Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?

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A Video: Cleo, Pearl, and Minou 2min. 35 sec.
Music: Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? She and Him

The Cats: April 2008 from Amy on Vimeo.

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Cleo, Catnip, and Pearl

Pearl has been testing boundaries with Cleo lately. Sometimes it is just a fascination with Cleo, and she must get closer to investigate. And sometimes she really challenges her, like catching her off guard and chasing her off of my bed, just to see if she can intimidate.

This is from this morning.
Cleo was rolling around in catnip and Pearl wants a closer look.
Note Pearl's reaction, or lack thereof, to Cleo's armed growling.

Password to view: cleo



Cleo in Catnip from Amy on Vimeo.
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Cats are so peculiar.
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Happy V Day + Early End Week....

1.) Happy Valentine's Day.
Hope those of you who celebrate it, enjoy it.

2.) I am officially over the Flu, finally.

3.) This morning in the backyard:

Our one eyed squirrel friend, I so creatively named Blindy:


Cardinals and songbirds galore:


More Goldfinches:



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4.) This week at the house:

Minou is obsessed with this too small bed that was once Cleo's.
She tries hard to look comfortable, but I think she just can't really be:





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Pearl is doing well.
And...Cleo is doing really well thanks to Feliway.
Clomicalm was a disaster (more on that later).

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5.)I am about to start running around and trying to get things finished up here b/f we leave for the Eagle Expo tomorrow afternoon (I will be Out of the Office tomorrow).

Aside from the Atchafalaya Basin Swamp tour with Cajun Jack, there will be these lectures that I hope to attend at least three of:

-"An Overview of the American Bald Eagle in Louisiana"
Tom Hess, Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries

-"Bald Eagles: A Great Recovery That Started in the Northwest"
David Hancock, Hancock Wildlife Foundation

-"The Birds of the Atchafalaya Basin"
Bill Fontenot, Lafayette Nature Station

-"Bald Eagles and NW Natives"
David Hancock, Hancock Wildlife Foundation
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6.) And lastly...an audiobook recommendation:

While I do day-lab work during the day, I started listening to audiobooks.
Most recent and really enjoying:


Me Talk Pretty One Day
by David Sedaris
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Have a great weekend...
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This week, Thumbtack Press...

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It's been a busy busy week.
Taking a little break before I finish up the work for tonight...
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Also this week....

Cleo had her Dental appointment Tuesday. There ended up being 3 bad bad teeth that had to be extracted. She also had scaling done. When she got home, she slept most of the day/night or just walked around hazy and drugged. Yesterday she rested and ate well. Today, she is pretty much back to normal and has taken over my bed. Next week she will begin her Kitty Prozac treatment for her anxiety. I am keeping my fingers crossed.



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Pearl's tummy fur is growing back fast, and she looks less silly then right after the surgery.


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A couple of weeks ago I ordered this print by Gianluca Folì from Thumbtack Press.
It came in this week (it is still in the plastic sleeve in the picture below).



If you haven't been to thumbtackpress.com, you should go have a look around.
It is a really neat project. There are lots of familiar artists, new artists..so many lovely prints to choose from (at affordable prices too).
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goodnight~
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www.day-lab.com
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Christmas, Trapp Family Lodge, Shutt Cats,

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This Christmas morning the cats woke me up at 6:30 a.m. for breakfast. Out the kitchen window I noticed this huge flock of egrets dotting the mass of trees across the lake. Terrible picture, but you can get an idea...

Makes me want to set up the real camera and big lens some morning this week to see how the pictures would come out.
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Outside I found a few trees blooming:





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Since I was up so early this morning, I looked around at vacation spots that I might want to visit for my birthday. I do this every year and I never actually go to any of these places, but it is fun to search around.

If you could think of one place you would like to go in the USA for a four night trip, where would it be?

I think the perfect trip for me would be to the Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont.


(yes, The Sound of Music)

2,400-acre mountain resort in the European tradition by the family that inspired "The Sound of Music." Accommodations with Austrian decor and spectacular mountain views. European-style cuisine and New England specialties in 3 restaurants with nightly entertainment. Year-round recreational activities including hiking, biking, garden tours, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, fitness center with indoor pool, 2 outdoor pools, & tennis. 5 minutes from downhill skiing at Stowe Mountain Resort. Afternoon tea, family sing-alongs, garden/floral workshops, Mountain Kids Club, horse-drawn sleigh/carriage rides and more. Special packages available year-round.

The real Maria von Trapp and family:










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Click HERE to read about Maria von Trapp's gardens and the Self Guided Tour.

Click HERE for a little photo gallery.

Check out the entire site here:
Trapp Family Lodge
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And...a little SHUTT FAMILY CAT UPDATE:

Pearl, who is the resident Desk Cat (always on the desk...always in the way..on top of important papers or attacking the printer), has a little competition on the way for this Desk Cat title:

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There is Cleo, who has been exploring this room more, and seems particularly fond of the desk this week, although not 100% comfortable with perching on top of it completely:

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Then there is Minou who, because of Cleo's interest, has become "interested" with the desk top also (but we all know she just doesn't want Cleo up there):

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And a Happy Christmas to those of you who do the Christmas bit! :)

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Cats, Birds, and Baby Pirates

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Good things this week...


The lake has been a beautiful and chilly place to have breakfast in the morning before Lo has to go to school.

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Instead of spying on us from the Living Room (with one eye still behind the doorway) while we are out on the back porch , Cleo has actually been joining us out on the back porch more often:



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Pearl is getting bigger and is becoming a very sweet and affectionate young lady cat...



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Minou is getting smaller (I think) and remains a tolerant and patient cat...



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We put up a tree, something we haven't done in years.
We are doing a Birds, Baby Pirates and Tiny Elves theme (this was realized after we were done).

We started with some vintage ornaments of wood and resin that we had on hand and added some new colorful embossed birds, new silver dangle icicles, and fake foam birds...





And finished it up with some tiny lights and a big bird tree topper..





It's the best tacky I have seen in a long long time. :)
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Cleo is Fat

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I am sure you all remember Cleo the stray declawed cat we found at Home Depot, who was so skinny it made you cry to look at her. This is from the night we found her and brought her home:


She was skinny, weak, cried all the time, and had a skin condition, so her coat was missing in some places and it was just awful.

Well, she is still with us, and yesterday while I was watering the back yard plants I noticed she can catch lizards with her clawless little paws and succeeds in killing and eating them in about 1 minute flat. I was impressed. I also noticed what a beauty she has become, and healthy and happy. She runs and jumps and hunts...and is the sweetest cat ever. These are from today:

This is her favorite place to look for lizards:




Hunting:

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I want to make her an inside cat, but she and Minou do not get along. They have been better this week though, so maybe soon they will bury the hatchet. She still is really good about not leaving the yard and I lock her up on the back porch at 5:30 pm b/f it gets dark and all the opossums and raccoons come out.

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Cleo Declawed?

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A quick entry b/c I need some info and advice. As you may or may not know, I have never had cats until very recently (always had dogs). So, I am learning and really don;t know too much about cats.

Our stray Cleo is doing so well. I have been keeping her outside b/c she had skin issues etc, and I didn't want her passing anything on to my cats etc. Plus, I don't think it would be plausible for us to keep 3 cats inside currently. So, the plan has been to get her healthy and then try to place her.

Yesterday, while outside with her, I noticed she is declawed! I was shocked, b/c the vet didn't mention this and she knew we were going to be keeping her outside (not just shocked...but upset at the negligence on the vet's part for not noticing or not relaying this info if she did).

I do know declawed cats can't defend themselves and should never ever be outside. maybe this also explains why she doesn't cover up after she uses the bathroom?

I looked into declawing online yesterday, and some people mentioned that declawed cats have behavioral problems, won't use a littler box b/c they can't properly cover with no claws, are more aggressive, very insecure, and are the hardest to place due to all these issues.

Well, Cleo is a lover and not at all aggressive, as far as I can tell. But I am worried about the litter thing...and for the time being about her being outside by herself!

She is really good about not ever leaving the yard (I think she is scared to and she doesn't like walking in the grass much), she rarely leaves the porch even. I was thinking I may be able to keep her confined at night inside the screened-in porch with a litter box and try to litter train her, while keeping her protected from raccoons, opossums etc. until we can place her.

I don't know what else to do....(I am home 98% of the time during the day and do check on her periodically throughout the day, and sometimes take my work outside or on the porch so I can give her some company, this is why I am more concerned about the night time).

I am shocked also that her previous owner cared enough about her own things to have this cat declawed, but perhaps didn't care enough about the health of this cat to not have her spayed. I don't understand people sometimes.

Anyway, If any of you have any experiences or info on declawing..declawed cats..what I should expect etc...the issues etc. I would REALLY appreciate it.

This is not an open forum for the pros and cons of declawing or any debates about it, please. She has been declawed by her previous owner; it's done. I personally wouldn't ever declaw my cats...so all I need right now is info on her current state and what I can do to best help her...deal with this etc.

Oh, and is it O.K. for declawed cats to be around non-declawed cats?

Here are some pictures from yesterday..she looks like a different cat. Her eyes look healthy, the fur on her head has grown back in, she is still tiny but is filling out sooo well. She is so sweet and just wants love and pets (she head butts me constantly...and I love it).






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www.day-lab.com
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Eye Exams, Litter, and Ragamuffins

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This week has been a busy one...lots of appointments and school meetings and cats and day-lab...and I can't believe tomorrow is already Friday.
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An update of the week:

The stray cat, named Cleo by my daughter, is doing really well. I have been feeding her special cat food for cats with allergy problems/sensitive skin and have been applying Cortizone to some of her hot spot areas a couple times a day. And it is actually working.

She eats so well now. In less than a week she is already acting and looking so so so much healthier. She has gained a noticeable amount of weight too. She still has a way to go, but she seems happier...not hurting so much.






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Although her dermatitis is not contagious according to the Vet, I am a bit paranoid about giving something (contagious) to the other cats. So, I went ahead and bought this lovely Louisiana souvenir back scratcher to pet her with until the sores healed up. Over the past couple of days we have graduated to me petting her with disposable gloves on, but strangely she actually prefers the tacky ol' back scratcher!


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Also, due to my paranoia about the other cats catching anything from Cleo we finally litter trained Minou and she is strictly an inside cat now. She prefers it I most definitely think.


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Pearl is fine and stays busy bullying Minou, "killing" her toy bear, being terribly mischievous and is absolutely too beautiful for her own good.


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It has been raining, so no painting...and only a little yard work. I have been working on the Screen Bed, pulling weeds and roots, working on the soil...put a little edging up to keep things separated:



Also, in trying to find a real outfit to wear to my daughter's school this week for Parent's Night, I realized I have ruined pretty much all of my jeans (and lots of my shirts) this summer while working on the house. They are covered in paint and garden grime and rips and tears. So, I kind of look like a ragamuffin all of the time now...and should probably invest in a couple of outfits that will never see paint or glue or dirt or soil.


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Today, I had an eye exam and had no idea that having my eyes dilated would render me absolutely useless with blurry-beyond-belief vision for 6 hours straight.

I had to wear the disposable plastic shades under my big big sunglasses for those 6 hours. And look, a funny ridiculous grainy cell phone photo of me, while my eyes were dilated, at home being useless today. This look went perfectly with my ragamuffin clothes. The bulk of the eye-wear looks like it's going to swallow my face whole:



It was weird and so uncomfortable. I couldn't read, work, watch TV..I couldn't even tell what time it was. I don't ever want my eyes dilated again..so glad that is over.

I have Astigmatism.
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Tomorrow and the weekend...work work work...check back for updates!
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www.day-lab.com
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