A Cat Update

I haven’t really written a pet update since June, so I figured now would be a good time.  I’ve been holding onto some photos from the past few months to share with you.  We don’t currently have any rats; we’re still mourning the unexpected passing of Franc last June 🙁  Instead we’ve been busy focusing on Bonkers’ health, my health, and an accidental onslaught of fish babies… [more on that in my next post].

Bonkers is doing really well, considering he’s roughly 17 years old [no one knows for sure since he’s a shelter cat]:

He’s in full kidney failure so we “juice him” [administer sub-cutaneous IV fluids] 3-4 times a week, and give him ¹/₈ tsp Mirilax twice a day in his food to keep him regular.  He eats well, drinks a lot of water, and uses the litterbox like a good boy.  Because of mobility issues with his left hind leg he’s restricted to the 1st floor, but he still loves going out to the catio on nice days [when it’s a bit chilly I put his sweater on, which you can see in the 1st picture]:

       

He HATES his sweater even though he looks so adorable in it!!!:

       

And he loves going on small walks with his harness leash.  He spends most of his “walking” time sitting in our neighbor Kathy’s garden sniffing catnip and eating cat grass [thank you for having such a cat friendly garden, Kathy!]:

       

He snuggles on my shoulder every night while I watch TV and most Friday nights he gets his own roast beef sandwich:

       

A few weeks ago my coworker Carol gave him some pet stairs which he uses to get up and down from the couch [thank you Auntie Carol!]:

       

We don’t know how much longer we have with him, so we cherish every day.

Darwin is awesome.  He used to hate his harness leash but now he loves it because he knows it means going outside:

       

       

And he’s been a very good big brother to Bonkers by keeping him company for naps:

       

Miss Birdie is the QUEEN.  Just look at that face and regal posture.  QUEEN:

She has evolved constantly over the past 3 years from a shy, timid, scared rescue girl to Queen of the House, and [FINALLY] Queen of the Bedroom!  Much to Darwin’s horror.  The girl cave and living room alcove were always Birdie’s domains and the whole house – including the bedroom – was Darwin’s.  But as of 2 weeks ago Birdie marched in, took over, and there’s no going back.

She has taken over the bedroom cat tree:

       

The bedroom feeding station:

       

And, most impressively, THE BED:

      

The bed has been the hardest for Darwin to adjust to [that’s him behind her]:

I told him he should start calling her Goldilocks.

Whenever I lay down [which I do more often lately, because sick] I feel little cat feet making their way up the comforter and she lays down right next to me purring like a motor.  It’s AWESOME!!!  She is in kitty heaven, and so am I.