Catnaps

It's been a sleepy week for the cats, as the humans have been a bit busy.  Fortunately for Maddie, there's been plenty of sunlight shining in on the couch, one of her favorite napping spots. 

Sunlight nap2








Sunlight nap1








Sunlight nap3

<sigh>...No one enjoys the simple pleasures as well as a cat!

As the weather has gotten warmer, Ivy has returned to her habit of napping, tummy-up, with her legs stretched up the back of the couch.  I tried to snap a pic of the latest cute-ness, but the camera's start-up chime woke her up and she twisted.  This resulted in one of those eerie cat-postures with the front half and the back half of the cat exactly 180 degrees opposed.  No harm seems to have been done.


Very twisty cat


Don't worry, I'm not broke!

Wish I could nap as well as the cats!

If you'd like to see a few shots of the cats' queendom (though no actual shots of the cats *in* the queendom) feel free to check out Garden Blogging.

Well, the cat's out of the bag...

...Not.  Maddie was in the mood for a catnip crawl, so we dumped a handful in a grocery bag and let her go  to town.  Here are two shots.

Catnipbag1








Catnipbag2

Woo-eee-ooo!  Catnip makes my eyes glow!  Cool, huh?

We do love giving her a treat everynow and then.

Simulcats

It's rare to get photos of both cats together, though given Ivy's recent bed-aggression (in the finest passive aggressive tradition) it's becoming less rare.  Here we see Ivy occupying the bed as Maddie looks on from one of her other very-favorite spots (the sock drawer):

Simulcats3 Next we get the same scene from the opposite perspective:

Simulcats4 It's funny, but they do seem to be able to ignore each other for a while when they share space.  

Note for Ivy fans:  we're taking the wee tuxedo cat in to the vet this week.  she's been having massive snorfly-sneezy-snot-swallowing fits.  We're going to see if the vet can fix her up some kitty sudafed.

As for what we're doing until then, well, we're enjoying LadyRanger's good, home-made bread!  Lawrence and his bread machine have *nothing* on my wife!  (said with all due respect, of course!)

Simulcats1   Simulcats2

Just a few pics

Not much to report this week...Ivy was on Maddie's bed again:

On bed

HeeHee...I am *so* sneaky!

Where was Maddie?  In the sunlight, not caring...






Not caring3

Don't care, don't care, don't care...heehee

And here are just a few more pics of Maddie in the sun, 'cause I like 'em!

 

 

 

 

Not caring1








Not caring2









Not caring4

Cat Genetics

Y'know, as different as our cats are, they share a few traits.  One of which is the compulsive desire to help when we make the bed.  We think there's a cat-gene that instills the desire to make beds.  We got this shot a week or so ago when Ivy decided to start hopping on the bed:

Bedmaking1

You missed a spot.

Of course, we'd noticed this long ago with Maddie.

 

Maddie making bed1Ahh... nice and smooth and soft.  Carry on.

Of course, we always do carry on.





Maddie making bed2 oooo!  It's warm, too!

Let's hear it for Cat-Genetics!

An Old Friend

It's time for a visit from an old friend.  We've always called her Matilda.

Matilda_looking Matilda was a neighborhood stray until she got taken in by our neighbors.  We stopped by for a porch-chat and got to snap the following pics of Matilda (now called "Boots" or "Puddin"). 

Misc_052008_014 She's all grown up now, and is *very* well treated.

Misc_052008_013 It's always nice to see her.

No pics of the Ranger-Kitties today.  Some new, vile, version of the Snot-bonic Plague is going around.  Both cats are on the bed tending to LadyRanger as she tries to sleep.

Oh, Happy Day!

This is Ivy's second Gotchaversary!  On May 10, 2006, we brought her home from the vet.  She'd been there about a week after LadyRanger had found her shivering in the roses in the early May sunshine.  I first saw her in, yes, the ivy patch looking starved and miserable:

Ivy2 She wasn't much more than a rag and a bone, infested with fleas and with open, running sores.  We gave her food and water to last the night and, in the morning, took her to our vet, Dr G.  The initial outlook wasn't good.  Dr G has said many many times that she privately thought Ivy'd last two or three days, at most. 

Turns out that Ivy has no back-down in her at all, though, and she has thrived over the apst two years.  She's gone from under 7 pounds to a sleek and happy 10, and has forged a place in our home and our hearts (despite objections from Maddie).  The first few months were spent getting her back in good condition, going from this:

Ivy_before to this:

Gotcha4 to a very comfortable this:

Gotcha6 She's been with us for two Christmases now, and has, with Maddie, been the best of all presents.

Gotcha8 She always enjoys her food, whether it's strawberries

Strawberries3 or Ice Cream!

Ice_cream Though aged, she still possesses vigor and an enjoyment of the simple pleasures of life, like sun

Ivy_in_sun3and boxes!

Ivy_in_boxIvy is the soul of sweetness and patience.  We feel grateful that she's even put up with us through vet visits, car trips (much barfing) and the presence of the original Cat-zilla.  She has kept her sweet temper despite hyperthyroid and hypertension.  She takes her meds like a champ, though having them mashed into treats doesn't seem to hurt the process.  We're delighted she found us.  Sometimes she's snores and we just break out into fool-grins.  Sometimes Ivy looks at us and we imagine she's saying...

Ivy_in_kitchen3 Thank You.  I think I"ll stay.

We hope you do, Ivy.  For many more years. 

That's it. I've had enough!

It seems like it's been a tough week for Maddie.  No, there have been no trips to the vet, no wonky knees or claws puncturing pads.  Maddie has had her share of the sunshine...

Shipme1 But... Ivy has really come into herself after her lion-cut.  She's been all over the house, checking everything out.  We think that, after two years (and next weekend is Ivy's second gotcha-versary) Ivy has finally adopted us as her family.  LadyRanger and I are pleased and quite touched, but Maddie is, well, unhappy.

Shipme2 She's on my bed...

Shipme3 She's on my papasan...

Shipme4 She's on my rug.  That's it!  I'm outta here!

Shipme5 You guys can just ship me far, far away to Fiona or Nick.  I bet they'd treat me right!

Shipme6 Hey...what's Ivy doing with the packing tape?!?  Cut that out!!

Don't worry folks.  I think we can convince her to stay.

I was there last!

Wednesday was an interesting day here at Chez-Ranger.  I was home sick from school (enjoying myself immensely, aside from the sick part) and reclining on the couch.  The blinds were up and the sun was shining.  Thus the stage was set for a really impressive battle of passive-aggression:  Battle for the SunPuddle, Part Two.  Ivy came in, sniffed around and realized that she could take possession of one ofthe most treasured spots in the house:

Therelast7 Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine...

In the nice sunlight, you can really see her arm-dreads, left intact by our vet 'cause little old Ivy turned into a Fierce Creature (tm) when the vet tried to shave 'em:

Therelast3 Anyways...Ivy stayed for a bit then wandered off and Maddie came in:

Therelast5 Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine...

Maddie wandered off...

Therelast8 I am *so* loving this...

Ivy wandered off...

Therelast6 Ahhh...the sun *loves* me...

And so on.  The really interesting thing was that Ivy eventually won this little contest hands-down.  Not by intimidation or violence, but by changing the arena:

Therelast1 Hah!  In your face!

Ahhh!  Must activate Laser-Vision!!!

Therelast2 I win!  Go me!  I win!  Go me!  <insert little happy humming noises>

Maddie fans, never fear.  Your girl eventually reclaimed the bed and settled in for a long, happy, well-deserved snooze, undisturbed by paparazzi.

Oops, we did it again!

As I'm sure you've noticed, Ivy is a sweet little long-haired cat.  Turns out it's very matted long hair.  Ivy has tummy-dreads, leg-dreads, back-dreads, tail-dreads and even (ick) butt-dreads.  You can get an idea of the tangles from this pic:

Before_shave She's pretty much given up grooming, and only copes with combing for so long.  We finally had to resort to the most drastic measure, the Lion-Trim!

Lioncut1 Go ahead.  Laugh.  I know where you sleep, primate.

As you can see, we made sure Ivy's favorite treat, vanilla ice cream (Hagen Daz) was waiting for her at home.  You'll also notice that the trimmers didn't touch her front legs.  Seems the wee tuxedo cat has some absolute no-go zones.  The vet said Ivy got positively fierce defending her arm-dreads.  We also had some blood work done on the old girl.  Her hyperthyroid is a bit more hyper than last time, so we're upping her meds for that.  Ivy is also hypertensive, so she's now on blood pressure meds.  The good news is that her kidneys are holding their own and we're delighted about that.

Lioncut2 Ivy seems to be adapting well to her new, more streamlined condition.  At least fur is a renewable resource.  When we get some more cute pics of the little velvet Elvis, we'll be sure to post them!