I love Halloween, by Orion

This year I decided to take a more 'active' role in Halloween. I wanted my mommy to make me a homemade costume that wasn't too hot or too tight. I like to be able to run! She made me this cool costume - a basketball player! My jersey has my name & I even got to carry my own ball! Oh, she also made little sweatbands for me, but I wasn't digging those & had them thrown to the floor before the camera could even be found!

I love this holiday! It's the best because I get to hang with 'the boys'. I really like those guys. One of the boys is really small - almost my size. He talks to me & follows me around a lot. I don't mind. He's nice enough.

This year there was another lil person with us. I don't think it was another of the guys though. This lil person was dressed like my siblings, Cheddy & Moodles, but in a really weird color. I've never seen a pink kitty before. And the cats at my house, they can be very noisy. Sometimes I'm trying to sleep & that orange one will start talking & won't stop. The only way I can get back to sleep is hiding under the covers next to mommy! I think that's very rude. You can tell he's fresh from the streets! Look how much skin he shows at home! Have a little modesty!

Anyway, this pink kitty, she smelled kinda funny too. I don't think I have that smell at my house. And one of the guys kept staring at her! I was sniffing & looking, trying to figure out what he was so enrapt with & I just couldn't see it!

The guys & I hit the ground running. I was excited to hear, see and smell all the things they had going on their neighborhood. So many bushes to smell - it was like being in heaven! I wasn't worried about getting candy though because I'm trying to watch my figure. I don't work out on the courts for nothing!

There was a scary moment that night. I saw these things in the yard & they looked really spooky! I ran between mommy's legs & hid my face. She explained they weren't real & couldn't hurt me. I wasn't so sure about that white guy on top and didn't look directly in his eyes. Good thing we had a sorcerer with us!

There was another big person with us on Halloween... it was a Pink Cat. It's lucky for them that I likes cats. I don't like pink very much, but Pink Cat didn't stick around the whole time. During our outing the 2 cats went off hunting mice & lil pink kitty didn't come back. I guess she was really hungry for lil mice!

I have to say it was another good Halloween with the boys. After we said goodbye, Mommy & I went home to tell the others about our adventures. SydSyd & Jakester were very interested in the scents I brought back with me! I think they were a little jealous though... I drifted off to sleep not long after that. Trick or Treating really takes it out of a pup!

I'm already thinking about my costume for next year!

Pets are like kids, Part II

Monday morning I was on my out of the house to go to work. I was on time (yes, please note that in your calendars) for a change. I fed the cats & noticed something 'off' with Roxyann.

By 'off', I mean, she was oozing a little...

[I must warn you this might be a little more information that you want to think about right now]

...she was oozing a little pus & blood from her anal region. [Ewwwwww!]

Ok, now even I, novice to all things animal & child-related, knew this was NOT right. This was NOT normal... & most certainly NOT something I was hoping to see on a Monday morning.

Immediately [grossed out] worried about the poor little furrball, I ask Cop'er if he would be able to take her to the vet if I made an appointment for the afternoon.

He hesitated.

He eventually agreed to it... then tells me he wants to take Lil Guy too!

Huh? Lil Guy too??? [Lil Guy was due for his rabies & assorted other shots.]

Fine. Whatever. Double duty. I call the vet's office. The receptionist doesn't seem at all alarmed about the whole issue [see above if you need reminding]. Guess it's not life-threatening.

So Cop'er takes them to the vet. [Side note: I called him when he was on the way & all i could hear was Lil Guy whining & Roxyann meowing her head off]. Cop'er calls a little while later with a question from the vet - did Roxy always have this bump on her head?

I have to mention that Roxyann was also there to get her eye checked. It has been pinkish & irritated for about a week.

Me: No... I didn't notice any bump on her head.
Vet: You didn't see this big bump on her head?
Me: No
Vet: Has she always had it?
Me: I guess if i don't remember seeing it.
Vet: How long have you had her?
Me: Since she was a kitten (as in 9 years now)
Vet: ok

When Cop'er finally called back with the outcome of the exam, I found out what a mess Miss Priss really was. The 'issue' [again, see above for explanation] was a ruptured anal gland. The bump on the head - anybody's guess. It's a cyst, or something of the like, filled with fluid.

I took note of her head when she got home & saw that she did have a big bump on her head... a bump I didn't see earlier in the morning. It was disguised with fur stripes! From the side, it looked like something might be growing from her 'forehead'. Ewwwww!

Does it make me a bad mommy b/c I didn't notice? I thought it might, but then I realized that Cop'er had been with her at the vet's & didn't notice. Granted, when they asked him about the bump, she wasn't in the room at the time so he had no visual reference, but even still, he hadn't noticed it before. I guess that means I'm off the hook too!

What it boiled down to was 1 round of antibiotics for the cyst & 'issue', a 2nd round of antibiotics after that just b/c there is so much infection-y stuff going on with her... & to top it all off - eye drops (though they think the eye thing like be from the cyst on her head).

Sure, sounds pretty easy in the scheme of things, but have you met Roxyann????

Why Pets are Like Children

Obviously, I don't have kids - unless you count the 5 pets we have. If you are a follower of my blog, you will have already been introduced to our 2 cats (RoxyAnn & Moodles) and our 3 dogs (SydSyd, Jakester and O).

More often than not, Cop'er & I find ourselves as referee, loving parent, disciplinarian and good cop/bad cop (neither comes more naturally than the other for Cop'er, by the way). There's always a fight to break up, teasing to end, loving to administer, baths to give, meals to make, punishment to dole out, messes to clean up, toys to put back, sitters to be lined up. Like I said, pets are like kids.

A few of our "kids" have very distinct personality traits... O likes to sleep in the bed with us at night. He whines at Cop'er's feet until he's carried into the bed to sleep with his Mommy. I can't complain - he's very well behaved when it's sleepy-time. He also like to use the bed for other purposes... burying bones.

Lil Guy as a pup - what a cutie!

Every so often, Cop'er gives the kids a dog bone triat (Alpo, the large variety) to keep 'em busy (aka quiet). Well, O isn't very interested in actually eating the bone. He just carries it around in his mouth, whining to Cop'er for a lift to get in the bed. Once in the bed, he's bound for the blankets. He drops the bone in the midst of the pile and digs, digs, digs until the bone is "buried." There's no telling how many little treasures we might have sleeping with us.

Another very distinct personality is Moodles. He's the baby cat in our family. And by 'baby' I mean the youngest cat, 8 years old. He also sleeps in the bed with us - on the other side of me. He likes to stretch his paws out until he's touching my face. i don't think he knows he still has claws & they kinda hurt sometimes. The little quirk he has is climbing on my nightstand, knocking the lampshade over & over making it tap, tap, tap on the wall beside the bed. Talk about annoying things to hear at 3am!

The kid with the over-the-top trait would have to be RoxyAnn. She's full-fledged animal dominator of the house. She doesn't like the dogs, but puts up with O. She scraps with SydSyd & bops Jakester on the head. She takes nothin' from no one. I think that might even include me & Cop'er! Early in the morning, RIGHT BEFORE we are ready to get up - you know those precious moments of quiet you savor before the day starts - she is on the dresser. You'd think she would just chill, enjoy the quiet herself, but she doesn't. She cleverly paws all the bottles, boxes, trinkets, etc on top of the dresser until they fall over (bang!) or fall to the floor (crash). She does it over & over until I get out of bed, trick her into coming closer to me & throw her out the room. That is not the right way to wake up in the morning - especially on a Monday... or the weekend!

Of course, they all have their good & bad days. Sometimes they are great kids - full of sweetness & love. Sometimes they are the devil's spawn & there is nothing you can do but call it a night. At this point in my life - childless - I still feel like I get a little 'taste' of what it's like. And sometimes, I'm ok with having kids that let me sleep in late on the weekend!