They called her Coco ... Coco Ba Noco

Coco had a low key day today. Spent about 45 minutes hanging with us ... she likes to perch on the cat scratch pad. Deus and Xander got to sniff her. She and Ana hung out on the sofa together. At one point, they were wrestling across the sofa with Coco licking Ana's head. I wish I had a video camera!

All in all, smooth day of adjustments. Natasha really REALLY wants to meet Coco. Hopefully, by tomorrow we'll be a step closer to making that happen.

Coco - Nuts!

She's a wild and wacky kitty. She has redecorated the bathroom in shredded toilet paper, hidden all of the mobile items and gleefully flung cat litter from one end of the room to the other.

Today, I had her out in the main part of the house for a few hours while the other critters were secured. She checked things out, including a brief contemplation of the mantle (Ledcat was quick with the swooping in...) and then curled up on the scratching post for a nap. She wasn't the slightest bit interested in her food until I took her back upstairs later in the afternoon. I bought her some toys and I can hear her playing with them on the bathroom floor.

I've only known one other Siamese (my grandmother's cat) who was much more delicate. Coco has a thick somewhat bushy tail and heavily coated legs. Her eyes seem to be in perpetual wide open astonishment.

Ana is not a fan. Coco wants to play with her tail and Ana isn't happy about that. However, the more indignantly Ana swishes her tail, the more tempting it becomes. What to do! Ana did also not seem thrilled at Coco's mad dashes around the living room chasing toys, fluff and invisible fairies. Ana curled up next to me shivering slightly as she surveyed the chaos.

As I type, Ana is now firmly ensconced between her brothers on the dog bedding, perhaps reassuring herself that she is still the princess of the house. Deus is soothing her with a tongue bath. Overall, Ana seems to be of the opinion that Coco's only use is as a source of additional wet cat food.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Natasha is staring intently at the bathroom door trying to determine exactly what lurks on the other side.

As I sign off, Ana has returned to my side. There is a permanent wet spot on my jeans from where she buries her little nose and sighs. Poor little critter.

She's certainly got it better than the toilet paper.

Our new foster: Coco ... maybe

Thursday we learned that a little Siamese kitty was living in an abandoned building and being fed by the workers renovating it. For some reason, we decided to take her in. The thought of her being in the building during the future cold snap broke our hearts so Friday afternoon, I picked her up from a volunteer.

Our plan is to get her vetted, keep her safe and well-fed while looking for her owner. For now she is living in the bathroom. That was fine for the first 12 hours as she mostly ate and slept (poor thing must have been exhausted). Early this morning she discovered toilet paper. We forgot about young cats and toilet paper.

She went right into the carrier for the workman and came right out for me. I carried her into the bathroom with some water. I brought up food and she attacked it voraciously. When I brough in the litter box, she played for awhile and then used it. She's a big coverer upper which leaves litter all over the place. :-)

She's quite playful and chipper. She wants out of the room, but hasn't tried to escape, yet. Last night, I was sitting on the floor with her and she actually curled up on her towel and closed her eyes in what seemed to be a really exhausted pose. I have to wonder if she's had any real rest being out on her own. Clearly, she was someone's cat.

I wonder what her story is?

Kids

This weekend, Ana spent her first extended period of time with the kids of the family. We celebrated our mother in law's birthday and hosted a preschooler and a baby of 9 months. Ana did great! She didn't exactly play and clearly preferred the company of the adults, but she let our niece pet her and sniffed the baby a few times. It was great! There was a bonding moment when Ana realized that the niece was the best source of dropped food. :-)

We were super happy. The boys had to stay in the basement, but did enjoy some backyard time in the snow. Ava happily watched them through the back window and asked repeatedly if she could go play with them. I made a point to go out and frolic with them, letting them kiss me and putting them through simple commands so she wouldn't be afraid. She was fine.

It was a good day.

Ana Photos

Ana and Trent, her new BFF

Bananasauras! Growl!

See how the caveman trembles at her mighty roar!

Xander and Mona take snooze

Ana-saurus says Happy Halloween

Ana was scared of her Halloween costume. So she tried to eat it. Unfortunately for her, our friends brought her a Santa costume. It is too small but we caught a shot anyway. She knows her Mama Ledcat is under the ghoul outfit so she's okay.

She did so good last night. Our first guest was very attentive to Ana so we decided to keep her out and see how she would do. She lasted the whole evening! She did run from the toddler, but once she found a welcoming lap, she was good. She also enjoyed chasing under my skirt and hiding. She ate one pretzel but didn't beg for food.

Simon had been penned up in the bedroom and was desperate to get out. So we let him. He wasn't expecting Josiah the 20 month old. LOL. He definitely tried to beg for food.

It was a fun night for the critters. About 11:30 PM, the boys barked twice to let me know they wanted outside. Otherwise, they were very good. No one got eaten.

Ana went with us today to buy a new coat and some booties. We found a nice quilted coat at Burton's, but no booties. The mgr said they are the most frequently returned item so they stopped carrying them. We tried Petco. We both sat down on the floor and tried to try them on Ana, but no dice. She fought like a banshee and we realized they would never stay on her feet. Makes more sense to put our own boots on and just drag her outside.

There was also the never ceasing battle to get her in her seat belt. She turns into an octopus and I'm on my hands and knees wrestling her to ground, stuffing legs everywhere. Nonetheless, she loves going in the car.

I sprayed all the dog beds down with febreeze so they are all sleeping on the floor. Now i think it smells like feet in here and i can't figure out why.

Happy Halloween from the crew!

Happy Birthday, Ana!

We don't know what date in September marks her birth, so let's just celebrate all month long.

The Banana is doing great. We took her to Cleveland with us for a long weekend and she was a real gem. Didn't like traveling in the crate in the car, but was super well-behaved in the hotel and fine with pottying in a new place. She was afraid of the new people, but did let some folks pet her. She was really good.

Her insistence on being at least partway under the covers is a bit annoying. I'll turn over at night and she's licking my nose while her bottom half is neatly tucked away. Or vice versa. I seem to have a touch of bronchitis so now I just get a schnoz full of dog fair every breath. Great. :-)

I think about Mona occasionally. Something will remind me of her -- a smell, another dog's bark. I cried a little bit the other night because I was sad and just wanted to come home and bury my face in her neck. I'm getting teary eyed right now. Ana is a wonderful dog, but there's never a replacement.

Never.

Untitled

The Banana is still struggling with housebreaking. She's found a spot closer to the deck that she'll use, but we have to watch her like a hawk in the house. Ledcat is pursuing the small dog obedience class so we can get some guidance.

Last night, I gave the boys and the Banana one of those giant dog treat stuffed bones ... it was almost as long as her torse. They all chowed down. She couldn't lift it, but once I set it on the ground she was ready to chow down. Xander finished his first and sat watching her. I guess he hoped she could give up and go away. Ha. Every once in awhile she would curl her lip at him and keep on chomping. He never touched it. Deus recognized a lost cause and went to sleep. Xander continued to eye her hopefully. When I took the unfinished portion off her, he licked her clean and then mopped up the crumbs from the dog bed. She enjoyed the grooming. THen all three dogs laid down near the mantle with the Holy Grail, willing it to spontaneously roll off in their direction. Hysterical.

Dog training is going well. I've been practicing my watch command and both boys have it down. They are very good on sit, down and have been doing well with "walk away" when our neighbor's dog comes out. Our trainer is right -- they do much better when we give them something interesting to follow (walk away and get a treat) than when we insist, fruitlessly, that they come to us and stop getting to look at the yummy dogs in the next yard.

We missed class this week because of babysitting duties. They did recalls on long leashes but we'll catch up next week. I'm almost ready to do some neighborhood walking with them. I'm still nervous. We'll see what happens. I might get inspired.

The Banana Sprays

My lord this little dog is a handful. She doesn't listen to us at all. :-( She'll come when she feels like it and has no response whatsoever to the command "sit" None. She just looks at you with tail a waggin or runs around in circles. Ledcat is taking her to small dog obedience classes in the fall. Good luck to us.

Yesterday, she discovered the basement. My fault. Because she promptly peed and pooped down there. Yikes. This after she's discovered how to get under the fence into our neighbor's yard. Thankfully, he's really nice.

Conclusion? Ana has no solo privileges whatsoever. The only place she can be left untended is her crate.

Sound bad? We love her! We want her to be better behaved so we are doing our best. She does know off and that she can't be on the sofa during dinner. She also knows "go lay down" means go lay with her brothers.

She loves her brothers. Especially Xander. Where he goes, she goes. They are like glue. With clickety clack little nails.

We are going to her reunion in August. She and I -- Ledcat has plans. She will be scared, but we'll stay for at least a little bit. She went to Grandma's yesterday -- her third vist -- and was only a little bit afraid. She likes Grandma and Grandpa, but Great-Grandma scares her. Plus, the cats smell a little bit like old lady. Still, there are crumbs.

Good night.

Vet Disappointment: Allegheny Veterinary Associates

I cannot describe how bummed I am by my (former) veterinary practice. I called to request an appointment for the weekend and was informed that -- once again -- they are shutting down for an entire three day weekend. To celebrate one day of holiday. Which is on a Friday.

This happens all the time. Well, all the time there is a weekendish holiday. Memorial Day Monday? Let's close on Friday AND Saturday, too.

I'm all for employee restfulness, but I can't wrap my brain around a vet practice that closes during the very times that are best for people who have pets to get services. Close on the holiday, for sure. But the day after the holiday?

It must be nice to be in such robust vet fitness that you can turn away a client.

I was pretty upset. Why? Because one of these surprise 5 day weekends came at the expense of Mona's chemotherapy appointment. She had her treatments on Fridays and I adjusted my work schedule to manage it. Then one day I get a call from the vet tech informing me that they are closing on Friday AND Saturday that week so my chemo appointment gets postponed to Tuesday.

In a post-Mona era, I can't help but wonder if she had kept her original appointment ... well, if she would have been with me for another day or another week. Would I have had the chance to hold and kiss her a little bit longer? I'll never know.

And I probably wouldn't wonder if the vet office wasn't closing for every major and minor national and state holiday. At what point does it cross a line?

My favorite is that I asked for a referral to another vet and the TECH called me to tell me that they don't know anyone well enough to make a referral. The vet never called. I spent thousands of dollars and wept millions of tears in that office and they can't even give me the name of another vet. It was like being bitch slapped. I guess once the American Express payment comes through, the personal touch isn't important.

So how do you find a new vet? I always asked John and he's dead. He's the one who told me to trust this particular vet -- she's the best is what he said to me.

Company

Sorry for the delay in posting. Things have been good. Just now I tried to snap a photo of Ana curled up with two of the kitties, but one of the kitties moved. Ana has been eating well and made playful overtures to her brothers. She'll play by herself once in awhile. Her worst sin is her incessant attempts to eat the cat food. Today we began switching the cats to almost the same food as the dogs (brand/flavor -- not species) so that should be fun. She's so teeny that we sometimes actually don't see her standing amongst the cats chowing down. Little bugger.

She's terribly fearful of thunderstorms. She will wake us up she's shaking so hard. With the 4th of July coming up ... sigh. We do still struggle to get her to pee and poop in a reasonable amount of time. Sometimes she's fine and sometimes we do a little dance.

The boys are good. We had an overnight guest and they were very well-behaved. She brought them treats so they were very happy. They start a new round of obedience classes next week. Well, Ledcat goes first and then all four of us attend the following week. It is being held in a park. That will be really nice.

Then we need obedience classes for the Banana. Her response to any command is to jump up on your legs and then whimper. :-)

Saying Good Bye

This article from the Post-Gazette's website really caught my eye tonight. It is about aging zoo animals and the new challenges they pose for their caretakers.

But by last fall, as Sheba neared her 27th birthday, it became clear that
pain and weakness were winning out. That left the zoo's veterinary staff,
managers and keepers with a very difficult choice.
"It's a lot easier to
second-guess yourself when you say, well, she probably would've lived four more
days, slipping slowly down the slope," said Victoria Milne, the zoo's
veterinarian.
They decided not to wait. On Nov. 8, vets anesthetized Sheba,
then administered a solution by intravenous drip that, in a few seconds, shut
down the big cat's body for good.
Then, as she lay there, keepers, vets and
other zoo workers gathered around the cat they'd cared for for 17 years. Some
whispered a few words, others reached out to lay a hand on her glossy black coat
as they wept.
Like many of the zoo's other geriatric animals, their girl had
lived a long, full life. But that didn't make it any easier to say goodbye.

Sometimes, days go by that I don't think of Mona and then I feel really sad. Tonight, my niece was looking at my cell phone photos and asked me about the white doggy. I teared up a little bit. I want to be the kind of dog owner who gets up every day and thanks her for being part of my life.

But I'm not.

Ana Banana

I pretty much call her the banana all the time. She's so wriggly and delightful. I'm amazed she can hold her bladder for like 14 hours at a time. She lives for belly rubs. She splits her time between us on the couch and the boys on the dog beds.

She met my grandmother this past weekend and was very delicate with her. Then we went with ice cream with my parents. Ana sat on my mother's lap and enjoyed licking some drips. They bonded.

We love her. Love, love, love.

Ana Snuggles

Yesterday, Ana was super chippy. When I went into the bedroom, I found her nestled on the dog bed between Deus and Xander. She got up to trot around the room and then ran over and laid down across Deus' paws. He nuzzled her and that was about it.

So ... that's good.

Right now, everyone is snoozing. Who can blame them? I think I could use a nap, too.

Sunday

Things are really progressing nicely. Friday night was our first family night in one bedroom and it went swimmingly. Ana trotted around the room, plopped herself on the ned and that was that. In the morning, she trotted out and everyone was fine.

Today, all three dogs are hanging out together. They went outside as a unit and enjoyed the sunshine. Ana batted around a tennis ball; when Deus went to join in, she walked away. It is the first time she's played since she arrived. At one point, Deus was sleeping in the sun and Ana was curled up next to him observing activities in the yard.

Ledcat informs me that Saturday evening, she and Ana were outside when our neighbor's dog, Winston, came out into her yard. Typically, the boys go nuts and she runs back inside. Winston wasn't afraid of Ana and came out to do her business. Ana ran up to the fence, curled her lip and growled at Winston. It was, according to Ledcat, too cute.

I took Ana to the vet yesterday where she got a clean bill of health. Dr. Nikki has a chihuaha which I did not know so she was very fond of Ana. Ana was a little scaredy cat when we first arrived, but reacted very well to the vet tech and the vet. No trembling. She wasn't happy to be toted off for her microchip, but overall she was fine. Then we stopped at Burton's Total Pet to exchange her leash (lifetime warranty). That didn't work out so we had to pick a new you (she picked glow in the dark blue) and had a treat.

Now this was interesting. She trotted around Burtons with me just fine. When I was chatting with the manager about the exchange, he bent down and she went RIGHT up to him and even took a treat. No hesitation, no cowering behind me, nothing. It was great.

At home, Ana has become my second shadow - Xander is first shadow. Wherever I go, behind me trots Xander followed by Ana. It is very cute. Ledcat says I have a shadow and a half. More like a shadow and 1/10 of a shadow! They are both stretched out on the floor here with me while I type. Deus, being a dog of intelligence, is down in the cool living room on his dog bed.

Hot, hot day. I've been doing laundry and switching out the rest of my summer clothing. I seem to have lost a dress and not sure how I managed to do it. Anyway, we may take Ana with us to get some ice cream tonight.

I have noticed that I'm slipping and calling her Mona every once in awhile. She doesn't seem to mind.

Analicious

We've made a lot of doggie integration progress this week. Right now, they are all laying in the living room in various positions of repose. Including Simon the cat. We've had Ana in the living room with the boys off leash for three consecutive nights and all seems well.

Ana has been good if a bit whiny. Ledcat informed me that this morning, she tried to wedge herself through the babygate to get into the kitchen and had to be de-wedged by Ledcat. We can't tell her whines apart. In the morning and when freed from her crate, she runs through the house and down to the backdoor to go outside. The rest of the time ... she just seems to whine.

As for going outside, that's a treat. She still won't jump off the deck, so we have to carry her out into the yard. In the rain. And the night. So far, she's had two incidents in the house. She's pretty good about pottying if a little long winded in finding the right spot. I need to put my flip flops by the back door.

We discovered that Ana likes pumpkin, cream cheese and pears (sort of). Rather, she likes to lick the cream cheese off the pears. :-)

Her first vet visit is Saturday. I'm sure they will love her.

Happy ANAversary!

One week ago, Ana joined our family. Yeah!

Things have been going well. Yesterday, Ledcat and I tried some exposure time on our own. We were a little nervous because Ana just plowed right between Deus and Xander. Everyone was all about the treat. Just a little sniffing going on.

To make things more interesting, Simon the cat decided he wanted some treats so we were using all four limbs each to try and keep some order in the crowd. No one got eated so that's a victory in my book.

I put Deus outside and we had Xander on a loose leash in the kitchen with Ana. He followed her around, but just seemed curious. She sat down and allowed him to snuffle her ear and then her tail. That was good.

Tonight, I fed them as usual right beside each other with a gate in between. Deus and Ana both ate their dinners and then lay down sniffing each other through the gate. Ana actually laid on her side and gave a big sigh. Xander followed me around as I prepared dinner (salad with baked chicken).

We were going to try another round of introductions, but PennDOT got in the way. They are actually tearing up the road the runs adjacent to our street so there is a lot of loud noise and such making everyone nervous. So Ledcat took the boys outside while she cut the grass and Ana helped me do laundry and the dishes. She's not very good at either. Well, she's afraid of the basement where the laundry is so that's a strike.

Last night was my turn to sleep with Ana. She's very clingy at night which is going to get old very quickly when the humidity kicks in .. yikes! I woke up at 6ish and put her outside. I'm really glad we got our "need an escort right to the exact spot in the grass" dog in the late spring. And very hopeful we can convince her to make the leap off the deck on her own by winter.

Last night, we also took Ana to have ice cream with her Grandma and Grandpap. They had been warned about her anxiety and were very appropriate with her. She wouldn't sit in their laps, but she did allow to pet her without shivering in return. She wasn't interested in ice cream. It was a nice visit and will be a good intro for our actual visit to their house this coming weekend.

Ana is good in the car. She curls up in the back seat and doesn't move. If you put her in the front seat, she wants in your lap.

I was thinking about Mona tonight. She would hate all this noise and would probably bark a lot at the big machine that looks like a Brontosaurus. I worry about the outside kitties. And my route to work. What cha gonna do?

Ana has a boyfriend ...

Today was round 2 with our trainer from Pawsitive Reactions and we had some interesting results.

She and I each brought a leashed dog into the living room while Ledcat sat with Ana on the sofa. We simply began rewarding them for good behavior and good "looks" at Ana. She promptly got off the sofa and came over for some treats. She was essentially unthreatened the entire time.

We treated and treated and treated. Eventually, Deus laid down on his dog bed and I sat next to him. Xander was a little nonplussed at being handled by Debby, but very calm and laid back. Ana walked around unconcerned. She walked right up and took treats underneath their mouths. She actually leaped over Deus wiggling hind end to get to me.

Xander sniffed her, she lifted her lip. He sniffed again and she nipped his cheek -- he backed off. Many minute later, he sniffed her a third time and when she lifted her lip, backing off was he. He never barked at her and was fine with her coming and eating treats with him.

Deus, on the other hand, occasionally got what Debby describes at the Rotty "Lock and Load" look where he would get a little fixated on Ana. We can't quite tell what it means, but we think he really wants to play with her and just doesn't understand the size difference. He only does it once in awhile and he can be completely distracted with food or verbally.

Late in the session, Ana was pacing back and forth on the sofa side of the coffee table, Deus was standing next to me with leash in hand on the sother side. Debby was nearby with Xander. Deus made a move toward Ana; she didn't flinch.

But Xander immediately jumped between them and made Deus back off. It was really amazing and quite the opposite of what we expected to happen. Xander growled at Deus and nosed him away from the table, then he went over to sniff Ana to make sure she was okay. Mind you, the boys were leashed so Deus wasn't going to get Ana -- he might knock some stuff off the coffee table. But it was still the most interesting display -- Xander is protective of Ana.

Ana never flinched. She kept pacing after her initial start. Ledcat picked her up to avoid any further temptation.

Right now, the boys are having a bit of supper to fill the few inches of their stomachs not packed with treats. Ana is collapsed under my desk, snoring in a very undelicate way. We are heading out for a comedy show, so we anticipate everyone having a good nap.

What's next? We'll continue with exposure and having meals next to each other with a babygate in between. Tomorrow we'll do the living room thing again with high value treats. Monday, I'll probably bring Xander in and let him walk around the room with a loose leash and see how he does one on one with Ana. Then we'll go back to both dogs with leashes. Deus will take some more time until he can be off leash. We'll probably have Debby come back one more time to help us make that final transition.

We are continuing to learn a lot about Ana and wonder what is new behavior for her. She is not the least bit shy in our home, but scared in public. She whines more often than I'd like. Ledcat's tendency is to say "What's the matter, honey?" and shower her with attention which only reinforces the whine. I take her out to potty. She likes Ledcat's approach much better. :-)

She does not have any obedience. She's a good girl and is housebroken, but won't sit, lay down or get off. She's learned what "upstairs" and "downstairs" mean and we are working hard to teach her "back off" to keep her away from the doors. I think we are going to sign up for a small dog social class and then small dog obedience class. Debby gave me some tips on how to better train her so I'll start working on that tomorrow. I don't need her to be some show off dog, but when I say sit and she jumps on the sofa ... we start getting to that dangerous area where small dogs get excused for poor behavior b/c they are cute and that's not good. She's also getting a little jumpy and we want to keep that to a minimum.

Overall, a good day. We bought Ana an elevated feeding station last night at Burton's Total Pet. I hate that gummy residue from the stickers, don't you? Anyway, she really likes it.

I need to go spend some time with the boys, so signing off now.