Happy Birthday, Pumpkin Patches!

 

 Happy Birthday, Shy Fluff

 

Patches likes to hide and peek.

Happy Birthday, Audrey!

 

Happy Birthday to the kangaroo-wookie!

Thank you for all of your kisses, SquirrelBarker5000!

Happy Birthday, Hazelnut!

 

 4 years old and still stirring up the crazy!

 

Hazelnut loves the snow and pouncing on frozen ground.

Happy Birthday, Pumpkin Patches!

 

Happy Birthday to the Pumpkin Fluff!

 

The master of sleeping and rabbit feet.

Happy Birthday, Audrey!

 Olive Tree the Birthday Prom Queen

She loves people and she loves to be told she's pretty.

Happy Birthday, Hazelnut!

 

Happy Birthday to our supervisor, Hazelnut!

3 years of hyper-vigilant supervision.  :)

Happy Birthday, Pumpkin Patches!

 

Happy Birthday to the regal Pumpkin Patches!

 

Happy Birthday, Audrey

 

Happy Birthday to the largest baby I've ever called family.

 

Dr. Hazelnut

Happy Birthday to the endless energy that is Hazelnut!

For Hazelnut's birthday, we adopted her this giant chew toy named Olive Tree, aka Audrey, from the Humane Society. Life just got a whole lot louder and smellier!

Kungfu Panza

Panzer vs. Hair Clip 

in 

The Great Battle of the Oval Tub

Happy Birthday, Hazelnut

 

Happy Birthday, Dr. Hazelnut Filbert!

Thank you for being my monkey and my neck-sitter.

 

Hazelnut

This here's Hazelnut Filbert.  She's my newest rescue furbie.  I snagged her from the Humane Society amid a herd of crying, disappointed girls in line behind me.

Sorry to disappoint, young ones, but this nutjob is hanging out with me.  :)

And biting everything that can possibly be bitten...

Patches Cat Trap

Tried out one of those internet-recommended cat traps.  I do believe it was a success:  

The trap has attracted it's feline subject.

Subject decides to gather more information from a distance.

 Subject melts into fur pile.

Cat Trap Mission: Success

Dirt Girl

My name is Pumpkin Patches. 

My interests include rolling in the dirt. 

And cleaning my toe beans on white comforters.

Pumpkin Patches

I adopted Patches from the wonderful Petaluma Animal Services (PASF) shelter on a foster-to-adopt program. Renamed her Pumpkin Patches She had been turned in repeatedly for litter box issues. She spends the majority of her time hiding in the bathroom, but she's working on her bravery and she's a HUGE fan of belly rubs.

Pet Birthdays

Panzer, my Cat Tales Rescue rescue, is 2 years old this July.

He's still quite a handful. He likes to harass the dogs. He loves to lick Brisbie. And Brisbie? She's not a fan. She growls to warn him off, but he still tries to sneak in and lick her. He seems to be partial to her ears.


People think he is sweet because he is fluffy and squishy, but there is a wild raccoon inside of him. It makes me think of the Black Keys lyric 'The look on the cake, it ain't always the taste. My ex-girl, she had such a beautiful face,' from the song Next Girl. If I could get him to wear a collar it would read 'Watch your fingers.'

~~~

Brisbie and Tatum's birthdays are in August.

They got old peanut butter jars of blissful happiness.

Tatum, a rescue from Nevada County Animal Shelter, is 9 this year. She survived a cancerous tumor on her paw last year and got quickly back to her status as FIRST! one to the ball.

Happiness is apparently a branch around your neck and a tennis ball in your mouth. Panzer followed her around keeping the world safe from the dangers of branch ends.



Brisbie, now 7, and her resident handler, Kayla. She gets Brisbie to perform acts I would never have guessed possible.

All eyes on the ball.

Happy Birthday Panzer!

Panzer, whom I call 'Pants' mostly, has turned a year old!

He is quite the odd little animal to cohabitate with. He thinks he is one of the dogs, but I would equate him more to a raccoon or a squirrel; something you would think is a bit too wild to live indoors.

Panzer is fascinated by electronics. He waits for the DVD and Xbox to open so he can attack the CD trays, he wants to know where the paper comes from when the printer is on, and he is a big fan of the ceiling fans. He won't leave my laptop alone either. He is either running across it, batting at the screen or trying to get underneath it. If my laptop is open and the screen goes to sleep, he will come over and touch the keyboard to get it going again. He gets excited when I play music over the laptop or my Ipod - circling around, digging underneath, smelling and tasting the noise-maker all in the effort of finding where the sound comes from.

Panzer waiting patiently for the chance

to get his paw caught in the DVD player.

Panzer is really active. He needs constant stimulation. He is hard on the furniture, the old cat, and my flesh. He prefers to attack one of the dogs (Tatum) and lick the other (Brisbie). The licking seems cute and affectionate, but Brisbie is not his biggest fan and she growls at him when he tries to groom her. Panz thinks he is one of the dogs and gets really upset when they go somewhere he doesn't. When they go outside to play ball, he expects to go too and then spends his time jumping out of the bushes and attacking the dogs as they pass, and climbing trees at maximum possible speed.

He is a ruthless bag-ivore (be it plastic or paper), a murderer of yarn (especially if it is attached to a project), and a thief of other people's food (no matter how full his own bowl is).



What's good about him? He is hilarious and adorable. Panz is very interested in everything I do. He waits outside of the bathroom for me, throws himself down on my lap in a fuzzy little ball, lays across the back of my neck to watch me knit or type, every move he makes is accompanied by a tiny trills and squeaks as though he were a toy, he plays fetch with his favorite toy.

He also has the most amazing fur. I keep saying I'm going to make myself a Panzer hat one day. And the belly. He has the cutest, fat, squishy belly. If you can survive the retaliation, it's well worth a squeeze.

As I type this, he is using my arm as a prop to hold up his leg while he cleans it. Glad to be of service...

Happy Birthday, Pants. :)

Popeye Has Been Adopted!

Our spunky little foster cat, Popeye, has been adopted from Whiskers, Tails and Ferals. He has gone to a nice family with two little ones. I'm so happy that Popeye has found his forever family.

Panzer has had a funny reaction to Popeye leaving. He didn't spend any time searching the house for the missing kitten, like he did when Link was adopted. Panzer became highly affectionate and demanding of my attention for a few days. I think he was a bit jealous of the one on one time Popeye and I spent; maybe Panzer is happy to have all of my attention back.

In addition, Panzer has lost his playful outlet and has reverted back to attacking the dogs, our old cat, my hair, and using our furniture like a race track. He might even be a bit more excited than usual... Now all the personal time that can be afforded to me comes from Panz's renewed fascination with paper bags.

We hope Popeye is having fun with his new family. :)

Popeye and the Dogs

I am pleased to report that Popeye is acclimating to our dogs. We have a lab (Brisbie) and a lab/german shepard/etc mix (Tatum). Both dogs are fairly excitable and curious, especially when there is a new smell in the house.

On the first day that Popeye and the dogs began to share the living room, I was prepared to separate them after a short while, but I didn't have to. Suddenly Popeye became aware of the dog and no-dog areas of the room. He played in the cat area and peeked out at the dogs from behind the couch.

Dog watches Cat, Cat watches Bird

(Tatum is the brown dog, Brisbie the yellow one.)

The biggest surprise that day was when Popeye curled up and went to sleep on the cat tower. It was the first time he had gone to sleep outside of his crate or his favorite hiding corner, under the curtains. And on dog day #1 of all days. Since that Monday, the upper rungs of the cat tower are Popeye's favorite napping spot.

Another startling advancement happened the next day when he wandered past the dogs on their dog beds (they were obeying the rules without taking their eyes off of him for a second) and down the hallway, then used the littler box in the bathroom. I'm amazed that he chose to treat our house like his own so early in his introduction to our dogs.

Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that everyone loves each other and they all roll around together in a field of heather. Popeye doesn't care for the dogs but is becoming quickly tolerant of them. He plays his way out into the living room, forgets they are there, complains at them, then darts away. The good news is that he doesn't stay hidden for long. Less than a minute behind some piece of furniture and he is back to what he was doing.

Popeye's reaction is much different than anything I had expected. He doesn't treat the dogs as though they are predators, which would be natural. He treats them like any other moving, noise making thing in our house; potentially scary. He gives the dogs a wide berth while walking by and doesn't let their presence deter him from what he is doing. Popeye has no problem objecting when the dogs try to get closer or they surprise him.

In summation, Popeye still enjoys himself the most when the house is on the quiet side, he is adjusting well to our dogs, and becoming very comfortable traversing our house. Still not a fan of the video camera though. :(

The cure for feline photophobophobia? Why, a little white mouse, of course.

Furrballicide

(He didn't want to be videotaped, but the mousefur toy could not be ignored.)

CUTENESS NOTE: Not only are Popeye's ear hairs white, but he has one, tiny, white whisker.

More Popeye

This is information I'd like to pass along to anyone interested in adopting Popeye. I try to document behaviors I am fairly certain you won't see from a crate at an adoption day. I hope this helps Popeye find a forever home, if his active personality isn't apparent at Petco.

~~~

After spending a week with this little kitten, he still doesn't like having his picture taken. I've tried to be sneaky; holding the camera over my shoulder, obscuring it behind the couch, but he is onto me every time. Popeye plays in such an entertaining manner. He doesn't care if I'm watching while he plays and he doesn't care if I point the camera at him when he is just sitting around, but if I try while he is playing, he stops what he is doing or disappears.

I have a lot of film of Popeye smelling the ground, staring at me and/or running away.

Popeye really enjoys the little beds and rugs on the ground in the cat area. He gets underneath them and plays, lays on the floor and attacks the edges, either propelling himself along or spinning them in a circle. He also seems to be drawn to little fur covered mice toys. He plays them across our concrete floor, throwing his body down on the ground and sliding across the floor as he does. He has taken all of the mice, one by one, to the same corner of the living room.

2.5 Seconds of Play

(I thought I was smooth grabbing the camera while Popeye was under the cat bed, but he found me out pretty quick. This is still the best video capture of him.)

At this moment, the kittens are playing in the bathtub, although that may not be Popeye's preference. Panzer has been fascinated by jumping in and out of the tub since the first day we got him and I'm sure he has lured Popeye in there with the specific hopes that he will find a playmate to jump in and out with him.

~~~

Popeye has become much more animated when in a lovey mood, too. He walks in a circle while being pet, purring all the while. He seems to want to be pet all over his body. This morning he jumped up on the couch to visit with me, tossed his body down on my lap, rolled over (exposing his belly), and stretched luxuriously. When he looked back at me again, his little tongue was sticking out between his teeth.

Happy in the Morning

(I apologize that this video is mostly of my feet, but it shows how affectionate Popeye is. Too bad you can't hear him purring.)

I don't think Panzer cares for Popeye's 'Lovey Time' at all. He watches us from a distance with his ears turned back. I tell Panzer that I have two hands, but he remains unenthused.

~~~

On a behavioral note, Popeye responds well to a clap of the hands and 'tst' when learning the rules of the house. While he really enjoys exploring the house and has become increasingly lovey with me, he is still caught off guard by new noises and movement. I think that a home with dogs or small children would require a lot of adjustment. Also, if he hides, he can always be lured out with food.

(This is the best pic I have been able to get of Popeye's unusual two-toned eyes. They flow from golden brown to green in the center.)