The Crazy Cat at Our House

OK, it's been a while since I posted on "the queen." She has become more insane than I ever thought possible. Gracie is our rescued feral cat. We found her summer before last behind our church, a mere week-old kitten. That she survived was a surprise, although I'm not so shocked now seeing how feisty she is. She thinks the house is hers, and all who live here or who enter are at her whim. No guest goes unchecked, and usually gets a swipe of the paw and a hiss (just to put them in their place). Although she hates for us to pick her up, or pet her, or generally look in our direction, she doesn't avoid us either, and in fact she usually follows me from room to room. She does this even if I've just harassed her.

She LOVES paper balls! If I wad up a piece of paper she comes running and when I throw it in the trash she pulls it out and carries it in her mouth to whatever location she wants to play with it (usually one with a tile floor). She likes her water fresh, so she is constantly knocking the boys' water cups off the counter so she can lap the fresh water up off the floor. She isn't afraid of the dogs in the least, and usually attacks them just for fun. The German Shepherd cowers. She likes her dog food, but every now and then gets a hankering for dog food, so she bullies the dogs out of the way and eats what she wants. She always waits for me to finish my yogurt, ice cream, etc. so she can lick the bowl. She is a perpetual kitten, and several times a day has very playful moods where she runs around and trills, trying to get someone to play with her. When we do, she usually ends up attacking us.

She has every person in our house wrapped around her little paw, and she's so soft and cute that nobody can keep their hands off of her. You know, if I were watching all this from the outside, I'd think we were nuts to let an animal take so much control, but truth is, we love her. She's the queen and we are her mere servants. But it's OK to be a servant to the queen. Right?

Mite We Be Stuck With These Forever?

Mites. Ear mites. I hate them. They are like sins, they make me feel like a failure. Natey has earmites . . . again. He had them when we brought him home from the shelter. Unknown to us, he also had terrible allergies. Lately the allergies have flared up, and yesterday we noticed that his ears were cruddy. So I talked to my best friend who knows everything (and is VERY modest about it), and surfed the Internet. I determined that one of his ears was so bad it was very swollen, the other was having some problems, but not too bad. I didn't think he could wait until even Monday for the vet, and I can't afford emergency vet care, so after some research, I put together my own concoctions.

They worked!!! Today the ear is no longer red and swollen, and the junk from the mites is finally coming out. He's still itching them, but not shaking his head as bad, and he started acting more like himself. Here's what I used:

First an earwash of green tea. I used the kind with some chamomile in it. I brewed it a little strong, and just squirted it in the ear with a syringe and then cleaned the ear out with cotton balls and q-tips (but very carefully with the q-tips so I didn't push anything further in or stick them in far enough to damage inner ear parts).
I followed that by rubbing fresh aloe in the ear, with a cotton swab as far down as I dared go, and all around the outer ear with my fingers. After this, I left him alone a while so he could shake all the wash out.

Later I mixed Purell hand sanitizer with aloe and Vitamin E oil (squeezed from capsules) at about a 2:8 ratio. I mixed it then squirted it in the ear with a syringe and rubbed some all around the outer ear.

Yesterday I completed one full treatment, and I have done two today. I read about other ways to treat it, but some of them were a little too "chemical" for me, and some I just didn't completely trust. I had planned on using garlic oil, but read that garlic oil is too strong for dogs' ears, and I also was careful because I read that dogs' ear cannals go much deeper than humans' or cats', so you must be careful.

My biggest concern with him is that he's acting like a shelter dog again--all skittish and nervous and doesn't want to come even when I offer him food. I don't know how to assure him that I'm not trying to torture him, I just need to make him better. Poor guy. I feel badly that I let it get this far. Needless to say, he's still going to the vet this week, and I'll be getting him some medicine for the rest of his itchies.

I've realized that I have an AKC registerd Shepherd who cost us all of $200 (yes, we got a deal), but even if she had cost more, she's been in perfect health and that's all she'd have cost. The "free" cat, and the "cheap" shelter dog have already needed a fortune in medical care and time. Fortunately they're worth it, and I hope the kids will learn that when living things cost you a lot, you don't just abandon them.

Life With Kitty

OK. The boys can come up with wonderful names . . . I know they can. They've come up with great names for their Webkinz! AJ has three named Root Beer Bandit, Chocolate Chip, and Cookies N Cream. Josh has a monkey named Pernix (Latin for agile) and a bear named Mini-Me (he was a bear in the play, remember). So why in the world do we have a cat named Kitty? Actually her name is Kitty Pryde--it's a super hero thing. I've decided I hate it. I wasn't crazy about Chewy when we thought she was a he, but at least he had a real name. There's just a part of me that wants to call her something, and I feel like I'm not really calling her anything when I call "Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!" Everybody calls their cat with that!!! I may have to take this whole thing into my own hands and name the poor animal!

Other than the goofy name, life with Kitty is fun. I AM her mama. In fact, every now and then she just wants to see my face, so she grabs on to one of my legs with her small little claws and scales me like a tree. Yeah, I know. Cute now . . . not so much when she's ten pounds. Our favorite times of day are when she goes into what Josh has labelled "loopy mode." She races around attacking anything that moves and acts all goofy and funny. She's a little rough on the hands in loopy mode (and face, and toes, and arms . . . ), but we are definitely enjoying playing with her. OK, so maybe we're enjoying her a little too much, but we'll get school and those chores done eventually! Of course we also love the mood she's in when she just wakes up. She purrs and purrs and loves us back. The boys really like having an animal that will snuggle with you and let you carry it like a baby. Not that we don't love the dogs anymore, we just like the different dynamics of having a cat.

I'm not so fond of the litter box (which is in my bathroom, getting litter all over my floor--a real joy when you have wet feet!), and loopy mode gets a bit exhausting when she decides to go into it at 5 am (with my face!), and she's only just starting to get the message that counters and tables are not fair game for her curiosity. But none of those things are as dreadful as I had been programmed to remember (by the cat hater in our family!), and I'm quickly deciding that they are worth the inconvenience to have the fun of a kitty . . . er Kitty. Only, now I have to go, 'cause she's sitting on my desk and she thinks the keyboard is a fun place to walk. So vdsfnapfh aewfrawfywae fhafaehf . . . .

A Kitty Tail . . . Er . . . Tale

Last week as we were leaving church the boys kept saying, "Mom, Mom! There's a cat back there [behind a shed] about the size of the guinea pig!"

Finally I checked it out. It was NOT a cat. It was a teeny new kitten. His eyes were still closed, and he was lying in the mud screeching! So I picked him up! I took him into the kitchen and got a towel to wrap him in, then took him home.

Once home, I gave him a little milk and started to warm him up. I got on the Internet, to see what to do for him, only to read "Do not give cow's milk!"

Ooops.

I put him in a bin with a heating pad, and run to the pet store to get kitten formula. Now I'm committed. Come home, feed him. For about two days, I worried that he wasn't eating enough, worried that he would dehydrate from diareaha . . . . worried about this teeny, helpless little thing.

But he's a scrappy little fighter. Over the week he has gained two ounces or more, and is SO CUTE! The boys and I are in love. We named him Chewbacca--Chewie for short. Yeah, I know. It's all over when you name them.

We are not keeping him. Yeah. Right.

The Million Dollar . . . DOG!!!

Yes, that is what I've adopted. Not only is he crazy. . . not only does he destroy everything he finds near the floor . . . but now? He has allergies! I had noticed him chewing on his feet a lot and saw that the hair was thinning and that they were a little red. Since I've found a more or less inexpensive vet, I figured I should get it checked out. So we took Nate yesterday and he has a yeast infection combined with a bacterial skin infection and yeast in his ears resulting from allergies!!! Fortunately Walmart now offers $4 perscriptions, even if the meds are for a dog! My poor pup has to be bathed twice a week, have drops in his ears two to three times a day, have his feet wiped with special medicated pads two to three times a day, and has a med given in the morning and two at night. Or maybe I should say poor mom has to wash the dog twice a week, wipe down doggie paws several times a day, put drops in the ears, and trick him into taking pills in the morning and night all for allergies. Sorry buddy, but I'm not spendin' much more on ya. You'll just have to scratch!

Maybe I should consider contributing to Social Security in his name. Then in a few years, we could afford his medical care. And if the government argues with me? I'll tell them that Walmart took a prescription for him!

Yes. We Adopted a Crazy Dog.

Nathan has taken lately to barking at himself. Why you ask? Late at night, he sees his reflection in the glass door and goes crazy. A couple nights ago, he barked at himself for over an hour.
Straight.
Until I put him in the crate.
I didn't want to but it had gotten late.
I told him, "Please stop. Don't bark, Nate!"
For a half hour I tried to wait!

OK, enough!!! No more Dr. Suess! Sorry.

Anyway, he's also still chewing up EVERYTHING!!! He ruined a brand new pair of sandals the other day. I've found countless pencils, marbles, legoes, plastic animals, other shoes and socks, and everything else in his mouth. And he just thinks he owns everything, including me I think. He has claimed my bed, my pillow, my lap, my couch, anything he can lay on or defend, he does it. Nevertheless, he does still love Princess, and he's so stinkin' cute, so we put up with a lot and love him anyway.

I have yet to find anything that makes me regret the decision to adopt him. He is just a bundle of boundless energy and curiosity . . . kinda like his owner.

The Honeymoon Is SO Over!

The cute, sweet little puppy is now a demon! Well, not really. But he bites!!! He's only playing, but he bites hard . . . and it really hurts. And ankle biter? Well, that's really him! He chases me biting at my ankles!

And he barks at EVERYTHING now! His bark is kind of funny and usually makes me smile. He has the howly kind of bark, kind of like a wolf. Of course I laugh just before I tell him to hush.

Princess is finally getting used to him. They are actually playing together outside now, and kind of rough too. She play-growls at him the whole time, which is hilarious. Inside, she's OK most of the time, but he still gives her the evil-eye now and then, followed by growling and chasing her away. And she LETS HIM!!!

But the thing that's really driving me crazy is that he has laid claim to my bathroom. WHY??? He has pee'd in the hall to my bathroom twice!!! And I just found a towel on the floor in my bath that he marked too. So he's really not allowed upstairs now . . . and if the kids forget to close the gate . . . whoa be it! They're going to be cleaning up dog pee. 'Cause I'm sorry, he's cute and everything, but I'm just not doing it.

I know. Yeah right.

"That Little Fiend!" . . .

. . . is something I am starting to say regularly. Along with "What a rascal!" and "Quit biting me; I'm NOT a chew toy!" The puppy has settled in, and is beginning to believe it's for good. I can tell because his personality is starting to ooze out all over us. We love him to death, but he is a booger.

• He plays really rough. He has been socialized by dogs, with all the biting and chasing that goes along with it, so he has been slow in learning that he can't attack us with his little teeth!
• He has the German Shepherd terrified! She can be doing NOTHING and he suddenly goes off on her. I think he is part Dr. Jekyl, part Mr. Hyde.
• I want to name him Stitch, because living with him is just like living with Lilo's Stitch.
• The third day we had him, he discovered his voice. The dog that I never heard bark at the shelter, and who said nothing when we got him home, now barks at EVERYTHING. Think I should explain to him that I don't really need another barker?
• He has also discovered he loves our stuff . . . and he chews on anything he can find, as of today. I think he knows he's home now.
• I forsee a problem with the trash can. Only now I have so much stuff in the closet (where I kept it when Princess was a puppy) that I don't know how to secure our discards.
• I'm seeing (again) my weakness: I am a push-over for a cute face. I told him no upstairs . . . yet I found him upstairs with us this afternoon. I told him to stay off my bed . . . yet he somehow ended up snuggling with me. I still haven't given in on letting him sit on the furniture though!

I must admit though, I am really enjoying him. And he has the sweetest face!!! (What a marketing spin!) I'm so glad I got him for AJ!

It IS a Boy!

Well, we have our baby. We finally got him yesterday, after I spent the whole day cajoling, begging, threatening, and insisting that AJ get his school work done. There were times I thought maybe I was being a bit hard on him, but his attention was just elsewhere, and it took me forever to get him to buckle down and work. But finally we were able to do it. We went to the shelter and filled out the papers, paid our money and took our baby Nathan to the car. AJ was SO thrilled.






The older boys had chess club, so we dropped them off a block away at the church, and then AJ and I headed off to get puppy food, and to return the crate and collar which were broken and too small. AJ and Nathan fell asleep in the car on the way to the store.



Getting him home yesterday was intersting. I thought our Alsatian, Princess, would have some issues with him coming into her home. The truth is, our Shepherd is terrified of him. He has snarled, growled, and even snapped a little at her a couple times. It's nothing I'm worried about. I checked it out at the shelter today, and now think what they told me--that Nathan has already attached somewhat to me and is being very protective of me. I think he's also a bit jealous of attention I pay to her when he's around. So we're being very careful of their interactions, but I think with time, assurance, and training, the two dogs will be best buds. I do think Nathan might be the leader though.


Nathan also appears to be a little nervous around Josh. It's not evident all the time, just occasionally. I confirmed today with the girls who work at the shelter that he was probably mistreated or abused by a young man or teen boy. So Josh is allowed to only play with him and treat him sweetly, and has to do nothing "bad." Nathan truly loves the younger two boys. He licks Stephen on the face every time he gets around him. His cute little tail wags constantly when he is with either of the two. They have chased him, walked him, laid next to him, on him and under him, thrown toys for him, and loved on him all . . . day . . . long. Poor pup hit a point tonight where he kept moving away from anyone who'd mess with him because he just wanted to SLEEP!!! He is now zonked in his crate, and I haven't heard a peep out of him. I did have to chase Stephen off my bed early this afternoon because he smelled so "doggie."


As for the dog himself, he is on meds for hookworms and earmites or maybe a fungus. Other than that, he seems to be housebroken, bites on us a little--but only like any puppy, tries to sniff the trash (but is figuring out that he isn't allowed to do that pretty quickly), and loves to follow us around. He's a cute little thing, and I feel good about the decision to get him every time I see him, even though it is a lot of work taking care of a "baby."


So there he is--our boy--Nathan. AJ keeps thinking of new names for him. I've encouraged AJ to call him Nathan (he originally wanted to stick with the shelter name), until we really get to know him. Mostly I just wanted AJ to have some time to really decide whether he wanted to rename the pup or not. I haven't come up with anything witty yet. Oh yeah . . . the new dog owner? He's crashed too. Hopefully dreaming sweet dreams of his new best friend!

Puppy Update

Today I took AJ to the pet store to pick out stuff for his puppy. Sheesh! It would have been cheaper to adopt a KID! It was fun watching him trying to pick out a collar, a lead, toys, and so on. He is so independent in his thinking, so sure when he finds what he likes of what he wants. I could see the excitement mounting for him, and it is about to kill him that he has to wait another full day and a half. I kicked myself tonight because I realize I should have taken my camera to the pet store to take photos, but I decided to go on such a whim, that I didn't have it. I WILL take it to the shelter on Friday! The other two boys have a field trip, so AJ and I might go while they are away. I thought it might make bringing the new puppy home a little easier.

Even though Princess might have a hard time adjusting to sharing her family, this whole endeavor has been a good thing for her. It has stimulated my interest in learning about dogs, and has really increased my interest in her. Even though she was purchased for the boys, she is very much MY dog--I'm her "Alpha" as they say. So now I am studying and researching about training dogs, and I'm going to try to train her to not pull on the leash, to not bark when I tell her to stop, and to heel. She is SOOO excitable when we go out the front door, I almost can't control her. It is hard just to get her attention to get commands through her head. We watched a VERY good video on dog training today, and I tried some techniques, but I can't get her to stay alongside me long enough to use the choke chain correctly and effectively. I got a pincher collar today, and was hoping I could master the choke chain so I wouldn't really have to use it, but I think I might for a while until I can control her a little better.

Anyway that's what is going on here. Our lives are pretty much going to the dogs. Thank goodness it's not cats!!!

Three Days and Counting . . .

We get our new baby Friday. Wednesday he has his operation, and Friday we can bring him home. Josh and I went to see him Friday while the boys were out of town, and today we all went up at lunch time to visit him. He is SO sweet, and we fall more and more in love with him each time we are with him. I can't wait to bring him home. But AJ is the most excited of all. He feels like he has waited a long time for his doggie. We're studying about dogs this week as part of his school, so he will understand what Nathan needs, and what he will have to do. As I've read about dog adoptions, I 've learned so much--things I wish I had known when we got Princess. Here are photos of the boys with our baby today:

What I Did for AJ's Birthday

So I have made it my policy not to let the boys have parties for every birthday. They only get parties for "special" birthdays--like the 6th, the 10th, the 13th, the 16th (years that are important only because I think they are important, and for no reason other than my subjective ones!). This year, AJ turned 7--not a "special" birthday--so no party. I was going to try to keep it simple. So this is what I did:

Instead of a party, he got to invite a friend to spend the night. He invited five friends (three are brothers, how could we leave one out? and two are his brothers good friends. We're kind of like that--we just share everything!) So I supplied pizza (very cheap pizza), cake, sodas and snacks, decorations, and treats. Does that sound like a party to you? Yeah. Does to me too. However this is really the first year AJ has really wanted to be with friends of his own, his own age. No. That doesn't really make me feel better about it.

The one thing he really wanted for his birthday was the doggie. So after much prayer and deliberation, I decided to get it. (I've been thinking about this for over a year.) So for his "present" I am paying the adoption fee at the shelter, buying all the "necessities" like a new crate, a trip to the vet, extra food, toys, etc. The cost of this present? I'm too embarrassed to tell you, but let's just say I could get a bunch of toys cheaper.

I told AJ that if he got the dog, that was his present. There would probably be nothing else. But the night before he went to Disney with his grandparents, I began feeling a little guilty that he'd have nothing to open and decided to send "a little bag of treats" with him on his trip. So I fille the BIGGEST gift bag I could find with snacks, a few little toys, stickers, a disposable camera, and tied it off with a personalized balloon. OK, yeah. It was a present. But don't tell anyone.

I also realized at Walmart that he needed new pajamas for his trip . . . a new swimsuit (the eight old hand-me-downs aren't good enough . . . and they don't have superheroes on them) . . . and of course, a birthday outfit. So I got those for him.

I won't tell you how much money I've actually spent on this birthday. Let's just say . . . I should have had a party and presents. It would have saved me money.

At least the kid's worth it.

And I'm consoling myself by reminding myself that God understands how much I love my son. "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Matt 7:11 (NIV)

We're Adopting a New Baby . . . Well, Maybe.

It's a baby boy! (Like I need another boys around here!) He's about six months old. The place where we found him thinks he might have been abused, but he is very easy-going and sweet. We fell in love with him as soon as we saw him yesterday, and went back today with the whole family to check him out again and fill out the applications.

OK, he's a dog. We are getting him from the Safe Animal Shelter in Clay County. The woman we talked to there thinks he is a Shepherd/Retriever mix. He really loved the boys the first day we looked; he wasn't so energetic this morning, but the woman said he had been outside playing all morning so he was tired. We took Princess to see him today, and she really didn't care about him, but we thought it was a good sign that she didn't dislike him.



He is to be a birthday present for Andrew (yeah, but don't worry! No illusions here about my involvement in his care. I do intend for him to be AJ's responsibility though!) AJ has been begging for a puppy now since before Christmas, and I have been thinking about it for over a year, so we're not going into this impulsively like we have before. Everybody is actually kind of excited about him. I think he will be good for AJ, who needs someone to take care of, and for Princess, who needs a friend when we're busy or not home. Does it sound like I'm rationalizing to you. Nawwww . . . not me!

A Boy and His Pig

Everybody likes the ginuea pig, and he certainly doesn't lack for attention, but Stephen has a special love for Nibs. And although the boy would NEVER DREAM of kissing a girl, he will kiss a guinea pig!