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Sunday, March 26, 2006

Pet Blogging

I'm sick of all the heavy subjects and turmoil of this week. So, I'm going to do something more lighthearted -- pet blogging.

I've never posted a picture of my cat Felix. It's hard to get a good picture of him because he never wants to look at the camera. He has really beautiful eyes, but you can't really tell from these pictures. (As always, click pictures for a larger view.)

Felix is a polydactyl cat. He used to be blacker than he is now. I need to scan in some pictures from when he was younger. He's about fifteen years old and he definitely looks like an old man. He still seems pretty healthy, though, although the last time I took him for his shots and a checkup, they found the beginnings of urinary tract disease. However, he's very finicky and it's very hard to get him to eat the special urinary tract health cat food.

The last time I took him to the vet, I had to sedate him. And even sedated, he still managed to scratch the vet. And the previous two times I took him to the vet, he pooped all over the examination table. Yes, he can be a very bad kitty.

I had a cockatiel for a few months last year, but I sold her because my mother and I just aren't bird people. Plus, I've had parakeets in the past and have had nothing but bad luck with them. I sold her to a bird lover who could give her a much better home. In fact, it was the lady who bought her that informed me that the bird was female. When my Mom and sister bought the bird (to cheer me up after Coco passed away), they were told that she was a young bird and that she was probably a male. I called her Monkeyboy because she reminded me of a little monkey. When I found out she was a female, I shortened the name to Monkey. Anyway, here are some pictures I took of Monkey when I had her:

My dog Betty and Felix get along pretty good. Felix used to snuggle with Coco on chilly mornings and he started doing the same thing with Betty. Felix likes to go in Betty's crate and lay next to her sometimes. I tried getting pictures of this several times, but Betty would always jump up and run out, which would cause Felix to do the same. However, one morning, I managed to shut the door to the crate before they could jump up:

Here's one more of Betty with a squeaky ball:

Betty loves her toys! :-)

Comments

Black cats are hard to photograph in general. They tend to "disappear" in a picture. One of ours is black, but he's only 13. His only sign of old age is that some of his whiskers are white. I'm glad none of my cats are finicky eaters, because they are all on some special diet! Two of them are on the Purina Urinary Tract health one. The black one is on the Purina Special Care diet, because he has skin allergies to ordinary food. His fur has never all grown back in from where he licked it off. :( The last one is on a diet formula because he can be a greedy little pig and he got rather chunky.

Polydactyl kitties are interesting. I wonder if there are other animals that get extra toes. The link you have in your post wasn't working when I looked. Maybe the site is temporarily down, though.

Posted on March 27, 2006 at 1:05 PM

Hi Barb,

I just replaced the link with a Wikipedia link, since the other one isn't working today.

Felix has little white hairs all over him now. He used to have only a few on his chest. The only way I can get him to eat the special dry food is to mix it with his regular food, which probably defeats the purpose. And he wouldn't eat the canned food at all. He's especially finicky about canned food. It must have lots of juice or gravy, not have big chunks, and it must be fish. He pretty much just licks the juice off of it. He also likes to nibble on the dog's food for some reason.

Felix has always been a big cat, weighing anywhere between 11 to 15 lbs. He loves to drink water right out of the hose. He also likes to soak his front paws in water. Maybe those extra toes hurt sometimes.

Posted on March 27, 2006 at 1:51 PM
emma Gravatar.com

Wow!!! What a great friendship!!

Both your cat and dog are wonderful. Their friendship has become an ideal.

Posted on March 28, 2006 at 6:35 AM

Emma,

Well, Felix will slap Betty around once in a while when she gets too hyper, but that comes with friendship as well.

Posted on March 29, 2006 at 2:02 PM

Felix is adorable, but Betty is just too cute. :)

Did it take long for them to get along?

Posted on March 30, 2006 at 4:20 AM

Hi Todd,

At first, Felix hissed at Betty and slapped her around a lot. But then he got used to her and accepted her. Betty learned her place pretty quickly. ;-)

Posted on March 30, 2006 at 7:48 AM

It's always the Cats that have to show the others who is boss! :)

I'd love to get another cat or dog, but mine is so territorial I don't know how she'd take it. It'd be nice to be able to give her a playmate, though.

Did you get them when they were younger? Or is this just something that happened recently?

Posted on March 31, 2006 at 2:30 PM

Hi Todd,

I've had Felix since he was a kitten, so he's always been around dogs. After my dog Coco died, I wasn't sure if I should get another dog because I was afraid it would upset Felix. However, when my sister found Betty in August of last year, I decided to try and see if I could keep her. Felix hissed at her and slapped her around at first, but he didn't hide or run away. He accepted her after a week or two.

Posted on March 31, 2006 at 7:26 PM



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