by Sweetie, chronicler of mischief and mayhem and the good stuff too.

Dear friends, 

As you may know Whiskers and Mousie were at the vet again last week. Whiskers has lost on average an ounce a week... which doesn't seem a lot but when you clock it out over the long-term she's losing a pound every 3 months.  THAT ISN'T GOOD. 

Mousie over the past few months gained one ounce. Better than losing but not great.  She is still under her pre-bladderstone weight.  She eats well, most days, but isn't gaining as we hoped she would.  In addition, her heart is beating very quickly.  Her issues are a challenge.  She needs a high salt diet for the kidney/bladder flushing but that raises her blood pressure which isn't good. Add to this her heart murmur and things are dicey at best.  So, more blood work has been ordered and we await the results.  

The reason we headed to the vet last week (besides their 6 week checkup) is because these two continue to throw up occasionally.  Grammy tries to ensure they get 6 meals a day and no more than 5 hours apart but occasionally she cannot manage it.  At those times it is very likely but not definite that one or the other will throw up foamy bile the next morning.  This is irritating Whiskers' throat.  So...

The new routine is to give Whiskers, the main culprit, a small dose of a tummy settler before her breakfast, give the other meds daily for a few days then switch back to alternate days and increase her pain meds to up to twice daily.  It seems to be working.   Only had to administer the tummy settler routine once and she was fine all day and the next morning despite Grammy sleeping 8 hours straight.  This is good as Grammy herself has been unwell and needs her own meds and rest.  

Meantime, both spend most of their time in the bedroom, sleeping and snuggling, cuddling and sleeping some more and join Grammy in the family area in the late afternoon and evening and sleep with her through the night. Of course, overnight the boys join Grammy on the bed too which makes for a crowded bed.

The boys seem to be losing weight slowly, which is how Grammy wants it... and despite regular attempts to snaffle an extra meal by harassing Grammy with mriaows of  60 decibels or higher they are doing well.  Neither is starving, I can assure you, though they would beg to differ.

Entering the kitchen seems to activate a stampede to said room and scream response.   Grammy is learning to ignore them when she enters the kitchen and she has also learned to avoid that room except at their specific meal times trying to plan her own mealtimes immediately after they've been fed.   Too bad we can't get them to race madly around the condo to get fit instead of to get food.  Silly boys.

I, Sweetie, am my usual sweet cuddly self.  I nuzzle Grammy's robe in the morning and again mid-afternoon if the boys haven't usurped my spot for a grammy cuddle. Nights are spent prowling the perimeter for errant dust bunnies and oak leaves.  I must protect the pride.

​Well, other than a few photos that's all for this week.  We'll update Facebook once we get the results of Mousie's bloodwork.  Meantime, life goes on.

by the Mischief and Mayhem crew with Grammy's help.

Dear friends.  
We have created a new video slide show that we hope you will enjoy.  Grammy suggested this would be quicker than making her think through and write a proper blog.  Boy was she wrong.  It has taken us all day... and we mean ALL DAY to put this together. 

It includes us, of course, our family, our in-laws and our friends local and far away.    Check it out, you may find yourselves in there. And if we've missed you, please forgive us.  We tried to include everyone whose photos we had in our albums.

We hope you will enjoy it. 

And if you haven't already done so, go to BIOS to read about our foster/adoption stories and to various categories for us and for our friends - Categories like All About Us,  Family, Other Kitties and Fur Friends and Photos, Videos & Slideshows.

So here is the link for our latest YouTube video.... Facebook Friends and Family 

Dear friends, we love you and look forward to your comments.

By Sweetie, frustrated blogger

Dear friends.  You'll never believe what happened! Grammy, our scribe, you know... the slacker who types our blogs Tuesdays instead of our requisite Monday, has really done it this time. 

I just spent all day dictating the blog...   and I must say, it was a good one.  T is For...  was Terrific, Timely and a Tummy Tickler.  We finally finished it,  she saved it and I asked her to add my profile photo and a few other pictures. 

What does she do?  She puts Etude's photo up.  How could she mistake me for that chubby fellow?  Huh?  Really!  How could she be that dumb?  Then to top it off when she deleted the photo she ended up deleting the whole blog.  Unfortunately, when she tried to pull up her last saved copy she had deleted everything.  That whole beautifully dictated blog is GONE! 

​So much for our generosity doubling her salary.  So, for now... this is all you get, dear friends. a dismal apology from us.   As a consolation we will add in a few photos in a slideshow... but that doesn't make up for such a mishap.   

We are still on the lookout for a new scribe.  Please if you are interested send us your resumes and we'll consider them thoughtfully and thoroughly.

by Gentle Mousie, cuddlemuffin and concerned blogger.  

Dear friends, 
A new year is beginning and that means we have a clean slate to write upon and already it has been marred.  Yes, marred.  As you must realize, we did not post a blog yesterday.  Not from lack of trying.  The scribe, you know - Grammy... well, she slacked off.  Obviously, she has her priorities mixed up.   

Of course, I realize that is the trouble with cheap help.  So, I called the others to a meeting to discuss this issues.  We five, sweet, cuddly fluffballs, sat down and had a discussion. This is how it went.

Whiskers spoke first and suggested we ought to increase Grammy's salary after all, she does do a lot for us as it is. The old dear might be more inclined to focus on us instead of all those other things that grab her attention if we grease the wheels, so to speak.  Rondo jumped up and started to freak.  As the sole breadwinner among the quintet he wasn't keen to cough up more moula.  He felt we were already paying her too much - you know - besides the excess attention! Don't forget all those cuddles we give her and the nightly hair grooming and hand washing while she (tries to) sleeps.  And those mock battles where we pounce on Sweetie to make her squeal that drag the old dear out of bed in the wee hours.

With that, Etude piped in and suggested we might check out what the economic inflation index was for the year and proceeded to do so.  Maybe we could manage somewhere around three per cent? What do you think? That wouldn't break the bank. Rondo wasn't having any of that... he felt we needed to conserve that to pay for the extra cost of food this year - especially now that we have three main diets to consider - and in 5 variations... Weight control for Etude (wet and kibble) and himself (kibble only, please), Urinary for Mousie and Hypoallergenic for Whiskers (which Sweetie can have if she doesn't want her regular food).  

Good point, Rondo. Well, at that point Sweetie jumped up and told the boys they were being stingy... (3% and no increase, pffft!).  She continued...We should be generous and offer Grammy a 40 percent increase.  That way maybe we could count on more cuddles and it would cover the cost of replacing the yarn we destroy when she's knitting.   WELL, I, Mousie, don't destroy yarn but as those that do are siblings and siblings should stand together, I thought that a very good idea.  Yes, a 40 percent increase sounded reasonable.  

With that, mummy Whiskers, who had nodded off while Etude was on the internet checking on inflation rates, woke up and sputtered and shouted out.  Why not bowl the old dear over and offer to double her salary?   You know, she does clean our litter boxes, feed us frequent meals a day, washes all our dishes and keeps our bedding clean ...  AND SHE PAYS THE BILL FOR THE HEATING to keep us warm.  Come on guys.  Show a little compassion here.  It's the NEW YEAR and we ought to show a little generosity here. 

Voice pipes up from the livingroom ... YOU DO REALIZE THAT DOUBLE $0 is still ZERO, don't you?  and BLOGS will be on Tuesdays this month!!!

Talk about ungrateful.    That proves it!  You cannot get good help these days, not matter how generous you are!