...nor is it Photoshopped. Mickie is actually sitting on Taz. It seems to have begun as one of her regular pre-wrestling-match pounces, but something in the quality of Taz’s growls this time caused her to have belated second thoughts.  She actually stayed there for more than a minute, probably afraid to let go of the proverbial tiger’s tail. Taz made extremely rude noises the whole time. I think Mickie deserves a belt buckle.

You would not believe how little we actually feed this cat. One-half cup of Iams weight control kibble per day, and that’s it. According to the bag he should be getting twice that much, but I’m afraid to give it to him given his obvious tendency to gain weight. We try very hard to keep him away from the others’ dishes, too.

By the way, the catnip carrot and other excellent and durable toys are available from Nature Of The Pet.

If you’ve ever browsed the cat furniture available at your local pet retailer, you’ve probably been a bit shocked by the price. I had decided I was going to have to make my own, but never quite got around to it. Then, one day, I ran across Armarkat products on eBay. They also sell them through their own website; shipping is included on purchases made through their website, so my eBay bid plus shipping cost probably netted out about the same—but about half what you’d pay elsewhere for a similar-sized tree.

We (and more importantly, the cats) really like the tree. It seems quite sturdy, and it was easy to put together. A couple of cat toys were included with it to hang from the tree, and those weren’t exactly built to last, but everybody’s been having fun with the remnants anyway.

Cici and babies shortly after Mom and Cliff brought them home. The kittens were about two weeks old. Add a soundtrack of loud purring times five, and you’ve got the idea.

“It is also amazing what kinds of things you will find your pets playing with.”

Har!

Here is an excerpt from a piece I wrote last February, in remembrance of our old girl Furrari:

Furry had unusual taste in “toys”, with a special fondness for small cylindrical objects. You could not leave a drinking straw unattended in a glass; she would swipe the straw and perform an entire kitty ballet with it. After Furry discovered the bathroom cabinet, we returned home one day to find the living room strewn with well-mauled tampons. They did sort of look like little mice… Later, when the moving company came to pack us up, they found a bunch more under the fridge. Try explaining that to a Teamster.