A Shave & a Haircut, Two Bits

Here is Walter's "before" picture:

Then I went to a DIY Grooming workshop sponsored by the SPCA.  I was really more interested in the "One Picture Saves a Life" portion of the workshop, but the speaker, Jorge Bendersky, was first on the agenda.  Jorge suggested Wahl products were inexpensive, but good, and could be found in Wal-Mart.  Lo and behold, I found a grooming kit as well, and so began my adventures in do-it-yourself animal grooming....

Here are Walter's "after" pictures:

It's not that big of a difference - but I trimmed his "mohawk," eyebrows, and beard.  When Wayne saw him, he commiserated with Walter, and said, 

"Poor Walter!  I told you to run!"

On the other hand, there is a huge difference in Violet's before and after pictures, however, it's not evident until she turns around.  Violet is my long-haired cat who gets "dingleberries" - for those of you who don't know what those are, you are so lucky!  When she uses the litter box, sometimes bits of kitty litter and other things (ahem) stick to to the fur on the back of her legs.  I decided to give her a modified Brazilian...just kidding - no wax was used.  But she wasn't going to be easy to convince for this procedure.  First, here's Violet's "before" picture: 

And here is her "after" picture 

(without being too graphic):

Voila!  No more dingleberry potential!

As I said, it took some maneuvering to pull this off  - I had to put her food in the corner and shave the back of her legs while she was occupied with eating, as illustrated in the following picture:

Yes, all that fur came from the back of her legs!

Hirsute people, beware!

What the Cat Did to the Pineapple

My cats are notorious for meddling and interfering with all kinds of things.  This is the latest...

We bought a pineapple and put it on the kitchen counter to ripen.  In the morning, I noticed it was on the floor and several of the green things on top (I have no idea what those are called, but you know what I'm talking about) were lying next to the pineapple.  I picked it up and put the pineapple back on the counter.

Then I found the pineapple on the floor with a cat crouching right next to the poor pineapple.  I have a feeling that it not the calico cat who was the culprit, but it was  probably the gray cat.

He looks so innocent, but don't be deceived.

Poor Zoe, set up by her sibling...

Cats in a Basket

Henry, the gray cat, loves to snuggle in this wicker basket.  Zoe wants to be wherever another cat is, and she couldn't be happier curled up right on top on Henry!  I really want to know what Henry thinks...

The Sound

Everyone who lives with cats knows the sound: a cat upchucking.  It's what made me launch from the coziness of my bed this morning.  I saw my little gray cat, Henry, crouching at the foot of the bed, down on the carpet, throwing up, and a dark stain appeared on the carpet.  I got out of the bed quickly telling Henry, "Don't eat it!"  Yes, people who live with cats know about this lovely habit, too, though in this case, it was a hairball or hairlog, and Henry didn't seem to be interested in eating it.  But that didn't stop the other three cats or the dog from investigating the mess on the carpet.

There is a certain way to clean up vomit.  DO NOT RUB IT INTO THE FIBERS!  Get a knife, and delicately scrape the mess into a paper towel.  You can almost avoid stains if you do it this way.  You can learn from my experience.  I have LOTS of stains throughout the house.  That's because I'd sop up the mess with a paper towel, which just pushed the detritus further into the carpet fibers, thereby, forever marking that spot with cat vomit.  No matter what cleaner you use, for all their promises, this method guarantees that the carpet will retain the mark.  Oh, well.

So this morning, although I wasn't fully alert, I ran for the paper towels and butter knife and tried out the gentle technique of scraping rather than smashing.  I was pretty happy with the result.  It also helps that the color of the carpet is gray...