Kitten Pictures | Spay and Neuter

Remember the newborn kittens? They are five months old already. We knew that they would get spayed and neutered even before they were born. My family and I are advocates. M was a wreck. She hates taking her precious pets in to get surgery, but as much as she doesn't sleep the night before, she knows it's a good thing. As a matter of fact, originally we kept the momma cat because the person who wanted her refused to spay her. Of course, after the first few weeks of her living with us, she became part of the family and M couldn't part with her any longer. It all worked out for the best. The cat family has formed a close bond. They were even taken for their surgery together. They were also picked up together the following day.

They are still a rather united cat tribe. They function like a group. Sure, the mom occasionally hisses and even growls at her kittens, but she is also very protective and affectionate with them most of the time. She has completely accepted all of us dogs, from the largest to the naughtiest. Project cats and dogs united, copleted. We're an integrated home. Seven cats and four dogs, who would have thought! The outdoor cat enclosure helps a lot, with any crowding issues, plus all the cats absolutely love it out there. They take in the sun's rays, roll on their backs, trim their claws on actual tree trunks, and enjoy their fresh supply of cat grass that M has planted for them. Sometimes, little Pedro, the chihuahua puppy joins them out there, and that's when the laid back kittens jump up to higher levels where they cannot be reached; that's an accurate statement about most, but not all cats. Charlie, the tuxedo kitten remains Pedro's best friend. The two are inseparable and play well together. We can't wait until the kittens are over ten months old and get introduced to catnip. We wonder about the catnip effects and how the kittens will react to it.

Lil' Mama weighs 7lbs, the tuxedo kitten (Charlie, M's favorite) is 8lbs, the pointed kitten (Gigi Smudge) 7.4lbs, and the runt, the calico kitten named Puddles, weighs 6lbs.

Kitten pictures:

 Even after her spay surgery, Lil' Mama remains quite intense.

 We lucked out. While we (the dogs) don't like the deer antlers, Charlie is really fond of them.

 Puddles still spends her days lounging about looking pretty. She only gets upset when someone takes away her mirror.

The Smudge! A rather flighty almost feral kitten nobody likes to mess with.

Be kind, considerate, and responsible: Spay and neuter your pets!

Twinkie

Brindle Chiweenie Afraid of . . . Kittens

Frankie's situation is becoming ridiculous. One minor attack the small the black and white chimeanie and our Frankie is afraid of everything. We were supposed to be socializing the newborn kittens but instead we discovered it was the chiweenie that needed socialization. I can't blame her completely though. Suffice it to say that we started her out with the nursing mom, inside her space, the room we call "the nursery". Let me demonstrate with a few chiweenie pictures.

Nursing cats do not like invasions

Farrah is used to our humans, but she is not dog friendly

Brave brindle chiweenie!

Getting braver

(can her eyes bulge out more?)

"I'll show you how it's done, Frankie. I am a teacup chihuahua and I am fearless."

Frankie scratching her head wondering where all those kittens came from

I explained to her about the birds and the bees

Seriously! What is there to be afraid of?

See, we love her

Disclaimer: No chiweenie was harmed during the making of this post

For the kitten fans, you can view the latest kitten video by clicking HERE.

Twinkie

Why I Will Never Fully Enjoy YouTube Again

I've been posting a lot about kittens lately, and for a good reason. We got five newborn kittens in our home and they are too much fun to blog about, photograph, film, and share. Things changed today. I spent some time in the morning viewing and subscribing to cute animal channels hoping to increase my subscribers. I opened a video of a kitten that looked just like our calico kitten, Puddles. And then I thought, I should send them a video response from Puddles! Their cute calico video was playing on half my screen while I was trying to find the most appropriate video to respond with when... it happened! The music changed to a scary digitized voice and the cute kitten was replaced by Linda Blair in her best Exorcist impersonation (I believe it was an actual clip).
I screamed, trying to turn it off, but the thing was screaming right back at me, so I continued to scream to drown its nasty voice. The keyboard and mouse went flying. I ran outside and called a friend feeling emotional and silly. I was sure I had overreacted. I looked at my nails and I had broken several of them, not sure how. My upper back was out and I had pulled a muscle in my groin. Luckily, the neighbors minded their own business and did not summon the police.
Some of you may know the technical term for videos such as the one I'm describing. They're called "scary pop up" videos. I started calling around to hear friendly voices and to make sense of what I had just experienced.
A friend of mine said he'd been watching a cute kitten video of two kittens, identical, sitting on a split screen to be examined. The video asked if you could spot the differences and prompted you to lean in to be able to see better. As soon as you got closer: scary pop up video time. He admitted he screamed like a baby--and this is a manly man I'm talking about.
Another friend said that a coworker had the brilliant idea to send a scary pop up video to his colleagues. Within minutes, random terrified screams could be heard down the office hallway.
I'm young and healthy, yet, I was trembling and shaking (apparently "shaking kneecaps" are not just an expression), my hair was raised for a good 15 minutes, and my heart was pounding. What if I was a young child, watching sweet kitten videos? What if I was an older lady, watching kitten videos as I sipped on my scalding tea? What if I was a pregnant woman? I realize some may not empathize with me and think that I'm exaggerating. To you I have one thing to say: different strokes for different folks. I've faced sharks and been way calmer. Others are set off by something as ordinary as a spider. We all have different triggers, therefore we should respect them appropriately.
I know my character and I act accordingly. I never watch scary videos or movies because I know that I'll be replaying them in my head for days or weeks or even months as was the case when I saw my first horror movie at the age of seven.
How can one prevent this from happening to others? First of all, be aware of both the website you are surfing and the particular channel you are visiting. Youtube has a FLAG that you can use to flag inappropriate material. You can leave a comment urging others to skip a particular pop up video. Beware of videos that ask you to turn up the volume and/or concentrate hard on an image. It might help to turn off the sound to videos you're not sure about, this way at least you get a visual shock instead of the double whammy of visual and audio. If there are comments available, read them first and hope someone had the decency to mention the pop-up. Check out the tags to the video and hope some words will give it away. You can also let the video load completely and then use the slider to view the images and hopefully catch a scary pop-up.
I realize that there are Scary Pop Up Video fans and I do not want to take away their "joy" therefore I get that they can't explicitly state what is in the video or the surprise would be ruined, but there must be a way to live and let live in this instance as well. There should at least be a warning. It's not my job to figure it out though. The burden falls on the scary pop up video creators and their distributors. What seems like harmless fun to some can be devastating to others.
As for me, the joy of youtube has left me for now, but on the other hand, my recent experience made me feel proud of my little kid-friendly channel.

Cat-astophic Kittens

WARNING: Another post about the newborn kittens

The newborn kittens are 3 weeks old today. No, they can't get into anything yet. They still paddle on their bellies making valiant attempts to stand on their four legs. Then why-oh-why did I call them cat-astrophic? Because they've taken over my dog life and my blog. And since today our friends Amy, Barney, Stella, Gus, Lola, Virgil, and Kirzon from the world famous House of Cats, posted about us, I felt that I should at least talk about the kittens. But first, a public and heartfelt thank you to Amy for helping my mom along the way.

We took Farrah in, a feral kitty wandering the streets of downtown L.A., (where I was found too) when she was already pregnant. Farrah was being assaulted by the three male cats in her hood who were definitely going to harm the kittens as soon as they were born. We had to take her in to keep her safe and well fed plus we are spaying and neutering advocates, so this was our one shot at witnessing the miracle of a cat giving birth and caring for newborn kittens.
Farrah came home 4 weeks ago. She was tiny and while obviously pregnant, she never got too big.

She gave birth to FIVE healthy kittens a week after we brought her home

This picture of the nursing cat was taken a few short minutes after she delivered her last kitten. She's been a great mom from day one.

I had asked for help finding cute kitten names. Well, all the names you suggested were either perfect or funny, but kittens have a way of naming themselves. This one, opened it's one eye on day 6. Four days before it's litter mates did. It started to get into trouble right away so, we call it for now: Trouble

Trouble is the only boy out of the five newborn kittens

This is calico kitten A, or Puddles

Her calico sister is a dilute calico kitten which means her colors are muted

Life is a basket full of kitten cuteness

with their mom standing guard

As far as kitten development goes, this guy, the only guy, has got the lead.

Trouble was the first one to attempt to walk. In this picture he is paddling.

But the calico kitten is close second in development and she loves giving herself a bath

Picture of fawn (dilute red) kitten sucking, and chomping on finger

Today, the fawn and white girl got strong enough to sit fully up

The calico girl, Puddles can also walk a bit, although she prefers to spend the day on her back messing with her litter mates

And Trouble . . . always a step ahead of the girls

This has been our newborn kitten saga so far. It's been scary at times, terribly disruptive, and tons of fun. Our mom even built an outdoor cat enclosure which I'm afraid is the first step in keeping all the kittens. Help! Until Farrah came over the numbers were equal, three dogs and three cats. Today, since the kitten birth, we're outnumbered. I live in a house with NINE cats. 

For kitten video, please visit MY CHANNEL and have at it. My favorite is Kitten Cuteness - Day 6 because, while it's rather long, it shows you the steps the nursing cat takes to care for her newborn kittens. And as Amy already mentioned, you can view more photos on our other blog pregnantcatinfo.

Twinkie

Hiking By Our Favorite Creek

We love our hikes. Hiking with dogs is my favorite pastime, even more so than running crazy with my rescue dog friends at the horse barn. So, we left the newborn kittens and their outdoor cat enclosure behind and off we went. My sissies, Frankie the brindle chiweenie, Linguini the spotted dalmatian pointer mix, and I, Twinkie, the teacup chihuahua, met up with the rhodesian ridgeback pair, Hank and Sue.

Our senior dog, that is definitely suffering from dog arthritis, took the lead

Everyone enjoyed drinking the fresh creek water

I enjoyed walking on it

We pressed on and had a blast exploring, smelling, and marking, but we were cautious because one must always be aware when hiking with a senior dog

And did I mention . . .

We love hiking with dogs. It puts a smile on our faces!

For now, we're pretending our senior dog's fatty tumors aren't there. Unless they interfere with her quality of life, we're going to leave them alone. Unfortunately, her aging seems to progress rapidly. She can not get in the car unassisted any longer and her front legs often "give" which leads to some not so pleasant face plants and a look of pure shock on our girl's face. No matter, we're all going to enjoy our dog hikes and life at it's fullest until we can't any longer. As for me, I have apologized profusely for leaving my pack and getting lost the other day. For a while, my apologies were not heard as I found myself hanging for a green retractable leash, but I took care of the problem. I hid the offensive leash (and that's one of my best dog training tips so far). 

Take your dogs for a hike, you'll all benefit.

Twinkie 

Number One Reason I Do Not Like The Kittens

I, Frankie, the chiweenie, am mad--oh-so-mad. Ever since they brought Farrah, the feral pregnant cat home, I have had a bad feeling. I sense cat-astrophe. Things got worse after Farrah gave birth to her five adorable kittens. There's nothing cuter than a newborn and newborn kittens are near the top of that list, but all the dogs have to be quite and tip toe around Farrah's designated quarters. Add to that the fact that one day she shot out of her room and lunged at poor Linguini, the sixty pound dalmatian pointer mix. Soon after the kitten were born, my family built an outdoor cat enclosure and I'm afraid it's because some, hopefully not all of the newborn kittens, are here to stay. First, let me give you a sneak peak of the enclosure.

Outdoor Cat Enclosure

a.k.a The Cat Palace

Cat Enclosure on the left & Finch Cage on the right

Strategically located so that both species can get their exercise

Inside view of the outdoor cat enclosure

We will be adding colorful toys and beds and scratching surfaces soon

The outdoor cat enclosure was a minor annoyance. I had to hang out and watch M working for a day. I didn't get to go on a hike, but it was just one day, so I didn't mind much. Besides, I liked the fact that the cats would have something to do other than chase me, the brindle chiweenie around the house. Now, I've mustered the courage to speak of the unspeakable! 

The real reason I do NOT like the newborn kittens: 

I was used as a . . . DEMO kitten!!!

My otherwise beloved dog vet, used me, Frankie, a dog, a brindle chiweenie to be precise, as a means to demonstrate how to administer deworming medication for the kittens. 

Silly kittens. They're getting bigger and louder every day. I feel sorry for their mom. The following kitten video proves it. Turn the volume down.

Frankie

(Meow)

Horse Show And Tons of Dog Treats

I'm one lucky teacup chihuahua. I am part of a furry large active family. We went to yet another horse show this weekend. We left behind the newborn kittens and the new outdoor cat enclosure and off we went. 

We met this beautiful new rescue dog, an Akita mix

As soon as the heelers assured me she was safe, I approached to greet her

Frankie was hanging with the horses

We discovered some colossal tunnels to play in

I love to run free and explore the universe

My friend, the chiweenie, Tigger, found a hoof to chew on

Horse hoof trimmings make the yummiest dog treats

One must be careful though because a large dog may choke on those whereas a small may get an obstruction

Finally, a human dog treat bearer!

Both the chiweenie and the chihuahua started to beg

Tsk tsk

While my chiweenie sis and I waited stoically

The blue heeler, Holly, got some too

My favorite shot of the day

MarroBone dog treats are not to be confused with the marrow bone dog chews I've been talking about

And the feast went on for a while

My chiweenie sissy got pooped and had to take a break

It was really hot, so we all got plenty of fresh water to drink

Just as I was playing chihuawars with my sissy, the blue heeler decided to interrupt

"Go away, Holly, or I'll bite you too. I'm not kidding around."

I was so upset after that, so I got into the horse trailer and . . .

. . . gave her a pees of my mind

My new fried really enjoyed herself too

Before parting with my friends, we got . . . human treats

They call them Subway

Subways are the best!

I'm afraid the chiweenie got too full in the end

What a great day at the horse barn. I got to play with horses, watch my human sissy compete in the horse show, eat a bunch of yummy treats, and played off leash with my friends. I can't wait until the next time.

Twinkie