help the cat become more comfortable around the kids and vice versa. She should encourage the 2 year old to help feed the cat which will also get both kitty and the child used to being around each other in pleasurable ways. Let the 2 year old throw a treat across the room as this will also bond the two together. Allowing the cat to sit close by while reading to the young ones and encouraging the cat to be present more will be beneficial for everyone.

Using these opportunities to teach her children that kitty is an important member of the family and showing them how to treat her properly will benefit them in so many ways. She can turn her kids into cat lovers by example as opposed to giving this cat away. It would be a shame to discard her and miss out on the chance to have her children learn the joys of growing up with a cat, even, if it means getting scratched a few times before learning how to respect her space. Thank you for being a concerned cat lover and trying to help. I hope it works out well for everyone.

Cat chews on and ingests string

Hello Dr Bahr, I’m a long-time cat owner, but took a 4 yr break after our last cat died. We recently adopted a kitten who is now nearly 6 months old. She’s a joy to have around, but she has two behaviors that are a problem. First, she bites a lot. It’s always play-biting/play aggression. I have already read all the suggestions and do everything I can to not engage with my hands, to disengage from play as soon as she starts biting (she clearly thinks it’s just a fun game and I am her favorite toy), hissing, providing tons of toys and spending lots of time playing with her with those toys. I think she was separated from her mother and litter mates too young and never learned good cat manners.

However, the other problem may be related: She ingests strings. All kinds of strings. She has completely eaten the tails off of nearly every mouse we have, both rawhide/leather types and string types. She has swallowed quite a few lengths of string from toys she’s played with. She chews on the strings and eventually something goes down her throat, she can’t get it out herself, and unless I catch it happening, it’s gone. I’m sure she swallowed at least 8″ of a heavy-duty thread that she used to play with, and I’ve found bits of floss that she’s nearly swallowed. And those are the ones I know about. The problem is, string is her absolutely favorite thing to play with. I cut a toy off one of her wand toys recently, and she went nuts for it with just the string. Of course she ended up eating a few inches of the string before I realized and took it away. I’m trying heavier cording, ribbons, etc. But it is such a concern.

And I’m wondering if the biting behaviors could be related to this incessant string chewing. She also bites on the edges of cardboard boxes, furniture, the edge of our mattress, and various other items. I understand that she could be teething (at 6 months though?) and have provided chewy toys, which she isn’t thrilled with. She doesn’t care at all about catnip, FYI. She will chew on the silver vine sticks, but doesn’t have any other reaction to them either – they’re just good for chewing, I guess. So how worried do I have to be about all these leather tails and lengths of string that have ended up in her belly? And is there anything I can do discourage her from swallowing the stuff? And can you suggest anything new for the play aggression. – Jan Wolfenberg

Hi Jan, cats that eat string scare me to no end because it can be deadly for them. Linear foreign bodies are extremely serious and dangerous, and many cats suffer painful deaths because of it. You should be very concerned about your kitty’s strong attachment to eating tails and string, and you will need to make sure she never has access to it.

Cats are born without teeth. Their baby ones erupt quickly and grow until approximately 5-6 months of age at which time the adult teeth emerge, pushing the sharp baby teeth out. Your cat is still going through the teething stage and her gums are still feeling sore.

She has discovered that chewing on string feels good and is oblivious to the fact that it can be dangerous. As you have observed, string catches easily on the barbed tongue, and because cats don’t have fingers, they are unable to detach it. So, they try by swallowing instead. When it gets wrapped around the base of the tongue, it becomes anchored and turns into a linear foreign body that becomes a serious surgical problem. You definitely want to avoid this happening to your kitty under all circumstances.

Fortunately, she is exhibiting normal behavior for a kitten of this age. I would recommend you continue to play with her several times a day, making sure to remove all toys when you are done. Keeping her active will help engage her mind and body and is the key to successfully treating most behavioral problems. Consider growing safe grass for her to munch on, as well as, finding oral care treats that are meant to be chewed rather than ingested whole. Have you had a veterinarian give her a good oral exam to make sure she isn’t dealing with a gum problem? Juvenile stomatitis is rare but something she should be checked for.

I have known many cats that enjoy using their molar teeth to chew on acrylic or plastic wands. Some even like plastic straws. You may have to hold it horizontally and off the ground so that it is positioned optimally for her. Cardboard is a much safer outlet and you won’t have to be as concerned about her chewing on it. She will always seek out things that feel good to chew so it is important that you find safer alternatives for her to indulge in. That will help deter her from seeking out harmful items like tails and string. Use your creativity to find safe items that will tap into her need to exercise the back molars and help satisfy her urge to chew.

You mentioned catnip and silver vine sticks. Kittens do not generally react to catnip, silver vine or other cat attractants until they become adults. It takes them time to develop the “sensibility” and your kitty may enjoy it when she gets older. Offer it to her again when she is closer to a year of age. There is even a chance she might grow out of her incessant need to chew string too. I hope that is the case. But if she doesn’t, please make sure is never allowed to play with it unsupervised. I wish you the best of luck.

Hyperesthesia

Hi Dr. Bahr, I have a cat who is about 3 years old who has hyperesthesia. They say it’s a rare syndrome and there isn’t a consensus of opinion about what it is or what causes it or how to treat it, yet there seem to be a lot of cat owners online who have cats with hyperesthesia. Is there any research being done? I have found a toy (Laser Tower) that helps distract my cat (Doodle) when she’s having a “spell” and I use it a lot. Sometimes a little catnip also calms her down. Her spells seem to be less frequent as she gets older but she still does have some severe ones that cause her to run around frantically like she’s being chased and she attacks her tail so violently that it sounds like a cat fight. Oddly enough she’s been more “touchy feely” with me (which I like) but I’ve noticed that sometimes sitting next to me or on my lap causes her tail to start swishing which triggers a hyperesthesia spell. We’re a multi cat household and we’ve made adjustments so Doodle is supervised when she’s around the other cats and it seems to be working fine. I am wondering if there is any more research being done or any trials for medications etc. I wouldn’t want to sedate her but I’d be interested in any tips on how else to handle her more severe spells. – Nancy

Hi Nancy, as you mentioned, hyperesthesia is not a common condition, but I have encountered enough cats who suffer from it to know that it is a complicated and frustrating problem. While it is a heartbreaking to observe, I am happy to hear that Doodle is growing out of it. It is my belief that providing cats with lots of playing opportunities and ways to stay active helps keep them happy and healthy and distracting Doodle when she is having a “spell” is purrfect! It may also be helpful to avoid touching or petting her back area to avoid triggering an episode. Has your veterinarian ruled out other causes that may be causing her “attacks”?

I am not aware of any earth-shattering research or break through therapies in regard to hyperesthesia. It is still a mystery and, unfortunately, there are still no definitive treatments for it. Several researchers and clinicians are working on it and hopefully, they will gain a better understanding of what causes it and how to treat it, soon. Fortunately, hyperesthesia is not life-threatening and Doodle is an otherwise happy, healthy, and enriched feline. She is lucky to have you as her caretaker and I appreciate your interest in trying to help her without resorting to administering sedatives. Especially since her symptoms appear to be on the milder side. Thank you for being such a conscientious owner.

Do you have a question for Dr. Bahr? Leave it in a comment!

*FTC Disclosure: The Conscious Cat is a participant in Etsy’s affiliate program. This means that if you decide to purchase through any of our links, we get a small commission. We only spread the word about products and services we’ve either used or would use ourselves.

The post Ask the Cat Doc: Frequent Vomiting, Cats and Young Children, Hyperesthesia, and More appeared first on The Conscious Cat.

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trendingnewsb · 7 years

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I’ve Photographed More Than 180 Girls And Their Cats To Prove That Cat Ladies Are Awesome

I started Girls and Their Cats on Instagram two years ago as a way to showcase cat ladies in a positive light. These are some of the most heartwarming stories from the series.

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You can also see my previous post here.

More info: Instagram | girlsandtheircats.com

Anna Agneta & Captain

“My husband Brian and I used to live in this old loft building in Toronto called The Coffin Factory, that’s what it was before people started living there. It was right next to this abattoir and around it there lived a colony of feral cats. They probably thrived from the waste of the pigs slaughtered there. They all looked tough as hell. Our dog wouldn’t even go near them. One day my friend Agi and her boyfriend at the time had a new cat mom and her kittens arrive on their doorstep. A friend of theirs had found her and dropped her off. She was no doubt from the colony, a beautiful pale grey calico with exotic light green eyes and orange ringlets on her tail. They named her Nala. When the kittens were ready to find new homes, we thought we’d go take a look. I remember going down through the maze-like hallways of The Coffin Factory to her unit. There were 6 kittens and they were all nuts, one climbing on something, a couple napping on the couch, another chasing a toy across the floor, they were everywhere. I wasn’t sure if we should get a cat since we travel and move around a lot, but Brian said “Of course we’ll take one of the kittens, we’ll make it work!” Ok, we’re getting a kitten. I’m not sure which came first, his boss-like swagger or his name, Captain. Probably his name but he grew into it so well I can’t imagine him as anything else. He’s always liked to ride around on our shoulders, I think it comes from his nature of liking to be up high and perhaps escape our overly affectionate dog when he was too small to ward her off. He’s a cat and can’t help but do cat-like things, like wake us up when be wants food, showing a certain remorselessness when he chews on expensive computer cords, but behind those things there’s something of higher being capable of great love and affection. Anyone who spends enough time with him falls completely in love. He tends to really affect people and share special moments with them. I feel very lucky that I get to be his cat mama.” Anna Agneta is a model and musician. She plays guitar in a Canadian indie rock band called Dusted.

Christene Barberich & Phoebe

“Two years ago, on New Year’s day, I was finishing up my usual annual ritual—bringing my journal with me from the previous year to a special place and taking stock of all the highlights and accomplishments of the year past. This time around, I chose the Mondrian hotel. And as I sat there detailing the events of the year, I began to feel very low, reflecting on another year gone by that I hadn’t had a child. Not that I hadn’t tried—I had and failed a few more miserable times. Amid all the wonderful things blossoming in my life, that one enduring defeat never seemed to stop lingering, casting a shadow over every small happiness. But, always, on this day for the past four years that we’d been trying, it hurt the most. On the way home from my ritual, I passed an animal hospital in my neighborhood. I saw a fluffy, white cat named Chalky in the window up for adoption, and went inside. I asked to meet Chalky, without even checking in with my husband about the prospect of fostering him. The attendant seemed delighted by my interest, but kept suggesting I meet another cat instead. Her name was Cora and she was deemed “special needs” because she’d lost her leg in a car accident the year prior. For some reason, I felt determined it was Chalky who should come home with us that day, but it was my husband who insisted we meet Cora since she’d been bounced around in foster care for months. About a half-hour later, my husband met me there. I was in kind of a daze, and didn’t even know what I was doing, but felt strangely guided to do it anyway. They took us into a small visitor’s room where they do potential pet-parent meet-and-greets. A few moments later, the door cracked open, and in popped this tiny, tiger-striped head—her bigs eyes were so wide and curious. She was so small but so elegant. She hopped in and I watched her look up at both of us, pensively, and then curl around Kevin’s ankle. He scooped her up with one hand and just looked at me, like, “Let’s get out of here.” And that was it. We brought her home. She hid out in her furry little cat house that she’d lived in at the shelter, until she gradually got used to roaming the apartment and finding new spots to claim as her own. It’s obvious she’s deeply devoted to Kevin, likes to hide around corners and pounce on his feet and ankles. But with me, she’s more soulful and sturdy. She sleeps between my legs and then, at some point during the night, she sneaks up alongside my chest and purrs until we both fall asleep again. I still don’t have a baby of my own. But Phoebe reminded me of how good it feels to love something, to really care for it and need that simple love in return. To feel like destiny had intervened and she had found her rightful home, too. Phoebe taught me it wasn’t all my fault that I couldn’t have a baby, and helped me find the courage to write about what all that loss was like in an essay on the website I co-founded,@Refinery29. The constant love and presence of a soul like Phoebe, reminded me that life does go on. That through heartbreak and failure and so much regret, comes other kinds of love and nurturing that you’re not always expecting, but that feeds you just the same. Very simply, Phoebe opened my heart again. And, she made me believe in myself, too, maybe in a way I never had before. “ Christene is the co-founder of Refinery29.

Simone Thompson & Nigel

“It was the brutal winter of 2015 & as I sat in my poorly heated Flatbush apartment my girlfriend presented me with a tiny, scrappy little black kitten by the name of Nigel. Nigel was big enough to fit in the palm of my hand and street smart enough to be unmistakably feral. He possessed a spastic quality and had been a rescue from East NY. Having previously sustained a head injury, he has a permanent head tilt which gives him the appearance of a cat that’s constantly questioning authority. He loved to scratch, bite and took joy in breaking everything within site. The adjustment period was admittedly tough. As a self pro-claimed cat lady I had a hard time warming up to him. He rarely was calm & antagonized me whenever he could. My girlfriend & I even began to fight because she accused me of not “loving our child.” After a few months though it all changed. We moved to Bedstuy & the change in scenery brought a new, less manic Nigel. His catastrophic kitten stage was finally over. He still bites but gives me cuddles.. sometimes. Most days he watches TV with me & I spend a lot of time asking him important life questions that go unanswered. He’s proved himself to be our difficult but loving child that my partner & I adore.”

Athena Wisotsky & Frikki

“I’ve wanted a cat of my own for so long, but I’ve moved a lot the last three years and there was always something in the way. I never felt settled enough, or the apartment was too small, or my housemates weren’t on board. I have three bodega cats I visit as often as I can, but it’s not the same as coming home to a little creature of my own. When my mother Donna passed away suddenly last month, I had the responsibility to re-home her cats in the middle of everything else that was going on. She had five! Two ladies that we got when I was in high school, and three siblings from one of them. They were her joy and companions, and it was so important to me to find safe and stable homes for them. She would always send me photos of them curled in her lap, or hamming it up, and tell me whatever antics they were getting up to. We joked that she would have to mail one to NYC. When she passed away, it felt like the right thing to do to adopt one of them. We didn’t choose Frikki at first. Her brother is a lot more social, happy and almost comically beautiful. But I realized that with her skittish temperament, she’d need a lot of patience and love. And my decidedly not-a-cat-person boyfriend Max even took to her right away (it was her giant cartoon eyes), so little Frik flew with us from Oregon to New York. It’s been less than a month but she’s warming up a lot, and so is the household. Max initially didn’t want her on the bed, but he caved within 3 days when he realized the power of a cat snug. I’ll often catch them cuddling in bed, and he will text me “How are my girls?” if I am working at home — sometimes with her in my lap. They have bonded already and it warms my heart. This isn’t the way I ever imagined getting my first cat, but having her around has been a major comfort in my grief. Sometimes I just sit and pet her and imagine my mom doing the same thing just a month ago. She’s a living piece of my mother’s life, I’m so happy to have her in my home.” Athena Wisotsky is a writer, editor and artist living in Brooklyn.

Jess Peterson & Oscar

“I got Oscar as a kitten from a craigslist ad. Not knowing at the time that there was a reason they put him on craigslist. He was a giant. He is now full grown at a lean 30lbs. (every doctor who has seen him claims he is the largest cat they have ever seen) Well, as most people would know, Giants tend to have bone issues. So, when Oscar was about 3 or 4 he started limping. his bones were all out of wack and eventually we discovered he had a luxating patella, which is common in dog breeds. Debating for a long time about surgery and success rates I was eventually talked into it by my cousin who is an orthopedic vet surgeon. She said it was a routine procedure and she’s done hundreds of them, and with his specific grade of luxation it was supposed to be no problem. One and done. It wasn’t. He ended up having 4 surgeries last year. It’s a lot to get into with each specific surgery that happened. It brings me to tears just thinking about it. It was the most difficult thing I have gone through in caring for another animal/being thus far in my life. It would have been impossible without the help of family and friends (most definitely my cousin and her hospital staff at Cornell Vet Specialist in Stamford). He became their favorite patient. With all the complications he actually ended up living at the hospital getting constant care for one month on two separate occasions. He even had acupuncture 3 times a week. I’ve never even had acupuncture. It was almost impossible to see the light at the end of the tunnel at many points. On the day he had a successful x-ray – after the 4th surgery – it was the best feeling. I made him a hat for that day, a kitten cake, tons of cat nip and had some champagne. He just celebrated his 7th birthday. He has touched many lives. Mostly mine.” Jess is jewelry designer and painter living in greenpoint.

Ashley Meyers & Oliver

“One evening about a year ago I was walking with some friends in Brooklyn heading to some get-together, when this little peanut ran up to us out of nowhere meowing purrrfusly while staring into my soul. I was apparently born with the gift of an aura that attracts kitty cats where ever I go. This little guy seemed ravenous with hunger. (Which I know now is just his personality) with no nearby homes in site and doors to knock on to see if he belonged to anyone, I decided it was best to just care for him until we figured something out. He was social and friendly but seemed to be on the streets for a while, as he was dirty and had a little ear wound. I asked the others if they would mind if he came along and they were more than happy to include him. We stopped at an open market on the way and fed him a couple cans. We proceeded to head to our destination with a new guest in our arms as if he had been our friend all along. I had just taken in my little furball Isabella. (Not pictured because she is afraid of anyone but me and missed her opportunity to have amazing photos in her new little hat that her mommy made her). Also, I wasn’t allowed to have any pets in this apartment and my roommate at the time wouldn’t have been happy with another cat. So, my compassionate friend who bonded with him that very evening, took him in for about a week while we figured it out. My friend kept him until he had to leave for tour with his band the Mystery Lights, so his gf, took him in until she wasn’t able to keep him anymore either, despite falling in love with him as everyone did along the way. So, I took him and the rest was history. After falling in love with my last roommates cat in my previous apt I was scared to get attached to another kitty cat again, but in reality, it wasn’t much of a life without a furbaby around. Oliver keeps me laughing all day every day. He is the biggest ham you will ever meet. I call him a little space cat. He has these enormous intense eyes that never seem to blink and he’s either sitting around on the couch like a human on his butt with his legs out or against a wall on his back with all fours up in the air. He also LOVES wearing clothes. Hats not so much. Everyone that meets him becomes a fan. Oliver and his older yet tinier sister love to chase each other like hyenas in the jungle and kiss and bathe each other like little heavenly angels. Watching them be mushy together is the most heartwarming, peaceful and precious thing to witness. They also couldn’t be any more different from each other. Both in size and personality. They are total opposites, which make quite the comical team. Isabella is the cuddliest sweetest little peanut but too afraid to be held which would drive me crazy, but Oliver makes up for that part. I love picking up his big chubby body and carrying him around like a baby. They make me so happy. A home without a mushball is no sweet home at all.” Ashley Meyers is a NJ native currently living in Brooklyn and working as a freelance makeup artist.

Chelsea Trout & Mushu

“I began fostering with the NYCACC in the beginning of 2014. It was my junior year in college, and I felt simultaneously compelled to begin volunteering again and severe separation anxiety from having a pet. It was a fairly quick progression into fostering kittens for me. I started fostering 1-2 kittens every few months, and quickly escalated to 2-3 on rotation — as soon as one set would leave, I’d ask to foster another. Fast-forward two years and about 30 kittens later, I found myself living with my boyfriend in our first apartment. It took a little persuading to get him fully onboard with my obsession. Almost a year into our lease, I accepted a request to foster two “singletons,” (the name they used for any young kittens that were without a litter). One, Reed, was an adorable little fluffball only about 5 weeks old. The other, Alipha, was a bit older, at maybe 9 weeks, and reportedly needed a little more socialization to get over her shyness. I looked at Alipha as my personal challenge, because I took pride in taking foster kittens in and sending them back to the shelter as extremely people-friendly and of healthy weight. In the first couple weeks of our time with Reed and Alipha, we saw little improvement in Alipha’s temperament (this would become a trend in our time with her). Reed, however, was just as bubbly and inquisitive as could be. I also began to notice that he really enjoyed being in my presence. If I was cooking or doing the dishes in the kitchen, I would find him directly next to me sprawled out and leisurely flipping his tail around. When I’d use the bathroom, he’d mosey on in and plop himself right on the floor in front of me — waiting patiently. There was something special about our connection that stood out from all of my past fosters. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it was there. I eventually found myself giving the shelter excuses as to why it was too soon to send them back to the shelter to be taken to adoption events. “I don’t think Alipha has had enough time to fully get past her shyness,” I’d tell the foster coordinators. Meanwhile, Alipha turned out to be a cat that would not soon grow out of her habits. But I simply couldn’t part with Reed — who we had begun calling Mushu. I don’t remember the exact moment it was decided, but I woke up one day knowing I wasn’t sending Mushu to any adoption events. It was July 31, 2016 when the adoption was finalized. Mushu is still the greatest companion and friend I have ever known. As I type this, he’s sleeping on his little scratch pad directly in front of me, because even though he’s not the biggest cuddler he always wants to be within eyesight. He’s extremely verbal and even talks back when you ask him questions! He’s water-obsessed and will sit perched on the kitchen sink waiting for water to come out of the faucet. He welcomes people at the door, and has such a distinct personality that friends have often said he’s “not like other cats” they’ve met. He’s unbelievably inquisitive, and doesn’t shy away from getting in your face for a sniff. Though it’s been only a year with Mushu, it feels like I’ve known him a lifetime.” Chelsea Trout is a New Yorker born and raised, and has been living in Brooklyn for the last four years. She founded a women’s discussion group called Nasty Women’s Retreat that motivates and inspires her endlessly.

Maggie Freleng, Bandit & Daisy

“I went to the shelter looking for a kitten. I’ve never had a kitten because I always take in older rescues so it was time to treat myself. But when I went to the shelter I found Bandit, a 6-month-old blind cat, the shelter worker said had been there for months. No one wanted him. It broke my heart and even though I was looking for a kitten I took him. I couldn’t imagine life without him. He melts my heart every day sometimes I cry I’m so happy we found each other and people passed him up because he’s blind. He is the most special boy in the world. He can’t see but he knows his mom. As soon as I pick him up he collapses in my arms purring, and always finds his way to nestle in my arms at night. I got Daisy when she was about 4. I was living in a farm community in Massachusetts and she was a friend’s mom’s cat. The mom just got a divorce and she couldn’t keep Daisy, or her companion Scuter, anymore. So, I took them both to avoid them going to a shelter. It was just a few months after my childhood cat Lou died at 16. Daisy had a great life living outside hunting squirrels and birds in Massachusetts. She would literally swallow them whole! (it was sad and impressive) Eventually she went to the vet where they informed me she has FIV. I was devastated. I didn’t know what this meant. I met with experts at the vet and joined community boards and it turns out that Daisy will live a fairly normal life, but she has to be an inside cat to avoid injury and transmission. It was a long hard adjustment for us. Every day she would cry and scratch at the window screens and try to sneak out. Eventually after moving back to NYC she has gotten used to her simple life playing with fake mice and laser pointers. She has been living with FIV for 7 years now and all her tests come back great. She is the best cat, and my best friend. She has been through everything with me. 10 moves, multiple partners, breakups, deaths. I couldn’t imagine life without her. Although I am starting to think more about it because she is about 11 and I know the time will come sooner than later.” Maggie Freleng is a journalist and audio producer who works from home and is obsessed with her cats.

Naomi Fry, Nina, Roo & Matilda

“Our cats, Roo and Matilda, are both very good girls, but they’re also two very different types. Roo is a large tabby. People always think she’s a man and I always get a little offended for her. She looks very dependable — she has the face of someone you’d ask to watch your laptop for you if you needed to use the bathroom at a cafe. Her body type often reminds me of the bowling bags Prada used to do; I can almost imagine attaching a shoulder strap to her and tucking her snugly under my arm. She’s six years old, and we adopted her when she was one. Nina, our daughter, was also one at the time, so they’ve been growing up together. In fact, she got her name because “roo” was Nina’s approximation of a cat’s meow when she tried to communicate with her initially. (Her original name at the shelter we got her from was Circus (!)) Probably the best part about having Roo as a cat is that she likes to sleep between me and my husband’s heads, and I often drift off with one palm underneath her, one over: a hand sandwich bursting with fuzzy goodness. Matilda (aka “Tilda” or “Tildy”) is younger and more of a wildcard. She’s slim and sprightly, mostly white with some black markings, and while she’s not exactly “bad,” she turns scratchy occasionally, which Roo never does. She has the personality of an aloof popular girl in a teen movie who you discover mid-plot actually has some problems — like maybe a dead parent or an eating disorder — that make her secretly sensitive. For instance, she can appear prancingly self-sufficient with no interest in spending time on your lap, but then she immediately goes limp and pliant when you pick her up, as if all she was waiting for was for someone to break through her brittle shell and give her the love she was craving. Matilda is about three; when we adopted her a couple of years ago, Roo was initially traumatized and spent the first couple of weeks up on the kitchen cupboards, terrified. For the next few months, every time they’d come face to face, they would paw and hiss at each other. Over time, however, they’ve gotten used to living together. They don’t like to co-snuggle or touch, but even though they’d probably deny it if they could, I think they’re really curious about one another. They love to try and sniff each other’s butts, and you can often find them hanging out together on the bed or the couch with the air of two retirees who’d rather die than exchange a single word, but who have also chosen to share the same bench at the park for the past fifteen years.” Naomi Fry is a writer living in Brooklyn, and the copy chief at T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

Alvina Bokhari & October

“I met baby October on the eve of my 21st birthday. He was the best birthday surprise! October was found inside a cardboard box behind an office in Long Island. As soon as I held him I was so in love. This is a new experience for me because October is my first pet. I definitely treat him like he’s a new born baby. I’ve been spending some time researching more about October and cats in general and I’ve found their behavior to be very interesting. I love that when he circles my leg it means he’s leaving his scent on me so other cats know I’m his. He’s very playful and loves to cuddle. We also have so much in common like our nap schedules and the fact that we aren’t too fond of the vacuum. I’m so lucky to come home to the sweetest little guy!” Alvina Bokhari currently lives in Midtown Manhattan while she attends FIT for fashion business merchandising.

Alexandra King, Lois & Maxine

“Lois and Maxine are 7-year old sisters. My husband adopted them five years ago from a no-kill shelter in Chicago, and named them after local diner waitresses. Even though they were the only kittens in the shelter that day, my husband said that everyone kept stopping to look, then immediately walking past their cage because it was clear they were not “normal” cats. Which they are not. They both have a condition called cerebellar hypoplasia (sometimes affectionately known as “wobbly cat syndrome”). It’s a brain condition in which some kittens are born with an under developed cerebellum, the part of the brain which governs motor skills. As a result, cats that have CH don’t have great balance or coordination- they walk like little drunks and don’t have that regular cat-like ability to jump. Though it sounds like a scary thing, it’s a condition that’s non-progressive, non-contagious and too few people know that it results in THE CUTEST KITTIES IN THE WORLD. They don’t do any of the asshole type things normal cats can be prone to, like scratching or biting or leaping on countertops. They’re not very bright, bless them, but they’re obsessed with people. And each other. All they want to do is cuddle. Other than not being the shiniest crayons in the pack, they are physiologically perfect. They don’t require any kind of treatments or meds or pricey trips to the vet. They have a completely normal life span. All you have to do is baby proof the house a bit (sharp corners can be a hazard) and get ready to be adored. Every morning, I wake up wearing a cat bikini, one snoozing across my chest, one on my hips. Very sadly, many kittens that show signs of CH when they are born are often destroyed, because people think that they won’t get adopted. But they are the best cats in the world! There are a bunch of rescue places on the internet that specialize in CH cat rescue. I can’t recommend enough bringing one of these little weirdos home.” Alex King is a journalist, writer and blogger. She owns an art gallery in Chinatown with her husband Isaac. She currently works at CNN, but also freelances for The Guardian and Refinery 29 among others.

Paulina Virgen & Schiap

“I met ‘the one’ in Greenpoint at the home of a woman who saved cats from the euthanasia list – her name was Eva. We knew we wanted to rescue and that perhaps we wanted a grey cat. So, I went and met the cats Eva had and fell in love with a little playful Russian Blue. He had been rescued from the streets of Bushwick and was only 2 months old at the time. Spencer (my then boyfriend, now husband) came to meet him and we agreed. This was it. A few days later Eva brought him to our apartment on North 7th and Bedford and we fell in love. Hard love. But we noticed something was different about this cat. Were his eyes a little brighter? Was his face a little rounder? We called but Eva assured us this was “our” cat. Okay, we thought – he’s here and the cutest thing we’ve ever seen. Whoever he is we love him! We named his Schiaparelli after the designer Elsa Schiaparelli. I told Spencer we would either name our future child Schiap or our cat…he could chose. He chose the cat. A few days went by and Schiap made himself feel at home. He slept on our laundry bags and pawed at our feet as we walked by him. 3 days after we got Schiap I got a phone call from Eva at 9 am – she frantically confirmed our suspicion. She gave us the wrong cat!!! The numbers of the cat we chose and the cat she gave us were just reversed. She apologized profusely and told me she would come by that afternoon to swap the cats out. At that point we had already fallen in love with Schiap and figured it would be awful to send him back. We kept him and we are SO happy we did. He is the most mischievous, vain and sweet cat we’ve ever met. A few interesting things about Schiap: he pees/poos in the toilet (even covers his poop and pee with toilet paper). He is a world class hunter (birds, mice, rats, cockroaches, worms – you name it, he’s brought it). He wakes me up at least 3 times a week asking to be spooned back to sleep. generally he bites my cheek or chirps until I open my eyes then he crawls beside me and lays on his side. At that point I have to put my arm around him or the bites start! We joke that he’s Mexican like me because he loves beans and avocado.” Paulina is a fabric r&d manager for Coach.

Dinah Eke & Wolfie

“I walked into the shelter with every intention of bringing home a fat Russian Blue kitty I had seen on their website. Before I had a chance to meet said kitty, the proprietor pulled me aside and asked if I was open to looking at another cat. I assumed she would show me another Russian Blue, but instead she showed me my Wolfie- a feral black cat. He made no eye contact, in fact, he ignored me the whole time. When I reached out to pet him, he skirted to the back of the cage and hissed. I turned to her, I didn’t understand. Then she explained to me that he was wary of people due to being treated badly in the past. As a black cat, he had a higher chance of getting put down than getting adopted. Wolfie was mean as hell and I had no idea if he would take to me, but I couldn’t bare the thought of him getting killed through no fault of his own. So I brought him home. It’s been four years since we met. He is still wary of strangers, but he is the most loving kitty ever! If you are not superstitious and ever have the opportunity to adopt; please give a black kitty a chance.” Dinah Eke is a lifestyle blogger at deediary.com.

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2hx2uI3 via Viral News HQ

#IFTTT #Viral News HQ

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witchandkitty · 7 years

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My Life with 4 kittens, and the adult cats.

Believe me when I say this is not easy. Kittens. Are. Hard. Because they are babies, they don't know better. Because they are babies, they do baby things. And then we have the adults. Dotchuwazarius- second oldest. Oldest in that she calls the shots. She cares little of the kittens, and tends to stuck close to me unless I'm socializing said babies. She would prefer if we had only her. Oh well. Sorry Dotchuwa. Artemis- oldest. Second oldest as we got him after Dot. Grumpy old man. He cares little for anyone who is not an adult. He hates the kittens. He does like all the wet cat food around because Seraphina needs it right now. He grumbles but has never swiped at them. He is a gentleman at heart. Raziel- third in line. Grandpa. Also cares little, but avoids them in general. Doesn't grumble or hiss, but just avoids them. Kind of funny honestly. Seraphina- one year and a few months. Mama. I've had Seraphina since birth, and she scared me. Naturally small like her mother. Taken such a shine to motherhood. For her first/only litter, she has been amazingly calm and very trusting. She gets fixed next month. My only litter from her. Squall- youngest. Makes a year in December. He LOVES them. Absolutely happy to have them around. He plays with them, cleans them, licks bums. He naps near them. He is really sweet right now. Was rather surprised, considering how big he is, that he can be gentle. Needs to be reminded to be gentle during play. *!*!*! Zelda- oldest kitten. Calico and fluffy. She is very brave and confident. Tends to go climbing around. Impa- second born. Loves her siblings. She tends to be around either Zelda or Midna. She loves the play box we made. She asks for food (currently transitioning from mama to food) by sticking her head out of the 'window' holes. Linkle- loner. She absolutely doesn't mind sleeping by herself, playing by herself. Having a hard time letting go of milk. Doesn't want to try solids, but loves to lick the gravy. Midna- Runt. Such sass. Much cute. Tough, demanding. Knows shesnthe baby and will cry if losing in a fight to get Squall to save her. It's not easy, and this will be the last litter for a while. I'm more than ok with that. Maybe after we move.

#life #kittens #kitty notes #cat #artemis #Dot #Raziel #seraphina #Squall #Linkle #Zelda #Impa #Midna

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ssteezyy · 7 years

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Ask the Cat Behaviorist with Mikel Delgado: Cat Constantly Begging for Food, Two Cats Don’t Get Along Anymore, and More

Welcome to our regular “Ask the Cat Behaviorist with Mikel Delgado” segment. Once a month, we’ll post a reminder for you to post your questions for Mikel. She’ll answer as many of them as she can each time, and I’ll publish her answers in a subsequent post.

Mikel is a Certified Cat Behavior Consultant at Feline Minds, offering on-site consultations for cat guardians, shelters, and pet-related businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area, and remote consultations around the world. She obtained her PhD in Psychology at UC Berkeley, where she studied animal behavior and human-pet relationships. Mikel is co-author of Jackson Galaxy’s forthcoming book, Total Cat Mojo: The Ultimate Guide to Life with Your Cat.

Does my cat not like our other cat because she doesn’t have a tail?

I have 4 cats and 3 dogs all together. My 1 1/2 year old Maine Coon Mix does not like my 4 month old Calico Bobtail Mix at all but she gets along with the other two cats and the dogs. I was wondering if my Maine Coon Mix could not be liking my Calico Bobtail Mix because she doesn’t have a tail. Does my Maine Coon Mix know that the Calico Bobtail is a cat? I’m just trying to figure out why my 1 1/2 year old cat absolutely despised the kitten. Please help!! She attacks and chases the kitten constantly. (Jennifer Falbo)

Hello Jennifer,

Much to my chagrin, there’s no way to really know what our cats are thinking. 🙂 Since we are so visual, we think that vision is the most important thing to how other animals perceive the world, but that is probably not the case. We know that for cats, other things are important, such as olfactory signals.

Now cats with stubby or missing tails are not able to display one important signal between cats – the “tail up” – that tail held high with a question mark at the top. That is a classic sign of “I come in peace” – a cat who is sending a friendly signal to another. So while I don’t think this missing signal would make or break a relationship, it could be just one more thing working against your Maine Coon Mix liking the kitten.

I wish it were guaranteed that just because a cat likes some animals, they would like all of them. But similarly, do you like every new person you meet? Probably not. A lot could depend on how the animals were introduced, as well as individual personalities and energy levels.

What I can say with some certainty is that you should start over and reintroduce the kitten and your Maine Coon Mix, controlling their interactions and building positive associations. Ongoing fighting and chasing is a sign of stress and of two cats that need some help!

Cat vomits after eating too fast

Hi Mikel,

Our baby boy is 6 years old and his name is Smokey. He seems to vomit very randomly and sometimes its consecutive for a few days at a time. We asked our vet about it about 6 months or so ago and he said, Smokey is gorging his food at times and that’s why he’s vomiting. Or it could also be hairballs? He is a healthy and happy cat otherwise. I just thought I’d get your take on the situation because I don’t want something to happen later on down the road, when he could have an illness. He eats both wet (fancy feast gravy) and dry (Purina indoor cat chow), and I feed him twice a day. He also loves temptation and Sheba chicken sticks treats. We try not to overdo it with the treats too! Once or twice a day we give him a few pieces at a time. Appreciate your feedback! We love our boy so much and hate seeing him get sick like this. (Tracey S.)

Tracey,

I’m not a veterinarian, but I do believe that the current thinking about vomiting in cats has changed – and we no longer consider it “normal” cat behavior. If Smokey is indeed gorging on his food, then food puzzles may be helpful! They can slow down his eating and keep him mentally stimulated and occupied. There are puzzles you can use with both dry and wet food – just check out foodpuzzlesforcats.com for suggestions! Cats who eat wet food too fast can also be slowed down if you spread the wet food very thinly over the surface of the bowl or plate (“frost” the plate with the food).

However, if the vomiting continues, I would recommend seeking a second opinion from a veterinarian, perhaps an internal medicine specialist, who can help you pin down any potential medical issues, such as allergies or digestive problems, that are causing the vomiting.

Indoor/outdoor cat stopped coming inside

Hi Mikel,

4.5 years ago I adopted a two year old female cat from the local shelter (ACC). I met her at Petfood Express, the summer I visited about once/ week for a “kitten fix.” I sat on the floor with the kittens and Rosie, who was good with them and so allowed out of her cage while they were playing. She came and sat near me. She didn’t want to be petted more than a stroke or two, she definitely did not want lap time. She’s so beautiful, I kept thinking, she will soon be adopted. (I already had two senior cats at home and was not looking to adopt another.)

But 2 months went by, and she was sent back to the shelter because no one had adopted her. Another month went by, while I checked the website every Monday hoping to see she had been adopted over the week end. Didn’t happen. I finally couldn’t stand her being in jail any longer and went to get her out. I learned Rosie had been living in a feral colony and was brought into the shelter by a volunteer who was feeding the colony and TNRing the cats. At the shelter, people thought she was friendly enough to get adopted. She was friendly. But when I got her home and spent more time with her I understood why she had spent so long in the shelter. She had feral traits which most people wouldn’t have patience with for long. She did NOT want to be picked up and would make that Known immediately. She has never decided she wants to be in a lap or even petted much. But some. On her terms. I had spent a year making friends with a feral cat who then moved in with me, so I wasn’t put off by Rosie’s behavior.

She easily made friends with the two male cats already living with us. She obviously liked other cats.

She went outdoors thru the catflap in the back door. It’s a safe outdoor area, and she insisted she absolutely had to go outdoors. For 4 years, she came and went as she pleased (except for the few days she had a vet appointment). She came in to eat and sleep, occasionally playing with a toy. When she wanted canned food, she would come in and come to me to tell me. She made friends with the male cat the same age who lives on the first floor in the apartment under ours on the 3rd. The two of them play and travel together. Often, if we call one, both come.

Last summer, Rosie stopped coming indoors to eat and sleep. I take food outdoors to her. She will still, sometimes, come upstairs with me on the indoor stairway. But when she comes into the apartment, she goes directly to the back door to go out the cat flap. I’ve tried a few times to keep her in for a little while, thinking perhaps if she sees that nothing “bad” will happen to her, she’ll get comfortable indoors again. Nope. She stays right by the back door and cries until I let her out again. One evening recently, her best friend came up with her. Xing Xing has been in and out of our home since he was very young, and he was comfortable — ate, played, napped while Rosie continued to sit by the door crying off and on until I let them go out again.

I don’t know what happened to cause Rosie to move outdoors. I don’t know how to get her comfortable coming indoors again. It’s raining now, I thought the rain would bring her in. Not happening. I think she’s sheltering in the cave like space under one of the buildings in our apartments block.

I understand this is long. Perhaps, Mikel, you would like me to make an appointment with you? I’m in San Francisco, and I think you’re in the SF Bay Area? (Cheri Collins)

Hi Cheri,

I’m sorry to hear about Rosie’s change in behavior; likely something happened last summer that tipped the scales for her, but regardless, we have to deal with the behavior she is currently showing.

Unfortunately, it sounds like Rosie got more attached to her outdoor territory before she developed much of a relationship with you. We know that cats form attachments to territory FIRST, and subsequently to whomever or whatever is in that territory. For whatever reason, be it her feral background (certainly a likely contributor) or being let outside perhaps a bit too early, she has decided home is outdoors.

Giving her food outside only reinforces that there’s not much of interest for her inside your house. Can you start luring her back inside to eat? Gradually place the food closer and closer to the door, then prop the cat flap open and feed her just inside, etc., until you are back to feeding her indoors. The more delicious the food, the better. You may also want to try providing her with a shelter (feral box) close to the home at least so you know she has a safe place to be, and then eventually move that indoors as well. The idea is to give her some reason to come indoors, since human attention dos not seem to be a primary motivator for her.

Honestly, if you want her to come indoors, you may have to make the hard decision to go cold turkey and keep her indoors ONLY and work on re-socializing and building a relationship with her. This will probably not go over well with Rosie at first, since Pandora’s Box has been opened, so to speak. Once cats have a taste of the outdoors, it can be hard to go back. My experience is that moving to a new location makes it easier to convert a cat to indoors only, because the cues that indicate “I go outside” have changed. That said, I’ve seen plenty of formerly indoor-outdoor cats convert to indoors only, with patience and enrichment.

If you’d like to discuss this problem further, and you’re interested in a consultation, I’d be happy to schedule something with you (you can find us at felineminds.com), or you can always find a qualified (and certified) consultant at iaabc.org.

Cat is constantly begging for food

I have an 8 year old Torti (Ginger Diana) and I’m desperately trying to get her to lose weight. I’ve got her down to 11 lbs but I’d like to get her down to at least 9 as she is a runt. The problem is whenever I am home, she is constantly begging for food. When I say no she gets upset, scratches on the walls, bites wires and bites me. I don’t want to give in to her but I don’t want to see her gain the weight back (she was 16 lbs) and I don’t want her to get destructive and then I have to answer to my landlord or see her do something that could end her life like biting through wires. (Arleen Fackina)

Arleen,

First of all, congratulations on the weight you have already gotten off Ginger Diana! Getting weight down with overweight cats can be challenging. I hope you are working with a veterinarian to figure out her ideal weight, what diet would be most helpful, and how much you should be feeding her. There a few ways to encourage weight loss – one is to reduce caloric intake, and another is to increase exercise. I love food puzzles for “food obsessed” cats, because they can slow down eating while giving the cat more physical activity. Cats who eat a little more slowly may feel satiated before they’ve wolfed down all their food.

I’d also think about how often you’re feeding Ginger Diana. Cats naturally eat somewhere between 8 to 15+ small meals per day. They are designed to eat several small meals (aka “mice”) each day, throughout the day. For some cats I’m a fan of much stricter meal feeding, but you may find it more effective to feed Ginger Diana several very tiny meals throughout the day, if you are around. If you aren’t around, again, several food puzzles would be great. The puzzles should be challenging enough to slow her down without her becoming frustrated. The website foodpuzzlesforcats.com has several examples of food puzzles that can be used for wet or dry food, and gives plenty of options based on the cat’s skill level! Can you tell I’m a fan of food puzzles????

As she continues to lose weight, she’ll hopefully feel more like playing – so try to engage her with interactive toys a few times a day. Play sessions can be brief, but be sure to make them part of your daily routine. Anytime she’s playing with a toy is a time she is not going to be begging for food!

Finally, it’s important to not reward Ginger Diana’s destructive attempts to get you to feed her. Unsafe situations should be managed (cord covers for wires) so she cannot hurt herself. You may find that once she is able to nibble small amounts through the day, she is less likely to bother you for food. You can also use clicker training to reward her with small amounts of food (you can use small bits of her regular ration) for GOOD behavior, like sitting, scratching her scratching post, or for cute parlor tricks.

Cat bites and attacks pillows, blankets and stuffed animals

Hi, I’m hoping you might have some advice for me. About 3 months ago I adopted a sphynx from a shelter. He’s estimated to be about a yr old & he’s neutered. He has a tendency to bite/attack pillows, blankets & stuffed animals and he’s starting to put holes in everything. I have been trying to keep stuff picked up but I have 3 small kids. He also likes to cuddle with me under blankets at night & will be very calm & then nip me in the leg outta nowhere. I’m not sure if these cuddling nips are just hard love bites or he wants me to move over or what. I’ve generally found if I put my hand in between my leg & his mouth it usually stops him. For now the nipping isn’t major (no broken skin yet) but I don’t want it to turn any to anything more aggressive either.

I have “catified” as much as I can afford currently & play with him (using fishing pole style toy) for 30 minutes to an hour every evening. I try to keep the game going til he loses interest & walks off. As far as “catification” goes he has his own cat tree, two litter boxes (scooped daily, emptied weekly), multiple scratching posts, a pop up tent & tunnel, solo toys (mice, balls), a turbo scratcher, a couple food puzzles, a few wall mounted shelves (which he doesn’t really use), and I also feed birds in my yard so he can watch them.

I’m not really sure how I should correct him when I see destructive behavior…for now I’ve been telling him “no” gently but firmly then picking him up & moving him to an appropriate toy or scratcher.

The shelter couldn’t give me much history on him but they said the lady who surrendered him claimed he had been repossessed by his breeder after the breeder learned he was being kept in an outdoor cage which violated his adoption agreement. The breeder then gave him to this lady to re-home; she surrendered him to the shelter where he lived in a foster home for about a month. His foster mom told me she thought he was ��gross” and admitted to locking him up frequently. He also had sores on his feet which I imagine came from spending too much time in the wire cage in his foster’s living room. If his backstory is true prior to arriving at the shelter it seems he moved around quite a bit the first 9 months of his life…so not much stability til now.

Any suggestions on how I can help him are greatly appreciated. Thanks! (Kayleigh)

Kayleigh,

Thank you for giving this guy a loving and patient home! It sounds like he definitely didn’t have the best start to his life. It sounds like you are providing him with lots of activity and enrichment which is fantastic. From what you wrote, there are two major concerns: the biting of fabrics and pillows, and the nighttime nipping. Let’s start with his bad habit of putting holes in your pillows and blankets.

My first question is whether he is just chewing, or actually ingesting fabric (a condition called pica). Chewing can be for attention or can stem from boredom and frustration. One way to tell if the behavior is for attention is considering whether it happens when you are gone. If it does, then typically we are looking at frustration and stress. If it happens ONLY when you are around, then attention is likely the PRIME motivator (although frustration and stress can also be factors). We typically address this by using (clicker) training to teach the cat ways to get attention and other rewards by doing “good” behaviors. The hows and whys of training are more detail that I can go over in this column, but there are plenty of good resources available out there, both printed books and websites!

If your cat does have pica, then I would recommend working with your veterinarian or another behavior professional to discuss this issue. Pica can be dangerous, and if he is at risk of an intestinal obstruction due to his chewing behavior, then he may need an anti-anxiety medication as an adjunct to behavior modification.

Because the sphynx kitties need a little help staying warm, it’s not surprising he likes to snuggle under the covers at night. You may find the best way to discourage the nipping of your legs while you sleep is to encourage him to sleep elsewhere – by providing him with a heated bed (perhaps one that is only turned on at night). It can be on or near your bed if you like him being nearby at night (and since he is used to sleeping with you). I also recommend an evening play session followed by a meal or snack at your bedtime to encourage him to sleep more soundly through the night.

Cat suddenly started to scream at other cats in the household and chase them

I have a cat named Thomas who recently came to my house through a family member. He is a five-year-old cat that was used to being in a one cat household and indoors. Now in the two months he is been with us he has become part of a family of 3 other cats and in the beginning they all got along famously and Thomas did venture outside at times. Out of the blue last week Thomas started reacting in extreme duress toward the other cats by screaming (sounded like a woman screaming) either crouched down or chasing the other cats out of the house… there is not one trigger to start this behavior, it has been multiple things and we never know when he will do it again. We separate Thomas from the other when it happens for up to twelve hours to calm him down when he comes out everyone is fine until something triggers another reaction. I now have Thomas separated again and plan to leave him apart for another 3 days. When I go visit Thomas he is a different cat so calm and loving and sits in my lap so contentedly…he never comes close to us and lets us pet him just a little when he is out around the other cats. Why the sudden change after 2 months of seemingly being a part of this clowder of cats? This has stressed us all out and the other cats avoid him more and more. My brother has agreed to take Thomas to put him in a one person and him only as pet home if we cannot work this out. Thanks for any advice and insight. (Susan Lunday)

Hello Susan!

It’s not unusual for cats to “seem fine” at first, and then as a newcomer becomes more comfortable in the territory, tensions arise. I’d first be curious as to just how much a part of the clowder Thomas really was – did you see him co-grooming with the other cats, sleeping with them, and playing (not fighting) together? Sometimes we assume that the absence of overt fighting means everything is peachy-keen, but we also need to look for the presence of POSITIVE interactions. If those positive interactions were missing, I’d be less certain about how strong that relationship ever was.

His extreme reaction and the lack of clear triggers for his outbursts is troublesome. I would need more information to rule out redirected aggression. Has Thomas been examined by a veterinarian? Sometimes pain (such as dental pain or digestive troubles) can be sporadic, but intense; they can also be “blamed” on whoever is nearby, such as other cats.

In some cases, increasing resources (litter boxes, feeding stations, bedding, vertical space, scratching posts, etc.) can help diffuse tension and at the very least allow cats to co-exist peacefully. However, I think you will also have to work on a much slower, more controlled re-introduction based on positive interactions – the current system of just going back and forth between with the cats and then separated when there are outbursts isn’t working. In some cases, as much as we love all the cats, some of them might be happier living as an only cat. I would certainly give a re-introduction a good go, but it should be a systematic process, not just throwing them together until something bad happens!

Cat hissing and spitting

Hello, we have an almost 3 yr Tortie with much attitude. She is a “fight” in lieu of “flight” cat. She has become an indoor/outdoor cat and loves going outside. Has her own play area, cat tree, numerous scratching posts, balls, wands, etc. Get plenty of attention and play time, she is very spoiled and shows us that she runs the house. We have had numerous hissing/spitting, chasing while hissing occurrences which is what let to suggestion from the Vet to let her outside which has helped the issue. I am just looking for any other suggestions and I am uncomfortable with the behavior but my husband handles it very well. (B)

Hello B,

I’m not sure that I completely understand the nature of the problem you are having with your kitty. I assume that your cat is only displaying the hissing toward you and your husband? Is she biting and scratching or just hissing? Sometimes hissing is just a warning “I’m not comfortable” in which case I’d want to know more about what elicits the hissing. Is it when you pet her, approach her, ignore her, etc.?

In general, I’m a big fan of letting the cat control the interactions; some cats enjoy handling and petting and the like more than others. It’s kind of like the Henny Youngman joke about the doctor; “Doctor it hurts when I do this…the doctor says, “don’t do that.”

If your cat predictably hisses when you try to pet her, stop petting her. Let her come to you for petting, and find other “hands off” ways to interact – especially interactive play where you move the wand toys for her to chase. This is a good way to build a bond and have fun together, plus we know that exercise has stress-reducing properties… and tired cats are less likely to bite and scratch! If she is being affectionate, give her treats and praise so she knows you like that behavior. I also recommend giving cats breaks from petting regularly if they are prone to overstimulation, even if they seem interested in handling. Some cats aren’t so good at saying no, even if they are worked up!

That said, I do like clicker training with cats who have tendencies to have issues with being handled. This is because it allows you to reinforce behaviors you like, and behaviors that get reinforced are more likely to be repeated in the future. It’s also a great way to train a cat to accept certain types of handling while they are young. Far too many cats don’t get the medical treatment they need because they bite or scratch when handled. It’s good planning for her future to address some of those issues now.

Finally, if anyone is roughhousing, wrestling, playing chase games, or otherwise encouraging your cat to see humans as a toy, I highly recommend giving up those bad habits. Even if your cat engages in that type of play, she can be redirected toward a toy. Allowing her to “play rough” is giving a green light to be aggressive.

Two rescue cats no longer get along

Hello! I have two rescue cats (I got them at 8 and 10 weeks respectively) that do not like each other. They are 3 years old, Zazzles is older by 6 months than Mercedes. Zazzles is my shy, skittish girl, Mercedes is bold, assertive and outgoing girl. They are two prides of one instead of a pride of two.

At first, they seemed to get on just fine. They slept together, groomed each other and teamed up against the dog. Now Mercedes seems to pick on Zazzles. She pounces on her when Zazzles seems to least expect it. There is some hissing and growling on Zazzles part then they go their separate ways; that’s as serious as it gets. They usually keep to different parts if the house. They have separate food, water and litter. My husband says they only fight when I’m home, and usually it’s near me.

Is there hope for my cats? I am not interested in rehoming either of them, they deserve forever homes and I love them both. Thank you, Beth Audet

Beth,

It is not uncommon to see cat relationships change at adulthood. When cats reach social maturity, there may be more struggles over access to preferred resources, and sometimes one cat just wants to play less than the other.

What I find most interesting is that your cats only fight when you are home – do you feel this is true, or do you feel that your husband tolerates more squabbles than you do (or are both the case)?

One thing that is encouraging is that aside from some pouncing, hissing, and growling, things don’t sound like a situation where I’d say someone definitely has to be rehomed. But do you ever see positive signs between your cats, such as sleeping near each other and playing together? What are they doing all day when you’re not home? Are you seeing other behavior problems, such as litter box avoidance, or signs of withdrawal? If not, I’d say that you can work on this situation, if not getting the cats back to BFFs, to at least decrease the tension between them.

It’s great that you are providing your girls with separate resources, such as food, water, and litter. I would also look at other important resources, such as vertical space, sun spots, scratching posts, and the like. Having more resources in the key rooms of the house can make it easier for them to share those spaces, rather than spending time in opposite sides of the house to avoid each other. Also be sure to give each cat some one-on-one private time with you each day, because YOU are also an important resource.

More exercise and mental stimulation is always a stress-reducer for cats. It sounds like Mercedes especially needs more to keep her occupied. You can also work on actively creating positive associations between your cats by having what I like to call a “treat summit” – each day, the two cats should get their absolute favorite thing in the world…but only when they are together. With repetition, your cats will associate these special treats with each other.

Do you have a question for Mikel? Leave it in a comment, and she’ll answer it next month!

The post Ask the Cat Behaviorist with Mikel Delgado: Cat Constantly Begging for Food, Two Cats Don’t Get Along Anymore, and More appeared first on The Conscious Cat.

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