Moggie Madness

Most of you would be familiar with how the moggies came to live with us. For those who joined in late in the game, you can find out all about Mojo and Rosie in their respective posts. It would be a bit remiss of me not to include them in the photo challenge, although originally I thought I had that many photos of them up already that you are probably sick of looking at them. But my life would be very empty without them, so they too are a blessing. I tried really hard to get a new photo of the two of them together but Mojo just wasn’t playing nice in terms of getting a nice photo. It’s like he doesn’t want the WWW to know that secretly, he does like his housemate and occasionally gives her nose kisses. So it’s back to one of my most frequently photographed subject and all round mummy’s girl, Rosie.

Of all the cats that could have come home with me from the shelter, I’m glad it was Rosie that chose me. She may shed a tonne of fur in a week, chew anything and everything and wake me up at odd hours of the morning for a cuddle but it just wouldn’t be the same here without her.

Mum decided that there just wasn’t enough tinsel on the big Christmas tree - which we moggies have been very good and left alone (don’t ask about the mini tree though) - and so she put up even more along the top of this blind. But she didn’t realise that the tinsel from last year has fallen down behind the blind so I thought I would help her fix it….but a moggie can only do so much. A little help please mum??

“What the heck is this??”

“Is there food in it??”

“Oh I know, it’s a chew toy right?”

“Oh ok, I’ll wear it. But only because you feed me!”

Most of the time, my cats entertain themselves. But tonight I discovered a way to provide an endless source of amusement for Rosie and for me. Of course the effectiveness of it depends on how sweet and innocent your kitty is. Fortunately Rosie is sweet-natured and gullible…..thus easily entertained.

The method is simple:

1. Take a roll of wrapping paper and discard the paper (or wrap presents with it first, it’s up to you) and remove the flexible inner cardboard. This will only work with those rolls that have a cardboard liner that is not a solid cylinder.
2. Roll the cardboard so that it forms a long funnel with a very small opening at one end and tape up the side of the funnel.
3. Put the smallest end to your mouth and start talking.
4. Watch your gullible little kitty try to jam her head into the end of the funnel, wondering how you’re hiding a human in something as small as the funnel.
5. Repeat ad nauseum, until you are no longer laughing or kitty loses interest.

Of course the fun stops when kitty starts chewing at the end of the funnel and starts making a big jolly mess everywhere. *hehe*

Part of the All Women Blogging Carnival 26 November 2007, hosted by Leigh at All For Women.

Now that uni is over for better or worse (hoorah), I have all this free time on my hands. So what better way to make use of it than learning how to use my camera properly. *hehe* Rosie has been a good sport in this endeavour….Mojo has not come to the party so far - point a lens in his direction and he just curls up so tightly that you can’t see his face. Poor boy….guess he has been photographed a bit too much over the years although I’m still hoping to get that elusive macro headshot of him. Here are a few of today’s offerings - the lighting was pretty low at the time and so that I didn’t get that “laser eye” effect, I turned off the flash. I’m pretty happy with the way they turned out….I’d love to know which one you think is the better shot because I know which one my favourite is.

Apologies for the background….unfortunately it is one of hers and Mojo’s favourite places to stretch out and relax, even if it does look like a Willy Wonka wrapper *hehe*

Don’t you just love the silly season?? I’m not a big fan of the commercial side of Christmas but I do enjoy putting a few decorations up around the house and just crossing my fingers and hopinig nothing gets broken, torn or chewed up before Christmas is even over. I hadn’t bothered with a Christmas tree before last year - but I got caught up in the spirit of things and decided that it just wasn’t Christmas without a tree. So I got one.

It was a very small one but at least it was a tree. I thought it would be a reasonably good test to see what would happen to a bigger tree. A few ornaments got knocked off when he tried to climb it but when he barely got four feet off the ground before it fell over - well he just gave up and then just ignored it. Well Christmas came and went and the tree stood for around two months before I finally put it away in the back room.

This will be Rosie’s first Christmas here so I thought I would test the waters with the small tree before I got another one. Rosie is a big time chewer so I had my doubts that the tree would still be intact by the time we got back from the Barringtons. Surprisingly, it is still upright and with all its decorations still on it. She’s had a sniff and a chew but basically has left it alone. Woohoo!!! Time to get a big tree!!

Rosie just isn’t having a good time of it lately. Not only has the warmer weather brought with it a reoccurrence of her dermatitis/hot spot problem but she is shedding like you wouldn’t believe. There are bits of her fur flying around the house….kind of like tumble weed really. I keep brushing her as much as she will tolerate but it keeps coming off and although she is an obliging sort, I’m not quite game enough to get near her with the vaccuum cleaner. I had a bad experience with Mojo trying to vacuum excess fur off him once….let’s just say I still have visible scars from the experience.

Unfortunately she must be ingesting a lot of her fur as well during grooming and since she’s not much of a yakker (like Mojo), it tends to get swallowed along with everything else. So off to the pet shop, after a little bit of investigating online, to get a tube of Cat Lax “a palatable formula for use as a feline laxative to aid in hairball removal”.

I’m always a little bit dubious when I read that something is “palatable” when I have to use it on the pets. After all, the “meaty flavoured” chewable Drontal tabs for Mischa would only be swallowed with numerous liver treats and plenty of encouragement. The “palatable” antibiotic paste I had to give Mojo after his dental treatment, resulted in much hissing, spitting and biting. In the end I had to wrap him right up in a blanket, restrain him between my knees and force the stuff down his throat and pray to god that he didn’t try to kill me in my sleep.

So I give the Cat Lax a little sniff…..smells a lot like that syrupy stuff you make home brew beer from. I look at the ingredients…..malt, cod liver oil, beeswax, parrafin and a few other bits and pieces. Honestly, all it needs is a fair whack of salt and you could almost think it was Vegemite. Surprisingly, the palatable formula of Cat Lax went down a treat with Rosie. She sat there licking it off her face and then came back for more!! Hoorah, finally a “palatable taste” that cats actually find palatable as well!

Now if they can start making that flavour in worming tablets I will be very much appreciative.