watchful Wednesday

Mr. Oliver has a thing for hanging out on the roof.

Can you spot him up there?

Let me zoom in a bit...

He likes to balance on the peak and snooze!

See that patch of green grass in the background on the right? That's the dog walking area of at our vet's office. I love living next door to the 24-hour vet - it brings great peace of mind.

And speaking of the vet, Buddy was just in for his yearly servicing on Saturday. The vet wanted some of his blood (I'm suspecting she's a vampire.) The only complaint Buddy was talking about was his tummy rub deficiency, which he was sure would be evident in the test results.

The results were mostly good, everything is in the normal range, although his thyroid number is quite a bit higher than last time. So, we'll keep a watchful eye on that thyroid and will try to up the quantity of tummy rubs, if that's even possible!

wordless Wednesday

get it where you can

One skittish Rose

+

One fluffy Nahum

= precarious cuddles

Willow & Nahum's gotcha day!

Yikes! I almost missed celebrating Willow's and Nahum's gotcha day! Four years of gotchadom, can you believe it?!?!

They were rescued together and are still the best of friends.

I'm so thankful Willow and Nahum are in my life - they are such delightful cats!

duty never sleeps

Outside cat comes inside then insists on looking outside. Go figure!

On the mornings when I take Oliver inside for some inside time, he gets up in the window and looks out over his yard. If he sees something he doesn't like he growls a mean and nasty growl. I suppose he's always on-duty.

Milo finds a home!

I got word this morning that sweet Milo has found his forever human!! He was adopted with Luigi, the white and black playful kitten! I'm thrilled that he was adopted with a kitten his age so he'll always have a kitty buddy!!

Milo and Luigi playing together

remembering Max

Four years ago today I said goodbye to my amazing Max after his long battle with kidney failure. It feels like he's been gone 25 years, but the calendar tells me it's only been four. Fourwhitepaws is an ongoing tribute to Max and the many gifts he blessed me with.

Max usually slept upside-down

Even with five cats in the house now, Max's presence is dearly missed. He took a significant chunk of my heart with him when he died, the pain of his absence remains vivid while the joy of his soul also forever resides in my heart. Entering into the plentiful memories brings many tears, a testament to the bond that forever connects us.

When I'm loving on one of my cats or engaging in TNR work, I often think of Max and my heart fills with gratitude. Prior to Max I was a staunch dog person with little respect for cats. I always dreamed of getting a dog but before that happened, Max entered my life and quickly opened my heart to the amazingness of cats. There's no going back, no way, no how.

Max loved to roll in the dirt and gravel when I took him for walks in the yard. 

I love you my dear Max, and I miss you immensely. I eagerly await the day to be reunited with you in heaven.

Hershey on nip

I always love hearing about sweet Hershey! I just received this update from Mike:

I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather. Hershey loves sitting in the window and looking for birds with the long, sunny days.

I bought him a fresh catnip plant and gave him a leaf tonight, and he got pretty loopy. He spent a long time just lying upside down on the floor. Here are a few pictures.

photo courtesy of Mike

photo courtesy of Mike

Oh my! Look at that fluffy tummy, just asking for loves!

sleeping challenges

Went to bed at 10pm, suddenly awoke around 1:45am with last night's dinner rolling around in my gut. I'm squished up and teetering on the edge of the queen sized bed, not because of my roiling gut but because a number of cats are occupying my foot space. There's only one thing to do...

Lets consider the options.

1. Try to fall back to sleep with no room to move and with only enough sheet to cover half of me while the cats stretch out and enjoy most of the bed.
2. Attempt to steal some of Laura's side of the bed.
3. Do what Nahum does and love on the cat who's in the space I want until they move from the love-overload.
4. Get up and adore how cute the sleeping cats are.
5. Relocate the cats.

What would you do?

This is a fairly regular event in my life (the cats taking my bed space, not the roiling gut!), so, I get lots of experience with this situation. Oddly enough, relocating the cats is not an option that ever enters my mind. Here's what I do:

I get up and delight in how cute the sleeping cats are! There is something so heart warming about watching cats sleep, and this night was a special treat. Willow was snuggling with Theo by using his back as her pillow! You can see in this second picture how much Theo really stretches out and owns the bed!

The typical formation consist of Willow in my foot space and Theo stretched along my side. Every time I wake and check out their cutes, Willow's purring away. I swear, that girl leaves her purr motor running all the time! 

blogging buddy

Catching up on cat blogs...

with my pal Nahum.

Nahum is turning into quite the lap cat, which, of course, I adore!

heaven

This is Buddy's favorite spot in the whole wide world.

On the rug, in the sun by the front door. 

more Milo!

I had the chance to visit with Milo again the other day! He's hanging out with his brother, Pongo and two other cats in the Paddywack kitty adoption room. I so hope he gets adopted soon, so he can be spoiled rotten 24-hours a day!! It would be super cool if he got adopted with Pongo.

Milo so loves to have his cheeks scratched!

and his tummy rubbed!

Pongo (in the basket) and Luigi trying to get him to play

Milo still loves to play...

and play!

So fuzzy!

Pongo

Pongo

Such lovely beauties! I do hope they find their forever homes soon.

a boy and his outside cats (part III)

I'm not one usually to repeat blog post themes so quickly, but in this case, I just had to. Pierre came visiting again in the sunny afternoon so what was I gonna do? Gotta keep practicing with the camera you know.

sometimes you have to wait in line to play string around here.

and sometimes you have to share

 I love Pierre's energy and his handsome look. He's very elegant and soft looking.

Now for a few outtakes

Connie from Tails from the Foster Kittens said that cats look fabulous on grass and she's right!