You Guys Asked for It!

Here are two shaky videos of Steve begging Jay for red dot time! Jay sat down to glue more of his model aliens/monsters/whatevers together, and Steve started begging!

The first video is Steve begging at Jay and looking around for the dot. The second video is me trying to sneak the laser pointer off of the table, Steve doing her head dart thing, my phone dying, and Steve chasing the dot. Oh and Yorrick shows up a little too! (Jay almost caught on to what I was doing)

Enjoy!

 

 

Overnight at Aunt Bue’s

A little less of a look into Steve’s life, a little more of a look into mine. (My nickname has been Bue [short for Bueller – as in Ferris] since I was 8. My sister says I faked sick to get out of school all the time.)

We’re dogsitting my brother’s 3.5 pound Teacup Yorkie, Peanut, for 4 days while he’s in Aruba at his bartender’s destination wedding. I don’t envy him. Places like that do not appeal to me. Jay and I are going to Boston this weekend. THAT’S a vacation destination I can get behind! (Go Sox!)

I think kids and pets look at getaways to Grandma’s or Auntie’s house as a vacation from the rules. Unfortunately for Peanut, that is not the case here. With my background in animal health, and my future in companion animal behavior (possibly dog training), the rules only get stricter when Peanut comes to stay at Aunt Bue’s. That’s not saying much, since her dad spoils her rotten. She gets to “help” with prep at the restaurant, which means she gets to sample the day’s dishes. At home, he lets her rule the house (I know because I live upstairs from him). She’s allowed on any furniture at any time, even meal time. When she begs, she gets what she wants. Her bark is tiny, so it isn’t corrected.

Here at Aunt Bue’s, the first thing that has to stop is the barking. Saxon isn’t really phased by anything and Spyder has been through the war, so they just let it go; but Steve is not coping. She spent Peanut’s first few hours here in the closet, then she moved to the bathroom where she could watch from behind the baby gate (which Peanut fits through no problem). Besides that, Peanut barks at every little noise AND every time Yorrick gets even a little bit excited. My schedule is different from Jay’s, so the normal routine of scooping the litter boxes leading into Yorrick’s last trip outside – which get’s Yorrick excited, but nothing loud – now turns into YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP while Jay is trying to sleep!!

Next to go is the constant begging for food. We have regular food routines for morning and evening. It’s not hard to squeeze Peanut in, or to even put her food somewhere that Yorrick won’t eat it. Everyone goes to their place for their food and gets fed quickly. Now Peanut is under my feet going to everyone’s bowl trying to eat their food, especially Steve’s special diet wet food!! Every time I open the fridge, Peanut is at my feet begging. Sitting down to dinner, Peanut is in my lap begging! Yorrick has his “place” at our mealtime. I think Peanut needs hers! If I could just get Peanut on an all dog food diet…. Who am I kidding? I gave her a piece of bacon an hour ago!

I’ve put a lot of work into Yorrick. He’s not perfect, but he’s smart and he knows a lot of commands – specifically the right commands. I can get him out of the way when he’s just being annoying underfoot. I can redirect him away from dangerous situations (hot ovens, pots of boiling water being carried across the kitchen). He has manners and takes correction when his manners aren’t on point. He barks a bit more than I’d prefer, but certainly not nearly as much as any of the other dogs in our neighborhood! I get that it’s fun to just spoil your dog and let them get away with whatever, but a well trained dog is so much easier!!

Thankfully, Steve has come out of hiding. She just needs to realize that she is triple Peanut’s weight and she’ll be fine. Peanut may have the mouth and the spunk, but really, just a skid in the right direction and Steve can take Peanut out!

Saxon is almost 5 times Peanut’s size. I think Saxon’s paw is bigger than Peanut’s face. Peanut really needs to watch her step in this cat dominated apartment…..

 

The closest Steve will get to tolerating Peanut
The closest Steve will get to tolerating Peanut

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Steve and Her Daddy

Haven’t gotten any video of Steve training Jay, but I did get some pictures of her with Jay. He got a model something or other and had to glue the pieces together. She sat next to him and at his feet and watched the whole process! She really loves him!!

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I’m not sure if she was hoping for an early red dot play time, or if she was just really into what he was doing!

Clicker Trained

I’m posting this here because Jay doesn’t read this blog, so he won’t come after me for making fun of him.

He thinks he has Steve and Saxon clicker trained in the sense that the button that turns the laser pointer on makes a clicking sound and when they hear the “click” they go crazy.

In reality, Steve has Jay clicker trained. Every night, at almost the exact same time, Steve sits at Jay’s feet and looks around. Her eyes dart from the ceiling to the wall to the kitchen floor back to the ceiling. She chirps a little as she does this, and she doesn’t let up until Jay pulls out the laser pointer and plays. If he ignores her she chirps louder and longer. She’ll even tap him on the feet or reach up and put her paws on his thighs as if to say, “Hey pal, you can’t ignore this much cuteness this long! Where’s that red dot?” In the end, Jay always pulls out the laser pointer and plays!

The funny part is, while she’s sitting at his feet, if I reach for the table where the laser pointer is always kept – even if I’m just reaching for my phone or for the remote – she chirps at me!

Steve may be my cat (a long running joke between Jay and I is that in the divorce, I get Yorrick, Spyder, and Steve and he gets Saxon), but she loves it when her daddy plays laser pointer with her! She doesn’t play as hard at it with me…

 

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This picture is unrelated to the post, but it’s so funny I had to share it. Saxon came up to sit next to me when Jay and I got back from taking a walk. Steve wanted to sit next to me, too (because she ALWAYS has to be next to me – if Jay gets off the couch, she immediately takes his seat), but Saxon wouldn’t give her the space. I thought I was going to get a cute picture of them snuggling, and instead I got this. Saxon isn’t grooming her, and he isn’t asleep. He’s just….sniffing her side….like a weirdo.

Good Food, Good Poops

I feel like I’m continuing to get worse, and if Steve is any indication by how much she hangs around me, then I definitely am. She’s constantly underfoot when I’m in the kitchen and sleeping somewhere on or next to me when I’m idle. I wonder how the doctor would react if I brought her with me to my appointment Tuesday morning? I’ll put her Tripawds cape on her and write “Therpy Cat” on it!

Thankfully, her GI issues are almost 100% resolved. I’ve found a ratio of wet and dry food I feel comfortable feeding her, and can now start slowly reducing how much laxative she gets everyday until I find a good dose to stay at. I’m so satisfied with where she is with her food that I wrote an email to her food company telling them her story and our situation, and to thank them for making quality food that I feel confident feeding her for the rest of her life to keep her GI troubles at bay. I got some coupons out of it!

It’s a great feeling to know that I don’t have to worry if Steve is pooping every day. I felt so awful both times she got constipated. I felt like such a terrible mother to let her go through that pain and discomfort. Now (knock on wood), we don’t ever have to deal with that ever again. None of the vet’s biggest concerns have happened. No mega-colon, no dead nerves.

Now if I can just get her to stop climbing the screen windows!!

 

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Never Far Away

 

 

She sticks by so close she judges my taste in TV
She sticks by so close she judges my taste in TV

First Ever Tripawds Triathlon

Thank you and welcome to beautiful Upstate, NY! We’re here at the lovely Fortin-Chura Kitchen/Bathroom Arena for the first ever Tripawds Triathlon!! Competing today is Steve the Pretty Tripawd Kitty!

Let’s take a look at the Triathlon course, shall we? Steve will begin in the kitchen window. From there she will start into the 6 meter kitchen dash – her best time on this event is 4.87 seconds. In the dash she will face two obstacles: the Saxon wrestle and the baby gate kitty door. While Steve has mastered the baby gate kitty door, she sometimes struggles with the Saxon wrestle.  Her best strategy here is to bite, swat, and run; but if Saxon sits on her, all bets are off.

Next, is the tub crawl. After Steve passes through the baby gate kitty door she is in the bathroom, where she will leap the side of the tub. Once in the tub, Steve needs to run around the entire tub before exiting it. Steve excels at this event – her best time is under a second!

Once Steve exits the tub she must leap onto the toilet and into the bathroom window for the final event: the bathroom screen window climb. Time and distance matter here, but Steve cuts out seconds by only putting her paws on the ground once between the tub and the toilet. Her best height on the screen window climb: a staggering 11.7 inches!

Our expert correspondent, Yorrick is in the field, to give us a closer look at where Steve needs to watch her time. Yorrick?

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Thanks Yorrick!

What’s that? We’re getting word now that Steve has opted to pull out of the Tripawds Triathlon and instead has entered herself in the Napping in a Basket event. Let’s go to that event.

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If you ask me, she gets the gold medal in this event! Back to you, Bob.