StrangeRanger

Cat Encounters of the Passive Aggressive Kind

Y'know, sometimes Maddie and Ivy can actually peacefully coexist:

they don't do it much and they don't seem to really like it, but when the vacuum cleaner's running they bury the hatchet and hunker down in the face of the mutual enemy.  Most of the time, however, they don't associate.  Sometimes Ivy will nab the bed and Maddie will *not* enter the room, leaving the wee tuxedo cat to enjoy her plunder in solitary bliss:

This pic was taken just this morning.  Regular readers can see how Ivy's fur is recovering from the dreaded Lion Cut!  Of course, we may need to get her another trim by the turn of the year, but we'll keep on brushing and hoping....  Anyways...back to Maddie!  What does Maddie do while Ivy bogarts the bed?  Bowl Raid!

<sigh>  at least they aren't swatting each other....

A new visitor

As I was doing the dishes the other day, I noticed a new, non-feline, visitor to our garden:

I do love seeing goldfinches.  Didn't know they were into Italian food, though.  They must love pesto.  Maddie was watching, too.

 OOOOH!  does he taste like lemon??

Maddie doesn't like lemon, but she didn't let that ruin her fun...

Here are a few more pics of the yellow invader:

 

Must prepare to defend house!

A question of self-image

Using some more pics from our zoo trip, I thought I'd bring up an issue of self-image.  I'm sure that most cat people will agree with my observations.

This is how we see Ivy:

This is how she sees herself:

This is how we see Maddie:

  This is how Maddie sees herself:

Any Questions?

Big Cat Blogging

Just a couple more photos from our trip to the zoo.  Of course my favorite animals were the cats.  No surprise, I'm sure.  They had bobcat who looked straight at me and chattered the way Maddie does when she's in the mood to chase down some birds.  Disconcerting, to say the least.  I wish I'd gotten some better pics of him.

Maddie thinks he's handsome.

There was also an ocelot in the sonora Desert exhibit.  This particular ocelot had been injured while in the wild and had lost most of the toes on it's right front foot.  At least I could feel good about the zoo taking this animal in.  She is one of the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen, and I only wish I could have gotten there at some time other than nap-time. 

 

She stretches her toes just like Maddie and Ivy do. 

ZooView

Had a treat the other week:  LadyRanger and I went to the North Carolina Zoological Park.  Now, while I have some mixed feelings about Zoos, I had a blast on this trip.  We got to see animals that I'd never be able to see in the wild (indeed, some I'd rather not see in the wild, as it would probably mean that I was about to become lunch). 

I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  The most amazing animals I saw, though (save forthe big cats, of course), were the seals and sea lions.  I took some video of them in their tank.  I've long-since come to the realization that I will never be as good at anything in my life as these creatures are at swimming.  Just looking at them takes my breath away...

Activity

There's been a lot of cat-activity at Chez-Ranger this past week, and, as promised, I've documented some of it.  The big news is from Ivy's trip to the vet.  She went in for a check-up and blood work to monitor the thyroid.  We'd also noticed that she'd been eating less the past month or so, and we wanted to ask the vet about that.  Turns out that Ivy had lost a whole pound!  We thought it was probably an  exacerbation in the thyroid problem, but it turns out that her teeth are in pretty bad shape and that's probably causing her to eat less.  We've got her on an anti-biotic to clear up any infections in her mouth.  She's back to normal eating habits and seems much perkier and more like her usual self.  Blood work came back saying her thyroid was actually a bit low (!) so we've been told to cut back a bit on her meds.  Ivy's kidneys are also doing as well as can be expected.  The practical upshot of the whole visit?

I'm doing good!

And now for the action shots!  Turns out Ivy wanted to go climbing the other day

Very unusual for the ol' girl.  Unfortunately for her, her back feet slipped just a fraction of a second after the photo was taken and she ended up on her butt on the floor.   No harm, no foul, though and she got up and soothed herself with a bowl-raid on Maddie's food.  Afterwards, she hopped up on the couch and had her usual action-nap, complete with kung-fu-leg-action!

Of course, we can't leave Maddie out.  We wound her up with some catnip and turned her loose!  Here she is having fun with her scratch-pad:

 See?  if it's blurry, it's *got* to be action!  Maddie also had fun with a catnip-squirrell and her scratch pad at the same time.  She can Multi-task!

I

I hope this satisfies all those who crave action in their cat-blogging!