#toasty's adventures in unexpected feral kittens

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Yeah, basically

Some of my friends describe cats yawning as them turning their faces inside out.

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🐈💔

I'm sad to report that Little Kitty Fantastico, aka "Tico," passed away earlier this week, at age 9, after a heart failure. He died at home, surrounded by love and cuddles.

He was such a good and beloved little guy. He was bonkers for lettuce & other greens, and he absolutely could not be trusted around salads. His skills included perching atop walls and keeping watch on everything below. Like his sisters, he was long and had arms that went on forever. He was usually both the goofiest and the floofiest of all his sibs, especially when he was begging for belly rubs.

He was exceptionally sweet and snuggly. (Especially with Winter, who is very sad now. 😿) We will miss him so much.

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I love it when he just hangs out on the stairs like this for a while.

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hello! we hear there may be an attempt at productivity happening here. we're here to help

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Even a day when it's 100°F can be a good day to cover your nose and cuddle with a blanket, if you are a cat.

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Oh sure, you could sit anywhere, including on or beside my lap, or on the blanket or cushion that are right next to you, or on your cat bed or cat castle. But please -- plant your little kitty butt on my foot instead, and make yourself comfortable. XD

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Bennet likes to crawl in between my sheets and my quilt and then spoon with me. I just took a nap, and now I need to get up, but when I lift my quilt, this is what I see.

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Back from holiday travels, in a cuddle pile with kitties.

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We took Tico to the vet yesterday. He was not happy to be there and found a variety of places to stay hidden, poor boy (including: behind the scale, behind the computer, behind my foot, and beneath various towels.)

He's been doing a weird coughing/gulping thing and also having some trouble swallowing... it seems like it might be due to reflux or a mild infection/inflammation, but nothing more serious showed up in his X-rays (omg he was so hard to X-ray), and it's apparently not related to his diabetes. Whew. (They also got blood & urine samples and will run labs tomorrow, and then hopefully we won't have to go back to the vet for a very long time.)

It's been a very stressful week for him, between this and me being on crutches. (I sprained or maybe broke my foot while hiking last weekend; my X-ray was unclear.) Turns out Tico HATES crutches and the sound they make when I walk. His sisters, OTOH, are only mildly unnerved. Yesterday he truly had a nightmare scenario when I had him inside the cat carrier (TORTURE REQUIRING EXTENSIVE MOANING), which I held in one hand, and was hobbling my way into the vet's office with a crutch under the other arm (CRUELEST TORMENT). But he survived, and now he's at home and purring and getting some yummy pill pockets. (Thank god he's good at pills.)

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Gazing out mysteriously from her towel hood...

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I'm packing for a trip! The members of my household are in disagreement about the most essential step to take.

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Do the cats try to escape or are they pretty chill to be indoors now? What are your thoughts on Catios? If you had the space/time/money would you build one?

*Asks are sent for fun, no pressure to answer within a certain amount of time or at all.

Despite having lived outside for the first ~six weeks of their lives, my kitties are now scared of the outside (they're scared of pretty much everything, poor little furballs). They've never tried to escape.

I'm a big fan of Catios and similar constructions. My cousin's kitty loves going out on their balcony to sit in the sun and occasionally bat at insects (they used to have the balcony covered in netting, but now he's arthritic and never jumps):

I'm planning to move later this year, and I'm hoping my new place will enable such a setup! Very excited about the prospect. :D Remains to be seen whether my cats will enjoy it, though... they are all pretty content indoors.

How about you? Thoughts on Catios or other specialized pet enclosures, pet enrichment, etc? (Question aimed at both @amloveabledeathmo and other readers; cute pet pics optional but encouraged as part of reply XD )