Meet Leonidas

When I was growing up, we had an orange cat we called Scottie. I don't remember much about him, but I do remember when he passed away. I was at a very impressionable age, and it was very heartbreaking for me. 

As I grew older, I would think of him often. I had other cats and dogs growing up, but none that left such a strange impact on my mind. Perhaps this is where my obsession for orange cats came from.

When SS and I decided we wanted to get another cat, and friend for Ebony, I originally started looking at orange cats. When I wasn't finding what I wanted, I widened my search. Then Graycie came across my screen. That was love at first sight, even though she wasn't orange.

Over the next four years, I hadn't given up my desire to get an orange cat. SS didn't really want to even entertain the idea of a third cat, so I dropped it. Until two weeks ago.

One of the animal trainers that I used to work with, found a family of kittens in a bush behind her house. She took them in and posted a couple photos and videos of them. 

I. Fell. In. Love.

Meet Leo.... He's not exactly orange, but he's close. 

Leonidas means "son of a lion", and this brave little boy has the heart of a lion in a cat's body. It's perfect for him.

We have had him for only a few days, and things have definitely changed around our house. We have him separated from the others because I know they'll pick on him, and I just want him to be a happy boy, not stressed about anything. 

I'll keep you updated on his progress as he grows. 

Graycie Roo

Graycie Roo

She’s the newest member of our family. An 0.8lb medium-haired gray tabby kitten, that is full of energy.

She fits right into our family. Perfectly.

Because she is so tiny, it’s often we find her in small, tight spaces. We can usually figure this out because Ebony will be standing near her, staring at the space wondering when she will come out. Or perhaps he’s wondering if he can get in there.

For the first few days, we kept them separate because Ebony was not at all happy about having another cat in the house. He would try to attack her and scare her. Thankfully, she didn’t know any better, because she had never seen another big cat before, so didn’t know she needed to be scared, and she would just walk away from him. Eventually he came around, and I’m proud to say, Ebony is tolerating her.

Ebony is constantly grooming her, and it’s more times than not, that they’re cuddled up together. My heart is so happy with these two. It’s full of love and kitty guts.

And because I’ll probably get some questions about it, here’s how we came up with her name:

Well, first and foremost, she’s gray.
Secondly, she has these really long, solid white, back feet that look like rabbit feet. One day, she was kicking a ball with her back feet, and it made her look like a kangaroo. Remember baby Roo from Winnie the Pooh? Well, he’s little, she’s little. It just works.

Graycie Roo

My Kitty

National Cat Day

I know, I know. They have a day for everything. I don’t usually buy into this stuff, except maybe Pizza day because SS loves it, but today, I thought it would be nice to celebrate my kitty. He will be getting a special treat for dinner tonight.

Ebony: The Alarm Clock

SS and I have a pretty steady routine about how we do things. It’s the same every day. Because of this, Ebony has apparently adapted his internal clock to this routine, and when we don’t do something at a specific time, he lets us know. Here’s what I mean…

Every night at 10pm, SS cleans the litter box and takes it out to the trash. He takes Ebony with him when he goes, so that Ebony can chase crickets in the hallway. This is Ebony’s outside/hunting time. If there’s a night when we are busy and not quite ready to do the litter at 10pm, the cat will stand by the front door and meow, loudly, until one of us get annoyed.

SS gets home from work between 6:30p and 6:45p. At this time, the cat is typically given his dinner. If SS has been home for ten mintues, and hasn’t fed the cat, he will absolutely let you know. He will stand in the middle of the living room, right in front of you, and meow. Loudly.

On and Saturday or Sunday morning, Ebony is literally in our face at the normal time SS’s alarm goes off. My alarm is set for a different time every day, so I guess SS’s is easier for him to understand. Either way, this cat IS our alarm clock.

Ebony: The Hunter

One of Ebony’s favorite things to do, is sit out on the ledge of the balcony, and look around at all the other animals and people that walk by. There’s a little girl that lives a few doors down, that loves to talk to him.
Sunday morning, SS and I are watching TV, when Ebony suddenly runs into the house with something in his mouth. I couldn’t tell what it was because the coffee table was blocking my view, but SS could see and jumped up yelling, “He’s got a BIRD in his mouth!” He was strutting around so proud of himself, until SS yelled. He instantly dropped the bird and cowered down as if he was scared. SS never yells like that, so he just didn’t know how to react.

SS grabbed the bird with a paper towel and took it outside. It was lifeless, just staring at him, with one leg dangling. There was no blood, but this bird was clearly not well. It wasn’t even moving.

Several mintues later, I went outside to see where SS went, and he was standing by the dumpster with a look of fear on his face. He knew he needed to put this bird out of its misery, but just couldn’t actually do the task. Let’s be real. SS is a sensitive soul.
I stood there, tears streaming down my face like a faucet, and told him to just put it down and let it die naturally. Maybe a bigger bird would come get it, and the food chain cycle would continue. I walked back into the house.

A few minutes later, he came back into the house with a smile. He said the bird flew away when he put it down. I couldn’t stop crying, so had a really hard time believing that it could have happened that way, but he swears up and down that the bird flew away. So, I have to believe him. And trust him.

I’m not mad at Ebony. He did nothing wrong. For him to be able to get that bird, the bird would have had to come down into the balcony. At that point, he thinks it’s just another cricket prey in his eyeline.

SS and I have talked about getting another cat. SS isn’t completely sold on the idea, which is why we are still in talks, but I would like Ebony to have a friend. A coworker fosters animals, and right now, she has a cute little grey & white kitten on which I’ve got my eye. The litter was rescued from horrible conditions, and she was one of the lucky ones to make it out safely. I’d like to give that little girl a loving home. And since a dog isn’t really the best option for someone that isn’t home all day, and doesn’t have a yard, I can’t give in to SS’s want of one. It’s just not realistic.

Until next time…

Lost Cat

It’s Summertime, and you know what that means?

That means warm temperatures, weekend picnics, and trips to the beach. It also means that RJ and Lil’ SS are visiting.

A couple of days ago, RJ and Lil’ SS went to take the trash out. As they were coming back, a black cat caught up with them and started following them. As they were about to walk up the stairs to get to our place (garages are below us so our first floor is actually the second floor), the cat ran past them and beat them to the top of the stairs. He stood there waiting as if he was saying, “Come on!” No idea where the cat came from, but it was determined to come to our house.

At first, he layed outside our front door on the welcome mat. Because I have such bad cat allergies, SS and the kids gave it water and hung out with it. It seemed very tired, as all it wanted to do was lay down. It didn’t have the coat of an outdoor cat, and with ears as clean as they were, I knew this had to belong to someone. This wasn’t a stray cat.

After about a half hour of the kids going in and out the front door, they decided to go ahead and let it in the house. Remember, I have cat allergies, so I was against this the entire time. However, when there are three other people in the house that are voting against you, it’s harder than you think to come out the victor.

After the cat took a really long nap, we decided it best to put it back outside and allow it to go back to where it came from. Everyone was sad, but we knew we couldn’t keep it. It just wasn’t our cat.

About an hour later, SS decided to go downstairs and look around to see if he could find the cat. He walked all around, when suddenly it came wandering out from under one of the cars in a garage. According to the people that live there, the cat didn’t belong to them, so Lil’ SS came down and took the cat back to our place. A few hours later, SS and I found ourselves at the local PetSmart buying a litter box, litter, food, and a matching bowl set that SS just had to have.

The cat ended up staying the night. She slept with Sis most of the night. (Sis is in town for the weekend for a concert her and I went to. Will post details about that later.)

Day 2 - the cat seems to be very comfortable. Used the litter box during the night, and ate quite a bit for breakfast before using the litter box again. I think it’s safe to say she’s happy.

Day 3 - she snuck out the patio door when SS went to water one of the plants. She jumped up onto the ledge and acted as if she wanted to jump down, so when SS left for work, we decided it best to just let her out. She had a home somewhere else that she was likely wanting to get back to, and we weren’t going to prevent her from doing it. What if there was a little girl crying somewhere because her kitty is gone?

About 20 minutes later, I decided I’d go for a little walk around the area she originally came from. I looked all around, but never saw her. I went ahead and headed back home, but when I reached the stairs to our place, I saw this at the top…

So, she’s back at our house. The kids keep a good eye on her, so she doesn’t do things like this…

For now, we have a cat living with us. And we’ve named her Ebony.
We will keep an eye out for signs advertising a lost cat, but until then, she will get a lot of love from us.
Okay, maybe from SS and the kids.

 

New kitties

We’ve acquired a couple of new Egyptian Mau kitties for an upcoming project. The project doesn’t shoot for a few more months, so in the meantime, these guys have full run of the house at which they’re staying.

Meet MauMau….

 

And Luxor…

 

Can’t wait to share some of the work they’ll do. #FutureCatStars

 

 

Retrieve

Can YOUR cat do this?

 

How about your DOG?

This seems like a small, no big deal thing right now, but when she’s carrying around house slippers in an episode of Modern Family, it’ll be cute. (That is NOT an upcoming episode. Just an example.) For now, she thinks it’s a game. And it’s fun, cause she gets a treat for it.

Big changes coming up. I can’t wait to tell you about them.

Stay tuned…

The most bitter stuff on earth

Meet Kiska

Kiska is one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever known. She’s cuddly, loves to play with little feather toys, and chases around other cats in an attempt to play. Unfortunately, she has a neurotic tendency to over groom herself, which results in open sores. :-(

The trainers have tried a number of things, but she always turns up with more sores. Hence the cone. With it on, she can’t get to any of the places she likes to lick, so they are finally healing.

Last week, when the trainers were trying out different things, one of them put this on her…

It works wonders on some dogs/cats, but when applied to Kiska, she licked it right off without a care in the world. Ew.

Being the curious person I am, I said, “Maybe it isn’t the most bitter stuff on earth. Maybe it actually tastes good.”

Y’all, DO NOT TRY THIS STUFF! It left me constantly looking for extra spit in my mouth. It was like I had cottonmouth, and I couldn’t get the taste out for about 20 minutes. It was horrible. I can’t imagine licking off as much as she did. Groooooooooosssssssss!!

But, it didn’t kill me. And now I know what “bitter” tastes like.

Which one?

If you HAD to have a cat or a dog as a pet, which would you choose?

Yesterday I was presented with this question. Everyone knows I’m not really an animal person. I know, I know. I work at a ranch with dogs/cats/birds/ducks ALL DAY EVERY DAY. I get that. But remember, I work in the office and deal with the production companies, not the training of the animal itself.

I don’t like dogs jumping up into my lap. I don’t like when they lick my arms or face. I don’t like when a cat lays on the couch and leaves fur all over it so that it gets on my clothes. I don’t like when the cat jumps up on the counters or the kitchen table. I don’t like when they take a drink from their bowl and dribble it all over the floor as they walk away, leaving me to step in it with my socks.

Ew.

I suppose if I had to choose, I would pick the dog. And ONLY because I would make it an outside dog. It would NOT be sitting on my couch with me. It would NOT be laying in my bed with me. It would NOT be taking a shower with me. It would NOT be riding in my lap as I’m driving down the freeway.

With 80+ dogs and 70+ cats at our ranch, I’ve seen more vet bills than I ever want to see again. And our food bill? Holy cow! You’ll never convince me that animals aren’t expensive. And since I’m more interested in spending my money on things that make me happy (unlike a pet that would make me irritated), I’ll allow those that like animals to continue to pay for them.

This is who I’m babysitting this weekend….

You all know Ramen. He’s by far the best Standard Poodle you’ll ever hear about. Ever. I mean, if *I* can stand to be around him and cuddle with him, he must be amazing, right?

The other little Poodle is Udon. He’s our newest addition. He’s still learning the ropes, but will eventually be a superstar as well.

Happy long weekend to all my readers!

Saturday afternoon

Saturday afternoon in northern Los Angeles. Beautiful sunny 76* weather, with a slight breeze blowing at 13mph (so it says on The Weather Channel). I see a few white clouds in the sky, but not many. Just enough to celestially decorate the bright blue sky.

I just did a bit of weeding. The annoyance of weeds growing in the grass just pushes me over the edge sometimes. The sprinklers are on now that the gardeners have left, so the smell of fresh cut grass mixed with water is blowing across my yard. *Deep breath* I just love that smell.

Charlie seems to be enjoying this weather as much as I. She was rolling on the cement and in the grass (pre sprinklers). Now, just laying in the shade with the wind blowing her fur, is enough.

                   

Sometimes it’s the simple things that make life so amazing. Happy Saturday, and I hope everyone’s Saturday is/was as amazing as mine. :-)

New Flags at The Ranch

If you were to ask me a month ago, what I thought of the colorful patterned flags that so adorably hang in front of some homes, I would have told you how stupid, ridiculous and unnecessary they are.

Then, one of my bosses sisters was visiting for Easter, and she brought with her the flag with the black dog on it (shown above). She was very excited about it and promptly hung it over the walk-in gate at our ranch. Me, being the obsessive compulsive that I am, couldn’t stand just ONE flag hanging up on this long rope that draped from one tree to the other. I casually mention this to my boss, and she immediately, without any hesitation whatsoever, said, “Why don’t you get on the internet and see if you can find some more. Like a cat or a duck or a squirrel.” I quickly start to laugh at how her tone changed from Hurry, hurry. Let’s finish these budgets, to They can wait, let’s order more flags. I was finally able to find a few that we liked, so I went ahead and ordered them.

Let me tell you something. I admit it. I can totally see why people love these things. We have dogs at our ranch, so a dog flag seemed fitting. We have cats, so a cat flag made sense. Rabbits, well, ours are white (with blue eyes), but they are still rabbits. We have ducks, so again, why not a duck flag. Plus, how much easier would it be to give someone directions to our ranch by just saying drive until you see the animal flags on the right.

I’ve become obsessed. I have been known to have an extra window or two open so I could search for a cute squirrel flag. Can’t find one I like. *sigh

There are a few members of my family that proudly display their favorite drivers’ NASCAR flags in their front yard during the races on Sunday afternoons, so I suppose other people’s obsession with these flags in their front yards is okay. I’ll stop judging.