Feline Friday: Jump!

As I mentioned in last week's post, Lily is "feline" SO MUCH better since her surgery! The most significant change is in her mobility. I can only surmise that her "rear end issues" were making jumping and climbing uncomfortable, if not painful. 

She's never been a skilled jumper like Tinsel was, but she's doing a lot more of it now! In recent days, I've personally observed her jumping to places she hasn't in a very long time. Now, of course, I've seen her up on the table from time to time, but I don't see her JUMPING up there. She will typically CLIMB up to the table via a chair. To see her jump from the floor to the table is new for her!

 

 

 Of course, she's not supposed to be up there, but I allowed it because it's so unusual -- and really good to see that she FEELS like jumping!

I've also observed her jump from place to place. Once on the table, she decided she could jump to the island! Here she's thinking about it...should I do it?

 The next thing I knew, she was flying through the air -- island-bound!

 

In recent days, I also spotted her on the piano, a forbidden place she hasn't jumped on in YEARS. For many years I covered the piano with a throw because Tinsel was keen on jumping up there, but since Tinsel has been gone, I haven't needed to worry about Lily jumping up there. But not now! This is both good and bad as I really don't want her to be up there!

 

 

 

I stayed really close to her to make sure she didn't damage anything (she didn't). I thought she'd jump down and move on to a nice nap, but to my surprise, she decided to be a real dare-devil! Watch this if you dare! LOL

As you can see, Lily is a cautious jumper and measures thoroughly before attempting such feats! Amazingly, nothing toppled over during this jump even though she didn't quite stick the landing. I'll give it an 8/10 but a 10/10 for trying! :)

Feline Friday

 Lily has had a good week, although I'm not sure she accomplished all of her goals!

Last week, she went to the vet to have a cyst on her chin drained for the second time. That went just fine and now she freely allows chin scritches again. We're also experiencing some rear-end problems again and she's on a 10-day course of steriods to see if the problem resolves. I'm not convinced that it will so we'll probably be making another visit soon. But overall, she is 100% better than before her surgery so I'm grateful for that!

 She has lost a TINY bit of weight, although it's hard for me to tell now that she's not going to the vet quite as often. But she was down a few tenths of a pound at the last visit so that's a good thing!

Weight loss continues to be a challenge for her. She LOVES most people food and that is her (MY) main problem. I give in to her whining because, let's face it, she's SO DARN CUTE and gets SO EXCITED for food.

Here she is, hoping for Thai food....

 

 By the way, we tried a new Thai appetizer called Curry Puffs. OH, MY! These have actually more of an Indian taste as they are filled with potatoes, peas, and a mild curry flavor. SO GOOD. Lily did not get any of them, although she tried.

 Here she is, having a small sample of sour cream. This is her (MY) downfall.

 Lily also fell short of her (MY) goals for napping on Meowmy's lap. For some reason, she hasn't been too keen on that this week. Once the weather gets colder, she'll be back. She's a seasonal lap cat.

 

 Since The Rug came to our house in June, she's been obsessed with it. When faced with the choice between napping on Meowmy or The Rug, she'll always choose the latter. SIGH.

 

  On the other hand/paw, she's done quite well with her jumping goals. This week she was back up on the mantel. Prior to the surgery, she wasn't jumping very much. Now she's much more interested in jumping onto her Places of Power!

 

HAPPY FELINE FRIDAY!

Feline Friday: Got Geckos?

 If you live in warmer parts of the country, you're no doubt familar with these little geckos. They're only two-three inches long and change color to match whatever surface they're on. I first saw them outside of our daughter's Texas apartment, hanging out on the building walls and patio. They're really hard to see because they can quickly adapt their coloring -- right before your eyes! 

 

Now that she's moved to a house with a yard, the geckos are even more abundant. And as it turns out, they easily attach themselves to doors and ride inside. In recent weeks, our daughter has found two -- TWO -- INSIDE THE HOUSE. Again, they're hard for us humans to spot because they can change color to match ANYTHING.

Good thing Rory is on the case! It's only through Rory's expert mousing -- er...LIZARDING -- skills that the two geckos were detected! On the first occasion, she had cornered a baby lizard on the carpet, thus drawing her Meomy's attention. Meowmy was able to trap it and take it outside.

Unfortunately -- and we don't know the exact situation here -- when Meowmy trapped the gecko, it was missing at least one of its feet. Let's not even speculate on this now.😳

On the second occasion, Rory actually CARRIED the gecko into the living room while making a certain and very specific meow, reserved for special occasions when a mama cat brings prey back to the nest. She plopped the gecko down for all to see, and her Meowmy again scooped it up and took it outside. This time, all gecko feet were present and accounted for.

 

Who knew that Rory was such an intrepid lizard hunter? 😸

Feline Friday

It's been six weeks since Lily's surgery and she seems to be back to normal, or even a little better than normal. One doesn't expect a 14-year-old kitty to be playful but now that she's free from those painful and uncomfortable rear-end issues, she has recovered a little bit of her inner kitten!

 I've seen her jump up on the counter and table -- both naughty behaviors but I am happy to see that she CAN! She's exploring the corner cupboard when I leave it open. She jumps for a toy, something I haven't observed in a very long time. And she's even climbing up onto the mantel where she can properly survey her kingdom!

None of these behaviors may seem like a big deal but in the months prior to her surgery, these types of antics rarely happened. I think her bottom was bothering her so much that it limited her mobility. I wonder what is going through her little mind (Spouse would say "NOTHING!") post-surgery. Is she thinking, "Gosh, I feel so much better now!" ?

 Even if she can't QUITE form the words, I know that she DOES feel so much better and I'm so very grateful for this happy outcome!  

HAPPY FELINE FRIDAY!
Lily suggests working in an extra nap or two during the long weekend!

Feline Friday: Is this Narnia?

 Lily has always been fascinated with this corner cupboard. If I leave it open, as I am prone to do, she will venture inside. 

Our older kitty, Tinsel, used to go inside, too. 

Of course, this situation isn't sanitary at all. After she comes out (or is FISHED out), I have to wipe things down. I just don't know what the attraction is.

Maybe she thinks the corner cupboard is a secret passageway to another world, like Narnia.

Sorry, Lily, it's just Tupperware. 😊

Neem Oil to the Rescue

I've had my share of patio pot failures over the years but this summer, I have had the worst possible luck -- with a couple of notable exceptions: The crossandra plants I brought back from Texas seem completely immune to disease and have never stopped blooming. They have grown considerably and look so nice and healthy, with no effort whatsover on my part.

 

My hanging lantana baskets have also done quite well, while the lantana in a pot struggled and is finally coming back. Check out that beautiful black swallowtail! We've had a ton of butterflies this summer which makes me very happy!

 

Other than those plants and a handful of others, the patio pot season has been a dismal and perplexing failure. I have replaced many annuals and thrown out even more. As an example, every single plant on this baker's rack died. I still have basil and rosemary but both are replacement plants.

 

 You know it's bad when I don't even have pictures of the plants I had to toss...I was too angry and upset to even document the situation. Most of the plants seemed to start with brown/dried leaves around the stem base which progressed -- unstoppably -- to kill the entire plant. In pots with more than one type of annual, only the flowering annual was affected. In this pot, the pink spotted foliage is still doing fine. Here's one photo I happened to take.

 

The dragonwing begonias that were so spectacular last year didn't grow much at all after planting them. Last year's plants were ridiculously easy to care for and I couldn't wait to have them again! This photo is from last fall.

Unfortunately, this year's begonias were a total flop, even though they came from the same place, were planted in the same pots and placed in the same spot. They barely grew after I planted them and eventually withered and died, even though I cared for them in the same way as last year. The hanging baskets also succumbed to a similar plight. The two hostas are the only plants I have left on the front step. I'd like to get some mums, but do I dare???

My three hibiscus plants started out strong but then nearly succumbed to something which made the buds fall off and the leaves yellow. I tried watering them more, watering them less, more sun, less sun, fungicide, pesticide...nothing was working and I was on the verge of throwing them out.

In desperation, I tried treating them with with Neem Oil I had on hand from last summer and to my complete delight, all three have completely recovered. I only wish I'd thought to try Neem Oil on the other plants.

 

At this point, I've got just a few of the pots I started with but, thanks to Neem Oil, they're all doing well.

Here's hoping my success with Neem Oil might help out a fellow struggling gardening friend!

Feline Friday: The Great Outdoors

 We've had some beautiful weather here lately, making it a PURR-fect time for Lily to venture outdoors! I know I've said forever that I need to get her a new harness but I haven't managed to get that done yet. Cousin Rory in Texas has offered to give her harness to Lily since she is not allowed to go outside due to her slippery coat and speedy tendencies, so hopefully one of these days we'll be able to go back to Texas and get it!

 

 Meanwhile, wearing our too-small harness, we headed outdoors for a little walkabout. Lily still hates the feel of grass on her feet but this time she did a little better than usual. She stood in the grass long enough for a few glamour shots and even had some interest in walking toward the neighbors' yard.

 

   Ahhhh....those mysterious outdoor smells!

 

 

   Those weird and sort of scary outdoor sounds....

 

 Note the little paw lifted up! Soon she had had enough of the grass.

 

 

Lily made a beeline back to her PURR-sonal "sidewalk". The garden edging is a great catwalk and keeps the grass from tickling her delicate feet!

 Here's to a happy Feline Friday and more trips to the great outdoors!

 

Feline Friday with Rory

It's time to check in on Cousin Rory in Texas!

It will soon be back to school time so Rory's showing some spirit with her new "M" attire, representing her meowmy's new school. With school starting back up, Rory will be on home security patrol during the days.

She's already been practicing for her new job! Whenever she hears someone coming up the stairs, Rory smooshes herself as flat as possible until she sees who it might be.

NOTICE THE EARS!!!

I don't know why, but I find her expression here absolutely hilarious!

No worries, Rory is on duty!

Happy Feline Friday, friends!

Feline Friday

I'm pleased to report that Lily is finally doing GREAT following her surgery! Next week, it will be one month since the procedure. I'd say it has taken a solid 2.5-3 weeks for her to get back to normal. That's not bad for a 14 year old kitty!

 

I'll be honest, when she went through a couple of weeks of constipation after the operation, I was worried. I wondered if I had made the right decision in choosing the surgery, which I knew came with risks of chronic incontinence or constipation. I worried that the constipation she was experiencing was the result of the surgery and not just a temporary situation.

Thank goodness it turned out to be temporary and she is doing great now. It just took awhile for the anethesia and pain killer side effects to work their way out of her system. I can tell by her activity level that her little bottom is feeling SO MUCH BETTER. Those anal glands must have been terribly painful for her. I'm so glad we will no longer have to run to the vet every few week to to have them expressed.

Funny: We brought this old rug home from Texas when my daughter no longer needed it. It belonged to my mom and even spent a summer with Bailey when she was a camp counselor in Michigan. Lily has completely fallen in love with it since her surgery. I've washed it several times and she keeps returning to it. This is a terrible place for an old white rug but since she's enjoying it there, I'll allow it! LOL

 

In the past few days, she's been jumping, looking out the window, and playing much more actively than she was before the procedure. Before the operation, I noticed that she would walk a little bit and sit down...walk and sit down. Now she's trotting all around, free from pain. It is just so gratifying to see.

Even though she's in her golden years, I feel strongly that Lily deserves to have the best quality of life possible. Our vet didn't hestitate to perform the procedure on a kitty of her age, knowing that it would make her so much more comfortable. Although the recovery was a bit more stressful than I expected it to be (for both of us), I'm so pleased that she has ended up in a much better place!