new back entry!

Every summer I seem to have enough energy for one big house project. This year it was rebuilding the back entry.

Here's the before:

You'll notice many of the deck boards are rotten. Once I started demolition, I found many of the underlying support boards were also rotten. Scary! If you look carefully, you'll see the scratch marks on the left post, this is Oliver's favorite scratching post, which was relocated into the new porch.

The original back porch only had the one stairway, which meant needing to walk around the entire thing to get to the basement entrance. Since laundry's in the basement, it was quite the royal pain.

And here's the after:

There are many kitty friendly amenities with this new porch. The railings are all 2x4's, so they are much wider, making it easier for the cats to perch on. The railing spindles are all wide enough for the cats to go through (even though that violates the building code). I went with only the one railing for the stairs, making it look more open and inviting.

Oliver's favorite scratching post was relocated to a new spot at the top of the stairs and under the roof, so he can keep scratching for many more years!

There is now a small stairway leading to the basement entry! This is glorious!! There's also a built in kitty shelf making it easier for them to jump onto the shelf to access the kitty doors leading to the back enclosed porch.

The corner near the lilac tree (Oliver's cat tree) is wider for easier kitty-navigation to and from the tree. Oliver uses that tree to get to the roof so he can hang out up there.

Full disclosure:

All model cats were generously compensated for their participation in these photos!

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I've never done anything like this before, but it all seemed to work out just fine. The next project will be inside project!

wednesday wordless

more Bert-man

So lovely spending the weekend with the Bert-man. I spent some time with him this morning soaking in his loves as I don't know when I'll get to see him again. 

Bert puts his whole body into being loved on! Petting him is a very active engagement, he's purring, squirming around, smashing his head into my hand while also trying to make sure his tummy gets rubbed all at the same time. 

He's got so much personality! I could just sit and love on him for hours.

Seeing him adore the attention, I can't help but think of him living on the street and going without human touch. I'm so grateful to have rescued him and given him another chance at the good life. I still get the sense from him that he's super-grateful at this second chance.

Once more I've had to let him go back to his new home and once more, my heart is ouchy. This guy really took a bit piece of my heart in the year I got to foster him. Be well my Bert!!

full house

We have a visitor!

Recognize this guy?

Yep, it's the Bert-man!!

We get the pleasure of his presence for a long weekend! His mom is selling her house as she's moving further south. The real estate market here is pretty hot, with lots of demand and few houses available. What that means is houses sell crazy-quick. Basically, you list your house, go away for a long weekend, people come see it and when you return you sort through the five or six offers you received and choose the one you want. 

Bert's mom went to hang out at the ocean for the weekend with her doggies and didn't want to leave Bert there by himself as potential buyers paraded through their house, so he's with us! He was a little scared at first and thus hissy, then he started to trust and wanted head rubs and loves for a few seconds before the hissing started, and now it's just love! No more hisses! Not having seen him for awhile, I forgot just how amazingly lovey he is! He is such a sweetie!!

He's gotten a little more plump around the middle, he was always a solid cat, now he's a little more robust! It's good to get some Bert time again, so glad this guy has a great home now! Yea for Bert!!! Seeing Bert so lovey and so well cared for makes my heart warm with gratitude.

Having Bert here means we have a very full house! Five cats downstairs, Marvin moved to our bedroom, and Bert gets Oliver's room, which leaves Oliver and Pierre outside. Seven cats in our small house (996 sqft, 92.5 sqm) feels like a lot of cats!! I had to run the dishwasher this morning full of just cat dishes. Oh my! 

And poor Oliver wanted some inside time today, but there are no rooms available! Maybe we need a bigger house to accommodate all the cats!

Oliver didn't care about not having a room, he was quite happy 

being in my lap in the middle of the living room!

adventures in Marvinville

Marvin went to my vet last week for his vaccines, microchip, and for another general look over, this time by my vet. This will make the third different vet who has gotten to see him. I had concerns about the state of his kidneys, because from day one, he's peed a lot and the size of his pees are super-size.

The good news is that he's gained some weight, he's now 7.7 pounds (3.49kg). The bad news is that even after his recent dental work, many of his teeth are still in rough shape and my vet was puzzled why the other vet didn't extract more. She thinks more need to go. This made me really angry, Marvin went to the second vet for a full mouth extraction after the first vet said his teeth were all rotten and needed to come out, but the second vet only extracted one (that was really bad) and cleaned the rest. He noted there was severe periodontal disease, but apparently didn't see fit to extract more.

Sadly, the bad news doesn't stop there. My vet recommended we do a SDMA test to check for kidney failure. Before his dental work, one of his kidney values was high but the other was normal. The SDMA test indicated advanced kidney failure. My vet thinks the anesthesia from the dental work in addition to the high bacteria load from the dental infections may have really pushed his kidneys over the edge. She indicated that with a cat in his condition, she would have proactively put him on a course of fluids for two days prior to and post surgery to really flush out all the toxins and the nasty side effects of the anesthesia. Of course he didn't get any of those fluids as the vet who did the surgery apparently didn't share her concerns about his kidneys.

With the kidney failure, she doesn't think it's wise to be addressing the other dental concerns right now because of the risk associated with more anesthesia. Dang. So, he's on special (expensive) kidney food (which he hates) and we will retest his kidney panel in a few weeks.

This was my first time taking one of my rescue cats to a different (and much cheaper) vet. The extraction was considerably less expensive (saved about $1,000) but it came at a high cost to Marvin's kidneys. With the knowledge I had at the time I think I made a decent choice, but knowing what I know now, I'll be sticking with my more expensive vet that I know and trust.

In talking with some other people who know a lot about cats, I learned that there is a possibility that his kidneys may rebound. The idea is maybe his kidneys were inundated with toxins and may clear up in time to better functioning. I certainly hope and pray this is true, but we'll have to wait to find out.

Meanwhile, now that he's vaccinated, he's been given the green light to explore the whole house! He wasted no time in taking it all in, much to the displeasure of the resident cats. He is such a bold explorer! He had mapped the entire house in about 15 minutes and began working on the vertical surfaces!

Nahum: I'm not so sure about this ambassador job...

After being out and free in the house for about an hour or so, Marvin went into the bathroom and sprayed the wall. Great! Really?? Argh! The sad part was the urine was nearly clear, just a faint yellow hue. He's since sprayed more on other excursions out of his room but he doesn't seem to spray in his room. He's also taken to terrorizing Rose, in a very similar fashion as Bert once did. I'm wondering if sharing space with five other cats is just too much for him! Because of these annoying habits, he only gets supervised freedom.

I'm very happy to report that he's become quite the cuddle bug. When I visit with him in his room, he'll get super close and settle right with me. Monday night he got to spend the night in the bedroom and he slept on me the entire night! It's been fun to see his personality start to shine through. 

good asking

The voting is in from the previous post - Buddy was indeed asking for bedtime cuddles, which actually involves another dinner and tummy rubs, so technically everyone is right! When we go upstairs to bed, he gets a snack before climbing into bed and cuddling in for tummy rubs. He likes the same routine every night - no deviations are permitted!

Buddy - Aug 23, 2015 5:51pm

In this more recent picture, taken tonight, Buddy is clearly asking for early dinner. Dinner time is 6pm and they always petition for dinner to be early! Buddy is not shy about getting in my face and making sure his request is received.

Buddy - Aug 23, 2015 7:00pm

And here he is asking for second dinner, only an hour after first dinner! It never stops!

I'm very happy to report that the steroid treatment he's getting for IBS seems to be helping. He's gone from horking nearly daily to now maybe once a week. And he actually looks like he's gaining some weight, even though the scale doesn't seem to indicate any gain. His middle feels more solid. Yea for Buddy!!

watchful gaze

This is how Buddy asks for what he wants:

Can you tell what he is asking for? I'll give you a hint, this picture was taken at 10:11pm. 

He only asks for three things: tummy rubs, second (and third, fourth, fifth...) dinners, and to go to bed (nightly cuddles). 

What is Buddy asking for?

I'll post the answer after the voting closes.