Happy Belated Birthday to Gwyneth!

Yep. It's been over a month with no posting from me. I may be negligent, but better late than never! Gwyn celebrated a birthday this past week. Hard to believe - our sweet girl is seven!

 I've had some extra commitments on me lately & so didn't have a lot of time to do anything special but managed to combine two of Gwyn's favorite activities: riding in the car and going for a walk.

 We drove down to the end of the island and then walked around.

It made us happy.

Happy Birthday Solana!

 My big, beautiful redhead turns 11 today!

Gentle & sweet...but with a goofy sense of humor...hard for me to believe it's been 11 years since I met that wee girl who struggled to peer over the stall door.

Love her to pieces!!!

Birthday Girl

Guess who's six years old today? That's right. Gwyn. And I elected to use a slightly different perspective than the traditional shot :D Thought maybe I needed to shake things up since I've been suspiciously absent for 2 months! Geez. The quick version is that I've had some health issues that I won't go into here. One aspect has been a lack of energy and a lack of focus...with the result being that I just needed a hiatus from blogging. I'm feeling good again and am hoping to start back posting regularly.

So...back to Gwyn. Hard to believe she's six. She's doing really well....except that I don't think her birthday's turning out the way she would like.

It all started last night. She went out in the back yard for a little while. When she came in she rushed to the front sliding glass door and stared out and whined. It soon became apparent she was in that full-on greyhound fixated-obsessive....thing. You hound people know what I mean, right? She paced. She whined. She went out. She came back in. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. This morning it started up again and I think I figured it out. When I went to take her for her walk there was a timid black dog running loose. He (or she) appeared very interested in us but wouldn't let us get too close. I think this dog had been running around and gotten Gwyn all excited. I think that's what she wants for her birthday! I've tried explaining that it's just not gonna' happen....she's starting to believe me...begrudgingly.

Clearly we set the bar too high last year...after all, this is what we got her last year:

Because she's the

From now on it's stuffed animals and extra treats for birthdays!

Happy Birthday, Princess!

Hard to believe that Mom's "little one" is three!

 These were taken when she first came home....busy exploring...

 Trouble wasn't so sure he wanted a kitten..

 But eventually he warmed up to the idea...

Another refugee from the Osterberg-Romano Home for Little Wanderers that's found a happy spot in her furever home :D

Happy Birthday Big Girl!

Hard to believe it...Solana is TEN!

Love that girl :D

Happy Birthday Willow, 2014

I'm cheating this morning. I'm re-posting. I don't think I've ever done this before...and to be fair to myself, at least I'm adding a few notes here to update things. Anyway, today is Willow's birthday. She's *14*! Hard to believe. Seems like just the other day she was so tiny!!! I was going to do a post with some kitten pix...then remembered that I did one last year...and it has all the pix I'd want to show you...again!

I will update you a little. Since last year's birthday (as you know) we've added Spike to the household. And he's been a blessing for Willow....because it gives Xander someone closer to his own age to play with! There's much less jumping on Willow...and she appreciates that.

She's started having thyroid issues. As good as she always was at letting me give her insulin shots (still not needing those!), she's not very good about taking oral meds. She won't eat a pill hidden in any kind of food or treat, and she foams out liquid meds (a remarkable phenomenon wherein cats can produce 34 times more foam to come out than medicine going in when they don't like the taste!) My vet friend (she who brings us kittehs) told us about giving the thyroid medicine as a transdermal "gel" (more like a cream) that's placed inside the ear and absorbed through the skin. It's pretty cool that they can do that...and much less traumatic for all concerned.

Wil' also seems to have a little arthritis-type stuff going on...but who doesn't? All-in-all, she seems pretty healthy and content and we're so grateful to celebrate another birthday with her! HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLOW!

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Our sweet Willow turns 13 today!! She and her dear brother Oz, who died in July, came to live with us when they were six weeks old. They were so adorable :D

Willow on left, Oz on right

Oz! You got somethin beside you! Don't worry, I'll get it!!!

I bitez your head!

This next one was taken the night we brought them home, or the next day. The two of them together barely covered LoML's elbow! They were virtually indistinguishable but for the dark patches on their heads. Oz's was dark grey and made a "V", while Willow's was dark brown and was a "slash" mark. Over the years, the marks faded away completely....

Teenagers:

Oz in front..

Oz in front..

Willow's our diabetic girl...well, at least she was diabetic...it's in remission right now (though I'm not sure that's the correct medical terminology). She was diagnosed when she was 2 years old. She was insulin dependent for the next 10 years, requiring shots twice daily. Sometime this past year...after we lost Oz maybe...her metabolism changed (?) and she no longer needs insulin! I continue to monitor her glucose levels and my vet tells me that there may come a time when we'll have to start it again, but so far, so good.

I believe Willow misses her dear, sweet brother...as we do....but Xander, a/k/a The Orange Menace, has kept her quite busy! :D He's ruthless as kittens can be, and takes every opportunity to leap on her, pin her down, and bite her neck (unless it's one of those times when he thinks he should lick her...which she never seems to appreciate since he does it while pinning her down). She's lost weight as she's now getting much more exercise than she was there for awhile. While she channels her evil alter ego when she has to go the vet's (can you blame her since her early experiences consisted of having to have blood draws every couple of hours?) she is one of the sweetest cats I've ever known. Another interesting fact is that she's decided it's time now to move to daylight savings time. :D She's my furry alarm clock. While she will progress to more attention-demanding tactics if I don't respond, she always starts out just by sitting by my head and purring. Loudly. :D

Happy Birthday girl!!!

Happy Birthday Gwyn!!!

Today is Gwyn's birthday. She's five this year! Hard to believe! :D We decided to give her her birthday present a day early:

Okay, so that's only part of the story...but I have been asking her this week if she wanted another baby kitteh for her birthday! So, my friend, the vet who saved Xander and gave him a chance at life has been saving little kittens again!

Crashed in the crate on the way home

This little guy got into antifreeze a number of weeks ago. Only about 5% cats survive that. Maybe I have a soft spot for them since we had one survive antifreeze when I was growing up. This baby had a very high fever and has had some neurological damage (his head wobbles...a lot...he sometimes runs into things..), plus he's deaf (although that's likely from the white cat/blue eyes genetic thing. But he's a happy baby!

My friend was looking for someone to foster him. We don't "do" fostering. When I can, I'm happy to contribute money and/or supplies to help animals in need. I admire people who foster. I can't do it. Pretty much, if they come into my house, they're staying! So, I was particularly drawn to this little guy and hopeful that he'd make a good playmate for Xander...maybe Willow could get some peace in her golden years (maybe I'm delusional and they'll gang up on her!). We've taken him in with the understanding that my friend will take him back if it's too upsetting for Willow or Xander....'cause, it's definitely not too upsetting for Gwyn! :D

Tomorrow I'll share more pix of the initial adjustment and tell you his name...which I think I already know, but want to confirm that LoML and I are in agreement...

Happy Birthday Willow!

Our sweet Willow turns 13 today!! She and her dear brother Oz, who died in July, came to live with us when they were six weeks old. They were so adorable :D

Willow on left, Oz on right

Oz! You got somethin beside you! Don't worry, I'll get it!!!

I bitez your head!

This next one was taken the night we brought them home, or the next day. The two of them together barely covered LoML's elbow! They were virtually indistinguishable but for the dark patches on their heads. Oz's was dark grey and made a "V", while Willow's was dark brown and was a "slash" mark. Over the years, the marks faded away completely....

Teenagers:

Oz in front..

Oz in front..

Willow's our diabetic girl...well, at least she was diabetic...it's in remission right now (though I'm not sure that's the correct medical terminology). She was diagnosed when she was 2 years old. She was insulin dependent for the next 10 years, requiring shots twice daily. Sometime this past year...after we lost Oz maybe...her metabolism changed (?) and she no longer needs insulin! I continue to monitor her glucose levels and my vet tells me that there may come a time when we'll have to start it again, but so far, so good.

I believe Willow misses her dear, sweet brother...as we do....but Xander, a/k/a The Orange Menace, has kept her quite busy! :D He's ruthless as kittens can be, and takes every opportunity to leap on her, pin her down, and bite her neck (unless it's one of those times when he thinks he should lick her...which she never seems to appreciate since he does it while pinning her down). She's lost weight as she's now getting much more exercise than she was there for awhile. While she channels her evil alter ego when she has to go the vet's (can you blame her since her early experiences consisted of having to have blood draws every couple of hours?) she is one of the sweetest cats I've ever known. Another interesting fact is that she's decided it's time now to move to daylight savings time. :D She's my furry alarm clock. While she will progress to more attention-demanding tactics if I don't respond, she always starts out just by sitting by my head and purring. Loudly. :D

Happy Birthday girl!!!

Happy Birthday Gwyneth!!!

That's right...you may think today is special because it's the autumnal equinox. But really it's special because it's Gwyn's birthday! She's four. Maybe. When she was playing this morning I asked her if she wasn't just two or so :D We do love her. I asked her this week what in the world one gets a greyhound who has everything...including a kitten! We didn't really come up with a good answer. We're just treating her like royalty today. (As opposed to all those other days....) She doesn't know it, but we'll break out a peanut butter Frosty Paws tonight. Happy Birthday you sweet girl!

Above photos courtesy of J. Frazz Photography...taken this spring. Thanks a million, Joe!