Tortietude

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Sleeping with the Golden

2009-08-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

This is what Murray and I used to do a lot -- sleep close to each other. If I lay too close to him he would walk away (how rude!), but if I kept just enough distance it would be OK. Here I'm in the chair and Murray is in the floor, so I'm not even sure if he knew I was there. But I knew he was there.

Tortie(tude) Solitude

2009-08-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

It’s very quiet around the house now without Murray. It’s weird when both Frank and Dee Dee are gone and I’m home by myself. I mostly sleep, but sometimes I feel lonely. I get extra lovey and meow a lot when Dee Dee comes home. I don’t like it when she’s upstairs and I’m downstairs so I meow even more. I guess I’ll get used to it, but right now it’s strange.

My Friend Murray

2009-08-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

Today Frank and Dee Dee are sad. I am sad too. My friend Murray the golden retriever went away and he's not coming back. Dee Dee said that Murray had not been feeling well and at 13 he was a very old dog. I could tell he had not been his old self lately – he wouldn’t even move when I would roll near him and try to get him to play. He never would play with me, but he would always get up and move, even if I barely batted his paw! Well, a couple times he growled and barked at me, but that was probably because I jumped on him and started batting him in the face. I never used my claws, but I guess I deserved the warning.

I’ll miss jumping out at him when he comes in from a walk, and I’ll miss swatting at him (no claws!) at he walks by. I’ll also miss the way he would follow me all around – or was it me who followed him? I don’t know, but it seemed we were often in the same place at the same time. One thing I won’t miss – when he would sometimes eat my food! I won’t even mention what he used to do in my litter box.

Murray was here when I first came home to live with Frank and Dee Dee. He was always nice to me, even if he seemed kind of nervous. Who’d be scared of a tortie? He sure had a loud bark and that scared me sometimes, but usually I’d ignore it.

I'm posting a picture of us on the very first day we met at PetSmart. Dee Dee took Murray in to meet me before she brought me home. You can see he looks a little crazy, but I thought he was OK. I don't know who the old man in the beard is. I will miss Murray. For a dog he was a good friend. I'm sending purrs his way.

It's Officially "Fall"

2008-09-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

Here I am snuggled in one of my favorite spots -- my purr pad. I suddenly had the urge to curl up here after being away from it for the whole summer. It just seemed like a good idea. Dee Dee was a little upset to see me there, saying "It must be officially Fall -- Kayla is on her purr pad! Where did the summer go?"

I don't know what "Fall" is, but I do know it feels good to lie on this soft, warm furry spot right now. I can't imagine why I didn't like it before now!

4H Cats

2008-09-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

Today Dee Dee and Frank went to the Puyallup Fair to see the 4H cats. I thought that any event that had dozens of cats had to be good until I found out that all of the cats are in cages. Dee Dee said the cats don't mind because they're raised that way and the cages are all decorated, but I am a free range cat -- I will never be caged!

Anyway, Dee Dee took pictures of some of the cats:

This is a tortie named Zoe, sleeping peacefully and ignoring all the people looking at her. Smart cat!

This is an orange tabby. I don't know its name. I've heard, though, that male orange tabbies get along well with torties because they are smart because they have the same O gene that gives torties their orange fur. Torties are smarter, of course.

This is a cool black cat. It's cage is decorated like outer space and it is the black hole! Now that is clever.

This is just a cute kitten. I'm a little concerned about the harness its wearing, though. Cats should not be harnessed!

And here is the cutest cat of all -- ME!

Cats of New York

2008-07-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

I've been away from home for a while because I was taken to the boarding place again in that infernal cage that Dee Dee calls carrier. It's not such a bad place -- I get two play times in a room where I get to jump on a big cat tree and play with toys. And the people there like to play with me and think I am very cute! When Dee Dee picked me up to bring me home she said she had been in a place called New York City and thought about me all the time. I should hope so!

Dee Dee took some pictures of cat-related things in New York, and I have to say some of them are pretty weird. Sadly, there are no pictures of torties, but these will have to do.

This does not look like a cat to me! It's a sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by an "artist" named Modigliani. I don't think he liked cats very much!

These pictures are of a painting by Picasso. At least it looks more like a cat than that frightening statue! Although I've never seen a cat that looks quite so round. But I kind of like it.

This is a closeup of a cat in a painting by Renoir (the most important part of the painting, of course!). It's a little blurry -- cats should be clear -- but Dee Dee says that's the style of the painting. It does kind of look like a cat, though.

This one is just plain freaky! Why would you want to paint an upside down cat? Sometimes I go upside down when I'm in my cat tree, but this just looks scary.

And finally, this isn't really a cat -- more of a cat cousin -- but it is very regal! This is in front of the New York Public Library. I think Dee Dee and Frank should have a statue like this of me in front of their door. Torties are just as majestic as lions!

Peachy Keen

2008-06-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun this morning. I noticed a bowl on the kitchen counter that had two round balls in it. I went over to investigate, and then delicately reached my paw in and gently batted one of the balls. It circled around the edge of the bowl quite nicely. It reminded me of my ring toy. I gently batted the other ball and it, too, rolled around the edge and bumped into the first ball. Excellent!

In the midst of my fun Dee Dee looked over at me from the couch and suddenly shouted, "Kayla! My peaches are not a toy!" Well, I don't know what "peaches" are, but it certainly seemed like a toy to me! So, I turned back to the bowl and resumed my gentle batting. Dee Dee got up, came over to pick me up and put me in my cat tree saying, "No Kayla, that is naughtiness!"

So, I sat and meditated in my tree for a while and Dee Dee sat back on the couch to read the paper. I really like peaches -- in fact, I can see them from my tree! I may have to try some more naughtiness a little bit later.

This Won't Hurt a Bit

2008-03-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

Today I was stuffed into that hateful carrier and brought to the place where Dee Dee sometimes leaves me for what seems like forever when she and Frank go on something called a "vacation." But this time I didn't go back in the room with all the cages and strange cats. No, this time Dee Dee stayed with me and took me to a small room that smelled funny.

She let me out of the carrier, which was good, and of course I had to explore every corner of the room. After a while a woman came in and Dee Dee talked to her, then she picked me up and put me on the table so the woman could do something called taking my temperature. Dee Dee held the front of me and started scratching me under the chin, which was very nice, and then the woman held onto my tail with one hand and had a strange thin object in her other hand and . . . I'm not going to say what happened next because it was too undignified and just wrong.

After the woman left the room, a man came in and listened to my heart and squeezed around my stomach and looked at my teeth. Then he and Dee Dee talked and she seemed very happy. Before I knew it I was back in the carrier and in the car on the way home. This was much better than staying at that place for days and I wouldn't have minded it if it hadn't been for the carrier, the car ride, and that awful woman who did unspeakable things to me.

When I got home I jumped up on my cat tree and relaxed. Dee Dee said we didn't have to do that again until next year, which is fine with me. I just hope that evil woman is gone by the time I have to go back.

Twentysomething Tortie

2008-03-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

Today Dee Dee took a test for me at CatAge.com. She wanted to find out how old I am in human years (which seems a bit species-centric since I am not a human!), and this site takes into account how healthy I am and how well Dee Dee is taking care of me when it determines my human age. Dee Dee took a similar test for humans on RealAge.com, and that's how she found out about CatAge.

Well, I am proud to say that I am 25.2 years old in human years, 10.9 years younger than the average CatAge for my breed (domestic shorthair). I am actually 5 years old. The CatAge report says that Dee Dee takes very good care of me, but of course I knew that. She feeds me Avoderm, a very delicious canned food (I like the chicken and the fish best), takes me to the vet for my annual checkup (although I do not like the trip in the car in my carrier!), and makes sure I stay in the house at all times. And, of course, I get plenty of love -- I think she must kiss me 50 times a day!

I think I should get extra points for being a tortoiseshell because we are so smart and spunky, but that wasn't part of the test. I am one lucky cat!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2007-12-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

Today is a special day -- it's my birthday! Well, it may not be the exact date I was born, but it is the date when I first came home with Dee Dee three years ago. Dee Dee says I was two years old when she brought me home, so she is celebrating my fifth birthday along with my Adoption Day today. I vaguely remember living in the back room at Petsmart for a while, and all the volunteers loved me. What's not to love about a tortie as special as me?

One day Dee Dee and the tall, dark-haired one came to see me. Dee Dee picked me up and was happy when I started purring. I was happy too. She was especially excited because I am polydactyl, just like their cat, Samantha, who had sadly died six months before when she was almost 20 years old. I thought I might go home with her, but she left without taking me. I was sad because I really liked her.

The next day she came back! But this time she brought a dog with her, a large golden retriever who cluelessly started sniffing around the room. A volunteer picked me up and brought me over to the dog, and he walked over and stuck his nose in my face. I recoiled slightly (naturally!) but was unimpressed by him. Apparently they thought I might be afraid of the dog -- me, a tortie, afraid of a silly dog? If anything, the dog seemed a little nervous of me. I must have passed the dog test, because a few minutes later I was put into a cat carrier and brought to my new home. I was very curious and spent the first evening exploring every corner of the bedroom, and that night I slept curled up against Dee Dee's neck on the bed. We were both very, very happy.

Three years have passed and I am master of the house . . . and the dog. I try to play with him, but he flinches and moves away. This annoys me, so later I run up to him and smack him in the face with my paws (no claws, of course), or I just dart out from behind a chair when he passes by. It's so much fun! I am one lucky cat. I love Dee Dee, she loves me, and I love Frank, the tall, dark-haired one, but he is more like a brother. Dee Dee is Mama Cat. This is a very happy birthday!

The Cat Who Ate Schonblick

2007-08-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

Today I came across a small village as I wandered through the house. It appeared out of nowhere and was deserted. I imagine they must have seen me coming. There was a train station but no train, and a church with a pointy steeple. I love pointy things -- they're just so tempting, so pointy, so . . . MUST BITE!!

Free at Last

2007-06-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

My strange captivity has ended as mysteriously as it began. I had finally given up standing by the door waiting for it to open and had curled up on the furry purr pad on the floor. Suddenly the door opened and Frank, the tall dark one, stood there expecting me to jump up and run out the door. Well, I was quite comfortable on my purr pad and wasn’t about to get up until I was ready. Eventually, I sauntered out the door, tail high.

The carpet felt strangely damp and fluffy under my paws, and once again the furniture was moved around or missing. This has been happening a lot lately – things I used to climb on disappear or are replaced by something new. The humans don’t seem to mind this but I find it rather disconcerting. I don’t thing the Dog notices at all – big surprise!

Captivity, Day One

2007-06-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

Through no fault of my own I am trapped in the bathroom all day. This morning Dee Dee put me in here with food, water, and my fuzzy purr pad and then closed the door. What did I do to deserve this treatment? It’s just like when I first arrived at this house and they put me in here for two or three days and didn’t let me have the run of the house. What on earth can this mean?

After I’d been in the bathroom a couple of hours, Frank opened the door and I thought I was being set free. But no, he was just putting my litter box in here – are they adding insult to injury? Have I been condemned to a lifetime in the bathroom? Torties must run free – it is our birthright!

The only clue is the sound of a strange machine outside the door and a peculiar smell. And I believe the Dog has also been imprisoned in the bathroom downstairs. I can hear him below me whining in that annoying way he has. I’m not sure how long this will go on, but I may have to make a run for it the next time the door opens.

How Kayla Got Her Tortietude Back

2007-03-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've written in my blog, but that's because I was sick. This is such a big deal that I'm going to share this entry with Dee Dee. It all started early one Sunday morning when suddenly, out of the blue, I coughed a couple of times. I'd never done that before.

That's right, Kayla was walking around the bathroom floor when she hunched over and did this weird cough. I thought it might be a hairball cough because that's what Sam used to do occasionally.

Well, I was fine for most of the day, but that night I had a couple more coughing episodes. I didn't like it at all.

I started to get a little concerned, so I went to the pet store and bought some hairball remedy -- Petromalt, Sam's old favorite. I brought it home anticipating that Kayla would like it as much as Sam.

OK, this is where things get a little dicey. Dee Dee gets home, loves me up like usual, and then squeezes something onto her finger out of a tube and puts her finger under my nose. I sniff this thick, brown goo and then, quite reasonably, turn away. She follows me, sticking her finger under my nose again. "Come on, Kayla," she says, "this is yummy!" Yeah, right.

Kayla is not like Sam. Kayla appears to hate hairball remedy, whereas Sam was so addicted to it she would corner me in the kitchen every the morning until I gave it to her. I tried putting a little of it on her mouth, but she kept moving her head back and forth. So, I finally smeared some on her paw for her to lick off.

She put the nasty brown goo on my paw! I tried to shake it off, and some of it flew against the wall, but most of it stayed stuck in my fur. How undignified is that? I finally licked most of it off, but I could hardly stand it. What did I do to deserve this?

The hairball remedy on the paw did not go over well, but I tried it again the next day because Kayla was still coughing, but now she was getting more lethargic and definitely did not have her usual attitude and energy. This time she wouldn't even lick it off of her paw -- she just sat there, her head slightly down, looking sad and dejected. I felt awful!

I was very sad.

Wednesday morning I was so worried about her that I could hardly eat. She was listless and just loafed on the floor or in her tree, and she kept coughing more violently. But the worst part was her expression -- she didn't have the bright-eyed Kayla look; she just looked sad and uncomfortable. It reminded me of when Sam was sick, which of course scared me to death. I finally made a last minute vet appointment for her that afternoon.

I was feeling so bad that I didn't even mind going in the car in that stupid crate. I did meow a couple of times, but my meows came out hoarse and quiet. This is not the way a tortie should be.

To make a long story short -- Dr. Uhler, my favorite vet in the world, said that Kayla didn't have a hairball after all -- she had some kind of respiratory irritation, and she was actually coughing because her bronchial tubes were irritated, almost like an asthma attack. He gave her a shot to help open her airway and prescribed some pills that would also open her bronchial tubes. I felt AWFUL for trying to force her to eat hairball remedy!!

She should feel awful! That hairball remedy was NASTY. Why couldn't she tell I was gasping for air? Oh well, I didn't know what was happening either, but of course I'm a CAT -- my brain is the size of a walnut! I did start to feel better after the one she calls "vet" gave me the shot. I started to feel the beginnings of my old tortietude.

Yes, between the shot and the pills I gave her, Kayla started to act more like her old self. It took a few days, but early the next week she finally had a full blown tortietude moment when she raced around the house in her old Stitch-like fashion. I was so happy!

Life is good again. No hairball remedy, no trips in the crate, and lots of running around and torturing the dog. I even jumped on the vanity in the middle of the night again to bat a few things around.

And I was never happier to hear her rattling around in the dark. My tortie was back!

I've got a new Tortietude!

Have you seen my Tortie?

2007-01-16T15:22:00.000-08:00

Mama Cat -- I mean Dee Dee -- recently bought a book by Eric Carle called, Have You Seen My Cat? She bought it because she saw a special exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum that showed his original artwork from picture books he's written over the years. I guess he wrote a book once about a very hungry caterpillar, but I'm much more excited about the book on cats!

It's a very scary story about a boy who loses his cat. I can't believe they let children read such a thing! He searches for his cat all over the world and encounters a lion, a bobcat, a panther, a tiger, and even a Persian cat (I don't know how they breathe through those noses), but none of them is his cat. My tail gets spiky just thinking about getting lost.

I don't really get the end. The last page shows a picture of a big, blue striped cat lying down with a bunch of kittens climbing all over it! Didn't the boy know that his cat was going to have kittens? (having had kittens myself at a rather, ahem, young age, let me tell you it's no picnic!)

Personally, I think the book should have ended with the boy finding his beautiful tortoiseshell cat curled up in the closet on top of his sweaters. Torties should always be the heroine of stories because we are so fabulous. We are cats worth searching the world for!

I Am NOT a Night Terror

2007-01-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

OK, so last night I was a little restless between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m. and wandered around the bedroom a bit. I wasn't rampaging around -- no, I was just pushing a few things around on Dee Dee's vanity, exploring the corners of the headboard, batting the blinds a bit, giving a little meow a couple of times -- nothing very loud. I'm nocturnal, for heaven's sake!

I did sleep curled up against Frank and Dee Dee from 10:30 until 2:30. That's five hours! But then I woke up and felt friskier than normal and had to expend some energy. I settled back down with Dee Dee at about 3:30, but boy, they were both so mad! It's not like I was attacking their feet or anything (hmm, that does sound like fun, though!); I was just quietly exporing the room. And meowing a bit.

Humans can be so odd! And don't get me started on the dog. He just lies there all night long!

Haiku for Kitty Kayla

2007-01-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

Mama Cat Dee Dee wrote this haiku for me as a new year present. I, of course, am the star of the haiku. Please feel free to read it as I chew on my back foot for a while. Happy New Year!

Kitty Kayla-la
Cutest tortie in the world
You are my gato

Sleeping on my arm
Sudddenly, she is alert
Must bat at blinds

Pupils huge, arms wide
I am the Decider, she says
Zooms across the room

Curled in my cat tree
I purr; Frank scratches my chin
So relaxed . . . MUST BITE!

Cat d'etat

2006-12-26T14:33:00.000-08:00

The time has come for me to take this blog into my own paws (polydactyl, of course) and write it myself rather than depend on Dee Dee (aka Mama Cat) to chronicle my life. Not only has she been woefully inadequate in keeping this blog up to date, but her perspective is decidedly one-sided and riddled with inaccuracies. I plan to correct those in future entries.

Yesterday was Christmas, a strange holiday that my humans get very excited about. The first strange thing is that about three weeks ago, a golden tree appeared in the living room hung with many shiny, dangling objects. I thought they were toys put there especially for me, but not only are most of them hung too high for me to reach easily, when I try to bat the shiny things that I can reach either Dee Dee or Frank shoo me away. It is very frustrating!

The second strange thing is that colorful boxes with bright shiny bows appeared under the tree. Although I enjoy loafing under the tree on the fuzzy red material next to the boxes, it is far more fun to chew on the bows! Unfortunately, the humans don't let me do THAT either. What's the point of those bows if not to bite them?

The best thing about Christmas, though, was when I got my present. I was curled up on my purr pad sleeping peacefully yesterday morning when Dee Dee came up to me. I thought she was going to kiss me like she always does (I have to admit I like that), but when I put my head up I suddenly smelled . . . it. I jumped up, letting out an involuntary squeak of excitement, and followed Dee Dee and the mysterious, wonderful smelling object in her hand downstairs. She tossed it on the floor and I attacked it. Oh, intoxicating joy!

I heard her call the object "catnip cigar." I don't know what that means -- all I know is that I love to roll on it, lick it, kick it with my back legs, bat it around . . . but I don't remember much after that. I think I sat around, staring into space, and for some reason Dee Dee and Frank were laughing at me. But it felt glorious. And the day ended my favorite way, lying on Frank's lap while they watched TV. This Christmas is a wonderful thing!

Executive Cat

2006-12-12T17:36:00.000-08:00

Kayla has decided she likes my desk chair and has claimed it as her own. This started only a few weeks ago, but it's now become one of her official places -- along with on top of my sweaters on my closet shelf and on any piece of clothing that happens to be lying on the bed.

Next she'll be answering my email and posting on my Tortiecatlovers email list. Tortietude indeed!

Merciful Kayla

2006-09-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

With the changing of the season, it appears that Kayla's behavior has changed a bit as well. I don't know if it's because it's cooler at night and a better temperature for cuddling, but Kayla has been much calmer at night. Rather than going through her midnight shenanigans, she has spent most of the last few nights asleep on the bed with only brief periods of alertness accompanied by noisy batting behavior. One night she didn't disturb us at all!

I'm not sure what to make of this, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts. She still refuses to let me sleep in much past 7:30 am on weekends, announcing with her loud meows and attacks on my arms and feet that it's time to get up. She's forcing me to take the advice of sleep experts to go to bed and get up at the same time every day. I suppose I should thank her!

Catster.com

2006-09-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

Kayla also has a page at Catster.com, a web site that provides free web pages for cats (and their owners). You can look at other cats' pages and invite them to be friends with your cat, or give them an electronic "treat." To read about how Kayla became part of our family, take a look at Kayla's Catster page. And while you're there, browse around at some of the other cats' pages. It's a lot of fun!

Night Terror

2006-09-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

Kayla usually sleeps on my bed at night with me, either curled up against my chest on top of my arms or leaning up against my husband's legs in the crook of his knees. It's very cute to have a soft, purring cat sleeping next to you. What's not so cute is her habit of waking up around 2 am and taking the grand tour of our bedroom -- first the corner shelf of our headboard, the top of the headboard, then off to my vanity, the bookshelves under the window, and finally next to the windowsill itself to bat at the blinds. At every stop she finds something to rub against, bat at, or otherwise make enough noise to wake us up.

I've tried picking her up off the headboard and tossing her to the foot of the bed, but she stubbornly returns to jump over my head back onto the headboard. After a few tosses she'll jump off the bed and in a few minutes I'll hear my makeup brushes rattling or eye shadow containers being pushed around. I reach down to the floor, pick up the squirt bottle and slide out of bed, aiming the bottle toward the dark mass that I think is Kayla. A good squirt will get her to run off (sometimes just reaching for the bottle is enough to make her flee), but it doesn't deter her for long (did I mention that torties are stubborn?). Soon I'll hear the telltale creak of the book shelf or feel the gentle thump as she once again alights on the bed.

Usually this behavior lasts for 15 or 20 minutes before she pads to the head of the bed and curls back up on top of my arms (yes, my arms are pinned there, sometimes for hours, but of course I don't move). I've pretty much grown used to this nightly interruption, but what's really maddening is the occasional night when she continues her noisy disuptions for two hours or longer. It's like she's on a cocaine-fueled bender that keeps her from settling down for more than five minutes. Needless to say, these are the nights when Kayla is definitely not adorable.

Fortunately for Kayla, all she has to do to get back into my good graces is to give me one of her squinty-eyed looks, or rub up against me, purring, in the morning when I sit up in bed. She has me wrapped around her polydactyl paw!

Kayla the Polydactyl Tortie

2006-09-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

Allow me to introduce you to Kayla, my polydactyl tortoiseshell cat. A tortoiseshell (or tortie) is a color pattern, not a breed, and they are a beautiful combination of orange and black fur that is intermixed all over their bodies with an occasional splotch of orange here and there. They are similar to calicoes which have large patches of orange, black and white solid-colored fur. Torties are almost always female and they always have an attitude.

OK, you're saying, I get what a tortie is, but what's this about a polydactyl? Polydactyl cats have an extra toe on each paw, often making their front paws look like mittens. They have been popular with seafarers and with Ernest Hemingway, who owned several polydactyls at his home in Key West, Florida. Polydactyl cats can be quite dextrous and can pick up things with their paws that most other cats can't.

Kayla is a true tortie -- loving and affectionate one minute, crazily racing around the house like Stitch the next. She's smart and stubborn and very determined -- and very adorable. As this blog will testify, there is never a dull moment with Kayla.