some beans is GOOD!

clicky here for the story of some boy scouts who helped a kitty. it's a furry nice thing to read, and a furry good idea that could maybe help somekitty you know, someday!

we're bored

bored, bored, bored. our beans never do nuthin' worth blogging about. what's a kitty to do?

we starts getting restive and hungry around 4:30 in the morning, so we talk, sing and thump on the door until He gets up, stumbling and muttering. She won't leave crunchies out in the open at night, 'cause fat ed will glom onto them all, and get even MORE jy-MUNDUS. He makes that koffee stuff and doles out our food. afters, He washes up, scrapes His face fur, changes pelts, and goes to the job at 6:00. He tells us to be good kitties, and to guard the house. well, duh! we're always good (for something) and if someone comes in, we'll watch 'em close to see if they have any stinky goodness!

when He's gone, it's pretty quiet, unless xing came out of her "suite" before He left. then we chases her and knocks stuff around, and it gets very asitin' for a while; but for some reason, she don't like it much. (her "suite" is the two rooms in the center of the house that The Boy used to live in. she hides in there most nights with the doors closed, 'cause otherwise the beans come out really mad and hollerin' when we chase her around and make her howl.) They just don't understand having fun. maybe THAT's why They're so dull.

our She likes to sleep a little later, so at 6:45 we hears the black box on the headboard start talkin'. usually, She talks back all grumpy and whacks it a good one. we wait a little more, an' eventually She staggers out to peer at the floor in case there's something She wouldn't want to step on. (an' don't think it's only us that drags stuff outside Their door. the d*gs leave their sheep chew-hoofs there, too, and if they're not spit-icky, they're dry and sharp!)

it takes Her 'way longer to navigate the gettin'-up ritual, as ed posted about a couple weeks ago. then She plays with each of us, pets xena, and makes a peanut butter sammich for breakfast. we all beg (successfully). at 7:30, She goes to the job, and we lays around, napping and looking at each other the whole day. sometimes a bird flies past or a squirrel sits on the carport, but that's it. nuthin' to blog about. and we don't gots no toys, 'cause cocoa and xena eats 'em all. blaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.

what's this "job" thing, anyway? wouldn't They rather stay home and take naps with us and amuse us? we're VERY nappable and amusable, and we'll trade lotsa head bumps and purrs for amusement. it's a furry favorable exchange rate just now! They can't possibly understand how important this is; dull humans. dull. dull. dull.

we're bored. bored. bored.

just 'cause it tickled our fancy . . .

what on earth is this kitty thinking?
(and don't ask where our fancies are; we're not telling!)

The original Vita-Mineral Mix from 3 years ago

Mom found it on an old hard drive!!

1 ½ cup yeast powder (any food-grade yeast—brewer’s, tarula, or flaked)
½ c kelp powder or granules
1 c lecithin granules
1 c wheat germ—TOASTED!!
1 c bran (wheat, oats, rye)
½ c dolomite or bone meal (dolomite’s easier to find)

mix together and store in covered coffee can or similar container. REFRIGERATE!!! add 2 tsp of mix to each small 6.5 oz can ( I just stir 1 tsp into moist food morning & evening). three times a week, give one drop of vitamin E and add ½ tsp of cod liver oil.

some health care tips for kitties

nels sez:

mom sez to tell ya, we has noticed that some kitties in the catosphere have admitted to a few health problems. when spottycat-that-was no longer had uncle eeker to groom her, and got too old to do a good job of it herself, she began having matts. mom gave her the powder listed on this page and it did wonders. her fur grew back in, became glossy again, she didn't have dander, and didn't matt anymore. it took several months, of course, for all this to be accomplished, but at least she didn't have to spend her last four years being constantly annoyed by people trying to cut out matts. those darn things really hurt--they are like dreadlocks. they twist and pull on our skin, and that's why we don't like pettin's there very much.

it's the furry furst one on the page, Anitra Frazier's Vita-Mineral Mix. beans can get the stuff in the health food store, or maybe even in larger regular food stores. mom's pretty sure she also bought raw wheat germ, toasted it in a low oven until it smelled good, then stirred it and cooked it a little more, and added that to the mix. YOU MUST TOAST THE WHEAT GERM, 'CAUSE IT'S TOXIC OTHERWISE!!! this newer recipe doesn't add it. but you can, if you want; it can't hurt AS LONG AS IT'S GOOD AND TOASTED!!!!!.

it doesn't take long to do, and it's easy to just sprinkle on wet food or mix with a little water and pour on crunchies. you makes a bunch at a time, and can keep it sealed up tight in a clean ol' coffee can in the fridge! the dose of the mix is 1-2 tsp per kitty per day.

chaotic cat says "Hummy microwave heats digestive bran and then rubs it into my coat to clean me instead of putting me in yucky water ... wonder if this will also help with longer haired cats too?" can't think of any reason why not, unless they don't like being rubbed or brushed.

if you hafta cut matts, mom sez, grasp the matt at the base (closest to the skin, so you don't pull on it while working) and cut from the edge farthest away from the skin down towards the body. you gotta have a mellow cat, sharp scissors, and do this with incredible care and lotsa patience. do this several times, making a sorta fringe. that breaks apart the matt and lessens the tension, so it's easier to cut off down at the skin edge. this method doesn't pull on the skin, like the so-called "matt cutters". OUCH!

poor rocky's got pee problems, and maybe he and any of you other cats out there with that tendency might benefit from dr. pitcairn's powder - it has vitamin c in it, and ofurr healthy things!

we wishes all our kitty furriends good health so we can keep playing together for a long, long time! purrs & kitty-kisses to you all!

kolar kitty, redux

jake, of jake & bathsheba, made this suggestion a couple of days ago in a comment on the story of the kolar cat, KC: "Maybe the company should rescue another kitty since they're good for the customers."

well, here's the story on that:

after KC went to nanet's, boss offered to get mom another kitty from the home-grown stock at his house, or take her to the shelter to get one, or whatever she wanted. but she said she just couldn't do it anymore. losing KC was SO traumatic, she didn't know what would happen to her brain if it happened again with another kitty.

and since nanet had gone to a different workplace, that meant there would be only one "traffic cop" (mom) to constantly remind a group of so-called "grown-ups" to (1) be sure the doors were closed behind them, (2) to not stand in the doorway holding open the doors while talking (boss's d*g, bullet, got run over in the street in front of work when a customer did that), (3) stop scaring the kitty, (4) stop teasing the kitty, (5) etc., etc.

while she loved & adored little KC, and enjoyed her company so much while she was with them, those were also the most psychologically wearing two years of mom's life, and just couldn't bear to do it any more. besides, what would be the odds that any other kitty they got would have the perfect temperament that KC did for being a shop cat? so, sadly, no more cats at kolar.

(however, one of the repair team brings his d*g, buck, in with him when he comes to work now. that makes the one grump who didn't like cats happy, and the rest of us cat lovers like him, too. buck was thrown away just like KC, but now has a wonderful furrever home with his daddy, monty.)